Categories > Games > Zelda > The Switch of Fate
The Switch of Fate
By: USA Tiger
Disclaimer: The characters of The Legend of Zelda series belong to Nintendo.
Author note: Special thanks to my new beta Leopardfire97 for going over this for me.
Chapter 16
When Link entered the chambers inside the bottom of the well, it was pitch dark with only Navi’s soft glowing blue light to guide the way. It made the shadows around him even more sinister and evil looking, sending a shiver down Link’s back. He had got through many dangerous areas since this adventure began, braved many monsters, but the unknown from the shadows still scared him. Link climbed down a ladder propped against a ledge to a stone floor covered in some sort of rusted wire and mounds of dirt.
“Be careful Link,” Navi whispered softly in a long slender ear. “I can hear a Skulltula nearby.” Link nodded, he heard it as well. All Skulltulas made the same scratching noise from moving their legs. Link drew his Kokiri sword, so tiny compared to the Master Sword, and the Deku shield while looking up at the ceiling.
“There!” He said as found the red glowing eyes of the skull-spider. All the red eyes saw him at the same time, the Skulltula quickly descending on its thread in hopes of catching a quick meal. Once it was even with him, Link waited until the Skulltula spun around exposing its soft underbelly. He scowled as he remembered that now that he wasn’t as strong as he was in his adult form he would have to attack twice. “I kinda miss being an adult now.”
“You missed being a kid before,” Navi said as they moved on.
“Yeah but once I got use to being grown up, it was kinda nice,” Link said before coming to a stop. In front of them was a blank wall and as Link looked around there didn’t seem to be any openings. “How do we get past this?”
“Blow it up?” Navi suggested as she looked around. In the corner was a skeleton of either Sheikah, Hylian or Human origin. There was a soft whisper in the otherwise quite chamber that only the fairy could hear. “Link wait! I can hear the whispers of the dead, this poor soul is trying to tell us something.”
Link looked over at the skeleton and shivered slightly. It wasn’t the monstrous Stalfos but seeing a dead body was never fun. Navi hovered near the skull as she listened to the whispers.
“’Look for the eye of truth’, that’s what its saying,” Navi said.
“That’s the whole reason we’re here,” Link said. “Kinda a useless thing to tell us.”
“Maybe…. Maybe it’s a clue!” Navi exclaimed, her tiny voice echoing around the chamber. She flew back in front of the wall and studied it closely. “There is something strange about this wall; I just can’t put my wing on what it is… hey wait, didn’t Sheik say the Shadow Temple is filled with illusions?”
“Yeah, that’s why he sent us here for that Lens of Truth,” Link said. “Why?”
“What if… what if the temple isn’t the only place that has illusions in place?” Navi said as she looked at the wall again. “What if this place does as well? It’s Sheikah made after all. So maybe….” Link watched as Navi backed up in the air then flew at the wall at a high speed. He waited to see if Navi would end up flattening herself against the stone but to his surprise she flew through the wall instead.
“It’s fake! There isn’t a wall there!” Navi called from the other side. The area plunged into darkness as Navi flew to the other side of the wall. “Come on!”
Link reached up and tried to press his hand against the stone but like Navi, his hand passed through the wall as if he was pushing on air.
“Wow,” He said softly as he stepped through. On the other side he turned back to look, it still looked like a solid stone wall, you couldn’t even tell that the young Hylian and fairy had just walked through it. “It looks so real.”
“It does, it’s a high piece of magic,” Navi agreed. “Come on, that lens has got to be somewhere around here.” Link stepped forward with Navi, letting her light guide him. Link yelped as he plunged into a small pool of water he didn’t see until the last second, coughing as he came up for air. As he started to pull himself out of the frigid water he froze as a green light lit up the area.
“Din!” He yelled as he fell back into the water again as a giant Bubble flew past. The Bubble didn’t seem to notice him as it flew along its way.
“It’s ok Link,” Navi said. “Green Bubbles don’t attack like the others, they fly in a set pattern. We saw a few in the Forest Temple remember?”
“Yeah but they weren’t that huge,” Link said as he pulled himself out of the water, standing in a shallow trench filled with ankle deep water. He shivered and wrapped his arms around himself as a breeze seemed to fill the chilly dungeon like area. “Which way do we go?”
“Hmm…” Navi looked left then right, she couldn’t see into the darkness past her own light but she had seen the Bubble fly around a corner when coming toward them then disappear behind another one as it flew away. “Follow after the Bubble, we know what the path is at least.” Link nodded and took off after the giant flying skull, his feet kicking up water as he ran. Link could see the green flamed Bubble just ahead until it’s flame when out making him yelp as he came to a stop.
“Where did it go?” He asked.
“Either its flame went out or it turned another corner,” Navi said. “Look, you can see the reflection of the flame on the water, keep going!” Link gulped and started forward again, doing his best to ignore all the shadows around him that seemed to reach for him as he ran, turning another corner as he tried to catch up with the Bubble.
“Wait Link stop!” Navi yelled as she halted in midair, Link running out of the area where her light reached. He quickly turned and ran back, feeling safer under her light than in the darkness. There was something about being a young child again that made the shadows and darkness much scarier.
“What?” Link asked, looking up at his fairy.
“Look at your feet,” Navi said, flying a little higher and putting more power until her glow so Link could see. Link looked down and stepped back slightly, there was a large golden emblem of the Triforce on the floor. “Just like in the Water Temple, play the song.”
“This better not refill the whole place with water,” Link said as he took out the Ocarina of Time and started to play Zelda’s Lullaby. As soon as the last note played, the water spilling out of a fountain shaped like a wide, odd face came to a stop. At the same time all the water in the trench drained into the pool of water under the fountain leaving behind damp stones.
“Well… at least it didn’t fill up with water,” Navi joked. Link rolled his eyes but smiled slightly, stepping back out of the way as the Green Bubble flew past again. As he stepped back, Link tripped over a wooden beam and fell through the wall behind him. “Oh! Another fake wall!”
“Ow,” Link said as he sat up, rubbing his head. He turned and looked at the room he fell into. It was small with what looked like four small prison cells in each corner of the room. In the middle were two wooden beams leaned against each other. Link squinted and crawled closer to the beams, there was some sort of stain on the floor. “Is that… blood?”
“Link, I think we should leave this room,” Navi said. “I sense a Wall Master in here, we should go.” Link quickly agreed, the Wall Masters and Floor Masters were yet another thing that freaked him out. The giant hands deadly and creepy, the Wall Masters were worse as they dropped from the ceiling on top of you out of nowhere. Link got up off the floor and quickly ran back over to the fake wall, exiting the chamber.
“I can’t believe all this is under the well,” Link said as he slowly walked down the middle of the trench.
“I can’t either, and to think people drank water from here,” Navi said with a shake of her head. “Maybe it’s a good thing we ended up draining this well, I can’t believe no one got sick from the water.” Link nodded absently, squinting his eyes as he tried to see into the dark past the light Navi gave off. He heard the flap of wings and a low chuckle behind him as the Green Bubble rounded the corner, the boy quickly stepping off to the side and pressing against the wall as it flew past. The much brighter light from the Bubble’s flame lit up the area revealing a side hallway.
“Let’s try here,” Link said as he dashed toward the hallway once the flying skull had gone past. Navi quickly beat her wings to keep up with her young charge. At the end of the hallway stood a door with a broken lock which Link was able to easily remove and open the door. As soon as Link entered, a torch in corner of the room flared to life, filling the room with a warm light that did nothing to chase away the chill in the air. Link looked around curious once he was use to the brighter light. “What are those?” He asked as he pointed to the long boxes that filled the room.
“Those are coffins,” Navi explained as she shivered, she didn’t like this place.
“Coffins?” Link repeated as he stepped up closer. There were six in the room, three of them had lids on top of them while the other three did not.
“It’s where a person’s body is placed when they die,” Navi told him.
“Why?” Link asked.
“It’s something the human races do,” Navi said. “In the very rare case that a Kokiri dies, their Deku tree parent takes their body so they can be reborn into a new form one day. That doesn’t happen with Hylians and Humans so they place their dead into these little boxes and bury them in the ground.”
“That seems very strange,” Link said as he walked past the coffins. “So I’ll be put in a box one day?” He asked as he remembered that he himself was a Hylain and not a Kokiri.
“I guess,” Navi said. “But hopefully not for a long time.”
“What do you think this is?” Link asked as he reached the back of the room. There was a large wooden door that looked hastily put together, held closed with ropes that had several little slips of paper called ofuda hanging off of them. Link looked through a gap in the wood into the room beyond it, a pair of torches within the chamber providing light. Navi looked through the gap as well and shivered.
Inside was a large sword that had several ropes tying it to the ground with more of the ofuda hanging all over the ropes. Even with the prayer slips muting and binding its power, Navi could feel the evil dark presence surrounding the blade. The dark version of the Master Sword Link destroyed had been filled with dark magic’s but this thing has something else attached to it. She recognized the presence as the shadow spirit that had attacked Link and Sheik in the future. (1)
“We should leave, now,” Navi said nudging at Link’s shoulder. “That’s what Impa sealed away here in the well, let’s not accidently free it before it’s time.”
Link shivered remembering the invisible creature that had attacked him so easily and hurt Sheik so badly.
“Yeah,” He agreed as he turned and ran back the way they came.
****
“OFFMM!” Link grunted as he fell into the same pond he had when he first entered the chambers under the well but this time there was no water so he landed pretty hard on the bottom. “Ow,” He hissed as he sat up, looking at his hands and knees which were scraped by the rough stones.
“Are you alright?” Navi asked as she flew down to his side. Link had forgotten about the hole and hadn’t seen the edge in time to stop.
“Yeah, no worse than being bit by a dragon or attack by a Stalfos,” Link assured her as he stood up, brushing the dirt from his tunic. “What’s that?” He asked as he caught sight of something on the edge of Navi’s light. Navi floated closer to where he pointed which was another small tunnel like the one he had to crawl through to enter the bottom of the well.
“We should see where it goes, we’ve searched everywhere else for the lens,” Navi suggested. Link nodded and got down onto his hands and knees, wincing as the rough stone dug into his abused shins. The chamber on the other side was a small one with only a door and a Skulltula inside. When Link opened the door, the room was pitch black and had no stone floor, the ground covered in loose dirt and what appeared to be bones. “There is something very dark and very dangerous in this room.”
“What are those?” Link whispered, there was something just beyond the light Navi gave off. Something long and pale, swaying slightly side the side. Link slowly crept closer, Navi hovering close to him from above. The object in question appeared to be a long limb that was so pale it looked a sickly white. At the end of the limb was a red tipped clawed hand. Link shuttered as he looked at it, he could see another one nearby and possible two others in the shadows. “What are these things Navi?”
“I don’t know Link but- LOOK OUT!” Navi tired to warn the boy but it was too late as the deadly looking hand near Link snapped to life and grabbed the startled boy by the face.
“AHH!” He screamed, trying to pry the claws that were painfully digging into his skin off of him. Nearby there was an explosion of dirt and bones as something dug itself out from under the ground. Link could see it out of the corner of his eye just past the pale flesh that held him in place. It was tall and horrifying looking, skin as pale as the four limbs around the room with two skinny limbs in the place of where normal arms would be on a person that had no hands at the end. The thing’s neck was long and its head hand a large mouth filled with deadly looking teeth. Link yelled in alarm as the thing opened its mouth wide preparing to take a bit out of the boy.
With a burst of strength Link finally broke hold of the clawed hand that was holding him in place and rolled out of the way just in time as the creature’s mouth snapped down where Link had just been.
“Fleeessshhh…. blllooodddd,” The creature said, its voice sounding like something from beyond the grave. “Giivvveee ittt toooo meeee.”
“Link, it’s a Dead Hand!” Navi realized.
“That’s great Navi,” Link said as he ran back to the door that led out of the room but a set of bars had fallen over it, locking them in. “How do I defeat it cause we’re not getting out of here any other way?”
“The head is the weak point and WATCH OUT!” Navi warned as the Dead Hand had come close enough again to try and bite at Link. Link yelped and drew the Kokiri sword, slashing the creature across the face before it could do any damage. The Dead Hand roared in pain but it was determine to have a meal of fresh flesh, leaning down to try and bite Link again.
“HHHEEY!” Link jumped to the side and brought his sword up in an upward swipe, cutting into the creature’s pale skin. Deciding that this wasn’t going to be an easy meal the Dead Hand turned around and scooted away several feet then dug its way back underground. “Damn… how am I suppose to attack it underground?”
“You’ll have to draw it out again, those hands must be connected to it somehow,” Navi said. “Just get close enough for one of them to try and grab you.”
“Those claws hurt Navi,” Link said as he touched one of the scratches on the side of his face. “And I can’t fight if it’s holding me down.”
“You got a better idea?” Navi snipped back. Link sighed and shook his head; no he didn’t have a better idea. They were trapped in this room with that creature and Link had no other ideas of how to draw the thing out. Looking up at the closest hand, Link slowly and carefully walked toward it keeping his eyes peeled for any sudden movements.
Once he was close enough, the demonic hand lunged at him only to grab a handful of dirt and bones as Link rolled to the side. The movement of one of its arms was enough to alert the Dead Hand as it quickly clawed its way back to the surface. Hissing words about eating his flesh and drinking his blood again, the Dead Hand had a very one track mind, it moved over to where Link was waiting on it. The Dead Hand didn’t try any new tactics as it leaned down to take a bite out of Link giving the young hero the opening he needed to attack the creature until it retreated once again underground.
“It’s not very smart, is it..." Link muttered softly to Navi.
“The undead tend to be very stupid, all they know is attacking and some cases eating anything that moves,” Navi agreed. “Stalfos are the only undead who seem to have any sort of mind, that’s what makes them so dangerous. Stalchildren as well to a lesser extent.”
Link nodded absently as he employed the same plan as before, moving close to the nearest ghastly hand then moving out of the way as it moved to grab him.
“Hey!” Link yelled in alarm as he accidently rolled into the path of another hand which grabbed him by the back of his tunic. Dead Hand burst out from under the ground and quickly moved toward where Link was captured.
“Frrreeessshhh meeeaaattttt….” The creature hissed in hunger. Link’s eyes were wide with fright as he struggled to get out of the hand’s hold but there was a glint of determination in those blue orbs as the Dead Hand came close to where Link was held. With a finally yell Link ripped himself away from the limb holding him, his tunic ripping in the back. His foot slid on the dirt, sending him to the ground with another yell. See its chance to finally catch its meal, Dead Hand opened its mouth wide and swooped down for a bite.
“HEY!” Link thrust the Kokiri sword deep into the open mouth and through the back of the creature’s head. Dead Hand gave a loud death knell as it fell to the side, the four hands all collapsing to the ground as well. Link panted as he sat up, watching as the Dead Hand disappeared in a flash of blue flames, leaving behind his blade.
“Whew…. By Nayru that was close,” Navi said in relief. A flash of light caught the fairy and Hylain boy’s attention as a wooden chest appeared in the back of the room. Link got up off the ground, brushing the dirt off of himself, then picked up his blade which he placed back in its scabbard. Opening the chest Link gave a little shout of triumph as he found the Lens of Truth at last.
***
“What in the name of Farore were you doing to tear your tunic up like this?” A voice asked from behind Link as he walked through the Kokiri village. He had headed straight for the forest as soon as he left the caverns under the well with his new prize. He had stayed long enough to test out the Lens of Truth, now able to see through the illusions he had encountered before and marveled at the piece of Sheikah magic.
“It’s a long story,” Link said as he turned to face the other people.
“Well it looks like something attacked your back,” The Kokiri said with her hands on her hips. It was Didi, the village’s seamstress, who was responsible for everyone’s clothing. She was average height for a Kokiri adult with reddish brown hair tied back in a braid that hung over one shoulder and freckles all over her cheeks and the bridge of her nose. Above her floated her Guardian Fairy Dex with a rusty red color. (2)
“That would be pretty close to what happened,” Link admitted as he rubbed the back of his neck. He had been heading for his tree house to change into a spare tunic though he didn’t have many that really fit him anymore. Didi sighed; Link was always tearing up his tunics by either getting into fights with Mido or some dangerous stunt in the Lost Woods.
“Well come on then, I’ll have to fit you with a new tunic,” Didi said waving her hand for Link to follow her. “By the way, I’m happy you finally got a fairy Link.”
“Ummm yeah… me too,” Link said. He knew he wasn’t supposed to have a Fairy partner now, not really since he was a Hylian instead of a Kokiri. But the only ones who knew were The Great Deku Tree and he was sure Saria had known as well or at least had a feeling. She had said she knew Link had been different from the rest of the village. Navi didn’t say anything either but shared a look with Dex. All the fairies in the village knew Link had been a Hylian but had been told by the Great Deku Tree that it was to be a secret from everyone, including Link so Navi hadn’t been able to tell Link that he was a Hylian the whole time they knew each other. As such, the fairies hadn’t told their Kokiri partners that Link was not a Kokiri.
Didi led Link to her home that doubled as her workshop. The inside was simple, like most Kokiri homes. There was a bed to the side and a small fire pit used for cooking. A table sat in the middle of the room with tree stumps placed around it for chairs. Along one of the walls sat a loom and piles of green and brown fabrics and leathers that Didi used to make tunics, dresses, shorts and hats for all of the villagers.
“Alright, take that raggedy thing off,” Didi said with a wave of her hand. Link, having no concept of being modest in front of someone of the opposite sex even after being an adult for a short time, pulled the tunic off leaving him in shorts and his boots. The Kokiri girl didn’t even bat an eye, since a Kokiri’s body didn’t physically age past the ages of 10 to 12 in fact it was rare when a girl Kokiri grew a slight cleavage, none of the eternal children of the forest gave much thought to the other’s bodies. Yes, the Kokiri could fall in love and some even married but none of that was based in sexual attraction since the Kokiri didn’t reproduce like the other races. There was a reason why they called the Great Deku tree ‘Father’ after all. (3)
Didi tisked to herself as she held up the ruined tunic. “I don’t think I’ll be able to repair it, it’s only good for scraps now,” she said as she tossed the tunic to the side and walked over to a pile of finished tunics to get one for Link to dress in. Link looked around absently, one hand on a hip while the other hung by his side and one foot tapped on the ground.
“What’s that?” He asked having noticed a rather large cutout of a tunic on Didi’s sewing table.
“Hmm?” Didi looked up, holding two different tops in her hands as she tried to decide which one would fit Link. “Oh that? Something Fado asked me to do. A rather strange request, he asked me to take a tunic that would fit a human male. I don’t know why he would want something like that but it’s a new challenge. It’s just the rough draft as I’ve never seen a human before.”
Link suddenly realized that the would-be tunic on the sewing table was the same tunic he wore in his adult body. Or at least it was the start of what would be his tunic anyway. The blond child wonder why Fado would ask for something like that, as far as he was aware his friend had no idea what the future would hold. (4)
“Well I think you might get a chance one day,” Link said as he remembered that one of the Know-At-All-Brothers in the future had mentioned that the Sheikah had brought different animals to the Kokiri village like he asked Impa too. Didi gave Link a look then handed over a tunic for the boy to put on.
“There, prefect as always,” Didi clapped her hands and smiled as the new tunic top settled on Link’s thin frame. Link thanked the seamstress and gave her a red rupee to pay for the tunic. As Link reached the door, he stopped and looked back at the child-like adult.
“Maybe you should make a shirt and pants to go with that tunic,” He suggested. “I think white would be a good color.” Then walked out of the house with Navi.
“Hmm…. What do you think Dex?” Didi asked as she mulled over Link’s suggestion.
“It could work I guess,” Dex said as he settled on Didi’s shoulder, his red light dying out around him.
“Yes… yes it could,” Didi said as she looked over at the pile of fabrics she used. “But where would I get white from?” Luckily for Didi, weeks later the Sheikah who delivered Cows, Cuccos and Goats to the village was able to supply the Kokiri girl with many types of fabrics at her request. One Sheikah teen, who was luckily the same size as Link’s adult form in the future, even agreed to model for Didi so she could get Link’s future clothing just the right size.
****
“Ok, we have the Lens of Truth so we have a way to get through the Shadow Temple now,” Navi said as followed Link through Hyrule Castle Town. “So why aren’t we going back to the future?” Link had used the Prelude of Light to return to the Temple of Time but instead of going into the chamber in the back of the temple and drawing the Master Sword so their spirits could return to their future forms, Link had left the temple instead.
“Remember what the Fairy of Magic said?” Link asked. “She said she use to have a spring here but had to abandon it after Zelda took over Hyrule. Everyone is acting like nothing has changed so maybe Zelda hasn’t done anything yet.”
“Oh I see, and you think the Great Fairy is still by the castle,” Navi said.
“Yeah,” Link nodded. “We’re here anyway so we should check it out before we go back.”
“Good thinking,” Navi said. No one paid much attention to the young boy or the fairy flying by his side as they exited the city and walked up the path to the castle. “Din!” Navi exclaimed as they rounded the bend in the path where the gate sat. The stone archway was blackened by fire and the iron gates where a twisted, melted mess.
“Wh-what happen?” Link said softly with blue eyes wide. “Where’s the guard that was here?” Link remembered the man, unlike the rest of the guards he had been nice to Link when he turned the boy away from the gate the first time he visited the castle and asked to see Zelda. Link slowly walked up to the sorry remains of the gate, kneeling down next to it.
“It must have happen during Zelda’s takeover of the castle,” Navi said softly. “Stay here, I’m going to have a look ahead.” The blue fairy zipped off to see what else had changed.
As Navi flew over the castle grounds she noticed there were no guards along the path up to the castle or walking the grounds in front of the gates. The fairy started to wonder if there were any guards left at the castle when she spotted two figures standing in front of the gate to the draw bridge. Navi quickly handed on the limb of a nearby tree, dousing her light so she wouldn’t be noticed. Pushing aside a large leaf Navi studied the two guards and shivered to herself. If these were the same guards from before, they had changed greatly now.
Gone were the light armor and shorts they had been wearing, the two soldiers before her were dressed head to foot thick, heavy duty armor. Every inch of skin was covered and all Navi could see of the people inside were eyes that appeared to glow from within. Both worn green armor and stood at attention with swords and shields drawn. Careful not to be noticed, Navi quickly flew over to the wall surrounding the castle and look in. More of the soldiers walked about in the heavy armor in colors of red, green and blue. Navi could also see more guards along parts of the wall standing guard with bows and arrows ready to attack anyone who came up to the castle unannounced.
‘How is it no one in the city knows how much has changed at the castle?’ Navi wondered as she flew back to where she left Link. ‘Do they not know that their king is dead? That his daughter has already started the steps toward concurring Hyrule for the next 7 years?’ The fairy had no answer for that and wondered how long it would be before everything descended into chaos.
“How does it look?” Link asked as soon as he saw Navi again.
“All the guards I could see were up by the castle,” Navi said. “Link, the guards have changed. Something has changed about them and I have a feeling they aren’t even their selves anymore. I could sense some sort of dark magic surrounding all of them, not unlike the mind control spell Zelda used on Dark.”
“So all the guards are under Zelda and the witches’ control?” Link asked. Navi nodded in agreement.
“Get out your map so we can see where the Great Fairy’s fountain is located, visit then get out of here,” Navi said. Link withdrew the map from his pouch and knelt on the dusty path, spreading the map out in front of him. Navi landed on top of the paper and studied it. “Here, it’s just a little further up the path. We should be safe, I didn’t see any guards around this area.”
“Great because I don’t fancy trying to fight the guards when I’m small like this,” Link said as he folded the map back up and jogged down the road. Down the path was a fork in the road, one way lead up to the castle while the other continued down toward the mountains. Link vaguely remembered seeing the fork before but hadn’t bothered checking out where the road led as he was too concerned about how he was going to get into the castle at the time. This time Link took off down the second path to find it lead to a dead end. The only thing there was a boulder and a few scattered rocks. “There’s nothing here.”
“Well remember the Great Fairy’s other fountain was blocked by a stone wall,” Navi reminded him. “Maybe it’s the same, just try blowing the area up.” Link guessed that was a good idea as any and set a bomb at the base of the boulder before running back down the path before it blew up. Navi flew up high to keep watch incase the sound of the bomb going off attracted the attention of the guards.
Ka-boom!
The ground shook under Link’s feet from the size of the explosion which cleared away the boulder revealing a hole just large enough for Link to crawl through. Navi noticed that the guards up at the castle didn’t even seem to notice anything. Either they hadn’t noticed or had been ordered not to leave the castle for anything.
“Come on,” Link said with a wave of his hand as he ran back to the newly revealed hole.
****
Inside the fairy fountain Link approached the pool of water at the head of the room, coming to stand on top of the Triforce emblem and softly played Zelda’s Lullaby on his ocarina. Instantly the Great Fairy of Magic sprung out of the spring with a crackle peering down at Link with a grin as she ‘laid’ on her side in the air.
“Welcome again Link,” She said. “Allow me to teach you a magic spell. With this spell you’ll be able to create a dome of fire to alight anything around you in flames. I give you Din’s Fire!” A red light gather between the Fairy’s hands this time then flew into Link’s chest. He was filled a warm sensation of the crackling flames in of a fire and how to use the spell.
“Thank you,” Link said with a smile. The Fairy and winked at Link before disappearing back into the fountain. As Link and Navi left the cave, the young blond boy looked up at Navi in confusion. “How did she know who I am if the first time I met her was in the future?”
“I don’t question the ways of the Great Fairies,” Navi said. “Come on, it’s high time we return to our quest and tackle the Shadow Temple.
***
Link blinked in surprise as instead of the chamber of time he found himself within the chamber of the sages after he withdrew the Master Sword from the pedestal of time. A sound caught his attention and he turned to find a familiar Kokiri and a Zora he didn’t know standing behind him.
“Fado?” Link asked in surprise.
“Link, my friend,” Fado said with a smile.
“What are you doing here? How are you here?” Link asked. “I thought only the sages could come here?”
“You are correct,” Fado agreed.
“I don’t understand,” Navi said. “After Impa there is only one Sage we need to awake so both of you can’t be the last sage.”
“You do have one last sage to awaken,” The Zora spoke up.
“My friend here is correct,” Fado agreed.
“Then how-“ Link started to ask.
“I have a small story to tell, if you will listen.” Fado said with a smile.
“Alright,” Link agreed, still confused. Fado smiled and told his story…
After the Goddess Hylia, reborn as the maiden Zelda, and her chosen champion defeated the Demon King the Master Sword was laid to rest by her first master until she was needed once again. Zelda and her champion instead of returning to the sky with the rest of their people decided to stay below the clouds in what would one day come to be called the land of Hyrule. As the years past, Zelda knew that one day the Master Sword would be needed once again to rise up against the reborn King of Evil in whatever form he was born in and knew she would no longer be around to bless the Bane of Evil with the power needed to fight.
Knowing what needed to be done, Zelda and her champion awoke and gathered the sages of that time and searched the lands until they found two to bless a new sagehood to, creating the Sage of Earth and Sage of Wind. The new Sages were tasked with the duty of praying to the Goddesses to bless the Master Sword with her full powers.
“I am Fado, the Sage of Wind,” Fado announced as he finished the tale.
“I am Mako, the Sage of Earth,” The Zora man said with a slight bow.
“So… you’re different from the other sages?” Link asked.
“Yes, Mako and myself pray to the Goddesses to provide the Master Sword with the magic that allows it to be the Bane of Evil,” Fado agreed with a smile. “We have watched over you alongside Rauru while you slept, protecting you from the Queen of Evil until you were strong enough to rise against her.”
“So you knew everything all along?” Link asked.
“I… knew you were a Hylian, Tadi and I were summoned by the Great Deku Tree the night your mother brought you into the safety of the forest and passed away,” Fado confessed.
“Tadi?” Link asked.
“Wasn’t Tadi a Kokiri that use to live in the deep part of the forest?” Navi asked as she tried to remember where she heard that name before.
“Tadi was the pervious Sage of the Forest, he and the others were slain by Zelda and her two witches after she took control of Hyrule. Rauru was the only one to survive as he was here at the time,” Fado explained. “Mako and myself are unknown, hidden so we can pray to the Goddesses when the Master Sword is needed. Only the Sages and those with the blood of Hylia, the Hyrule royal family, know of us.”
“Of course, if you’re needed to power the Master Sword then it would make sense that your existence was known to a very few,” Navi said.
“Yes,” Fado agreed then turned back to Link. “Tadi and I were told that you were a child of destiny and was accepted under the forest’s protection. Tadi returned to his duties while I was to watch over you my young friend alongside Saria.”
“So Saria did know that I’m a Hylian?” Link asked.
“She had her own theories but no, we never told her,” Fado admitted.
“Hmm…. Why did you ask Didi to make the tunic?” Link asked.
“I thought it would help ease you to have a bit of the forest with you,” Fado said with a laugh. “Plus you look smashing in that tunic. Now, off you go my young friend. I’m sure the Shadow Sage is still waiting.”
****
After playing the Nocturne of Shadow to teleport to the graveyard again, Link this time walked down into the small chamber that marked the start of the temple. He looked around the room and all the torches that sounded a small platform then at the door.
“I guess all the torches have to be lit at once,” Navi guessed. “It’s a good thing we visited the Great Fairy in the past.”
“I’m curious as to why she didn’t just teach me the spell when she taught me Farore’s Wind,” Link said as he stepped up onto the plate form. “Din’s Fire!” Link gathered a small of fire red light in his hands as he drew them to his side then quickly knelt, punching the ground with one fist. A dorm of fire spread out from where Link knelt, lighting each torch as the magical fire spread out around him.
“Again, I don’t question the actions of the Great Fairies,” Navi said with a sigh. “It’s all part of the quest!”
Link snorted softly, sometimes the rules of an adventure confused the hell out of him. As the last of the torches lit up, the stone door with the crying eye symbol of the Sheikah slowly lifted out of the way with a grinding sound. As soon as the door was open, Link entered the temple, shivering as the cool feeling of death washed over him.
‘I am not going to like this place,’ He thought to himself.
Down the corridor and past a pit that Link needed to use the Longshot to get over Link found himself facing a stone wall with an face etched into it.
The Shadow will yield only to one with the eye of truth hand down in Kakariko Village. A ghostly voice seemed to say, making Link shudder. He reached up to touch the stone face only to find his hand falling through it as if it wasn’t there, a fake wall then. Walking through it, Link found a room with a large bird-like statue surrounded by large skulls on top of pillars. Across from the statue on the other side of a pit was a door in the wall with etchings around it to look like it was part of a face, with a long tongue-like platform under the edge of the door.
Make my beak face the Skull of Truth. An alternative route is a decent into darkness… A ghostly whisper seemed to drift from the bird statue.
Link walked over to the pit and glanced over the edge into the dark abyss, gulping slightly. It looked like a long way down and he couldn’t see the bottom. Next to his foot was a stone which he pushed off over the edge then listened for the sound of it hitting the bottom but as seconds turned into minutes Link quickly realized that either this pit didn’t have a bottom or it was so far down he couldn’t hear the stone when it reached the bottom. Either way falling down there would result in his death.
The teen judged the distance between himself and the edge of the platform then shook his head.
“Too far to try and jump across,” he said. Turning back to the statue Link looked at it curiously. “So what does it mean a ‘Skull of Truth’? All the skulls look the same to me.”
“Remember Sheik warned us this place if filled with illusions,” Navi said. “We can’t take anything for face value. That’s why we retrieved the Lens of Truth.” Link nodded and took out the magical lens, holding it up so he could look through it at the skulls. Through the lens Link could see that none of the skulls were real except one, three down from the torch that the bird was currently facing.
“Amazing,” Link said softly as he put the lens up.
“So which one is it?” Navi asked.
“That one,” Link said as he pointed at the skull he knew was real. He looked at the statue, wondering how he was supposed to have the bird’s beak face the Skull of Truth. He pushed against the slab of stone that had the Sheikah symbol etched into it, grunting as his muscles strained against the stone. He was starting to feel foolish when the stone finally gave and the statue started to turn. “Tell me when I’m near the right skull,” Link grunted as he continued pushing.
“Ok… now!” Navi said loudly as the statue got close to facing the right skull. With another grunt Link stepped back and watched as the statue finished spinning all the way and settled in front of the Skull of Truth. Hearing the sound of metal moving, Link sighed and turned to look at the doorway that was across the bottomless pit.
“So the door is open now but I haven’t got any way to get across,” Link said as he reached up to grasp his shoulder, moving it around in a circle to ease the left over strain of moving the stone.
“Well there has to be a way across somewhere,” Navi said. Link signed and looked around again, the walls were covered with the same stone etching like the fake one he had to walk through to get into the room.
“Maybe one of these faces is also fake,” Link said to himself softly as he used the Lens of Truth to get a better look. He quickly found that all the etchings were real except then one he had walked through to come into the chamber and one other along the same wall. “Sheik wasn’t kidding, this place is just seeped in illusions.”
“Sheikah magic, I never seen any other race able to perform such feats,” Navi agreed as she followed her partner. The other side of the fake wall was a short hallway with just a single door, on the other side of the wall was a similar hallway that ended at a dirt wall with just a single skull in the middle.
One who gathers the Eye of Truth will be able to see what is hidden in the darkness Link reached up to press his hand against the wall, finding it as fake as the last and entered the chamber beyond. The room was covered with a dirt floor and each section of the wall had a small skull in the middle. While walking around the outside of the room Link used the Lens of Truth to find his way through the fake walls.
What is hidden in the darkness... Tricks full of ill will... You can't see the way forward...
“I am getting real sick of that voice,” Link said as he shivered against. “It gives me the creeps.”
“Well it’s a good way to keep the faint of heart away,” Navi said. “Even if it keeps giving us clues about the Lens of Truth.” Link grunted softly, maybe the voice did give them clues but it was still creepy. The next chamber was just like the last, Link using the Lens to find the fake walls again. In the corner of the room he found a wall that lead to a short corridor that ended in a head iron door. Pushing it open with a grunt, Link found himself in a room with a dirt floor fill with bits and pieces of bones. And a familiar sight from his youth, or two days ago depending on how you looked at it.
“Din… not again,” Link groaned as he saw the pale, skinny limbs of the Death Hand, twice as many arms than the one he had killed in the bottom of the well.
*****
Author Note: Happy New Years everyone! And I hope everyone had a good whatever holiday you celebrate during this time of the year.
(1) I honestly think Bongo Bongo is one of the saddest, most disappointing bosses in Ocarina of Time. I know some people like him but I thought he was a disappointing end for the Shadow Temple. So I'm replacing him with a much better boss, this is Death Sword, an mini-boss from Twilight Princess. I thought Death Sword fit in much better with the Shadow Temple theme than Bongo Bongo does. And before anyone asks how Death Sword will be in the Twilight Princess timeline if Link is gonna end up destroying him in the Temple, remember that'll all happen in the 'Child Timeline' while everything Link does here is a part of the 'Adult'. This won't affect what happens to the other part of the timelines.
(2) I'm sure there are more Kokiri in the village than what we see in the game. I think most of the Kokiri have jobs or skills that they use to help the rest of the village, like the Know-It-All brothers are likely the teachers and one Kokiri runs the shop.
(3) Remember, the Kokiri only have the body of a child, they're still adults so it's possible for them to fall in love. They just don't reproduce like the other races do.
(4) Fado's figurine in Wind Waker mentioned that he was friends with the 'Hero of Time' so he would have been the Sage of Wind back during the time as well. Somebody had to make Link's Kokiri style tunic.
By: USA Tiger
Disclaimer: The characters of The Legend of Zelda series belong to Nintendo.
Author note: Special thanks to my new beta Leopardfire97 for going over this for me.
Chapter 16
When Link entered the chambers inside the bottom of the well, it was pitch dark with only Navi’s soft glowing blue light to guide the way. It made the shadows around him even more sinister and evil looking, sending a shiver down Link’s back. He had got through many dangerous areas since this adventure began, braved many monsters, but the unknown from the shadows still scared him. Link climbed down a ladder propped against a ledge to a stone floor covered in some sort of rusted wire and mounds of dirt.
“Be careful Link,” Navi whispered softly in a long slender ear. “I can hear a Skulltula nearby.” Link nodded, he heard it as well. All Skulltulas made the same scratching noise from moving their legs. Link drew his Kokiri sword, so tiny compared to the Master Sword, and the Deku shield while looking up at the ceiling.
“There!” He said as found the red glowing eyes of the skull-spider. All the red eyes saw him at the same time, the Skulltula quickly descending on its thread in hopes of catching a quick meal. Once it was even with him, Link waited until the Skulltula spun around exposing its soft underbelly. He scowled as he remembered that now that he wasn’t as strong as he was in his adult form he would have to attack twice. “I kinda miss being an adult now.”
“You missed being a kid before,” Navi said as they moved on.
“Yeah but once I got use to being grown up, it was kinda nice,” Link said before coming to a stop. In front of them was a blank wall and as Link looked around there didn’t seem to be any openings. “How do we get past this?”
“Blow it up?” Navi suggested as she looked around. In the corner was a skeleton of either Sheikah, Hylian or Human origin. There was a soft whisper in the otherwise quite chamber that only the fairy could hear. “Link wait! I can hear the whispers of the dead, this poor soul is trying to tell us something.”
Link looked over at the skeleton and shivered slightly. It wasn’t the monstrous Stalfos but seeing a dead body was never fun. Navi hovered near the skull as she listened to the whispers.
“’Look for the eye of truth’, that’s what its saying,” Navi said.
“That’s the whole reason we’re here,” Link said. “Kinda a useless thing to tell us.”
“Maybe…. Maybe it’s a clue!” Navi exclaimed, her tiny voice echoing around the chamber. She flew back in front of the wall and studied it closely. “There is something strange about this wall; I just can’t put my wing on what it is… hey wait, didn’t Sheik say the Shadow Temple is filled with illusions?”
“Yeah, that’s why he sent us here for that Lens of Truth,” Link said. “Why?”
“What if… what if the temple isn’t the only place that has illusions in place?” Navi said as she looked at the wall again. “What if this place does as well? It’s Sheikah made after all. So maybe….” Link watched as Navi backed up in the air then flew at the wall at a high speed. He waited to see if Navi would end up flattening herself against the stone but to his surprise she flew through the wall instead.
“It’s fake! There isn’t a wall there!” Navi called from the other side. The area plunged into darkness as Navi flew to the other side of the wall. “Come on!”
Link reached up and tried to press his hand against the stone but like Navi, his hand passed through the wall as if he was pushing on air.
“Wow,” He said softly as he stepped through. On the other side he turned back to look, it still looked like a solid stone wall, you couldn’t even tell that the young Hylian and fairy had just walked through it. “It looks so real.”
“It does, it’s a high piece of magic,” Navi agreed. “Come on, that lens has got to be somewhere around here.” Link stepped forward with Navi, letting her light guide him. Link yelped as he plunged into a small pool of water he didn’t see until the last second, coughing as he came up for air. As he started to pull himself out of the frigid water he froze as a green light lit up the area.
“Din!” He yelled as he fell back into the water again as a giant Bubble flew past. The Bubble didn’t seem to notice him as it flew along its way.
“It’s ok Link,” Navi said. “Green Bubbles don’t attack like the others, they fly in a set pattern. We saw a few in the Forest Temple remember?”
“Yeah but they weren’t that huge,” Link said as he pulled himself out of the water, standing in a shallow trench filled with ankle deep water. He shivered and wrapped his arms around himself as a breeze seemed to fill the chilly dungeon like area. “Which way do we go?”
“Hmm…” Navi looked left then right, she couldn’t see into the darkness past her own light but she had seen the Bubble fly around a corner when coming toward them then disappear behind another one as it flew away. “Follow after the Bubble, we know what the path is at least.” Link nodded and took off after the giant flying skull, his feet kicking up water as he ran. Link could see the green flamed Bubble just ahead until it’s flame when out making him yelp as he came to a stop.
“Where did it go?” He asked.
“Either its flame went out or it turned another corner,” Navi said. “Look, you can see the reflection of the flame on the water, keep going!” Link gulped and started forward again, doing his best to ignore all the shadows around him that seemed to reach for him as he ran, turning another corner as he tried to catch up with the Bubble.
“Wait Link stop!” Navi yelled as she halted in midair, Link running out of the area where her light reached. He quickly turned and ran back, feeling safer under her light than in the darkness. There was something about being a young child again that made the shadows and darkness much scarier.
“What?” Link asked, looking up at his fairy.
“Look at your feet,” Navi said, flying a little higher and putting more power until her glow so Link could see. Link looked down and stepped back slightly, there was a large golden emblem of the Triforce on the floor. “Just like in the Water Temple, play the song.”
“This better not refill the whole place with water,” Link said as he took out the Ocarina of Time and started to play Zelda’s Lullaby. As soon as the last note played, the water spilling out of a fountain shaped like a wide, odd face came to a stop. At the same time all the water in the trench drained into the pool of water under the fountain leaving behind damp stones.
“Well… at least it didn’t fill up with water,” Navi joked. Link rolled his eyes but smiled slightly, stepping back out of the way as the Green Bubble flew past again. As he stepped back, Link tripped over a wooden beam and fell through the wall behind him. “Oh! Another fake wall!”
“Ow,” Link said as he sat up, rubbing his head. He turned and looked at the room he fell into. It was small with what looked like four small prison cells in each corner of the room. In the middle were two wooden beams leaned against each other. Link squinted and crawled closer to the beams, there was some sort of stain on the floor. “Is that… blood?”
“Link, I think we should leave this room,” Navi said. “I sense a Wall Master in here, we should go.” Link quickly agreed, the Wall Masters and Floor Masters were yet another thing that freaked him out. The giant hands deadly and creepy, the Wall Masters were worse as they dropped from the ceiling on top of you out of nowhere. Link got up off the floor and quickly ran back over to the fake wall, exiting the chamber.
“I can’t believe all this is under the well,” Link said as he slowly walked down the middle of the trench.
“I can’t either, and to think people drank water from here,” Navi said with a shake of her head. “Maybe it’s a good thing we ended up draining this well, I can’t believe no one got sick from the water.” Link nodded absently, squinting his eyes as he tried to see into the dark past the light Navi gave off. He heard the flap of wings and a low chuckle behind him as the Green Bubble rounded the corner, the boy quickly stepping off to the side and pressing against the wall as it flew past. The much brighter light from the Bubble’s flame lit up the area revealing a side hallway.
“Let’s try here,” Link said as he dashed toward the hallway once the flying skull had gone past. Navi quickly beat her wings to keep up with her young charge. At the end of the hallway stood a door with a broken lock which Link was able to easily remove and open the door. As soon as Link entered, a torch in corner of the room flared to life, filling the room with a warm light that did nothing to chase away the chill in the air. Link looked around curious once he was use to the brighter light. “What are those?” He asked as he pointed to the long boxes that filled the room.
“Those are coffins,” Navi explained as she shivered, she didn’t like this place.
“Coffins?” Link repeated as he stepped up closer. There were six in the room, three of them had lids on top of them while the other three did not.
“It’s where a person’s body is placed when they die,” Navi told him.
“Why?” Link asked.
“It’s something the human races do,” Navi said. “In the very rare case that a Kokiri dies, their Deku tree parent takes their body so they can be reborn into a new form one day. That doesn’t happen with Hylians and Humans so they place their dead into these little boxes and bury them in the ground.”
“That seems very strange,” Link said as he walked past the coffins. “So I’ll be put in a box one day?” He asked as he remembered that he himself was a Hylain and not a Kokiri.
“I guess,” Navi said. “But hopefully not for a long time.”
“What do you think this is?” Link asked as he reached the back of the room. There was a large wooden door that looked hastily put together, held closed with ropes that had several little slips of paper called ofuda hanging off of them. Link looked through a gap in the wood into the room beyond it, a pair of torches within the chamber providing light. Navi looked through the gap as well and shivered.
Inside was a large sword that had several ropes tying it to the ground with more of the ofuda hanging all over the ropes. Even with the prayer slips muting and binding its power, Navi could feel the evil dark presence surrounding the blade. The dark version of the Master Sword Link destroyed had been filled with dark magic’s but this thing has something else attached to it. She recognized the presence as the shadow spirit that had attacked Link and Sheik in the future. (1)
“We should leave, now,” Navi said nudging at Link’s shoulder. “That’s what Impa sealed away here in the well, let’s not accidently free it before it’s time.”
Link shivered remembering the invisible creature that had attacked him so easily and hurt Sheik so badly.
“Yeah,” He agreed as he turned and ran back the way they came.
****
“OFFMM!” Link grunted as he fell into the same pond he had when he first entered the chambers under the well but this time there was no water so he landed pretty hard on the bottom. “Ow,” He hissed as he sat up, looking at his hands and knees which were scraped by the rough stones.
“Are you alright?” Navi asked as she flew down to his side. Link had forgotten about the hole and hadn’t seen the edge in time to stop.
“Yeah, no worse than being bit by a dragon or attack by a Stalfos,” Link assured her as he stood up, brushing the dirt from his tunic. “What’s that?” He asked as he caught sight of something on the edge of Navi’s light. Navi floated closer to where he pointed which was another small tunnel like the one he had to crawl through to enter the bottom of the well.
“We should see where it goes, we’ve searched everywhere else for the lens,” Navi suggested. Link nodded and got down onto his hands and knees, wincing as the rough stone dug into his abused shins. The chamber on the other side was a small one with only a door and a Skulltula inside. When Link opened the door, the room was pitch black and had no stone floor, the ground covered in loose dirt and what appeared to be bones. “There is something very dark and very dangerous in this room.”
“What are those?” Link whispered, there was something just beyond the light Navi gave off. Something long and pale, swaying slightly side the side. Link slowly crept closer, Navi hovering close to him from above. The object in question appeared to be a long limb that was so pale it looked a sickly white. At the end of the limb was a red tipped clawed hand. Link shuttered as he looked at it, he could see another one nearby and possible two others in the shadows. “What are these things Navi?”
“I don’t know Link but- LOOK OUT!” Navi tired to warn the boy but it was too late as the deadly looking hand near Link snapped to life and grabbed the startled boy by the face.
“AHH!” He screamed, trying to pry the claws that were painfully digging into his skin off of him. Nearby there was an explosion of dirt and bones as something dug itself out from under the ground. Link could see it out of the corner of his eye just past the pale flesh that held him in place. It was tall and horrifying looking, skin as pale as the four limbs around the room with two skinny limbs in the place of where normal arms would be on a person that had no hands at the end. The thing’s neck was long and its head hand a large mouth filled with deadly looking teeth. Link yelled in alarm as the thing opened its mouth wide preparing to take a bit out of the boy.
With a burst of strength Link finally broke hold of the clawed hand that was holding him in place and rolled out of the way just in time as the creature’s mouth snapped down where Link had just been.
“Fleeessshhh…. blllooodddd,” The creature said, its voice sounding like something from beyond the grave. “Giivvveee ittt toooo meeee.”
“Link, it’s a Dead Hand!” Navi realized.
“That’s great Navi,” Link said as he ran back to the door that led out of the room but a set of bars had fallen over it, locking them in. “How do I defeat it cause we’re not getting out of here any other way?”
“The head is the weak point and WATCH OUT!” Navi warned as the Dead Hand had come close enough again to try and bite at Link. Link yelped and drew the Kokiri sword, slashing the creature across the face before it could do any damage. The Dead Hand roared in pain but it was determine to have a meal of fresh flesh, leaning down to try and bite Link again.
“HHHEEY!” Link jumped to the side and brought his sword up in an upward swipe, cutting into the creature’s pale skin. Deciding that this wasn’t going to be an easy meal the Dead Hand turned around and scooted away several feet then dug its way back underground. “Damn… how am I suppose to attack it underground?”
“You’ll have to draw it out again, those hands must be connected to it somehow,” Navi said. “Just get close enough for one of them to try and grab you.”
“Those claws hurt Navi,” Link said as he touched one of the scratches on the side of his face. “And I can’t fight if it’s holding me down.”
“You got a better idea?” Navi snipped back. Link sighed and shook his head; no he didn’t have a better idea. They were trapped in this room with that creature and Link had no other ideas of how to draw the thing out. Looking up at the closest hand, Link slowly and carefully walked toward it keeping his eyes peeled for any sudden movements.
Once he was close enough, the demonic hand lunged at him only to grab a handful of dirt and bones as Link rolled to the side. The movement of one of its arms was enough to alert the Dead Hand as it quickly clawed its way back to the surface. Hissing words about eating his flesh and drinking his blood again, the Dead Hand had a very one track mind, it moved over to where Link was waiting on it. The Dead Hand didn’t try any new tactics as it leaned down to take a bite out of Link giving the young hero the opening he needed to attack the creature until it retreated once again underground.
“It’s not very smart, is it..." Link muttered softly to Navi.
“The undead tend to be very stupid, all they know is attacking and some cases eating anything that moves,” Navi agreed. “Stalfos are the only undead who seem to have any sort of mind, that’s what makes them so dangerous. Stalchildren as well to a lesser extent.”
Link nodded absently as he employed the same plan as before, moving close to the nearest ghastly hand then moving out of the way as it moved to grab him.
“Hey!” Link yelled in alarm as he accidently rolled into the path of another hand which grabbed him by the back of his tunic. Dead Hand burst out from under the ground and quickly moved toward where Link was captured.
“Frrreeessshhh meeeaaattttt….” The creature hissed in hunger. Link’s eyes were wide with fright as he struggled to get out of the hand’s hold but there was a glint of determination in those blue orbs as the Dead Hand came close to where Link was held. With a finally yell Link ripped himself away from the limb holding him, his tunic ripping in the back. His foot slid on the dirt, sending him to the ground with another yell. See its chance to finally catch its meal, Dead Hand opened its mouth wide and swooped down for a bite.
“HEY!” Link thrust the Kokiri sword deep into the open mouth and through the back of the creature’s head. Dead Hand gave a loud death knell as it fell to the side, the four hands all collapsing to the ground as well. Link panted as he sat up, watching as the Dead Hand disappeared in a flash of blue flames, leaving behind his blade.
“Whew…. By Nayru that was close,” Navi said in relief. A flash of light caught the fairy and Hylain boy’s attention as a wooden chest appeared in the back of the room. Link got up off the ground, brushing the dirt off of himself, then picked up his blade which he placed back in its scabbard. Opening the chest Link gave a little shout of triumph as he found the Lens of Truth at last.
***
“What in the name of Farore were you doing to tear your tunic up like this?” A voice asked from behind Link as he walked through the Kokiri village. He had headed straight for the forest as soon as he left the caverns under the well with his new prize. He had stayed long enough to test out the Lens of Truth, now able to see through the illusions he had encountered before and marveled at the piece of Sheikah magic.
“It’s a long story,” Link said as he turned to face the other people.
“Well it looks like something attacked your back,” The Kokiri said with her hands on her hips. It was Didi, the village’s seamstress, who was responsible for everyone’s clothing. She was average height for a Kokiri adult with reddish brown hair tied back in a braid that hung over one shoulder and freckles all over her cheeks and the bridge of her nose. Above her floated her Guardian Fairy Dex with a rusty red color. (2)
“That would be pretty close to what happened,” Link admitted as he rubbed the back of his neck. He had been heading for his tree house to change into a spare tunic though he didn’t have many that really fit him anymore. Didi sighed; Link was always tearing up his tunics by either getting into fights with Mido or some dangerous stunt in the Lost Woods.
“Well come on then, I’ll have to fit you with a new tunic,” Didi said waving her hand for Link to follow her. “By the way, I’m happy you finally got a fairy Link.”
“Ummm yeah… me too,” Link said. He knew he wasn’t supposed to have a Fairy partner now, not really since he was a Hylian instead of a Kokiri. But the only ones who knew were The Great Deku Tree and he was sure Saria had known as well or at least had a feeling. She had said she knew Link had been different from the rest of the village. Navi didn’t say anything either but shared a look with Dex. All the fairies in the village knew Link had been a Hylian but had been told by the Great Deku Tree that it was to be a secret from everyone, including Link so Navi hadn’t been able to tell Link that he was a Hylian the whole time they knew each other. As such, the fairies hadn’t told their Kokiri partners that Link was not a Kokiri.
Didi led Link to her home that doubled as her workshop. The inside was simple, like most Kokiri homes. There was a bed to the side and a small fire pit used for cooking. A table sat in the middle of the room with tree stumps placed around it for chairs. Along one of the walls sat a loom and piles of green and brown fabrics and leathers that Didi used to make tunics, dresses, shorts and hats for all of the villagers.
“Alright, take that raggedy thing off,” Didi said with a wave of her hand. Link, having no concept of being modest in front of someone of the opposite sex even after being an adult for a short time, pulled the tunic off leaving him in shorts and his boots. The Kokiri girl didn’t even bat an eye, since a Kokiri’s body didn’t physically age past the ages of 10 to 12 in fact it was rare when a girl Kokiri grew a slight cleavage, none of the eternal children of the forest gave much thought to the other’s bodies. Yes, the Kokiri could fall in love and some even married but none of that was based in sexual attraction since the Kokiri didn’t reproduce like the other races. There was a reason why they called the Great Deku tree ‘Father’ after all. (3)
Didi tisked to herself as she held up the ruined tunic. “I don’t think I’ll be able to repair it, it’s only good for scraps now,” she said as she tossed the tunic to the side and walked over to a pile of finished tunics to get one for Link to dress in. Link looked around absently, one hand on a hip while the other hung by his side and one foot tapped on the ground.
“What’s that?” He asked having noticed a rather large cutout of a tunic on Didi’s sewing table.
“Hmm?” Didi looked up, holding two different tops in her hands as she tried to decide which one would fit Link. “Oh that? Something Fado asked me to do. A rather strange request, he asked me to take a tunic that would fit a human male. I don’t know why he would want something like that but it’s a new challenge. It’s just the rough draft as I’ve never seen a human before.”
Link suddenly realized that the would-be tunic on the sewing table was the same tunic he wore in his adult body. Or at least it was the start of what would be his tunic anyway. The blond child wonder why Fado would ask for something like that, as far as he was aware his friend had no idea what the future would hold. (4)
“Well I think you might get a chance one day,” Link said as he remembered that one of the Know-At-All-Brothers in the future had mentioned that the Sheikah had brought different animals to the Kokiri village like he asked Impa too. Didi gave Link a look then handed over a tunic for the boy to put on.
“There, prefect as always,” Didi clapped her hands and smiled as the new tunic top settled on Link’s thin frame. Link thanked the seamstress and gave her a red rupee to pay for the tunic. As Link reached the door, he stopped and looked back at the child-like adult.
“Maybe you should make a shirt and pants to go with that tunic,” He suggested. “I think white would be a good color.” Then walked out of the house with Navi.
“Hmm…. What do you think Dex?” Didi asked as she mulled over Link’s suggestion.
“It could work I guess,” Dex said as he settled on Didi’s shoulder, his red light dying out around him.
“Yes… yes it could,” Didi said as she looked over at the pile of fabrics she used. “But where would I get white from?” Luckily for Didi, weeks later the Sheikah who delivered Cows, Cuccos and Goats to the village was able to supply the Kokiri girl with many types of fabrics at her request. One Sheikah teen, who was luckily the same size as Link’s adult form in the future, even agreed to model for Didi so she could get Link’s future clothing just the right size.
****
“Ok, we have the Lens of Truth so we have a way to get through the Shadow Temple now,” Navi said as followed Link through Hyrule Castle Town. “So why aren’t we going back to the future?” Link had used the Prelude of Light to return to the Temple of Time but instead of going into the chamber in the back of the temple and drawing the Master Sword so their spirits could return to their future forms, Link had left the temple instead.
“Remember what the Fairy of Magic said?” Link asked. “She said she use to have a spring here but had to abandon it after Zelda took over Hyrule. Everyone is acting like nothing has changed so maybe Zelda hasn’t done anything yet.”
“Oh I see, and you think the Great Fairy is still by the castle,” Navi said.
“Yeah,” Link nodded. “We’re here anyway so we should check it out before we go back.”
“Good thinking,” Navi said. No one paid much attention to the young boy or the fairy flying by his side as they exited the city and walked up the path to the castle. “Din!” Navi exclaimed as they rounded the bend in the path where the gate sat. The stone archway was blackened by fire and the iron gates where a twisted, melted mess.
“Wh-what happen?” Link said softly with blue eyes wide. “Where’s the guard that was here?” Link remembered the man, unlike the rest of the guards he had been nice to Link when he turned the boy away from the gate the first time he visited the castle and asked to see Zelda. Link slowly walked up to the sorry remains of the gate, kneeling down next to it.
“It must have happen during Zelda’s takeover of the castle,” Navi said softly. “Stay here, I’m going to have a look ahead.” The blue fairy zipped off to see what else had changed.
As Navi flew over the castle grounds she noticed there were no guards along the path up to the castle or walking the grounds in front of the gates. The fairy started to wonder if there were any guards left at the castle when she spotted two figures standing in front of the gate to the draw bridge. Navi quickly handed on the limb of a nearby tree, dousing her light so she wouldn’t be noticed. Pushing aside a large leaf Navi studied the two guards and shivered to herself. If these were the same guards from before, they had changed greatly now.
Gone were the light armor and shorts they had been wearing, the two soldiers before her were dressed head to foot thick, heavy duty armor. Every inch of skin was covered and all Navi could see of the people inside were eyes that appeared to glow from within. Both worn green armor and stood at attention with swords and shields drawn. Careful not to be noticed, Navi quickly flew over to the wall surrounding the castle and look in. More of the soldiers walked about in the heavy armor in colors of red, green and blue. Navi could also see more guards along parts of the wall standing guard with bows and arrows ready to attack anyone who came up to the castle unannounced.
‘How is it no one in the city knows how much has changed at the castle?’ Navi wondered as she flew back to where she left Link. ‘Do they not know that their king is dead? That his daughter has already started the steps toward concurring Hyrule for the next 7 years?’ The fairy had no answer for that and wondered how long it would be before everything descended into chaos.
“How does it look?” Link asked as soon as he saw Navi again.
“All the guards I could see were up by the castle,” Navi said. “Link, the guards have changed. Something has changed about them and I have a feeling they aren’t even their selves anymore. I could sense some sort of dark magic surrounding all of them, not unlike the mind control spell Zelda used on Dark.”
“So all the guards are under Zelda and the witches’ control?” Link asked. Navi nodded in agreement.
“Get out your map so we can see where the Great Fairy’s fountain is located, visit then get out of here,” Navi said. Link withdrew the map from his pouch and knelt on the dusty path, spreading the map out in front of him. Navi landed on top of the paper and studied it. “Here, it’s just a little further up the path. We should be safe, I didn’t see any guards around this area.”
“Great because I don’t fancy trying to fight the guards when I’m small like this,” Link said as he folded the map back up and jogged down the road. Down the path was a fork in the road, one way lead up to the castle while the other continued down toward the mountains. Link vaguely remembered seeing the fork before but hadn’t bothered checking out where the road led as he was too concerned about how he was going to get into the castle at the time. This time Link took off down the second path to find it lead to a dead end. The only thing there was a boulder and a few scattered rocks. “There’s nothing here.”
“Well remember the Great Fairy’s other fountain was blocked by a stone wall,” Navi reminded him. “Maybe it’s the same, just try blowing the area up.” Link guessed that was a good idea as any and set a bomb at the base of the boulder before running back down the path before it blew up. Navi flew up high to keep watch incase the sound of the bomb going off attracted the attention of the guards.
Ka-boom!
The ground shook under Link’s feet from the size of the explosion which cleared away the boulder revealing a hole just large enough for Link to crawl through. Navi noticed that the guards up at the castle didn’t even seem to notice anything. Either they hadn’t noticed or had been ordered not to leave the castle for anything.
“Come on,” Link said with a wave of his hand as he ran back to the newly revealed hole.
****
Inside the fairy fountain Link approached the pool of water at the head of the room, coming to stand on top of the Triforce emblem and softly played Zelda’s Lullaby on his ocarina. Instantly the Great Fairy of Magic sprung out of the spring with a crackle peering down at Link with a grin as she ‘laid’ on her side in the air.
“Welcome again Link,” She said. “Allow me to teach you a magic spell. With this spell you’ll be able to create a dome of fire to alight anything around you in flames. I give you Din’s Fire!” A red light gather between the Fairy’s hands this time then flew into Link’s chest. He was filled a warm sensation of the crackling flames in of a fire and how to use the spell.
“Thank you,” Link said with a smile. The Fairy and winked at Link before disappearing back into the fountain. As Link and Navi left the cave, the young blond boy looked up at Navi in confusion. “How did she know who I am if the first time I met her was in the future?”
“I don’t question the ways of the Great Fairies,” Navi said. “Come on, it’s high time we return to our quest and tackle the Shadow Temple.
***
Link blinked in surprise as instead of the chamber of time he found himself within the chamber of the sages after he withdrew the Master Sword from the pedestal of time. A sound caught his attention and he turned to find a familiar Kokiri and a Zora he didn’t know standing behind him.
“Fado?” Link asked in surprise.
“Link, my friend,” Fado said with a smile.
“What are you doing here? How are you here?” Link asked. “I thought only the sages could come here?”
“You are correct,” Fado agreed.
“I don’t understand,” Navi said. “After Impa there is only one Sage we need to awake so both of you can’t be the last sage.”
“You do have one last sage to awaken,” The Zora spoke up.
“My friend here is correct,” Fado agreed.
“Then how-“ Link started to ask.
“I have a small story to tell, if you will listen.” Fado said with a smile.
“Alright,” Link agreed, still confused. Fado smiled and told his story…
After the Goddess Hylia, reborn as the maiden Zelda, and her chosen champion defeated the Demon King the Master Sword was laid to rest by her first master until she was needed once again. Zelda and her champion instead of returning to the sky with the rest of their people decided to stay below the clouds in what would one day come to be called the land of Hyrule. As the years past, Zelda knew that one day the Master Sword would be needed once again to rise up against the reborn King of Evil in whatever form he was born in and knew she would no longer be around to bless the Bane of Evil with the power needed to fight.
Knowing what needed to be done, Zelda and her champion awoke and gathered the sages of that time and searched the lands until they found two to bless a new sagehood to, creating the Sage of Earth and Sage of Wind. The new Sages were tasked with the duty of praying to the Goddesses to bless the Master Sword with her full powers.
“I am Fado, the Sage of Wind,” Fado announced as he finished the tale.
“I am Mako, the Sage of Earth,” The Zora man said with a slight bow.
“So… you’re different from the other sages?” Link asked.
“Yes, Mako and myself pray to the Goddesses to provide the Master Sword with the magic that allows it to be the Bane of Evil,” Fado agreed with a smile. “We have watched over you alongside Rauru while you slept, protecting you from the Queen of Evil until you were strong enough to rise against her.”
“So you knew everything all along?” Link asked.
“I… knew you were a Hylian, Tadi and I were summoned by the Great Deku Tree the night your mother brought you into the safety of the forest and passed away,” Fado confessed.
“Tadi?” Link asked.
“Wasn’t Tadi a Kokiri that use to live in the deep part of the forest?” Navi asked as she tried to remember where she heard that name before.
“Tadi was the pervious Sage of the Forest, he and the others were slain by Zelda and her two witches after she took control of Hyrule. Rauru was the only one to survive as he was here at the time,” Fado explained. “Mako and myself are unknown, hidden so we can pray to the Goddesses when the Master Sword is needed. Only the Sages and those with the blood of Hylia, the Hyrule royal family, know of us.”
“Of course, if you’re needed to power the Master Sword then it would make sense that your existence was known to a very few,” Navi said.
“Yes,” Fado agreed then turned back to Link. “Tadi and I were told that you were a child of destiny and was accepted under the forest’s protection. Tadi returned to his duties while I was to watch over you my young friend alongside Saria.”
“So Saria did know that I’m a Hylian?” Link asked.
“She had her own theories but no, we never told her,” Fado admitted.
“Hmm…. Why did you ask Didi to make the tunic?” Link asked.
“I thought it would help ease you to have a bit of the forest with you,” Fado said with a laugh. “Plus you look smashing in that tunic. Now, off you go my young friend. I’m sure the Shadow Sage is still waiting.”
****
After playing the Nocturne of Shadow to teleport to the graveyard again, Link this time walked down into the small chamber that marked the start of the temple. He looked around the room and all the torches that sounded a small platform then at the door.
“I guess all the torches have to be lit at once,” Navi guessed. “It’s a good thing we visited the Great Fairy in the past.”
“I’m curious as to why she didn’t just teach me the spell when she taught me Farore’s Wind,” Link said as he stepped up onto the plate form. “Din’s Fire!” Link gathered a small of fire red light in his hands as he drew them to his side then quickly knelt, punching the ground with one fist. A dorm of fire spread out from where Link knelt, lighting each torch as the magical fire spread out around him.
“Again, I don’t question the actions of the Great Fairies,” Navi said with a sigh. “It’s all part of the quest!”
Link snorted softly, sometimes the rules of an adventure confused the hell out of him. As the last of the torches lit up, the stone door with the crying eye symbol of the Sheikah slowly lifted out of the way with a grinding sound. As soon as the door was open, Link entered the temple, shivering as the cool feeling of death washed over him.
‘I am not going to like this place,’ He thought to himself.
Down the corridor and past a pit that Link needed to use the Longshot to get over Link found himself facing a stone wall with an face etched into it.
The Shadow will yield only to one with the eye of truth hand down in Kakariko Village. A ghostly voice seemed to say, making Link shudder. He reached up to touch the stone face only to find his hand falling through it as if it wasn’t there, a fake wall then. Walking through it, Link found a room with a large bird-like statue surrounded by large skulls on top of pillars. Across from the statue on the other side of a pit was a door in the wall with etchings around it to look like it was part of a face, with a long tongue-like platform under the edge of the door.
Make my beak face the Skull of Truth. An alternative route is a decent into darkness… A ghostly whisper seemed to drift from the bird statue.
Link walked over to the pit and glanced over the edge into the dark abyss, gulping slightly. It looked like a long way down and he couldn’t see the bottom. Next to his foot was a stone which he pushed off over the edge then listened for the sound of it hitting the bottom but as seconds turned into minutes Link quickly realized that either this pit didn’t have a bottom or it was so far down he couldn’t hear the stone when it reached the bottom. Either way falling down there would result in his death.
The teen judged the distance between himself and the edge of the platform then shook his head.
“Too far to try and jump across,” he said. Turning back to the statue Link looked at it curiously. “So what does it mean a ‘Skull of Truth’? All the skulls look the same to me.”
“Remember Sheik warned us this place if filled with illusions,” Navi said. “We can’t take anything for face value. That’s why we retrieved the Lens of Truth.” Link nodded and took out the magical lens, holding it up so he could look through it at the skulls. Through the lens Link could see that none of the skulls were real except one, three down from the torch that the bird was currently facing.
“Amazing,” Link said softly as he put the lens up.
“So which one is it?” Navi asked.
“That one,” Link said as he pointed at the skull he knew was real. He looked at the statue, wondering how he was supposed to have the bird’s beak face the Skull of Truth. He pushed against the slab of stone that had the Sheikah symbol etched into it, grunting as his muscles strained against the stone. He was starting to feel foolish when the stone finally gave and the statue started to turn. “Tell me when I’m near the right skull,” Link grunted as he continued pushing.
“Ok… now!” Navi said loudly as the statue got close to facing the right skull. With another grunt Link stepped back and watched as the statue finished spinning all the way and settled in front of the Skull of Truth. Hearing the sound of metal moving, Link sighed and turned to look at the doorway that was across the bottomless pit.
“So the door is open now but I haven’t got any way to get across,” Link said as he reached up to grasp his shoulder, moving it around in a circle to ease the left over strain of moving the stone.
“Well there has to be a way across somewhere,” Navi said. Link signed and looked around again, the walls were covered with the same stone etching like the fake one he had to walk through to get into the room.
“Maybe one of these faces is also fake,” Link said to himself softly as he used the Lens of Truth to get a better look. He quickly found that all the etchings were real except then one he had walked through to come into the chamber and one other along the same wall. “Sheik wasn’t kidding, this place is just seeped in illusions.”
“Sheikah magic, I never seen any other race able to perform such feats,” Navi agreed as she followed her partner. The other side of the fake wall was a short hallway with just a single door, on the other side of the wall was a similar hallway that ended at a dirt wall with just a single skull in the middle.
One who gathers the Eye of Truth will be able to see what is hidden in the darkness Link reached up to press his hand against the wall, finding it as fake as the last and entered the chamber beyond. The room was covered with a dirt floor and each section of the wall had a small skull in the middle. While walking around the outside of the room Link used the Lens of Truth to find his way through the fake walls.
What is hidden in the darkness... Tricks full of ill will... You can't see the way forward...
“I am getting real sick of that voice,” Link said as he shivered against. “It gives me the creeps.”
“Well it’s a good way to keep the faint of heart away,” Navi said. “Even if it keeps giving us clues about the Lens of Truth.” Link grunted softly, maybe the voice did give them clues but it was still creepy. The next chamber was just like the last, Link using the Lens to find the fake walls again. In the corner of the room he found a wall that lead to a short corridor that ended in a head iron door. Pushing it open with a grunt, Link found himself in a room with a dirt floor fill with bits and pieces of bones. And a familiar sight from his youth, or two days ago depending on how you looked at it.
“Din… not again,” Link groaned as he saw the pale, skinny limbs of the Death Hand, twice as many arms than the one he had killed in the bottom of the well.
*****
Author Note: Happy New Years everyone! And I hope everyone had a good whatever holiday you celebrate during this time of the year.
(1) I honestly think Bongo Bongo is one of the saddest, most disappointing bosses in Ocarina of Time. I know some people like him but I thought he was a disappointing end for the Shadow Temple. So I'm replacing him with a much better boss, this is Death Sword, an mini-boss from Twilight Princess. I thought Death Sword fit in much better with the Shadow Temple theme than Bongo Bongo does. And before anyone asks how Death Sword will be in the Twilight Princess timeline if Link is gonna end up destroying him in the Temple, remember that'll all happen in the 'Child Timeline' while everything Link does here is a part of the 'Adult'. This won't affect what happens to the other part of the timelines.
(2) I'm sure there are more Kokiri in the village than what we see in the game. I think most of the Kokiri have jobs or skills that they use to help the rest of the village, like the Know-It-All brothers are likely the teachers and one Kokiri runs the shop.
(3) Remember, the Kokiri only have the body of a child, they're still adults so it's possible for them to fall in love. They just don't reproduce like the other races do.
(4) Fado's figurine in Wind Waker mentioned that he was friends with the 'Hero of Time' so he would have been the Sage of Wind back during the time as well. Somebody had to make Link's Kokiri style tunic.
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