There was no doubt in Link's mind that he'd found the right place. The water had been extremely hot, but his earring prevented any heat beyond a comfortable warmth. At the bottom of the pool's deepest section, Link had discovered what he'd been expecting: a hidden door vaguely shaped like the rock it was cut from. No one would've discovered it unless they chose to dive all the way down there, which would be dangerous to anyone not protected in some way.
He'd been forced to return to the surface to pull on the Golden Gauntlets, the water made it too difficult to get any leverage against the door, but he'd managed to get the thing open and, when he did, water burst out of the opening in a sudden geyser. After letting the whole place calm down, Link had dived down and found the ruins of an underground city. He'd been searching that city all day, he was sur e, but there was no sun to gauge with , and he'd been judging time based on the number of times he'd gotten hungry and stopped for food.
Aside from the heat that would've prevented almost anyone from exploring down here, there hadn't been that much danger, at least in the area not yet tainted with Ganondorf's touch. He'd been in both parts, and the difference was incredible. The city had once been a Goron residence, Link thought, though no writing or statues had survived the ages (Link had quickly found that the greater city was not enchanted with the same Hylian magic as the other remnants Link had found so far). It was sad, Link had had good friends among the Gorons across his many lives, and their architecture had always been so distinctive from the Hylian's, even in the times of greater decline.
Still, if the slow wearing down by the ages had disfigured the architecture, it was nothing compared to what Ganondorf had done. The affected areas took ruins and made them nightmarish. The red glow that lit the entire city was dulled to near obscurity, and instead the stone structures emanated a purple so dark it was almost black from hundreds of snakelike cracks that riddled every structure and the very volcano. Each building looked like it could be toppled from just being shoved a little too hard. That Link knew he possessed the strength to do that anyway didn't make him feel safer.
Still, the oddest part of it all was the… lack of external dangers. No monsters of Ganondorf's make or otherwise prowled about, no spirits haunted the streets or the buildings. The only danger came from the actual decay of the very stone which, even in the short time Link had been exploring, was slowly spreading even further than it already had. Still, Link didn't worry very much about that, the stone under his feet never gave way and nothing seemed in danger of falling on its own. Yet.
Link's real problem was just how big the entire place was. The ruins circled around the sides of the Stromboli volcano, set on ledges, but there were several layers. It proved dangerous work looking for safe places to climb up, down, or sideways to another ledge to explore, especially because of all the decay in the stones. One broken handhold could very well mean falling down to whatever floor or, more likely, magma waited for him at the bottom.
All of this was making for a very slow exploration overall. Evidenced by that fact that he hadn't yet found anything of note or usefulness.
Agent Hill was infuriated that her team couldn't follow Link. It had taken a day, but they'd worked out he'd somehow ventured into the very volcano. It wasn't that Shield lacked the resources to explore a volcano if need be, the issue was the volatility of the stone. The entrance they'd found, that they assumed Link had used, was riddled with cracks that threatened to cause the cave opening to collapse at the slightest provocation.
Since then, now three days since he'd dashed off and vanished, she's been stuck having her team look for an alternate route, watching the four identical black robed figures they'd seen so far (the same as the first that had filled Hill with fear with a look), and keeping watch to be certain they didn't miss Link's exit from the volcano. Not that he couldn't just be invisible when he left, seriously: there was no end to the difficulty of tracking Link.
Link was starting to think he didn't need to sleep as much as humans. He couldn't tell exactly how long it had been since he'd been down here, but it had to be a few days by now, based on the number of meals he'd stopped for. In all that time, he hadn't slept a wink nor felt the need to.
Looking back, this wasn't a particularly new development either. His parents, as well as Serine, had drilled into him the habit of getting eight hours of sleep a night, but anytime he'd gotten substantially less than that he'd never had any problems waking up at the right time and staying functional all day. In fact, the only time he could remember being so tired it actually took a toll on him was after his back-to-back battles against the boss hydra and then the small army of adolescent hydras.
Food, on the other hand, was the one thing he still needed on a constant basis and he was actually starting to run out again. His exploration of the volcano might need to be put on hold. A short time ago, he'd managed to find a way to the main entrance but it was so heavily damaged by Ganondorf's curse Link was certain it had been where the curse had first been placed. Eventually, he would have to brave it anyway, as Link doubted he'd be able to exit from the same place he'd come in, but not just yet. He'd finally found a safe path to a very deep section of the city that actually had something shining on it.
The shining thing, Link soon found, was ice. A small glacier encircling what appeared to be a small temple. Only one thing could keep ice unmelted in the middle of a volcano: magic. Which meant it would likely be impervious to normal means of destruction. Still, Link had held many tools for channeling ice magic in the past, the spells usually didn't hold up well against other sources of magic.
Standing just a little ways back from the ice formation, Link pulled his Fire Rod from his inventory, and charged its largest tier of power. The column of flame that erupted did cause damage to the glacier, but oddly it all melted equally, not just where the heat actually was. Perhaps the flame magic was eating at the ice magic as a whole rather than in a specific section?
The casting ate at Link's magic reserve quickly, as he had to keep recasting it periodically. And when he was empty, the ice still prevented him from getting far in the temple. Still, this entire place was sacred, and his magic did recharge here. All he had to do was wait and keep casting.
Eventually, Link was able to walk into the temple fully, though the glacier still filled the greater part of the interior, and he was able to see more of what was inside. Creatures that had clearly once been at least partially rock-based swarmed the grounds, all appeared to h ave been headed for the back of the temple, but Link could not yet see what it was that might've caused all this. He also couldn't tell if these rock-monsters might be still alive, just waiting for the ice to break down and melt.
On the next casting from the Fire Rod, one of the creatures was freed, but it just collapsed into a pile of rubble. Whatever magic had once given it life, one thing or another had broken the spell. As the hours wore on, each successive rock-monster proved to be dead, and Link started to think he could see what they'd been after. A humanoid shape stood facing the once-oncoming hoard. There was something in its hands, though Link couldn't see what.
Of all the other ideas of what could've happened here, his saddest proved true. A Goron stood, perfectly preserved by the ice yet eyes staring unseeingly outward, holding the sister of the very item currently in Link's hand. An Ice Rod. Whatever invasion these rock-creatures had been part of, this last Goron had clearly used the magical item as a final resort, a gambit that had seemingly paid off. When Link finally cleared all the ice away, the center of the iceberg had proven to be just in front of the goron, the poor rock-eater collapsed to the ground, lifeless as the rocks around it.
Link didn't know what Goron burial ceremonies might've been like, none of his memories held any such events for any of the races that had existed alongside Hylians , so he sent a prayer to Nayru, the Golden Goddess of Wisdom who had created all good life aside from Hylians themselves, and lifted the creature (after taking the Ice Rod) and carried it to the ledge where Link could see magma boiling below. He dropped the creature in, hoping he hadn't done something greatly disrespectful. Then he turned to leave the cavern to resupply. He had an idea now how to safely leave this volcano.
Agent Hill was taking a coffee break when her team members alerted her that Link was back. Of course, they'd recorded what happened so she could watch it. The entrance, they still hadn't found another, had suddenly frozen over. The heat pouring out of that cavern should've made that impossible, but Link had climbed out through the hole all the same. The ice hadn't lasted forever though: instead of melting, cracks had snaked their way throughout the formation and then shattered it. Only then had the ice melted. Still, it added some kind of cryokinesis to Link's growing list of supernatural abilities.
"Where's he going now?" Hill wondered aloud.
Link was currently buying supplies again, long lasting food he could somehow carry everywhere with little or no regard to weight or volume.
"No saying. That guy just… goes where he wants to. I mean he just walked into and out of a volcano. You think those ice powers let him resist heat? Is that how he just… stayed down there so long?"
"Could be," Hill said noncommittally. "Where are the dark robes?"
"Uh…" The agent checked. "They're pretty scattered, three wandering the island away from anyone, the fourth is in the other village."
Hill grunted. She wondered what would happen if they found what they were looking for, which seemed to be Link. Would they just attack regardless of bystanders? Would Link run as he had before? Or… would he be able to kill those… things? Hill shuddered, remembering again the fear she felt after seeing one's face.
"Wait, there's a fifth!" "What?!" Hill asked, "How'd we miss it? Where is it?" "Don't know, and it's climbing into the volcano right where Link climbed out." "He's not in there anymore... so I guess they missed him. But what does any of this mean?" "Who knows... looks like Link's renting a room at the inn. Guess he's tired of sleeping on rocks."
Ten hours later, Hill wished she had a way to warn Link one of those dark robed figures had climbed into the volcano because after his sleep he'd dived right back in. Hill might not know what Link really was or what his goals were, but those dark robed... things, those were evil. They did learn one thing about that ice he used though: it came from a blue wand of some kind—which he'd pulled from nowhere, of course.
Link had been shocked to find he'd been down in the volcano for a week. A week without sleeping. A week without eating quite as much as he'd thought he needed to. Still, he'd slept well in that tiny inn, and now he was back, trying to figure out a puzzle. With. No. Puzzle.
This city was huge, but there was no marker or clue to tell him where to go or what to do. He couldn't even track the epicenter of Ganondorf's curse on the place. He'd tried over and over to pinpoint somewhere, anywhere, to go but it almost felt like... there wasn't one. All the while, that same curse ate away at the Goron city ruins. Eventually the whole place would just crumble and collapse. If he and the residents of this island where unlucky, it might even trigger an eruption. Stromboli was still an active volcano. Searching again for the epicenter of the curse, Link noticed that one of those five points of evil had traversed into the ruins.
This triggered a new thought. The other four were all still above ground, and scattered pretty far out over the island. They had not left the island despite not having had any proof for a week that Link was still around. Was it possible the five of them made up the epicenter? He pinpointed the one he'd sensed inside the volcano a few levels above him, in a heavily cursed area, of course. Still, Link now had a way to traverse this crumbling city safely. The Ice Rod in his hands created magical ice that resisted, at least for a time, the curse of decay Ganondorf had placed on this city. It meant he could easily fill the cracks in, solidifying the ground, and even provide for himself good, if cold, handholds for climbing. And, since this place refilled his magic, he could do this without worry of using up his magic and being trapped somewhere. Hoping he wasn't doing something incredibly stupid, Link started to make his way towards the dark robed figure.
He found it in a very unfavorable place. Mainly, it was the terrain that gave Link pause. The creature seemed to be wandering exclusively near ledges and cliffs that dropped all the way to the magma slowly bubbling far below. Of course, if Link could throw it in there he had no doubt it would die, but it's plan was clearly something similar. It hadn't seen Link yet, though he didn't have any good places to hide that put him close enough for a surprise attack. Still, he had a plan. If the creature wanted to try and push him over the side, Link intended to cut off that option for the both of them. He slipped the Fire Rod from his inventory.
Holding the rod in his shield hand and his sword in the other, Link stepped out to where the robed figure could see him. It jerked its head towards him, though the hood still covered its face, and it raised an inhuman hand from under its cloak. The hand was still like a man's, but it was far two thin and looked diseased at that, like someone had pulled all the moisture from the flesh, and left a grey husk behind.
Link didn't wait to see what it would do, he poured magic into the Fire Rod and brought it around in a perimeter like he was drawing a line that passed behind the creature and blocked off the cliff edge. Flames sprung out where he drew his imaginary line, but at the point where the dark robed figure stood between Link and the line he wanted drawn, the creature caught fire instead. Lesson learned: his target had to be a straight shot from the tip of the Fire Rod, otherwise whatever lay between would take the assault instead.
This meant that there was a gap in the flames meant to force a duel in a ring of fire and, theoretically, one of them could still be thrown into the molten rock below. But it also might just have saved Link's life: magic had just started to congeal at the tip of the creature's finger, but the flames suddenly appearing all around it made the being stop and thrash instead. Whatever the creature actually was, the cloak didn't appear to be part of its body, as it was able to pull the rapidly diminishing cloth free of itself and cast it away.
The creature that was revealed was hideous. It's entire body was dry and blackened like the arm Link had seen, but when his eyes reached its face…
Fear broke through his calm and he began to sweat in a way that had nothing to do with the volcano or the ring of flames. Desperately, he searched for a way to get out, a way free of this wall of fire that trapped him with that… that thing. He suddenly remembered a place, a safe place, somewhere no one would ever find him. It was all the way back…
Something in his mind grasped at reason, this fear wasn't his. He'd faced worse and done it almost with a smile on his face. This… Link became aware of magic touching his mind, and he shoved it aside with with own power. It wasn't actually a very strong spell, and didn't take much of his magic to remove, but there was a drain on his magic. The Fire Rod.
It all came back to Link and be spun to face the creature that had enchanted his mind with a look. He'd been powering the flames that encircled him and this shade with the Fire Rod, and that was steadily eating at his reserve. In the madness of the enchantment, Link had already turned to leave even though he himself powered the trap. Now that he was facing his enemy again, he saw that the shade was entirely faceless, just dead-looking grey skin stretched thin over a smooth skull, disgusting, but far from the avatar or fear the enchantment made it out to be. The moment he looked at the featureless head he felt the enchantment try to settle back on him, but he pushed it away again easily.
Understanding now what his enemy was capable of, he cut off the flow of magic to the Fire Rod and put it away, pulling free his Mirror Shield instead. As soon as the shade had realized he was no longer susceptible to its main effect, it had raised its hands again to cast some spell with a color somewhere between black and purple, and did not shine so much as blackened out light. Link thought he was seeing the magic by virtue of not seeing, as if the world were a painting on a black canvas, and the spell were a point where the artist had not put anything.
It fired the bolt and Link shielded it, the magic reflected right back at the creature and tore a hole through its arm on impact. The creature made a sound closer to a croak than a scream but Link wasn't waiting to see what would happen. He crashed into the shade shield first, attempting to batter it closer to the edge of the cliff. The shade staggered away but, even as Link watched, it's wounded arm was already closing.
Link then realized what this thing must be: a direct puppet of Ganondorf's. He could sense the dark magic flowing in to heal the wound it's own shot had caused, and it was coming from an external source. Thing thing was a drone for Link's ancient enemy. It's powers didn't appear to be that strong, but there was little doubt Ganondorf did or at least could see through this shade's eyes. Dangerous, but not in a traditional sense, this thing wasn't empowered to kill Link, but to locate and test him.
Knowing that, Link had little difficulty in overwhelming the shade and throwing it off the cliff into the magma below. The question now, was what to do about the other four, which were all converging on Link's position. If he wasn't careful, he could end up fighting the lot of them all at once. They may not have been made to be particularly dangerous, but he doubted they wouldn't at least try to take him out here. He'd need to use a human tactic for this one: divide and conquer.
Three days after all five of the robed figures had entered the volcano, Agent Hill's team reported Link leaving it the same way he'd come in and out before, only bloodied. He didn't move like he was injured, but the blood was there. The popular theory was that the blood belonged to the robes and Hill was inclined to agree, whatever they were: Link had likely killed them.
After climbing out of the volcano, he'd walked to a natural hot spring and washed him and his clothes free of blood before going again to take a room at the inn. It was heavily argued that by now he'd proven he was dangerous enough to warrant action on Shield's part, but Hill made it clear they wouldn't move until they had orders to. Then she'd made another report that emphasized, again, that she agreed he needed to be approached, peacefully, if possible. Whatever those robed people were, they'd made her try to run away with a look, and Link had probably killed them. If nothing else, they needed to know what those were and how to deal with them, because believing those five to be the last of them was pure naïveté.
The fishermen of Stromboli island were becoming very nervous, there were no fish anywhere to by found around Stromboli island.