The morning light spread over Outset Island, the now regular perils of the night and the extraordinary events that the island had been host to the night before seemingly wiped away by the warmth of the sun. Krystal's grandmother stepped outside for what felt like the first time in ages, taking in the beautiful day. Abe was tending to the pig that Krystal had caught for the family, now a real champion among pigs, Sue-Belle was carrying her jars on her head with the greatest of ease, and Mesa… well, he was sleeping as, according to him, the monsters kept him up all night, so now he slept during the day. Grandma smiled warmly; it seemed as if Krystal's return had been rejuvenating not just for her, but the island as well.
Her gaze turned towards the ocean, wondering what her granddaughter was doing now. She soon noticed a shape on the horizon and she frowned as it got closer. It was the pirates' ship; they were back to take another shot at reaching Jabun, not knowing the treasure was already gone.
She wasn't the only one who noticed. Abe looked up from the pig and raised an eyebrow when he saw the ship, and Joel and Zill halted in the middle of running off when they saw it, Rose scooping them up before eyeing the ship warily. Sue-Belle stopped in the middle of the path, her right hand going up to her mouth as she stared. Sturgeon stepped out onto his balcony, eyeing the ship as it turned slightly to starboard.
"Those pirates… What are they doing back here so soon?" he wondered.
He heard Orca say, "Perhaps they heard about the squid and wanted some for themselves." Sturgeon looked over the edge of his balcony and saw Orca standing in front of his step, his hand running through his beard.
"Really now, you hooligan! Can't you take anything seriously, or at least think before you speak?! They're pirates; they wouldn't come back here without a good reason!" Sturgeon yelled.
Orca looked up at him and replied with a hint of mirth, "Well, Krystal already found the treasure hidden at the back of this island, so unless they found out about another treasure hidden here, they're not going to find anything. I'm just thinking some fried squid might be worth more to them." Sturgeon shook his head and wandered back inside, grumbling under his breath.
The pirates, meanwhile, made their way to the back of the island, already preparing to blow the slab over Jabun's cave to pieces, only to discover that it was already gone, that someone had beaten them to the treasure. "Well, I guess the treasure did get away from us because of our night on the town," Senza remarked, rubbing the back of his head as he stood next to the catapult.
Niko looked around nervously as he tried to quietly disappear below deck. He was stopped when Gonzo stomped right up behind him and grabbed him by the back of his shirt, causing him to let out a yelp as he was yanked up and turned to face the bigger man. "What happened, Niko?!" he demanded.
Niko was sweating bullets as he looked around and tried to act casual. "Wh… What do you mean?" he asked.
Gonzo's face got closer to his as he said, "Don't give me that! The only way that someone could've broken down that wall was with bombs! No one else in the Great Sea sells bombs because of that little man who runs the Bomb Shop, yeah? So, the only way someone could've gotten bombs is if they stole the bombs we stole! Who got onto the ship and stole our bombs?!"
While Niko tried to talk his way out in the face of Gonzo's anger, Tetra leaned casually against the starboard railing, watching. She'd already taken him aside while they were sailing, reprimanding him for being a pushover but making it clear that she was going to let it slide this one time since it was Krystal. She turned her head to look towards the cave and the island, thoughts of what the vixen was doing filling her mind.
At the moment, Krystal was just about done with her current task. She'd checked in with everyone, even managing to rouse Mesa for a moment, and then departed Outset Island as the sky was brightening up, turning light blue. As he'd said, the King of Red Lions had marked the three locations where the pearls needed to go on her Sea Chart and they headed straight for the closet one to start. The trip had seemed remarkably short as before they knew it, they had arrived at their destination.
The destination in question was one of the three Triangle Islands. Each small island was shaped like a triangle and had a statue in the center of them. Each statue had a pair of arms for each pearl to be placed in, and Krystal had already set Nayru's Pearl and Din's Pearl in the arms of the statues at the Southern and Northern Triangle Isles respectively, and she was now walking up to the statue on the Eastern Triangle Isle to place Farore's Pearl in its arms.
As with the other statues, it became dark briefly around the statue after Krystal placed the pearl, which shone brightly, in its arms. The eyes of the statue flickered green like the other statues had flickered red and blue, but this time, something else happened. A light began to shine from within the statue, and the shimmering sound it was giving off made her think it was going to explode, so she turned and ran, jumping off the rise. The light dimmed and it stopped making the sound, causing her to pause and look back up at in confusion. She climbed back up and approached the statue again, leaning in close.
Without warning, it did explode, sending pieces of stone flying and knocking Krystal off the rise onto her back. She laid there, feeling the pain in her back and anger at being duped by the statue. What she didn't know was that, under the stone, the statue was actually a metallic statue of a beautiful green maiden. It held up the now brightly glowing pearl in its hands and Krystal opened her eyes in time to see a beam of green light shoot out of the pearl towards the southwest, specifically towards the Southern Triangle Isle. The beam hit the statue on the island, revealing a blue maiden that shot a beam towards the Northern Triangle Isle. A red-orange maiden emerged from that statue and the matching beam traveled to the Eastern Triangle Isle. Together, they formed a triangle above the waves of the Great Sea.
As she looked from where she was laying, Krystal could see golden-yellow light appear on the surface of the ocean, shining up towards the sky. If she had had a bird's eye view, she would've seen that the light formed the same shape as the sketch in Tetra's cabin: three triangles, one resting on top of the other two in the shape of a pyramid. The shape hovered above the water or a moment before it swirled around and disappeared into the ocean like it was being sucked into a whirlpool, but at the point where it vanished, in the center of the triangle, another golden light appeared, shining out of the water.
As the light faded, a structure began to rise out of the water. It was a tower, a massive circular tower rising above the waves, water pouring out of its openings and running down the exterior. It was far away, but Krystal could make it out as it stretched further skyward, almost looking like it could actually reach the clouds with how high it was. It eventually stopped rising when a ring with numerous arches around where its base seemed to be rose out of the water.
Krystal rolled onto her front and stood, making her way back to the King of Red Lions. He turned from the tower to look at her as she breathed, "What… What is this?"
The King nodded and said, "You've done it, Krystal. This tower, which the pearls of the gods have caused to appear, is a place that the gods of the ancient world prepared as a final test of courage for one who revealed it. Only one who is able to overcome the trials that await within will be acknowledged by the gods to be a true hero. Only then will that one be permitted to wield the power to destroy the great evil."
Krystal stared at him, "That's the power you told me about before we first set out, isn't it?"
He nodded again and said, "This is the last hardship you must overcome to open the path to that power, Krystal! Your courage has led you to triumph over many hardships, and you must triumph once again! You must enter the tower and rise above the trial of the gods!" He turned to look at the tower again and Krystal climbed aboard, changing the direction of the wind before drawing the sail. They sailed under one of the arches when they reached the tower and turned slightly to go through the entrance into the tower past it.
Inside, the entrance was flooded, water pouring out of the mouth of a face carving directly in front of them. The tower seemed to have its own tide as the water level would raise and lower every minute. Krystal turned and the boat glided to the right. She could see a few rooms on that side, one coming into view as the water level lowered. She decided to start there.
After a couple of minutes, she was finished exploring all the rooms on that side. She had found a map of the tower and moved a statue to open a gate on that side, beyond which was another room containing a key. The key opened a door on the other side of the entrance, where she found another statue. Once she moved it into place, the water coming out of the carving stopped, revealing an opening. She stopped the King of Red Lions in front of it and leapt into the passageway it led to explore further.
After riding some moving platforms up in the room at the end of the passage, she found herself in a room that almost seemed like a place of worship or reverence as it had stairs leading up to a raised platform and numerous statues around the room. There were three other doors in the room and the symbol on the one on the right was glowing with a purple-pink light. The other two didn't open when she walked near them, so she went through that one first.
In the room beyond, she dealt with some Gold Chuchus and rode a moving platform over a gap to reach another room. This room had a glowing set of stairs leading up to a flat stage, both of which were made of shimmering light. There was a winding walkway underneath the stage and a raised platform with a gray-black statue on it past it. She leapt from the end of the stage, landing near the raised column. There was a stone slab with words carved into it beside it. She looked at it; she couldn't understand the words, but they suddenly glowed a purple-pink and she was suddenly able to read them. 'Seeker of the goddesses' guidepost… Call to me and guide me to my place of truth,' it said.
Krystal blinked as the words stopped glowing. "What was that? Did it do that so I would know. …Is this the language that the spirits speak and the King of Red Lions understands?" she wondered. She turned her gaze to the platform and the statue on top. "Call to you? Well, okay." She felt a bit silly, not knowing if it would work, but she raised her left hand, waving it a few times as she let out a whistle and called, "Come here!"
The sides of the platform lit up in response, a circle of light the same color of the stairs and stage behind her rising up around the stage. The platform lowered into the floor and she could see that the statue had blue lines dimming and brightening on its sides and head and around its eyes and the 'ears' on the sides of its head. It turned its head to look at her and hopped over to her, staring at her intently. Staring at it in amazement, Krystal took a few steps back and it made a small hop after her. She nodded in understanding.
She walked along the winding walkway, the statue following her like a curious puppy. There was a gap to cross when they got to the end, but she found it wasn't too heavy for her to lift. She threw it over the gap and led it through the door, lifting and throwing it again to get it on and off the moving platform. When they got back to the central room, it hopped its way over to a raised spot in the floor next to the central platform, which raised up out of the floor when it stopped on it, the shimmering light surrounding it again. The statue glowed blue one more time and she heard a voice in her head, "My kin wait beyond the doors. Guide them to their places of truth to open the path to the gods…" It then stopped glowing.
Krystal made her way over to the stairs in the center and saw that the symbol on the door on the left was glowing. She walked through it and found a seemingly ordinary room beyond it. She raised an eyebrow at this; it didn't seem right, yet nothing happened at any point while walking across the floor. In the next room, she had to use the Deku Leaf to glide over an electric barrier and that seemed more normal. She had to throw the statue onto the switch to deactivate the barrier and she led it out of the room.
Upon returning to the seemingly innocent room, she had barely taken two steps when she heard a growling sound resonate through the room. She paused and looked around; suddenly, a creature clad head to waist in armor holding a big, sharp sword with jagged edges in both hands dropped from the blackness above, landing on its feet. It was a Darknut, and for a moment, it stood perfectly still. Then it turned its sword sideways and held it out to its right side. Its gaze locked on Krystal and it let out several challenging growls as it swung its sword in her direction.
Krystal recognized the challenge and held her right arm up in front of the statue, saying, "Stay here." She then drew her sword and shield and stepped forward, standing across from the Darknut. They stared at each other for a few moments before it began walking towards her, its heavy armor weighing it down. Krystal realized this and stood in a battle-ready stance, looking for an opening as they circled each other.
Suddenly, it swung its sword to the side and attempted to do a sweep at her legs. Calling on her lessons with Orca, she leapt up and forward, slashing at its helmet as she went over its head. The helmet broke in two, revealing its head, and it grunted in surprise. It turned to face her and the next time it attempted a slash, it did it vertically. Krystal rolled around it and slashed at the straps at the back of its armor, causing it to fall off save for its gauntlets.
Without the armor weighing it down, the Darknut moved faster, but it was more vulnerable. Krystal continued to maneuver around its blade, taking slashes at it when the opportunity presented itself. With one final slash, the Darknut dropped its sword and it was knocked off its feet, something flying off its back and clattering on the floor. Krystal walked past where it was after it disappeared and took a look. It was a bow and a quiver, the latter filled with arrows. She picked up the bow and tested it a few times, the bowstring making a resounding 'thunk' each time it snapped back. She picked up the quiver and put both in her Adventure Pouch for the time being. She then waved the statue over to her.
After the statue was situated in its place of truth, Krystal headed through the door in the back of the room. She found some hanging scales past it that she had to use some smaller statues to add weight to one scale so she could cross to the other side, and she used the bow she found in the following room to shoot a diamond-shaped switch shaped like an eye to reach the third statue. She had to add extra weight to the scales in order to carry the statue across, but it soon joined the other two, taking its destined spot.
Once they were all positioned the same, a triangular piece rose up out of their chests, their lines glowing green as a green beam of light was shot towards the raised platform. A purple-pink shaft of light appeared in the center and she ran around to the stairs to reach it. It lifted her off the ground, taking her to a new chamber on the floor above. After taking out some automated defense mechanisms, she made her way over to another door and stepped through it.
The door led outside and as she finished climbing the steps in front of her, she stared in awe. "What a view…!" she breathed, taking a moment to look out over the ocean. She hadn't had the chance to appreciate the view from the top of Dragon Roost, but she took this chance to see what few others, maybe no one else, would get to see. She then turned and began climbing the winding stairs before her, using her bow and arrows to deal with more automated defenses along the way.
At the top, she found a door much bigger than any she had ever seen. On the other side was a large hall with markings on the walls and the ceiling high above, the latter having a spot that curved upwards towards a spot that had the same color as the exterior of the tower. Across from the door, there was some sort of stone carving embedded in the wall: a head with a crown on and a flowing robe or cape underneath and a hand on each side, separate from it. She moved to take a closer look.
She had only taken a couple of steps when the markings on the walls suddenly began to flicker with a blue light, causing her to stop. "You have done well to find your way to this place," a mysterious voice said. As she looked around, it said, "Oh, chosen one… Accept this final challenge…"
The room brightened up a moment later, a green tint lighting the room. The markings around the hand in the wall to Krystal's right glowed brightly and a green eye opened in its palm with a whirring noise. The other hand did the same, both of them pulling out of the wall and hovering in the air. The eyes of the head lit up red and it pulled out of the walls as well, the hands hovering at its sides as it floated towards Krystal, looming over her.
Krystal eyed the automaton warily, looking at the head first and then looking between its hands. The red eyes of the head had closed, but the eyes on the hands remained open, staring at her as they hovered around. Remembering the switch from earlier, she pulled out her bow and quiver, nocking an arrow as she took aim at one of the hands.
The hands reached for her and tried to slap down at her, but she dodged around them and managed to land two arrows on each eye before they closed their eyes and hung back, the eyes of the head opening afterwards. As she took aim, the eyes closed and its mouth opened, a golden glow forming at the back of it. She turned and ran as it fired a series of spheres that exploded when they hit the floor, Krystal rolling to stay ahead of them.
The head's eyes opened after it stopped and she held up the bow to take aim again. Each eye took two arrows before they closed and it fell to the floor, its mouth hanging open. Krystal saw the opening at the back of its mouth and had an idea. She pulled out a bomb and threw it into its mouth. Its mouth shut and the head shook as the bomb exploded, smoke pouring out of its sides.
They did two more rounds of this, Krystal avoiding the hands as she aimed for their eyes and then aiming for the head's eyes as she avoided its attack. She ran out of arrows during this, but the head helped her out by expelling a bundle of arrows from its nose. It was curious and a little gross when she thought about it, but she wasn't complaining.
After the third bomb, the head spun around on the floor in the center of the room once and came to a stop facing her, the light in the room dimming. A golden light shined out from it as it said, "The path can now be opened. …Oh, chosen one… What will come to pass is tied to your fate, to the path you have chosen." The golden light dimmed, "Go forward with caution."
The head floated up and back, a groaning sound filling the room. She looked up; the spot in the ceiling she saw was opening, the door sliding back and letting some of the light outside in. The right hand floated down to her, its eye closed and its palm pointing towards the ceiling. She nodded and stepped onto it, losing her balance for a moment as it raised her up.
The hand stopped at the opening, too big to go through. Krystal stepped out of it onto the top of the tower. She was under some sort of raised structure, a ladder in front of her. She looked around as she stepped from under it; there wasn't anything on the roof aside from that structure, and there was a large bell hanging from it.
Krystal climbed up the ladder to get a closer look. The clapper was a round bar that looked like it was long enough for the Grappling Hook to wrap around. She pulled it out and threw it at the clapper, the rope wrapping around it securely. She ran to the edge and held on as she jumped, the clapper swinging with her, hitting against the inside of the bell and producing a resounding ringing sound.
She swung back and forth several times before letting go, gathering up the rope after she landed. She looked up at the bell afterwards, the clapper hitting the inside a few more times before it slowed down. Krystal looked around. "Did that do anything?" she wondered.
She suddenly noticed a glowing coming from her pouch and knew it was Tetra's stone. She pulled it out and heard the King of Red Lions' voice, "Excellent, Krystal! You've done it!"
Krystal tilted her head questioningly. "What did I do?" she asked.
The King answered, "Return to me and I will show you!" The stone's glow dimmed and she put it away along with the Grappling Hook. She ran over to the opening, finding the hand waiting for her. It lowered her back into the large hall and she ran for the door, the hands and head returning to their resting places after she left.
She made her way back down the tower to where she'd left the King of Red Lions and climbed in. They glided towards the entrance and as they exited, she saw a ring of yellow light above the surface of the water outside, an ethereal hum sounding through the air as they drifted closer.
As they bobbed in the water across from the light, the King said, "You've opened the path, Krystal. It would seem the gods acknowledge you to be a true hero, but this does not mean your trials have ended here…" He looked back at her, "Your last trial lies at the end of the path beyond the shimmering light. Are you ready?"
She nodded, "I am." The King faced forward and they drifted into the middle of the ring of light. As soon as they were in it, the back of the boat suddenly tipped back, sinking below the water. Krystal gasped and sucked in a deep breath, one hand over her muzzle and the other gripping the side of the boat and her eyes closed as the rest of the boat went under.
It took her a few moments to realize that they weren't sinking, not in the conventional sense. Bubbles came out of her mouth as she let out the breath she was holding, but she realized she could breathe fine. The water around the shaft of light they were descending was cool, but not chilly. It was not the unyielding cold of the ocean she had come to expect. She crouched down along the port side of the boat, her hands still holding on as she looked around, curious.
Her gaze soon went downwards towards the depths. It was as dark as it seemed from the surface, but as they kept going down, something caught her eye. It looked like a shimmer or a flicker of light, a disturbance amidst the darkness. And when they got close to where she'd seen it, light filled her vision for a moment before she could see again.
The rippling around her had ceased. It was as though they were no longer surrounded by the ocean, yet a quick glance upwards at the sunlight filtering through the shifting waves above confirmed they were still below the surface of the Great Sea. There was an eerie light around them now, like the waning light during the hour of twilight, when it felt like the world of the living could commune with the world beyond.
She turned her attention away from the waves and looked down again. She saw something now: a massive ancient building with towers topped with spires in the middle of a large body of water. The sight of it made Krystal think back to the tale Grandma had told her and Aryll. "A castle?" she thought, her tail giving an excited wag. Turning to look over the starboard side, she saw an entire landscape stretching out before her. She pulled out her Pictograph Box, zooming in and taking pictures of everything she could, amazed. "I've never seen so much land in one place," she thought as she lowered the Pictograph Box.
She noticed they seemed to be landing in the castle and looked down. There was a pool of water at the back of the castle that the shaft of light was lowering them into. The light shaft disappeared when they touched down and the King of Red Lions floated out of it. As he did, Krystal noticed how still the water was. It rippled around the boat, but was still otherwise. She reached out and touched the surface with a finger. For a moment, the water rippled and then it was completely still again. She looked over at the castle and saw a stream of water coming out of the castle, the flow frozen in place. It was almost like looking at a pictograph, yet she had a feeling that if she went over and touched it, she would not only get wet, but also feel the force of the flow.
The boat came to a stop and she noticed some stepping stones sticking out of the water on the port side. She leapt out onto one and stood up, looking around as she looked up at the castle. She soon turned to the King and saw he was looking intently at her. "You must be wondering where we are, Krystal," he stated.
She nodded. "Yes," she said, her voice sounding unusually loud in the eerie stillness.
He was silent for a moment before saying, "Unfortunately, there is not enough time to explain it all now, but once you have obtained the power sleeping in this castle and struck down Ganon with it, all will become clear to you." Krystal looked over at a set of stairs past another stone that seemingly led up into the castle before looking back at him. "Trust in my words! See what awaits you inside the castle!" he urged. She nodded and made her way over to the stairs, going up them and turning left at the top, going up another set of stairs to a straight path lined with columns leading to an entrance.
She had been looking back at the columns, admiring the craftsmanship that went into them, and when she faced forward, her breath hitched and she froze. There was a Moblin inside, just off to her left, but she realized after a moment that it too was frozen in place. Its mouth was hanging open and the way it was standing suggested that it had been punching something or someone when it had stopped moving.
She looked around. She was in a grand hall, much bigger than the one at the top of the tower. She couldn't see them from where she was, but there were many openings in the side walls on the walkways above and the floor below where she was, leading to other parts of the castle. What she could see from her spot was other Moblins as well as Darknuts similarly frozen in place. Her mind spun with curiosity. All of them had clearly been in the middle of something when they had been frozen. What had happened here?
She flinched, a grunt escaping her lips as she pressed her right hand to her forehead. Maybe it was just her mind playing tricks on her in the quiet space, but she could swear she heard the sound of banging, like something was smashing against the walls of the castle, and the sound of something scattering. The castle had seemingly been under siege when time stopped; it was as though the sounds of the siege had been frozen in time too, only the faint, resounding echoes she was hearing the only sign of their presence.
She lowered her hand as the sounds subsided and looked around again, her gaze falling on a large stone statue down the stairs in front of her. She was only seeing it from the back, but what she saw was enough to get her excited. It was a statue of a young man holding up a sword in his left hand and a shield in his right. He wore a long hat that reminded Krystal of the clothes her grandmother had made for her birthday. "Is that…?" she thought, her tail giving an involuntary wag at the possibility.
She ran down the stairs to get a closer look. As she ran, she noticed a pile of broken stones at the statue's base. She stopped in front of the pile and looked down at the stones curiously. She looked up; it was a little difficult to make out in the light, but there appeared to be a stone stump poking out of the back of the statue's tights. She stared up at it with wide eyes. She had already guessed that the statue was of the Hero of Time, but was he like her?
She ran down the stairs to her left, stepping around frozen Moblins, wanting to get a look at the front of the statue. She stopped on the floor in front of it and turned, looking up at it. The statue's head was turned skyward and it appeared to be slightly damaged, but there was something about the shape of its face that didn't look exactly human. Its mouth seemed to stretch out slightly, almost like…
"Krystal. I'll need you to listen to me for a moment." The King of Red Lions' voice suddenly cut through the stillness, surprising her. As she calmed down from the sudden shock, she looked around in confusion. His voice hadn't come through Tetra's stone; it sounded more like he was somewhere in the room.
"Y-Yes, I'm listening," she said as she continued looking around.
"The item you seek is hidden in a chamber under this castle. It is blocked by a mighty threshold, firmly sealed to prevent evil from gaining access," he explained.
"How do I open it?" she asked.
"There is a clue in the shape of the heraldry that adorns the castle," was his only response.
An irritated look crossed her features as she put her hands on her hips. "Well, he's as cryptic as ever," she thought. She blinked and looked towards the ceiling, a look of thought on her face. "Heraldry… There was a figure on top of the castle. It was like a bird… and in between its wings was that… shape… The design on my shield is similar." She took her shield off her back and held it in front of her, looking down at it. She then looked up and around, "But how does this open the entrance?"
Her gaze fell on a spot in the floor nearby, spotting a seam. She traced it to the left and then the right with her eyes. It seemed like it went all the way around in a circular shape. She slipped her shield back onto her back and looked at a nearby Darknut and then at a Moblin across from it. Both had been frozen in place with their weapons striking the ground. She raised an eyebrow; either they had been attacking someone, or they had been aiming for the floor.
She pulled out her sword and began tapping its tip against the floor in the circle. When she tried outside the circle, she noticed a definite difference in the sound she heard. "There must be something under here. Whatever it is, someone tried to cover it up," she thought. She took a closer look and noticed little cracks in the floor. She stood up, put her sword away, and pulled out a bomb. She lit it and dropped it into the center before running out of the circle. After it exploded, she saw the cracked floor was blown to pieces and underneath where it had been was that same symbol of the three triangles etched into the floor.
There were three big triangle-shaped blocks sitting along the edge of the circle. It took a minute of pushing and pulling, but she was able to push them over each of the triangles, blocking out the echoing sounds of banging and scattering as she worked. Once they were all in place, the ground shook slightly as they slid into the floor, sticking out slightly. A golden ray of light shined up out of the triangles before it dimmed slightly, an ethereal hum filling the still air as the triangles continued to glow. She heard a rumbling noise and looked up towards the statue. It was sliding backwards; she ran up the stairs to look and found a set of stairs leading down under where the statue had been.
She made her way down the stairs and found herself in a basement chamber. There were stairs going down to her left and right, and when she stood at the edge of the floor she was on, she could see a set of stairs leading up to a round dais surrounded by tall statues clad in suits of armor, each one holding a large sword in both hands, at the back of the chamber. In the center of the dais, a single shaft of light beamed down from above in the middle of the now familiar symbol of the three triangles.
She ran down the stairs to her left to get a closer look, slowing when she reached the bottom. The air grew palpable as she approached the stairs. She looked around; there were stained-glass windows circling the dais near the ceiling, some of them cut to look like a person or creature she'd never seen before. As she reached the top of the stairs, she saw that there was a sword in a pedestal in the center of the dais, the light coming from above surrounding it.
She heard the King of Red Lions' voice, once again sounding like it was coming from somewhere in the room, "Excellent, Krystal. To perceive such a puzzle and decipher it is no small feat. Now, take the sword that lies before you. It is none other than the Master Sword, the legendary blade of evil's bane. It is the only sword that can banish Ganon from the world above!"
Krystal approached the pedestal, eyeing the sword warily. "This is the blade of evil's bane the legend spoke of?" she thought. It didn't look as impressive as she thought such a weapon would, but she supposed an illustration in a book didn't necessarily translate to reality. She'd seen plenty of things so far that went beyond what they seemed. She stopped, standing directly in front of the sword. "If I take this sword, will I really be able to defeat Ganon?" She blinked and steeled herself, taking one last step forward and wrapping her hands around the hilt.
A soft grunt escaped her as she began to pull upwards, feeling the sword jiggling a little bit but not really moving. She thought she would have to put all of her strength into pulling it out, but it suddenly came loose, sliding out of the pedestal as if it were waiting for someone to come along and pull it. She looked down in surprise, noticing a golden light shining out from the pedestal as the tip of the Master Sword came free. A low hum filled the air as the light glowed in the faded light.
She tensed, hearing the sound of something shifting, and turned to look to her left. One by one, the statues around the dais brought their swords forward, their blades meeting around the shaft of light as she looked up at them. Suddenly, the opening that the light was coming through shined brightly, causing her to let out a cry as she closed her eyes and took a step back, her right hand moving in front of her face while her left hand held the Master Sword out.
As she started to open her eyes afterwards, she immediately noticed something had changed. She opened them completely and looked around in wonder. The color had returned to the chamber, the blue floor, the silver armor of the knight statues, the very air itself… it all looked so vibrant now. With the color restored, she could fully appreciate the beauty of the stained-glass windows and the humans and beings they depicted. She wondered who they were. The way they were set to look directly at where the Master Sword had lay made it almost seem like they had been standing guard over it and they were sizing her up now.
Krystal looked down at the Master Sword, placing her right hand on the side of the blade. In addition to its length, its blade also seemed sharper than the sword she left Outset with, but as she rested her hand on it, she thought she could sense a presence within. It was a strange sensation; it disappeared almost as soon as she felt it, and it felt very weak. It reminded her of how her grandmother was when she first saw her upon returning home, but it seemed even weaker than she had been.
Her thoughts were interrupted by a snorting sound behind her. Her eyes widened as she realized the Moblins and Darknuts in the hall must have started moving again. She heard the hoofbeats rushing towards her, but she remained calm. When the Moblin slid to a stop behind her, she swiftly spun to her left while holding out the Master Sword, hitting it with a horizontal slash that knocked it off its hooves and down the stairs. She paused for a moment, already amazed at the sword's power, before noticing the Moblin had hit another Moblin while it was rushing towards her. She pointed the sword forward and swung it up, bringing it down in a diagonal slash that knocked the second Moblin back.
She noticed another Moblin enter the chamber followed by a Darknut. She stood up straight and grabbed her shield, pulling it off her back. The Master Sword gleamed faintly in the light as she backed up, trying to get as much open space with the Moblins. She leapt over and blocked their attacks, the Master Sword making quick work of them before the Darknut engaged her. Its armor still protected it from her strikes, but she was able to cut it off and make it more vulnerable. She took it out shortly afterwards, but she didn't let herself relax just yet, remembering there were more monsters and they would surely do the same as those monsters had. She hurried up out of the chamber, the statue sliding back into place over the entrance after she exited.
A couple of minutes later, she had cleared out all of the monsters in the castle hall and was panting slightly from the exertion. Large swords and spears littered the floor all across the upper walkways and the floor, the last remnants of the monsters she had faced. She took a minute to gather the Skull Necklaces, Knight's Crests, and the other spoils they left behind. She was back near the three triangles on the floor when she finished, the triangles no longer giving off the golden light.
As she stood up straight, she looked back towards the statue. Looking past it, she noticed paintings on the wall, one on each side of the entryway she had entered the castle through. The painting to her left showed a golden-haired princess about her age with a group of servants, all of them seeming very familiar to the fox. The other painting was of the head and upper body of a king, his crown resting on top of his head. She had never seen anyone like him before, yet there was something oddly familiar about him as well. He caused her to think of the King of Red Lions, reminding her that the talking boat was probably waiting for her. She looked around the hall one last time, a bit sad that it seemed like she had to leave already, before making her way back to him.
She stepped outside, looking between the columns to see that the water coming out of the castle was flowing again, and ran down the stairs towards him, still holding the Master Sword in her hand. He eyed it appraisingly before looking up at her and saying, "At long last, our preparations are complete. You are ready, Krystal."
She tilted her head, "Ready?"
He nodded, "The time has come to save your sister from her prison in the Forsaken Fortress. Climb aboard so that we may return by the path that brought us here."
Krystal blinked and looked down at the Master Sword, seeing her reflection in the blade. "At long last, indeed," she thought to herself.
As she climbed aboard the boat, far away above the waves, the shadows of the Forsaken Fortress became darker as the souls of the slain monsters were carried home to their master, their essences coalescing together to form a shadowy new creature, one that would be prepared for the coming arrival. Up at the top of the fortress, its dark master raised a hand, a dark smile creasing the corners of his mouth as he added a personal touch to the swirling mass, a ghost of the past beginning to take shape.