Legends of the Hero of Time

by Ryan-Sinclair

A lore strict continuation of Ocarina of Time & Majora's Mask. The Hero of Time, Link, is blessed by the Golden Goddesses with a normal existence, free for himself to rule over. He must learn the true meaning of life as he attempts to join hylian society. Protecting and loving his new family, threats emerge as he grows to understand how he must still endure the challenges of fate.

23. Chapter 23

Chapter 23

.

.

.

[Time: 9:05 A.M. (Morning)]

[Date: Month 8 'Autumn', Day 03, 8th Era]

(Location: Hyrule, Forbidden Forest, Lost Woods - Farolittoral Pit Cave)

.

The deeper Fado and Saria went into the mouth of the cave, the darker it got. What little daylight pierced the entrance was unable to go further than a mere fifteen feet. Saria made sure to stay close to Fado since the blonde kokiri's torch quickly became the sole source of light. All the sounds of the woodland disappeared, the birds chirping and wind blowing through the trees was soon replaced with echoing footsteps on crumbly rock as the two and their fairies traveled further into the depths.

'They better not get in the way.' Fado mentally remarked to not be heard, referring to the others. 'Don't get me wrong, I'm glad they're here. But, I really don't need them getting in the way…' Contemplating what led her to where she currently was, she thought. 'I also don't want them questioning me on this mystical wind. I know it guided me here; it's just that they wouldn't believe that, so I need to keep it to myself.'

"It's getting colder." Laila stated while rubbing her shoulders for warmth since she was shivering.

Saria nodded to acknowledge her guardian. "Yeah. We're going deeper underground, so it's going to be cooler from all the earth insulating us."

"How deep does this place go?" Fado joined in on the conversation.

"It's a pit cave, right?" Saria inquired. "I mean, that's what the plaque says at the entrance. I think they're pretty deep. The Deku Sprout told me to be careful and make sure to not get lost in here, so it must be huge."

"Yeah…" Fado clenched her jaw. "About that…." Turning her head to the side, she stared at Saria out of the corner of her eyes. Having been reminded, she was curious as to how the Deku Sprout knew she was coming here, especially when she herself was unaware she'd be where she was. Not only that, she wondered why the green-haired kokiri was dispatched to bring her back to the village. "Why exactly did he send you to find me?"

Shrugging, Saria figured it was best to tell the truth. "I don't know. I figured it's because it's so dangerous out here and he didn't want you getting lost."

"That's it?" Fado asked.

Nodding, Saria just blinked. "Yeah, that's it."

Stopping for a brief moment, Fado stared at the other kokiri girl with a bit of skepticism. "You wouldn't lie to me, would you? Even if the Deku Sprout told you not to tell me, you'd trust me, right?"

"Fado!" Tessl reprimanded. "Why would you question such a thing?"

"No, it's okay." Saria stopped the fairy from chastising the query. "I understand why she'd ask." Looking straight into Fado's eyes, she said "I promise, I'm telling you all I know about this place. The Deku Sprout only told me where to go and how to get here. He didn't say anything else."

Standing still, Fado kept interrogating the kokiri girl. "Why not?"

"Fado…" Tessl butted in again.

"No, seriously." Fado refused to give up as her gut feeling told her Saria knew more than she was letting her. "Why wouldn't he tell you more? He's supposed to know everything about this place and he didn't bother to inform you more about this cave?"

Shrugging, Saria huffed with a slight bit of anxiety. "I don't know, Fado. Maybe he didn't think you were going to go in here. Maybe he thought you were going to do what most people who are lost and then found do… Maybe he thought you were going to come home."

'How could he not know?' Fado quietly inquired to herself. 'If he's so omnipotent, how could he not know that I was going to follow the wind? After all, those breezy gusts clearly led me here.' Turning around, she proceeded onward into the depths of the cave. She couldn't stop pondering the entire situation, where she was being led as well as who was doing it. For a moment, she wondered if the wind wasn't as benevolent as it first seemed as that would certainly account for the Deku Sprout's lack of awareness in spite of it happening so close by. 'Could it be that I'm the fool? Am I being led astray by some nefarious force trying to trick me into believing it's good?' Shaking her head, she soon refuted the idea with any evidence she could think of. 'No, that's not right. The wind can't be that bad since it rescued me from danger. If its intentions weren't good, why would it have teleported me away from that evil laughing voice?'

Thinking about the voice and what happened earlier, she decided to ask "What about the evil chuckling we heard in the woods?"

"What about it?" Saria inquired.

Scoffing, Fado put it rather bluntly. "I don't think it was a squirrel out there chuckling. It clearly wanted to hurt Tessl and I."

Tessl made a face prior to responding. "I don't really know what it was. All I know is that, as soon as you vanished, it went away."

"Do you think it was that shadow version of Link he said he fought?" Fado put the concept out there for them to think about. "He said he wasn't even sure if he destroyed it. Isn't it possible that it's still out here? Maybe that's what I encountered."

"It's possible." Saria stated in advance of rubbing her chin. "But, I don't think some strange entity would have been hanging around in the Lost Woods all this time, just waiting for us. It's been months since Link was out here."

"Didn't he say the shadow version of him vanished upon defeat?" Fado thought back to the ordeal. "Maybe it was taking all this time to regenerate."

Growing tired of their conversation, Laila chimed in with her frustration while fluttering behind. "What does any of this have to do with going through this cave?!"

For the next few minutes they continued onward in silence. At first, they couldn't tell how deep they were going. But, before long, they could sense the slope in the terrain beneath their feet as they went further down into the cave system. Gone was any sign of the outside world, such as loose dirt or leaves. Now, it was simply solid rock all around them. If it wasn't for the torch, they'd be in complete darkness. However, the light coming from it dimmed a bit due to the lesser amount of oxygen where they were. Fortunately, none of them had any issues breathing. Although, it did begin to smell damp to them.

Even though it was just them for the time being, danger truly lurked at every step. In fact, stepping wrong on a loose rock, which rolled out from beneath her unique green leather boots, Saria lost her footing. Her body kept going forward in spite of the fact that her feet were lagging behind her. "WHOA WHOA WHOA!" She yelled while wildly waving her arms as she went down.

"I got you!" Thankfully, the falling kokiri found herself being caught by Fado, who grabbed Saria's arm with her free hand. "Careful!" She responded as she held the torch away from them. "I'm seeing a lot of loose rocks up ahead… At least, as far as I can see." After helping the girl back to her feet, she said "Maybe there's a cave-in or something."

"Thanks." Saria replied, getting back to her feet in advance of carrying on.

Following another few minutes of walking together, they came to what initially appeared to be a fork in their path. Both tunnels seemed to be equally devoid of light and were roughly the same size. By luck, Fado realized the right path was different when she spotted a small reflection from her torch's flame shimmer amongst metal of some sort just a short distance down it. Since she didn't know precisely where she was supposed to go, seeing that made her decide to investigate that section first.

"Oh no…" Saria lamented in response to seeing two paths. "Which way do we go?"

"Check that out." The blonde kokiri pointed to the reflection.

Floating a few steps ahead, Tessl asked "What is it?"

"I don't know, I think I see a reflection." Fado replied as she veered off to the right. Since she had the torch and nobody wanted to be stuck behind in the darkness, they immediately followed behind her. "Let's see what it is."

It didn't take the four long to make it far enough down the path on the right to find out what the reflection was. The path stopped at a dead-end, but huddled up against the wall were a few tents. Unlike Bokoblin construction, the tan fabric was definitely of hylian origin and had been pitched using a wooden frame. One had collapsed, while the other three were still intact. A series of small candles sat in the center, yet had all long since been extinguished. What had been seen as a reflection from the torch turned out to be an old cooking pot left behind by whatever expedition had once been there.

"Oh, it's a camp." Laila stated. "Is someone else here?"

Tessl crossed her arms. "I don't think so. It looks like it's been here for a long time."

Saria circled the snuffed candles prior to making her way over to the tents. "Do you know of any expedition that took place out here?"

"No." Tessl and Laila both said in unison.

Holding her index finger to her lips, Saria investigated a nearby tent. "I guess it is pretty far away from the Great Deku Tree for him to have known what was going on out here."

"You think?" Fado wondered while recalling their previous conversation about why the Deku Sprout didn't mention more when telling Saria to come there. She wasn't a fan of being suspicious of the fatherly plant though, so her brain thought of alternatives as well. There was a possibility the guardian was innocent in the matter and wasn't hiding anything from her. 'I know the Deku Sprout might not have all the knowledge pertaining to every event his predecessor lived.'

Out of nowhere, Saria shrieked, flailing her arms as she backed away from one of the tents. "OH MY GODDESS! THERE'S A SKELETON IN HERE!" Dropping the old pan to the ground, it clanked against the rock and echoed throughout the tunnel.

Readying her dagger, Fado prepped for a fight. "Where!?"

"Right there!" Saria pointed to the inside of the tent before holding her hands up to her mouth from fright. "The poor fellow."

Peeking inside the tent, on an musty deteriorated bedroll laid the entire undisturbed skeleton of presumably hylian or human origin. The skeleton's arms lay on its chest and its head was cocked to the side against an old tattered pillow. From the looks of it, the person died in their sleep or went rather peacefully. Both fairies took a quick look, but weren't able to stomach the sight of deceased remains, no matter how old. Nonetheless, Fado was able to breathe a sigh of relief knowing it wasn't an undead skeleton.

"Ooooh." Fado lowered her dagger. "A real skeleton. I thought you meant a stalfos."

Saria remained in a state of fright. With her eyes wide as dinner-plates, she backed up, looking away from the horrid sight. "What could have happened to him or her?!"

Sheathing the dagger between her belt and tunic, Fado approached to examine the body. "Who knows."

"The real question is why the others left the body behind." Tessl proposed. "Don't hylians and humans bury their dead?"

"Isn't this kinda like being buried?" Fado replied. "I mean, we're underground."

Staring daggers at her kokiri, Tessl grunted. "You know what I meant."

"Look, a book." Laila pointed out. "Stop arguing and check it out."

Sure enough, like the fairy indicated, there was a rather small leather bound book resting on the other side of the skeleton's body. Aside from Fado, all the others were too disturbed by death to reach across. Thankfully, the kokiri girl did it for them. Grabbing the book, she brought it into view in advance of clearing off the dust coated cover. Following a couple of blows, a symbol of a compass surrounded by a simple laurel wreath was revealed.

"Is it a journal?" Tessl hovered over Fado's shoulder to get a better look.

Fado turned it over in her hand to see the edges of the paper, noting how damp they were. Frowning, she feared the content within was utterly ineligible. Even though she wanted to hurry, she placed the book on the edge of the tent, acting slowly by carefully peeling it open to whichever page opened the easiest or first. A split formed a quarter of the way into the book, opening to as well as revealing two pages. Precisely as the brave kokiri girl expected, a lot of the writing had been smudged and warped by water damage. However, she was able to skip to a paragraph that was legible. Since it was written in Hylian, she could even read it.

"Hmm…" Fado hummed before telling the others. "Listen to this." Reading aloud from the book, she said "Day 9. We made it to Farolittoral Cave, exactly where the Great Deku Tree said it would be. It's amazing that this network of tunnels was made by an ancient sea that flooded Faron Woods in the Era of Goddess Hylia. In today's time, instead of water, we had to trek through the Kokiri Forest to get here." Narrowing her eyes, she continued with the next paragraph. "Day 10. We traveled about a quarter of a mile inside the cave before we came to a split path. Of course we took the right and hit a dead end. Figures… To top it off, Hathner twisted his ankle on a rock, so we decided to set up camp here for the night."

Laila and Tessl stared at one another as they listened.

"Day 11. Hathner's leg is swollen, but he swears he doesn't want us to call off the expedition just because of him. He demands we move on without him. I agreed, yet the others declined. For now, we'll leave basecamp at this dead-end. One of us will stay with him while the rest go to see how far we can travel." At the end of the second page were a few unknown symbols.

She tried to open to the next page until she found them stuck together. In order to avoid tearing it up, she simply skipped halfway through the journal to the next viable section. "Day 18. We shouldn't have come here. The Great Deku Tree was right to warn us to stay away, but we thought we were prepared enough for the trip to overcome nearly any obstacles... Hathner is dead; killed by an infection of the lungs… The others and I were mapping the tunnels of the cavern when Yuri showed up crying. He blames me for not returning to Castle Town for proper medical assistance. But, I honestly thought the Red Potions would work… Anyway, we can't turn back now or all this will be for nothing."

"These people are crazy." Tessl chimed in.

Laila nodded in agreement. "What could've been so important they'd ignore the Great Deku Tree?"

Fado looked back at the sprites in advance of asking "Why did he tell them where it was in the first place?"

Both of them shrugged.

Without an answer, Fado resumed her investigation into the musty old journal. "Day 19. Finally, after mapping a dozen dead-ends and exploring several tunnels that all led to the same place, we discovered a section that had long been caved-in. If it wasn't for Kae noticing a draft coming through the rocks, we probably wouldn't have found it. Thankfully, we were able to clear the obstruction using a couple of bombs. Lo and behold, the legends were right. Tomorrow, we will explore the complex." Same as before, when she tried to go to the next page, it was fused together.

All she could do was move on to the next section that was just past halfway through the book. Unfortunately, the water damage had gotten worse, rendering the majority of the page a smudge of ink. The girl tried her best to read what she could. "Day 24. Try as we might, we cannot get into the legendary Win-..." Skipping a bit, she resumed after a large smudge "Dark as it was, we were able to find and use a mythical lightroot to brighten the surrou-..." Again, she had to skip to the next legible area. "-ecurity defenses and puzzles that we couldn't anticipate. We'll have to head back to basecamp for more explosives. I plan on blasting my way inside." Finally, she was able to actually go to the next page, reading onward. "Day 25. On the way back, we set off a trap that released something. I couldn't tell what it was, all I know is it took out Yuri and Kae. To be honest, it looked like a big red b-..." Skipping the blurry paragraph, she read what remained "This is the end for ol' Rimpson of the Expedition Guild of Hyrule. I made it back to basecamp, but I think I'm being chased by a monster. I'm praying to the Golden Goddesses, Hylia and even the Old Gods. I'm leaving this journal here as a warning to whoever comes after I did. Don't try to look for the Win-..."

The writing stopped there as if the writer ceased in mid-sentence. Going to the next page, she saw that it was blank. Every page after until the end was blank, proving the writer was unable to finish. Since there wasn't another body, the group could only hope that the person made it out of the cave. However, the abruptness didn't bode well for them.

"What about the other tents?" Laila brought up since nobody was looking at them. "What's in them?"

Saria backed up more, refusing to look in the other tents as the poor girl was traumatized from abruptly encountering a skeleton. Thankfully, Fado and the fairies braved the situation and investigated further. In a matter of moments, the trio checked the other two tents. They were able to confirm that they were empty.

"There's nothing." Fado told Saria so the girl would calm down. "It looks like he was the only one who died here."

"That we know of." Laila flew to her kokiri in order to comfort her with a hug. "Someone clearly came down here before us and some of them met a rather untimely demise." Floating up above Saria's head, she told them "We need to be extra careful. Whatever killed this person might still be down here and if it took out a fully grown adult, two kokiri and two fairies probably won't be much of a challenge for it."

Saria let one of her arms return to her side as the other remained up to block the view of her horrified lips. "We should leave." She put it bluntly, getting right to the point. "We shouldn't be in here and this is clearly evidence why." Backing up more, she started to leave even though she couldn't, considering the only light was with Fado. "Please, let's just go."

"You know, she's probably right." Tessl added in since it was a good opportunity to express her opinion.

Fado chuckled at their fright. She wasn't scared at all, especially not of a pile of inanimate bones. "No she's not." The kokiri refuted the idea that the situation was dire. Although she was ready to continue on and wasn't sure why she cared so much what they thought, she chose to first calm her party so they didn't put themselves at risk by trying to leave without her. "This clearly happened a long time ago since it's a skeleton with absolutely no remains left on it. It's really unlikely that whatever caused it is still around, even more so if it was a bear or something."

"B-Bear?" Saria anxiously trembled.

"I said it was unlikely." Fado reiterated. "Now, come on. Let's keep going."

In order to move on, they had to backtrack a bit. As they walked away, Saria made a final worried glance back at the abandoned tents. Returning to the fork in the path, this time Fado chose the left one with everyone else hesitantly following her. After about five minutes of additional traveling, it began to seem as if the tunnel simply kept going forever. Strangely, as they walked, they noticed the dampness in the air increasing until it resembled condensation dripping from the ceiling. The sound of droplets splashing the floor accompanied their footsteps. Going further, it was clear the water was a part of the cave's natural design as that continuous dripping had long since formed stalactites above their heads.

To occupy herself as she walked, Fado thought more about the medallion, the mysterious wind as well as her apparent teleportation. Even as she carefully stared into the darkness ahead for any signs of movement, the girl pondered how much longer she'd have to be inside the cave. Although she had a few people with her, she didn't want them getting sucked into whatever divine mission she'd been fated.

Following another five minutes of walking, the water that had been dripping from the ceiling had formed a small brook that ran beneath their feet. It might have been shallow, but their kokiri boots splashed each step. None of them knew how much water they were going to have to deal with. However, all of them knew there was only so much they could handle. Fortunately, from a ways down the tunnel, they could all hear the gentle roar of a cascade, likely where the end of the brook was. So long as it didn't turn into a waterfall, the group would probably be able to jump it.

"Do you hear that?" Saria asked.

Nodding, Fado told her "Yeah, it sounds like a little cascade."

"Like a waterfall?" The green-haired kokiri enquired prior to growing anxious. "We can't go over a waterfall!"

"Would you relax? Sheesh." Fado rolled her eyes at their constant overreactions. "Let's take a look and see how high it is. If it's just a couple of feet in height, I'm sure we can jump down without hurting ourselves."

The tunnel curved as it kept going. Coming around the corner, Fado held the torch out in front of her so she could see ahead. Looking down, the water in the brook appeared to be flowing faster and faster the further they walked, indicating how close they were to the end. Sure enough, their path ended in an abrupt drop. As speculated, the water fell from the cliff in the form of a small waterfall. To their dismay, it looked like a bigger fall than a mere few feet. If anything, the cascade was a decent fifteen feet in height; which was a rather scary amount for the petite kokiri and their miniature sprite guardians.

"Whoa…" Tessl seethed at the sight. "That's pretty far."

Peering over the edge, Fado saw her and the torch's reflection in a pool of water. Cocking her head, she realized the height might not be such a big deal if they had a body of water to break their fall. "Hmm… It looks like it's deep enough down there for us to jump in."

"Are you crazy?" Tessl growled. "None of us are blindly jumping into dark water."

Laila agreed and put forth a solid point. "Besides, you'll extinguish the torch if you jump in."

Smirking, Fado continued looking at her destination. Without giving anybody a chance to stop her, she took aim at the floor beyond the pool in advance of lobbing the torch in that direction. Saria and Tessl shouted in shock but couldn't do anything other than watch as it hit the ground, rolled a bit and nearly snuffed the flame from all the quick motions. Thankfully, it quickly rejuvenated. "There, now we have to go over there."

"I cannot believe you just did that!" Saria pouted, crossing her arms and poking out her lip while repeating herself. "I cannot believe you!"

"Believe it." Fado responded with a cocky attitude. Although it seemed like she was being a jerk, it was the only way she could think of to ensure the others would fall in line behind her. "Now come on."

Approaching the cascade, the brave kokiri made no hesitation in jumping over the ledge, holding her breath and tucking her legs as she fell. Hitting the water, she was both lucky as well as surprised to find herself sinking further into it than any of them anticipated. After going a couple of feet underwater, her body's buoyancy caused her to ascend to the surface where she took a breath. Her gear was heavy, but not nearly as heavy as what Link usually carried; this allowed her to immediately swim toward the edge. She kicked her legs while using her arms to stroke, forward crawling until she felt her hands scrape the end of the pool. Grabbing onto the ledge, she then climbed using her feet to help her up.

"Made it!" She told the others as she exited the water.

Tessl was fortunate that she could fly, for it allowed her to completely skip needing to jump. Instead, the spite was able to simply flutter down and across the pool prior to making it to her wild Kokiri.

Laila, on the other hand, stayed behind with Saria in order to convince the girl to proceed onward in spite of her desire to leave. Without the worry of being smashed against rocks if the pool was too shallow, the green-haired Kokiri was a bit more accepting of imitating Fado's jump. After just a couple of minutes taken to psych herself up, she leapt off with a little shriek. Instead of tucking her legs, she held them up and crossed her arms across her chest like an amateur. Still, she found herself safe as she hit the water and sunk a few feet prior to bobbing back up like a buoy. Gasping, she kicked her legs like a frog while breast stroking to the edge of the pool. Her fairy floated down to meet her as she started trying to pull herself up.

"I got you." Fado said as she held her arm out to the other kokiri girl.

Taking the assistance, Saria pulled herself up much easier than she would have on her own. "I should pull you back in there." She jokingly threatened while letting go of the girl's hand.

"You'll be fine." Fado replied while making her way over to and recovering the torch.

Upon lifting the torch, the light lit the area enough for them to see it was far bigger than they initially thought. Instead of being enclosed like the tunnel they just came from, they found themselves in a much larger cavern, the likes of which they had never before imagined could be underground. The room was so expansive that the group's torch was unable to completely illuminate it, keeping a decent three-fourths of it enshrouded in darkness.

Before exploring further, Fado took the opportunity to ensure her weapon was still functional. While the dagger was no-doubt unphased by the activity, her blowgun wasn't supposed to be filled with water and couldn't function without an unobstructed barrel. Unsheathing it, she tapped on the mouthpiece prior to blowing into it. Waterdroplets were expelled from the other end until only a small trickle remained. Once she felt she'd done the best she could, she holstered the weapon in exchange of wringing out her sopping wet tunic. Shaking her head like an animal, she then also wrung out her hair.

Saria did the same, wringing out her tunic. The green-haired kokiri then briefly crossed her arms, shivering a bit from the chill of the brisk water. Her hairdo was no more, having fallen over her face, adding to her expression of misery. Sniffling, she pulled back on her head to both get her hair out of her eyes as well as squeegee the water away. Beforehand, she stayed away from the torch; now, even though it wasn't a roaring fire, it still provided a bit of warmth for her petite stature.

"Now what?" Tessl asked.

Looking around, Fado internally admitted that she had no clue of where to go next. Without the guidance of the mysterious wind, she was totally lost. However, she couldn't let the others know that, so she chose to begin walking around. "Let's take a look."

As the kokiri girl walked around, the flame illuminated more of the area. Here there were stalagmites in addition to the stalactites. It took longer than expected, but Fado eventually approached the edge of the cavern. Her eyes lit up upon finding a tunnel, ecstatically believing that she'd found where to go right off the bat. To her dismay, upon approaching, she noticed several other passageways littered down the wall. Suddenly, she realized they had come to the area the expedition team had, the network of tunnels they spoke of. She made a face of displeasure at the thought of having to search through each and every passage.

"Oh no…" Saria stated when she witnessed the numerous openings. "I hope you know which one to pick because there must be ten or more tunnels."

"I know, I know…" Fado fibbed while in the process of removing the odd green medallion from her satchel. Staring at it closely, she tried to spot any discrepancies that would indicate what to do next. Although she wanted it to summon the wind as it had before, it would seem it was inert as it didn't glow or do any teleporting. For the time being, it was nothing more than a metal object of mysterious origin. "Let me think for a bit, okay? I promise I know what I'm doing."

Seeing Fado holding the green medallion, Laila questioned her. "Are you sure? You can just admit it if you don't know where to go next."

Before Fado could snarkily respond, out of nowhere, the entire group heard a loud roaring sound which echoed throughout the immense cavern. It resembled that of an animal and a large one at that. Every one of them ducked in fright and stayed low as they heard flapping sounds all around them. Quickly scanning the perimeter, none of them could spot the source of either noises. Waving the torch side-to-side, Fado saw only the entryway of other tunnels. It wasn't until she looked up toward the stalactites on the ceiling that she saw movement. Focusing her eyes upward, she realized what it was.

"Keese!" Saria hollered, having seen the bats flapping wildly at the same time Fado did.

"Stay low." Fado ordered the girl prior to shouting to their sprites "Get in our tunics!"

Doing as told, both Tessl as well as Laila flew to their respective children, seeking refuge inside their clothing. Although most things were a threat to beings as small as themselves, flying creatures posed a particular danger as they were capable of snacking on the fairies in one fell swoop.

Unsheathing her dagger, Fado leaned over to hold it out handle first to Saria, offering it to the green-haired Kokiri. Even though she was hesitant at handing over her melee weapon, she was glad the girl took it as it gave her some form of defense against any rowdy Keese that might swoop. Without her commandeered blade, she was forced to rely upon her blowgun. However, since it was a ranged weapon and she was up against an entire colony of shrieking bats, it was going to be ineffective. Nonetheless, she had to use what she had as she couldn't leave herself defenseless.

"There's a HUNDRED of them!" Saria exclaimed in shock as her head scanned the ceiling of the cavern.

As expected, one out of the hundred Keese swooped from the ceiling toward Saria in response to her overly loud voice. The creature's tongue poked from its mouth as it shrieked. Its feet opened wide in preparation to attack with its talon-like claws. While Saria saw it heading straight for her, she failed to do much of anything more than cower. Fortunately, she was protected by Fado, who shot a dart at the animal, impaling it in the chest and sending it to the floor where it flapped around a bit in advance of dying.

When two more Keese fell from the ceiling, Fado hurried to reload her weapon. Seeing the green-haired kokiri's refusal to fight, she verbally lamented the situation while trying her best to encourage Saria to fight back. "Come on, Saria! There's too many of these things for me to fight for you and myself! I need your help!"

"How?!" Saria exclaimed.

Grunting, Fado retorted "Swing the dagger at them, you goof!"

In the blink of an eye, both the Keese flew toward Saria, intending on attacking her like the other one had planned. While Fado was able to take down one with a well-placed shot, the other remained at large. Seeing it coming right at her and knowing Fado was busy reloading, Saria decided she had no choice other than to take action. Lifting herself from the huddled position she'd taken on the ground, once the monster flew close enough to target, she lashed out. From the given momentum, the blade of the dagger sliced into the Keese's belly, instantly killing it.

"I did it!" Saria gasped in shock that she managed to kill a monster. "Oh my goodness! I did it!"

"Watch out!" Fado exclaimed upon noticing a Keese plunging from the ceiling, dive-bombing the green-haired kokiri.

Holding the dagger out by extending her arm, Saria let the flying beast impale itself on the blade. Quickly slinging its body off the weapon, she then slashed at another as it circled above her. "These things aren't too smart!"

Rolling her eyes with a smirk, Fado dropped a dart into the barrel of her blowgun prior to taking aim and shooting another bat. "Don't get too cocky! They're dangerous in numbers!"

As if on cue, a dozen of the shrieking blood-suckers fell from stalactites. The sheer number increase presented a definite problem. Saria's eyes went wide and Fado's shoulders fell at the sight. Knowing they were in more danger than previously, the two kokiri backed up toward one another. Pressed back to back they waited and watched as the Keese circled above them like a menacing cloud hunting its prey. After flying around for a minute, as a group, several of the creatures split off in advance of dive-bombing the duo.

Saria unskillfully swung the old dagger above her head while Fado finished reloading, took aim and shot one of the Keese out of the air. The monsters were able to overwhelm the kokiri, working together as a malicious unit to swoop in unison. Come at them all at once, both the kids found themselves getting bit a few times. Saria managed to stab one as well as cut the head off another. However, Fado was forced to improvise by taking drastic measures. Gripping her blowgun, she held it like a club before proceeding to use it by smacking two of the Keese to the ground. Following that, she utilized the torch by waving it around, burning several of them that dared to get too close.

"There's too many!" Saria cried out in desperation.

Gritting her teeth, Fado started trying to think of alternatives to staying and fighting. Instead of trying to kill the entire colony, she wondered if they could flee from them. Looking at the series of tunnels, she decided to give it a try. Unfortunately, she had to first figure out which passageway to go into as the last thing she wanted was to get her group lost.

Without the girl having knowingly done anything to activate it, all of a sudden a familiar light began to emanate forth from her satchel. Even while in the process of defending herself from the Keese, she took a brief moment to peek downward where she saw a green glow brightening in intensity. For a split second, she pondered what was happening in advance of realizing it was the odd medallion again. While she didn't particularly want to reveal her secrets to the others, she knew she had to take any assistance she could get to escape the situation she was in. Besides that, she'd already informed them of the relic's mysterious properties.

Sheathing her blowgun, the kokiri immediately opted to unbutton as well as open her satchel. Reaching inside the pack, Fado then removed the medallion. Right away its luminosity lit the entire cavern more so than the torch could. Saria couldn't help other than to stare intently, shocked that such a white light was blinding her in the depths of a dark cave as well as praying it was going to save her. Yet, Fado honestly had no clue what she was doing. She didn't know how to use the relic or what to do, so she simply held it up high above her head in hopes that it would know what to do on its own.

As if by divine intervention, the light coming from the medallion pulsed loudly prior to magically generating a sudden powerful gust of upward wind. In fact, the gale was so strong it nearly took the kokiri kids off their feet. If it weren't for the fairies being safely tucked in their clothes, they would've definitely been blown away. On the other hand, the flying Keese were fully affected as they were completely unable to remain in flight. The upward thrust was so hard to resist that it caused all of the creatures to be blown toward the ceiling where the majority of them crashed against the stalactites.

"WOW!" Saria exclaimed, shouting "IS THAT THE MEDALLION!?"

The medallion continued to glow until each and every one of the animals had either broken their necks against the rock ceiling or been stabbed to death by the pointy stalactites. Only when none of the Keese were left did the wind dissipate. Fado and Saria analyzed the situation once it was quiet. Unfortunately, without a force keeping them pressed to the ceiling, the bodies of the dead critters swiftly fell to the ground all around the two kokiri. Saria jumped side-to-side as if to try and dodge the falling bat corpses, but screamed when one hit her anyway. Fado quickly put the medallion back in her bag in advance of grabbing the green-haired girl, pulling her into the nearest tunnel for shelter.

"Whoa!" Saria was still in shock at what she'd just seen.

Fado hooked her finger in the hem of her tunic to extend the garb outward a tad. "Okay, you can come out now." She said to the pixies.

Tessl soon floated out from the kokiri's tunic, wanting to know what had just occurred. "What happened?!"

Saria did the same, letting Laila escape the confines of her clothing. "Did I hear you say something about the medallion?"

"Yeah…" Fado told them as a few of the Keese continued to fall from the ceiling. "I told you, it has some sort of magic power and it does things on its own. It's like it knew I needed help." Taking the medallion out of her satchel one more time, she showed it to the others. "It's not glowing now, but it just started doing it in the middle of our battle, when we got utterly outnumbered. The light was so bright that you couldn't look right at it and then it created a gust of wind that killed the Keese by smashing them against the ceiling."

Glancing out into the cavern, both fairies saw the evidence that collaborated with the blonde kokiri girl's story. They were clearly mystified by what had happened. However, instead of expressing it, they seemed to be more concerned than ever.

"We need to stay safe." Tessl stated.

"Let's just get out of here as quickly as we can." Laila agreed.

"Definitely." Fado replied without realizing how anxious the sprites were, merely thinking they were impressed by her newfound powers. "Now that I can utilize this medallion when I'm in trouble, I'll be able to get us through this place without any more problems."

Saria giggled, relieved the situation was over, but also having found it thrilling. "That was kind of exciting!"

"Saria!" Laila expressed surprise to hear such a statement.

The green-haired girl giggled again as Fado joined in. Together, the two laughed at what they had gotten themselves into. Their fairies looked at them as if they were mad, but for the time being, they didn't care.

"Let's just go." Laila said through stifled frustration as she flew back out into the cavern. "Which tunnel are we supposed to travel into to get to whatever you've brought us here for?"

"Yeah… Come on." Tessl didn't hesitate to agree with her fairy sister.

While Saria still didn't catch on, this time Fado mentally noted how nervous the sprites seemed to be after informing them of the medallion's power. Although they looked put off by the idea that it had teleported her, they acted as if they were really disturbed by its other abilities. Regardless, the kokiri returned to the cavern with their guardians.

"Which way?" Laila asked.

Fado continued to suspiciously eye the fairy for a moment longer before putting thought into where to go next. She thought about just ten minutes ago when they were contemplating the same thing. While she was going to have to admit that she had no clue where to go next, the girl suddenly recalled the loud noise that awoke the colony of Keese in the first place. It definitely spooked her to think that there was still a beast in the cave they had yet to encounter. Still, she remained calm and made up her mind to not remind the others.

"Hey, Fado?" Saria enquired. "Which way?"

The brave kokiri hung her head, closing her eyes as she fretted having to say she was unsure of what to do next. However, right after she opened her mouth yet before she could speak, her ear moved slightly as she heard a gentle breeze whistling through one of the passageways not far from where they stood. Even though the medallion wasn't glowing anymore, it would appear the invisible guide had returned. "This way." She informed them while walking in the direction she heard the wind. "I'm sure it's this way."

Getting closer to the source of the wind, Saria heard it, asking "What is that whistling sound?"

Right as they approached one of the tunnels leading further into the cave, the wind vanished. While it had dissipated, it had at the very least done its job by indicating where to go and that was more than enough for Fado to be glad. On the other hand, in spite of having proved to them that the medallion had supernatural powers, she felt the need to continue keeping the guidance a secret. "Who knows."

Holding the torch out toward the tunnel, Fado made sure it was clear as far as she could see prior to walking into it. Saria followed and the two fairies were right behind her. Together, the quad trekked further into the interior. Just like the rest of the place, it was made of rock. After a while though, the high moisture in the air and water dripping from the ceiling caused a green algae to form on the walls. It made them think about how much life there was underground, even in areas that don't get any sunlight at all.

As they walked, Saria examined the dagger, still recalling how much of a thrill it was to fight alongside Fado. She was especially surprised at how well she handled herself.

Fado made sure to secure her satchel, but couldn't help other than to wonder precisely what the fairies knew that they weren't willing to share. Regardless, she continued to travel at the mercy of a force she couldn't see.

"So, what are we looking for now?" Saria asked.

Glancing back, Fado told her "I suppose we try to find the area that had caved-in. You know, the place the hylian expedition team cleared with explosives?"

"How are we going to find it?" Tessl wondered "You said it yourself when you read their journal that there's dozens of passages."

"We'll find it because I know where I'm going. We just have to look for it." Fado stretched the truth to keep them calm.

"You better." Kaila retorted before making a point. "Because that torch isn't going to last forever."

Fado looked up at the torch to see that it had burned quite a bit of its materials. While most were built to last up to a couple of hours, this one was constructed by bokoblin and likely not very well. Once again, she wouldn't show her disdain at their negative thinking, especially whenever they were correct. "Don't worry. We'll be done by then."

Walking for another ten minutes, Saria soon said "I hear that whistling sound again."

Sure enough, Fado heard it too. Based on the fact the noise occurred when the wind was rushing through the tunnel, the kokiri girl speculated it was another sign of where to go. In a moment's time, they found themselves coming to a section of the tunnel that had a hole in the side of the wall which led off into another path. What made the decision difficult was that the current passage they found themselves in appeared to continue onward past the hole. Since there were two ways they could go, they had to stop in order to figure out which one was the correct way.

Thankfully, same as before, a small breeze could be felt coming from the hole in the side of the passage. Not letting the others have a chance to ask which way, the double low-bunned kokiri merely started walking into the hole blasted in the side of the tunnel. "This way."

"How are you knowing this?" Tessl decided to ask before stating the obvious. "It seems like you're going where the wind is."

"Sorta…" Fado wasted no time in saying, not wanting them to think she was hiding anything. To her dismay, it didn't work as expected.

The fairy floated into her child's face, growing upset with the charade. "What do you mean 'sorta'?"

Shrugging, Fado just nudged her guardian aside with her hand prior to carrying onward into the tunnel. While it was true she didn't feel like saying anything further, she also didn't have time. The anticipation was growing within her as she wondered what the hylian expedition team had encountered as well as if that was where she was being taken.

"HEY!" Tessl griped about the kokiri's rude behaviour.

Rolling her eyes, Fado thought 'Maybe it's another place related to the one I warped to.' Thinking further on the matter, she came to the conclusion that everything which had occurred so far had been because of the medallion she carried. Adding it altogether, she realized 'This relic must be from an ancient civilization.' Contemplating more, she recalled the expedition team's journal. While vital parts of it were ineligible due to time plus water damage, it seemed clear they had fallen into a trap left behind. 'If the hylians weren't supposed to be there, they must not have been welcomed.' That thought led her to wonder 'Am I welcomed? After all, I have the medallion and they didn't. Am I safe from whatever trap the expedition party encountered?'

When the gentle breeze turned into a small gust, Fado started to feel excited, like the wind was picking up its pace because she was getting closer to something. Her pulse increased. "We're almost there!"

"Almost where?" Saria asked in advance of coming up with the only thing she could think of. "Are we going to where that expedition group went?"

"I think so." Fado admitted, not bothering to stretch the truth anymore.

Like last time, Tessl piped up. "What? You've got to be kidding me!"

"No, I'm not kidding." Fado had no problems in stating. "Now hush so I can hear ahead of us."

Continuing to walk as a group, they eventually came upon another ledge. Approaching and looking over the edge, this time there didn't appear to be a pool of water they could jump into in order to break their fall. Not only that, but it was a significantly further drop. Thankfully, there was a ladder that had been left behind by the previous ill-fated hylian expedition; which also acted as another sign they were going in the correct direction. Even though it was bolted into the rock, there was no telling precisely how long it had been there. Considering that, the blonde kokiri girl ambled to it with caution. Pressing her foot on the top rung of the ladder, she made sure it was stable.

"Be careful." Saria expressed worry.

Fado nodded as she turned around, facing the others while taking a step down the ladder. It wasn't easy to do with a torch, but she managed to use only one hand to descend step-by-step. The ladder creaked from the wood being stressed after so long it was undisturbed. For the time being, it held. After thirty seconds of climbing, she reached the bottom. Stepping off the ladder and onto the ground, she let out a sigh that the old tool hadn't broken under her weight. While she wasn't heavy, it was still a hazard.

Saria waited for Fado to wave at her, signifying it was safe prior to attempting to also go down the ladder. Just like the other kokiri did, she turned around before climbing down. Holding onto the ledge, she got her footing on the third rung. Taking two more steps down, she heard the ladder creak followed by a snapping sound. Although she was looking down at the ground, her head raised as her pupils narrowed to pinpoints. She only had time to let out a small gasp before the rung gave out. All of a sudden, the kind kokiri found herself plummeting to the ground while shrieking.

"SARIA!" Kaila exclaimed in horror as she watched her child fall.

Dropping the torch, in the blink of an eye Fado jumped into action. Holding out her arms as she ran, she barely succeeded in catching the falling girl. It nearly took her off her feet, yet was worth it since she made sure her friend was safe. "I GOT YOU!"

"Oomph!" Saria verbally grunted from the impact. Her heart was beating fast from the fear of falling. However, once she realized she was safe, she relaxed with a long drawn out exhale while gazing up at her saviour. "Holy moly… I can't believe that just happened."

"I can't believe I caught you." Fado snickered prior to helping her friend back to her feet.

"I can't believe any of this!" Laila angrily touted with her cheeks puffed out. "You two are going to get yourselves killed!"

Both of the kokiri girls giggled in response to being reprimanded. Laila was a bit shocked her kid was being so irresponsible, but Tessl wasn't surprised her own child was acting like a nut, not after everything she'd done. Fado simply ignored them and lifted the torch while their guardians fluttered down to them. After that, the four proceeded onward.

Following just a few minutes of walking, they found that the narrow tunnel they were in widened into a mighty cavern. This area easily dwarfed the previous cavern they found themselves in earlier. Even using the torch, the ceiling couldn't be seen and the walls seemed to stretch upward into total darkness. They couldn't see the other side either. For all intents and purposes, there was nothing more than a giant void stretching the entire expanse; aside from one object. The only thing they could see was a small glow off in the distance to the left of them. Their eyes could barely recognize it, but it was there; a dim glowing amber light that floated several feet off the ground.

"What is that?" Saria asked, referring to the light.

Fado shrugged as she walked out into the much bigger cavern. "I don't know." Since she truly didn't know what it was, she too found herself curious. Part of her wondered why she was no longer being assisted by her invisible guide, then again the other part found it obvious the dim glow was where she was supposed to go. Taking that into consideration, she decided to start sauntering toward it. "Let's go find out."

Out of nowhere and for no apparent reason, a piece of material that was wrapped around the torch fell to the floor. Fado had to move out of the way to avoid it burning her, but instantly realized how dire their situation had suddenly become. Sure enough, the torch started falling apart while still in the kokiri girl's hand. What little of the flame that remained on the stick wasn't bright enough to see more than a foot ahead of them.

"Oh no!" Saria cried out.

"Crap!" Fado added in as she scrambled to think of a solution to the problem.

Tessl groaned loudly. Even though the sprite had an aura around her that illuminated her miniature frame, it wasn't brighter than a firefly. Because of that, she was upset at her kid for subjecting them to complete darkness. "I told you so!"

"Tessl!" The blonde-haired Kokiri seethed as she struggled with the torch. "That's not helping me!"

"Put that stuff back on the torch!" Kaila exclaimed, referring to what material had fallen from it

Fado looked completely befuddled as she fumbled with the remains of the torch. "How!?" To make matters worse, what little flame remaining on the stick began to swiftly diminish. "Oh man! This isn't good!"

"Do something!" Saria insisted.

Yet again, Fado shouted "What!? What do I do!?"

What little flame that remained on the torch quickly vanished. All that was left burned on the ground with the four circled around it. To their dismay, even that began to dissipate. Once it totally went away, they all grumbled from their bad luck. Without the torch, they were left in pitch black darkness.

Of course, Saria whimpered in fright as she couldn't see her kokiri friend even though she knew the girl was standing right there with her. "F-Fado…"

Fado let go of the torch since it was useless, letting it drop to the ground with a clank. "I'm right here. It's okay." Reaching out, she felt around in the dark until she grazed Saria's body. She felt the girl jump in fright, but moved her hand from her shoulder down to her arm. Not only did the blonde-headed kokiri need to know where her friend was, she also wanted her to know she wasn't alone. "We can do this." Her hand slid down Saria's arm before gently holding onto her hand. "All we have to do is get to that glow over there and we'll be perfectly fine."

"R-Really?" Saria was still hesitant about the entire situation.

"How do you know that!?" Kaila spat.

Tessl nodded her head alongside her fairy sister. "You better know something we don't know."

As luck would have it, Fado did know something that they didn't know. Since it was the wind that led her there, she had to assume it had directed her there for the reason. The entire trip, each time she had fallen into grave danger, the medallion activated in order to act on her behalf by rescuing her. Seeing how that wasn't currently happening, nor was she being led elsewhere, she presumed she was going the right way. For the time being, she contemplated what to do with their guardians. Thankfully, she came up with a solution. "Just ride on our shoulders so we know where each other are at and you won't get hit by any obstacles, if there are any."

Tessl flew close enough for her aura to faintly light the top half of Fado's head as Kaila did the same to Saria. Both fairies found their kid's shoulder and did as recommended so they were safe.

"Ready?" Fado asked.

"Yes." Saria wasted no time in responding.

Tessl and Kaila didn't bother to say anything.

Fado started walking toward the gentle amber glow off in the distance, but made sure to walk with an extra sense of caution as she couldn't see anything that might be on the ground or around her. Her heartbeat increased a little, but she did her best to keep calm as it wouldn't be beneficial to lose control. Instead, she just steadily escorted Saria. Along the way, she kept quiet too as she wanted to make sure she could hear anything that might potentially be roaming the darkness without them knowing it. Without her vision, she prayed her hearing was heightened enough to sense what she couldn't see.

The dim light in the distance stayed on, not flickering or pulsing. Obviously this was good as it gave the group hope. Although they still didn't know precisely what it was, they knew it had to be something special as up until then they hadn't encountered anything in the cave that made light on its own.

Steadily walking, they kept moving until the glowing object got bigger and bigger. Before they knew it, although it was difficult to tell, it seemed they'd trudged more than halfway there. Now they were close enough that they could tell there was something above as well as below light. At first they believed it to be free floating, but it was obvious it was attached to both the ceiling and the floor and merely being kept suspended. It wasn't until they got even closer they were able to see that the unknown things propping up the amber glow were in fact thick tree-roots. Sure enough, once they were twenty feet away, they could see that was exactly what they were; giant roots numerous inches thick. Whatever it was, it was clearly a living plant and not an object constructed by mankind.

"What is this thing?" Saria quietly asked.

Fado's lips pulled to the side as she gently shrugged, trying not to forget Tessl was riding her shoulder. Unfortunately, she really wasn't able to divulge any information about the object as she had no idea what it was either. The blonde-head kokiri was merely ecstatic they were able to reach it without further interference "I'm not sure."

"It… kinda looks like a giant lamp." Kaila added her opinion on its appearance.

Up close, the orb no longer seemed uniform, looking more like a giant glowing seed being encased by roots. Right when Fado was about to remark on that, she heard a small humming noise emanating forth. Suddenly, a yellowish-green light flowed in a stream-like manner beneath the core of the object, descending to about six feet off the ground. On impulse, Fado pulled Saria back and made sure to protect her as she wasn't sure what had just occurred. They made sure it wasn't dangerous by waiting several minutes. Once they were positive it wasn't a threat, the kokiri resumed their approach.

"This is really weird." Fado stated.

"Definitely." Saria agreed.

Walking underneath the giant glowing seed and in-between the giant roots propping it up, the radius was illuminated enough for the two kids to see one another. They felt safe there compared to in the darkness. Yet, they still wanted to investigate further. Letting go of her green-haired friend, Fado stared at the multicolored tail of light gracefully flowing like a banner in a breeze. Reaching up to it, she felt her hand go straight through it as it was ethereal. There was nothing she could feel other than a slight fuzzy sensation that caused the hair on her arm to stand on end.

"Fado…" Tessl spoke with a curious voice, catching the kokiri girl's attention. "Your medallion is glowing again."

"Huh?" Looking down, Fado saw that there was indeed a bright glow coming from within the confines of her satchel, same as the other two times. Considering she had to hold the relic for it to work, she unbuttoned the satchel in advance of reaching in to remove the useful green medallion. Like previous times, its luminosity was far greater than anything else, including the glowing seed, causing the entire underside of the structure to be lit up as well as the two kokiri kids and their worried fairies. "Whoa…" The double low-bunned girl said aloud. "What's it going to do now?"

Expecting it to do something, she continued to hold the medallion in her hand. It wasn't until the relic merely continued to glow for a solid minute that she started to get a bit impatient that nothing had happened yet. "What's wrong with this thing?" Giving it a gentle shake, she watched as the green metal did nothing other than stay lit up. "Usually it does something; like generating wind or warping me to certain locations. I'm not sure why it's not doing anything."

Saria happened to witness the glowing tail of the seed seemingly reacting to Fado's medallion, seeing it gradually flowing in whichever direction her friend held it. Noticing that, she put the two together and said "I think you should hold it up!"

Doing as suggested, Fado held the medallion up above her head. Right away, the multicolored light connected to the ancient relic, adhering to it in an almost ghostly way. Both kokiri stared in awe as the light coming from the medallion pulsed and then vanished. After that, a gentle hum could be heard followed by the giant glowing seed-like part of the enormous plant slowly beginning to grow brighter and brighter. In the blink of an eye, without expecting it, the seed became so well-lit they couldn't look straight at it from as closely as they stood. Even better, as a consequence of the illuminated plant's suspension high in the air, it acted as an overhead light that was incredibly powerful. Soon enough, the insane strength of the plant lit the entire gigantic cavern they were in.

Suddenly the four no longer needed a torch as they could see everything in the area. First off, it was a bit of a shock precisely how large the glowing plant was. As expected, its scaley roots grew from the ground to the ceiling and yet seeing it in fine detail was astonishing. Then again, its grandeur paled in comparison to what they saw at the other end of the immense cave. Far to the opposite of them was an entire massive wooden structure several stories tall. It was hard to tell from the distance they were, yet it looked to be constructed out of the base of a single tree. The top of it stretched fairly close to the top of the cavern. To add to the eeriness, a large section of the ceiling right above the mysterious temple had been covered in a layer of wood. On the other hand, there was also a stone fence surrounding the perimeter of the building too. A white rock path had been laid, extending a decent distance from a gate that led through that fence. Nonetheless, the start of said path was still a ways away.

"Oh my goodness! There's a whole building down here!" Saria exclaimed in awe.

Both sprites gasped in unison. Tessl and Kaila nervously looked at one another as if seeing the structure disturbed them.

"That has to be it." Fado spoke aloud, subconsciously referring to where she was supposed to be going, where she'd been led this entire time.

However, before they could do anything else, they abruptly heard that same roaring noise from earlier, the same one which they presumed to be a large animal. It echoed throughout the cavern and made the two kokiri kids duck again. Fado was swift in equipping her blowgun, readying it for whatever threat might arise. Saria readied her dagger, yet looked scared beyond belief.

"What is that noise?!" Tessl exclaimed "It's the same one we heard earlier!"

"We shouldn't be here!" Kaila told them.

The sound sustained itself longer than before, but eventually stopped. All of them were rather glad it quit. Nonetheless, Fado was the only one who kept checking the area to make sure a beast wasn't encroaching on their position. She couldn't understand what that noise was if it wasn't coming from an animal or a monster like initially thought. For a while longer, the only thing she could think of was to stay ready for a potential ambush.

"We should leave!" Kaila insisted "Now!"

"Let's get out of here!" Tessl chimed in without hesitation.

Finally relaxing enough to stop being so tense, Fado looked back at the fluttering guardians in advance of asking "Why? Tell me."

"Fine!" Tessl came forward with a mad expression plastered on her petite face.

Kaila floated toward the other sprite prior to gently grabbing her shoulder. "Tessl, what are you doing?"

"I have to, Kaila." Tessl growled "If we don't tell them what they've stumbled upon, they're going to go get themselves killed!"

"What are you talking about?" Fado enquired with furrowed eyebrows.

Shaking herself free from her fairy sister's grasp, Tessl revealed what secret she knew. "I'm pretty sure this is a special temple and you're not supposed to be here! Neither of us are. No fairy or kokiri should be here because the Great Deku Tree said it's off limits. It's dangerous here, so I'm pleading with you for us all to go before we get hurt."

"Why?" Fado shook her head with narrowed eyes that moved side-to-side as she questioned what she was hearing. "Why would he say this place is off limits?"

"Yeah…" Saria actually joined in with her kokiri sister. "A special temple? How come I never heard of it?"

"I don't know…" Tessl replied. "To both of you, I don't know."

Kaila chimed in by reminding them of what they needed to do. "What's important is that we quit this senseless trek you've obsessed yourself with and let's all return to the Kokiri Forest where it's safe."

Fado heard what she was being told, but couldn't help other than ponder what kind of temple the structure was as well as why she was being led there. "Hold on a minute. What's so dangerous about this place?"

"I already told you that I don't know!" Tessl hissed.

Extending her arms out, Fado slowly spun around as if to show the sprite their surroundings. "Take a look around you! There's nobody! Why should we be scared of some place just because a long time ago the Great Deku Tree told us to stay away!?" Scoffing, she shook her head while lowering her arms. "No, it's obvious this place is abandoned."

"That doesn't mean it's not dangerous!" Tessl tried to remind the kokiri. "Don't you remember what was written in the hylian expedition journal about them encountering traps? Whatever the writer said about being chased down doesn't sound like something I want to deal with and you shouldn't either!"

Due to the frustration of arguing, Fado slapped her hand to her face prior to grumpily pulling down on it. The brazen girl had finally had enough of her guardian's incessant prattling. She understood the sprite's concern was well-placed, yet also knew that it wouldn't stop until she unveiled the secret she'd been keeping the entire time. "Alright, look…" She decided to let them in on what they didn't know. "Unlike the hylian expedition, I was taken here by a divine wind. I know now that the medallion isn't currency or a trophy; it's a tool and a key." Holding out the medallion to them so they could examine it again, she continued with "Think about it. It warped me out here, protected me and provided light when we needed it." Anxiously giggling, she started laughing like a maniac at how obvious it was now that she was able to think of it from a different perspective. "Another way of looking at it is that I was invited here. Based on that, I have a feeling we'll be more welcomed than the hylians were."

"I-... I-..." Tessl stuttered as she stared at the green relic in her child's hand. Not knowing how to respond, she just blubbered a bit in advance of giving up. "You-... Ughhh! Fine…" Rolling her eyes and crossing her arms, she floated up just above the kokiri's heads "You're clearly not going to listen to me and I don't know what else to say… so just get us all killed because you're interested in some crumbling underground crapshack!"

Kaila flew over to console her sprite sister by giving her a hug.

"I'm not going to get us killed." Fado suddenly felt more confident in her actions, not only because they were no longer in the dark, but also because the medallion she held was the fundamental factor driving her to carry on. "As long as I have this medallion, we'll be safe."

Saria nervously rubbed her own arm while looking away, too afraid to say what was on her mind while being in the eyesight of her guardian since she knew it was going to make the sprite upset. "It does make sense. There's no way we would've gotten here on our own, not on the first go like we did." Braving her anxiety, she glanced at the surprised fairy. "It took days for the hylians to find it and we did it immediately? I definitely find that suspicious."

"See?" Fado immediately interjected into Tessl and Kaila's hesitance. "Saria's with me on this. You can trust us. We won't get you killed."

"Fado…" Kaila spoke for Tessl since the fairy was still so frustrated. "The problem isn't just that we're worried about us getting hurt, we're worried about you getting hurt as well. Plus, we're not exactly excited about being punished for going somewhere we're forbidden."

The blonde-headed kokiri girl frowned. Although she understood the fairy's point of view, she just couldn't bring herself to accept it. She knew they didn't get precisely how strong the urge was for her to fulfill her adventure. Not only was she trying to prove to herself as well as everybody else that she was capable of being independent, she was also motivated by the energy held within her magical relic. "The Deku Sprout won't know if you don't tell him and you'll all be safe as long as we carry the medallion." Slowly walking away from the giant glowing seed they stood by, she waved for them to follow. "I promise, if we get through this place, we can go home. We'll be done with our mission."

"What mission?" Tessl managed to ask through her frustration.

Shrugging while pretending to look befuddled, Fado responded with "Wherever I'm being led to and whatever the divine wind wants me to do."

"Divine wind?" Saria enquired from behind.

Nodding, the brave blonde kokiri elaborated on what she meant. "The wind that led me here and through the tunnels."

"Ooooh!" Saria exclaimed in surprise with eyes wide. Snapping her fingers, the girl came to realize how it worked. "That's what that whistling noise we heard was, the wind blowing through the cavern?"

"Yes, exactly." Fado admitted. "I didn't want to tell you because I was worried you all might think I was losing my mind. I mean, someone following the wind? That's not exactly normal behavior."

"No…" Tessl confirmed. "No it's not."

Saria suddenly walked forward away from the glowing seed, joining Fado. "Let's just check it out. Then we can leave."

Since Fado wasn't going to give up and now that Saria had joined in too, both sprites had no choice other than to fall in line behind the kokiri. Together, they traveled away from the lightroot. It was easier to walk around since they could see so vividly. They wouldn't have been able to see that well even if they still had the torch, so they couldn't complain about that. In fact, the cavern was so bright it was almost as if a full-moon was illuminating it.

It took them a couple of minutes of walking to reach the path that led to the temple. The rest of the way, they stayed quiet. Only whenever their feet finally crunched against the white rocks and stepping stones did Fado feel the excitement building in her heart. Looking at the structure in front of her made her pulse increase the closer she got. Unfortunately, glancing at the medallion didn't help much either for it made her head fuzzy to stare at. Both made her jittery at the thought of uncovering potential secrets that had laid buried for an unknown amount of time. She didn't know exactly what she was going to find, but knew that it had to be important for it to make her feel so anxious.

Continuing down the path, the fairies stayed behind the kokiri. They could occasionally be heard whispering to one another, but what they spoke of was too soft to be comprehended by their children.

Saria kept looking around while holding the old dagger like a butcher's knife. Her interest in the ancient building was growing too. As someone who had been all over the Lost Woods and discovered tons of ruins from the forgotten ages, she genuinely wanted to know why she'd never heard of a special temple in a cave. She didn't even know there was a place called Farolittoral Cave.

Fado looked up at the wooden boards adhered to the ceiling above the structure, contemplating its purpose. Then again, everything around her was making her curious what it was for or why it was there. Even though she was so puzzled by the entire scene that it was mesmerizing, her subconscious knew to stay prepared for any potential threats. Holding onto her blowgun, she stared wide-eyed with pupils as big as dinner plates, trying her best to stay ready at a moment's notice just in case an enemy popped out of nowhere.

To their dismay, that is precisely what happened. After making it halfway down the pathway leading to the fence surrounding the mysterious structure, they all heard a scratching sound followed by feeling a gentle rumble from beneath their feet. Out of nowhere, it seemed as if several stepping stones around them sprung up into the air. In reality, multiple Deku Baba who had been hiding beneath those rocks revealed themselves from their camouflage. Five of the monsters had them surrounded before they could even react, all of which hissed and growled with malicious intent.

"WATCH OUT!" Tessl shouted as she and Kaila flew up above the reach of the carnivorous plants.

Saria screamed in fright as her blood ran cold from having been ambushed. "DEKU BABA!"

Fado reacted quickly by taking aim at one and shooting a dart. While the side of its head was fibrous, the needle-tip had no issue in penetrating deep enough to hurt, but not kill it. She was already in the process of reloading whenever the very Deku Baba she had injured lunged forward, latching onto the kokiri's forearm and sinking its teeth deep into her flesh. "RHAAAA!" She hollered out in agony.

"FADO!" All of them yelled in shock.

While wrestling to keep her arm, Fado started beating the monster in the head with her blowgun until she heard a cracking sound come from the barrel. Acting on instinct, she kept whacking the monster with it until her weapon abruptly snapped in half. Her heart metaphorically fell to her feet upon witnessing the barrel splinter, but she didn't stop trying to defend herself. Thankfully, it was Saria who came to the rescue by plunging her dagger through the top of the monster's head, instantly killing it. Feeling its jaws relax, Fado immediately pulled its teeth from her arm in advance of throwing the head to the ground where it hit with a thud.

Seeing red from being hurt, the blonde-headed kokiri went berserk on the other four Deku Baba. Grabbing the other half of her broken blowgun from off the cave floor, she twirled both tubes in her hand prior to leaping at the closest carnivorous plant, impaling it from above with one splintered chunk of the blowgun. Moving onto the next enemy, she used the second half of her broken weapon to stab the third in its mouth, shoving the stick right into the back of its throat. Jumping back, she then grabbed the stem of that third Deku Baba and ripped it right up out of the ground, using it to repeatedly smack the fourth plant with. "Die you freaks!" She yelled in a frenzy as blood dripped from her arm. "How dare you sneak up on us!"

Saria approached the fourth monster with hesitation, unsure of how to attack in spite of it being distracted. Thankfully, she'd seen Link do it enough to know to slice at the stem to kill off the head. So, right after the last Deku Baba tried and failed to bite her, the green-haired kokiri took the chance and cut the plant's stem about a quarter of the way down. Without anything holding it up, its head made a strange squeal prior to falling to the ground with its putrid tongue sticking out.

As soon as all the enemies were dead, Fado fell to the ground on her butt while breathing short and fast. Holding onto her arm, as the adrenaline subsided, she was able to feel the pain. Seething from it, she tried hard not to shed a tear as she didn't want to show weakness to her partners, but it really hurt. Two dozen teeth had sunken into her flesh. Looking at the wound, she could see each mark left behind by those gnarly teeth. Not only that, the monster's toxic salvia would certainly pose an issue if she didn't treat it with proper medical potions. The last thing she wanted was for her arm to shrivel up and fall off.

"How bad is it?" Tessl asked as she descended from hiding up above, choosing to instead come to the aid of her kid.

Saria bent down to get a better look, setting the dagger down beside her. Holding onto Fado's shoulder, she examined the wound. Seeing the blood oozing from the puncture marks made her feel queasy, but she was too worried about her friend to care. "Not great… Then again, it could've been a lot worse."

"It hurts." Fado lamented with a quivering lip.

"I'm sorry." Saria expressed empathy in regard to the pain.

Kaila, however, was still frustrated with the entire situation and felt more mad than sympathetic. "Maybe now you'll see how dangerous it is here and we'll leave."

Even while seething in agony, Fado refuted the idea. "No! Just-… Just give me a minute to collect myself."

"Seriously?" Tessl agreed with her fairy sister, arguing with her child about safety. "What's it going to take for you to give up?"

Getting back onto her feet, the double low-bunned kokiri sneered a reply at her guardians. "A lot more than this!" Wiping under her nose, instead of focusing on the throbbing agony, she rued losing her custom made blowgun. The girl had worked hard on building it. She searched weeks for the perfect piece of wood with a straight enough stalk to be hollowed out and used as the barrel. She'd spent days carving the mouthpiece and used months of savings to purchase darts and a leather bandolier for it. Looking at it now, splintered and snapped in half with both of those halves currently lodged in dead Deku Babas, it made her hands ball into fists while a vein on her forehead bulged from the sheer vexation. "I didn't come all this way to break my weapon and get bit. I'm going to find out what's inside that temple."

"Oh, for the love of-..." Tessl grumbled.

Saria quickly removed a roll of gauze from her pocket, having come prepared for such a situation. "At least let me bandage it." Using one hand, she shook the roll unraveled while holding her friend still with her other. "It's a little wet from jumping in that pool of water, but it'll compress it; maybe stop some of the bleeding."

Fado was getting furious at the fairies' lack of respect. Yet, staring at Saria, seeing the girl's caring nature surfacing, it made her relax a bit, even giving a small smile. The gauze was indeed a bit wet, thankfully it felt good, cool against the inflamed skin surrounding the wound. Letting her friend wrap it around her forearm, once the bandage was tied off, it really did help it feel better. The pressure lessened the pain. On the other hand, now that she was able to think clearer, she immediately began contemplating how to proceed without her handmade blowgun.

"Can you fix your weapon?" Kaila enquired with perfect timing.

Letting out a huff, Fado shook her head. "No, unfortunately not. I'll have to make a new one whenever we get back to Kokiri Village." Staring at the dead Deku Babas littered around them, she soon came up with an idea. For the time being, she'd take back the old dagger she'd commandeered from the Bokoblin. However, she wasn't about to leave Saria defenseless as she decided to give her a Deku Stick to utilize. Grabbing the dagger from off the ground, she cut the head off one of the carnivorous plants, then sliced the stem at the base. "Right now, we'll re-equip using the very freaks that broke it."

Saria took the Deku Stick from Fado and made a face. Although she understood why it was better for her friend to have the blade instead, she would've rather had the dagger as it was far easier to kill with. Fortunately, Saria wasn't keen on killing anyway, so she decided to merely use the stick for defense.

"I'm going to talk to the Deku Sprout about your outrageous behaviour whenever we make it back. Understand?" Tessl sternly stated.

Fado wasn't pleased to hear that remark, yet refused to let it make her give up. In contrast, her motivation was too strong for that to prevent her from exploring further. All she did was shake her head with a frown, wave the sprite off and then walk away. "I get it. But, until then, we're going to keep pushing onward."

"Maybe we do it off the path?" Saria suggested.

Thinking about it, Fado agreed, walking to the edge then off the path to avoid further traps. With the fairies floating behind them, they proceeded onward parallel to the walkway. This time, they were even more cautious than they were previously, especially now they knew what to expect. Because of that, they were slow, but made it to the fence line of the temple within a couple of minutes.

Approaching, they saw that the fence was made out of medium-sized boulders. The decorative gate, however, was iron and had been embedded into much larger boulders serving as posts. It wasn't quite clear what the fence was for anyway as there didn't seem to be any wildlife in the cave system anybody would need to worry about. Keese could fly right over it and Deku Baba grew from spores. Obviously it was to either keep people out or something in; all they could do was hope it was because of the former and not the latter.

"These boulders are huge." Saria remarked in advance of asking "How did they get them all down here?"

Fado stared at the rocks for a few moments, shrugging at the question. As she focused on the gate, coming closer she saw that it had an intricate looking lock surrounding a circular indentation. She'd never seen a lock like it before; consisting of six weights surrounding the concave hole, each secured in iron barrel-latches to prevent the gate from opening. On the inside of the round opening, there were six hollow tubes, all leading to the weights.

"What kind of lock is that?" Saria asked.

Raising an eyebrow, Fado approached, placing her hand against the gate. For some reason, she thought it might respond to her presence. She had it in her head that it would glow or hum with energy. Unfortunately, it did neither of those. The gate did nothing other than stay as a gate. Sighing because she couldn't get it to automatically open, she decided to focus on the lock. "I'm not sure. I'm more curious about what kind of key it uses. I mean, it's circular like-..." Out of nowhere, a solution dawned on her. As fate would have it, she didn't need to go on a hunt for the key because she already had it.

"Wait a second… No way." Taking the medallion out of her satchel, she lined it up with the indentation. Like a glove, the relic fit into the hole. "You've got to be kidding me."

"What luck!" Saria excitedly clapped her hands with a smile

As it did all the other times it activated, The green medallion lit up with an otherworldly bright light. The group all stepped back as they watched it come to life. Per its forte, the air surrounding it began to whip around as if it were being funneled into the relic. Eventually, a small cloud consisting of a divine controlled gale expanded outward from the circumference of the key. The wind it generated was powerful enough to gradually lift each of the six weights, pushing them from their iron keepers and into holders that kept them from falling back into place.

"Look!" Tessl was amazed at how well it worked.

Once all six weights were removed from their respective barrels, a loud clanking noise could be heard. Without giving them time to react, the indentation where the medallion was housed detached from the gate and fell to the ground. Now that the lock was removed, there was nothing keeping them from gaining entry to beyond the fence.

However, Fado found herself more concerned with the integrity of her newfound key. Lifting up the locking mechanism, she recovered the medallion from its confines in advance of checking it out, making sure it hadn't gotten scuffed up from the fall. Thankfully, its durability proved to be as strong as she expected it to be as it didn't even have a scratch on it. While she didn't want to act obsessive over her precious relic, she knew it was too important to lose or let get destroyed. Her best bet was to immediately pocket it in her satchel for safe keepings, which she did.

"That was so cool!" Saria continued to exclaim. "And the gate will open now?"

"I'm not sure, let's check." Fado replied after standing up from analyzing her medallion. Giving the wrought iron gate a gentle push, it creaked open with little effort. "How about that?" The kokiri girl remarked on how easy it was to move considering its size. "This place must have been built really well. Other than the high moisture, nothing here has been weathered by time."

Tessl floated closer to her kokiri as she said "That's because it's a forbidden place and most people know not to come here."

Fado simply rolled her eyes before pushing the gate further open. "Then maybe we'll find a lot of treasure here."

"Is that what you're after?" Tessl pouted.

"No, of course not." Fado snickered. "But, you gotta admit, it would be kinda awesome to come back with a bunch of jewelry, a crown on our heads and our pockets stuffed with rupees."

Saria giggled at the thought as she followed her friend. "Queens of the forest, huh?"

"Oh, I like the sound of that." Fado played along until everyone was on the other side of the gate.

They all found themselves in a circular courtyard. Not only did the white rock path continue to lead to the structure, there was a series of decorative oblong-shaped stones encircling the strange temple as well. Each stone had a perfect hole through the center of it. Other than that, off the walkway, in place of the rock floor of the cavern, a layer of sand had been placed atop. The sand had been intentionally raked in a way that left behind intricate swirls and patterns.

"Whoa…" Saria was taken aback by how much effort had been put into making the courtyard look majestic. "If it weren't for the fact that we're underground, I'd say this place was rather majestic."

Fado nodded as she started walking down the path, staying wary of any more traps. "Yeah. What's up with these stones? They're all the same." Peeking back at the nervous sprites, she decided to ask them if they knew anything. "Tessl, Kaila? Have either of you ever seen stones like these before?"

Tessl floated over to one of the stones as they neared it, yet Kaila refused to investigate further. Flying up to the hole in the center of the rock, she visibly shivered. "I have no clue. But, I can feel a draft coming through it."

"Hey… uhh…" Saria caught everyone's attention in advance of her pointing at the temple. "Am I crazy or does the building look like the stump of a massive tree?"

Everyone stared and were surprised at what they saw. However, they had to walk all the way up to it before they were able to elaborate on their expectations. While it was definitely wood and shaped like the base of a tree, upon a closer look, the wood seemed to have been petrified. None of them were professional arborists, yet they were positive it was unnatural for a tree to grow inside of a cave where there was no sunlight for its nourishment, especially a tree of such mighty girth. Part of it was singed, as if long ago someone had set fire to it, nonetheless, this barely seemed to have scarred the bark. Whatever species of tree it used to be, it was truly a hardy plant for its withered dried out remains to be so indestructible.

"How could there be a tree down here?" Fado asked aloud.

Tessl shrugged as she too investigated and then answered. "I really don't know."

"It's amazing." Saria stared up in awe at the temple's multiple levels.

"No, it's eerie." Kaila stated.

The brave blonde kokiri blinked in annoyance prior to walking towards the heavy iron door that led into the structure. "I can handle eerie things."

Examining the entrance, they saw the door had the depiction of an owl engraved into it. Not only that, it also had rather large handles. Fado's hand had trouble wrapping around the grip. Thankfully, same as with the wrought iron gate, it opened with little resistance. However, they weren't greeted with the interior of the temple. Instead of gaining access to the inside of the structure, the open door unexpectedly revealed a big slab of rock blocking the way. It wasn't a hundred percent solid as it was riddled with cracks. Then again, it was still thick enough to be in one piece.

"What in the world?" Saria asked with narrowed eyes. "A door that leads nowhere?"

Fado huffed at the sight. "I think it's just blocked. What is that engraved into it though?"

Looking closer, they all saw that there were some carvings on the stone slab. The first was clearly depicting an elegant looking violin, while the other looked like it might have been some sort of magic wand or perhaps a baton used for conducting a band. Several sentences were engraved directly beneath the images, but were written in what was likely Ancient Hylian.

Kaila giggled in advance of her sprite sister giving her a nudge to the side. "Maybe it's a hint to leave?"

"By the goddesses, you two are stuck in a time loop." Fado scoffed. "Maybe instead of saying the same thing over and over, you can help me figure out a way to get past this obstacle? We made it this far, I'm sure we can figure out how to advance." Pressing her hand to the rock, she pushed on it to see how sturdy it was. When it didn't budge an inch, the kokiri girl knew it wasn't a ploy, that it was a real thick piece of stone. "There's got to be some way to break this slab. What do you think about trying to obtain a Bomb Flower or a stick of dynamite? I think we can use explosives to shatter it like the Hylian Expedition did to the cave wall."

"No!" Tessl flew over and pulled on her child's hair as hard as she could, which wasn't too hard but enough to pester the kokiri "You're not using explosives and I don't care how much you want to! They're too dangerous and I won't let you!"

Fado's lips pulled back from the pain of having the roots of her hair tugged on. "Oww! Okay, okay!"

Saria innocently looked away as Tessl dished out her punishment. However, upon directing her gaze back to the stones encircling the locked-up tower, she cocked her head as an idea came to mind. Pondering the purpose of the objects, it dawned on her that the hole through the center of them was oddly close in proportions to the indentation on the gate where Fado stuck the green medallion. Tapping her lips with her index finger, she decided to voice her skepticism. "Maybe you can use the medallion on the stones? It looks like it might fit."

Gently pushing Tessl away from her hairdo, Fado rubbed her sore head in advance of examining what Saria said. Staring at the stones, she too realized how close in size the holes were to the medallion. She figured her friend was onto something and decided to give it a try. "Hey, you might be right." Once again removing the powerful relic from her satchel, she brought it over to the nearest stone. "Hmm…" Lifting it to the hole, she didn't see it react, no lighting up or humming. Nonetheless, she still tried to see if she could get it to activate by wedging the round medallion into the hole. "It fits, but I don't think that's where it's supposed to go." Looking around, she frowned. "Besides, I only have one medallion, not enough to fill the hole in all these stones."

Before she could try to remove the medallion from the stone, it abruptly began to wiggle. Without any noticeable cause, it suddenly shot out the back of the stone. As if by magic, the relic seemingly rode the wind, floating through the air until it lodged itself in the gap of the next rock.

"I think it's working!" Saria exclaimed.

While the green-haired kokiri girl was right, it didn't work for long. After traveling through the stone it was currently in and soaring to the next, they all bore witness as the key hit a glob of sand that had been carefully packed into the hole. Now that the wind had been cut off and was unable to continue blowing it, the medallion just fell to the ground, spinning on its side a couple of times prior to falling over with a clank.

"Crap!" Fado cursed, slapping her hand to her forehead. "What now?"

"I think the stone's blocked too." Saria chimed in.

"Well…" Fado exhaled through her nose before sauntering off the path and heading toward the clogged stone. "Let's go unblock it."

Going up to the stone stuffed with sand, Fado wasted no time in first recovering the medallion. After that, she simply used her hands to start digging out the hole. Saria helped by walking around to the other side in order to dig from that end. The fairies just floated around watching, keeping lookout for any enemies. Although they all wondered how the stone got so clogged with dirt, they didn't think too hard about it as they assumed the wind had caused debris to slowly build up. Nonetheless, they were suspicious of that concept as it was packed so tightly it had to have been purposely placed there by someone. If that were the case, there's no telling how long it had been blocked.

"Stupid sand." Fado lamented as she scooped it out of the rock.

Saria got a big enough scoop that a large majority of the sediment came pouring out. Both of them could feel the airflow blowing through it, ejecting several grains of sand in the process. "Who do you think put it here?"

"Probably whoever built this place." Fado replied as she brushed the remaining debris out of the hole. "Maybe they didn't want anybody to use it anymore."

Leaning her head to the side, Kaila pointed out a stone she saw halfway around the side of the temple. "You're probably right, because I see another one that's clogged."

"Seriously?" The blonde kokiri sighed.

"That's weird." Saria stated as they moved on to the next clogged decorative stone.

It took about a minute to reach the next rock. But, once they did, they saw that it wasn't stuffed with sand like the other, rather it had a hundred pebbles all of which had been meticulously placed to block the wind from traveling through the hole. Not only did it confirm that it had been done by a person and not an accidental occurrence, it proved that at some point, somebody had tried to stop the stones from functioning.

"Geez, there must be a hundred pebbles in there." Tessl grumbled at the sight.

Same as before, Saria and Fado spent the next few minutes removing the debris from the hole of the stone while their fairy guardians watched over them. The sediment they pulled out fell to the ground, piling up around the base of the statue. When the hole was mostly cleared, they were once again able to feel the airflow going through it, connecting to the next. Brushing the last of the pebbles out, when it was totally clean they moved on, walking in a full circle around the temple.

Once they circled the entire temple and returned to the heavy iron doors and rock slab obstructing their entry, they were confident that they had unblocked all the stones. Sure enough, the magical wind blowing through them intensified tenfold. Now that the circuit had been completed, they returned to that same stone they first started with.

"Ready to try again?" Saria asked.

"Yep." Fado replied as she removed the medallion from her satchel. Momentarily closing her eyes, she took a deep breath, hoping that their work would pay off and they could unlock the secret of the windstones. "Let's give this another shot." Opening her eyes, she held her precious key up to the hole in advance of wedging it inside. "Okay-… Like this-… Then we wait."

After just a few seconds, same as last time, the medallion began to wiggle as the strong gale started forcing it from the hole. Like a rocket, the relic eventually flew out the other side of the stone, soaring through the air until it securely landed in the hole of the next stone. It went on like that for thirty seconds as the medallion gradually circulated through the loop of decorative rocks. When they saw it coming back around the opposite side of the temple and headed for the stone it started at, they assumed it had done what it was supposed to. However, it didn't stop. The relic kept going, passing them to make another lap around the temple. While going around, it was visibly picking up speed. By the time it reached the starting stone a second time, it was also beginning to visibly glow.

"I think it's working!" Saria exclaimed, happy they figured it out.

Watching the medallion go through the loop faster and faster, they all bore witness as the glow grew brighter too. Fado was positive it was working this time as the light seemed to be an indication that it was currently active. Nonetheless, it was obviously building up energy along with momentum. Before long, it was going at such a velocity none of them would dare try to stop it. In addition to the luminosity being produced, it also created a humming sound as well as noisy gusts of wind that blew the girls' hair back. Eventually, the strength of the gales were so intense the fairies had to seek refuge with their children like they had previously done. Fado and Saria both shielded their eyes.

A rumbling sensation could be felt beneath the kid's boots. The ground around the temple trembled as if there was a miniature localized earthquake happening. Even though the structure in front of them remained upright with no issue, not only did the kokiri have trouble standing, a few of the boulders making up the surrounding fence line collapsed. In spite of all this, the medallion continued to travel through the circuit of windstones.

Due to the sheer loudness of both the wind as well as the humming sound, the two girls were temporarily unable to communicate with one another. On the other hand, they didn't necessarily need words as Saria was able to convey meaning through gestures. Grabbing Fado's arm, she shook it to get her attention and then pointed upward toward the ceiling of the cavern. The blonde-haired kokiri's eyes shrunk to pinpoints as she saw the wooden planks up above them shifting. Seeing how this layer of boards appeared to be directly above them, she started pulling her observant friend as far out of the way as was possible since she had no clue what was about to happen.

The medallion seemed to reach terminal velocity, having accelerated so fast it was beginning to generate a genuine cyclone. Building up, the tornado rapidly increased in size. Neither kokiri had ever seen a whirlwind in all their years as the anomalies were an exceedingly rare occurrence in the Forbidden Forest. They were horrified by such strong winds, especially since they could feel themselves being physically sucked toward it. Nonetheless, aside from keeping away from it, all they could do was watch as the twister engulfed the temple, obscuring it from view because of all the sand riding the vortex. It became so tall it nearly reached the ceiling.

Stress put on the layer of wooden boards attached to the ceiling soon became obvious as the vacuum effect from the mighty medallion tornado pulled on it. Although none of them could hear the planks creaking, they could see them bowing outward. The twister tugged and tugged until the wood cracked, splintering at its weak points. As long as the kokiri kids stayed out of the way, they were safe from where the cavern may potentially collapse. They just felt helpless as all they could do was watch the board's integrity fail.

Busting apart from the pressure, some of the wood gave away. The rumble from the twister was amplified by the vibration on the ceiling. Each plank that cracked revealed dirt and rocks beneath that immediately fell to the ground now that there wasn't anything to hold it up. However, once enough of the boards snapped, the rest were totally destroyed as that section caved in. A significant ton of stones and soil dropped from where the newly created hole was, the weight of which managed to bypass the tornado to impact the top of the temple with great force. As luck would have it, the structure still didn't budge as the petrified wood was stronger than all the stuff hitting it. On the other hand, the hole above it continued to grow deeper as more debris poured from it.

'I hope this place isn't collapsing.' Fado worried about the entire cavern falling apart.

Even though the sediment kept dropping to the ground, the rest of the cave seemed to stay intact. Following about fifteen seconds worth of soil and rock, a ray of light shone out the newly created hole. The light intensified the deeper the hole got and the more debris that was removed from it. Eventually, the rays became as wide as the circumference it spewed forth from. Before long, all the rocks and dirt slowed as the majority had already fallen. Suddenly, the tornado started to reduce speed, its whirling winds gradually dissipating, taking with it the intense vibrations.

"What just happened!?" Saria asked now that the others could hear her. Looking up, she was confused by what she saw. "Is that light from another one of those plants?"

The cyclone shrunk, lowering to the ground before utterly disappearing. Now, not only could they see the temple still standing even though it was covered in dirt and rock, they could see it even better since the light coming from the hole above it illuminated the structure. Still going in loops around the courtyard, the medallion was slowing down as well. After completing two more circuits, it too came to a stop where it lodged itself in the same stone it started at, remaining there for collection.

Fado stared at the hole on the ceiling like her friend was, but from where they stood, they couldn't see straight up. Regardless, the kokiri girl was certain the light they were seeing wasn't the same as the gentle glow from the lightroot at the other end of the cavern. She knew it was too bright to be floral bioluminescence. Not only that, but the atmosphere of the chamber they were in changed as air pressure seemed to equalize due to the sudden exposure to the surface. "No way… That's gotta be sunlight."

"Really?" Saria's eyebrows lifted from surprise.

Kaila and Tessl flew out of the safety of their kokiri kid's garments now that there wasn't a tornado threatening to suck them up into the air. Both of them were stunned to see the changes that had been made, the devastation that had been caused by the twister as well as the multitude of rocks and dirt strewn about the perimeter.

"Geez Louise!" Tessl stated with her eyes wide and mouth open.

Kaila just shook her head.

Despite all the destruction around them, the temple looked rather majestic from the rays of sunshine gracing it. In reality, it probably hadn't seen the daylight in hundreds of years. The occasion was definitely special. Now that there was an opening to the surface and the atmosphere had equalized, there was a great gust of wind coming from it, removing the staleness of the previously untouched cavern.

Out of the blue, they heard that same loud roaring sound they'd heard several times. It echoed throughout the cavern, but since they were close enough, they were able to tell that it was coming from near the top of the temple. They all looked up toward the last floor of the structure where they spotted an alcove and a terrace. Due to their proximity, they could tell that it wasn't an animal roar as it now sounded more like a horn being blown into. Unfortunately, they didn't have any further time to ponder the matter as they all saw something red leap off the edge of the terrace. What they initially assumed to be an object quickly proved itself to be alive as it extended a pair of wings and began to glide in the group's direction. Neither kokiri could get a proper visual on the thing, but they initially thought it to be a gigantic bird of unknown origin.

"Is that a bird?" Fado lifted an eyebrow.

All of a sudden, the creature brandished something before an arrow was shot, revealing what it took out to be a bow. The arrow flew through the air in advance of piercing the ground right in front of Fado's feet.

"It's shooting at us!" Saria exclaimed as she ducked. "The bird is shooting at us!"

"Great Deku protect us!" Tessl jumped in fright from the sudden attack.

Fado wasn't able to go on the offensive since her blowgun, the only weapon they had that would've been capable of attacking so far up above them, had been destroyed. Even though she couldn't fire a dart at the strangely smart bird, the kokiri could run. Grabbing her friend's hand, she yanked the girl in the direction of the temple, sprinting as fast as she could. "RUN!"

"What kind of bird can shoot a bow and arrow!?" Kaila inquired as she flew right behind the running kokiri.

Tessl fluttered faster as she said "It's not a normal bird! It's like a bird-person!"

The creature tracked them without issue. Flapping its wings, it turned around mid-air in order to stay in close proximity to the frantic children. Screeching at them, the entity sounded like an overgrown hawk and one that wasn't too happy either. Using its taloned feet, it swiftly reloaded the bow then took aim at Saria. Swooping down, it got closer to them prior to releasing the newly nocked arrow.

"WATCH OUT!" Kaila screamed as the arrow flew straight at her child.

Fado took action to protect her friend. Letting go of the kokiri's hand, she opted to shove the girl instead, pushing her aside so the arrow missed.

Saria fell to the ground on her stomach, but quickly got back up. Her feet tore at the sand as she raced to catch up with Fado. "I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS!"

Once Saria caught up with her friend, they both took off toward the temple again. They were still being pursued by the flying big red bird, hearing it shriek again. With a hundred feet remaining for them to run until they made it to the temple, the kids worried the creature was about to release another arrow in their direction. Sure enough, an arrow landed off to the side right in front of them. It was the third time the enemy missed and though it was flying and they were sprinting, the kokiri knew they would only get lucky for so long before somebody got hit. Considering that, they just kept going, seeing the partially open wrought iron doors as their saviour.

Although they merely sought refuge behind the doors, upon reaching them, they noticed the huge stone slab that had once been blocking their way was now lying crumbled on the floor. Regardless, as soon as they reached the entry, Fado ran in, yanked her friend inside and then waited for the fairies to fly through in advance of rushing to close the door. Saria joined in and both the kokiri gradually shut the wrought iron doors to protect themselves from the danger outside. They did so just in time as they heard a loud clang on the other side of the door, very likely a fourth arrow being shot.

"What was that thing!?" Saria hyperventilated from not only the fear coursing through her, but the exhaustion from dashing so desperately.

Tessl panted a bit as she replied "It was some huge bird!"

"I've never seen a bird that big-..." Fado continued to hold onto the door as she feared the creature would eventually try to burst through. "And I've certainly never seen a bird that can use a friggin' bow."

"This whole situation is out of control!" Kaila chimed in. "We need to get out of here before we get killed!"

After a couple of minutes had passed, Fado was relatively confident that the oversized avian wasn't about to come barging through the door. Nonetheless, she decided to take several of the chunks of destroyed slab and pressed it against the entryway, hoping it would block it from opening. When she was finally satisfied by the amount of weight propped up against the door, she turned around to actually take a look at where the slab once was. Now that it had been removed, she could tell that there was definitely an area behind. To their dismay, they couldn't see very far into the structure. Without what light shined through the gap in between the two doors being able to reach, the rest of the room on the other side of the crumbled slab was pitch black.

"Ughhh!" Kaila wailed. "More darkness!"

Even though she herself was a bit anxious, seeing her entire crew so distraught, the blonde-haired kokiri girl decided to take a moment to make an attempt at calming them. "At least we're not out there with that thing." She made a point. "Let's just take a look around and see if we can find another way to get a light in here. After all, my medallio-..." Fado abruptly stopped mid-sentence and her eyes widened in shock. From speaking about it, she came to realize that in all the panic from being attacked, she'd accidentally left behind her beloved green medallion. "Oh no… No, no, no!"

"What?!" Saria exclaimed in fright, her friend's attempt at calming her utterly backfiring. "What is it?!"

"I left the medallion out there!" Fado cried out.

Kaila slapped her little sprite hand to her forehead. "It's too late now!"

Fado shook her head, rejecting the idea that she no longer had the opportunity. "No! I-... I have to go back out there and get it!"

"NO!" Tessl and Kaila both yelled in response.

Saria saw how upset Fado was getting due to her mistake and the green-haired kokiri girl's attitude changed. Of course she was still scared, yet now she was the one who was trying to calm everyone down. Grabbing Fado's shoulders, she kept her friend from trying to leave. "You can't go out there again, not right now. But, don't worry, we'll get it when we get another chance."

"I can't lose the medallion." Fado sniffled as she felt a lump form in her throat from the stress rising within her. "It's too important."

"We won't lose it." Saria asserted.

Sniffling one more time, Fado wiped under her nose prior to nodding, showing that she understood. Afterward, she sighed, metaphorically letting off steam as she did her best to forgive herself of making a mistake. To distract herself from her predicament, she analyzed the broken slab instead. "What do you think broke this slab?"

Tessl rolled her eyes at her child's lack of urgency regarding their safety, seeing that she was only concerned with the relic. Nonetheless, following an exhale of her own, she said "Who knows. Maybe it was the tornado-… or the pressure from all those rocks falling on top of the place."

"I bet that's it." Fado continued to distract herself. Even though she didn't want to, she also started walking forward into the pitch black. "Well… I guess we should look for a light or wait until that creature isn't flying around."

The brave kokiri girl was only able to walk forward a small bit whenever she stopped upon hearing a rustling sound coming from the darkness. Right away, she worried they were about to be attacked by another entity hiding in the shadows. However, none of them had ever heard such a metallic whirling accompanied by scraping come from a living organism. Despite that, after all the strange stuff that had occurred while they were in the giant cavern and its endless network of tunnels, they weren't totally surprised to be faced with another unknown scenario.

"Authorizer Verified." An unknown soft-toned voice suddenly spoke from in front of them, coming from somewhere in the darkness. "Welcome."

Out of nowhere, while everyone nervously stood still, the room lit up. Lights circling the ceiling abruptly illuminated with a cool-white hue. Now that they could see, they could tell they were definitely within the confines of the enormous petrified tree temple. It was obvious the walls were made of the same wood, yet they had been covered with a series of faded murals that once told a legendary tale. Other than that, the floors were created using white marble and topped with intricate swirls made out of green tiles. Grandiose stone pillars spanned from the floor to the ceiling, not only helping with structural integrity but also adding to the ancient decor. To the left and the right was a well-carved granite staircase with both sides leading up to the next level of the temple. Straight ahead appeared to be the ruins of what was once a magnificent rock altar.

Surrounding the altar were a dozen strange statues in various states of decay. Each statue loosely resembled a squat individual with an oval yellow-tan torso. Although they had anthropomorphic faces, one eye was bigger than the other, they had simple triangle shapes for noses and were depicted with a permanently open mouth. They all donned tri-pointed helmets with a unique emblem facing the front. Even though they didn't have legs, there were holes where there should be arms and objects that looked like hands lying crumbled to the ground on each side of them.

In the center of the altar was a greenish-blue and beige bell-shaped stone that looked like it was moving toward them. It had four bulb-shaped seeds atop it that glowed in a similar fashion to the giant lightroot brightening the cavern outside. Beneath those bulbs was what appeared to be a one-eyed face with a depiction of sharp dragon teeth to serve as a mouth. Without delay, it unfolded, transforming from an oblong dome to a semi-humanoid mechanical being. A long neck resembling that of a swan extended from the top of it, taking two glowing bulbs with it which now seemed to be its earrings. What was initially assumed to be a face separated as the eye went with the head while the teeth stayed behind on the body. Two appendages then extended from the torso; revealing four-fingered stone hands with orange claws.

The entity hovered silently as it came closer. "Welcome to the Woodwind Temple, kokiri children. You are the first people to come here in over a hundred years."

"W-What is that?!" Saria backed away from the mechanical being, unsure of what it was.

Fado wasn't as scared as her friend was, but she didn't really have an answer to give. "I don't know."

Thankfully, the robot heard them and gave a response based upon their mood. "Please…" It pleaded. "Do not be afraid of me. I mean you no harm. I am a Steward Construct assembled by my creators to maintain this holy place."

Although the others hid behind her, Fado continued to brave the unknown. She was thoroughly interested in what kind of creature she was witnessing. Besides that, she was glad it seemed friendly as it had already welcomed them and didn't seem to have any intention of trying to inflict harm upon them. Acting on behalf of the others, she presented a few questions for the mechanical being. "A Steward Construct? What is that?"

"You have never heard of a construct?" The entity posited a query of its own before informing them of precisely what it is. "I am an artificial intelligence, a man-made butler created to perform basic day-to-day duties here."

"Artificial? Man-made?" Fado curled her index finger on her lips, pondering the use of the terms.

"Affirmative." The mechanical being replied before divulging further information. "While my advanced programming allows me to simulate a personality like a genuine living person, I am not actually alive in the same sense you are. I was not born nor does blood flow through me. This unit was manufactured out of Zonaite at a factory and is powered by Energy Charges. This is why I am classified as a construct and not a natural organism."

Saria was still anxious about the robot, but managed to find the courage to ask "You're not going to hurt us?"

As it shook its robotic head, it chuckled in an odd way. "Negative. I am simply here to give you salutation and to maintain the place."

"Who made you?" Saria asked.

The mechanical man hovered closer as he informed them "Me and all my associates were manufactured by the Zonai in what is colloquially known as the Era of Myth."

"Zonai?" Fado narrowed her eyes. "Era of Myth? I've never heard of either."

"How about this place?" Saria wondered. "You said it was the Woodwind Temple?"

"Affirmative." The robot calmly replied.

Glancing back at the door, Saria then asked "How about the giant bird that chased us in here?"

The Steward Construct cocked its strange ovular head. "Negative. I do not know anything of a 'giant bird'." Reaching up, using its mechanical hands it mimicked the motion of scratching the side of its head to show it was confused by the question. "Then again, I have been in stand-by mode for over a century. Any changes made to this location since then have not been registered to my database."

"Database?" Tessl lifted an eyebrow at the unusual terminology.

Turning around, the construct gradually hovered back over to the dilapidated altar in the center of the room. "Apologies, Forest Fairy. It has been a while since I conversed with a living creature. By database, I mean my memory." Avoiding any obstacles, it went around a chunk of fallen pillar in order to return to where it originally stood. Following that, the steward construct slowly spun around to once again face the group. "If you would kindly, step over here so that I may show you these murals and tell you the story of the Woodwind Temple." Upon analyzing the walls where the faded paintings were, it realized its predicament. "Hmm… Correction, it would appear the murals have been damaged with time. This is unfortunate, but I can still tell you the story orally."

Since neither of them could go outside without risking being attacked by the overgrown bow-wielding bird, they all decided to walk further into the depths of the room. Ambling toward the altar where the construct was, they were hesitant, yet trusted it seeing how it hadn't been a threat compared to everything else in the cave. Coming to the center, they stood next to the mechanical man.

"How long have you been here?" Kaila questioned the machine, suddenly finding herself curious.

Turning to look in their direction, the Steward Construct said "I have been stationed at this location for approximately fourteen centuries."

"1,400 Years!?" Kaila's mouth dropped open in total shock.

"Give or take. So long as my chronometer isn't malfunctioning." The mechanical man stated before beginning his tale he'd long been programmed to share. "The cave system you likely navigated through to get here is a Sea Cave, formed when Faron Woods was flooded by Her Excellence, Faron the Water Dragon in order to rid the area of the despicable demon army. Even the Pit Cave the temple sits in was made by water erosion. Then again, when that water receded, it left a perfect environment for certain plants as it had its own miniature atmosphere near the ceiling. As for Woodwind Temple itself, it was originally born and not constructed, starting its life as a Great Tree during the Era of Exploration. It grew here in the cave and lived with its top poking out the hole above us."

"When it was found by a multi-species group of explorers during the Era of Chaos, a portion of its trunk was hollowed out to serve as their basecamp." The Steward kept going. "The 'Woodwind Temple' as it then came to be known due to the air pressure formed by the mouth of the pit cave, quickly became a meeting place. It is here that not only those from the sky visited, but people of the surface visited the sky as well. Ironically, in spite of prospering for several millennia, it was cut down by the Royal Family during the Era of Prosperity when relations soured with the Wind Tribe and remaining citizens of the Skyloft."

Saria held up her hand in advance of interjecting "I have so many questions."

"Please hold your queries for the end. Thank you." The mechanical man said prior to resuming his story. "All that remains now is its stump, which is where we are now. Nonetheless, it continued to have a function as it was sealed away and a Sage of Wind was assigned here to protect the secrets of the heavens as well as to prevent the demon army from easily advancing to any of the Sky Islands. The Wind Tribe trusted a handful of surface dwellers to closely guard the Sky Cannon, which provided it still functions and hasn't deteriorated beyond use, is the last viable means of reaching the Skyloft." Seemingly ending its lore of the place, it asked "I assume this is why you are here, affirmative?"

Fado furrowed her brow with a curled upper lip. The girl had no clue what the robot was talking about and barely followed the story she heard. "Umm… Negative?" She tried speaking to it using its terminology. "I came because I was brought here by a green medallion. It warped me to a nearby structure and a strangely sapient wind led me through the woods and the cavern until I reached this place."

"Fascinating…" The Steward Construct stated. "Though, I'm afraid I cannot assist you with that matter as it doesn't sound like anything pertaining to the Woodwind Temple, at least not anything that's registered to my database." Mimicking the motion of being confused, the mechanical man held up its slender arm and tapped its index finger to where its lips might be if it were alive. "Perhaps you can seek more knowledge from the Sage of Wind."

"I… don't think that's going to work." Saria lamented. "Other than you and the giant bird outside, this place seems like it's been abandoned for those hundred years you've been asleep."

Nodding, the construct acknowledged the possibility. "You may be correct. However, it is worth a chance. If you wish to do so, you must ascend the temple to the top floors. If the Sage of Wind is still here, he or she should be located in either the vault or the conservatory right above it."`

Seeing that the machine didn't appear to want to escort them, Fado asked if it were possible "Can you take us there? We don't really know this place like I am sure you do."

Giving a small head shake, the construct declined. "I apologize. My programming restricts me to the first floor and outside unless certain conditions are met."

Fado frowned with a sigh as she had hoped to have the robot come with them. Nonetheless, even without her special relic, she now knew what she had to do to complete her journey. Keeping that in mind, she decided to give finding the Sage of Wind a shot since it would be their temple and their expertise. All she could do now was hope the person would have answers as well as a way to deal with the menacing avian lurking outside with a bow. "Alright…" Turning to Saria and the fairies, she said "I guess we're going up."

"Sounds like it." Saria confirmed.