Like an elegant dolphin, the younger Zora princess was swimming through the flooded shafts of the Water Temple. All around her she could hear the growling and snapping of the dark creatures, dampened by the water.
She was hoping she wouldn't be spotted by any of them.
The inside of the temple was like a maze, and she had to return to the huge middle chamber more than once. But she was determined to save her parents and the rest of her people, so she never gave up.
"There has to be a system behind this..." Ruto murmured to herself while she was diving down a narrow shaft. She did recognize the Triforce symbol on several murals, but whatever did the weird signs underneath mean? She wasn't able to make heads or tails of it.
"I only have to find the demon who cursed my tribe," she told herself. "The rest won't matter."
Suddenly, the shaft ended in a short corridor, who was leading a short distance further away, until another shaft brought her up again. She propelled her sleek body upwards with her fins... and broke through the water surface.
She climbed out of the water and saw that she was in a small room. The only two ways out of here were the shaft she had been coming from and a door.
She sighed. "Another door... I wonder when this will end..." With resignation, she opened the door and stepped into the next room.
But when she looked up, she gasped at the strange scenery in front of her.
She didn't even notice how the door behind her closed by itself, and that solid iron bars were blocking her only way of escape.
She was standing in what looked like a very shallow pond, with the water only going up to her ankles. In the middle of this pond, there was a small hill of sand, with a stark tree standing in its middle.
She frowned. "This is so different from the rest of the temple..." she murmured. "Maybe this... is the lair of the demonic creature."
While she carefully approached the tree, she never noticed that the reflection visible in the water to her feet didn't show her curvy body, but the body of a young man with blonde hair, clad in a green tunic...
She reached the small sand island and walked up to the tree. She put her hand on the bark and frowned. It looked like a regular tree... but she knew there was no way that it could grow under such conditions.
"Something is wrong here..." she muttered and looked around the room. Somehow, she felt being watched. "Hello?" she shouted. "Who's there? I-I'm not afraid of you, you know?"
When she got no response, she carefully walked backwards, off the island... and then she bumped into someone who was standing behind her.
She yelped in surprise and spun around... and stood face to face with a creature that seemed human, but that was as black as the night.
It also looked like a mockery of one of her oldest friends.
"Welcome, princess!" the apparition hissed as it reached out to grab her. "I'd like to welcome you... to your demise!"
And when Dark Link stared at his victim with burning red eyes, Ruto screamed in fear.
Darunia was standing among the lava patches that were scattered all over the cave. Sparks of fire were coming out of the searing river of lava that surrounded the rocky island he was standing on.
The brave leader of the Gorons furrowed his stony brows while he carefully eyeing the lava patches.
"Come out, spawn of hell!" he shouted in a thundering voice. "I know you're here!"
A geyser of molten lava erupted out of one patch, and a pair of shining eyes was staring at him from the middle of this inferno.
"You are trying my patience, Goron!" the creature roared. "How long do you plan to defy me?"
"As long as it takes to save my people, foul creature!" Darunia growled. "As long as at least one of the proud Goron people is free, we won't surrender to you or your dark master! Know that I will fight until the end!"
"Big words!" the hidden monster mocked. "Only once in history I have been defeated... and you lack the sacred weapon your ancestor was wielding!"
"I don't need it when I have my fists!" Darunia bellowed while smacking his stone hands together. "You shall feel them soon enough, hellspawn!"
"You know you won't win, Goron!" the dragon hissed. "When this is over, you will be the first I will devour... alive!" The creature chuckled. "I like my prey fresh... and struggling!" Darunia could see how the monster was preparing to strike. "I'm going to enjoy tearing you limb from limb..."
The proud leader of the Gorons sweated, and it was not because of the heat in the volcano. "Ryoga..." he murmured while he awaited his monstrous opponent's attack. "Hurry up and bring everyone out of here, quickly... your old mentor can't beat this beast by himself!"
"He ran that way! Get him!"
The young man with the long, black hair ducked behind a wooden crate, while he heard the footsteps of the Gerudo warriors running along the corridor. He prayed to Farore they wouldn't find him...
He started to believe that his master was right... he and his companions should have never entered the Gerudo Fortress. It was a stupid idea.
"I... I only wanted to see her again..." he whimpered. "I wanted to join her... ever since the day I saw her, I wanted to become a Gerudo as well... so I could be at her side always. Oh, my beloved Shampoo..."
Master Mutoh had regularly told them that the Gerudo women hated men and that they would never accept a male among their tribe. Still, they refused to listen... mainly because the old Mutoh was a slave driver, in their opinion.
But this... this was so much worse! The way those Gerudos had stared at him... even his martial art skills of hidden carpentry tools didn't save him from their sharp spears and arrows.
Shampoo was different... that fateful day when he met her, three years ago, she caught him sneaking around the fortress. At first, she wanted to kill him... but for some reason she pitied the poor carpenter boy. And so she let him go, although she warned him to never come back again. Still, he was so smitten with her beauty that he told himself she was the only one he would ever love.
He believed that the other Gerudos would leave him in one piece if he tells them that he's Shampoo's friend. But as soon as he mentioned her name, they threw him and the other carpenters dark glares and attacked them with their spears and bows.
He didn't know if the others managed to escape, he only knew that he somehow had to find a way out of here... or Shampoo! Yes, Shampoo would save him, he was sure of it...
Suddenly, someone behind him coughed.
He turned around... and grinned broadly. "Shampoo, my love! I knew you would come! Oh, how I have missed you!" And he hugged her with a massive glomp.
"Ahem... as much as I appreciate that, sonny, I have the feeling you might be a bit too old for my tastes."
Mousse blinked in confusion, reached into his robes and pulled out a pair of glasses, which he put on his nose.
"GAH!" he yelled as let go of the wrinkle figure he had been hugging. "A Gibdo!"
WHAP! "Who are you calling a Gibdo, boy? Show some respect towards your elders!"
"Who... who are you?" Mousse murmured as he looked at the ancient woman who was sitting on a hovering broomstick. He then gasped. "You... you are one of the Gerudo Elders!"
"Ah, so you heard of us, eh, sonny?" Cologne cackled. "Then you might know how foolish it was of you to enter our fortress. Maybe a few weeks in the torture chamber will show you the errors of your actions..."
"N-no... stay away from me!" the almost blind carpenter boy yelped and ran away.
The Elder of Wind sighed. "They never learn..."
And as she focussed her powers, her white hair got twirled around by the gusts of wind that twirled around her. Hovering in the air, she grabbed her broomstick, channelled her magical energies through it... and fired a vortex of air after the fleeing boy.
Mousse yelped when the tiny tornado hit him on the back and threw him against the solid stone wall. He fell down to the ground where he collapsed with a groan.
Cologne came flying next to him and poked him with her broom. He was unconscious.
"Although I feel sorry for this outsider, we have to keep intruders out of our domain," she muttered. "That's the way of the Gerudos!"
She snapped her fingers. Heavy footsteps echoed through the corridor, as a tall figure, clad from tip to toe within a heavy iron armor, came around the corner. In his right hand, it was carrying a huge axe.
Cologne gestured at the motionless body of the carpenter. "Lock this intruder into a cell, as you did with the others, slave!"
The Iron Knuckle grunted in response and effortlessly picked Mousse's body up with its left hand. Its only purpose was to obey and to serve. It would follow any order of Ganondorf or the Gerudo Witches... any!
Cologne watched how the giant vanished behind the corner. For a while, she could still hear the loud clanging sounds his metal boots were making.
"I'm sorry it had to come to this, granddaughter..." she murmured. "But unlike you and Shampoo, I will never betray my people. You brought this upon yourself... now you'll have to serve the Great Ganondorf for all eternity... as his mindless slave!"
And deep within the mind of the monstrous Iron Knuckle, a small voice was pleading for this horror to stop.
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(Posted Fri, 28 Sep 2007 17:41)
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