FicWad

The Switch of Fate

By: USA Tiger

Disclaimer: The characters of The Legend of Zelda series belong to Nintendo.

Author note: This chapter is currently un-beated.

Chapter 17

Link was not happy about fighting this Din-damned creature again so soon after defeating the one in the well. The room already plunged into darkness as the door slammed shut and a set of bars locked the Hylian teen and fairy in the room with the Dead Hand. Navi instantly moved to float above Link’s head to provide some light.

“I think I should have invested in a lantern or something,” Link said with a sigh as he looked at the long limbs protruding out of the ground.

“It’s ok, I don’t mind being a light source,” Navi assured him, trying to make her light as bright as possible. Link sighed softly and put his hands on his hips. He knew this song and dance, get close enough for the hands to try and grab him so the Dead Hand would be lured out from under the ground. Except this time there were more hands for him to avoid and there wasn’t as large of a space between the limbs.

As Link stared around the room an idea occurred to him. Feeling a bit silly, Link took out the Lens of Truth and looked through it. At first he didn’t see anything, nothing seemed out of place. But as he started to draw away the Lens a dark shadow out of the corner of his eye caught his attention. Looking again, Link turned toward the shadow.

“What? What do you see?” Navi asked.

“There’s a shadow on the floor,” Link said as he pulled the Lens away from his eyes. The area where he had seen the shadow appeared the same as the rest of the floor now but when he looked through the Lens again he could see the shadow. “Hmmm…” he took out a bomb and placed it right over the shadow, lighting the wick and quickly moving to the other side of the room, shoving the lens into a pocket on his tunic and staying just out of reach of the Dead Hand’s limbs.

The bomb went off with a loud explosion, sending dirt and bits of bones flying everywhere. Among the blast the Dead Hand rose up out of the ground with a roar of pain. Bits of smoke rose from being attacked by the bomb and when it spotted Link, the undead creature let out a hiss of anger. It quickly shuffled toward Link who drew the Master Sword and his shield.

This Dead Hand was a little quicker than the one from his youth, making Link wonder if it was drawing power from the Temple itself as the Dead Hand snapped its wide gaping jaws in the spot where Link had been.

“Hey!” Link yelled as the Master Sword dug deeply into the undead flesh making the Dead Hand roar in pain. It quickly retreated and dug its way underground while Link drew the Lens of Truth from his tunic pocket and tracked the shadow on the ground that told him where the Dead Hand was. “Damn, the thing is hiding among the hands.”

“Tell me where and I’ll float over the spot so you can toss a bomb over,” Navi suggested.

“Alright do it,” Link agreed. Navi weaved her way through the pale limbs until Link told her to stop. Putting away the Lens again, Link used Navi’s light to target the spot. The lit bomb bounced and rolled, just landing in the right spot before going off, Navi racing away so she wouldn’t be caught in the blast.

“III will killll you mooortallll,” Dead Hand roared as it was blasted out of the ground again, two of the pale limbs from before blasted to bits. It rushed at Link who was ready for it as he swiped at the creature with the Master Sword causing it to roar in pain. Letting out an angered hiss the Dead Hand attempted to bite Link’s arm that was closest to it only to meet the stinging pain of the sword as it made contact with its body. Retreating again under the ground it moved to the far side of the room on the other side of its limbs.

“Alright! Where is it this time Link?” Navi asked. Using the Lens again Link located the Dead Hand on the other side of the room and directed Navi toward the area. But as she flew toward the spot one of the hands snapped out and wrapped around Navi, completely muting her light. “Hey! Let go of me!” Navi’s muffled voice yelled from within her prison.

“Nayru damn it,” Link growled in anger.

“Link, get me out of here!” Navi called.

“I can’t see without your light Navi,” Link answered.

“Well do something!!” Navi demanded as she was slowly crushed by the hand. Link cursed again and used the Lens to try to gauge where the Dead Hand was hidden. The Lens of Truth just barely gave him enough of a picture to see where the Dead Hand was. Whispering a prayer to the Goddesses, Link tossed a bomb over to where he had seen the shadow and quickly drew the Master Sword in wait. He heard the Dead hand roaring as it was blasted back to the surface, flinching as he felt bits of bone pelt against his face.

“IIII smeeelll youuurr feeeaarr moorrtallll,” Dead Hand hissed as it slowly shuffled its way toward Link, using its sense of smell and the warmth of Link’s body to track the Elven youth. Link didn’t say anything as he closed his eyes and used his long ears to track the sound of Dead Hand slowly moving over the ground. When he felt the creature’s cold body was close, Link quickly pushed his magic into the blade in his hand.

“HEY!” The Master Sword sang as flames of magic rose up around the silvery blade. Link spun on his heel in a spin attack. The Dead Hand roared loudly in pain as the magically charged blade rip through it, tearing its body in half. Link panted as the two halves of the Dead Hand landed on the ground twitching in death. He could hear the remaining hands in the room fall to the ground as well and a blue light fill the area as Navi escaped the slack grip of the hand that held her as a prisoner.

“Whew finally,” Navi said as she rose up in the area. “That thing stunk like a rotting corpse.”

“Isn’t that what it is?” Link asked amused as he flicked off the bits of Dead Hands blood and flesh off the Master Sword then slid it back into its scabbard. The Dead Hand’s body burned away by green fire leaving nothing behind. As soon as the fire died away the bars on the door slid up out of the way and a flash of light at the back of the cave alerted the two heroes that a chest had appeared. “This better had been worth it,” Link said as he opened the chest and found a pair of metal soles at the bottom. They looked a bit like the iron soles that he found in Zora’s Domain but were a golden color and had a pair of wings on the wide.

“What are they?” Link asked as he held them up for Navi to see.

“Hmm… well they go over your boots that much I can tell,” Navi said. Link rolled his eyes, he had been able to see that as well. “Put them on; let’s see what they can do.” Link sighed and closed the chest so he could sit on top of it. He easily slid the soles on over the bottom of his boots and stood up. But when he tried to walk forward he found his feet moving but he did not, at least not a first. It took a few seconds for Link to get any traction on the ground.

“Woah… what are these things?” Link asked as he stopped moving, finding himself sliding a few inches still before his body stopped moving as well. It kinda reminded him of walking on ice.

“Go outside where there’s light,” Navi requested. As soon as they were outside the chamber Navi flew down to the ground and leaned down on her hands and knees her face close to the ground as she looked. “Link! You’re feet are hovering over the ground!” She called as she quickly shot into the air excitedly. “The bottoms of your boots are not touching the ground, you’re just barely hovering.”

“Hover boots huh?” Link asked amazed as he looked down at the boots. “That could be useful.”

“Oh! I’ve heard of those!” Navi exclaimed. “They’re Minish made!”

“Minish made these?” Link asked as he took off the golden soles so he could look at them in the light. “I know they made some amazing things but I had no idea they could make something like this.”

“Well they may have had help from a human,” Navi concluded. “But it’s their magic that makes it possible. I heard of the other boots they made before called the Pegasus Boots a long time ago.”

“Pegasus Boots?” Link repeated. “What are those?”

“They have the ability to make anyone who wears them run really really fast,” Navi explained. “Link with these you’ll be able to over that pit. You’ll be able to hover in the air long enough to reach the other side.”

“You think so? That pit was pretty large,” Link pointed out as he slid the Hover soles into his magic pouch and headed back to the room with the pit he couldn’t cross before.

“Hey trust in the Minishs’ magic,” Navi said. Link sighed and nodded his head as they reentered the room with the pit. Putting the Hover soles back on his boots Link back up to give himself plenty of room and started to run. As soon as his feet met the empty air over the pit a golden glow started to shine under Link’s feet as he continued to run forward. It only lasted a few seconds before going out just giving Link enough time to grab the edge of the tongue-shaped platform as he started to fall.

Link grunted softly as he pulled himself up on the platform breathing heavily.

“That was close,” He said as he moved to sit up.

“You made it though,” Navi pointed out.

“Barely,” Link agreed. “Let’s go,” he added as he stood, taking off the Hover soles then entering the hallway beyond the gate.

***

Link gulped as he watched the double sided scythe spin in the middle of the room. The scythes looked like they were being held by two robed skeletons, he didn’t what it was about the image but all he could think when he saw it was ‘death’. He shuddered slightly then looked around at the rest of the room. He saw a gate on the other side of the room and carefully made his way toward it keeping to the edges of the room so he wouldn’t be sliced opened by the very sharp blades of the scythes.

“There’s a chest inside,” Link said as he peered through the bars. He gripped the bars and tried to pull the gate up but it wouldn’t budge. Huffing to himself, Link stepped back slightly, careful not to put himself in the way of the deadly sharp scythes, and looked at the gate. “How does it open?”

“I don’t see any key holes,” Navi said then turned to look around the room. “I don’t see any switches or crystals either. Unless they’re hidden by Sheikah magic, try looking for anything hidden in the room.”

Link used the Lens of Truth to look but couldn’t see any switches that would raise the gate. He did see a glimmer around the room that appeared to be some sort of rupees like jewel, just big enough to fit in the palm of his hand. Glancing over at the gate again, Link spied five indents on the front that looked roughly the same size. Running forward Link rolled and ducked under the spinning blades, picking up first one jewel then the other then rolled into an alcove where he found a third.

“What are you doing?” Navi asked alarmed as she flew over to Link’s side.

“Look at these,” He said as he held up one of the jewels for Navi to see. “There are indents on the gate that look like these things.”

“…. You think these are the way to open the gate?” Navi asked.

“Why not? We needed the spiritual stones to open the Door of Time,” Link pointed out.

“Well it’s worth a try,” Navi agreed. Link slid the jewels in the pocket of his tunic and looked out around the room. There was a second alcove across the room where he could see the barest glint of another jewel. Carefully making his way over Link plucked it off the ground then looked around.

“There was 5 indents, there has to be a fifth jewel somewhere,” Link said. He didn’t see any more jewels glinting in the light of the room. “Navi, fly up and see if you can spot it.”

“On it,” Navi said as she flew up high in the chamber looking around. It took a couple of minutes but she finally spotted the last jewel key sitting on a platform in the corner of the room. “Over here Link!”

Link ran around the edge of the room where Navi waited for him. She flew down and landed on the platform, her blue light going out as she stood next to the jewel. Rubbing her tiny hands together Navi picked up the silver jewel with a small grunt then carried it over to the edge.

“Catch!” She called as she dropped it over the edge. The jewel landed in Link’s hand with a small bounce. With all five jewels in his hand Link walked back over to the gate and carefully inserted one into each indent. Once the last jewel was in the gate slid up with a grinding noise allowing Link to grab the key from inside the chest.

Key in hand, Link and Navi returned to the room with the destroyed remains of a Beamos and located the door that the key belonged too. Behind the door Link found a barely lit winding corridor filled with Skulltulas that attempted to get the drop on the young hero. It was halfway down the corridor that they found a new trap.

“What’s that sound?” Link asked softly as he nearly walked off the edge of a drop off in the floor.

“Sounds like metal against metal and chopping,” Navi said. She concentrated on making her light brighter so Link could see ahead of him.

“What in the name of Din are those things?” Link asked as he safely dropped to the ground and saw a large wedge-shaped blade drop to the floor then rises up before dropping again.

“A guillotine,” Navi explained. “It’s not moving very fast, as soon as it lifts up you can run under it.”

“This temple is very different from either Sheikah village we’ve been in,” Link said with a shake of his head as he ran under the rising blade. Kakariko Village was a simple village but it was nice and calm while the hidden Sheikah Village in the forest was beautiful to look at. Neither place hinted at anything like this death trap of a temple, unless you count the chambers at the bottom of the well of course.

“Well Sheik did warn us that his people had a dark past,” Navi pointed out as she followed her partner past the two guillotines. She gasped and flew in front of Link’s face when the rounded the corner. “Link wait! I sense a Wall Master here. Be careful.”

“I’m kinda surprised we haven’t run into any Wall or Floor Masters before now,” Link commented as he gazed up at the ceiling. It took a moment but he was able to pick out the restless shifting of the Wall Master laying in wait for Link to walk under it. “Ready?”

“GO!” Navi yelled, flying after Link as the blond took off into a run. The Wall Master let go of the stone ceiling and attempted to trap the teen as he pasted under the giant un-dead hand. Link dove and rolled forward at the last second, the cold fingers of the Wall Master just missing him. As he rolled to his feet he drew the Master Sword and his shield, spinning on his heel and delivering a blow that sliced the Wall Master in half as it sprung at Link in an attempt to capture the young Hylain. The Wall Master fell to the floor in two pieces, its long fingers twitching in death before it was destroyed in a flash of fire.

“I’ve always wondered why they go up in flames when the monsters die,” Link said as he slid his blade back into its scabbard.

“Magic,” was Navi’s answer. Link sighed, sometimes that was Navi’s answer to everything, and turned to face the chamber at the end of the corridor. It was huge, Link could see more of those guillotine things and when he squinted he could just make out a couple doors beyond the haze that seem to fill the room. Link walked along the stone platform that held the guillotines, the first ones were slow and easy to get past but the last one dropped as soon as it lifted up, making a chopping motion that was much faster than the others. “You’re going to have to run really fast to get past that one,” Navi noted.

“Yeah, I noticed,” Link said in a dead panned voice as he eyed the gap behind the guillotine then put the Hover Soles on the bottom of his boots. He lined himself up then took off at a run, staying in place for a second then moving forward. He just cleared the guillotine, the sharp blade chopping off the very end of his hat. “Nayru, that was close!” Link said as he took his hat off to see the damage as soon as he was safely on the large stone ledge and had taken off the Hover Soles. The very end had been cut off by the blade. As loud thump and evil laugher behind him alerted Link that he was no longer alone as a Stalfos appeared.

“Look out!” Navi warned as she noticed the skeleton like monster as well. Link quickly drew his blade and shield, yelling loudly as he leapt in for an attack. Link and the Stalfos fought back and forth, neither gaining an upper hand as swords crashed against shields or blade stuck against blade sending up a shower of sparks. Navi yelled warnings whenever Link got to the close to the edge of the platform.

Link stumbled as he was pushed back by the Stalfos’s studded shield, wind milling his arms a bit and looking over his shoulder as his heel nearly went off over the edge. He gulped as he looked down into the black abyss then back at the Stalfos that was advancing on him quickly.

“Link move!” Navi yelled in a panicked voice. Link didn’t move, not until last second when the Stalfos jumped attacked him. The Stalfos’s curved blade glanced off Link’s shield as he pushed the attack to the side, twisting around his enemy then pushing the un-dead creature in the back over the edge of the platform. The Stalfos yelled loudly at it disappeared into the darkness. (1)

Link panted heavily, his heart beating in a frantic rhythm as he knelt down on the ground with one hand pressed to his chest.

“That’s was an incredible stupid thing to do!!!” Navi yelled as she flew up into Link’s face. “You could have been killed!”

“I saw a chance to defeat the Stalfos and I took it,” Link said as he put away the Master Sword and his shield, standing up. “It worked didn’t it?”

“Yes it did. But you could have just as easily fallen,” Navi said in a clam anger. “Don’t you ever do anything like that again; my little heart couldn’t take it!”

“I’ll try not to,” Link promised. Navi snorted at him and shook her head.

“So which way?” She asked instead. “I see a door on each side of the room.”

Link looked to the left side of the room where he could see a ledge platform between two wide gaps then to the right where a large platform was rising and falling on a set of chains and beyond that he could see a Beamos and a group of Bladetraps. Following his gut he went to the right and watched the platform move up and down. He glanced up at the ceiling to see where the chains came from but it was as pitch black above him as it was below so he couldn’t see.

The teen took a few steps back, timing his run to the movement of the platform and leapt off the ledge. He mistimed his jump slightly; hitting the platform that was further down that he thought it would be and tumbled head over foot across the platform to the far edge. He breathed sharply when he noticed he almost roll off the platform and shakily crawled to the center to calm down.

“Ohh, you need to watch what you’re doing!” Navi said as she landed on top of Link’s knee. “If you die then there is no hope for Hyrule.”

“I like to think someone else would take up the fight if I died,” Link said. “I think there is only so much they can take before they rebel against Zelda.”

“Maybe but you are the Hero of Time, you are the one who is tasked with awakening the sages,” Navi said. “And I don’t want to see you hurt or killed.”

“Believe me, I don’t want to be killed either,” Link said as he stood up, stumbling a bit as the platform dropped under him. The platform tended to drop fast and rise slowly, once it reached the bottom Link leap across the gap safely this time. He glared at the Beamos that was in the middle of the Bladetraps, he had a great dislike for the mechanical objects having been burnt one too many times by the strange beam of light that shot out of its eye and felt like fire against his skin.

Taking out a bomb and lighting the wick, Link tossed it at the head of the Beamos, the quickest way to destroy one. The ground shook at the body of the Beamos exploded, sending the giant eye on top where the beam fire came from flying into the air where it exploded as well.

“Hey what’s that?” Navi asked as she noticed something glinting in the low light of the cavern. “Link, it’s another one of those silver jewels!” Link carefully and quickly stepped past the Bladetrap that was spinning in a tight, quick circle around where the Beamos had been. He picked up the jewel then looked over to the door seeing it was just like the one in the other room with five indents where the jewels would fit.

“Look for the other ones Navi,” Link said as he jumped over the Bladetrap and started to hunt for the others. The Hylian youth and the Guardian fairy quickly located the rest of the jewels that were scattered throughout the area. The door opened quickly once the jewels were fitted in allowing Link to enter.

“How am I suppose to get past that!?” Link yelped as he saw the two traps within the room. The traps were a pair of black slabs of stone that had rows and rows of sharp pointed spikes on the bottom. They rose to the ceiling then dropped back down quickly, too fast for Link to safely run past and too tall for him to climb on if he could even get a grip on the edge at the rate the slabs moved.

“Here a sign over here,” Navi said from the side of the room where she had been flying around, searching for a way for Link to pass. She could just fly over the stone slabs but she was too small to anything as heavy as say a key or anything else. “/’Use the stone umbrella to get past the rain of spikes’/,” she read out loud.

“What does that mean?” Link asked with a frown.

“I don’t know… I guess we need to find a stone umbrella,” Navi said. Link looked around; he saw nothing that would serve as an ‘umbrella’, at least nothing to the naked eye. But when using the Eye of Truth, Link found a large stone block hidden behind a wall that wasn’t really there. Seeing no other option, Link wrapped his hands around the handles on the side and pulled the heavy stone block backwards with a grunt. It moved inch by inch quickly, pulled out just enough so Link could move to the other side and push it under the deadly stone slabs. It took timing and luck, but he managed to fit the block under the slabs, bits of stone raining down on his head as the spikes slammed over and over into the block as he moved it, chipping away at the stone.

Once he had the block far enough in to be under both slabs, he quickly moved to the other side and pulled the block the rest of the way, until he hit the edge of the path and could go no further.

“Din, that thing is heavy,” Link groused as he rubbed his sore arms, attempting to get the feeling back in them. Watching the slabs then glancing at the block, Link got an idea and quickly climbed up top, now able to jump on top of the slabs as they came down. He had to cling to the chain holding the slabs up to keep his balance and not fall off.

“Careful Link,” Navi warned, watching as Link carefully walked across the slabs, stumbling once or twice at the jerking movement of the traps, to the top of the cells that had lined the passage way. There, on the wall, stood a switch that Link pulled down and a small treasure chest fell from the ceiling. The wooden chest broke as it hit the stone floor and lying among the remains was a key.

“At least this wasn’t a completely stupid thing to do,” Link said as he jumped onto the stone slabs again, nearly falling and sliding off if he hadn’t had grabbed the chain for balance. He was starting to get a little sick from the up and down motion of the slab and quickly jumped off, grabbing the key and leaving the room. He avoided the Blade Traps and walked carefully along the narrow path to the edge of a cliff where another guillotine waited. He could see a doorway the chasm but no way to get across. The hover boots would never last long enough for him to get across.

“Why the chain?” Navi asked, drawing her partner’s attention.

“Hmm?”

“There is a chain suspended across here but nothing else…” Navi said. “Oh! Maybe something is invisible! Use the Lens!” Link drew out the Lens of Truth and looked, the fairy was right, sliding back and forth along the chain was a large stone platform and before it stood another platform, just past the guillotine. It was still a bit of a gap between the edge of the cliff and the platform but Link though the hover boots would give him just enough of a boost to make it across. He slid the soles onto the bottom of his boots as he watched the platform then ran across, the magic in the boots active for just long enough for him to make it to the other side.

“Whew, that was close,” Link said as he carefully walked across the platform, repeating the action to reach the moving platform next. The invisible platform was just close enough to the door for Link to jump cross without the boots. The door was locked but no trouble for Link as he used the key he found to unlock it.

The next chamber was smaller and thankfully without large holes in the floor. He wasn’t too happy to see the pair of Redead in the room and quickly played the Sun Song to freeze them both in place. On the floor he could see another one of the silver jewels that, after checking, would open the door with the bars. He sighed, he never understood the strange way people locked doors in these places. Heck, they didn’t have doors on their houses back in the Kokiri Village, just doorways that were sometimes covered with a curtain or a tanned hide. He walked toward the gem on the floor in front of him, hissing in pain as something poked him in the leg.

“What in the…” He jumped back in pain and surprise, pressing a hand against the sudden wound on his leg. He could see a drop of blood hanging in midair in front of him, as if it was clinging to something. “Invisible traps?” Link asked as he used the Lens to look and sure enough there was a set of sharp spikes sticking out of the floor in front of him with two more on either side of the room.

“Well this room was very tame looking compared to the others,” Navi said. Link sighed and shook his head, walking around the spikes and picking up the gem. Two of the others were sitting on ledges, both of which Navi flew up too and dragged the gems to the edge to drop into Link’s hand.

“So where are the other two… you don’t think they’re under the Redead do you?” He asked as he turned to the nearest one.

“Seeing as how I don’t see them anywhere else…” Navi said. Link groaned, he hated the Redead and hoped he didn’t have to fight the things. Yes they were currently frozen in place but it didn’t last once you hit one of the blasted things. Grumbling to himself Link walked over to the nearest one with the Master Sword drawn, leaping into an attack to quickly cut the thing down. As the Redead fell over ‘dead’, a small glittering gem sat innocently on the ground. Link just grumbled again as he picked it up and went to the other side of the room to give the other Redead the same treatment.

The next room was… strange. There were large steps on either side of the room, so large that Link had to pull himself up on each one and a skull with blue flames flickering inside. Other than a few Keese and another one of those strange golden shelled Wall Skulltulas, there was nothing in the room.

“I don’t think it’s a real skull,” Navi said as they looked down at the skull from the top of the room. “I think it’s a big vase like the giant vase that use to be in the Goron City.”

“So what do you suggest that I throw a bomb in and see if it starts spinning around?” Link asked with a raised eyebrow.

“You got a better idea?” Navi asked. No, he didn’t have a better idea and really it was just as sound as any other, he had done stranger things in the other temples after all. Picking up a nearby bomb flower, so not to waste one of his own bombs, he quickly tossed it into the large vase before the short fuse-like vine on top could reach the bomb-like fruit. The heat of the flames quickly set the bomb flower off with a large bang, Link quickly kneeling and covering his head to keep from being pleated by shards of the vase. When the ringing in his ears died away, Link crawled over to peer over the edge and saw a key lying among the debris.

“Weird place to put a key,” Link absently noted as he climbed down to the floor. When he touched the key he jerked his hand back with a small hiss of pain, the key was still hot after sitting Din knows how long within the fire. Digging into his pouch he withdrew the red hat that went with his Dodongo-skin tunic and let the fire resistant material buffer the heat.

Once back in the previous room Link frowned as he spied the locked door up on the platform in the middle of the room. There was no stairs or ladder to climb up, how was he supposed to get up there?

“Do you see any way up?” Link asked.

“Hmm…” Navi looked around as well. “No… but that really doesn’t mean much in this place does it?”

‘No it doesn’t,’ Link agreed in his mind. Nothing here in the temple could be taken at face value with the amount of illusions and tricks within the temple. He supposed that was a clue in itself and withdrew the Lens of Truth from his magical pouch to look around, finding a patch on the ceiling that his Longshot could be used on. He let the chain pulled him up high enough to grab the edge of the platform, pulling himself up onto it with a grunt, and unlocked the door.

Behind the door was another corridor, Link was starting to wonder how far the temple went into the mountains and how the Gorons had never found it. At first he thought it was a simple hallway, keeping an eye out for all Skulltulas or Wall Masters in the area, until he turned the first corner. On the other end of the short passageway before it turned again was a large carving of what looked like some strange creature with a large open mouth, three large fan blades within the space of the mouth. In the corridor were two Bladetraps that were rocking back and forth so slowly Link wondered why anyone bothered to put the trap there.

He soon found out as he walked down the short stretch of hallway when the fan blades started to spin, sending a large gust of wind that blew Link off his feet, making the teen tumble backwards and slide down the hallway into the wall, just barely missing the Bladetrap in the process. Link grunted in pain as his black slammed into the wall, his sword and shield taking the blunt of the impact.

“EEEEEEYYYYYY!!!!!” Navi screamed at the same time as the strong wind from the fan rocketed her tiny body through the air, landing against the tall with a thud. The fairy was pinned to the stone by the gust until the fan slowed back down to a standstill, lingering for a second longer before her small form slowly peeled away from the wall and floated down to land in Link’s waiting hands.

“Are you ok?” Link asked worriedly. Navi’s blue light had died down, letting Link see the fairy clearly in her normal attire.

“Oooowwww,” Navi moaned as she sat up, rubbing her head. “Nayru that really hurt.” Her blue hair was mused up badly from being knocked around and even her wings looked a little tattered and worse for wear though she was still able to fly. Link heard the fan blades start moving again, holding Navi against his chest and ducking his head as he was battered by the strong wind again.

“How are we going to get past that?” Navi asked once the fan stopped again. “It doesn’t stop long enough to just slip by it.”

“I think I can walk against it if I had something heavy to keep be from being pushed back,” Link said. Navi thought about it for a moment then shot into the air as it hit her.

“The Iron Boots!” She yelled then ‘eeped’ as the fan started up again, just barely being caught by Link’s hands before she was slammed into the wall again. Link held Navi to his chest then quickly stood up and moved to go back around the corner of the corridor before the fan started to spin again.

“Here, just stay in here until we’re past this area,” Link said as he sat Navi in a pocket of his tunic then got the Iron Soles out, placing them on the bottom of his boots. He grunted as he walked forward wearing the heavy things, his leg muscles straining under the weight. But Navi’s idea worked, the extremely strong wind from the fan failed to push Link back as he walked leaning into the wind with one hand on his hat to keep it from blowing off.

As Link rounded the corner a Skulltula dropped down from the ceiling, the large spider creature blocking his path. Link quickly stepped to the side as the fan down this part of the corridor started up, the strong gust catching the Skulltula in its grip and blowing it down the short corridor as the silk-like thread holding it broke. It gave a horrible screeching sound as the first fan also caught it in its wind and threw it against the far wall.

Link laughed softly to himself that had been the easiest and funniest way he had ever seen a Skulltula defeated. Turning yet another corner in the corridor Link was confronted with a large gap in the floor and yet another fan.

“How many of these things are there?” Link asked. Navi poked her head out of the pocket to look.

“I hope not too many more, it’s stuffy in here,” she said. “And you have cookie crumbs in the bottom of this thing. When did you have cookies?”

“Umm…” Link blinked, thinking back to the Sheikah village when Sheik’s brother Kain snuck him a few cookies to snack on. “Never mind that, we need to keep moving!” He took out his Longshot and aimed it at a wooden beam across the gap. As he handed on the other side the powerful fan started to blow, nearly bowling the Hylain youth over. “Whoa!” Link stumbled as he tried to keep his balance against the strength of the wind and tumbled right over the edge the ledge to the floor below. “Ow….”

“Link… GET OFF ME!!!!!” Navi’s muffled voice yelled from under Link where she was trapped inside the pocket between Link and the stone floor. Link quickly climbed to his knees and reached into his pocket to take out Navi. “Ow… I don’t know how much more being flattened I can take.”

“Sorry,” Link said. He looked into the room ahead. The corridor led out onto a narrow path way with deep dark pit on either side. He could see at least three more fans on the walls, one on one side and two on the other. “This could be a lot more dangerous,” he said as he stood up and slowly walked down the path after putting Navi back into his pocket. He could see a door at the end of the path and assumed that was where he needed to head next.

“Watch out Link!” Navi said as the eye symbol on the wall above the door opened and shot a fire ball at the teen. Link yelped and used his shield to block the fire ball.

“I didn’t know they could do that,” He said as he peered around his shield.

“Tried to shoot it with an arrow, it may close the eye for good,” Navi suggested. Link nodded and moved so he wasn’t in the path of one of the fans then aimed his bow at the target, the arrow striking the middle of the eye as it open. A trail smoke drifted up from the eye symbol as the arrow broke it.

“Good shot!” Navi said as she flew out of Link’s pocket. “We should be able to get through the dooAAHHH!” In her excitement Navi had forgotten about the fans and was blown across the pit but instead of hitting the wall she blew straight though it. “OW!”

“Navi are you ok?” Link asked as he quickly switched out the Iron Boots for the Hover Boots and let the wind blow him over, the Hover Boots keeping him from falling. “Hey, there’s a door here.”

“Yeah…. I noticed,” Navi said with a groan. “I did not sign up for this,” she groaned as Link picked her up. Holding Navi in one hand Link opened the door with the other. On the other side of the room was filled with the bones of the fallen, reminding Link of the rooms where he had fought the Deadhands but there were no ghastly limbs sticking out of the ground ready to grab onto him. “What are those?” He asked seeing the two Gibdos.

“Those are Gibdo,” Navi said. “Sometimes there are ReDeads under the wrapping and sometimes it’s a Stalfos.” (2)

“Wonderful,” Link muttered as he took out his ocarina and played the Sun Song, happy when it worked on the two Gibdos, freezing them into place. “Now we just have to find a key…” Link turned to leave the room thinking he might find it in the other room he hadn’t entered but slipped on the loose bones on the floor. He groaned as he landed then quickly rolled out of the way of the Bladetrap coming at him. His ocarina flew out of his hand when he fell and landed in a pile of bones in the corner of the room. He groaned and stood up to walk over to the pile. “Yuck,” he said as he stuck his hand into the pile to find the Ocarina of Time then blinked when his knuckles rapped against something wooden. “Huh…”

“What is it?” Navi asked.

“I think there’s a chest in here,” Link said as he finally found the ocarina and safely pulled it out. He pulled at the other bones but they were packed in too tightly. “I can’t get to it.”

“Just blow it up,” Navi suggested. Link sighed and nodded, taking out a bomb and lighting the wick. The Hylain and fairy quickly ran to the other side of the room, using his shield to block the flying pieces of bones after the bomb blew up the pile. “I thought you said there was a crest in there,” the fairy asked as she peeked over Link’s shield.

“I swear there is,” Link said as he walked over and felt around the area, hoping he didn’t blow the chest up as well. He fingers brushed over something he couldn’t see and he felt along the front until he found a latch. “Told you there was a chest here,” he grinned as he popped the lid open, finding the inside of a wooden chest and a key lying at the bottom. He fished the key out and walked past the two frozen Gibdos to unlock the door.

The next room shocked Link, there appeared to be a river made out of mist and on the mist was a large boat with a robed figure holding a bell in each hand perched on the front of the boat and what looked like a large wheels on each side. (3)

“That thing looks like the statues with the scythes,” he said. “How it the boat floating? This doesn’t look like real water.” He knelt down to touch the mist.

“Don’t!” Navi flew in front of Link’s face, stopping him. “You don’t know what that is, you shouldn’t touch it. Let’s just get onto the boat and see where this ‘river’ leads.” Link nodded, pushing and pulling a large block from one side of the room to the other with little grunts so he could reach the ladder that only came half way down the wall. From there he leapt onto the boat that had a large Triforce emblem on it.

Link played Zelda’s Lullaby, the soft tune echoing loudly within the cavern. At first nothing happen and Link started to wonder if there was something else he needed to do to get the boat moving when a ringing sound filled the air as the bells on the front of the boat started to rock back and forth. The wheels on each side of the ship started to turn, making the vessel rock side to side as it started floating down the corridor the ‘river’ was in.

Link licked his lips nervously and his ears flattened a bit as he looked up at the ghastly statues above him that lined the corridor, each depicted a robed figure like the one on the front of the boat, each statue holding a lantern with a green flame inside. The whole thing sent a chill down his spine, making him shiver, it was like being on a river of death and he didn’t like it.

A thumping sound and evil laugh alerted Link and Navi that they were no longer alone and Link couldn’t help but be grateful for the distraction as he quickly drew the Master Sword to block the Stalfos’s attack. The Stalfos pressed its attack, trying to push Link back toward the edge of the boat to knock the Hylian youth off over the side.

“Link look out!” Navi warned whenever her partner was too close to the edge of the boat. Link would quickly twist or roll out of the way just in time. Link tried to slip past the Stalfos’s defenses to land his own attack but the monster seemed to counter every move he made. Navi made a sound of alarm as she looked up and noticed the boat was heading for a wall, to the left side of the boat was a platform that Link could get off at. “Link! The boat is crashing, jump off!”

Link looked up and saw the wall then quickly ran for the edge of the boat. He slipped and stumbled slightly as the boat hit the wall, causing the whole boat to shake. The Stalfos did fall over, giving Link enough time to regain his footing and jump off to safety before the boat fell under the mist into darkness, taking the Stalfos with it. Link sighed in relief and leaned forward his hands on his knees.

“That was close,” he said.

“Link look!” Navi said loudly, her voice echoing around the cavern. “There’s the door to the boss!” Link squinted into the darkness and saw a large door across a trench. It was too wide for him to walk across with the Hover Boots and even after using his Lens of Truth he did not see anything that would help him across. But he did see a bunch of broken columns lying around and one column that was still fully intact across the way. At the base of the column grew a bunch of Bomb Flowers giving Link as idea as he quickly notched an arrow in the Fairy bow and let it fly. The arrow struck the Bomb Flower in the middle of the group, the jolt setting off the sensitive plant in an impressive explosion and quickly setting off a chain reaction with the others as one by one they blew up as well. The explosions destroyed the bottom of the column causing it to fall forward.

It landed with a crash, the force of the landing destroying the bird-like statue on top and reducing it to rubble.

“We’re lucky that thing didn’t fall the other way,” Navi said once the tremors settled down. “Or that it didn’t break in the middle and fall into the hole when it hit the ground.”

“Yeah we are and now we have a bridge to get over to the other side,” Link said as he slung the bow over his shoulders and climbed up onto the make-shift bridge. Under Navi’s natural fairy light, he was able to get a better look at the door. He was unsurprised to see it was locked up tight, with the lock in the shape of the Sheikah symbol. “So now we need to find the key to this lock.”

“Let’s go then, I saw a door there off to the side,” Navi said leading the way back over the bridge.

***

The next chamber behind the door appeared to be a large square room with many little columns holding up the ceiling with touches along the wall to light up the room. Ahead of Link was a Floor Master that was walking back and forth on its ghoulish fingers. The Floor Master seemed to notice Link, levitating off the floor and flying at him with its fingers outstretched ready to grab him and drag him Din only knows where. Link yelled and brought his shield around to knock the Floor Master back then looked in surprise as the Floor Master suddenly stopped and dropped to the floor.

It pushed itself to its fingers, rocking side to side as if it was stunned.

“What just happen?” Link asked.

“It stopped,” Navi said. “It almost looked like it ran into a wall or something.” Link blinked then quickly took out the Lens of Truth. A stone wall appeared in front of Link blocking his view of the Floor Master on the other side.

“There is a wall,” Link said. He laughed as he heard the Floor Master hit the invisible wall again as it tried to get to him. He took a second to watch the Floor Master slam into the wall again and again, the creepy hand-like monster wasn’t very smart, before moving on, glancing through the Lens to see where the walls were every now and then and keeping a look out for the Floor Masters walking around.

He came to a door on the first corner of the room and opened it, instantly finding himself between two trap walls with spikes on them closing in on him. He would have been worried about the trap he found himself in if it wasn’t for the fact the walls were really slow moving, giving him time to really look at them. They were made out of rotten wood, holes along the planks and some of the spikes were broken.

“This… is kinda sad compared to the other traps in this temple,” Navi said.

“It’s made out of wood, I bet it burns pretty quick,” Link said with a grin. “Din’s Fire!” He went through the motions of the spell, a dome of fire spreading out from around him and catching the wooden trap walls a flame. Instantly the old rotted wood was turned to cinders, leaving nothing behind by ash. But that wasn’t the only thing caught on fire. Link yelped and quickly stepped back out the door, shutting it enough so nothing could escape the room but open enough so he would watch through the crack of the door as two vaguely human-shaped creatures ran around in circles, their entire bodies on fire.

“What are those!?” Link asked as the two things ran into each other and both knocked to the ground.

“More Gibdos,” Navi said. “Their bandages must have caught on fire when you used the spell.”

Link opened the door again when he saw the two Gibdos were nothing but piles of ashes now and looked around. In the corner of the room sat a large chest with an old lock on the front. The lock was rusty looking and gave away quickly as Link slammed his foot into it.

“It must have been a long time since anyone has tried to use that lock,” Navi said as Link removed the broken lock and open the chest. He frowned as he looked inside, there were several keys that all looked the same inside, with the Sheikah eye on the top.

“Which key is which?” He asked.

“Umm…” Navi hovered over the chest looking at the keys but had no idea which one might be the real key to the boss door. She didn’t think taking all of them and trying the keys one by one was a good idea, it would take too long. “Try looking for it with the Lens?” she suggested. Link looked up at her with a raised eyebrow. “Hey, you got a better idea? Everything else in here needed the Lens of Truth, maybe it can tell you which one is the true key!”

“I guess it’s worth a shot,” Link said, silently admitting the fairy had a point. He took out the Lens and looked through it at the keys; at first nothing stood out. In fact all the keys looked grey and dull under the power of the Lens. But as Link shifted around the keys with his free hand, something glowing caught his attention from the corner of the chest. He dug out the glowing key and held it up to look at it, it looked just like the others when he looked at it normally, it was impossible to tell one from the other, but it glowed when he looked at it with the Lens of Truth. “I think… this is the right key,” he said as he stood up.

“Real tricky of the Sheikah huh,” Navi said as they left the room and carefully navigated the room with the invisible walls back the way they came. “With so many keys, someone could be here for hours trying to find the right one. Good thing we have the Lens of Truth.” Link nodded in agreement, exiting the chamber as a Floor Master hit one of the invisible walls again trying to get to him which made his lips quirk up in a smile.

Back in the previous chamber Link approached the large door that would lead to the inner chamber where the creature that had escaped the well should be. He inserted the key into the key hole in the middle of the Sheikah eye, the lock twisting and the chains falling away so Link could open the door. The young hero took a deep breath and pulled the door open, ready to face his new challenge.

******

The room was dark as Link entered, making Link wonder if he was going to have to depend on Navi’s natural fairy light to see. But as soon as the door slammed shut behind him, torches on the wall started to light up one by one with a purple flame, casting the room in an eerie light. He looked around, the room was circular with stone columns in-between each torch on the wall. Otherwise it was very unremarkable looking, compared to the other temples so far anyway.

In the middle of the room, driven deep into the dark stone, stood the sword that Link saw seven years, or to him only a day or two before, in that room in the bottom of the well. The ropes and ofuda that had bound it before were long gone and without the ofuda to keep it back, Link could feel the evil power pouring from the sword where he stood by the door.

Slowly Link started to walk toward the dark sword, drawing the Master Sword from the scabbard across his back. The silver blade glowed and pulse with an inner light reacting to the evil power within the other blade. When the young hero was only a few feet away from the Death Sword, a feeling of dread and darkness filled the room, it was the same presence that had escaped from the well and had attacked Link and Sheik in the village. As the presence drew closer to the large blade in the floor, blood red glyphs started to glow on the sword, pulsing brighter and brighter as whatever the presence was approached.

Suddenly the glyphs glowed a bright steady red and the sword started to shake as if something was tugging it from the floor. Inch by inch the sword rose out of the floor until it flew up, sending bits of stone flying as if it was jerked out. The sword waved in the air then came crashing down where Link had been standing, the Hylian dodging to the side out of the way.

Link quickly removed the Lens of Truth from his pouch as the Death Sword raised back up into the air, peering through it to see what was holding the sword. The Sheikah magic in the lens showed Link what a hidden to the naked eye, instantly giving him a view of what appeared to be a very large skeleton figure wearing a tatter robe, a pair of great curled horns coming out of a skull that could only belong to a demon.

The demon holding the sword did not appear to notice that Link could now see it, attempting to cleave Link in two again as the Death Sword swung in a great arc. Link cursed softly to Din, the creature’s swings were too wide for him to get in close. Instead he quickly whipped out the Fairy Bow and let an arrow fly into the chest of the demon where a heart would have been if it had been alive.

“I see it!” Navi said as the demon creature slumped to the ground. Link did as well and quickly darted in, hacking at the creature with the Master Sword until he was knocked back several feet as the creature regained its bearings. It roared loudly as the shadows seem to gather around it, disappearing from sight once again. The Lens was quickly taken back out and Link tracked the demon’s movements, it was floating through the air weaving back and forth before letting out a shriek and dive-bombing Link, the Death Sword raised above its head. Link dove to the side, rolling out of the way then getting up on his feet again, letting another arrow fly from his bow.

This time it took a couple of arrows for the demon to be stunned before Link could move in and attack again. The battle soon set into a pattern, the demon would turn invisible, the Death Sword the only thing able to be seen and tried to swoop down on Link and cut him in two. Link in turn would use the Lens of truth to track the demon’s movements then stun it with the Fairy Bow and arrows until the demon was visible again and hit the ground.

“HEY!” Link spun a final time on his heel, the Master Sword glowing brightly with power. The blade seemed to sing as it cut through the air then landed deep inside the demon’s chest. The demon seem to be frozen for a moment, as if it was disbelieving that this mortal had defeated it when not even the Sheikah had been able to. Then it started to flail about, jerking side to side arm waving wildly. The hilt of the Master Sword was ripped from Link’s hand, the sword still stuck deep inside the demon, and the teen quickly backed up to avoid being hit by the Death Sword. The demon was giving a loud awful shriek as was slowly destroyed from the inside by the power of the Master Sword.

The Death Sword flew out of the demon’s grip and hit the far wall, seeming to shatter into millions of pieces. The demon’s death cries tapered off, the robed figure’s body bending backwards, arms hanging lifelessly and fanged mouth hanging open, the Master Sword sticking out of its chest like a shining beacon. Link watched as the red glow inside the demon’s hallow eye sockets slowly faded away leaving nothing by a black void. There was an eerie silence for a moment then the demon’s body exploded in a flash of light, Link holding up his hands to shield his eyes while Navi hid behind him. The Master Sword clanged loudly as it fell to the floor.

“Wooo! You did it!” Navi cheered. Link grinned and walked over to his sword, picking it up and placing it back in the gold and blue scabbard on his back. He felt good destroying the creature that had attack Kakariko Village and had hurt Sheik. A ring of light appeared in the middle of the room as it had in the previous temples, Link stepping in it and was surrounded by a crystal as he and his fairy partner was whisked away to the Chamber of Sages to meet Impa, the Sage of Shadows.

*****

Author Note: Yeah… did not mean for this to take a whole half a year to write. I was going to leave it in a cliff hanger at first then thought that after so long of not having an update I would go ahead and finish through to the Boss battle. Again, I greatly dislike Bongo Bongo because I thought it was a disappointing boss so I hope everyone liked Death Sword (from TP) a lot better.

(1) I love defeating this Stalfos this way, I'll make Link hang out around the edge then move when the Stalfos jumps at him or make the Stalfos back up and fall over the edge.

(2) Gibdos have been a part of the Zelda series for a long time, in some games when you burn away the bandages, it's a Stalfos under there. And in some games they just burn to ashes. Except ToOT, they are just a Redead under there.

(3) I really like the new boat design they used in TOOT 3D.