The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of time Part 7

Water isn’t always pure

A distant figure walked hurriedly, North-east. The mirror-like surface
of the river was broken as he waded through trying to reach the small patch of
land in front of him. Stepping upon the land he broke into a run as he moved up
the slope of the hill. The sun was lowering in the sky sending out shards and
streaks of warm colours, which reflected patchily in the moving water. The sun
sank and the moon rose over head and the sky turned a deep
velvet blue.

The howl of a Wolfos broke as night came around, the moon spot-lighting
plants and creatures and accentuating the rock faces that surrounded Zora’s
River. The water to his right rapidly surged and crashed into the rivers banks
threatening to collapse them. A fairly large leaf hovered magically a couple of
inches off the ground, next to the black iron fence that blocked the rest of
the land. Link stepped up onto the leaf and it immediately rose of the ground
and carried him to the bridge that led to the Waterfall that protected the
entrance to Zora’s domain. He jumped off and quietly walked over the bridge and
up the winding paths to the showery veil that flowed over the opening. Link
stood on the metal plaque that lay on the floor and was inscribed with a clue,
and looked up at the sky. It had turned from a vivid blue colour to a dull
dusty grey that completely blocked out the moon and stars. As he was staring at
the sky in dismay he saw pure white flecks of snow falling, he held out his
hand and caught one, watching it melt and the water soak into his leather
gauntlet. Rummaging around in his tunic Link finally brought out the Ocarina
and played Zelda’s Lullaby, the water slowed and Link jumped over to the ledge
and gazed out at Zora’s River as an incredible feeling of dread washed over
him.

A chill settled around Link as he walked into Zora’s Domain and he took
in a gasp of the cold frosty air. Zora’s Domain had once been a beautiful place
with crystal clear fresh flowing water; aquatic life had lived here in bliss,
from the Zora’s to the fish and plants, now however the only moving thing was
Link. All the water had been frozen leaving an uninhabitable ice palace, true,
in a way seeing the ice glinting like diamonds in the weak light from outside
was beautiful but there had always been life here and the sounds of flowing
water. Even the large waterfall stood now as a frozen pillar leaning against
the wall.

"Why is it that every place I enter, there is no life, nothing moving”
Link asked in dismay

"You have that effect on people Link” Navi replied

“Not a time for joking Navi, come on let’s see if he’s royal largeness,
King Zora is in”

Link walk ed up the steps, looking at the icicles that hung from the
ceiling, watching Navi as she flitted ahead of him and disappeared into the
white light ahead.

"Link! Come here quickly”
Shouted Navi’s high pitched voice

"Why? What’s happened? Is King Zora about to eat you? Oh, now that would
be a shame wouldn’t it” Link shouted up to her sarcastically, while wondering
what life would be like without Navi. He sighed contentedly as he thought about
that.

Link reached the top step and his eyes widened at what he saw. Encased
in what looked like a block of red glass, was the gargantuan King of the Zoras’.
The surprised Hylian raised an eyebrow as he wondered how this could have
happened.

“D’you reckon he’s still alive?” Link asked the
luminous orb that was floating above his head

"I dunno, he could be go and have a look”

“Why me?I have to walk all the way
round, you could just fly up there look and come back”

“I haven’t good as good as eyesight as you”

“Stop making lame excuses, will you”

“I’m serious”

“How come then that you always spot things when there really far away
and I don’t” Link asked trying to out do her

“I have a better vantage point, and besides you’re the Hero, not me”

“Humph”

He ran round the slope and up to the frozen king and peered through the
smooth surface. He saw the King’s body moving slightly as he took in shallow
breaths.

“Well, at least he’s breathing, but what is this stuff” Link brushed his
fingers on the polished surface, as he did so an icy numbness spread throughout
his hand which was quickly replaced by a burning feeling. He retracted his hand
from the block and rubbed his fingers, trying to get rid of the stinging
sensation.

“What’s wrong with your hand?” Navi asked, not sounding particularly
interested

Link merely ignored her and looked up at the mass in front of him

“Aw, is the poor wimpy hero in too much pain to answer”

“Navi will you be quiet. I know this sounds weird so don’t freak out on
me but…”

“But what?” She asked sounding sceptical

“When I touched that ice stuff…”

“YES! WILL YOU GET ON WITH YOUR SENTENCE ALREADY? FINISH IT! NOW!”

“Well, when I touched it…” He paused seeing how much he could annoy Navi

"LISTEN YOU POINTED EARED LITTLE FREAK. I DON’T CARE HOW MUCH PAIN
YOU’RE IN OR HOW MUCH YOU’RE WONDERING; JUST FINISH THE GOD DAMN SENTENCE!!!!”

"Keep your hair on” Link told the enraged fairy

"WELL?”

"Well when I touched the ice, it felt normal, really cold, but then the
cold was replaced with a like, well, burning sensation”

“Well, that is strange I suppose this stuff is just red ice, despite the
fact that you just got burnt…by it”

“At least the entrance to Zora’s fountain is still open, c’mon Navi”
Link took one last look at the frozen king, turned away and walked down the ice
covered path.

“Are you telling me that we’re just going to leave him like that?”

“That’s all we can do, besides, there might be something it Zora’s
fountain we could use to free him”

Link turned around and walked into the shallow water.

Upon entering Zora’s fountain, Link stared around, a blank
expressionless look on his face. He had now got so used to things being a lot
different after seeing the domain, that nothing really surprised him anymore.
Navi however let out a small squeak, in shock. Like Zora’s Domain there was ice
everywhere, only this ice was floating in the large pool of water, as opposed
to completely freezing it. The Oktoroks were still hiding beneath the surface
of the water but the mammoth of a fish (more like a whale) Jabu – Jabu, had
gone. Link walked up the steps onto the platform, which Jabu-Jabu’s head used
to rest, in place of the fish was a large piece of ice. Link ran up and
narrowly avoided skidding off the end; he looked down into the murky water and
noticed that there seemed to be a large mass at the bottom surrounded by a halo
of light. He kneeled down and craned his neck over the waters surface and
squinted his eyes as to see it better, he lowered himself completely onto the
ice. The icy coldness stung Link’s body as he lay on it, the tip of his nose
was almost touching the water, and he made out a shape near the back of the
creature and recognised it as a tail, a very large fish tail. It turned out
that Jabu-Jabu had been encased in ice and had sunk to the bottom of the water
filled crater.

Link got up brushing off the ice that was clinging to his tunic and
jumped onto one of the large pieces of ice that was floating nearby. He
continued jumping from one frosty stepping stone to the next; he collected a
piece of heart and continued over to the cave that stood to the left of the
platform near the entrance to the fountain. He turned and entered the ice
cavern. It took Link a good half an hour to get to the end of the cavern, apart
from the ice keese that kept freezing him there were ice knights, spinning
blades and several of those things that skid across the floor and try to hit
you when you get near them. He had however learned how to melt the red ice, by
using blue fire (well, you never would have guessed would you?). When Link
reached came to the end he fought a rather large white wolfos.

Link stood admiring the room, now that the wolfos had gone; the walls
seemed to be made from stars and multiple streaks of colours, much like the
ones inside the Fairy & Great Fairy Fountains.

A noise made Link turn and he saw the familiar Sheikah standing there,
in his normal relaxed but wary pose, he seemed to be unaffected by the cold,
Link however was shivering very slightly.

A childish dream becomes noble ambition

Young love becomes deep affection

The clear waters surface
reflects growth

Now listen to the Serenade of
Water, to reflect upon yourself”

The song was taught to Link and then Sheik disappeared.

Link turned back and found a Chest in the middle of the room; he walked
over to it and lifted the lid, finding that it wasn’t locked. Inside were a pair of rather heavy looking boots, the soles of
which were made out of cast iron. He changed into them and looked down at a
small rectangular patch of water and slid into it, hoping it wasn’t too deep.

Once out of the water Link changed back into his regular footwear and
rang the water out of his tunic.

"You know Link, if you start choking underwater, you can always take the
boots off”

"Really Navi! I never would have guessed
that, thank you so much for letting me know. It’s greatly appreciated” he
retorted sarcastically, snapping at her.

Link continued out of the cavern and to Zora’s Fountain and tried to
leap over to the ice floating nearby; instead however he plummeted straight
into the water. The icy water felt like knives stabbing him all over his body.
He started to swim towards the land.

“Have you ever heard of ‘Look before you leap’ Link?”

"I’m not even going to dignify that with answer”

He continued swimming and made it to the land and stood in the shallower
water, which came halfway up his thigh. He suddenly shivered and rubbed his
hands over his arms trying to keep warm. The results however were, less than
satisfactory and Link sneezed loudly, causing Navi to giggle. He rolled his
eyes and walked out the water, back to Zora’s Domain.

As soon as Link got back in Zora’s Domain he uncorked the bottle that
held the blue fire and emptied it onto the red ice, which king Zora was encased
in. The ice melted and the King carried on as if nothing had ever
happened.  Link jumped onto the platform
that stood in front of King Zora, he spoke to him and when the King realised
that Link had saved him he gave him a Zora’s tunic as a reward, this would
allow Link to breathe underwater.

Link ran out of the Kings’ chamber and slipped on the ice and slid on
his backside all the way to the edge of the waterfall… and stopped. As he sat
there he noticed a scratching noise and killed the Golden Skultula that was on
the wall on his left. He stood up, as he did his foot slipped off the icy curve
and plunged down, with the rest of his body following.

Sometime later, Link was removing himself from the floor, he groaned as
he got up, wincing at the pain in his body.

“Next time I’ll be a bit more careful” Link muttered

"Look b...” Navi started

“IF THAT SENTENCE ENDS WITH ‘BEFORE YOU LEAP’ I WILL KILL SOMETHING,
MAINLY YOU” Link screamed at the fairy

She gulped and closed her mouth as she continued to circle Link’s head.
Link without saying a word to Navi, played the
‘Serenade of Water’ and warped to Lake Hylia When he arrived
at the platform in the middle of the Lake (if it could be called that), his
eyes widened slightly as he took in the sight before him. Lake Hylia could no
longer be called a lake. It had dried up and was now just an empty crater, as
Link wondered again how something like this could have happened, it began to
rain.Great’ thought Link. He moved
under the tree and changed tunics, to the blue Zora tunic. He quickly checked
that he had no injuries from falling off the waterfall and dove into what
little water there was. He slipped on the iron boots underwater and opened up
the Water Temple.

Link took of the Iron boots and resurfaced, inside the water temple. He
stood on the stone in front of him and looked around; the temple was filled
with water, pure and crystal clear, in front of him was a large sort of cream
coloured structure, with ornate patterns carved into it. There were ledges
surrounding the under- water chamber, leading off to other parts on the temple,
the floor was simply sand with rocks on the bottom of it and on the platforms
of the structure in front of him were water tektites.

“Hey Link, d’you reckon that Princess Ruto has got over her crush on you
yet” She teased

"It seems woefully unlikely, Navi” He replied emphasising ‘Woefully’. He
slipped on the boots again and sank to the bottom of the temple, taking the
first passage he saw. He ran to the end of it and came face to face with none
other than Princess Ruto herself.

Oh dear Gods” Link muttered

“Link, Well, Hello, I’ve been waiting for you”

“Uh – huh”

“It’s me your fiancée, Ruto, Princess of the Zoras”

Navi snickered and Link muttered something along the lines of ‘Kill Me’
under his breath.

“You’re a bad man, making me wait all these years”

“Yeah, um, sorry … about …that” Link replied, not sounding particularly
honest.

“Well, now is not the time to talk about love”

“Oh, Thank the Gods”

“What?”

“Uh, nothing, I just think we should get down to business”

“Ohh, I love it when you talk dirty Link”

“Ahhhhhhh”

“But we can’t do that before we’re married” Ruto continued and let Link
go.

He travelled through-out the temple until he came to a room that didn’t
feel right to him. He felt a severe sense
of cold, frosty air and a definite wetness around his feet, he looked down to
notice that the whole room was filled very slightly with water, pure and clear,
it was a strange experience, he had never seen such water of this purity, he
saw his reflection and the reflection of the ceiling which was a basic flat
ceiling with an art deco effect in each corner which he could barely make out.
He looked around scanning the room further. A heavy fog was laced into the
air  around but nothing that could be a
distraction of the sight before him, the sight being a single tree, right in
the centre of the room even though he could not tell how big the room was
because of the fog but it was obviously vast, he walked towards it .The tree
got bigger as he paced but was very small, and very dead, not a leaf on it , he
hadn’t yet noticed that Navi had not followed him to the tree until now, she
had sensed something as well as Link and he took out the master sword from it’s
scabbard on his back followed by his shield. Navi floated aimlessly in the air
for a few seconds looking in the opposite direction behind Link and then
shouted to him

“LOOK OUT LINK, BEHIND YOU”

Link had come to learn that
when her voice was that urgent he had better take her seriously. He spun around
to see why she had screamed and saw why; standing in front of Link was a man
who looked like a shadow. Link stood, ready for an attack with his sword raised
high and pointing towards the figure…….nothing.., the figure merely stared at
the floor, Link was in a large amount of shock that the figure was wearing
Kokiri clothing like his own but in black, staining the clear water beneath
them both, he was holding an exact copy of the master sword in his right hand,
the only difference was that the handle was jet black and the blade looked
iron, Link’s Master Sword was platinum coated with steel, the figure held a
copy of a Hylian shield in his left, these were the opposite hands to how Link
held them. It was definitely male and obviously not Kokiri faith, then it hit him….Link's eyes
widened as the man looked up and he saw that it was Link himself but with pitch
black skin. Link noticed his fingers were tightly wrapped around the hilt of
the master sword copy as if it were afraid it would fall to the floor if he
didn’t hold it tightly enough. The copy of Link started playing mind games with
Link, trying to break Link down so he would be vulnerable to attack. It spoke
to him in a deep and spiteful voice. Link stood still poised to attack, but he
started to breathe heavier as the demons voice pierced into his mind.It then swung it’s sword around showing off it’s skill, then raised it
to point it at Link in an attempt to startle him, it didn’t work, it lowered
its sword and stared at Links feet and saw the water ripple and creating
miniature waves as his pulse raced and his heart pounded against his ribs, like
a bird trying frantically to escape a cage. It then looked back up at Link and
smirked through finding that Link was not the fearless warrior that the
creature thought he was.

“Why are you afraid
Link?" it asked still smirking, it said its counterparts name as though he
had a bad taste in its mouth

 "is it because deep down you know that you
could defeat all the greatest warriors before you, perhaps even the mighty
Ganondorf,… but not your dark side ?" it went on as it raised an eyebrowlang. It looked at Link
directly, and then Link noticed that it had blood red eyes.

Link spoke to it, his voice
trembling “What do you want from me?" he asked

“Your life” it replied. It
then lunged at Link and they clashed swords and locked for a few seconds before
it finally said, "Conquer yourself!" The battle raged on neither of
them making much progress, they had both made lethal injuries on each other but
none had made headway against the other. Link was now bleeding badly, his life
force flowing from his veins; his enemy had pushed his sword through Link’s
left shoulder. However, when he had been that close Link had sliced down Dark
Link’s chest, opening a gap, now un-protected by clothing. Link’s blade had
slid horizontally down, as if the flesh 
were a loaf of bread, this left the ribs exposed so the lungs could be seen
inflating and then deflating as it took breaths. They both took a moment to
assess each other’s injuries. On Link, as well as the major cut through his
shoulder, which made it hard for Link to use his sword, because of the pain,
there was a long slit down Link’s face, it started at his hairline and ran down
past the right side of his nose, over his lips and ended at his chin. The blood
from this cut had run into Link’s right eye reducing his visibility, there were
also scratches in various places on his body. Dark Link had several long scratches
across his stomach and arms as well as the main cut down his chest. The two
figures lunged at each other again, dropping their swords as they collided;
they took each other to the floor, struggling to get on top. Link was suddenly
on top; however, Dark Link drew the Kokiri’s sword (Link had kept it as a
dagger) from its scabbard, which was strapped to Link’s left thigh. He brought
his arm back and plunged the short sword into Link’s stomach. Link cried out
and Dark Link took advantage of Link’s pain, he pulled himself on top of Link,
grabbed the sword and turned it in a circle as it was still in Link’s stomach,
severely damaging Link’s liver. Dark Link then got up and kicked Link in the
face
and body, Link grunted as each blow took place, but he ripped the blade from
his stomach and sprung to his feet. Dark
Link stood shocked and Link took the opportunity to get his foe back, he ran up
to him grabbed him by the shoulders and rammed his knee into Dark Link’s groin,
he crumpled onto the floor and Link ran to get his weapons back. Dark Link saw
this and struggled to get his own blade back, Link ran back to him and they
looked at each other with steely eyes, they dodged each others attacks but Link
found that Dark Link had become slightly slower than Link himself. He waited,
swung his blade at Dark Link, stopped it mid swing and sank his sword into its
heart, before it had time to realize what had happened, he withdrew his blade
and stared at it as it faded. Link looked at it and as it fell it said one
thing ‘Nice Job, you’re good’ and then it died. Link watched it and looked at
its heart through Dark Link’s punctured lung, as it suddenly stopped beating.
The black figure faded away until there was no sign a battle took place, but
the scratches and wounds on Link. Several bruises had now formed, darkening
Link’s skin to a purplish-black colour. He collapsed onto his knees and tried
to get his breath back, his wounds were still bleeding although the amount of
blood from his shoulder was now only trickling in drops into the water, turning
the water red. He sat down and lay on his back, exhausted form the battle.
Finally he sat up again wincing at the pain in the his stomach, it burned like
fire but he brought out a bottle of red potion and drank it, it didn’t make him
feel any better for the moment but all the same it would help the wounds heal
quicker, though the Triforce within him, would do most of the work. He stood up
and looked around the room, he hadn’t noticed that the fog had cleared until
now and he could see the walls of the room which were just blue. Link turned
around and walked over to the Kokiri’s sword, which he had ripped from his
stomach, he looked at the blade, it was covered in his blood and it looked as
though it had been dipped in red paint. He brought out a rag which he used to
clean his swords and wiped the blade clean, revealing its silvery colour again.
He sheathed it in its holder against his thigh. Walking over to the tree, he
sat down next to it and leaned his head back. He quickly fell asleep, Navi who
was hovering nearby watched him, she wouldn’t even bother to try and wake him,
he was badly injured and needed rest.

When Link awoke he was stiff and sore, his muscles ached and his wounds
immediately stung again, he looked around and found Navi lying on the floor
sleeping next to where he was slumped. He smiled softly as he looked down at
her, though she could be annoying she still looked cute at the moment, her
wings were drooping and brushing against the floor, the light that surrounded her
was dimmer and he could make out her small human form within the halo of tinted
white light that surrounded around her, he hadn’t noticed before but the white
was tinted with blue. He slid his hand underneath her, lifting her up, it was
only now that he really studied her, if she had been a regular size, he could
see her attracting a lot of attention, as she was very pretty. He softly said
her name and she awoke. The glow about her miniscule body immediately
brightened, she lay in his palm for a few more minutes before stretching her
wings and taking to the air again.

"Are you ready to carry on again Navi?” Link asked her as he stood up

"Yeah… but are you, you’re badly hurt Link” for once Navi was actually
being nice

“I’ll be fine, besides if the goddesses really want me to defeat Ganondorf, theyll make sure I'll survive”

“But you won’t be able to fight like that, not and win anyway”

"Navi... have faith in me will you”

“Alright”

They continued through out the temple and eventually came to a room that
contained the boss. Link sat down and released a fairy to ease his weariness;
he relaxed slightly as it healed his wounds a little more and recovered his
strength completely. He checked his wounds which he had primitively tied a rag
over as a kind of bandage. He stood up and wiped the sweat from his forehead,
with the sleeve of his once white under shirt (I say once white because it’s
probably red or black by now). Standing up he walked over to a pot and smashed
it and bottled the fairy that had been briefly set free. He put the bottle away
and checking he had the right equipment out, Longshot (it’s been adapted),
Fairy Bow and the Ocarina (for no apparent reason, other than he fancied having
it out) he opened the door and entered the room. The room like all the others
in this temple had blue walls and a light blue ceiling. The bottom of the walls
were lined with spikes in most places, although there were gaps. He looked at
the pool in front of him, it was large covering nearly the entire floor apart
from the rim that Link was standing, inside the pool were four large square
platforms. He wondered what kind of boss was in this room, something aquatic
obviously. He walked nearer the edge and noticed something swirling underneath
the surface and instantly drew his sword. At this point the boss reared up from
the water. It was a long thing watery worm; it was bright blue in colour and
seemed to sparkle at the light in the temple. In the middle of it was a small,
round, pink, brain type of thing, which was a nucleus. This was Morpha, a giant
(and they mean giant!) aquatic amoeba. Link stepped back and eyed the creature
watching it carefully. It suddenly shot out a few tendrils and Link narrowly
avoided being grabbed by them. Navi screamed to Link something about The Long shot. Link took her advice and patiently waited when the nucleus
was spinning around again he used the Longshot to drag the nucleus away from
Morpha and then hit it with his sword. This was repeated several times by Link,
until he missed grabbing the Nucleus. The tendrils shot and wrapped around Link
and dragged him back to Morpha, he struggled, kicked and bucked like an enraged
bull, trying to get Morpha to loosen its grip, he continued to pull, tug and
tried to push the wet coils off him nothing worked. He stopped for a moment to
try and catch his breath and felt the snake like body tighten around his,
trying to crush him and force the air out of his lungs. He screamed loudly in
pain but it was suddenly cut off as all the air left his lungs. He was suddenly
slammed into the wall, probably a little higher than Morpha wanted because he
didn’t become impaled on the spikes. Link lay on the floor dragging air back
into his lungs, but he shot up and ran when he saw the tendrils fly at him
again. Link went back to repeating the process of killing Morpha. It was over
soon and Morpha was slain, its body returned to pure water and the water
drained from the room and back out into the lake outside. Link heard this
through the walls of the Temple and grabbed the Heart Container and finally ran
into the blue light that would carry him to the Chamber of Sages.

He arrived in his familiar spot of the Chamber and looked immediately at
the saddened Zora in front of him. A very depressed Princess Ruto stood before
him. She told him of how she could no longer marry him, as she was a sage. Link
was glad about this but could not help but feel sorry for her when he saw how
upset she was. But, before he could say anything to comfort her he was
transported back to Lake Hylia after receiving the water medallion.

It had turned to day again and the sun was shining brightly overhead,
the dark grey clouds were gone leaving nothing but clear blue sky. He pulled
off the blue Zora’s tunic and the stained white under-shirt, he rang the water
out of them and dropped them on the floor and proceeded to remove every article
of clothing, save for the black shorts he wore as underwear. He dumped them all
into a pile on the floor and then dug out the Ocarina from his clothes and
played Epona’s song. The mare ran over the rope bridge quickly, with no fear of
falling, she reached Link and he reached into her saddlebag and pulled out a
towel. He quickly dried his hair and body off, wrapped the towel around his
waist and lay on his back, glad to feel the sun against his body.

Standing up, he pulled a green tunic, white leggings, white under-shirt,
black shorts and the rest of his clothing out of the saddle bag. Link stripped
off the shorts and quickly changed into the clean, dry clothes. When he
finished changing and was about to mount Epona, Sheik appeared. He assured Link
that Princess Zelda was safe and congratulated Link on his defeat of the
creature in the Water Temple. Link was still wondering where Sheik had come
from and deduced that he must have been hiding behind the tree, and in fact, he
had! (PERVERT!)

Once Sheik had gone Link read the slab that was on the floor nearby,
flipped into the tree, miraculously jumped across the water to the platform
nearby and shot an arrow at the sun. In return he received Fire Arrows. He used
the Longshot to return to the platform and then mounted Epona. He rode across
the bridge, out of Lake Hylia and onto Hyrule field.