Born a Weapon

A Twilight Princess Fan story

Chapter 38

Blue Abyss

That day was Link's last day recovering, and he decided to test his new armor. To his surprise, the black cloth over his face stopped water from passing and allowed him to breathe. Intrigued, Link decided to push the limits of his new gear, discovering that as long as he wore half or more of the armor, he could breathe fine. Less than half strained his oxygen but still blocked water from passing his mask. Less than a fourth, and it stopped working entirely.

For the rest of the day, he helped Captain Bryon with some tasks and provided any information he could about the bulbins, monsters, and masked men. After they started discussing combat moves, Bryon offered to spar with Link.

The battle started slow, with both warriors attempting to gauge each other's strengths. Armed with a large tower shield and a spear, Captain Bryon had the advantage of reach over Link. However, Link was more agile than him. He blocked and dodged the Captain's attacks before smacking the spear away with his wooden sword and counterattacking with a shield bash. The Captain responded with the same move, causing their wooden shields to clash. Link struck again, bashing Bryon's shield with a much harder hit, destabilizing the captain. Despite his quick recovery, Link managed to slip past his defenses and held his wooden sword to his throat.

The rest of their matches ended in similar ways. Bryon knew how to use his tower shield and spear to keep his enemies at a distance and protect himself, but Link was fast and skilled, always managing to break or outmaneuver his defenses.

"You might be better than Sean," the captain said, his voice filled with a mix of admiration and surprise, "and I haven't seen anyone beat him in years."

"You've known him for a while?" Link asked.

"I've known him his whole life. He's my younger brother."

"I see. Are you worried about how he's doing?"

"From what I heard, he's doing okay. For some reason, after we left, the siege lightened a bit, and we can slip a few people past them now. I was able to get a letter from him."

When they finally parted ways, Byron gave Link a large number of bombs he claimed Barnes had recently created to function underwater, saying someone like him would be the most likely to need them. The timing surprised Link, but he took them before heading to bed and hoping to finally end the day.

Now, a dark, blue abyss lay before Link. The lake contained much more water than it had when zora's domain was frozen, and even then, Link couldn't see the bottom. With his gear secured and his surprisingly impatient companion nagging him, Link slipped the magical black fabric over his face and jumped into the water. Taking a deep breath, Link began swimming down. As he went deeper, the amount of light from the surface began to dim, but he kept going. Eventually, Link could make out several turquoise lights in the distance that seemed attached to a large structure. When the hero finally reached them, he noticed he was now at the bottom of the lake.

"Finally," grumbled his shadowy companion, who he could barely make out in the darkness. "I thought you'd be swimming forever. Silently, Link examined his surroundings. Several dark blue stone pillars had artistic designs carved into them and were infused with a glowing turquoise stone similar to that in the zora king's tomb. The pillars led to a wall of the same stone with an opening a few feet off the ground. The massive structure, faintly illuminated in an eerie blue glow in the middle of a dark abyss, sent a shiver down Link's spine, but he did not hesitate.

Link cautiously swam through the opening, ready to draw his weapon at a moment's notice. The sudden change from a massive space so large that Link couldn't see the edges to a small tunnel about the size of a house was startling. He felt uneasy being in the water with potential threats since he could not move as fast as he could on land. The eerie silence was deafening as he swam, eyes darting around the tunnel.

The passage slowly began turning up, and Link was about to follow it when a tentacle suddenly shouted out at him. Having been so cautious, Link was ready for an attack and severed the tentacle with his sword before swimming away as fast as he could. The remainder of the tentacle reeled back in pain before another shot at the hero. As he swiftly moved down, he saw this tentacle had electricity dancing along it, and he quickly stopped his swing, knowing his metal sword would only make things worse for him. A giant jellyfish emerged from the tunnel and began moving towards the hero. The creature was about the size of Link and seemed determined to end him. Unexpectedly, this jellyfish would be the hardest enemy to kill Link had faced yet. Lacking any vital organs meant that it would still survive even if Link cut it to pieces, but it may no longer be a threat.

Link avoided tentacles for the next few minutes and slashed with his sword when the jellyfish was not electrified. The process was slow, and Link could hear muffled voices from Midna, but eventually, the aquatic monster lay in pieces at the bottom of the tunnel. Link looked at his sword and silently cursed. He had no idea how quickly the metal would degrade underwater and prayed it would last. He placed it back into the sheath and swam up the now-open tunnel, seeing the water end in a circular opening. Quickly swimming to the top, he grasped the edge and pulled himself out, now standing on blue tiles. He immediately removed his sword from his back, dumped the water out of the sheath, and wiped down his blade with a piece of cloth.

As he tended to his sword, he looked around the room. The area seemed to be an entrance with more elegant carvings lining the walls and two sets of staircases leading to a door. He was only allowed seconds to tend to his sword and examine the room before his annoyed companion emerged.

"What the hell was that?! Why wouldn't it die?" she demanded.

"It had no organs," Link said as he tried to get all the water out of his scabbard, "It's hard to fight something like that with a sword." As Link struggled with his blade, Midna floated over the door, examining the carvings in the stone.

"What do you think this place is?" she asked, tracing her hand across a symbol.

"The writing on the entrance said it was a temple dedicated to water spirits, but I get the feeling it hasn't been used for that in a long time."

"There was writing on the entrance?"

"There was," Link confirmed as he opened the door to reveal a room with a floor 10 feet lower than him. A destroyed bridge lay across the room to another door. Link jumped down to the floor and began making his way across the room. "It might have looked like more carvings to you because it was written in Zoran."

"You can read Zoran?" Link stopped walking for a second, realizing he never knew he could read the zora's written language.

"Uh… I guess so." After climbing up to the next door and opening it, Link arrived on an unbroken bridge over a large stream of flowing water with tall see-through walls. Link's attention was quickly drawn to a figure on the other side of the bridge who had just noticed his arrival. A humanoid lizard with green scales drew a curved, jagged sword from its waist and charged Link. Link leaned back to avoid the blow and countered, but his blade was blocked by a small buckler shield strapped to the lizard's wrist. Link tried to stab the lizard, but it jumped in the air and landed on the other side of the bridge.

Link advanced, meeting his enemy at the halfway point of the bridge, and they stared at each other, thinking and waiting. The lizard swung, its attack being blocked by Link, who was ready to counter before noticing a shift in the lizard's stance and a twitch in its tail. Link quickly ducked, barely avoiding a double-sided axe attached to the creature's tail. While lowered, he swung at the lizard's legs, cutting one and severing the other. The lizard fell to the ground with an inhuman shriek, and Link plunged his blade into its chest. The monster twitched but eventually stilled, its blood slowly forming a pool under it.

"What was that?" Midna questioned, wondering how such a creature could have gotten inside a temple at the bottom of a lake.

"A Lizalfos. They're as intelligent as bulbins but are a lot faster and more agile, but bulbins tend to be physically stronger than them." Link sheathed his sword and quickly checked if the Lizalfos had a map or something useful. "We'll probably see a lot of them in here. They rarely travel alone."

"Great! More things to slow us down!" Midna threw her hands in the air, "how did they even get down here?"

"Lizalfos are great swimmers, and it would be easy for them to get here, but why is another question?"

"They must be here for the Fused Shadow."

"Why are you so sure?" Link questioned as he made his way to the next door. I don't doubt it, but there are plenty of other things they might want in a temple. All sorts of valuables might be in here."

"None of that stuff matters," Midna scoffed, "We can't let them get the Fused Shadow." Walking through the door, Link entered a large room that seemed to be the center of the temple. The room was circular, with the floor only lining the edge, reminding Link of a balcony instead of a floor. Countless doors lined the wall of the floor Link was on, and another was below him, joined by a descending staircase attached to a pillar in the middle of the room. Inside a pillar next to the stairs was a lever that Link decided not to pull without knowing its purpose. While his companion stared at the numerous doors with a furious look, Link began circling the room while looking for anything that stood out. On the back of the pillar supporting the staircase was a large ornate door with a small platform allowing someone to stand in front of it.

"Midna!" Link called to his companion, gaining her attention. As she flew over to him, he pointed to the door he had found. "That door looks important." Midna floated down to the door and tried to open it. She tried pushing and sliding the door with her hands and hair, but it didn't budge.

"It's locked!" Midna yelled across the gap before giving the door a hard smack with her hair. "Now what?"

"Do you see a keyhole?" There were a few moments of silence before he got an answer.

"Yes, there's one in the center."

"We'll have to find the key then. It has to be in one of these rooms."

"You mean one of these countless rooms?" Midna remarked as she floated back to him. "This is going to take forever!" Link chose not to say anything as he moved towards the closest room, wondering why Midna had been surprisingly aggressive recently. Taking more time to think about it, he realized she had been acting strange for a long time. It could be stress, but Link got a bad feeling he couldn't explain. Link pushed the feeling down for now and entered the room.

A long hallway stretched before Link, the walls covered in Zoran writing but did not reach the ceiling. He made his way through it, Midna impatiently flying past him as he skimmed the words. It detailed the history of the zora, with each section explaining a different part of their history.

"Link!" Midna called from the end of the hallway, sounding surprised. Once Link jogged up to her, she pointed to the furthest wall, which seemed to be the most detailed, with carvings covering every inch of it. "Isn't that… you?"

"What?" Stepping closer, Link examined the massive wall. Carvings of Link, both as a child and an adult, were on the wall. Once he read the text, his confusion cleared. "No, this is the hero of time, my predecessor. He's the one who owned the green tunic I wear."

"He looks like you. It's creepy. Except for the kid. Why is he here?"

"That's him as a kid. The hero of time started his adventure as a child but traveled forward in time to when he was an adult. Some of the details are vague since he is the only one who remembers that future, but after he won in the future, he traveled back in time and undid the damage to Hyrule."

"Ugh, time travel sounds complicated. Whatever, he's not important right now." Midna floated back down the hallway away from the dead end, but Link looked closer at the center of the wall. The most extravagant carving showed the hero of time fighting himself, but the second carving of him was colored black, the only part of the wall with any color. Confused, Link read the nearby writing.

The Hero of Time encountered a dark copy of himself when exploring the Water Temple. This dark copy perfectly matched the hero's skill, leading to one of the most challenging fights in the hero's adventure, which may have lasted hours. Thankfully, the hero knew his own weaknesses and was able to recognize and exploit them in his foe, emerging victorious.

Link's eyes widened slightly as he remembered where he had heard of a fight like that before but was snapped back to the present when Midna impatiently called for him.

Link slowly crossed a bridge with a seemingly bottomless gap, wondering where it went. While Link wondered about the pit, a Lizalfos tried to sneak up on him and cut off his head. The hero caught the creature's sword arm and swiftly flipped the Lizalfos over his shoulder into the massive hole. After all the time he had spent in the temple, Lizalfos didn't even faze him anymore. Marking down the room in his journal, Link made his way toward the door to the next. About an hour into the start of his search, Link decided to make a map of the temple in his journal. He lost track of how long he had been exploring, but he and Midna had stopped to sleep a few times by now, the twili getting more agitated with each passing day. Link put the journal back into his pouch when he realized the next room had a water tunnel on the floor, and he raised the mask over his face before diving in. The tunnel led down before curving up the length of several floors. Link pulled himself out of the tunnel into a large room with a thin layer of water covering the entire floor up to his ankles. The room was almost as big as Ordon Village and only seemed to have one remarkable feature.

"What is that?" Midna questioned, floating around the strange device, her hand hovering over it. Sitting upon a pedestal was a strange metal device that Link realized could fit around his forearm with a three-pronged claw at the end. Looking at the claw, he discovered the prongs' tips were very sharp and were made of a metal Link had never seen before. Deciding to risk touching it, Link picked up the device and looked into the hole at the bottom, seeing a handle inside. He slid it over his left hand and began feeling inside, finding a series of buttons. Pressing one, the claw snapped shut loudly, startling him and Midna. Pressing it again made the claw open, and when he pressed another button, the claw suddenly shot out. It slammed into the stone pedestal it once rested on, automatically closing its prongs and piercing the stone. The claw itself was attached to the rest of the device by what seemed to be a metal rope. Staring at the claw in stunned silence, Link pressed another button, and his arm was pulled forward, slamming into the claw.

"I think I know what this is," Link said slowly as he pushed a button to open the claw, freeing it from the stone. He pointed it at the nearby wall, opening the claw before firing it. The claw slammed into the wall, the prongs piercing the stone, and then Link began flying through the air until he reached the spot the claw had pierced. Opening the claw, he dropped the short distance to the ground.

"That thing lets you fly?" Midna questioned, taking the device when Link handed it to her so she could get a better look at it.

"Well… sort of, I guess."

"If you can fly to wherever that claw lands, getting around is going to be a lot easier now." She handed the device back to Link, who mentally dubbed it the clawshot, just before a strange splashing sound drew their attention. Turning to face it, they saw what seemed to be an oversized tadpole almost the size of Midna swimming through the shallow water. Once it got close, it lunged at Link with its mouth wide open. Link's metal shield was swiftly smashed into the creature, and it did not move again. "Ew! What the hell is that thing?!"

"It looks like a massive tadpole, but where did it come from?" Another splash signaled the arrival of another tadpole which met the same fate as the previous one. Link looked up to the ceiling, wondering if they were jumping down from some ledge, but the light in the room did not reach high enough, and all Link could see was darkness. Deciding not to stay in the room longer than necessary, Link made his way toward the doorway, which was blocked by a gate divided into two halves down the middle. He grabbed it by the coral-shaped holes carved into it and began sliding it open, the other side moving in sync. The sound from the gate seemed to have alerted more of the creatures, as several more splashes could be heard. Link quickly moved away from the door before he could be cornered. He placed the clawshot in his pouch and drew his sword.

"Augh! These stupid things are slowing us down!" Midna complained, floating to the side to avoid a tadpole. "They're coming from up there; I'm going to see what's going on."

"Midna, wait!" Link called, but she had already floated into the darkness. Link sighed as he sliced another tadpole in half. Midna was acting recklessly. There was no way of knowing what was waiting in the darkness, and it could be more dangerous than the tadpoles. They weren't a problem, and Link could have opened the door even with them now that he had gotten used to dealing with them. Finding the source risked that source spewing out hundreds of the creatures. Once the final tadpole was dead, Link tried to find Midna in the darkness. A small shape could be seen slowly growing in size, which Link quickly realized wasn't Midna. Sprinting to the side, Link avoided being crushed by a colossal frog-like abomination. The creature turned enraged eyes onto Link, who noticed countless tiny tadpoles clinging to the thing's back. Without warning, Midna arrived and shot what seemed to be black and orange lighting into the creature, causing its body to shake and release a scream. The movement of its body dislodged several tadpoles, which then sprang to life and charged Link. "Stop doing that!" Link screamed, "You're releasing more tadpoles!"

"So kill them!" Midna snapped before getting slapped by a massive tongue that shot out of the frog's mouth, flinging her into a wall. Once Midna was out of the way, the creature turned its attention to Link, who had just finished killing the newest wave of tadpoles. It shot its tongue at the hero, who swiftly rolled to the side and lashed out with his sword, cutting deep into its flesh. It pulled its tongue back with a roar and jerked its body forward, throwing several tadpoles at the hero, which quickly started to surround him. Link struggled to deal with the tadpoles while the larger creature shot its tongue at him, and soon enough, Link made a mistake, allowing two tadpoles to bite into his right shoulder and left shin. Once the two tadpoles destabilized him, the rest followed suit, biting into different parts of the hero's body. Link tripped, his sword sliding out of his reach. Link was cast in a massive shadow as the giant frog jumped into the sky, intending to crush the human. A three-pronged claw embedded itself into the wall just beside the slowly rising Midna, and Link violently slammed into it a second later, making the twili jump.

"This thing is more powerful than I thought," Link said while looking at the clawshot as he rubbed his shoulder from the violent impact. The tadpoles that had fallen off Link from the force of the clawshot were charging again, but Midna shot another streak of lightning that chained between them, killing them all. "Since when could you do that?"

"Shut up and fight!" Midna snapped as she shot forward and punched the frog with her hair hand. The tadpole tried to snap its jaws around her, but Midna flew out of the way and gave it another shock. The clawshot snapped shut around Link's sword, bringing it back to the hero, who then slashed into the creature's neck before stabbing its jaw. It swiped at Link with its leg, but the hero jumped back next to his companion. "This thing won't die!" she shouted in rage as the frog roared. Suddenly, a small black ball with a fire on it flew past her and into its mouth. It made a strangled sound as it choked on it before its head exploded. Link pulled Midna down and crouched as he covered them both with his shield, protecting them from the spray of blood and flesh that covered the rest of the room.

"Got it," Link said as he stood. The bomb he had thrown had removed the creature's head, but a few tadpoles still needed to be dealt with.

"About time," Midna grumbled, "Why didn't you do that before?!"

"Are you kidding me?" Link snapped, finally having enough, "I was being swarmed by the small guys while trying to avoid being skewered by the big guy's tongue and trying to avoid being crushed, and you're wondering why I took so long?!" A tadpole tried its luck and was swiftly split in two.

"It didn't seem to take much effort when you did use a bomb! Stop making excuses!"

"Excuses?!" Link stomped the head of the final enemy, sheathing his weapon and shoving his finger in Midna's face. "We wouldn't have even been in that fight if you didn't piss it off!"

"And what about those tadpoles you claim are so hard to deal with," she countered, slapping his hand away.

"One or two at a time is much easier than ten or twenty! I could have managed! And if you've been able to shoot lighting this whole time, why didn't you tell me? You could have just zapped the few that fell while I opened the door!"

"You want me to use magic?! Fine!" Midna floated towards the door, and a giant ball of black and orange energy slowly formed in her hand before she thrust it forward. The magic beam demolished the door, unleashing a large cloud of dust. "There! The door's open! Now, can we stop wasting time and get my Fused Shadow?!" Midna didn't wait for an answer, floating through the newly opened passage.

Link stood in the ankle-deep, blood-stained water in silence. There was no way Midna would be able to do what she had just done. She had never displayed magic that powerful at any point during their adventure. She struggled to use magic because of her curse, which was why Link was so surprised when she started shooting lighting. The only way she could suddenly become that powerful was if she got a boost, and there was only one thing Link could think of that could do that. A certain artifact she had been wearing throughout their adventure, an artifact she just referred to as her Fused Shadow. Midna had been acting strange for a while now, and Link couldn't remember the last time she took off the magical helmet. Trying not to panic, Link ran after Midna as he remembered something Faron had said.

"The only reason the lost piece you wear as a helmet has not corrupted you is because you are strong-willed."

Midna's will was strong enough to resist the Fused Shadow. She had been for a long time. Link just needed to make her realize she was starting to slip. If she realized what was happening to her, surely she would take it off, right? Running through the temple, he found his companion raging at the fact they had ended up back in the main room. Finally, having had enough, she charged another blast to destroy the door in the staircase.

"Midna, stop!" Link shouted, grabbing her hand and causing the magic to dissipate.

"What are you doing?!" she demanded, pulling her hand away and preparing to blast the door again.

"No, you need to stop." Link said, gently pulling Midna's hand away again. "Listen to me, Midna. You told me that you have trouble using magic because of your curse, but you just destroyed an entire door. There's only one way you could have gotten powerful enough to do that, and I think you know what it is." Midna's angered expression lessened slightly, showing a hint of curiosity. "You haven't noticed, but you've been acting strange for a while now. I should have realized sooner, but I have now." Taking a deep breath, Link prayed Midna would believe him. "The Fused Shadow is corrupting you." Silence hung throughout the temple as Link and Midna's gaze remained unbroken, the only sound the faint flow of water. After an agonizing silence, Midna finally spoke.

"I know."

"Wha-" Link's shocked reaction was cut off by a sudden burst of energy from the hand he was holding, sending him flying into a nearby wall. As Midna slowly floated higher, dark black lines began appearing on her eyes, turning in perfect ninety-degree angles until they reached her bright red iris, turning it dark grey. At that moment, Faron's voice rang in his head again.

"Once you access its power, corruption will flow into you, and you may not be able to resist it."