Chapter Ten: The Crypt of the High Priest
Golem screamed loudly, his demonic shriek echoing through all of Hyrule for as far as there were ears to hear. He raised his stone blade slowly as the Triforce Team rushed behind him, weapons drawn, stances struck. The black of the field was lit up with a flash of immense red in the sky, and the cloud over Death Mountain suddenly exploded with a brilliance far beyond anything previously seen in the Hylian sky. This cloud had been special however, it wasn’t full of rain; no, it was full of liquid magma, and it was slowly spreading across the other clouds, like a sick disease.
Down from the top of the crater of Death Mountain flowed an incredible amount of lava as well, so much so that the mountain appeared to be dyed a glowing orange in the black sky. This was Golem’s plan. To cover Hyrule in magma until all life ceased except for him and the Gruid-noms. The Triforce Team had to do something to stop it, no matter how far into the events they already were.
“Golem….they are here,” the Dark Knight said quietly, sword drawn.
“We will dispose of them,” Golem said quietly.
“Like hell!” Jet yelled, rushing at Golem with his Royal Family’s sword drawn. He struck the beast in the back, then stabbed at his knee once more, but to his shock, it did no damage. Golem laughed. He turned and faced Jet, punching him in the face. Blood flew from his mouth and onto the grass of the field just seconds before he himself fell.
“Triforce of Wisdom!!!” Zelda yelled, the golden light shining in the darkness and hitting the demonic creature. Again, the attack was useless. Samus blasted Golem with her Ice Spreader, encasing him in crystalline ice. Impa ran forward, cutting the left wing from Golem’s back with her machete. The warm blood of the creature melted the ice, and it cried out inhumanly, slashing at Impa. The Sheikah blocked with her machete, throwing a Deku nut to the ground and disappearing in the flash, reappearing several feet away.
“Do not stand dormant, attack! Attack!!!” Golem screamed at the Dark Knight, blood spilling to the grass at an alarming rate. He nodded, slashing at Shinota, who ducked, digging in his satchel and throwing a handful of his poison powder at the Dark Knight. He screamed loudly, the grains penetrating his visor and stinging his eyes. Shinota followed up by stabbing the Dark Knight in the shoulder with his dagger.
Things again were going in the favor of the Triforce Team, but with a flash of white light their hopes were cut down to nearly nothing. There was a dark laugh, followed by the sound of a large blade formulating from nothing, and all slowly turned to face the third evil, Mandrag Ganon.
“Heh heh heh….I do hope you all know just how serious I am being when I say I will be the only one who will leave this field alive,” Ganon said with a grimacing smile.
“We don’t have the time for this Ganon,” Zelda said, readying her whip.
“Neither do I your highness, neither do I,” Ganon said, raising his fist and outstretching his palm. The dark matter in his hand exploded into thousands of electrified black ropes, each one flying into someone in the battlefield, piercing the skin or armor, wrapping around limbs, even tripping. The might of Golem was even tested. Ganon had gotten even stronger. The team had small hopes of victory in this moment.
“So….you’re really Link II?” Gogetta asked.
“The one and only….except….second,” Link II answered.
“Well where’s your dad? My dad’s been looking for your dad for next to forever,” Gogetta asked.
“I don’t know my dad. I was raised by a man named Lei,” Link II answered.
“Where is he?” Samson asked.
“He should be up-,” Link II was cut off.
“I’m right here,” Lei answered. He was dressed in the blue armor of the Doomknocker warriors, a blade sheathed at his side, and two battleaxes behind his back.
“You’re a….a….,” Samson’s voice trailed off.
“I’m a Hylian….in disguise,” Lei said, removing the blue helmet. He had short brown hair and yellow eyes like that of a wolf.
“Oh! Well how did you find Link II?” Gogetta asked.
“That is a story that I will tell in much detail later, preferably with your parents, for now, what are you two doing here?” Lei asked.
“They are here with us. We are looking for the Scroll of Shurutoken,” Ogre answered, appearing behind Gogetta and Samson.
“That’s in the Crypt of the High Priest!” Link II exclaimed in shock.
“So?” Ogre asked.
“So!!!? So!!!!? The Hylia High Priest was an incredibly powerful wizard! There’s not a doubt in my mind that the crypt is rigged with booby traps!” Link II answered.
“I apologize. He is young and speaks his mind without thoughts for the repercussion. But I must also question the saneness of such a decision. Why do you seek this scroll?” Lei asked.
“We need to summon Blackfin,” Al’Rashid answered.
“Are you mad?!” Lei asked in disbelief.
“No. We plan to use his powers to defeat Golem,” Al’Rashid answered.
“Golem is awakened?! …very well. We will aid you in the city, but I must meet with the king in return for my knowledge,” Lei said.
“I can do ya’ one better. Being the prince of Hyrule and all….I might be able to get you on the team,” Gogetta said.
“What about me?!” Link II asked, pouting.
“You’re already on the team. You were from birth,” Samson explained.
“Yay!!!!” Link II yelled happily.
“Now….let us go,” Lei said slowly, latching his helmet back about his face.
“This is my world! Any who challenge that one fact will taste pain!” Ganon yelled, blasting dark orbs at all on the field. Golem angrily blasted magma at Ganon, a smoking burn now breaching through his armor. Jet ran forward, sword in hand, shooting the Dark Knight with a Ki blast, followed directly by a stab to the shoulder. He angrily swung his blade down, cutting Jet in the shoulder. He backed away, bleeding.
Kafei attacked Golem, blasting him with the Mystic Ice, then attacking with his dagger. Samus followed a similar pattern, attacking with the Ice Beam and Diffusion missiles, then lashing out with something more powerful. He was being wore down slowly, but they knew he had something up his sleeve. Chances were by the time they wore him to the brink of defeat he would pull another trick to make the fight impossible to win once more.
“Mystic Light!!!!” Zelda yelled, firing the pure beams at the King of Evil. He was hurt and bleeding, but made no notice, launching a blade of dark matter in Zelda’s way. She leapt to the side, whipping Ganon in the side of the face, causing blood to run down his face from the wound made. The Dark Knight raised his fist, charging the magic of the Mystic Fire into his palm slowly, aiming it at Zelda’s back.
Lord Deimos ran at the Dark Knight quickly, and he redirected the aim of his attack, launching it at Deimos instead, he batted the fire into the distance, impaling the Dark Knight upon his blade. With a loud cry of demonic tone the Dark Knight dropped his blade, falling to his knees, the length of the blade in his chest and sticking out of his back, a profuse amount of blood running down the metal and onto the grass below him. He struggled for several seconds as if he was trying to speak, then went limp. Deimos kicked the corpse off of his blade, wiping it clean.
The ruins of the Hylia city were incredible, the very buildings and roads under a blue hue from the darkening night sky. It was indeed the only place in Hyrule beyond the black clouds of Golem’s dark spell. Even though this itself was probably the effect of another spell, they couldn’t complain. The light, no matter how small, was much better than the shadow the rest of the world had been cast into.
They headed quickly into the graveyard, past the grand houses of blue and green, and into a much more desolate area. The graves were covered in webs from the colony of Skulltulas living near the graveyard, but the crypt at the head of the area was surprisingly clean.
“Even the animals and insects stay away from this place….that is how dark of a feeling it conveys,” Lei said slowly.
“Yeah, I don’t want to do this very much,” Link II said slowly.
“Yes, but we have to…you have shown us the crypt, if you wish to leave we will not judge you,” Ogre said.
“No…I need to talk to the king….and I will aid you to earn that right. To whatever end you may meet in this crypt. It is that urgent,” Lei said without a tone of indecision in his voice.
“Very well then, we travel,” Al’Rashid began.
“Stop! It’s gonna be real dark-like in there, right? So let’s just light things up a bit, eh?” Link II said with a grin, pulling a Deku stick from a bag strapped to his belt. He started a fire and lit the stick with such speed and precision one would think he had used magic from the very heavens.
“Alright, not, let’s do this!” Samson yelled. They slowly walked in.
“That’s one down!” Ganon said in reference to the Dark Knight. He formed a long double bladed staff out of his seemingly infinite supply of dark matter. The Dark Knight was dead, but Golem and Ganon had gotten stronger, and the odds were still highly stacked against them.