Chapter 7: The Great Parasite Chapter 9: When is a Hero?
Chapter 8: The Door of Time
The Kokiri dove in opposite directions as the space they had been standing in was charged and sizzled.
“Now to deal with this thing,” Link said, looking grimly along his boomerang at the large purple blob. All the jellyfish were gone. “This seems to neutralize electric objects. I wonder what it will do here.” He flung it at a bulbous shape on the top of the monster. The barymede turned a dark purple-green colour.
Rana shouted, smacking it with her sword edge. It quivered and shook violently. Then it began to bounce around. Link grabbed Rana and Naeri grabbed Navi, pulling them to a safer place. The thing began to tire out and rolled to a stop. Then it pulled itself upright and swivelled its turrets. Link threw his boomerang and dodged, but it didn’t shoot. It was stuck again, paralysed by the shock of the boomerang.
Link and Rana slashed at it, tearing large wet chunks out of it. Rana was starting to look pale, and Link waved her back. It trembled and began to bounce, and after only a few bounces, swelled with red lumps and exploded, covering everyone in green and purple goo and blue blood. Rana had turned green.
“Blechhhhh. I want a bath.”
A portal appeared behind them.
“Hey!” Ruto’s voice called. Navi flew up abruptly, startled. The Zora princess was frowning at them, and Link resignedly wondered what she would be squeaking about this time.
“Come on! You’re just a pair of kids! You’re awful at being heroes! Let’s get out of here!” Ruto scolded. Link stalked to the warp and faced the angry-looking princess. Rana tiptoed in behind him.
The first thing Link saw, after the blankness of warp space faded from his eyes, was Ruto’s face, dangerously close to his own. He flinched, lost his balance, grabbed hold of Rana, fell off the log he was standing, and yelled with his mouth full of water. Ruto dived in more gracefully and came up close to him.
“You! You were really great.” She blushed and smirked. “I was kidding in there. Is there anything I can do for you, to thank you?”
“I must ask for the Spiritual Stone of Water, Zora’s Sapphire. I need it to…”
“Okay! My mother told me only to give it to the man I’m going to marry… you could call it the Zora’s Engagement Ring instead. Here!”
Link gulped as he took the sapphires set in gold. ‘She certainly changed her tune,’ he thought to himself.
“You’re planning to… marry me?”
“Well, of course! You saved my life! And there’s what my mother said, too.”
“But I only need the stone to…”
“Never mind about that. I don’t care. We’ll just keep it our little secret, okay? Okay, Rana?”
“Okay,” said Link, relieved to not promise anything foolish.
“Okay,” copied Rana. Ruto smiled dreamily and swam away.
Rana took off her boots with a little effort and flung them to shore. “The good thing about warping to here is that we can wash off all that guck.” She rubbed her arms and legs vigorously, grinning happily. Her colour was much better.
Link did the same. “Now, we have to go to the Temple of Time to put these Stones in their proper places and tell the princess…”
“Let’s go!” They grabbed their boots, walked past King Zora and Ruto, bowed respectfully, and ran down the stairs and out of the waterfall.
“Hi, Shoza!” called Rana.
“Hi, people!” Shoza yelled back. “You were gone a long time.”
“We have to go to Hyrule Castle, right away, quickly, but we’ll come back as soon as we’re able to.”
“Okay,” said Shoza, climbing out to walk with them to the entrance. “Just one thing: you rock, dudes.” He winked. “I already heard you saved the princess. See ya!”
“See you around, Shoza,” Link replied. Then the Kokiri jumped through the waterfall to the world outside.
“Let’s walk,” said Rana. “I’ve had enough swimming for a while.”
“Fair enough.” They ran down the river, crossed the bridge, and ran towards the town. Their clothes were getting pretty dry, although Rana was complaining of water in her boots being very uncomfortable. Then Naeri noticed something.
“The bridge is up!”
“There are dark clouds in the sky,” Link noted grimly. “It’s not normal. I wonder what’s going on.”
The gate began to open. A white horse at full gallop streaked out, barely missing the two children. They heard a cry, and saw the white face of Princess Zelda and the tanned one of Impa for a moment. Something whizzed over their heads and splashed in the moat. Link and Rana watched until the horse was out of sight.
Something horsy snorted behind them. Link turned around. His expression changed; his eyes were wide with fear, his mouth hung open.
Standing at the gate was a black horse with a tall, red-haired man astride it.
“You there!” cried the deep-voiced man. “Tell me where the white horse went, quickly, and I will reward you greatly.” Rana gave a little scream and backed away. Link drew his sword.
Ganondorf laughed.
“You think to fight me and hide them? Fool! Idiot! But I like your courage. I must do something about it.” A ball of negative light appeared in his hand, and he threw it at Link. The boy was flung backwards and screamed with pain. The girl caught him awkwardly.
“That will happen to all who stand in my way!” shouted Ganondorf and galloped off into the darkness. Link picked himself up, shivering.
“What did Princess Zelda throw in the river?” asked Navi.
“I don’t know. Let’s go look!” said Rana eagerly.
Link looked back into the gathering dusk. “I hope the Princess is all right.”
Rana sobered. “Yes, so do I.”
Link dove cleanly into the river behind her. She hurried after.
“How come you’re always one step ahead of me? Link? Can you hear me?”
Link could hear her slightly, an indistinguishable murmur above the water. Navi flew down to the blue object on the riverbed. He grabbed it.
The world went white. He saw Zelda, standing in the Temple with the Ocarina of Time.
“Link, I must leave now, before Ganondorf comes. I had hoped to meet you, but it’s okay now. I will teach you the tune that will open the Door of Time with the three Spiritual Stones.” She put the Ocarina to her lips and played a simple tune, no more than a minor triad in the beginning. Then the dream changed and he was standing by the altar with the Ocarina. He played the Song of Time…
“Link! Link!” Rana was patting his face anxiously. Somehow, he was lying on the drawbridge. He sat up.
“We have to go to the Temple of Time.”
“Don’t ever pass out like that under water again. I was so scared… You were clutching the Ocarina, moving your fingers and trying to stick it in your mouth… I hope that lack of air hasn’t caused you to go insane. What do we need to go to the Temple for? Don’t we need to help the princess?” Link simply jogged into the town, trying to keep both embarrassed blush and amused grin from his face, and failed miserably at both.
The Temple of Time was a tall, gothic structure. The inside was paved with marble, and was completely bare except for a small pedestal near the entrance and a plinth at the back with an altar of white and black marble on it. Behind the altar was a huge stone wall with a carving on it of a sun with rays extending down to the floor.
In the Temple, he stood before the altar and played the song from his dream. The Three Spiritual Stones wriggled, flew out of his pouch, and swirled around his head before coming to rest on the altar. The Triforce on the back of the Temple glowed golden. The world was absolutely silent.
Without warning, the ground began shaking. The Door of Time split down the exact middle and retracted into the walls to either side of it. Trembling with excitement and apprehension, the two young Kokiri entered the room behind.
A beautiful broadsword with a blue-purple hilt was half buried in a stone plinth.
“Is that –“ began Navi. She fluttered over to the sword.
“- the Master Sword?” finished Naeri.
Breathless, Link approached it.
“Is it real?” asked Rana incredulously. Link smiled at the naïve comment. Rana looked at him and smiled back.
He warned, “I might have to pass through time – it isn’t called the Door of Time for nothing, is it? – and I might not be back for a while.”
“I’ll do all the Market errands we were going to go on, like there was a guy who wanted us to get him a present for his little boy, but he couldn’t. You know. Sorry, I’m babbling…”
“It’s all right…”
“Anyway, I’ll be waiting for you!” she chirped. “I’ll check on Sundays, noon till one! Don’t forget me!” Link smiled and nodded.
He had an idea. He quickly pressed the old Fairy Ocarina into her hands, and she gave him a hug. Then, she backed away, out of the room.
Link took two steps forward and grasped the hilt. It felt warm and comfortable, but a little large. He took it in both hands and gave it a tug. Navi stood on his shoulder and watched with bated breath. It came free easily, and a strange blue light filled the Temple as a portal opened and sent them away…