The Legend of Zelda - Union of Evil Powers Ch 34

The Legend of Zelda: Union of Evil Powers

Chapter 34: Going deeper…

Link and the Sages landed on a platform with a lava tunnel directly ahead, on which Link took out his cane to make a platform appear on the lava. But before he went on it, he went to observe the path ahead.
“Good grief, this goes even further down…” He said, noting the downward streaming of the lava and the curve ahead going downward…
“I’ll say. This requires a lot more caution.” Zelda said.
Darunia nodded.
“We need to help Brother Link with supporting him as in keeping his balance while steering the platform, perhaps we can even aid him with it directional-wise…” Darunia said.
“A great idea; one mistake could make all of us become one with the lava.” Impa said, causing Link, Saria and Zelda to shudder at the mere thought of this.
“If we concentrate our powers on this, I am confident that we will make it to whatever destination lies ahead of us alive.” Rauru said, to which Link nodded, regaining his composure rapidly.
“Concentrating our powers, as in sharing it?” Ruto asked.
“Yes, at least on the focus.” Rauru said as the group got on the platform, with Link on the back. Being the heaviest, Darunia stood in the center and was able to use his posture to be the center of the area for the group to have a good grip on.
“So, are you all ready?” Link asked.
“Yeah. Let’s make a go for it.” Zelda said.
“We’ll support you in this, Link.” Saria said.
“Right. Well, here goes nothing.” Link said as he thrusted the cane forward, making the platform with the group on it move on the lava, in effect creating a trip one would make with a raft down a river, but with water instead of lava.

As they went down that lava path, the group would come across patches of lava that were a bright yellow in color with flames appearing from its surface.
“I believe those patches are WAY TOO HOT for this thing…” Ruto said, gulping.
“Indeed. Make sure to avoid them at all costs!” Rauru said.
“I’m doing the best I can, just be my eyes forward on this one!” Link replied, thrusting the cane where needed, with Saria and Zelda helping him in directions per instructions of Nabooru and Impa, while Ruto was shivering.
Thankfully, the group made it past a curve down to the left, before approaching another one which went back to the right while still going further downward. They safely avoided the patches of the yellow lava, but their troubles weren’t over yet…
“We’re approaching a lava-fall!” Impa exclaimed.
“Everybody, hang on!” Darunia said, pushing his weight down in the platform while holding a grip on everyone’s hands as the platform went over the edge of the lava-fall and fell down it, fortunately the platform itself remained in an upright position with the group on top of it, which in turn ensured that they made it safely down it.
“Whew…” Ruto said.
“Don’t rejoice too soon, Ruto; there’s another ride downstream coming up!” Impa said.
“And why are there holes in the walls ahead?” Nabooru asked.
The answer came soon enough as what appeared to be tentacle-like vines burst out from the wall, becoming an actual hindrance like nettles or parasitic tentacles. Thankfully, Impa and Nabooru were prepared as they shot the vines down while Link, aided by Saria and Zelda, kept going as the platform went further and further downstream and down a second lava-fall, arriving in a larger room where the lava was flowing more slowly, but there were patches of the incinerating hot yellow lava around further up ahead, as well as a stone platform to their left. This slow speed allowed the group to catch their breath for a moment while continuing on the lava river. But being in such a foreign area wasn’t exactly comfortable for everyone after all…
“My kingdom for a map! Just a simple map so we finally know where we are or where we are even going!!” Ruto exclaimed, observing the area.
“Relax, once we get through this, we may finally be able to find out where this is.” Nabooru said.
Link remained determined, guiding the platform over the red and black lava, using Saria’s help to guide the group around the yellow lava safely, before the group came across what appeared to be a doorway with an opening the group had to climb into after disembarking from the platform on the stone path in front of the door. Saria sighed as the group came closer to the door.
“A Rupee for your thoughts?” Link asked.
“Nothing much, just trying to get my mind off the heat out here; if this keeps up we all will melt on the surface.” She replied, to which Link nodded in understanding.
“I think we should all take a cool dip in a pool or something once we get out of here; this way we will be able to cool off rapidly.” He then said.
“I agree.”

After climbing up into the opening one by one and sliding down the path it had, Link, Saria, Zelda, Ruto, Nabooru, Impa, Darunia and Rauru arrived in a totally different room… The whole area was completely pitch black, with the only light coming from a glowing, golden sphere on a lower platform ahead and fire-spouting statues on a few platforms ahead.
“Great… just what we needed…” Nabooru said, noticing the platforms were surrounded by almost infinite blackness, like an abyss.
“Now we need to be careful that we don’t fall down.” Zelda said.
“Oh, in the name of Din, you have to be joking! They REALLY spread these around to spite us!” Link then exclaimed.
“Huh?!” Impa asked, only for Link to point out the unmistakable outline of yet ANOTHER Floormaster present on the platform that the sphere on its turn stood on, the creature just moving to and fro around the pedestal the sphere laid on, as if it was patrolling around it.
Impa blinked at this, not exactly at the appearance of the Floormaster itself, but the fact that Zelda was audibly growling at the sight of the disembodied hand, clearly showing that the Princess hated these creatures to the core.
“Good thing that there’s a way to take these freaks out safely from here!” Link said, taking out a Fire Arrow and aimed carefully at the Floormaster, before firing the arrow, scoring a direct hit at the creature which in turn split into three… and subsequently ran off the platform to their doom in the abyss below.
“Phew…” Saria said.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if Ganondorf and/or Majora placed these around; it definitely proves their sadism to the core.” Link said.
“I second that.” Zelda said.

The group moved one by one on the platform that contained the golden-yellow sphere.
“This puzzle again…” Link said.
“Looks like this kind of thing is popular…” Zelda said.
“What do we do with this?” Saria asked.
“We’ll take it with us and see where its corresponding pyramid pedestal is so we can put it on…” Rauru said.
“But there may still be dangers ahead…” Nabooru said.
“Then I suggest this: Some of us will go ahead and eliminate all sentient enemies around; the Fire Spouting statues can be avoided by walking between the flames so they won’t be bothered by it.” Impa said.
“Great idea. That way we’ll also eliminate the threats ahead and can pass onward to our destination.” Link said, nodding.
“Alright, who goes ahead?” Rauru asked.
“I’ll go first for sure; I need to let off some steam anyway.” Link said.
“I’ll go with you.” Zelda said, taking up arms herself.
“Right, let’s go.” Link said, getting ready to tackle the dangers ahead.
“I’ll come along, so I’ll watch your backs, just in case.” Impa said.
Link and Zelda nodded at this, before hopping down to a platform with the first rotating flame spouting statue, which fortunately had only one part which spouted fire out. Moving past it, Link, Zelda and Impa hopped down to an apparent empty platform, only for Impa’s shadow to grow after a few seconds.
“Impa, watch your shadow!” Zelda said.
Looking down, Impa indeed noticed her Shadow growing and hopped to the side, just as another Wallmaster landed on the ground, which was soon defeated by Zelda herself.
“Thanks, princess. I understand your animosity for these sneaky creatures.” Impa said.
“No problem.” Zelda said, before the three moved on to a platform that had another Fire Spouting Statue, but this time with TWO sides spouting fire.
Approaching the edge of the platform, they noticed that the final platform before the path contained TWO more Floormasters, which Link and Zelda took out with Fire Arrows while Impa was on the lookout for the flames coming up from behind them. While most of the tiny Floormasters ran off the platform or fell off of it due to the splitting, Link and Zelda used regular arrows to take out the two tiny Floormasters that remained on the platform, before they and Impa moved onto the platform, where they signaled for the others to come.

A few minutes later, Saria, Ruto, Nabooru, Darunia and Rauru, with Rauru carrying the sphere, joined the three on the last platform, after which Link and Zelda hopped on the path just below, entering a hallway. There they saw a platform already present in the lava, but at the far side of the lava ditch it was in. Link then used his cane to shoot at the platform, making it bounce off the side and float towards them. Once it was at their side of the ditch, the group moved onto the platform, after which Link used the rod again to make it float to the other side, where the group felt they had to go. Saria stretched and yawned as this went on, while the others were more eager to get out of the whole place…

Once at the other side, the group climbed up on the pathway, with Rauru handing the sphere to Darunia so he could climb up on the path, before proceeding towards the next room. Link and Zelda went on ahead, before using their bow and arrows to take out several Fire Keese that were present in the room, safeguarding Darunia as he went to place the sphere on the pyramid pedestal which the group had seen in a crevice to their left. The second Darunia laid the sphere on its pedestal, a door on the far side of the room began to turn around in a counter-clockwise direction for a full 180 degrees, making the opening now on the upside instead of on the downside. Now free to look around the room, the group looked to their left and eventually spotted a large statue that looked like an elderly person in appearance. It was nowhere near the looks of Rauru however, this one had a nigh-ethereal appearance to it, yet it was still solid. But the striking thing was that this one had an emblem on the down-center piece of its robe… the emblem that was also present on the Fire Medallion which Darunia had!
“What the-?! Is this supposed to be a Sage?” Darunia asked, blinking as he compared the emblem with his medallion.
“Possibly. It could very well be one of the Ancient Sages that existed in Hyrule many years before you were even born.” Rauru said.
“Wow, so this statue must have been made in its honor, right?” Link asked.
“That could be possible, or it could have passed its initial duties on to its successor and settled to guard these parts, I don’t know for sure.” Rauru replied.
“Hmmm…” Link said with a nod, thinking.
“Hey, I found the silver pedestal; it’s on the other side of this lava path.” Nabooru said.
“But where’s the sphere?” Zelda asked.
“I don’t know; it’s could be on a higher area or a different place we haven’t been in yet.” Nabooru said.
“I see. Well then, I guess we should move to the other opening then and see where the sphere is…” Zelda said, before the group moved on, hopping over the lava ditch and moving to the opening in the door, climbing up the stairs and entering the opening, which led to another slope. Sliding down it, the group arrived in a very different lava room. While a platform was already present, the red and black lava was flowing downward, while at the sides flowed the incinerating hot yellow lava. At the far side of the room was a cracked door.

Moving on the platform, Link and the Sages carefully made their way to the door, the platform moving slowly so Darunia, Impa, Nabooru and Rauru had the chance to toss a couple of bombs at the door to make it burst. Once the door was open, the group hopped into the next room before they turned around upon hearing a bubbling sound, seeing the platform they stood on topple over into the yellow-hot lava, submerging into it in a matter of seconds, never to be seen again.
“Yikes, good thing we jumped off of it in time.” Saria commented.
“I’ll say…” Nabooru said.
“We’d better not fall down from here either…” Ruto said, looking ahead.
As the others looked on as well, they could see they were standing on top of large, solid, stone pillars that stood apparently VERY high, as they saw yellow lava flowing several tens to a hundred meters below their position. Undeterred, Link made his way over the platforms while watching his step, entering a tunnel on the far side of the room. Once there, he again waited for the others, something which the Sages did appreciate. After the group was back together, they went down into a tunnel, only for Link to step on a slope, causing him to slip and, although he rapidly regained his balance, he now began to slide on the path he was on, down towards a curve to the left. The Sages followed him one after the other, intent on following him to see where he would end up as well as following his movements.

Link managed to jump over a flame that another fire-breathing statue was spewing over the path, before he shifted his weight to the right to prevent him from going off the path and falling into the lava, which was now a boiling red/orange. He wanted to scream as he headed right for a pool of that red/orange lava, until he also spotted a swinging vine moving to and fro over it slowly. Timing his jump well, he then leapt right off the edge of the path, grabbing the vine and using its momentum to swing safely to the other side, before he let go of the rope and landed on a last bit of the slope, before he jumped down a large hole, ending up in the room with the statue of the Ancient Sage, but now on a higher floor of the room.
“Wow, one of these days I’m going to be a professional adventurer to the next level…” He said to himself, just as a female yelp came closer.
Looking up, he spread his arms forward and promptly caught Saria in his arms.
“Gotcha.” He said, causing Saria to blush, before Link set her down, in time for him to catch Zelda in the same fashion, making Zelda blush in turn, after which Link repeated this gesture with Ruto, just as Navi, Tatl and Tael approached.
Being the more swift and agile ones, Nabooru and Impa landed gracefully on their feet  once they arrived in the area, with Rauru and Darunia being the last to arrive.
“Okay, so we’re back in the Statue Room… and I have located the Silver Sphere.” Impa said, pointing to the other side.
“There’s Hookshot targets around as well, so we can come back to the higher floor.” Link said, while Impa went to ‘collect’ the Silver Sphere to toss it to the lower level, where Nabooru went to put it on its pedestal.

Once the Silver Sphere was in place as well, the statue began to move, stepping straight into the lava ditch, but unbothered by the lava itself! Eventually it stood still between the platforms, waiting.
“Huh? It stopped…” Zelda said.
“Is it waiting for something?” Ruto asked
“Maybe we have to get on top of it?” Saria asked.
“It’s worth a try.” Link said, spotting a Hookshot target on the back of the statue and used his Hookshot to pull himself to it, standing on top of the statue shortly, where he waited for the others.
He didn’t have to wait long though as the others soon used either their own Hookshots or jumped on top of the statue’s head to join him on top of it. Once everyone stood on top of the statue, it began to stir and move again, walking steadily through the red/orange lava without melting itself, taking the group to a staircase at the far side of the lava ditch. Once it had arrived there, the group  hopped off the statue, standing in front of the staircase, before turning around to face the Statue.
“Thank you, sir.” Link said out of politeness.
“It is an honor to serve heroes such as yourself, even when one of them happens to be my successor.” It replied.
“So you have been a Sage at one point after all?” Darunia asked.
“Yes. In fact, I was the Sage of Fire before you were born, Darunia. Back then, I was charged to safeguard the Fire Temple itself, but when the time of finding a successor came near, I retired of my duties and chose to settle here in what used to be a mining facility for the Gorons in Snowhead, until the area itself became nigh-impassable when evil forces manifested themselves in here.” It said.
“I understand. Can you help us to get out of here?” Ruto asked.
“The exit can be found right on top of the staircase behind you. It hides a portal that will take you back to the stone circle in the area from where this sanctuary can be accessed. But before you leave, I must warn you of something. While your exploration in here proved successful in wiping out the forces occupying this place, the evil beings known as Ganondorf and Majora have successfully staged an attack from the Great Bay area and conquered most of Termina. The only ‘safe’ areas that remain there are Romani Ranch, Zora Hall, the Deku Palace and Goron Village. The rest was taken over swiftly.” It said.
“WHAT?!” Link, Saria, Zelda, Ruto, Nabooru, Impa, Darunia and Rauru exclaimed in unison.
“Your travel here was a diversion created by those two in order to conquer the land known as Termina. Their forces are largely concentrated in the Ikana Region, in particular the Stone Tower Temple. The only way to deal significant damage to them there is when you have, among other weapons, arrowheads that burn, freeze and/or carry the sacred golden light. I have deciphered the auras of the beings, hence I was made aware of them and your presence.” The Ancient Fire Sage said.
“We’ve been played for fools… we’ll get them for this!” Darunia said.
“Your quest will be getting harder as you go, but do not fear. I will be giving you something that will come of good use to you all. Receive it now.” The Ancient Fire Sage said, before a set of eight red/orange spheres were generated by him, each of them vanishing in one of the group members respectively.
“Huh?! What did we get?” Saria asked.
“From now, once you’re in a stable position to attack the enemy, you can hold back on your strikes to increase the damage done. Remember, while you will be able to inflict more damage, the charging position leaves you vulnerable, but regardless of this, this kind of ‘burst’ works with most of your weapons, not just your blades, but also with certain ranged weapons, like arrows.” He said.
“So now we can inflict more damage with arrows too? That’s cool!” Link said with a smile.
“Now go and save Hyrule and Termina… and the world.” The Ancient Fire Sage said.
“Don’t worry, we will.” Link said, before the group left to ascend the staircase.
“Take care, young ones.” The Ancient Fire Sage said, before the group was gone.

Ascending up the staircase, the group came across a pillar on top of a pedestal. The room itself had lava flowing around the path that was leading only to the staircase above. Once the group stood in front of the pillar however, the pillar began to tremble, before it magically dragged itself backwards, as if a mechanism underneath it had been triggered. Upon locking itself at the far side of the platform, the part where the pillar first stood on then began to emanate a glowing blue circle on the ground.
“Reminds me of the temples and dungeons I explored before, they got me outside like this too.” Link said as he stepped inside the blue circle, with Saria and Zelda following him right away, Ruto being next.
Nabooru, Impa, Darunia and Rauru joined in as well, after which the light from the circle seemed to move upward to the ceiling, taking the whole group along in the air, teleporting them to just beside the Stone Circle they had seen from where they had located the old man’s house. Looking around, they could already see dark clouds bellowing over Ikana Canyon, the clouds being the darkest and more menacing around and above the Stone Tower Temple. The only places with clear sky were indeed visible over the ranch, the swamp, the Goron Village and around Zora Cape, but for the rest it was cloudy to dark, as if the evil that has infested it affected the climate once more. Link grew visibly frustrated, which Zelda noticed by the way Link had formed his hands into fists, the knuckles turning slowly turning white. If he would have nails, he could have easily penetrated through the skin of the palm, drawing blood. She tried to put him at ease by laying a hand on his shoulder, causing Link to turn to her.
“I know how you must be feeling right now, Link…” She said, to which Link nodded.
“The worst thing about it is that they are obviously laughing their heads off about this, as if they are having little to no trouble in doing things their way at their own leisure, while we have to work so hard to get everything back the way it was.” He said.
Zelda nodded in understanding, sighing herself. Impa looked at the two, being concerned for them. It was then that she noticed something odd; upon the two holding hands, both of their respective Triforce Pieces, being the ones of Wisdom and Courage, were glowing briefly on the backs of their hands in pure harmony. This caused Impa to look around, but she didn’t sense Ganondorf’s presence around the area overall. But why were their pieces glowing like that? Was it some kind of connection between them? Or was there something else going on altogether? This confusion with her only grew when she felt her own Medallion, the Shadow Medallion, glowing in a similar fashion. She wondered if this had something to do with the current state of affairs, or that something else had been the cause of this, like awakening powers or perhaps another untold legend? It brought confusion to the Sheikah woman in a way where she decided against revealing it to the others until she had sufficient answers to find out which of her questions were feasibly plausible in any form or fashion or otherwise had done some research of her own on this.
“We should head back to Termina and see what we possibly can save on this instant… if the enemy has concentrated their forces around Ikana, we should figure out a way to cleanse the least occupied parts first to secure the area as a whole…” Rauru said.
“I see you have returned from the sanctuary safely…” The old man then said, approaching the group.
“Yes. We cleansed it of the evil monsters…” Darunia said.
“… but we learned before we got back here that we were lured into a trap; by having us distracted with cleansing the sanctuary, Ganondorf and Majora attacked and conquered most of Termina.” Rauru said.
“Yes, this is most inconvenient. However, all is not lost, as you have most of the tools to combat the evil forces within Termina itself. I also got word from a messenger of the Zora Tribe whom managed to find his way up to here during the attack. He told me that the Zora Tribe in Termina has pulled back into Zora Cape as they have gathered several items for you to use in this. The quickest way to get there is to go down the well and find a path that goes around and over the forest area to reach the Zora cape from there. Also, the main source of the evil in Termina has been concentrated around the Stone Tower Temple, so be very cautious. I have been watching the dark clouds gathering over the Stone Tower area and I could feel a dark presence emanating from it.” The Old Man said.
“Thank you. We will proceed to the Zora Cape as soon as possible.” Rauru said, nodding, before the group departed.
“Take care, young ones. May the Goddesses give you the power, wisdom and courage you need to undertake this quest.” The Old Man said, waving them off.

The group once more traveled towards the well, using its elevator to move back into the cavern, this time moving down towards a beach area of a different part of Termina altogether. To their surprise, a Goron was waiting for them. They moved to him to see why he was here.
“Well, this is a surprise.” The Goron said as they approached him.
“What is a Goron like you doing out here for?” Ruto asked, blinking.
“I’m more of a wanderer, I like to travel around places. But with the current state of affairs, I’ve been taking up some more risky tasks, like helping fellow travelers and warriors alike.” The Goron said.
“I see.” Ruto said.
“Anyway, I met the old man shortly before you exited the sanctuary and asked me to help you get to Zora Cape without taking the proverbial long detour. I’ll show you a path will lead you to the cave quickly, but watch out; I’ve heard that the forces of evil are preparing an attack.” He said, before balling up and rolling forward, straight through a wooden barrier as he moved on over the stone path there to a large cavern-like area, squashing an unsuspecting Lizalfos along the way…