Vitanre tensed, ready to meet their charge, when then all simultaneously reversed direction in midair and touched back down to the ground.

Slowly, the three stalked forward, the same smug grin plastered across their faces.

Vitanre returned the smiles with a sneer. “You shall not get at Link, not without getting through me first, and your powers do not affect me.”

“You are a worthless mortal being,” the middle syrin hissed.

“You shall not keep us from feeding,” the left one added.

“We have spent centuries in this cursed hole in the ground, with only ocassional meat wandering into our home,” the last one said. “We hunger for flesh.”

Vitanre’s eyes narrowed. “I’ll gladly end your torment, just step forward.”

“Fool,” the middle one snarled, and the three once again attacked at once.

Scimitar whipping out to turn away all three thrusting blades, Vitanre shuffled her feet forward as she worked her weapon from side to side to force her attackers back and get some space between her back and the door behind her. Expertly, she threw jabs and thrusts out wide to the sides, all the while keeping her scimitar weaving a defensive wall between herself and the syrins, never once leaving an opening for a blade to slip in.

Alone, a single syrin would have been no match for Vitanre’s swordsmanship...but three of them together were proving to be a decent match as she was made to constantly keep her weapon moving to prevent being stabbed or skewered. Vitanre gritted her teeth as she kept up her defensive pattern...any attempt to go on the offensive would put her at risk of attack from one syrin or another.

Testing, she suddenly slashed low at the feet of one of the syrins. As expected, one of the other two syrins came in at her back and swiped down to cut Vitanre’s feet from beneath her. Vitanre gracefully leapt over the blade, and up and over the creature, to land on her feet with the three in front of her once more.

‘Blast it...’ she thought bitterly. ‘This is going to take a while...’

Meanwhile, back in the room of the specter, Link pulled himself to his feet. The dazing effects of the syrins had worn off, and the sounds of swordplay were coming through the door loud enough to worry Link. Vitanre was still in there...although he had gauged her skill against one adversary, how was she faring against three?

Carefully, Link moved to the door and opened it a crack, ready to slam it shut again at the slightest sign of syrin attention. What met his eyes was the sight of four Vitanres all dueling in the center of the room.Momentarily forgetting about the dazing effects of syrin power, Link fully stepped into the room. “Vitanre! ”

“What?” all four answered.

Link blinked...he couldn’t tell them apart “Which one are you?”

“I’m right here!”

“Don’t listen to that beast! I’m here! ”

“Foul, deceiving creature! Do not let it fool you! ”

“I am here! Right here! ”

At that moment, Vitanre (the REAL Vitanre) noted that the syrins attacks became aimed at one another, as well at her.

‘All to befuddle Link! And he cannot tell the real me from them! ’

As though he heard Vitanre’s thought, Link shook his head in frustration...all four looked exactly the same, and were all moving in such flurrying movements that it was impossible to pick Vitanre’s fighting style out of the group. “I can’t tell who’s who! Why aren’t I fainting?”

“Syrins must devote attention to confuse a male! ” one answered, with a mighty thrust high at the head of the Vitanre in front of it, who nimbly dodged.

“I’m keeping them busy enough that they can’t! ” a second answered.

Link helplessly let his sword point drop towards the floor. “...give me some sort of hint here, Vitanre! ”

One of them turned. “Syrins don’t bleed!”

That one, that had just spoken, blocked a swipe just as another cut at her hand. With a cry of pain, the Vitanre stumbled back and grasped at her hand as a severed finger dropped to the stone floor with a splat.

No blood fell from the wound.

“Curse you! ” the injured syrin screeched.

“You gave away the key to your destruction to try and protect yourself, now you pay! Kill it, Link! ” another said, blocking an overhead slash and then kicking her attacker away with a toe to the gut.

Link came forward, Master Sword raising. The syrin backpedaled and struggled to get her weapon up to block Link’s mighty swing, but the Master Sword cleaved right through the scimitar and sliced the creature open from left shoulder to right hip. Squealing, the syrin fell into two pieces to the ground. Link nudged its lower half with his toe...again, no blood. Good, that meant he’d killed a syrin and not the actual Vitanre.

That left three...one real, two syrins. But...how was he going to tell them apart?

Suddenly, one of them helped him to distinguish. She whirled around and drew her weapon across the top of her opposite hand...and bright red blood seeped from the cut.

Turning back just in time to block a slash that would have taken an arm off, Vitanre was then forced to fold in on herself and suck in her stomach to avoid being gutted by the second syrin. Now holding her scimitar with two hands to lend more power to her attacks, and being careful not to allow the blade to fall from blood-slicked fingers, Vitanre began to back up towards Link.

Something whizzed past her ear and parted the hair of one of her attackers. Partially glancing over a shoulder, she caught a glimpse of Link down on one knee, his bow raised with another arrow knocked and tracking. The syrins suddenly realized their danger and began to scramble away, to try and get out of Link’s range, but the hylian pegged one in the throat with a well-aimed arrow and it dropped to the floor.

Leaving its flailing fellow where it was, the last syrin turned and began to flee for the safety of the shadows. Vitanre leapt over the ailing creature thrashing about on the floor and slammed full force into the back of the fleeing syrin.

It screamed as Vitanre’s weight bore them both to the ground. As it squirmed beneath her, Vitanre found the hollow in its lower back and plunged her scimitar down in a reversed two-handed grip. The syrin beneath her bucked and screeched, the scimitar having found the spine of the thing. Pulling her weapon free, Vitanre plunged it down into the back of the neck, and the creature finally fell still.

Standing, Vitanre turned to see Link checking to be sure he’d killed the syrin he’d shot. She sheathed her scimitar and tugged at a sleeve as he stood and turned to her.

“That wasn’t so hard...”

“Mmmhmmm...” she hummed idly, seizing the edge of her sleeve with her teeth and ripping off a strip of fabric, which she wound around her oozing hand.

That taken care of, she grinned at Link. “Sorry to steal your fun. You can have the next batch of monsters all to yourself if you want.”

Link sighed and shook his head, and couldn’t help but grin. It was truly the first time she’d actually smiled since they’d left Merilarmes. He looked at her, as she turned towards the next door.

“Shall we move on then?”

Link nodded curtly, and moved to open the door. Beyond it was a room just like the last one, which was just like the first one...this dungeon was pretty straightforward. Defeat the foes to gain access to the next room.

They slowly edged in, weapons out now and ready to move at the slightest movement. There was no sound, besides that of a slow drip of water hitting stone. Fitting, considering the room was cold and damp, and smelled of mold and mildew. Water was indeed dripping from the ceiling, forming deep puddles on the floor. As of yet, no nasty had shown itself.

They reached the middle of the small room, still without any trouble. Both hylians were getting slightly edgy now...there was a definite wrong feeling to this room. Eyes searched every shadow and corner, one looking forward and one keeping an eye on their backs.

Link paused then, looking around slowly, giving the entire room a once- over. Vitanre moved close, their shoulders nearly touching, and shut her eyes. She took several deep breaths, extending her senses as far as she could force them....then-

“Link! ” was all she managed to cry out, her eyes snapping open, as suddenly the floor became ceiling and vice versa. Their feet left the floor and they plummeted upside down, to smack roughly into the ceiling that was now floor to them.

Link landed hard on his side, all the air rushing out of him in a whoosh and leaving him gasping and momentarily stunned. Vitanre landed by his side on her back, grunting upon impact and then laying there still, moaning in pain.

Dropping down, nearly ontop of them, came two stalfos. With a bellow, the skeleton creatures attacked. Link and Vitanre rolled opposite directions as the gnarled sword of one stalfo came crashing down between them.

Link rolled up to his feet and held his shield up to block as the stalfos separated and came after them. A few more blows connected with his shield before he managed to get his sword up, and then he slashed at the feet of the stalfo before him. It leapt back, then forward again in a powerful lunge. Link side-stepped and slashed, grating his sword down the shield arm of the creature. Grunting, the stalfo began to circle, shield held at the ready.

Off to the side, Vitanre was scrambling away from her stalfo as it mercilessly chased her down. She hadn’t yet made it to her feet, the stalfo pursuing her having landed closer to her than Link’s had, and she being without a shield had put her at an immediate disadvantage. Glancing behind her and seeing that red blade raising for an attack, she flipped over and quickly raised her own weapon to block.

The stalfo’s sword hit hard and true, and sent Vitanre’s scimitar flying from her hands and skittering across the floor. She kicked out roughly and struck the stalfo’s shield and sent it stumbling back just far enough for her to roll to her feet at last. But...now the creature stood between her and her weapon.

Grimacing as it began to circle her, Vitanre reached a hand behind herself and to her belt...and pulled out a whip. It was long and made of cured leather, with a heavy lead ball sewn into the end...it was a whip that Darian had made. Just holding the whip made her feel stronger, and closer to her kidnapped brother.
She dodged to the side as the stalfo hopped forward and slashed, and expertly cracked the whip and smacked the tip of the whip into the shield with a loud clang. Stepping back as it reversed its swing and came for her again, Vitanre swished the whip around and cracked it into the shoulder joint of the stalfo. With a sound that resembled dry leaves crunching underfoot, the shoulder shattered and the arm bearing the sword dropped to the ground.

“Well, come on then,” Vitanre grinned as the stalfo seemed to stare at its own arm for a moment.

Now, it charged, hoping to batter her down with the shield. Vitanre threw herself into a forward roll past the creature and scooped up the dropped blade...shaking off the severed arm in the process of course. Now armed once more, she stuck the whip back into her belt and gripped the sword with both hands. It was heavy and awkward compared to her scimitar, but her own blade had been knocked out of sight and she wasn’t about to spend time looking for it while the stalfo was still after her.

Vitanre took a step and swung the heavy sword at the creature’s head, solidly connecting and knocking the stalfo teetering sideways. She swung again and took its head and half its ribcage off, and finally the stalfo fell to the ground in a clatter of bones...it was defeated. The sword in her hand disintegrated along with the body of its fallen master. Now, Vitanre looked over to check on Link.

Link was no beginner when it came to defeating stalfos. He had long before beaten his, and had been watching Vitanre battle with her stolen blade. He nodded to her, impressed at her skill and inventiveness. She flushed (her face turning so bright red Link could have sworn she was glowing as brightly as the fire coral stick still stuck in her belt) and made her way over to him.

“What were those?” she asked, taking time now to look around for her missing scimitar.

“Stalfos. Mean thi-whoa!”

Suddenly, the world righted itself, and Link and Vitanre hit the REAL floor not quite as hard as they had hit the ceiling. Link sat up and saw Vitanre, eyes wide, anxiously staring upward...in fact, you might say she was franctically searching the ceiling for-

TWANG!

Landing right between Link’s ankles, point buried into the crack between two stones, came Vitanre’s scimitar.

“Uh...there it is?” she said sheepishly.

Link blinked at her...then actually began to chuckle. He got to his feet and yanked the scimitar free, then handed it handle-first back to Vitanre as she too got to her feet.

“Next door then...” he said, once she’d recoiled the whip and stuck it back into her belt. She nodded, shifting her grip on the hilt of the scimitar.
Link crossed the last few feet to the door (without any more room tilts) and pushed it open. To his eyes...the next room was filled with a lush forest. Warily, he stepped inside, Vitanre following close behind, both alert for any sort of movement. There was a narrow path through the room that lead to yet another door, flanked on each side with trees who’s tops disappeared in the darkness of the ceiling. Grass a pleasant shade of green sprouted everywhere, muffling the footsteps of the hylians as they went a few steps further into the room.

“It’s as though...we just walked back outside...” Vitanre remarked, staring incredulously at a low-hanging tree branch. It all seemed very real.

“Be ready...anything could happen in a room like this...” Link warned.

“Indeed.”

Both jumped and strained their eyes, looking for the owner of that voice.

“Who’s there?” Vitanre asked, bringing her scimitar up and pointing it towards the middle of the copse of trees.

A rustle from the greenery, and an odd creature dropped down. It had the approximate shape of an average hyrulian male...but was covered in lurid green feathers that glistened in the light cast from Vitanre’s fire coral. Sprouting from its back were large wings akin to those of a hawk, colored a slightly darker green than the body. On its hands were three-inch long black talons, instead of fingernails...and they could only guess that his feet were clawed as well.

In its crouching position, neither Link nor Vitanre could see the curiosity’s face...only its bowed head and quivering wings. As though it had read their minds, the being stood slowly. As it raised up, it lifted its head and stared at the hylians with blood-red eyes. Its facial features were also hyrulian-based...in all, the creature looked like a strange cross between man and bird.

“And what are you?” Vitanre asked, eyes narrowing.

“You may call me Marl. I am the last safeguard the grand Tsuko placed to protect his medallion. I alone test individuals who would make the medallion their own. If you can best me in combat, I shall allow you to pass. If not, then your bones shall lay here with the others, to turn to dust,” the creature said simply with a shrug of its feathered shoulders.

“I see no bones,” Link said. “How can we know that the medallion lies beyond that door?”

Marl clucked his tongue and shook his head. “One lesson you should learn is never take things at face value.” With that, he flung out his arms to the sides and screeched loudly. At once, the beautiful forest melted away, having been just a grand illusion, and behind the green was yet another dank and dreary stone and earth room...with the bones of seemingly two dozen beings strewn about the place.
“If you never learn to look beyond what is there, then your remains shall fall here and now,” Marl said, lowering his arms and clicking his teeth together. “Do you believe yourself worthy to pass me?”

Vitanre stepped forward, silent fires burning in her gaze as she lifted her gleaming scimitar into fighting stance. “I will pass. The life of my brother and the fate of a land depends on it.”
“I too shall pass,” Link said, stepping up beside Vitanre. “I have seen hardship, suffering and despair at the hands of pure evil, and have vanquished my fair share of enemies. I will not step down from my fate.”

“Determination is the key to success. I applaud you on that,” Marl said. “But...you shall not pass me with fancy words and truths! You shall FIGHT!”

With that, Marl flung himself at the two hylians, all pretense of blinking bird-man gone; now replaced with a clicking, hissing mad beast that winged its way forwards, slashing with sharp talons that would tear them to pieces.

Link caught the first assault on the Master Sword, sparks flying as claw and steel clashed together. He was forced to bring his shield up, and Vitanre was forced to duck, as Marl began to beat them with his powerful wings.

Suddenly, Marl pushed off roughly and shot up into the darkness, out of sight.

“And so we begin ” he shouted down from his hiding place...leaving the hylians no choice but to watch closely and be ready for his attacks...