A Link to the Past
Chapter Forty Seven: Turtle Rock
Even though he hadn't been able to see much of it while running from Lynels in the darkness, these mountains in the Dark World seemed a lot like the ones in Hyrule, the similarities between the two places still catching Link off guard from time to time. As for Turtle Rock itself, the dungeon was right in the same position that the Tower of Hera had been, but was looking a lot more ominous than the temple with its main entrance within the open mouth of the turtle head shaped part. Tapping the lower jaw of the turtle before stepping up inside to make sure that it wasn't some kind of monster ready to eat him, the young man sighed with relief when the blue blade made a tapping sound, and now the entrance was before him.
A set of very thick and heavy solid wood double doors were all that stood between him and the dungeon, with large iron rings just hanging there instead of a lock or a latch, and… and the doors weren't locked. Link found it hard to believe that the entrance wasn't barred, or at least have guards posted around outside, but there was nothing as if the designers of Turtle Rock didn't believe that anyone looking for trouble could reach it, or maybe that getting back out once inside was impossible. Having been a prisoner himself in several dungeons lately, the young man wasn't about to just charge his way inside, instead putting his ear up against the door to listen for anyone inside, and then getting down on his stomach in order to peek underneath the doors.
He couldn't see much at all, just the same rock as the mountains extending inward as if the dungeon had been carved out of a natural cave, and the flicker of orange light meaning that it was illuminated with torches. Torches meant that there probably weren't any windows to let light in, and they also meant that someone was there to go around and change them out at least every few hours or so. The only way left now to find out what he was up against was to open the door, so Link pulled on one of the heavy iron rings, the door on the right moving open slowly, yet surprisingly quiet as if everything inside was well maintained. Once it was open enough for him to look inside, the young man poked his head in, but only saw an extension of what he had seen underneath the door, a smooth carved rock tunnel with torches on each side as it went straight ahead.
Wide enough so that very large creatures could have passed through, Link felt like he was exposed to attack from all sides, wiping the sweat from his forehead as the tunnel sloped downward, and… and now he was sweating to the point where some from his forehead was getting into his eyes. Every breath now filled the young man's lungs with hot air, his throat getting dry while the clothes he was wearing were starting to look like he had been out in the Hyrule rain… why was it so hot in this place? The answer came when the downward tunnel finally ended at a junction that went left and right, but it was no longer a tunnel, but a stone cavern that glowed with reddish light from below.
There was no guardrail or even a partial wall to keep someone from going over the edge of the junction, and it allowed Link to see down into the deep hole that was the center of Turtle Rock… a hole that was lined with junctions from other tunnels while the bottom was filled with hot magma. The molten rock at the bottom of the cavern bubbled and hissed, causing the lowest levels to distort from the heat waves, but still there were none of the usual creatures of the Dark World in sight. There was a lot of evidence of this dungeon being occupied; the torches in the tunnels, the statues carved like mouths in the center of the walkways with sharp pointed teeth didn't have any dust on them at all, and there was also…
"What in the world?" The young man whispered to himself as he walked toward the nearest wall. "Did I just see…
It was a stupid thought, but for a second it looked like there was a large eye that opened up right in the wall, looking at him for a second before closing back up again into a normal stone wall. Walking right up to the wall and touching it, aside from the stone being unusually hot to the touch… no, this was ridiculous, there was nothing in front of him but a stone wall. Taking his hat off for a second to wipe the ever increasing sweat from his forehead, Link figured that it must've been the heat playing tricks on him, only to turn around quickly when the sound of sharp, brief laughter reached his ears. Keeping one hand on the hilt of the Master Sword, the young man stepped forward, his eyes moving around in all directions but not seeing anyone.
"Hey, you!" A gruff voice said, startling him. "I got a question for you, and be honest… is it hot enough in here, or do we need to keep going?"
The young man was about to reply that yes, it was plenty hot, along with telling the owner of the voice to come out where they could be seen, but then the whole cavern shook for a second as the reddish light from below got brighter. Waves of heat could be seen coming all the way up to these highest levels as the magma bubbled and boiled more intensely, making the air so dry and hot that it almost burned to breathe, his spit evaporating before it even hit the floor after the dryness made him cough. The unseen voice laughed at Link's labored breaths, shielding his eyes from the intense glow with his arm, but now even the young man's clothes were hot to the touch… there was just no relief.
"Run, boy, you should run." A moving mouth laughed, visible through the heat waves. "Run from this place before you're burned alive! Burned alive like a piece of steak!"
It was tempting to do so, but he couldn't leave without Princess Zelda, and… and who was he kidding? The heat was getting worse, so bad that Link was starting to hallucinate… he could've sworn that it was one of the stone mouth statues in the middle of the walkway that had been talking to him, but when the young man moved forward for a closer look it was just as still as one would expect for a statue. No, it still wasn't moving after several seconds of being watched, but then something else did move behind it… the eye Link had seen before was back, opening up like the wall was its natural eyelid. It blinked at him, before erupting with what could only be described as a beam of red light, the beam tearing right through the waves of heat and slamming into the young man's chest before he even realized what was happening.
He had seen a few monsters do this kind of thing before, expecting to feel a burning sensation like one of Agahnim's fireballs, but instead of being engulfed in flames, Link felt more force than anything as he was lifted off his feet. Thrown backwards by the power of the beam, the young man sailed over the edge of the tunnel junction, landing hard on the rocky, sloped wall of the cavern before starting to slide and roll farther down. A lot of the rocks were loose or had edges that were too sharp to grab onto, so he just kept sliding downward as the air became hot enough to start making his skin red. Terrified that he was going to tumble right into the molten rock below, the young man was relieved to land on another junction between tunnels… until he realized how hot the floor was.
Crying out in pain each time his skin touched the heated floor, Link scrambled to his feet for a moment of relief when his boots were thick enough to keep his feet from burning… looking down at his chest to see that a hole had been burned through his shirt exposing the chainmail shirt underneath. One or two of the links were still glowing a bit from that beam, but they stopped a few seconds later… up… up, he had to get back up… there was no way for him to survive down there… not in this heat. Looking back up the way he came, the wall of the cavern was too steep and loose to climb, so the young man looked down each of the tunnels, but they both looked the same from there.
"And just where do you think you're going?" The nearest mouth statue spoke, visible through the heat waves. "It's been so long since I had company… at least anyone stupid enough to not run away as soon as they felt the fire in my belly!"
Another eye opened up in the wall, causing Link to gasp and duck down just before another beam erupted toward him, continuing on across the cavern to where it struck the wall with a hollow whump. That eye closed, and another one opened up a short distance to the left, the young man having just enough time to get his shield up before the next beam erupted. Slamming into the edge as he tried to get out of the way again, the young man's arm was thrown back by the force of even the indirect hit so that he spun partly around, having to do an awkward dive onto the hot floor to avoid the beam form the next eye that followed, thankfully missing so that he could focus on trying to get behind the mouth statue so he didn't have to stay on the floor.
"The girl in the crystal isn't any fun; she doesn't burn at all." The mouth statue said as another eye opened. "Back in Hyrule, I would've loved a girl who never talked and just sat there looking pretty for me, but it's boring… boring-Boring-BORING! But not you… you'll burn, won't you? You'll dry out and wither for me, right?"
The latest eye wasn't able to get him from behind the mouth statue, so it closed giving Link a moment to try and figure out a way out of this, but then he heard the sound. It was the unmistakable low pitch twang of a beam erupting, but the young man didn't see an eye… until the red beam flew right over his shoulder, causing the mouth statue to explode into a hundred pieces as a result. The force of the blast nearly knocked him off the edge again, but Link managed to stay on this landing, scrambling across the hot floor on his hands and knees to get behind the next mouth statue before the eye right in front of him opened a second later.
"Look, I know Ganondorf promised to send you back to Hyrule." He said to the eye, staying behind cover. "He lied to you, but I know where the crack between worlds is… I'll show you the way home if you stop this… this madness and give me the crystal."
"Home? No way home, not for me." The mouth statue replied as the eye narrowed. "When I got here I tried to find the way out, but it got so hard to move as my body grew larger, and soon I was the largest beast in this world… a great stone turtle with only Ganondorf and that wizard to keep me company. I saw you enter this world… I know where the way home is… but nothing can ever move me there, for I am Turtle Rock!"
The whole cavern seemed to shake for a second with… maybe a roar of anger? The magma below grew hotter again, the heat getting unbearable as Link pulled his leg back to avoid being struck with another beam, the young man desperately trying to figure out a way to escape while another eye was already opening.