Clearer in Time

XVIII. Hero's Spirit
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The sunlight pouring through the opening in the ceiling was infinitely bright, the new day’s sun shining high in the sky outside. The entire room seemed to dim a bit as a figure appeared, clad in green and armed with a sword and glittering shield.

The room was empty when Link opened his eyes, the ocarina still at his lips. Sheik and Nabooru were gone. He looked around the room, but there was not so much as a sign of where the two women might have gone. Where were they? He had only been gone about one day.

He stood puzzled for a moment, brow furrowed in thought. As he did, he felt something moving in his pocket. He reached in and pulled forth the fairy in the bottle that Saria had given him. Navi, she had her the name was. The little blue orb hopped around madly in the glass container, it’s wings flapping wildly.

Link couldn’t for the life of him understand what the fairy was trying to say, but it seemed urgent. What could she possibly want to say to him? If only he could understand fairies, like Saria could…

Maybe, he thought. He closed his eyes once more calling upon the ancient Sheikah technique. He could see Navi in his mind’s eye. He could see her words. He understood.

Sheik and Nabooru were in danger. The witches had found them. How the fairy knew, he could not say. Perhaps it just sensed such things?

How typical, Link thought rather calmly. It only figures. He looked back to Navi, who danced happily around in her bottle, glad to help. This fairy was going to become a very handy companion throughout the remainder of his quest.

Positioning himself under the fall of sunlight, Link retrieved the Mirror Shield from his back and began to shine it around the room. It still weighed an absurd amount, but he found that as an adult he could now wield it with one arm. The sun reflected off the enchanted face and produced a blinding ray of golden light. Bit’s of the sandstone wall started to crumble and erode as the ray touched it.

Finally a portion of the wall collapsed into itself entirely, revealing a hidden shelf. Link approached it and reached inside carefully, mindful of traps. He retracted his hand, the large stone key in grasp. He looked to the huge padlocked door. It seemed to glint malevolently. Time to cleanse the last temple.

…

Behind the door was a gargantuan sandstone chamber. Giant, rectangular pillars protruded from the ground, their tops way above his head. Platforms, he thought. All along their sides was more writing, still more secrets of the ancient kingdom.

Link retrieved the hookshot from his hip and fired at the top of a pillar his body flying through the air after the spring loaded chain. He clasped the edge and pulled himself over the top of the pillar onto the surface of the platform.

The surface of the platform was flat and mundane. Across the platform stood two small figures. Link recognized them as Koume and Kotake, looking just as old and ugly as they had in Nabooru’s past. They stared at Link eagerly, their identical eyes bulging obscenely from their faces. Each one held a short broomstick in their gnarled old hands.

“Oh, how handsome he is, Kotake,” the one on the left said. They chuckled dryly, the sound of rocks striking together.

“Oh yes, Hero, we’ve been expecting you,” the one on the right said. “So have your lady friends.” Link said nothing, silently reaching and drawing his sword. The witches smirked simultaneously.

“The strong, silent type, eh?” One said. The other picked up where the first stopped. “Well, perhaps this will loosen those pretty little lips.”

The two witches raised their free arms and simultaneously snapped their bony old fingers. In two identical puffs of smoke, the witches disappeared. In their places were two other people Link recognized.

Sheik and Nabooru stood side by side, their bodies lax and heads lolled upon their shoulders. They appeared to be asleep standing up. Link approached them, his guard temporarily forgotten.

“Sheik…” he tried. The Sheikah stirred upon hearing her name. Her eyes shot open and locked with his, and he immediately knew something was wrong. They weren’t Sheik’s pretty amber eyes, but strange blank ones. Link backed away in shock. Nabooru had opened her eyes as well, her eyes identical to Sheik’s. They approached Link threateningly. Both of them held weapons that had appeared seemingly out of thin air, scimitars for Nabooru and a short, nasty looking dagger for Sheik.

The two women sprung at Link, attacking with their weapons. He parried a scimitar and barely danced out of the way of Sheik. Both of them were extremely adept in combat, and it was all Link could do to avoid their strikes, let alone counterattack.

Nabooru lunged again, swinging both scimitars away from one another in a scissoring motion. Link made to duck and roll and was plowed into by Sheik. He rolled onto his back with a grunt, Sheik’s body atop his own. Her razor sharp dagger was held at his throat.

She eyed him with her blank stare, ready to kill him. It reminded him of when he had fought his doppelganger, and had pinned him in such a manner. How had the double escaped? Then he remembered.

Sheik made to slash with the dagger, but Link pushed upwards, pressing his lips to Sheik’s through the thin layer of her gauze cowl. Through the barrier, could feel her lips pouting outwards in response. Her blank eyes widened in surprise, and Link saw them slowly become less cloudy, their attractive sepia color returning. She looked around bewilderedly, then to him.

“Link…” before anything else was said, Sheik was knocked from atop his body. Nabooru was wrestling on the ground with the Sheikah, attempting to gouge her with her own dagger. Sheik pushed her off, wrenching her dagger back. In one swift movement, Sheik lunged at Nabooru and whacked her over the head with the hilt of the dagger.

Nabooru’s eyes closed shut, as if she had been knocked unconscious. They flittered open again, and had returned to their attractive golden color. She looked around, rubbing the lump where Sheik had hit her.

“What’s going on,” she asked. “And where’s Koume and Kotake?”

“Right here.” Two voices came from behind the three travelers. The witches had reappeared, standing side by side and no longer smiling. They looked angry.

“Oh, how clever you are, Hero,” one of them spat. “Do you really think you stand a chance against our magic? Very well, then. Why don’t you try your luck against this?”

Without further warning, the witches waved their broomsticks through the air like wands. The one on the right shot a whitish blue beam of energy in the direction of Sheik and Nabooru. The other witch fired a red beam over their heads and towards the ceiling.

The red shot split in the air and showered down upon ground below the platforms. Link peered over the side to see that the ground below was now alive with flame, not unlike when he had dueled the dragon so long ago.

Sheik and Nabooru, much to his dismay, looked as though they were frozen solid. Their eyes moved around frantically under their veils of ice. The witches chuckled.

“Don’t worry, handsome young Hero,” they said. They began to rise from the ground, mounted atop their broomsticks like horses. “It’s only temporary. They’ll thaw out very soon. Just hope we don’t smash them before they do.”

The witches cackled to one another, flying over Link’s head. They swooped down over his head, causing him to duck. Each witch grabbed one of his frozen friends, carrying them upwards to a dangerous height. They didn’t touch the ice; it looked like they were holding it telepathically.

Without warning, one of the witches fired a spell at him. Link instinctually jumped backwards, landing on one of the many other pillars. The platform he had just been standing on was hit by the spell, and the surface of it immediately began to crack and warp with heat. These witches were immensely powerful.

The other witch shot a spell, this one whitish blue. Too far to jump to the next pillar, Link fired his hookshot to his right. It latched on to the pillar and pulled him to safety. He looked back over his shoulder and saw that the last pillar was now completely iced over, a cold mist rising from it.

The fight was going nowhere like this. What to do? The two witches were fire and ice, opposites of each other. Perhaps they could be turned against each other. He reached behind him and retrieved the heavy, polished shield. It glinted brilliantly. Worth a try.

Now that the center pillar was sufficiently cooled, Link hopped back onto it, the witches flying around before him. They circled around him overhead, still holding the frozen bodies of his companions. He had to be careful.

Finally, one of the witches attacked, shooting forth a blue spell. Link dropped to one knee, holding his shield out before him. When it was just about to hit the face of the shield, he tilted it to the left and towards the other witch. The spell reflected off of the surface of the shield and was hurled towards the fire witch. It hit her directly.

“Gaarrghh!” The witch cried. She floundered through the air, screaming in pain. In her confusion, she dropped Nabooru’s icy body.

Link bolted forward, face strained with effort. He dove, arms outstretched. He over shot, and the human shaped hunk of ice landed not in his outstretched arms, but on his back. The wind was knocked out of him, but at least Nabooru was safe. Inspecting the ice, he could see that she was already thawing, as the witches had said. Her fingertips were moving.

He looked back to the witches to see one comforting the other. The one he had hit with the ice spell, Koume, if he remembered correctly, was shivering and sputtering. The other witch flew upwards, her ugly face twisted in rage.

“How dare you!” She sputtered. “You dare to challenge our power? We’ll destroy you, child!” With that, the witch, with a flick of her bony wrist, tossed Sheik’s frozen form over the side of the pillar.

Link immediately dove after, for the second time plummeting after Sheik, head first towards a lake of fire. He reached her, grabbing around her icy middle. Because of how close they were to the heat of the floor, he could feel the ice melting away from her body.

Then the hookshot was out, and the two of them were being pulled upwards. At the top, Sheik was completely unfrozen, pulling herself up over the top of the pillar, coughing and shivering.

Standing before the two of them were Koume and Kotake. At their feet kneeled Nabooru, almost completely unthawed. The two witches grinned malevolently.

“Well, you really are something, aren’t you, boy?” One of them said in mock praise. “Well, we’ve got a trick up our sleeve as well. We’re more than sisters, Hero. We are one. Twinrova.”

The two witches touched their broomsticks together, creating a blinding light. Link and Sheik shielded their eyes, watching as Nabooru was enveloped behind the bright light.

The light faded, and Nabooru, fully unfrozen, turned around to see what Link and Sheik were gaping at.

The witches had disappeared. In their place stood a giant, beautiful Gerudo woman, well over seven feet tall. She was dressed in an extravagant white garb, with a head dress covering her hair. She smirked alluringly, and in each hand was a broomstick.

“Well, Hero,” the giant woman said. Her voice was feminine yet booming. It sounded like two voices at once. “What do you think of Twinrova? Are you impressed?” Link said nothing, only stepping forward and raising his sword and shield. Twinrova’s smile widened.

“I had hoped so, Hero.” She reached down and grabbed Nabooru, who kicked and screamed obscenities. “I have your sage, Hero. Come get her, if you can. Show us how heroic you really are.” Twinrova levitated off the ground, taking Nabooru with her. Link turned to Sheik.

“Get Nabooru,” he said. “I’ll distract her.” He turned back to Twinrova and charged forward.

The giant witch used the broom in her free hand to fire a reddish spell. Rather than a beam that Koume and Kotake had fired, this spell was a short, bursting shot. Link held the Mirror Shield in front of him. The spell hit it, but didn’t refract off. Instead, it seemed to be absorbed into the shield’s polished surface. The mirror plate was glowing reddish, and the entire shield seemed to be humming. Throughout his arm, Link could feel the thrum of energy.

Twinrova frowned, apparently confused as to what was happening. She fired again, this time an icy shot. Link dodged, rolling out of the way. He got to his feet to find that he was stuck fast. The bottom of his boots were frozen to the ground. Twinrova laughed in satisfaction.

“Well, well, Hero. It looks like you’re feet are cold. Here, let me warm you up.” She fired another red spell. Link, unable to dodge, raised his shield. He felt the spell hit it, and once again it seemed to be absorbed by the shield. The humming grew louder, and the energy surging through Link’s arm felt greater. Twinrova looked enraged.

“What is going on?!?” She cried. Suddenly, she yelped out in pain, dropping Nabooru to clutch at her leg. Nabooru fell expertly into Sheik’s outstretched arms. She set her down, and they looked to see Twinrova pull Sheik’s dagger from her leg. She snapped her head to where the two stood, her face livid.

“You stupid little Sheikah!” She cried. “It’s no wonder that your people are extinct!” The witch fired a red spell at the two women. Nabooru jumped out of the way and was unharmed. Sheik dodged most of it, but her gauze cowl caught aflame. She ripped it off frantically, barely avoiding a burn upon her face.

Twinrova’s eyes widened at the sight of Sheik’s face. Her smirk stretched widely, showing all of her teeth.

“Why, princess,” the witch said. “So that’s where you’ve been hiding!” Link, his boots just barely thawing from the ground, looked from the witch to Sheik. Princess?

“Oh don’t be shy, princess,” Twinrova continued. “We know it’s you.” With a wave of her wand, a light fell over Sheik. They all watched her silhouette change in the light. Her hair grew longer, her clothes changed, her hips swelled.

The light receded, and Sheik was gone. In her place stood a beautiful young woman in a regal dress, her skin fair and hair a light brown. Link recognized her, despite her seven year absence.

It was Princess Zelda. She looked down at herself in disbelief. Link and Nabooru’s expressions were ones of equal awe.

“Oh, how you’ve grown, princess,” Twinrova teased. “I know just how to add to that look.” Twinrova shot forth another spell, this one red. It speeded through the air towards the princess. Just before it hit her, Link dove in front of her, catching the spell with his shield. The third shot was absorbed, and the shield began to vibrate in his hand, glowing red and humming loudly. Something was about to happen.

From the face of the shield shot forth a giant pillar of flame. Wildly at first, but once he realized what was happening, Link directed the beam towards the witch. She was completely engulfed, her cries barely audible over the roar of the fire. Link stepped forward as the flames roasted his adversary.

The flames finally receded, and at Link’s feet was a burned mass of flesh and bone, roughly in the shape of a giant person. The dying witch turned their head up to face the Hero, the skin gone from half their face, revealing the bone underneath.

“Show mercy, Hero,” the witch croaked. “You wouldn’t strike down a lady, would y-”

It’s last word cut off into a scream as Link plunged the sword downwards into the witch’s chest. It clawed at it’s own wound, it’s body disintegrating away. Finally, it was nothing more than a pile of ash on the floor. Link pulled up his sword and sheathed it.

He turned around. Nabooru and Zelda were standing just behind him. He looked at the princess, whom he had been searching for so long.

“Link,” she said, her voice soft and delicate. “I’m sorry…” She reached out to take his hand. After a moment, Link reached out his own hand.

Just before they met, their hands were stopped, as if by some kind of barrier. Zelda’s eyes widened, pressing her hands up to the invisible wall. They could see it now, a faint, ominous darkness. Black magic.

Ganon had seen them.

“Link!” Zelda cried out, pounding her fists against the inside of the barrier. But it did no good. Link reached for his sword, thinking that perhaps the Master Sword could break the dark magic. But the blue aura was at his feet, and he felt his body being taken away. The princess was fading from sight…

…

Nabooru stood beside him in the Scared Realm. Before them stood Rauru, the old Sage of Light. He spoke to them in thought.

“You have awakened all the Sages, Hero of Time,” Rauru’s voice echoed throughout Link’s head. “Your final task is at hand. Ganon wait’s for you in the highest spire of his tower. You must save the princess. She is the last Sage.”

Link said nothing, nor did he nod. He simply stared. Rauru nodded his head. “I will send you back,” he thought. “Nabooru will stay here with me.” Nabooru crossed over to stand by Rauru’s side.

“Thank you for saving me, Link,” she thought. “I know you can save the princess.” Still, Link said nothing, but nodded this time. Rauru bowed in turn.

“Good luck, Hero of Time,” he said as Link felt himself leaving the realm. “We are all counting on you.”

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Zelda appears!!! Dun dun dun!!! What happens now? I'm sorry if it seems a little rusty, I've been deathly sick for a while, and had to play catch up at school. The next chapter will be more... erm... better. Or maybe there's nothing wrong and it's just me. I dunno. The fight scene is cool, I guess.

Anyway, "mikey" and "Jarty," thanks for the reviews. Same as always, read, rate, review, and enjoy!!!