Link stopped for a moment to take in the sight of everything in front of him. There was what appeared to be the remnants of a bridge, hanging out over a lowered area of the forest. The trees had gotten far larger than they were in the section closer to Ordon, with tendrils of flowering vines wrapped around the branches. There was a thin misty fog in the distance, making it hard to tell just how deep the forest truly was, and to his right was a large cliff face. Out of curiosity, he walked onto the remains of the bridge, looking out at the lower area of the forest floor. He could see, in the distance, another of the bizarre plant monsters waving menacingly, as well as what looked to be another chunk of what used to be the bridge. He carefully jumped down from the decrepit bridge, noticing that the ground beneath his feet was now slightly damp and squished with each step. 'Interesting. Maybe there used to be a lake here?' As he continued through what he figured to be an old lakebed, he noticed a figure moving in the distance.
'Talo?' He squinted. 'No.. the posture is wrong. Maybe it's that monkey?' He cautiously walked closer, only to be startled when it suddenly began running straight at him. As it came out of the fog, Link finally got a good look at the creature. He winced and jumped backwards as it swung its wooden club at him. 'What.. is this thing?!' He swung his sword in response, striking the monster across its misshapen face. Without allowing it the time to retaliate, he swung once more, and again and again until the creature's body flew backwards and hit the ground. He stayed back for a moment, waiting to see if it would get back up to attack again, until he noticed that its body was still. He let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding. 'I think it's dead.' He walked closer, allowing him a moment to study the corpse. Its skin was a dull blue, and its face was long, with some dull teeth poking out from its lower jaw. It had gray hair pulled into some sort of braid, its forearms were bandaged with what seemed to be old and dirty fabric, and a small pouch tied to the waistband of its simple cloth shorts. The ears of the creature were also curious to him, almost like a crooked version of his own. Subconsciously, he reached up to trace the outline of his own ear.
Looking down at the felled creature, he pondered what was in the small pouch. Then he shrugged to himself. 'Whatever is in there, I doubt this thing will be taking it back from me.' He cautiously reached down and grabbed the pouch, and was surprised when he felt the familiar shape of a Rupee inside. 'It's only a green Rupee, but a Rupee's a Rupee.' He slid the Rupee into his wallet, and then dropped the creature's pouch onto the corpse. A snapping noise behind him drew his attention back to the plant monster, and with a graceful arc his sword cleanly sliced its stalk. Then he took another moment to take in his surroundings. There were some stone pillars and what looked to be half of a stone archway off to his left, as well as more stone pillars and what looked to be some wood on the side of a small cliff to his right. In front of him was what looked to be a massive tree with small platforms jutting out on the sides. After glancing around for any more monsters, he walked towards the stone pillars to his left, stopping briefly at the small platform before the archway. In the distance, he saw a keese flying in haphazard circles, and beyond the keese more of the ominous fog between the towering trees.
Having no other leads as to where to go, he walked towards and then slew the keese, then turned to notice another of the hideous blue monsters running towards him. He again grimaced at the sight of its face. Its mouth hung open, showing the blue tongue between its dull teeth, and its beady green eyes stared at Link as it prepared to swing its crooked bat at him. He nimbly ducked backwards and drew his sword and stabbed at the creature's stomach, then slashed it across the face until it too fell dead. Before he could investigate its Rupee pouch, however, he heard a warbled screech from his left and turned to see another running at him. This one didn't keep running straight at him like its felled brethren, perhaps more cautious since it saw Link kill the other just in front of it. Instead it stopped to stare at him for a moment. He took that moment to leap at the creature and land a strike right on its face, and then slashed it until it too fell dead. Then he investigated the first creature's wallet. It had a blue Rupee rather than a green, which Link easily slid into his wallet. He was about to turn and investigate the second creature's wallet when he heard a keese screech as it flew towards him, and with a swing of his sword the keese's body flew some distance away from him. Satisfied, he put the sword back on his back and went to investigate the second creature's wallet. 'Nothing. It's empty.' He huffed disappointedly, then looked around once more.
A crooked branch, reminiscent of the blue creatures' bats, curved its way out of the dirt, stopping part way as if it had been cut by a sword. Various other trees and stumps jutted out of the dirt, and the rock wall in the distance was almost completely covered in vines that dangled down.
After some more exploration and some more plant monsters slain, Link eventually found himself in front of another small cave, which had three keese hanging down from its ceiling. This was when Link noticed that the keese all had a curved blade-like bone on their tails, which they held down towards him as if they intended to use them as a weapon. A quick set of sword swings slew the keese, and Link was able to make his way into this new cave.
Inside the cave, the first thing Link noticed was that it had again become rather dark. The second thing he noticed was the distinctive glowing eyes of a keese, which he again quickly cut down. With the keese dealt with, he noticed a silhouette in the back of the cave, one which he now recognized as being another of the blue monsters. He stepped closer and heard it screech in surprise, then start running towards him. He took a large step backwards, one which he was grateful for as he felt a rush of air hit his face from the bat's swing. Though it was harder to see, he directed a stab towards the direction the bat had swung from. Luckily, he had aimed in the right direction, as he felt the sword connect with the monster's chest. He didn't wait to see if it would retaliate, swinging the sword a few times until he heard the monster's corpse land some distance away from him.
Pulling out the lantern, he noticed that the monster's corpse had landed not far away from another of the small chests. 'It almost seems like that thing was guarding the chest.. Nah, couldn't be.' Shaking his head at the thought, he bent down and opened the monster's wallet. To his disappointment, it only had a green Rupee. 'I guess it's better than nothing.' Then he turned and opened the chest, finding a small key. Its shape was pretty simple, with just two metal teeth at the end, and several rounded metal spikes around the ring. 'I wonder what this key unlocks…' Glancing around, he then noticed the two unlit torches on either side of the chest. 'Hey, it'll let me save lantern oil, I'll take it.' First he lit the torch to the left of the chest, and then to the right. Just as the flames began to rise from the right torch, a keese flew down from the ceiling at Link's face. Startled, he jumped back, waving his sword somewhat haphazardly. After his momentary panic subsided, he focused himself on the keese and took a jumping slash at it, cleanly slicing the beast in two. 'Serves you right for scaring me like that.'
It was then that he noticed a large blue chest had appeared on the ledge behind the small wooden chest. He blinked in surprise. 'How long was that there? Was it there the whole time and I just didn't see it because it was too dark?' He pondered the strange chest for a moment, before shaking his head. 'Focus, Link. You have to catch up to Talo. Who knows what kind of trouble he's gotten himself in out there…' He climbed up onto the ledge and looked more closely at the chest. 'This thing looks heavy.' If he weren't already in a rush to save Talo, he would've taken more time to admire the ornate golden and bronze details on the chest. He sighed. 'Let's hope this isn't too heavy…'
With a grunt and a hefty amount of effort, finally the chest swung open. Link exhaled, allowing his arms to recover from the exertion. 'Hylia's sakes, it's heavier than it looks.' He peered curiously inside, noticing a strange yet beautiful gem of some kind sitting at the bottom. It was a pale green, and shaped like a heart, with a golden band around it and a smaller red heart-shaped gem inside it. 'I've never seen something like this before… It doesn't look like a Rupee.' Cautiously, he reached out a hand to touch it. 'What.. is this thing?' As his hand touched the gem, he momentarily could feel the smooth faces of its surface before it suddenly vanished before his eyes. He blinked. 'Where.. where did it go?' He looked around, as if he expected it to have re-appeared somewhere else in the room. When he didn't see any trace of it, he let out a confused huff. 'That was weird. Maybe Mayor Bo will know something about these weird gems? I'll have to ask him once I find Talo and bring him back to Ordon.' With that thought, he left the small cave.
Again he stood in the forest. While it was brighter thanks to the sunlight, the fog and the trees overhead still made the area rather ominously dark. Unsure of where to go next, he began meandering the area, warily eyeing the places where he had previously seen monsters. As he meandered past tree roots and stone pillars, he noticed another blue monster's silhouette in the distance, running towards him. His arms still somewhat tired from opening the chest, he instead opted to duck behind some of the pillars and run past the creature, when he then noticed what appeared to be a wooden gate in the distance on another raised platform. 'I wonder what's through that gate…' He crept up the side of the platform, and blinked in surprise when he saw two of the blue monsters almost seeming to be in conversation with each other in front of the gate. Their screeches were, to Link's ears, the same as those they made when charging at him, but with the two facing each other and not even seeming to notice Link, it wasn't hard to imagine there was some level of communication going on. 'It's almost like they're guarding the gate.. Maybe that creature back there really was guarding the chest.' He paused to think. 'If that creature was guarding the chest, which had a key.. Maybe this key goes to that gate.' He frowned at the realization that he would have to fight the creatures, his arms still somewhat sore from the chest's heaviness. 'Maybe I should take this a little slower.'
Unfortunately for him, that plan did not come to be - as soon as one of the monsters saw him, it nudged its companion and the two both took off running towards Link. He sighed. 'So much for that idea.' With a strained movement, he struck one of the monsters across its face, sending it staggering away for a few moments. He would have gone after that first monster, were it not for a bat narrowly missing his own head, forcing him to jump back. The second monster, angry at having missed Link, ran after him, making another lunge at him with its bat. Link dodged again, but this time thanks to his tiredness he lost his balance and fell to the ground. The second monster raised its club up to strike Link, and he braced for the impact, when suddenly a bat collided with the second monster's skull, allowing him to scramble away and to his feet. It was then that he realized that the first monster had tried to throw its bat at Link, only to misjudge the distance and instead hit its companion. The two monsters began bickering amongst each other, allowing Link some time to catch his breath and recover.
Right as one of the monsters angrily shoved the other, Link leapt forward and slashed the one, then brought the sword into an arc through the chest of the second. At last, the two monsters were dead on the ground. Link, however, was unable to take pride in his victory, as his sword arm violently protested the sudden movement. 'Ow.. that wasn't a good idea.' He sucked in a few breaths through his teeth as he tried to gently massage his upper arm. It took some time, but eventually its anger subsided back to the dull tiredness. He sighed and used his other arm to put the sword back on his back, then knelt down to look in the two monsters' wallets. 'Let's see… another green Rupee, and.. Hey, nice, a blue Rupee!' The two Rupees were swiftly added into his wallet, and with a grunt he rose back to his feet. 'Let's take a look at this gate, then.'
The gate was simple, and the brightness of the wood showed that it was recently built. Stepping closer, he noticed the metal band and lock placed crudely on the gate, as well as a third monster on the other side of the gate. 'Whatever is past this gate, these guys want to make sure it doesn't get out…' He frowned as the realization sunk in. 'Talo is probably behind this gate.' He squinted, trying to see anything in the cave behind the monster, but seeing only darkness. He sighed. 'These monsters had better hope they didn't hurt him.' He brought out the small key, and to his satisfaction it did unlock the gate, which swung open and narrowly avoided hitting the monster's back. He briefly weighed his options, between fighting the monster and just running past it. Then, an image of Talo curling up in fear as the monsters slashed at him with their bats filled Link's mind, and the anger was enough to make Link's sword arm temporarily forget its anger. The monster was quickly disposed of like its brethren, before it even had the time to register Link's presence. To Link's disappointment, it had no Rupees in its wallet. He huffed and continued down the path into the cave.
The area he had stepped into was drastically different from the portion of the forest he had been in moments ago. Gone was the thin fog, as more sunlight came in from above the trees. Ancient wooden poles stood near the mouth of the cave he had just walked through, and rock walls with thick trees sprouting up from them surrounded the immediate area. In the center of this new area were two of the blue monsters, also seemingly engaged in conversation. Once more Link debated between fighting them or just running past, and this time his tiredness won out, and he opted to try sneaking past them. He glanced around and noticed a path off to the left, and began making his way towards that path. Unfortunately, one of them must have seen him, and it let out an indignant screech. Link sighed, and turned to the two monsters. It was then that he noticed these monsters were purple rather than blue. He briefly pondered if there were any significance, but was interrupted by a bat nearly colliding with his head. With a dodge and then a swing of his sword, the two monsters were sent a couple steps away. They angrily glared at him, and again charged towards him with their bats raised. Link again sliced and swung at them, until finally two purple monsters lay dead in the dirt. He exhaled again. 'Looks like these guys take a few more hits to go down than the blue ones. Good to know.' Like their blue brethren outside the gate, these two monsters also had a blue and a green Rupee, which Link eagerly added into his own wallet before continuing further. He paused when he reached the new path.
In the distance, he saw an absolutely staggeringly large tree, with a path curving directly into it. He then noticed another of the purple monsters, and then a small tent to his right. The monster hadn't noticed Link arriving, and so with a leap he lunged at the monster so that his sword swung at the back of its head, stunning it for a few moments. Link took the opportunity to slice at it a few times until its body fell to the ground as well. His arm protested again, but after some more moments of massaging its anger was soothed. He knelt down again to inspect the wallet, but was disappointed when it was empty. Then he curiously made his way over to the tent, when he noticed a large blue bird sitting nearby the tent.
"Woo! Hey! Woo! You're super!" Link blinked, startled. 'Was that.. the bird?' He looked at the bird, which was flapping its wings slowly, almost as if to get his attention.
"Now just buy something! Hey!" He blinked again. 'I guess that really was the bird. Huh.' Out of curiosity, he stepped closer, noticing several pots and boxes sitting beneath the tent, which was surrounded by an old wooden fence. He noticed a sign off to the side, which said
"Trill's Shop
Make payment at the box near the shopkeeper"
As he neared the gap in the fence, the bird - which he assumed was Trill - cawed at him.
"Welcome! Hey! Buy something! Anything!" He walked forward and noticed that the two pots had different liquids in them. One was a sickly yellow, with a sign on the pot that said
"Lantern oil refill - 20 Rupees
The woods are dangerous at night! Don't run out of lamp oil!
Dip in an empty bottle, or just stick your lantern in."
The other was a red liquid that smelled of herbs. Its pot had a sign on it that read
"Red potion refill - 30 Rupees
This blend of mushrooms and herbs replenishes life energy.
All of Hyrule orders it!
Dip in an empty bottle."
He glanced at his lantern, and realized that it still was at least half full. The red liquid, though, he had never seen before. He then realized that he would need something to hold the liquid in if he wanted to buy it, and he frowned. 'I don't have any bottles on me, do I…' Then he remembered the milk bottle Sera had given him. 'This should still be good…' He quickly drank the milk, noticing that his arm felt somewhat better afterwards. Then he cautiously dipped the now-empty bottle into the pot of the red potion, bringing it back up and putting the lid back on. The red potion easily slid off the glass bottle and back into the pot, for which Link was grateful. Then, once the bottle was back in his pocket, he looked around for where to put the payment. Remembering the sign in front of the fence, he walked over towards Trill's perch, and found a small box with a sign next to it that read
"Just drop the money in the box!
Hey! Just drop it!"
Glancing back at the sign for the red potion refills, he then returned to the box and dropped in 30 Rupees. Trill cawed and flapped his wings again.
"Thanks! Hey! Thanks so much!" Link nodded up at Trill. 'I feel like this potion will come in handy in the future…' With that thought, he turned and left the small shop, but not before Trill cawed out to him again.
"Thank you! Hey! Thank you! Come back sometime! Hey!" Link fought back the annoyance at Trill's constant cawing, finding himself grateful that Trill seemed content to stay at his shop rather than following Link around. For some moments, he aimlessly wandered around the area, occasionally bumping into and then slaying the plant monsters. In one corner, he found a small wooden chest behind a plant monster, with a yellow Rupee inside. Finally, however, he found himself on the strange path into the massive tree.
The tree itself was even larger and more imposing than it was from further away. Its branches twisted away into the sky, and Link couldn't even see how far down the roots were. The path itself seemed to be made up of a branch that was hollowed out by someone a long time ago, with jagged cuts in the bark on either side of the winding path. At the end of the path, he could just barely make out some wooden support beams. For a moment he wondered whether he should try looking up the path, when suddenly he heard the faint sounds of a panicked monkey shrieking. 'Could that be the monkey Talo was chasing?'
Without even a second thought, Link charged up the path, his sword already drawn. As he neared the end of the path, he noticed two more of the purple monsters standing on either side of a crude wooden cage, in which were both the monkey and - 'Talo!' Link charged at the first of the purple monsters, then leapt into the air to land a jumping strike on its head. While the monster was stunned he slashed again and again at its chest and stomach, until it fell dead onto the tiled stone floor. Within an instant, the other monster came up behind Link, and he spun around with his sword to catch the monster off-guard and send it flying backwards, landing on its back. When the monster hesitated for some moments, he leapt again for another jumping strike, then finished the job with a final slash across its face. To his satisfaction, the two monsters each had a blue Rupee in their wallets, which he eagerly added into his own wallet.
Despite the monsters being defeated, Talo and the monkey were still hysterically panicking inside the makeshift cage. For a moment Link was uncertain what to do, until an idea came to mind. 'Talo, monkey… forgive me, but I have to give this a try.' Drawing back his sword, he once again spun with the sword in a large arc. As expected, the thin wooden bars of the cage broke easily, and in no time Talo and the monkey were free. While he had been worried of scaring the two further, to his relief they both seemed to be more grateful to be free, with the monkey even jumping in the air and clapping in delight while Talo cheered. Link sighed in relief as he put the sword back onto his back. 'There's probably no easier way for me to express this…' He cleared his throat, getting Talo's attention and prompting the monkey to stop jumping and clapping.
"Talo. You need to come home. Now." Talo's eyes widened in surprise, both at Link speaking and at the authoritative tone with which he spoke. After a moment, Talo hung his head, and then nodded.
"... Sorry. I just.." Talo seemed to be at a loss for words. "Mayor Bo and everyone, they've been stressed out over the monkeys making trouble in the village, and.. I wanted to help." Talo's voice trailed off, and Link sighed. 'You can't help anyone by running off alone and getting yourself trapped, Talo. You'll just worry everyone.' Rather than voice this, however, he instead opted to gently pat Talo on the shoulder, and then gesture at the path back towards Ordon. Talo dejectedly nodded, and the two began to walk down the winding path away from the tree. Then, a few steps away, Talo turned back towards the monkey, who was still standing near the remains of the cage, curiously watching Link and Talo.
"... Bye. Sorry for all the trouble." He waved to the monkey, and for a moment it almost looked like the monkey was waving back at him. Link nudged Talo's shoulder, and the two continued back to Ordon.
Talo was quiet during the rest of the trek, his head hung down in embarrassment and shame. He stayed nearer to Link when they walked through the dark caves, or when they walked past where the blue or purple monsters had once been, but other than that Link barely noticed the boy's presence.
Finally, they reached the entrance of the first cave, nearby the man who had given Link the lantern. Link looked around, realizing that Epona was nowhere to be seen. 'Maybe she decided to run back home when I took too long getting back to her? Poor girl, she must be worried about me…' Talo looked up at Link, his regret plain on his face.
"If you hadn't come, Link…" Talo fidgeted as he spoke, "Gee, me and that monkey would've gotten eaten, probably!" Talo shivered, something that Link imagined wasn't entirely voluntary. 'Poor kid. I should probably tell Jaggle about this, so he and Pergie can keep an eye out for any nightmares he might have.' Talo looked back at the cave they had just come through, as if lost in thought.
"She's actually a pretty nice gal, that monkey… She tried to protect me, so we got captured together." Link nodded. 'That was nice of her. And it shows that I was right - the monkeys didn't mean any harm, so you shouldn't have been trying to harass them.' Talo looked at the ground for a few moments, and then back up at Link, now with a pleading expression.
"Um, Link…" Link raised an eyebrow. 'Yes?'
"You're not gonna mention this to my dad, are you?" Link nodded, and Talo winced and looked back at the ground.
"He's always telling me to never, EVER go into the forest, 'cause he says it's dangerous…" Link huffed. 'It is dangerous, Talo. You just said that if I hadn't come to save the both of you, you and the monkey could've been eaten.' Talo looked back up at Link, his expression shifting from pleading to outright begging.
"So you really can't tell him! Really! You have to promise!" Just as Link was about to shake his head, Talo ran off back to the village. Link sighed and began to walk back to the village as well. 'It's getting dark. I should make sure Talo doesn't get lost on the way back.' Suddenly, from his right, he heard Rusl's voice calling out to him.
"Link!" Giving a sigh of relief, Link turned towards Rusl.
"My son told me Talo disappeared into the woods and had not returned. I came as soon as I heard…" Link nodded approvingly. 'Good, Colin's got a good head on his shoulders. At least he thought to get an adult.' Rusl chuckled.
"But it looks like you have brought him home already…" Link raised an eyebrow. 'I brought him out of the forest, but he ran off when he realized I was going to tell Jaggle.' Rusl sighed. "I apologize. Such a task should not fall to you." Link shrugged. 'I've known the kid since he was born. I was there when he ran off. I would've felt terrible if I hadn't done something.' Rusl looked toward the cave, frowning.
"Tell me, have you noticed how strange the wood seems lately?" Link took a moment to think, shrugging initially. 'I've never really left Ordon before, so I didn't exactly have anything to compare it to.' But then he thought back to some of the things he saw in the forest. 'Though… Those blue and purple monsters didn't seem like they've always been here. The plant monsters, maybe, and the keese certainly. But the blue and purple ones, they seem new.' Rusl looked back at Link, the concern obvious in his voice.
"I feel… uneasy about what may lie in wait…" Link nodded thoughtfully. 'Yeah… If those blue and purple monsters are new to the area, then they must have come from somewhere. But where, and why?' Rusl stared off in the direction of the forest again for several moments, before shaking his head and looking back at Link.
"Anyway, Link…" Link sighed internally at the tone in Rusl's voice. 'You're going to talk about that gift for the royal family, aren't you.' Rusl offered an optimistic smile.
"Tomorrow is finally the day. You will be departing for Hyrule." This time Link's sigh was far from internal. 'Hopefully Fado doesn't lose control of all of the goats. There's no telling what kind of destruction those things will wreak upon Ordon if he can't figure out how to corral those lazy things from running off.'
"I think it is a good thing I have given this task to you…" Link again raised an eyebrow. 'This is about you not wanting to leave Uli alone while she's pregnant, isn't it.' He sighed. 'That's.. honestly fair, really.' Rusl chuckled again, giving Link a grin.
"Good luck! And return safely!" Link sighed once more, nodding. 'I'll do what I can.'
"If you are lucky, you may even get to meet Princess Zelda!" Rusl laughed as he said that. Link smirked. 'Aren't these gifts for Princess Zelda? Why wouldn't I get to meet her?'
With the discussion over, the two men made their way back to Ordon Village in a mostly comfortable silence. When they reached Link's house, Rusl bade him a good night's rest, and Link nodded and waved as Rusl walked down to the village to his own home. To his relief, Epona was safely back in her alcove, happily sleeping in the grass with the saddle and other equipment off of her. 'Maybe Rusl brought her back and took care of her equipment, and that's how he knew to wait for me by that cave. I'll have to thank him for that tomorrow before leaving for Hyrule.' He yawned and stretched, his tiredness from the day suddenly catching up to him. 'But first.. I need to sleep.'
He was asleep not long after his head fell upon the pillow in his bed.
