LOZ:Twilight Princess:31:P1 Rev

----Chapter 31: Dominion over the Ancient: PART 1


Once Link and Rusl had passed through the secret passage, they were once again met by a fleet of stairs that receded down through a long hallway.  They reached a massive room at the base of the last flight of steps; the high walls bent inward as they rose, meeting in the fashion of a dome. Stretching upward from the sides of the room were more stairs that winded back and above the opening from where the men had just entered.

Yet, within the second that Link and Rusl entered the room, their attention had been more directed toward what lay at the center of the space.  Sitting upon the stone tiled floor was a giant, golden bell.  At least, it appeared to have the same shape as a bell.  Whether or not the ornament had any definite purpose was impossible to distinguish.  Etchings much like that found on the statue guardians stretched across its entire surface.

Just as Link had stepped up to investigate its wonders further, Rusl had moved out further into the room.  He called back to Link, "Over here."

Link stripped himself from the bell and stepped up alongside the older man.  A doorway stood before them, the royal crest sculpted into the block above the sealed path.  Intricate line and square designs were carved into the door.  To the sides of the obstruction were alcoves, yet only the one on the right was occupied.  A large and rather excessively detailed statue rested silently within its ancient home.  Its torso was much bulkier than its bottom half, and it grasped a fancily chiseled hammer raised before its eye line.

"It seems that there is supposed to be another of these here," said Rusl, pointing to the empty niche.  "In the grove and in the temple entry, there were matching ones on either side."

Link nodded. "So, all we need to do is find this statue and bring it back somehow."

Rusl noted the tone of doubt in Link's voice, and he understood his concern.  How indeed were they supposed to move a statue so large that surely weighed more than either of them ten times over?

"We'll worry about that when the time comes," dismissed the bearded man.

Link had to admit that he had found his uncertainty of the situation surprising.  Usually he would have been the one to respond in such the way that Rusl just had.  Of course, his laid-back, pessimistic partner was forced to hide throughout this excursion.  He had always sliced straight through her skeptical tone with ease, but now that she remained within his shadow, he wondered if she was somehow voicing her disbeliefs through him.  The thought unnerved him, and he pushed away all considerations regarding this possibility as he followed alongside Rusl up one of the grand stairways.  It was simply an unrealistic thought.  To be able to move a statue as large as the one in the chamber now below them would be an impossible feat if there was not some other means of relocating it than by their strength alone.

They came to the base of another short incline of steps that led up to a bolted doorway.  Link stared at the door without any sign of movement for a solid few moments before he spoke, brow furrowed.  "Something's wrong."

Rusl, who had stepped forward, stopped immediately and looked back to Link.  "Yes, the door is locked.  Come help me."

"No," said Link, turning about and walking toward the edge of the balcony area.

"No?" repeated Rusl, as Link scanned the room below.  Rusl had thought he had simply refused his help, but….

"That's not what I meant," corrected Link.

"What is it then?" he asked, seeing the lines on Link's face that indicated he was trying to fit together pieces of a puzzle.

"It doesn't make any sense," he said.  At Rusl's still clueless expression, the youth elaborated.  "There aren't any guards.  Why aren't there any guards?"

"Remember, Link, we are in the past," replied Rusl as if to wave off the young man's concern.

Link turned to him then,  "And yet we have come looking for a fragment of the Mirror of Twilight, a mirror that Zant broke, a king that we suppose could have hidden such a piece here.  If he had planted the piece here, why did he not also station guards as an extra precaution?"

Rusl fingered his finely trimmed beard, "I see your point."

That uneasy feeling that had followed Link into the secret passage of the Temple of Time rose within him again and a fear pulsed within him.  It was not a dread that concerned his wellbeing, however.  Instead, it was Rusl for whom he worried.  His personal issues with the man had been drowned, and it was only the worry of bringing him into unsaid terrors that Link spoke.  "Are you sure you want to come with me?"

Rusl fixed a surprised eye upon Link.  He knew that Link had unresolved matters with him, some that perhaps Rusl did not even realize to be as troubling as they truly were to the youth, but the hostility and resentment within Link's voice with which he had previously regarded the man had suddenly disappeared.  He was impressed at how the boy he had know for so long could so quickly dismiss his own needs or wants so that he could move on to more pressing matters.  Nevertheless, Rusl was not to be swayed.

"It's as I said, Link.  This time, someone has your back."

Rusl was not sure if it was surprise at the comment or a change in Link's view toward him, but the thin line that passed for a small smile reassured Rusl.

Without another word Link drew his blade, and, lacking any sign of forced concentration, a glimmer of red encapsulated the Master Sword, producing a faint hum.  Link lashed out at the chains covering the door in the same moment, and the thick steel fell to the floor in a clump.  The veiling color then dispersed from the surface of the blade, and he returned it to its sheath.  Rusl came forward then to assist Link in lifting the heavy door.  As they pulled it upward, mechanical clicks vibrated from the door frame and through the mass as it crept upward, assuring them that if they lost their grip it would only fall as far as the point at which the previous clack had sounded.

When they had raised the door far enough to allow them reasonable entrance, they carefully released their grasp, being sure that their feet were not underneath its weight in case the door did not remain in place.  Yet, the door did not budge when they stepped back to look onto the entryway.

Link peered into a darker corridor, and hid a grimace.

It had not been that Link had minded that there were no guards.  It was simply that their absence would likely prove that far worse terrors dwelt within.

As Link stepped through the opening, Rusl following close behind, a musty air greeted him.  A sour stench clouded the darkened hall, and, with it, a wave of nausea attacked his stomach.  An eerie unnaturalness had settled into the temple, making the atmosphere seem abnormally stiff.  The ancient walls seemed to watch Link and his companion closely, as if gauging whether or not to lunge outward to capture them within their stones for the rest of time.  That was how Link felt … as if he were being swallowed deeper with each step he took down the hall.

Neither Link nor Rusl did anything to begin a conversation, and further down the long corridor, windows laden with intricate tracery began to scarcely line the walls.  Rays of light peeked through their patterns, shedding small amounts of light onto their path.  It was at the first pane that the hall began to wind upward slowly, long and wide stairs spotting the ground and making it more difficult to proceed along their way.  They found themselves stumbling more often, their toes often hitting the edges of the stairs, and they were forced to slow their pace even more.

Link's thoughts passed back to the strange, golden bell as they ascended the winding path, but he shifted his attention from the decoration.  Trying to understand the tastes of the ancient ones who had built this temple had nothing to do with why he and Rusl had come.  Rusl had sensed something ill over the forests since Link had taken the Master Sword, and it was Link's full hope that they would locate another piece of the mirror.

He looked to Rusl then and wondered….  Would Rusl or any of the others persist in following Link into the Twilight Realm?  They all knew of his plan now, and the Group had been successful in joining with him once out of three attempts.  Though he did not much like that they volunteered to venture with him into the dangers of such temples, Link accepted their help.  However, once it came time for his battle with Zant--to stop Ganondorf from returning to Hyrule--Link would not allow them to risk their lives so foolishly.

Link at last reached the end of the path, stepping into a hexagonally shaped junction adjoined to another path off to the left.  He paid the bell in one of the corners little attention. Instead, he had instinctively peered into the darkness that shrouded the next path.  Seeing still no threats, he passed under the archway.  However, when a mechanical click sounded beneath Link's foot, both he and Rusl were too late to act.  As soon as Link's foot landed, the stone tile sunk into the floor slightly.  Just as Link turned back to Rusl, golden bars slammed shut between them in the doorway.

Link grabbed onto the barrier, pulling in vain at their iron weight.  Grinding his teeth in frustration Link banged his fists into the bars and backed away slightly, pacing back and forth.  He could have gone on without Rusl … it would have been his perfect opportunity….  But he hated the thought of leaving him alone within the temple.  If anything were to happen to him he would blame himself forever.

Finally, with a grunt, both at having been tricked and having to let Rusl continue on with him, he called through the pockets in the bars.  "Look for some kind of switch," he said, as he also searched around the immediate area of the gate.  "There has to be a way to open them."

Rusl felt around the walls and inspected the ground, but all that he seemed capable of finding were cobwebs and cracks.  He stood at the gate peering through the golden poles.  By the look on Link's face, he had not been able to find a means of reopening the barrier either.  Just then a low, humming growl sounded, and an icy chill raked up Link's spine as his eyes widened.  He felt slight tremors reverberating from the ground through his boots.  Rusl's expression of surprise, confusion, and fear willed Link to turn about.  Dim blue lights approached him.  Most were jagged and straight lines; however, there were also two glowing orbs side-by-side.

Link unsheathed his saber, and when the stomping figure came into better light, it took on the shape of a blackened statue.  How…?  Link's thoughts on how a statue could possibly move were cut off abruptly as it closed the distance between them and cast a huge hammer down in front of it, aiming at Link.  He leapt to the side of the narrow hall just in time to avoid the instrument that instead crushed the stones where he once stood.

Its movements were stiff due to the fact that it was made of stone, and it moved rather slowly in relation to its bulky size that skirted down and widened toward the bottom in a cone like shape.  Yet, its one tiny hand packed a powerful swing, and with each attempt it took in pounding Link, it splintered the floor and sprayed the broken pieces of stone all over the passage.  Link stumbled down the passage to gain distance between him and the armed statue, but he tripped on a tile, and it, too, clicked under his weight.

Just as he righted himself, another gate behind him hurled across the corridor, closing him in with the hostile statue.  Link spent a split second in an attempt to pry the bars from the wall, but the statue was once again upon him.  He raced again to the other side of his new prison, ducking under the swing of the moving sculpture.  Rusl had frantically returned to his search for some kind of hidden switch.

Still unable to help Link, Rusl turned to him with a helpless expression.  Link twisted about.  The statue had lost no time in regaining its towering position near Link.  A realization sprung within Link as he remained immobile.  Though the magicked mass of stone quickly removed its hammer from the floor with each missed stroke, it lacked speed in casting its hits.  Link waited until the monstrous block was directly upon him, its arm lifted high….  Its colors seemed to sharpen in satisfaction at seeing him unable to evade, however, just as its hammer rained down … Link bolted to the side.

The hammer landed with a shattering crash as it broke through the golden bars where Link had just been standing moments ago.  Rusl was free and the statue, oddly, seemed dazed, stiffly twisting about in the rubble of the gate, searching for its prey.  Once it located Link sprinting across the fallen barrier, it followed … angrily.  Its growl echoed in the chamber as it pursued them.

Link and Rusl split to separate corners of the room, and as it followed Link, Rusl cautiously circled the foe in the hopes of isolating any possible weak point in its construction.

"Link!" called the older man, as Link rolled out of the way of yet another pounding strike. The youth cast him a quick glance.  "Keep it distracted!"

Easy enough for you to say.  Link pulled himself up from the cracked floor and kept the sculpture's gaze focused upon him as he moved, giving Rusl complete freedom to progress unnoticed by the stone beast.

The blacksmith had in fact laid eyes upon a large, blue crystal set in its backside.  He moved in on the statue as it continually attacked Link, missing each time.  Yet with each time it failed to hit Link, it would jerk violently and twist around to once again face Link.  This gave Rusl some difficulty in reaching its rear.  Noticing this, Link remained in place for as long as he could … the hammer coming down upon him.

Those extra few moments had allowed Rusl enough time to dance around the creature and slash out the glimmer of its sparkling crystal.  As soon as Link heard the shatter he hurled himself away from the dropping mallet.

The statue quaked, its life-force depleted from its stone body.  Its mass jerked about in its stationary position, and it was then that both Link and Rusl noticed the danger in its movements.  Rusl was already racing away as Link called, "Run!"

Together, they dove into the path that had been Link's cell.  In the last moments, the blue lines that served as the statue's veins flashed in colors of green and white and yellow.  Instantly, an explosion boomed within the room, echoing down the halls as its pieces blasted in all directions of the room, spearing into the floor and the walls.  Link and Rusl gathered themselves up and peaked back into the room moments later.  All that remained was a blackened floor and pieces of its remains littering the room.

Relived, Link then turned back to their next problem.  The other gate.

Rusl looked as well and just shook his head with a grin.  "At least one good thing came from all that."

A large chunk of the statue had collided into the gate and given them free passage to the hall beyond.

Link kept his reply to himself. No.  We're just back to where we began.  An open hallway with likely even more traps through it.  There were likely even more of those armored statues lining the walls further down the hall, and with only spotted light they would gain little forewarning save for the glow of their blue eyes.

Nevertheless, despite the fact that Link did not much like the idea of traveling blind--seeing as he had not brought his lantern--he followed behind Rusl.

They had barely progressed two steps before they heard a strange sound emanating from the room behind them.  Link peered into the junction and he heard the oddest chattering and fluttering noises, but something in Link's memory was awakened.  He knew that sound … knew it quite well from all his excursions into Faron Woods.

Just as Link was turning to push Rusl into motion, a swarm of flapping keese swirled down around them, sailing down from their nest in the ceiling of the room.  Link and Rusl batted at their clawed feet and sharp teeth as they circled about their bodies.  They raced down the hall, blind to all the dangers that the darkness held secret.  All they knew were the tiny bodies trying to tear into them for disturbing their slumber.

They spotted a doorway ahead in the patched brightness and through the ripping claws. They skidded to a halt and grabbed at the bottom of the door, lifting it as they tried to make their nerves numb to the small scratches with which the keese littered their faces and bodies.  In moments they had lifted the door high enough and they raced into the next room as most of the keese followed.

Link and Rusl once again dug their feet into the floor, sliding to a halt just before plummeting off the side of a broken ledge.  The keese, having more room to flutter about in the huge room, flew past the pair.  However, most of the winged creatures were caught moments later in the silky nets that covered almost the entire chamber.

They had entered into a three story, circular chamber wherein spider webs littered the floors, walls, ceilings, and windows.  The grand stairway to their left had been chewed away by the darkness that had infused it for so long, and the path had been reconstructed so that only one species could traverse its length … fuzzy, brown-legged, one-eyed spiders.  The arachnids--half the size of Link--skittered all about the chamber and the extensive webbing that shrouded the room.  Some of the spiders drooped down on their silk lines, the pinchers covering their mouths clacking excitedly.

It was clear that the flesh of new prey thrilled them, many racing across their webs to tend to the winged victims caught in their traps.  Link and Rusl stepped carefully as they inched backward from the smashed floor before them.  Link assumed it had once been a catwalk that had connected their ledge to the circular platform in the center of the room, for there were demolished signs of other such footbridges at other angles of the platform.

The keese that had not been caught unawares by the change of environment flapped wildly back toward the entrance.  Though some rammed into shadowed traps, most of those that remained were able to evade the arena of the arachnids, fleeing back to their nest.  With their presence banished from the room, the spiders concentrated on the other intruders.

No retreat for us, thought Link with a frown as he looked to their right.  The grand stairway continued at this point, but it was battered and crumbled in places.  What space remained was mostly covered in the silky grids of the spiders' designs.  The sight trigged a memory from long ago, when nothing mattered to Link save for rescuing Malo from the mysteries of the woods.  He did not much care to be ensnared in another sticky trap as he had on that day, but the stairs were the only route forward accessible to Rusl and him.

Just as the several spiders surrounding them lunged forward, Link pivoted to the right, slashing his saber across the dark backside of the one nearest him.  Rusl followed closely behind Link's surefooted steps as the youth navigated the stairs between the crumbled stones, glossy webs, and biting arachnids.  He stepped in all the same places as Link where possible, for at times the spiders would crowd in Link's wake.  Rusl either leapt over them over raked his sword through their legs and bodies.

When Link had finally reached the next and last level, he bolted straight toward the open doorway, but he had spotted the trap before he climbed the last step.  He only hoped that Rusl would see it as well.  With the creatures scuttling toward them at an increasingly swift pace, there was no time to call back to him.

With practiced agility Link stepped past the block in the floor that would have triggered another trap, and as if by luck or skill, Rusl missed it, too.  As soon as Link had crossed through the doorway and saw Rusl race past him, he twisted about, grabbing a small statue head from a large plinth set into the wall.  He lobbed the heavy stone toward the approaching spiders, and the block landed on the slightly raised tile, tripping a golden gate to shoot from the cavity in the door frame before it rolled away to tumble over the broken stairwell.

The shining bars were set close enough together so that none of the creatures could press themselves through to reach Link and Rusl.  There had been one unfortunate spider that had nearly slid past the opening; however, once the barrier had erupted, its bars had inserted themselves into the wall through the body of the creature, snaring it and producing a wretched squeal from its alien mouth as it died.

Grateful that his improvised plan had worked in their favor, Link took the moment to catch his breath.  Rusl was again alongside him then, having turned back after realizing that Link had no longer been with him.

"Worse than guards?" asked a panting Rusl.

Link let out a short chuckle at the blacksmith's attempt at some levity.  "Slightly," he nodded, wiping the sweat from his brow and lips as he straightened his posture.  Suddenly his adventurist gene had kicked back in.

"You know," the older man said, still in that teasing tone, "we're going to have to come back this way."

Link agreed with a nod, watching as the spiders slowly retreated from their unattainable meal.

"That gate is going to pose a problem," Rusl pointed out.

But Link shrugged off the comment, retorting with: "Well, then I suppose we'll worry about that when the time comes."  He traipsed off down the new corridor open to their exploration, and Rusl grinned.

There was the boy he knew.

===============

After a twisting network of corridors, Rusl and Link entered at last into another junction.  Within the room were several walls that did not connect directly with the ceiling.  Each wall panel had been severed into two sections, wherein one met with the top of the room, the bottom half seemed secured only by the pillars that joined the walls together.

"What's this?" Link thought aloud, searching the walls of the dead end.

"There must be a way through here," Rusl said.  "It would make no sense for us to progress this far only to turn back."

"Unless a dead end was exactly where Zant wanted us to end up," suggested Link bitterly.  He tightened his fist around the hilt of his sword, for if that were the case, there would likely be another ambush waiting to be tripped.

"This place was built by our ancestors, Link," reminded Rusl.  "If Zant truly designed that our path should end here then perhaps he was fooled as well.  Look at these walls, Link.  There must be a way through."

Heaving a stressed sigh, Link turned back to gaze about the room, sheathing his sword.  He could feel Rusl's gaze linger upon him for a moment, but when Link moved forward to one of the walls, he heard Rusl's cautious footsteps as they echoed over to another section.  Just as with the golden gates, Rusl searched the surrounding wall for some kind of switch or lever.

Link also sought some such device; however, just as he ran his fingers down the corner where the obstacle and the wall had been fused together, a thought occurred to him.  If switches had been absent from the gates' designs why would these barriers be any different?  Link's attention flew upward to the open split that divided the wall.

How cryptically obvious, smiled Link.

After gauging that the opening was at least four meters high, Link turned to a pillar.  The simplistic designs that had been carved into its surface would offer the perfect assistance.  He found two evenly spaced handholds on its wide body, and after gathering one foothold he boosted himself upward to latch onto the two spaces he had seen.  This awkward movement had drawn Rusl's attention, but seeing as the blacksmith held back any comment, Link supposed that he had identified his intent.

Link climbed the face of the column until he reached the opening.  He shifted his footholds so that he could pivot his waist to peer through the tear.  Beyond was another room, rectangular in shape, yet consisting of the same barriers and gates that had so annoyingly impeded their journey already.  He called down his findings to Rusl, but the sight of a glimmering green crystal cut him short.  Rusl questioned his sudden silence, yet Link's mind raced and muffled the older man's voice.

The gemstone had been set high into the surface of the wall, as if it were a precious ornament.  However, Link knew by some instinct that this was the switch for which they had been looking.  He need only prove it by striking its surface somehow.

He hung there for a moment, going over in his head what possible items he could use to throw through the opening in a precise line while confined to the restricted movement that the pillar brought.  Using his bow was out of the question.  He would need both of his hands to operate his bow and one more to hold onto his support.  The only option he had was to use one of his acquired daggers.  At least he had chosen to climb the pillar to the right of the fracture, enabling him to use his trained left hand to cast the weapon.

Link pulled the dirk from the backside of his belt and concentrated closely on his target as he angled his hand.  He had to swing in a powerful arch to combat the distance and the small space he had been forced to work through … and he had to aim exactly.  If he missed he would only be able to attempt one more throw.

Without further delay Link cast his dagger through the opening with amazing speed.  It chimed against the crystalline surface, and he grinned despite the pain of his twisted position.  As the gem flickered a crimson color the walls surrounding them began to quake.  Rusl called for Link to dismount the column, and he did so without hesitation.  Either he had successfully triggered the switch that would allow them to proceed, or … he had inadvertently prompted the very ambush he had feared was contained within this room.

The color drained from Link's features as a stone wall began to close over the opening that had guided them there.  So, it was a trap after all.

Link and Rusl raced to the closing passage, but the stone had sealed the way back before they could squeeze through.  They drew their blades simultaneously and turned back to the room, grim expressions pasted to their faces, ready to battle whatever surprise lay in store for them.  Yet the true reality of the situation dazed them more than the worst that they had imagined.

Contrary to what both of them believed had come of Link's discovery, the crystal had not caused an ambush to break out within their confinement.  Instead, as the one doorway had closed … three others had revealed themselves.  With further, cautious investigation, Link and Rusl found that one passage dead ended not far down and another had collapsed in on itself.

I suppose that leaves our last alternative, thought Link as they stood before the now unblocked entry into the very room within which the scarlet colored crystal hummed with life.  As they stepped within the next room, the details of its construction were imprinted on their minds in one swift glance.  The rectangular room held more of the golden gates, but these were more permanently structured, completely closing off a section of the back wall where another of the large bells was imprisoned … and his dagger.

The purpose of the bells began to plague Link's mind upon seeing this particular one shielded from the rest of the room.  Where they some kind of religious artifacts?  Ceremonial in nature?  He doubted now that they were strictly for ornamental intentions.  He was convinced they had some type of function.  But as Rusl motioned him on, Link decided now was perhaps not the best time to reflect on the matter.

The right half of the room consisted of two more of the moveable walls, one straight ahead and the other off to their right, and Link was only thankful that this time he had the room to utilize his bow.  Nocking an arrow he pulled back as hard as he dared on the bowstring.  The arrowhead would need a great deal of force behind its feathered tail if it was going to have the same effect as the hard surface of the dagger and not just simply bounce away.

As soon as the shaft flew away it smacked into the surface of the crystal with a satisfying thwack, and as the arrow fell from its target, the gem again pulsed with its thick emerald hue.  The entrance sealed itself once more as the other two sections peeled away to reveal two more passages.  The corridor ahead seemed as logical a choice as the one on the right, but there was one difference.  Whereas the one before them simply led directly forward, the other was adjoined to another room much like the previous two.  Though it was a small room, there were two further moveable panels on its left-hand wall.  It seemed perfect sense to explore its depths first.

After a short discussion with Rusl, the blacksmith agreed, and they moved into the next room.  Link turned back to face the opening, readying another arrow.  It sailed off after he had taken careful aim and struck the crystal once more.  The brimming red color was the last Link saw before the wall before him shut away all light.

A tremor of uncertainty brought an icy chill over his mind in that moment.  Link tried to bat away the nagging feelings, but their persistence diseased his thoughts, and as he turned to watch the two passages open, his apprehension fell over him even thicker … just as cold and dark as the rainy night when he had taken up the Master Sword as his blade.

They peered down the dual passages lit dimly from a brightness on the other side of their length.  As far as they could tell the side-by-side corridors led to the same area, so they chose the nearer and ventured slowly through it.  Halfway through, an eerie quiet descended upon them, and a tinge of fear sprouted within Link as he realized they were walking down a hall flanked by a row of the armored statues.

He looked to Rusl.  He had noticed it as well, but for the moment, the hammer-wielding statues did not stir with sapphire life.  Link willed himself to remain calm, for just as his senses had detected signs of possible traps before, such perceptions had usually been cast away as merely his imagination producing the worst possible scenarios which did not essentially come into actuality.

Although, he could not shake the feeling that the way back through this corridor would not be as easy as entering.

The room they crossed into was the first that had not been ravaged in any form by the same ruined stated that ailed the other rooms and corridors.  The high ceiling domed inward, a circular sky light cut out of the center.  A waterfall of sunlight poured in through the hole, and yet another of the bells was stationed directly below the shaft.  The only other source of light within the room funneled in through a single window frilled with the same embellishments as those throughout the temple.  

Before this very window was a sight that both Link and Rusl were pleased to accept.

There, sitting upon the niche in front of the window was the statue that had gone missing from the massive grand entrance.  It sat in all its ancient grace, but there was only one problem … that which Link had initially pointed out to Rusl.  How would they retrieve the massive statue … much less return it to its original standing?

That was when Link turned his attention once more to the bell, studying its etchings as well as those carved upon the statue.  The designs were distinctly similar.  Link was not precisely sure, but he now understood one thing.  The statue and the bells were connected in some way, yet what strung them together … he still could not put his finger on it.

Link took one step further into the room … and he regretted it soon after.