Clearer in Time

II. The Heat of Battle
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The sky was blood red, writhing and quivering with the promise of death. A faint, glowing halo of energy surrounded the peak of the horizon’s highest mountain. A path wound up the Death Mountain range, slithering about the peaks like a giant serpent. But the path was beaten and untended to. Few people dared to climb it, especially in these dark times.

There was one person to be seen, voyaging the treacherous pathway. A young Hylian, weary, but steady in pace. He carried a sword and shield on his back.

Link’s face dripped with perspiration. It was so hot up here. But it was the only way to get to Death Mountain’s Peak. That, Sheik had told him, was where he would find the Fire Temple, and awaken the next sage. The path also went by the home of the Gorons, Sheik had said. Link needed from them a special tunic, that would supposedly protect him from the intense heat of the Fire Temple.

Link’s brow furrowed as the name crossed his mind.

Sheik…

Why was she so mysterious all the time, he wondered? Twice, he had met her now, and twice she had simply given him a clue and vanished. He had yet to even see her face. What was she hiding? Link wondered, not for the first time, if perhaps she couldn’t be trusted.

On the other hand, the mysterious woman’s advice had proved useful thus far. And she did know of Rauru, and of Princess Zelda.

Link frowned further still as he kept his steady pace upwards along the mountain trail.

Zelda…

Another mystery. Where was she? Was she safe? Link died to be sure. He remembered the last time he had seen her, fleeing the castle. So many things they had yet to say to each other. But then they had spoken, through the magic of the Ocarina of Time. She had told him to open the door in the Temple of Time. That it would help to defeat Ganon. Hyrule would be saved, and he and Zelda could be together again…

Some plan that turned out to be, he thought to himself. With the Door of Time open, all that had happened was Ganondorf had gained access to the Triforce. Now Hyrule was crumbling. And where was she? What could possibly be reason enough to hide away when your people needed you most? As much as Link longed for her, to see her beautiful face once more, he also felt a strong sense of anger towards her. How could a princess abandon her people in such a way? Abandon him…

As he shook the thoughts from his head, he reached the crest of the path. Before him, the path continued down a slope, and forked off into two. The path to the right continued on up the mountain. To the left was a cavernous opening in the hillside. The Goron’s Village. Link continued on into the cave.

…

Link’s footsteps echoed in the home of the Goron’s. It was a marvel of architecture. The village was comprised of concentric rings that gradually lowered to the center at the very bottom.

As Link made his way down to the bottom, he felt a growing unease. The entire village was silent, and he saw none of the Gorons anywhere. The village was like a ghost town. What had happened?

He reached the bottom floor and approached the chieftain’s quarters. The Goron Chief, Darunia, was a childhood friend of Link’s. They had been sworn brothers ever since the incident with the dodongos, all those years ago.

Link knocked at the door, and was, at this point, not surprised when no answer came.

“They have all been taken,” a familiar voice said from behind him.

Link spun around and saw just who he had expected to. Sheik. Her usually attire, however, had been substituted with a strange red outfit. Baggy red pants, and a formfitting red tunic. A crimson hood covered her head, once more leaving her features concealed, save for her mysterious amber eyes. She spoke again.

“The Gorons have been taken captive by Ganondorf. They are being imprisoned in the Fire Temple. Ganon has revived an ancient dragon, Volvagia, and is going to sacrifice the Gorons to it, as a warning to those who dare oppose him…” Sheik dropped her gaze. “Not even I expected it to go this far,” she added woefully.

Link said nothing. His fists clenched with rage. How dare Ganon do such a thing! The Gorons were so peaceful! He would pay for this!
Link’s chain of thought was broken as Sheik threw something at him. A tunic and cap. They were the same shade of red as her clothes, no doubt the heat resistant garb she had mentioned earlier.

“Put these on and we’ll head for the Fire Temple together,” she said. “The stakes have been raised now that the Gorons are involved. You’ll need my help.”

He nodded and stripped off his green tunic. Sheik barely caught a gasp behind her teeth. His body was perfect. Even with seven years of sleep, his muscles seemed created for the trials of adventure. His smooth, lightly tanned skin blanketed his perfectly sculpted stomach and chest, and his arms, though not too large, still looked as though they could move a mountain. Her eyes greedily traveled up his body, but stopped at his shoulder. There was a nasty looking gash above his right arm. This time she didn’t catch the gasp in time and Link met her gaze to see what was wrong.

“You’re injured,” she said. She approached him, careful not to rush towards the sight of him shirtless. She put a hand on his shoulder, and he shuddered at the tingle of her hand on his skin. Her skin was so soft, not calloused and hardened from adventures, as he had expected.

She closed her eyes, and Link could feel something strange happening to his shoulder. Sheik slowly removed her hand, almost reluctantly, it seemed, and Link saw that his shoulder was healed. All that remained was a faint scar. He looked to Sheik in amazement, and once again, he felt that she was smiling at him.

“It was already halfway healed,” she said. “Otherwise I wouldn’t have been able to close the wound completely.”

There eyes held each other a moment longer, his blue eyes to her sepia ones. Link felt something roiling within him, a distant but somehow familiar feeling. Sheik finally broke the silence.

“Let’s hurry. The Fire Temple awaits.”

…

The heat was visible in the fire temple. Sweat poured from Links body. Even with the red tunic, the sweltering air was almost unbearable. Every breath was a choke. He shuddered to think what might have become of him if he had not donned the crimson garb. Sheik followed closely behind, her breathing equally ragged.

The Fire Temple was a series of walkways and bridges crossing over one another, with rooms at either ends of the passages. At the bottom of the temple, hundreds of feet down, was a vast, turbulent sea of molten rock, hungry to devour anything that came within reach. The two had not seen any of the Gorons.

Each room would have stairs in it, leading one level lower, where they would cross another bridge to a room on the opposite end, and repeat the process. Also in each room, however, were monsters and traps. The temple itself would’ve proven just as easy as the previous, especially with Sheik’s help, but their bodies and minds were slowed to a sluggish pace by the torturous heat. Presently they were almost to the lowermost level of the temple, where they believed they would find the dragon’s lair. Just one more level to go. Link hoped desperately that the key to the dragon’s chamber would be in the next room. If not, they would have to back track to find it, and he didn’t think he could last much longer in this wretched place.

They opened the door at the far end of the bridge and entered the room.

As soon as they closed the door behind them, steel bars locked over it, trapping Link and Sheik inside the room. In the center of the room was a stone fire pit. It began to glow ominously.

Then, it erupted forth in a flash of fire and heat, and before them stood what appeared to be a man made entirely of flame. The flame monster wasted no time and projected forth a pillar of fire towards the two adventurers. Link jumped in front of Sheik and blocked the shot with his shield, but it quickly became too hot to hold onto. Link dropped the shield with a hiss and looked back at the monster. It raised it’s flaming arms above it’s head, and conjured between it’s hands a large fireball. The fireball grew larger and larger in size, ready to be thrown at any second. Link continued to stand protectively in front of Sheik, cornered and out of ideas. All he had with him was the hookshot, and his sword.

Just as the flame monster looked ready to throw the fireball, a crash came from behind. The two looked around to see the barred door wrenched open. In the doorway stood a Goron. He was covered in tribal tattoos and had spiky, grayish hair. Link recognized him immediately.

It was Darunia.

With out a word, Darunia leapt in front of the two youths just as the flame demon threw his fireball. The fire hit Darunia directly in the chest, but had no effect. Immediately afterwards, he rushed the flame monster and tackled it. He landed on the ground with the creature directly under him. The flames extinguished immediately. When Darunia rose to his feet, all that was left of the monster was a squished, insect-looking thing. Some of it’s smashed body stuck to Darunia’s belly. It was all over in a matter of seconds.

Darunia turned around to face Link and bellowed, “Brother!!! Great to see you!” He rushed over and embraced Link in a vice grip hug. Some of the monster smeared onto Link’s tunic.

As Darunia choked Link to death, he spotted Sheik.

“Well, who’s this young lady, Brother? A little girlfriend?” At this Link and Sheik snapped their heads in opposite directions, not daring to look at one another. Finally Sheik spoke to Darunia.

“I am Link’s ally, Sheik. We’ve come to slay the dragon and free the Gorons.” Link smiled as she said this. It was the first time he could think of that Sheik had called him by name, instead of Hero of Time.

Darunia’s face became stern and business like. He set Link down, who immediately gasped breath after deep breath. “I see,” Darunia said. “If that’s the case, then I’ll give you this.”

He reached into a pocket on his loincloth and retrieved a stone key with horns. The key to the dragon’s lair. He placed it in Sheik’s hand.

“I’ve been in this temple attempting to free my people, he said. “Now that you two are here, I can focus my full attention on the task. All you two have to worry about is the dragon. I’ll take care of the Gorons.”

Sheik nodded her head. “I understand. We shall continue immediately.”

“As will I,” Darunia replied. “I think I know just where the Gorons are. Good luck to the both of you.” He turned to leave, and then stopped.

“Oh, yes. One more thing.” Darunia returned to where Link was just getting to his feet. He reached to the side of his loincloth and unfastened something hanging from it. He held it out to Link.

It was a large battle hammer.

“This is the sacred weapon of the Goron tribe,” Darunia said. “My ancestor used this hammer to slay Volvagia hundreds of years ago. I know it will help you, Brother.”

Link took the hammer and gasped as he almost dropped it. It was extremely heavy, and took both hands to wield. He looked up to Darunia, who smiled at him.

“I should’ve expected you to come and save the day, Brother,” he said. “Even as a kid, you were always the hero type.”

With that Darunia turned to leave. “Good luck, you two,” he called back as he left the room and began to cross the bridge. “I have a feeling we’ll meet again.”

With that, Darunia hurried on to free his people, while Link and Sheik continued towards the dragon’s lair.

…

The padlock fell to the ground and the door slowly opened. The two adventurers entered the room. In the room was a gargantuan stairway, leading down to a stone platform. The platform was raised about fifty feet above the sea of fire.

They descended.

It was so hot, Link could hardly bare to push himself further down the staircase. He could hear Sheik’s labored breathing beside him.

They reached the bottom of the steps and stopped in the center of the stone platform.

As if they had triggered a switch, the two heard a rumbling behind them. They turned to see the staircase sinking into the lava. How typical.

Link and Sheik stayed on guard, back to back, waiting for the dragon to appear. Silently, from the cavernous ceiling above crept a titanic, serpentine creature. As it uncoiled, preparing to strike, it’s tail flicked a tiny pebble. Link’s superb hearing picked up the sound. He grabbed Sheik and jumped away just as a jet of flame shot down where they had just been. They looked back towards the source and saw it.

There was Volvagia. It was a giant, red, snake like dragon with huge, insect like eyes and horns on it‘s head. It flew around them with no wings, looking as though it was swimming through the air. The two dodged again as another jet of flame was shot at them.

The dragon slithered through the air above them in twists and knots, making it hard to read it’s next move. This fight was going nowhere like this. Link turned to look at Sheik.

“Watch my back,” he said. Sheik only nodded apprehensively, surprised at how Link seemed so cool and composed. She realized to herself how little he actually spoke out loud, a man of few words.

Without further discussion. Link dropped his shield and Darunia’s hammer at Sheik’s feet. He pulled the hookshot from his belt, aimed, and fired.

Thwip

The chain latched perfectly around the dragon’s horn, and Link was carried upwards, until he landed right on the dragon’s head. Once their, he unsheathed his sword and, with both hands, drove the sword right into the dragon’s eye. It roared in agony, it’s voice shaking the entire chamber. The dragon spiraled downwards towards the platform, half blind and in horrible pain.

Blood gushed from it’s socket, and Link realized to late that the dragon’s blood burned. He pulled his hands back and fell about fifteen feet back down to the platform. He landed with a loud thud.

The dragon crashed to earth soon after, still thrashing it’s snake like body. Just as Link got up, he saw the dragon’s tail whip around towards Sheik. It hit her square in her middle and knocked her off the platform, her body plummeting towards the sea of flames.

Without thinking, Link ran and dove off the cliff of the platform, willing himself to plummet faster. He caught Sheik in midair, and immediately took his hookshot in his free hand and fired it at the edge of the cliff. They came less then twenty feet from the fire before they were pulled back up by the spring loaded chain.

As they pulled themselves back over the cliff, the dragon was just getting up off the ground. The Master Sword still protruded from it’s eye.

Link ran towards the dragon as fast as his legs would carry him. Without breaking his stride, he bent low and grabbed the war hammer. He jumped and landed on the dragon’s head just as it began to rise into the air. Using all of his strength, Link brought the hammer down on the bottom of the Master Sword’s handle, driving the blade through the dragon’s skull until the end of the blade protruded from the other eye.

The dragon shrieked and flailed as the legendary blade pierced it’s brain. It fell back to the ground, dropping Link once more, with yet another thud. It twitched and spasmed, blood and brain fluids spurting from both eye sockets. Then, it’s skin started to disintegrate, leaving only a serpentine skeleton behind.

Volvagia was dead.

Link was just getting to his feet when the familiar blue light began to glow at his feet. Sheik approached him, having collected all the items strewn about from the battle. Together they were transported to the Sacred Realm.

…

The two appeared in the Sacred Realm to come face to face with the Sage of Fire.

It was Darunia.

“I saw your fight with the dragon, Brother,” He said telepathically. “You did well. Thanks to you, the Gorons are free from Volvagia’s evil, and I have been awakened as a sage. I owe you my undying gratitude.”

“Thank you, Darunia,” Link thought. “We couldn’t have done it without your help.”

Darunia nodded. “Well, Brother. Let’s skip the sob stuff. You’ve still got work to do in Hyrule. Thank you again. Good bye, and good luck.”

“Good bye, Darunia,” Link thought, and with that, the brothers parted ways as Link and Sheik were transported back to Hyrule.

…

They were back on Death Mountain, the air noticeably cooler with the dragon gone and evil dispelled. The sun was setting, and the view was amazing from such an elevation.

Sheik, under her crimson hood, was grinning ear to ear. The fight with the dragon was absolutely amazing. She turned to Link and her smile vanished. He was slumped on the ground, motionless.

“Link!” she cried, rushing over to his body. “Link! Answer me! Link!”

But the hero said nothing, only lay there as the sun fell behind the mountains, shrouding them in darkness.

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I hope you guys like it so far. I know I've been fleshing out the story a lot, but I'll get to the lemon(?) soon-ish. PLEASE BEAR WITH ME!!! IT'LL GET REALLY GOOD!!! And Please R & R!