Immersed as he was in the conversation with the old man, Link was surprised to see they had already reached the summit of Mount Hylia. The icy breeze was the only distraction from the majestic view of the plateau and the lands beyond.
The shrine stood in the middle of the flat-topped peak. Link realized with sudden discomfort that it looked like a larger version of the rusted and bell-shaped metal monster he had seen half-submerged near the tower, though this relic did not bear clawed arms of metal. Like that creation and the chamber where Link had awoken, the shrine's metal surface was adorned with Sheikah-carved whorls. The curious patterns emitted a visible orange glow despite the noonday sun.
At close quarters, Link could now see there was more to the structure then he had first noted from the plateau below. A doorway identical to those in the Chamber of Resurrection marked the front of the shrine. It was sealed, however, with the door's horizontal divisions interlocked with nary a flaw nor gap to be found among them. A curved metal step extended a fair distance from the doorway. At its center was an inlaid circle of bronze patterns that also emitted orange light, and between that and the doorway: a squat pedestal bearing the Sheikah eye sigil. Link was sure that if he held his slate to it as he had with the latter pedestal in the Chamber of Resurrection, the doorway would open.
"Magnificent, isn't it?" the old man chuckled.
"Why did the Sheikah build this?" Link asked while slowly circling the shrine. "Surely not to hide away something as petty as treasure?"
"Oh no?" the old man replied with an amused tone. "How is it you know so much of what a Sheikah shrine contains?"
Link did not answer immediately. He did not think the old man would mock the tale of his awakening, but sharing it would raise more questions than he was able to answer.
"Fair enough, sir," Link replied with a quiet smile of his own. "Are you ready to find your treasure, or would you prefer to rest those old bones of yours?"
"Oho ho!" the old man bellowed with good humor. "Do not underestimate your elders, young man! They may yet surprise you. But as for this task, I believe we are at a misunderstanding. If you still require my paraglider, it is you alone who must earn it."
"You are familiar with these things, or at least the legends of them," Link protested. "Your knowledge can only help whatever need be done to retrieve your prize."
The old man shook his head while he began preparing the makings for another fire. Even at midday, the air at Mount Hylia's summit carried a chill sharp enough to pierce cloak and gloves.
"It is you alone who must do this, Link," he said intently without looking at him.
Link whipped around to face the old man who seemed to know everything - including a name never spoken nor shared.
"How do you know my name?" Link demanded. "Do you know who I am? How did I come to be here? Tell me, please!"
Again, the old man shook his head, but this time he met Link's desperate gaze with amber eyes full of compassion.
"You will know soon enough, Link," he said, quietly but with enough force to quell the possibility of changing his mind. "Enter the shrine. Bring back what you find and I shall tell you all."
With that, the old man went back to preparing the fire. Link stood and stared a moment longer. He could refuse. He could demand answers, declare he would go no further until his questions were answered to the fullest.
Looking at the old man, however, he was forced to admit such rash actions seemed unwarranted. He had been assured he would be told "all" after returning from the shrine. He did not doubt the old man's word, only the necessity thereof.
What is another hour or two, Link thought humorlessly, after one hundred years?
Swallowing his impatience, Link turned and faced the shrine. As soon as he raised the Sheikah Slate to the pedestal, it flared blue, and the doorway separated into rectangular pieces, each of them retreating into the sides of the arched frame. The inlaid circle on the step also changed from orange to bright blue.
A bronzed circle lay waiting on the floor just inside the doorway, a blue-glowing Sheikah eye at its center. Link stepped onto it, and with a shudder it broke away from the rest of the floor and descended into the core of the mountain.
The sigil-adorned platform descended in a pillar of blue light, the source of which Link could not identify. Despite dropping ever deeper into the mountain, Link felt the air warm rather than cool, until it was all but aligned with his own body. His hand strayed unconsciously to the hilt of the sword over his shoulder and gripped it reassuringly.
The narrow well opened into an enormous cavern that water and time never formed, and it was there the platform halted its descent. Link marveled as he tried to absorb the magnificent sight. The walls of the shrine rose high before meeting a vast ceiling that emanated blue light. Link noted the same Sheikah craftsmanship that marked the Chamber of Resurrection, though on a much larger scale. Bronze constellations with orange glowing points adorned walls of the smoothest metal. Wide beams of flawless stone cross-crossed the ceilings at random. Smaller walls of the same dark stone divided the shrine into smaller rooms and halls, with one of the latter beginning directly in front of where Link stood.
It was the object to the left of the hallway that seized Link's interest. He had seen it before atop the tower: a man-made stalactite, its blunt point hovering just above a squat pedestal. Link saw at once that, like its counterpart at the tower, the pedestal sported a rectangular hollow in its center that was sized perfectly to hold his Sheikah Slate.
Link was on the verge of stepping toward it when a voice sounded from everywhere and nowhere in the chamber.
To you who sets foot in this shrine, I am Oman Au. In the name of the Goddess Hylia, I offer this trial.
The voice sounded old, like a man at the end of long-lived life save that it did not lack for volume. Its tone did not threaten, but the mention of a "trial" was enough to send Link's hand back to the hilt of his sword, ready to unsheathe it should something appear.
Nothing did. The eerie blue and orange lights continued to cast their pale glow. Other than that, no sign of life revealed itself.
Slowly releasing his sword, Link realized this "trial" would not commence until he initiated it himself. Hoping the old man's treasure was worth whatever he was about to face, Link walked forward and placed the Sheikah Slate into the pedestal. Just as it had on the tower, the pedestal accepted the slate and rotated it until the smooth surface faced upward.
Sheikah Slate authenticated. Distilling runes.
It was the lifeless, monotonous voice Link had heard upon activating the tower. The glowing constellation around the slate flared blue light, and blue-glowing symbols began flowing down the pillar. As inexplicably as they had on the tower, the symbols coalesced into a tangible tear of blue liquid, which dropped and splashed onto the smooth surface of the slate.
Four small, empty squares appeared on the slate's face, aligned along the right side of the map. Each contained different symbols within them: a sideways 'U,' a circle, a lock, and a snowflake.
Task complete, the pedestal proffered the slate back to Link, who took it no wiser as to what had just happened. No other instructions were shown or spoken, leaving him no choice but to follow the narrow hallway into the depths of the shrine.
Link drew his sword this time, unwilling to allow the element of surprise to whatever "trial" awaited him. The end of the hallway, however, did not reveal any foe. It was just a large room, its two side walls made of the same flawless metal. The wall opposite Link, however, was made of several large squares of stone, all wedged tight. In the middle of the room rested a large sphere of iron.
Sheathing his blade, Link wandered around the sphere and to the far wall. There was no pedestal to indicate an unopened door, nor did either of the mysterious voices offer further instruction. What manner of trial was this?
Link paused his pacing and racked his brain. His experience with other Sheikah structures had revolved around the use of his slate. The Chamber of Resurrection had released him from sleep. The tower had shown him his location. The shrine?
Link removed the slate from its belt hooks. The smooth surface immediately displayed the map, his yellow arrow glowing on the top of Mount Hylia. The "runes" were also there. Recalling how certain objects on the map had reacted to his touch, he hesitantly poked a finger at the first symbol, the U-shaped rune.
The rune flashed blue, and words appeared below the map:
Magnesis: manipulate metallic objects
Link frowned. It could not mean what…
His eyes widened with understanding. Link ran to the iron sphere. One rap of the knuckles revealed what he had hoped: the thing was solid throughout. His idea should work. But how to go about it?
The Magnesis rune on the Slate still glowed blue. Unsure what would happen, he extended the Sheikah Slate toward the sphere, and pressed the rune again with his thumb.
A rope of red light shot forth from the slate and struck the sphere. Link could feel the weight of it on the other end, knew he was now connected to it through the power of the rune. Trusting that feeling, he raised the slate higher, and was rewarded with the sight of the metal orb also rising effortlessly into the air.
So that was it. The runes were the key to unlocking this trial. Elated with his discovery and awed by the slate's power, Link moved forward until he was close enough to the stone-blocked wall. Swinging the slate and sphere like some enormous mace and chain, Link smashed a large portion of the wall out of the way. Beyond it lay another hallway.
The passage was too narrow to bring the sphere with him. Another tap of the Magnesis rune deactivated it, leaving the metal orb to fall with a heavy thud.
This hallway also opened into another room which, like its predecessor, sported a wall of tightly packed stone blocks. There was no sphere here, however, and Link was forced again to consult the Sheikah Slate for answers.
The magnesis rune was the top-most to appear on the slate, and that had been the first rune needed. Hoping he was correct, Link pressed the second, which was a simple circle. Words appeared.
Bomb: Damage or destroy objects
Link understood the concept now, even if he was not sure how this specific rune worked. Raising and pointing the slate toward the far wall, he pressed the rune. He nearly jumped, however, when a bright blue sphere suddenly appeared in his right hand.
He held it up to better examine it. It seemed made entirely of blue light, but it was smooth and solid to the touch and fit perfectly in his hand. A different light in his left hand caught his attention. The Bomb rune on the slate, rather than remaining solid blue, was flashing.
Reading the rune's description once more, Link remained well away from the stone wall. He was not about to wound or kill himself with a careless experiment. Hoping he was right, Link threw the blue sphere at the tightly packed stone. It hit the floor without making a sound, but nothing else of interest occurred. Fearing he had erred, Link pressed the rune again to ensure it was working correctly.
The blue sphere exploded, showering the room in debris and dust and sending shards of stone ricocheting off the metal walls. Link was grateful he had placed himself on the other side of the chamber. After a short coughing spell, Link looked up and saw the far wall now sported a jagged hole through which he could climb.
"The old man will owe me more than a paraglider and a story after this," Link murmured as he shook his head to rid himself of the bomb's sound and dust.
The next chamber was larger than the previous. Unlike its predecessors, the far hallway was blocked not by a stone wall, but by a line of large stone spheres that rolled unceasingly across the room. Link could not fathom where the boulders came from nor where their narrow track took them after disappearing into a tunnel through the other wall, but he knew he could not chance running between them without being crushed.
He consulted his slate once again, this time selecting the rune shaped like a basic padlock. Words once again appeared below the map.
Stasis: Stop an object's flow in time
Stop time? It sounded like something from a child's fantasy. Link was dubious, but the Sheikah technology had not failed him yet. Holding up the slate once again, he pointed it toward the tunnel from which the stones entered the room and pressed the rune.
A flash of golden light lanced out from the slate, striking a boulder just as it emerged. It stopped in place, and the spheres behind it began stacking up behind it, their weight and momentum completely failing to budge their halted leader. Link was momentarily flabbergasted. This power was beyond belief, but here it was, happening in front of his own disbelieving eyes.
Then he saw the frozen sphere begin to flash with the same golden light with which it had been struck. It blinked faster and faster, and Link immediately realized the rune's effect could only be temporary. He bounded through to the hallway just before the boulder sprang to life, speeding along its track once again with its fellows close behind. Catching his breath after the brief moment of panic, Link moved on to what he hoped was the final portion of the trial.
Another large chamber awaited him, but this one was covered with a thin sheet of water. Instead of a hallway, a raised platform stood on the other end. Its sides were made of the same flawless metal that covered the walls of the shrine, and no obvious stairs or handholds presented themselves as a means to reach the top. Link could see part of a blue-glowing something on top of the platform, which rose twice his height above the water-covered chamber.
He consulted the Sheikah Slate for a fourth time, and pressed his index finger on the final rune shaped like a perfect snowflake.
Cryonis: Create pillar of ice from liquid surface
Link thought this rune was the easiest to understand. It did not prevent him from marveling, however, upon seeing it function. Walking to the very front of the platform, he pointed the slate toward the floor directly beneath him and touched the final rune.
A perfect square of ice appeared beneath his feet and began rising rapidly. It did not appear to use up any of the existing water in the chamber. The square-shaped pillar merely emerged from it before stopping exactly level with the platform.
Wondering at the miracle of it all, Link stepped off the ice and onto the platform, only to cry out at seeing what awaited him. Encased in an enormous box of transparent blue light sat the remains of a man, long dead, on a dust-covered throne of bronze. The bones bore only a pendant around the neck, on which was engraved the Sheikah eye sigil Link had seen numerous times.
He approached slowly, wondering how long these remains had been here. Link briefly entertained the wild thought that this was some sort of trick, that the old man had lured him here so he, too, would live out his days in this underground tomb before suffering a slow, agonizing death.
Your resourcefulness speaks to the promise of a hero.
It was the old, paper-thin voice Link had heard upon first entering the shrine, but this time it seemed to emit directly from the dead Sheikah. It did not move. Even its face was stationary, making Link wonder if he had only imagined the voice and its origin. Then it spoke again.
May the Goddess smile upon you.
Blue light flared to Link's right, and he saw a door in the wall open to reveal a circular platform identical to the one that had carried him down into the mountain. With a last glance at the box and its dead occupant, Link realized with a start that he had yet to find the treasure for which he had come in the first place. He had seen none in the previous rooms, and he looked around eagerly, assuming it would await here, at the end of the trial.
Nothing presented itself. No chests or tables containing riches or valuables. No hidden door opened to reveal fiscal rewards. Link wondered if someone had indeed already been here, had perhaps used his or her own Sheikah Slate to obtain the treasure within the shrine.
If they have, Link thought firmly, there is nothing I can do about it. At least I have the runes. Perhaps those can help me if the old man won't.
Securing the Sheikah Slate onto his belt, Link walked to and stood on the platform. As it began to rise, he could not help wondering why such an unusual set of events were happening to someone who simply wanted to remember who he was.