A/N: ... listen I've been writing a lot lately and like... why not update with a new chapter like 3 days early? The closer I get to finishing the story on my end, the harder it is for me to wait on a regular schedule. Consider this my apology for several year-long hiatuses lol.
See end of chapter for more notes.
CW: monsters continue to be shredded like the Parmesan on my salad at Olive Garden
Chapter 22 - Twilit Aquatic Glutton: Morpheel
Mikas only saw red.
Something about being in this temple again lit a rage within the young Zora like nothing he'd known before. His mother had loved this temple, and loved her life as High Priestess. She always had to point out the latticework railings any time he'd come with her, commenting on how it was her favorite feature of the whole place. His mother's care for the temple had inspired Mikas.
These dark creatures were defiling the structure she'd loved so much.
Mikas had not bothered to bring weapons like his fellow soldiers. He knew his way around a spear, trident, or halberd well enough. But they weren't his first choice. The Zora were blessed with sharp claws and teeth by nature. Perfect for ripping prey apart.
And oh, did this prey deserve to be ripped apart.
Peras had likely meant to lead the charge, but Mikas was faster. The moment Isha's explosive arrow struck, he leapt into action. Taking advantage of the cover provided by rising dust and rubble, Mikas cleared the way for his fellow soldiers in a flurry of biting and slashing.
Dull weaponry slid off his tough scales leaving little more than scrapes and bruises. The lizalfos' claws were nothing compared to his own, either. For any creatures unlucky enough to fall to the ground before him, their makeshift armor was pounded into their skin until it crushed against their spines.
Mikas felled countless lizalfos and helmasaurs. With every torn throat and dismembered limb, his hatred for these shadows grew and grew. They'd taken everything from him.
Somewhere among his violence, Mikas remembered the Hylian they'd brought with him. She'd screamed earlier - was she okay? His eyes darted around the room, desperately searching for her.
Isha was at the center of two circling lizalfos. They tried joint attacks, but her reflexes were sharp and her movements swift. She was doing just fine on her own. She didn't need his help.
Mikas moved anyways. Just as Isha ducked a thrown sword, the Zora collided with the first lizalfos, tearing its neck from its shoulders. He hardly noticed the blood that sprayed across him. He was already covered anyways - what was a few more splashes to him? The second lizard threatening Isha fell in a similar fashion, and Mikas made sure there was little left of it.
Isha immediately took up guard at his back. They fought for each other for an untold, beautiful time. Mikas was used to monsters clawing at his back, little more than nuisances most of the time. It was nice to have someone else to hold them off.
They hit a lull in the fighting, and the Zora turned to Isha, suddenly feeling incredibly self-conscious. What would she think of him now, in this state? When he'd told her his miserable past, she hadn't thought him a monster. Surely, the frenzied brute that stood before her would change her mind.
Isha smiled at him - no, she was practically beaming. "Impressive."
If he wasn't so strung-out on his own adrenaline and need to fight, Mikas might have melted. Instead, he could only return the smile and seek another pest to shred.
Zepin called for the girl's attention, fighting off a small swarm on his own. Mikas made short work of those monsters, and by the time he turned back to the Hylian, she had a clawshot in her hands, for some reason. The others probably had a plan, but Mikas hadn't exactly taken the time to ask. Plans weren't usually his thing.
Isha needed time to put the device on her arm, that much was clear to him. Mikas was more than happy to give her that time by defending her.
Several bodies fell at his teeth and claws. Their scaled skin was but a poor imitation of his own, and gave as easily as paper. The damn things kept coming, kept pouring up those stairs Mikas and his fellow fighters had been thus far unable to reach.
Out of the corner of his eye, Mikas saw Isha move towards the edge of the balcony. He matched her step-for-step, reluctantly pulling from the defensive line that he'd been ripping through. The lizalfos were watching, jumping forward and back to test his reactions and seek an opening, but they did not engage yet.
He heard the clawshot fire. A few small pebbles of debris rained down from where it had dug itself into the stone switch above. The lizalfos line charged forward, and Mikas was all too thrilled to meet them head-on.
Claws in one chest. Elbow crushing another skull. Teeth ripping off a shield-arm while his nails pierced skin, muscle, and organs. It was like slicing his way through the waves of a calm pond.
The room rumbled, and the familiar scrape of the ancient stone stairs rotating drowned out the roar of battle. Everything slowed as the monsters ceased their fighting, confused and screeching at the change in room layout.
His fellow soldiers ran past, down the stairs that had come to them. Mikas held his arms for the Hylian that still dangled from the ceiling.
When she fell into his arms, she patted his face and praised him again.
He would fawn over the feeling she gave him later. The monsters were recovering from their shock and advancing. Isha retreated down the stairs while Mikas and Zepin continued to guard their rear.
Mikas fought on, though he lost sight of Isha once his sister stepped up to guard the girl.
It's for the best, he told himself as he ripped out yet another throat. He didn't need the distractions.
More monsters fell before him. It wasn't enough to ease the pain in his heart.
More. Not enough to fill the void in his life left by his mother's death, and the guilt it left him with.
More.
It wasn't until he heard Peras cry out to the Hylian that Mikas broke out of his carnage-induced trance once more. His eyes darted about the room, looking desperately for Isha.
She was safe, away from any monsters. Isha stood on the central platform, just above that cave-in. The one that had started everything, the beginning of the end.
Mikas wanted desperately to jump into the water, to stop Isha from diving into the same room that killed his mother. Not alone, she shouldn't be alone! A fresh wave of lizalfos warriors were pouring in from the west wing, and he was forced to engage them. Forced to slow down and rip their evil throats from their evil necks.
He met Isha's eyes again just as she dropped her salute and dove headfirst into that darkened pit, that horrible tomb, alone.
A low whistle greeted Link when he finally drew near to Lanayru's shrine. The sound startled him, drawing his thoughts away from his aching feet. He hadn't seen anyone on his way in, but his thoughts had been drifting.
"You look like an important man on an important mission." Link turned to see an elderly Zora lounging with his back against the cave wall. His dark brown scales had hid him from immediate view quite effectively.
"Um, hey there?" Link waved awkwardly. The Zora pushed himself from the wall and approached Link, his arms crossed over his chest.
"That tunic you wear," he continued, slowly walking around Link. "You know what it symbolizes, boy?"
"Do I know you?"
The elder cracked a smile. "Oh, where are my manners? My name is Valan. Would I be correct in assuming you're named Link?"
The swordsman nodded.
"Great! If you answer my question, I've got quite the gift to give you."
I don't really have time for this, Link wanted to say, but the old Zora hardly seemed hostile. His name was also vaguely familiar. "It was once worn by a legendary Hero who drove darkness from Hyrule long ago," the hero responded.
Valan broke into a grin. "And where'd you find it?"
"I was…" well, what was the harm in telling him the truth? "I was given this by the light spirit Faron."
The Zora clapped his hands together. "You're most certainly the one I've been waiting for. Hero, it is an honor to meet you. I have been waiting centuries for the chance to meet the reincarnation of the man who saved my mother when she was but a tadpole."
Link rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "I um… I appreciate it, but I don't exactly have memories of previous Heroes. To be honest with you, I'm still getting used to this whole…thing."
Valan smiled knowingly. "Yes, but I know the soul of the Hero you carry with you, and he deserves the thanks, even if he cannot accept it himself. Someday, you'll be a legend of your own. And I'll have the joy of telling my grandkids that I knew you personally!"
He brandished a bundle of green-scaled armor and held it towards Link. "Now, this is for you. Should be fitted well. Get dressed and try it out in the spring here. You're not leaving until I'm sure you can outswim whatever the kids are fighting in that temple."
Link's gaze jerked to the mouth of the cave, out towards Lake Hylia. "Is Isha down there? You're one of her friends?"
Valan moved to block the exit. "She's guarded by our finest, Hero. While I'm certain your skills would be appreciated, you'll be useless if you can't even navigate the tunnel in. Not even I know what to expect in the temple. Now, get dressed, and get in the water."
Link wanted to scream. Even though he'd made up his mind to listen to the imp in his shadow and the nightmares in his sleep, he was still running into delays. If it wasn't his own fault, it was some other ridiculous hangup. Though Link had already accepted that Isha wanted to do this quest on her own (and was probably livid that she had a guard with her), Link knew from Midna that contact with the Fused Shadow could spell trouble for everyone.
Isha's pride be dammed, Link could not let that happen to her. He could not afford to be a too-late Hero again.
The water was colder in the vault and stank of stale and rot. It made Isha nearly gag, but she forced her stomach to calm. Her face mask would no-doubt fail if it was introduced to a half-digested breakfast, regardless of whatever magical properties it was infused with.
Dark. It was so damn dark down here.
Isha could scarcely see her own hand in front of her face, let alone any walls or floor. She had no idea how deep the water went, or what lurked in the shadows beyond. Never before had she witnessed such unending darkness.
Gods above, she ached. The cold penetrated her armor like no weapons or jagged teeth had so far. Her legs threatened to cramp in protest of the temperature, and her lungs burned with exhaustion. Her adrenaline faded the moment she embraced this icy hell and left her to struggle through pain and exhaustion alone.
Isha looked up towards the ceiling, a distant rim of faint light far above the surface. How was she going to fight her way back out of here? The drop into the water had been a long one.
Something stirred below, creating a slight current that brushed past her feet. Isha stiffened, tucking her staff under her arm and pointing into the abyss with her clawshot. The talons caught a weak glint of light coming from far, far below.
Isha had never known water this deep and foreboding.
Pinpricks of light swayed far beyond her feet, barely cutting through dark haze that seemed more than just a lack of light. They looked miles away. Her instincts told her immediately that this was the real danger lurking in the temple, the exact thing Peras felt she was not prepared to deal with on her own.
But where else was she going to go? That hole in the ceiling was far beyond her reach, nearly beyond her sight. She had no hope of climbing back out at this time. No hope of getting help.
Likely, no hope of dealing with whatever lurked in the depths.
Her lungs ached, but Isha forced herself to take deep, slow breaths, counting the seconds. Her heart slowed by a hair after ten. After thirty, she knew she would find no more courage within her. This barely-suppressed panic would have to suffice.
Isha began her descent. The darkness grew more oppressive as she dove, as if tendrils of ice and shadow were coiling tighter and tighter around the scale-armored adventurer.
Still, Isha forced herself deeper.
The lights below continued their lazy waltz. The water felt thicker.
. . Deeper. . .
The lights grew in size, and seemed to have a faint pulsing rhythm to them. It was getting colder.
. . . . Deeper. . . .
The shadows thinned, and the lights took an unsettling form.
Eight gossamer worm-like creatures extended their translucent forms upwards, adrift in a current too gentle for Isha to feel. Their bodies jiggled and undulated in some sort of strange pattern, but they did not react directly to her. Isha slowly righted herself and dropped to a sandy floor, standing at the edge of the light the strange creatures produced.
Seconds passed, but nothing happened. The worms continued their dance.
Isha eyed the six pillars that encircled the room, deciding it was safe enough to begin her search for that 'dark power'. The pillars were made of large, engraved cylinders that were stacked one atop the other. They seemed to serve no purpose beyond a place to carve, much like the ones on the outside of the temple. Isha swam to the top of one, but found only a smooth surface. Nothing to indicate to her what it stood for.
Had it gotten a bit brighter in here? Isha looked at the worms again, then beyond. She could just barely make out where the floor met the far wall. If things were as they seemed, this room was even larger than the sanctuary above.
Isha sunk to a cross-legged position on top of the column and rested her chin on her hand. Aside from these and the worms, the circular room was completely devoid of anything. No furniture, nothing on the walls, and no artifacts that she could see. Not even an empty shelf or pedestal!
Not that I have a clue of what exactly I'm looking for. Nobody had been kind enough to offer Isha a description of this 'dark power' she was supposed to be tracking down, and she hadn't taken the time to look anything up at the library regarding the subject. Her mind had been elsewhere.
Hmm…
It was definitely brighter in here.
Isha peered over the edge of her perch at the worms again. They seemed longer, almost level with the pillars. They were still pulsating and swishing about, but there was more coordination between their movements. They now formed a ring at the center of the room.
Something solid bobbed within one of the worms, the one closest to her. Isha leapt to her feet, and took slow, careful strides back. The worm swayed in her direction.
A large, yellowed eye, glowing much brighter than the worm it occupied, slowly rotated towards Isha.
A very cowardly scream tore from her throat. The worm snapped after her like a whip, but she'd already launched out of reach.
The water began to buzz and rumble. Isha's world shook, tossing her about like a tumbleweed in the angry water. The woman spun flippers over face a few times before she was able to right herself and get her focus back on the center of the room.
The ground between the worms was falling away, forming a whirlpool of sand at the bottom of the room. Isha braced herself to fight a current that certainly would pull her into a sandy abyss, like the ones in her nightmares.
The ground burst open, spouting forth a maw reminiscent of those found on like-like plants, but with ten times the teeth and spanning the entirety of the creature's head. The force of its movements set the water in new motion, tossing Isha all the way to the back wall.
What the inexperienced adventurer had mistaken for worms were actually whisker-like appendages that surrounded the mouth of the monster, pulsing with some sort of strange energy that reminded Isha of lightning bolts. They lit up the flooded vault, like some twisted sort of beacon in the night.
The creature kept coming from its place in the floor, filling the arena-like room with a spike-laden body made of thick black plates and vicious crimson-spined fins. Its eel-like body tapered towards a wide, fan-shaped scarlet tail that generated whirling currents with a single swipe.
Isha no longer gave a damn about dark powers or the fate of Hyrule or her pride or anything except getting the hell out of that room. She wove her body about in the water just as Aphura had taught her, arms outstretched to a point to help slide the water past her for more speed. Her pain was all but forgotten. She kicked her legs as hard as she possibly could, her breath coming in short huffs.
I can't do this! She would get the others. All of them might be able to figure something out-
Her hands collided with something solid. Isha's wrists made a sickening crunch as they bore the brunt of the force, halting her retreat entirely. The drifting shadows that had once been a thick haze now formed a solid wall of never-ending darkness above.
"Fuck!" she cried and thrust her heel into the shadowed wall. There was no reaction - it was as if she'd kicked stone.
The eel-like creature jerked its head towards Isha and began a slow, deliberate ascent.
She was trapped down here. Even if the Zora made their way down, they couldn't reach her now.
She was locked in a fishbowl with a monster of horrible, forgotten myth.
That familiar calm acceptance swept down Isha's spine. Her aches and pains demanded attention, but she sorted that away in a box in her mind. Later.
Isha rolled her shoulders and released the straps that held her quiver and bow with a shaking hand. Her staff and borrowed clawshot were her only viable weapons down here, and she didn't need the excess drag. Her gaze fixed on that gruesome, nightmarish maw.
Isha sent a quiet prayer to gods she had no faith in to deliver Link to the temple in time to help the friends who still fought in the sanctuary above. He could finish this thing off, right? Leaving it weakened would be a decent parting gift.
Ten years ago, Isha's father stood unflinching and fought until his last breath to protect the village he loved. Though she knew she could never compare to the warrior he was, she hoped her father's spirit could at least take pride in knowing that Isha would face her own death with his same courage.
Link wasn't sure what Valan was so worried about. He took to the armor quite well. Actually, the sensation of swimming and fighting in this armor was strangely familiar. The old Zora seemed a bit disappointed that he wouldn't be able to stall the swordsman and pepper him with further questions. Link bid him a friendly farewell, promising to chat at length another time, when his friend wasn't chasing down ancient magic that could kill her with one touch.
The entrance to the Lakebed Temple wasn't difficult to find - it was in the name, after all. Link squeezed into a tight tunnel he found at the very bottom and tried not to think about how suffocatingly dark it was.
"Midna, can you tell if anything's changed?"
A loud, overplayed sigh came from the shadows. "I've already told you, it doesn't work like that. I can tell we're getting closer, that's the extent of it."
"Are you even trying?"
"I cannot wait to be rid of you."
The tunnel took a sharp turn upwards, and Link nearly ran into the wall before he noticed. He looked upwards to see the tell-tale sign of light high above.
The sounds of battle assaulted his sensitive ears when he finally surfaced. The hero could scarcely scramble onto dry land fast enough.
Sword at the ready, he ran to the open door and across the bridge beyond. A brutal scene awaited him at the other side.
The reek of death was potent and might have turned a weaker stomach. Mangled and broken corpses of lizard-like monsters were strewn about, their violet blood painting the floors, walls, and even the ceiling. A great staircase descended before him, where a stream of reptilian beasts was thundering across the bottom floor.
He could hear fighting just below. Link wasted no time, leaping over the balcony railing and swinging himself over the side. His eyes fell on the nearest monster, who had a green-scaled Zora on his back. Link's blood boiled at the sight.
"Boots!" His feet grew heavy, increasing his momentum. Link swung his legs inward, colliding with the beast's head and sending it flying just before the lizard had the chance to relieve the Zora soldier of his life. The Hero landed with force, cracking the tiles beneath his feet. The monster he'd kicked hit the wall and did not rise.
Using his shield to protect an incoming swing, Link took a step towards the Zora as soon as his boots left his feet. "You good?" he called over his shoulder, extending a hand.
"What an entrance!" the soldier exclaimed, allowing Link to pull him to his feet. "Peras," he introduced himself, brandishing his trident and stabbing past Link to fell the latest attacker.
"Link. Where's Isha?" He drove his sword deep into the belly of another monster.
Peras skewered a lizalfos and hoisted it over his head with his trident, dumping it into a pool at the center of the room. The lizard sunk into a frenzy of bubbles and splashes. Hundreds of skeletal fish picked the thing clean in seconds. "The vault! We have to keep the army back!"
"Is she okay?"
"Hopefully better than us," Peras replied grimly, nodding to a corner of the room where a huge indigo-colored Zora crouched over a much brighter one, who was applying his own bandages to a gash in his shoulder. "Zepin's arm is done until we can heal. Mikas is in a frenzy, just don't get in his way. He knows who's who, but you know how it is. We can get carried away. Aphura's coming down from one herself. Oh, she's the one guarding Zepin," he clarified.
Link tried not to focus too much on the other Zora, the one Peras named Mikas. A "frenzy" was the perfect name for it. He was a blur of claws and teeth that mowed down any monster in his path. He was covered in their blood. It made the Hero uncomfortable, but Mikas was distracting a large majority of the enemy forces by himself. "What about you?"
Peras grunted. "The usual scrapes and bruises. Might have a broken rib or two, but nothing I've not dealt with before."
Link regarded a gash on the Zora's side that looked a bit worse than a scrape. "How long do you need to hold?"
"Until Isha returns with the relic, or until the beasts stop coming."
Link shook his head, he couldn't wait that long. By the looks of things, the Zora couldn't either. "Where's the vault?"
Peras pointed across the piranha-infested water to a separate platform that supported the central staircase. A large section of the platform was missing from its center. The supports holding up the staircase were heavily damaged too. The whole thing looked fit to topple at any moment.
Link looked at the Zora once more, who looked equally fit to topple. Peras held his trident as though he were about to leap back into action at any moment, whether the Hero stayed to help or not.
Something shook the building, changing the atmosphere in the room entirely. The lizalfos began falling back, fleeing through a broken-down door on the lower level. Mikas gave chase for the length of the room, slowing only to punish the stragglers.
The room shook again, and large chunks of debris rained down from the ceiling. Link and Peras both ducked together and covered their heads. Huge chunks of the ceiling crashed down to the ground in resounding… squishes?
It wasn't debris falling from the ceiling.
Soft, gelatinous eggs were tumbling from somewhere above, cracking open to reveal what Link could only think to describe as the spawn of Hell itself. Fat, slimy bodies drug their way across the ground with lanky, malformed limbs not unlike those on the shadow beasts. They even bore the same tattoos, faintly visible through their thick outer layer of mucus. Long paddle-shaped tails protruded from the ends of the creatures, which slapped the ground with great force as they closed in on the Zora and Link.
They had no visible eyes, but bore disgusting and fearsome teeth in too-wide mouths.
Ten or so wouldn't have been an issue. Link stabbed the first one that drew close and found it to be a quick, easy kill. But where one fell, three more came. Then ten. Then twenty. The building kept shaking and the spawn kept coming. Sharp pain sprung from his ankles where the creatures were trying to rip into his armor.
Link and Peras hacked and slashed their way to the other two Zora, who had paired up to protect the injured Zepin. They were being overrun!
A huge shadow moved across the center of the room. Another quake. Another wave of hellspawn.
"They're coming from something up there!" Link shouted to the others and pointed to the ceiling.
Peras turned to Mikas, who was kicking away and throwing any of the little crawlers that came too close. "Take the Hero and get him up to the second floor!"
Mikas hardly looked as though he were interested in taking any orders. Link opened his mouth to politely decline. Being left in the hands of that particular Zora unnerved him.
Before he could protest or offer any other plan, Link was swept from the ground as if little more than a leaf and thrown onto Mikas' back.
In the face of this denial of options, Link clung tight to Mikas' shoulders while the warrior tore his way through the swarming blobs with teeth. The Zora ran with a hunch, jumping claws and teeth first into the fray at every turn.
Mikas seemed unbothered by the many creatures that bit into his exposed arms and legs, swatting them away like flies when too many piled on or got too close to Link. They reached the stairs, and Link finally got a good look at what had brought around this fresh batch of nightmares.
It was a toad the color of mud and moss, and one larger than any he'd ever seen. It could have crushed a house with its great size, and it clung to the stalactites that danged from the high ceiling above. It hopped from place to place, only stopping to shake loose new spawn that were growing out of slits in its back.
Link reached for his bow fired an arrow straight into one of those openings. The creature roared in pain, but his arrow did little to stop its rampage.
Mikas jumped and nearly sent Link tumbling from his back. The Hero regained his grip just in time for them to slam into the stone wall. Claws scraped for purchase and lodged in the cracks. With what seemed like little effort, they scaled the wall at great speed.
The Zora stopped when they neared the ceiling. The toad barely paid them any mind. Link didn't dare look down, not even when he thought of the Zora left to defend themselves below. They needed to retreat.
Especially if he couldn't get down into the vault in time to stop Isha from dooming all of them.
Mikas looked over his shoulder at Link, then nodded towards the chandelier below. Link's heart sunk to his feet. He was being told to jump.
"Are you serious?" He hadn't looked down for a reason!
The Zora soldier was entirely unamused by Link's hesitation. He snarled, and Link momentarily resented Peras for putting his life in this killer's hands. This is one of Isha's friends?
Deciding that falling was not as terrifying as being the one who angered Mikas, Link gathered every bit of courage he could find and braced his feet against the wall. With a final breath to steel his nerves, he pushed off and stretched his hand out to catch the outer ring of the chandelier. It barely reacted under his weight.
The fixture's metal structuring was plenty wide enough for the swordsman to stand on, much to his relief. He dared not look down again, and kept his eyes on the toad that had noticed it was not alone at the top of the room. The beast roared at Link's intrusion and hopped to a closer stalactite. Every hop shook the room and threatened to loose the stone teeth from their roots.
Mikas, without a passenger to manage, was flying across the ceiling. He leapt from one downward spike to another, bearing down on their enormous enemy. He hardly paid Link a second glance as he soared overheard. The hero readied his bow and aimed for the toad's eyes.
He, annoyingly, missed his mark. The arrow glanced off the toad's lip without leaving so much as a scratch. It opened its mouth and shot a long, rope-like tongue towards Link. He jumped sideways and felt his foot slip. Link teetered on the edge of the structure.
Then pitched backwards.
A familiar oversized hand at his back righted the hero. His heart stuttered. Gasping for air after fear had constricted his lungs so harshly, Link whispered a word of thanks to the woman in his shadow.
"Get it together!" she hissed. "You don't have time to waste on this thing!"
That was something they could agree on. "Can you do anything to help me out here?"
Above, Mikas had reached his target. The Zora sprung onto the toad's belly, foolishly placing himself between, literally, a rock and a hard place. He scraped violently at the armored amphibian, peeling up splinters of carapace but not yet drawing blood.
The toad slammed its body against the ceiling. There was a sickening crunch. When it pulled back, the Zora was laid flat, coughing and still clawing despite his clear injuries. The creature kept slamming itself against the stone, and Mikas kept digging.
The Zora was terrifying, but he was one of the ones who'd come to protect Isha. Link fired another arrow. This one glanced off the corner of the toad's eye. "Midna, please!"
"Knock another one," Midna's voice came from right by his ear. Link did as he was told, and a shadowy hand fell over the one he used to draw back the bow. His shaking arms stilled. Red crackling energy began to spark at the arrow's tip.
"Let it fly!"
The impact shook the structure worse than anything the toad had managed so far. Midna's dark magic surrounded the toad like lightning. The beast screeched and tensed. Its grip on the ceiling was slipping. Mikas, despite what should have been many crushed and broken bones, scrambled to leap back to the ceiling before he fell along with the beastly frog.
When that great body did finally fall, it crashed directly onto the chandelier, rocking Link violently. He grabbed for the nearest supporting chain and switched out bow for sword.
"Go get em, Wolfy!"
Midna's excited, genuine encouragement flipped a switch in the Hero. Link pointed his sword outwards and charged across the swaying fixture towards the toad, still scrambling to get back on its feet.
The tongue shot forward. The Hero met it head on, sword held high. He cleaved the muscle in two, coating himself in its blood. The creature screamed in pain. The chandelier rocked, but Link pushed on. Another step, another slice. The beast's tongue was in shreds by the time Link drew near. Its limbs had stopped their useless flailing.
The Hero stabbed his sword in thin gaps in its armor and used it as leverage to climb onto the creatures back. Mikas dropped from the ceiling and joined him. Together, they slashed and dug away at its skin. The toad's bellowing screams faded to a dry whine, but Link hardly registered any of it. His only focus was getting through that armor.
Finally, Mikas peeled back a large plate to reveal nothing but muscle and veins underneath.
In went the Hero's sword. Again, again, and again. Link drove his sword deep into the exposed innards until the blood stopped pumping. He was short of breath when he finally stopped and looked to the Zora at his side. The room was eerily quiet, save for the creaking of the swaying chandelier.
Mikas looked down at the Hero with a bit less violence in his eyes. The Zora nodded and grunted his approval to Link.
Then the chains holding up the chandelier snapped.
If Isha somehow made it out of this fight alive, the very first thing she was going to do was bow at Aphura's feet in gratitude for their morning together, she determined. Twisting her body just the way she'd been taught, the woman managed to stay out of reach of the lashing tentacles that sought to pull her to a gruesome end.
Every dodge of the aquatic beast's tentacles ebbed away at that quiet acceptance that had driven Isha to fight. Every second she took another breath of air in this flooded chamber, her confidence grew.
Maybe this wasn't the end.
Maybe she wasn't meant to die here.
Maybe she could do more.
Isha kept swimming laps around the room, and the leviathan followed her every move. She wasn't sure how it saw the world around it - that eye hadn't been spotted again. But it barely paid any mind to the three columns it had toppled while pursuing her, so Isha gambled that the beast wasn't tracking by sight.
By feeling, then? That seemed the most likely candidate. Catfish had whiskers that seemed to function similarly. Though, she'd never seen a catfish use its whiskers to lash and grab prey.
Isha led the eel to crash into yet another column, but this time she dipped behind the top section and clung to its side. The structure shook on impact, and the separate sections began to fall away from one another.
Isha kicked a large part of the broken pillar towards the beast and swam the other way, trying to minimize her movements as much as possible. Her ascent was slow, but the serpentine fish paid Isha little mind. A tentacle lashed forward, wrapping around the debris she'd kicked and throwing it into the creature's maw.
The eel barely seemed to notice what it had ingested.
Now that she was above the creature, Isha could see where that strange eye had gone. In the center of its back, a single yellow orb with a blazing iris scanned the world from within its bezels in the scales.
Isha didn't wait for that eye to lock its sights on to her. No matter what creature, eyes were always sensitive, and should be a high priority target. Her father had never failed to stress the importance of that simple truth. She aimed the clawshot and squeezed the handle.
The eel bucked violently at the contact, but the clawshot lodged deep in its eye. Isha fought her instincts and released the handle. With the whirring of the chain, she was yanked towards the thrashing beast. Isha grabbed on to one of its armor plates once she drew near, which was far too warm for her comfort. The creature kept thrashing, but it was nowhere near limber enough to reach her, and its whiskers just a bit too short.
Isha pulled the staff from her back and drove its stone-clad end into the eye. Bright red light burst from the wound. The water around her blazed to a boil, singeing Isha as well as the monster. She jerked back with a cry. Her arms and face were burning.
What the hell kind of weapon did that bastard give me?!
She desperately swam for colder waters, still keeping clear of that maw. What could she do if her only useful weapon burned Isha as much as it did her enemies?
She couldn't trust a throw underwater, so attacking from afar was out of the picture.
Isha kicked off the approaching wall and turned, diving deep beneath the monster that pursued her. It moved more erratically than before, clearly struggling with its pain. The leviathan crashed into the wall, shaking the room like water sloshing in a well bucket before managing to get turned around.
Isha ran through her last attack in her mind. The clawshot had grabbed onto the eye, but the thing barely moved from its place within the plate armor - and it had hardly seemed more than scratched from the clawshot, despite how deep she'd hooked it. Simply stabbing or ripping the eye apart with the clawshot was likely beyond her abilities.
Isha turned and bolted upwards, her legs barely escaping the eel's reach. Her bow and arrows were buried somewhere in the sand, but those were useless anyways unless she drained the water.
And if I could figure that out, this whole fight would be over. There wasn't exactly a large sign pointing her to any drain plug to be pulled, though.
Isha could feel her exhaustion creeping up again. Between the chilling temperatures, burns, and the numerous close calls with her opponent, she feared she had little time left before her own body gave up on her.
I'll just have to burn, then. Maybe Mikas could heal her again, if she could just outlast her opponent. How hard could it be?
Isha was well above the twisted creature now, back brushing against the shadow ceiling that trapped her down here. This far up, she swore she could hear rumbling coming from elsewhere in the temple. She could only hope her allies were okay. Perhaps they were trying to break through the wall of shadow at her back. Isha could only hope to be so lucky.
The corrupted fish crossed just below her, and that damaged eye was still spewing dark blood like a flare in the night. Isha took her opportunity and latched on with the clawshot once more.
Things were no easier the second time. The eel thrashed, rolled, and contorted about the room. Isha's left shoulder was being put to its limits, holding on this long. She feared the chain might break under the stress.
Isha braced herself and stabbed her weapon down into the eye again. White-hot heat poured from the wound. The water boiled, and the eel cried with horrendous noise.
A well-timed buck from the creature sent Isha flying back, her staff tumbling from her grip and towards the bottom, where disturbed sand and dirt created a thick, murky layer of dubious cover. She dove after her weapon, tears streaming from the burns that now covered both arms all the way to her shoulders. Her lips and throat felt dry, but at least the humidity in every breath helped soothe the worst of those pains.
The sediment-filled water swallowed Isha, obscuring her from the rampaging eel that still hunted her.
She couldn't see the eel, either.
Isha's hands scrambled across the smooth floor. The murk was so thick, she couldn't see her own fingertips.
Something passed just above her back at alarming speed. Isha ducked into the current and angled herself closer to the floor. A faint flash of blue told her the eel was close.
Scaled boots kicked against something light. The muffled sound of wood against tile taunted her ears. Isha spun in that direction and slapped her hand along the ground. Finally, she felt that familiar, smooth staff.
Blue light bore down upon her. Isha thrust the spear forward and connected with one of the eel's tentacles just as the corner of its mouth brushed past her. A flash of heat met her hands and was gone in an instant, for she'd only managed a glancing blow. The water displaced by the creature's movements sucked her under its stomach.
Isha fought desperately to right herself, to catch her breath and get back above the armored leviathan. Its great tail flicked past and sent her flying towards the broken remains of a pillar. Isha wrapped her arms around the largest chunk of rock within reach and kicked her feet off the floor, straining against its weight.
She rose above the dust cloud back into the shadowed water and dared a glance back. The eel's wide maw and maze of teeth burst from the murk, still in erratic pursuit. Isha released her rock and kicked it with both feet, sending them in opposite directions. She stiffened, and the eel followed the faster movements of the falling debris.
With the curve of the fish, its bleeding eye was exposed to Isha once more. She already had the clawshot aimed and ready to go. Again, she was pulled with great force onto the creature's back, and again the eel thrashed and wailed in its agony.
Isha's own screams joined it when she drove her staff deep into the damaged eye. Her skin tightened and blistered, but she kept her weapon steady, knowing that she would not survive another round.
With a final violent shake, Isha was thrown from the back of the eel. She had just enough energy to orient herself facing downwards, watching the monster below. Cold water rushed to provide the barest relief from her pain.
The creature's eye was gone. The hole it had once occupied was leaking red and black ash. The beast stiffened and ceased its struggle. It kept its momentum, though, and slammed into the wall it had struck many times before. A sprawling crack webbed its way out from the impact, and Isha could hear the unmistakable sound of water rushing through.
She sighed in relief and looked upwards to find debris crashing down from the ceiling above. Chunks of flooring plunged into the draining water around her. Their contact with the surface of the water sounded like bombs going off. Despite her wounds, Isha coiled in on herself and covered her head.
The entire ceiling crumbled away. Light erupted into the room, piercing the last of the fading shadows that had imprisoned her in this watery arena in the first place. Isha blinked her eyes against the brightness, but couldn't make out through the disturbed waves what had happened above.
Not that her mind was really focused on that, anyways. Instead, she turned to look down at the corpse that lay half-buried in a cloud of sand.
I did it. Nothing had truly sank in just yet.
I'm alive. The beast is dead.
"Isha?"
The voice made her heart stop.
"Link?" Isha turned her face upwards and found a man clad in green Zora armor swimming down from the light above. She might have laughed at the sight, if she hadn't been in such pain.
The hero crashed into her, his momentum sending them both tumbling downwards. Isha tried to return his embrace, but could hardly move her arms.
"I'm so glad you're okay."
Isha supposed that, at another time, she might have been offended at the amount of relief present in his voice. Like he really thought he'd find her defeated and turned into fish food.
But she was secretly relieved, even a bit giddy, to find that he had not stopped worrying about her.
"Okay is… subjective," Isha rasped. "Alive, at least."
Link finally released her as the last of the water drained from the room, leaving them standing on the floor besides the monster's corpse. Without the cold water to provide its meager respite, Isha could no longer ignore the burns that covered her arms, chest, and face.
"Healing," she rasped. Had even her insides been cooked to a crisp? Every breath felt like inhaling ash. "Anything. Please. Now."
Before he could act on his own, the cool glass of a bottle half-filled with golden potion filled Link's palm. Isha was busy struggling with her helm, realizing only now that the clawshot was still attached to her. Link gave the device a strange look.
"Later. Get this off me," she begged, pointing to her facemask and ripping the bottle from his hand.
He assisted Isha as requested, and she greedily gulped down the potion. After taking a full dose and leaving the bottle empty, Isha looked to Link. "It's almost comforting to know you needed it too," she said after a moment, her voice already a bit stronger.
The swordsman went to pull her into another hug, but Isha resisted and held out her arms. "Don't touch me. I'm burnt," she croaked. "Can you find my bow and quiver? They're somewhere around here."
"Burnt?" Link turned and looked around the arena.
"Again, later."
Isha ignored the look he gave her before fulfilling her request and moved to sit on the flat tail of the beast she'd slain instead of the sand. The tail was plenty large enough to keep her away from the dreaded stuff. The golden potion worked its wonders, which was both great and awful all at the same time. Her skin itched with the rapid healing, but unless she was willing to strip right here in the vault, there was no chance of scratching those itches.
The young woman watched Link with a mild satisfaction. His timing had been perfect. Certainly now he could see that Isha was more than capable of handling herself on these "dangerous" adventures.
Link returned after a few moments with Isha's equipment, her bow seeming no worse for the wear and her quiver half-filled with sand. She smiled her thanks. "Did you see the others?" Isha asked, voice low from her sore throat.
"I did," Link confirmed and sat beside her. "I think it was.. Zepin who got hurt the worst, and he was able to give himself first aid before they left. The lady Zora took him back once we'd cleared the room above. Peras said he would be fine. He's still up there, along with your friend Mikas. We… kinda had a pretty bad fall. It's a long story. Peras is patching him up so that they can go back home too. But he said the injuries weren't life-threatening."
"Are they safe alone up there?" Isha laid her head on his shoulder, her concerns melting away with every word. It was over, and they'd won.
Link nodded, grateful Isha hadn't asked why he was unharmed from the fall. Midna, his ever-reliable shadow, had been his saving grace when the chandelier came crashing down. "The army they were fighting retreated when a bigger monster showed up. You'll see that one on our way out. They never came back. I think the Zora struck the fear of the Goddesses in their hearts."
Isha recalled Mikas' fierce fighting style and smiled. "Well, maybe we'll swing through the Domain to say goodbye on our way out. We just need to find that 'dark power' and then we can get a move on."
Link turned to the corpse they sat upon. "The Fused Shadow should be coming out of this thing. Normally they've… disappeared by now."
Isha cocked her head. "What do-"
As if bid by his words, the corpse they'd been using as a seat suddenly disappeared, breaking apart into thousands of tiny black particles. Link and Isha jumped to their feet. Black shards hung in the air around the adventurer's ankles, and Isha looked to Link with fright.
"That's what I meant." He put a reassuring hand on her back.
A surprising sight greeted them when they turned. Where the monster once lay rotting was now a small pile of various treasures. A blue engraved medallion, several pieces of jewelry made of sapphire and coral, a red heart-shaped vial with golden casing, and several fancy-looking swords, spears, and weapons Isha didn't recognize were lying about in the sand, as if forgotten there long ago.
The eel had enjoyed quite the feast during its unknown reign down here.
Above all of them, the black particles pooled together into a strange, elongated shape. Down one side of the shape were strange squared spirals that looked like dull spikes protruding from the spine of a monster. The other end of the piece flared outwards, and the whole thing was covered in shadowy runes.
Isha approached the object, intending to pull it from the sky. Link grabbed her wrist and pulled her back with force.
"Excuse you, sir," Isha ripped her arm from his grasp. "This is part of my mission, isn't it?"
"Isha, please, I need you to listen to me. Do not touch that thing, it-"
"Let me guess, it's too dangerous. It's all too dangerous. Oh Isha, don't play with weapons, they're dangerous! Don't dream dangerous dreams. Don't go in the dangerous temple alone." She flung her pointed finger to the pile of relics. "I did that. Me. I took down that stupid eel, I survived cooking myself alive, I think I can handle a weird shadowy rock. Don't ruin this for me." She stomped away from him.
How dare he try to take her hard-earned accomplishment? Isha had fought damn hard for that power, it was hers to claim. Not his.
Why am I thinking this way? She hesitated.
"It's not like that! Isha, please just listen. Nobody from our world can touch that thing! Not even me!"
The woman glared over her shoulder. "If you can't touch it, then how are you collecting these? Why would Lanayru say to bring it to you?"
"I… Do you remember me telling you about that friend I was collecting these for? She says she can wield them. She's made of the… same stuff, I guess." Isha's blank expression told the hero that he was making little progress.
"Right.." Isha turned back and reached for the Fused Shadow. He didn't deserve it, she did. At least Isha wasn't lying to herself about why she wanted it so badly. Not like Link.
Something burned in her veins when her hand drew close to the Shadow. Unlike the burns upon her skin, it didn't hurt at all. It felt right.
"This is mine," Isha whispered.
The hero's shadow moved, and he stiffened. An imp cloaked in shadow sprang into the air. Her flaming hair, ending in an enormous fist, swept the Fused Shadow away just before Isha's fingertips brushed it.
"I'd suggest listening to Mr. All-Important-Hero over magical glowing rocks, little pest," Midna sneered from her place in the air. "Unless you're looking to die, that is."
If you've read the original fic, you might recall this particular situation going... very differently. Cutting that fight scene from this new version was actually painful for me, because I wound up really liking it and I had spent a lot of time on it.
Still, I feel confident with the decision to take things in this new direction. RIP Monster-Isha (Inasha I think in that version). You were a pretty cool concept, and a massive pain in my asshole to write.
Soooo how do we think this little conversation between Midna and Isha will go?