Ocarina of Time Chapter 49

 Chapter 49

Illusions

A whispering cacophony stirred in the cold and bitter darkness, echoing off the cracked and crumbling walls of the ancient tomb. Again and again, they continued their incessant chant, a hellish song of souls damned to dwell in a forsaken sanctuary. Link wasn't sure whether it was one voice or many. He could not distinguish the words, nor was he certain that he wanted to. Whatever these spirits were, they were not friendly. Not when they were trying to drain him of every ounce of sanity.

The sooner we're out of this place, the better, he thought, gripping the Master Sword tightly. A grim sort of determination fueled his steps, keeping his mind on what he was here to do: find the captured villages, rescue them, and stop the Necromancer.

Blessedly, he hadn't heard the Necromancer's voice again. That was something, at least. Link shivered, not relishing the thought of hearing that creature again.

"How much further?" he whispered to Sheik. He was still expecting something to lunge out of the darkness; even the slightest squeak from a scurrying rat made him jump.

"Not far," Sheik answered just as quietly.

More statues gazed at Link from alcoves along the walls, their cold stone eyes peering straight into his soul. He shivered. It was clear to them all that the temple's guardians knew he was here, but they were keeping kept out of sight, waiting somewhere in the shadows.

Link was beginning to wish they'd just attack already. He preferred seeing monsters instead of having them lurk out of sight.

He was so on edge that he almost jumped when a rat squeaked. He caught sight of the rodent slipping into a crack in the ancient stone.

Well, at least that means no Skultullas, he thought. More skulltullas would have meant fewer rodents.

As if the temple's denizens had somehow read his mind and decided to play a trick on him, Link spotted glowing, amber eyes up ahead. His hand twitched on the Master Sword's hilt as he grasped it firmly, ready to strike. The amber eyes blinked, and just before the creature took flight, Link caught a glimpse of a bat as Sheik's light brushed against it.

"Bats," he muttered, silently berating himself. "I'm jumping at bats now."

"It will get worse," Sheik said nonchalantly. "If the whispering is bothering you, I suggest you ignore them."

Easy for you to say, Link thought.

All was silent for now. Well, almost silent.

His thoughts turned to Courage, still aware of the spirit's lingering presence.

"Can you block them out?" he asked, voicing a silent question.

"I can only stop some of the more dangerous elements of this temple from possessing you. I cannot silence them," Courage told him. "That will depend on your own ability to ignore them."

"I take it those spirits aren't normally in here?" Navi asked from beside Link's ear, her question directed at Sheik. "Otherwise, I don't see how the Sheikah could have possibly worshiped in here and not gone insane."

"It was not always like this," Sheik replied curtly. It was clear to Link that Navi was beginning to think that the Sheikah were insane. He nearly agreed with her.

"What exactly are those voices, then?" Navi asked.

"They are souls brought back from the dead," Sheik answered.

"I thought that was impossible?" Link said.

"It is, and it isn't."

Link blinked, confused. "What?"

"Forcing a spirit back into the living world is not natural," Sheik answered. "It is impossible to bring them back without them becoming something else. If a spirit is bound by sorcery- by a particularly powerful necromancer- it's possible for it to survive, but not indefinitely."

"But Ganondorf was brought back to life," Link pointed out, still remembering the Gerudo king's stunned expression as a scimitar impaled him through the chest.

"More than likely, the Triforce of Power protected him from that fate," Sheik suggested.

"So what happens when these spirits go insane? They become a shade?" Link asked, recalling the stories of those bound to the earth by refusing to let go of the past. He shuddered, remembering the spectral knight peering up at him inside the Spirit Temple, an apparent reflection of himself. Even Courage seemed strangely troubled by the mention of a shade.

"Not quite," Sheik answered. "A shade will remember who they are, even if nobody else does."

They saw a doorway up ahead, as dark as a moonless night.

"A spirit becomes a shade because they refused to go on, bound by sorrows and regrets from a life forgotten by the living," Sheik added. "The souls of the dead, on the other hand, were brought back against their will."

"So how are they reborn, exactly?" Link asked.

"The only ones who can answer that cannot do so," Sheik said as they halted before the archway. "Some believe the spirits must undergo some sort of transformation before they can be reborn and return with a clean slate."

"Tabula rasa," Navi murmured.

"In essence, yes," Sheik said. "Unless that process is complete, returning a dead soul to our realm by opening a gateway into the realm of the dead, will cause it to become insane. They might resemble the person they were for a day... maybe two. In the end... Well, you have seen the results. The Necromancer hoped to cure their insanity before he too became insane. Halvard tried to find a way too, by sealing the soul of a dying person within a mask. A practice our ancestors forbade."

A chilling thought occurred to Link. "The Necromancer tried to bring someone back, didn't he? Someone he knew?"

"Perhaps," Sheik answered, her voice hushed. "We may never know what his true intentions were. Some say his intention was to bring back an ancient Sheikan warlock who was betrayed by the Royal Family. Arghanim. They say that, as he was dragged towards the pyre that ended his life, Arghanim swore he would return and bring vengeance upon the Royal Family."

"Sounds like a pleasant fellow," Navi muttered. "A touch overdramatic maybe."

Link forced himself to smile. At least Navi wasn't losing her sarcasm just yet. He drew a breath, then asked, "What about the demon you mentioned... the one inside the mask? How's he planning to bring it back if it will only go insane?"

"It is possible that since it's a deity, it won't be affected," Sheik told him. "Not that it would matter; Majora is already insane."

Link swallowed. He didn't like the sound of that at all. He glanced at the walls, examining its carvings while Navi flew closer to gain a better look. As he did, his conversation with Sheik drew his mind back to the day he was forced to end Volvagia's life. If Link hadn't honored his request to die, would insanity have been Volvagia's fate?

He shook away the thought as he cast a glance about his surroundings. Reliefs adorned the wall, showing people kneeling before an armour-clad figure with outstretched wings.

"Look over here," Sheik called him.

She was pointing towards the other side of the doorway. He walked over, seeing another section of the reliefs. They were chipped and scorched beyond recognition. Specks of red blood splattered the walls, indicating that somebody had been here.

"Not that long ago either," Sheik noted, doing nothing to banish Link's unease.

The little orb of light that kept chasing her whizzed further up the gloomy passage, revealing nothing but stone. He couldn't see any more bloodstains or bodies. It didn't tell them much, except that someone had been here.

"Do you think it could have been Impa or Halvard?" he asked. "The door was sealed, but I figured it had shut behind them."

"It's possible," said Sheik. Her face was grim as she quickly summoned her 'torch' back to her. "Come on, let's keep moving."

Keep moving.

It was becoming a necessary mantra in this place.

Link kept pace with Sheik as they walked underneath the archway and made their way through the short corridor. Rooms branched off the passage, leading to empty catacombs. The discarded burial shrouds, little more than tattered rags, and the footsteps marring the dust-smeared floor were the only signs that the burial chambers had once been occupied.

The passage opened into a wide gallery lit by enchanted braziers, their yellow flames feebly illuminating the square room in a solemn dance of light and shadow. The gallery, with its dull gray stone, wound its way along the outer edge of the chamber. Long steps cascaded to landings, which led to a narrow walkway. There were four, and in each corner of the center chamber was a pool of water.

Nothing stirred, nor waved at him in mocking invitation.

Link fixed his eyes on the round stone table in the room's center, presumably the altar. It was sparsely decorated, except for some unpleasant looking tools used to embalm and prepare bodies for burial.

"It's a dead-end," Link muttered. He cast a wary glance around the room, the tension in his gut rising as he suspected some sort of trap. He glanced at the wall directly in front of him, which was intricately carved to resemble a doorway. Two robed figures stood abreast of the door, both holding some sort of sigil in an upraised palm.

The figures vaguely resembled the dog-headed deity that he'd seen in one of the Spirit Temple's visions, except that unlike their Gerudo counterparts, there were no crowns adorning their heads, and no ornate jewelry. Their eyes seemed to focus on the fake door and Link found himself drawn towards it, the whispers getting louder as he did so.

Link snapped himself out of his daze, quickly checking to make sure Sheik and Navi hadn't noticed. Navi was eyeing him warily, but Sheik gave no indication that she'd seen anything amiss.

"There should be another passage here," she said, still unaware of anything amiss. "Right where you're standing."

Before Sheik could use her lens, Link cautiously prodded the carving with the Master Sword, expecting to hear a solid scrape of steel against stone. Instead, the tip of his sword vanished, disappearing right into the wall. He took a step forward, letting more of the blade slide into the wall without resistance.

"It's fake," he announced, pulling the sword back.

"Check what's on the other side before you go through," Sheik said. "Halvard's mask will be far more practical than my lens."

Agreeing, Link slipped the mask onto his face, and despite the fact he was expecting it, he was still startled when the not-so-fake-door vanished, revealing a darkened passage.

"Nothing," he announced, before taking a step forward, half expecting to walk headfirst into the stone. Then he'd feel like an utter idiot. Fortunately, that didn't eventuate, and he slipped through into the passage beyond.

Navi hesitated at the edge of the opening, looking greatly unnerved.

"It's alright," he told her.

Navi appeared to test the air in front of her and then zipped straight into the passage, looking extremely disconcerted.

"That was just weird," she muttered, spinning in the air to watch as Sheik entered the passage. From her point of view, it must have looked as though Sheik had simply walked through the stone.

"Let's go," Sheik said, taking the lead.

The tunnel they had entered was large, twisting its way through the rugged earth like the warren of some animal. Narrower passages branched off the one Link now traversed, making it seem like he was traveling through an elaborate network of tunnels rather than a temple. Upon investigating several of these, he discovered that they led to catacombs with alcoves hollowed out of the rocks. These alcoves were decorated with more tattered burial shrouds, black and rotten, almost to the point of being unrecognizable. There were various artifacts inside the rooms too: trinkets, jewelry, and precious gemstones smeared in dust and dirt. They gave some idea of the occupant's rank and status since the poorer Sheikah were buried with little to no personal possessions.

However, there was one thing that made Link incredibly nervous- all the alcoves were empty. It was the same in each room they checked, as though the dead had simply gotten up and walked away.

Which is probably what happened, Link thought, as they encountered another catacomb that was entirely devoid of any mummified remains.

"There are no weapons," Sheik murmured as they wandered into yet another cave-like room. Just as it had been elsewhere, the alcoves were empty. "Sheikah are typically buried with their weapons."

"All of them?" Navi asked. "We must have passed over a hundred graves."

"The more wealthy ones," Sheik answered.

"I guess hoping they'd forget them was too much to ask," Link muttered. "Do you think they're the ones that attacked the village?"

"For our sake, I pray that they were," Sheik said.

Well, that's just great. The thought that there might be a large horde of undead roaming the temple only added to a growing sense of dread that stirred in the pit of his stomach. A faint stirring from Courage in the back of his mind kept him focused. The spirit had been quiet for a while now, presumably trying not to add its own voice to the temple's spirits. There was only so much Link's mind could tolerate.

They kept going further and further down the tunnel until Link was sure they were well beyond Kakariko's outskirts. Judging by how cold it was, he was certain the passages were not leading towards Death Mountain. As much as he hated the caverns beneath its rugged slopes, the heat would have been a welcome reprieve to this frost-bitten cave.

Finally, just as Link thought there wasn't an end to this passage, he reached a stone door with the Sheikah emblem etched into it.

"What's behind those doors?" he asked, barely managing to keep the apprehension out of his voice.

"I feared this might be the case," Sheik muttered with a note of dread.

"What?" Link asked, unable to keep his anxiety completely in check. His hand twitched as if to reach for his sword, but he relaxed. It wasn't like the door was a threat. At least, he was fairly certain it wasn't. One could never be too certain in Hyrule and Link was quite sure he wasn't being entirely paranoid.

"This is where Sheikah initiates were once tested to see if they were worthy of joining our highest orders."

"You mean like the Gerudo trials?" he asked, trying not to voice his misgivings as his heart dropped like a stone. He knew that focusing on his fear would only make it worse. It had been one of the first things Sheik had taught him during the brief time she'd been able to train him.

"It is likely," Sheik said, doing nothing to help the knot in the pit of Link's stomach. "The last time a Sheikah was tested here was before the schism. After that, it was repurposed."

"Repurposed how?" Navi asked, not sounding particularly eager to hear an answer.

"To torment those who were held prisoner here," Sheik answered simply, running a finger along the smooth stone, pausing when she reached a sign written in Sheikan script that she read aloud. "The rising sun will eventually set. A newborn's life will fade."

"How cheerful," Navi muttered sarcastically. "Why are the Sheikah always so negative?"

If Sheik heard Navi's comment, she chose to ignore it and kept reading. "From sun to moon, moon to sun. Give peaceful rest to the living dead." Sheik's brow furrowed as she considered something. "I have seen this inscription before."

"Where?" Link asked.

He'd also heard of something similar before. Hadn't Courage said something along those lines?

"My family's tomb." Sheik answered after a lengthy pause. Her voice was so quiet that Link barely heard her. Whatever memory the song conjured, Sheik quickly regained her composure. "It refers to a song. The Sun Song."

"Do you know it?"

Sheik shook her head. "No."

"There has to be another way around," Navi suggested softly. They all looked at the two stone doors on either side of them, both blocked by a shimmering wall of purple flame. Link looked at Sheik.

She guessed his question.

"Impa told me the map would show us the way," she said, rummaging through her satchel and drawing out her map.

Getting him to hold the map, Sheik found their passage soon enough. She pointed to three black dots next to it, indicating six minuscule notes on the map, situated just next to the little dots that were labeled with their names.

"How can you even read that?" Link asked, squinting at the staves and the small notes arranged upon them.

Sheik ignored the question. "Pass me the ocarina."

Without asking what she was doing, and despite his curiosity, Link obeyed.

After a pensive gaze at the ocarina, Sheik put the instrument to her mouth. A soft trill of three notes echoed off the walls. The simplistic melody reminded Link of a bird calling to the dawn and the breeze whispering through the forest on a Spring morning. No sooner did he imagine that scene than the darkness snuffed it away, silence washing over him. Then, before he could move a muscle, there was a loud rumbling of stone scraping against stone. Both Link and Sheik darted to the door's sides as the thick stone tablet slid into a recess.

Nothing emerged, and Navi peered around the door. "The floor's missing."

Link frowned at Navi's incredulous remark, and before he could help himself, he stepped out from behind the door to see what she was looking at. The passage of dark stone twisted around a corner, the floor appearing smooth and intact.

"What are you talking about?" Link asked, exchanging a look with Navi. "Looks fine to me."

"It's an illusion," Sheik said, holding the lens up to her face and then lowering it again. "The floor is quite intact."

After a moment's hesitation, Link took his mask off so he could see what Navi was talking about. Barely two feet ahead, the smooth floor ended in a deep pit that plunged into a gloomy void. Staring at it made Link's head spin, and he stepped back. Ahead, the corridor seemed to end at another stone door featuring a face with a leering grin and hollow eyes. It reminded him of the monster he'd seen earlier, raising its hooked limbs to gore him. That memory sent a trickle of ice creeping down his spine.

To assure himself that the 'missing' floor was just an illusion, and for Navi's benefit, Link stepped back and turned to search the ground. Picking up a few loose rocks, he threw them towards the hole. Sure enough, they clattered upon the hidden floor. Without the mask, the pebbles appeared suspended in mid-air.

"Good thinking," Sheik said with an approving nod.

She took the lead again, holding her lens out in front of her. Navi looked startled when Sheik placed one foot on a stone she could not see. From Link's perspective, it was as though Sheik was somehow walking across thin air.

"I think I'll just not watch you do that," Navi said, sounding deeply unnerved.

"Alright then." Placing the mask back on, Link met Sheik by the door, calling to Navi once he was safe.

"Most Sheikah would not have had the mask you wear," Sheik said as the three companions continued around the corridor. "Only a guide to watch them. Impa told me that much."

Just then, a cold breeze ripped through the corridor, and with it came a familiar voice that sent a chill through Link's bones, a thing of twisted and sinister malevolence.

"The light inside you will die!" it hissed.

Link turned around, looking for the source, only to find there was nothing but more of the same featureless black stone.

"You are tainted... the stains of your sins will never wash out. The light inside you will die."

The voice seemed to come from everywhere at once. Even Sheik gazed around, her blades at the ready.

"Show yourself!" Link shouted, wanting nothing more than to permanently silence the monstrosity and forgetting that it might be wise to not draw the attention of anything nearby.

The creature -whatever it was- ignored his challenge. "The blood of the dead cry out. Hunger claws at their souls, but it is not food they crave."

"Just ignore him!" Sheik ordered, somehow managing to maintain her steady composure. Link sensed Courage's agreement.

"That's easy for you," he whispered, not intending to be overheard.

"You are tainted. Nothing but tainted, broken little toys. Discarded by the ones who created you." Link tried focusing on the candle flame like Sheik taught him. Only nothing came, nothing but a demon's voice. "The light will never shine upon you again."

A heavy silence fell upon the room. Link felt as though the demon had tried to suck every last shred of strength from his bones.

"Sooner we're out of here, the better," he said, gritting his teeth, pain pulsing through his skull as the beast's brief contact receded from his mind.

"Agreed," Sheik replied, taking out the map again and examining it. "The cells are on the other side of the temple complex. We will need to hurry."

"How long will it take us to get there?" Link asked, keeping pace with Sheik as they traversed the winding passage.

"That will depend on any hindrances we encounter."

"I'm counting on it," he muttered sardonically.

It was Hyrule after all. A realm of wonders and terrors of all kinds, and little way of knowing which of the two you would find around the next corner.

After one last bend in the corridor, Sheik and Link made their way through a door and into a spacious chamber. At its center, the room housed an odd circular contraption made of metal and wood. It resembled a wheel, with seven spokes protruding from its rim. Each of the seven spokes pointed to a totem, their tips carved into the likeness of a human skull. An eighth totem rose from the center of the wheel, fashioned into the shape of a cawing raven.

The oddest feature of the room wasn't the wheel. There were three other doors, aside from the one Link had just come through. The third door was located across a wide pit that ran from wall to wall, dividing the chamber into two portions. The only way across appeared to be a drawbridge, which was currently raised.

"What's the bet we have to go that way?" Link asked, already sure of the answer.

Sheik joined him, holding up her lens to examine the pit. She frowned.

"It's real this time?" Navi asked.

"It is," Sheik answered.

Tentatively edging himself closer to the pit, Link peered into it. A blue mist swirled within, lit from the depths by some unseen magic. Before he could look away, Link felt something tugging at his mind, drawing him closer to the pit. He could hear people speaking in soft murmurs, but was unable to discern the words. It wasn't the same malevolent whispers he'd heard earlier, and he was able to feel their presence this time, as though there were people standing all around him. A wave of emotions, not all his own, crashed over him. Misery. Dispair. Pain.

"You are too close to that abyss," Courage warned. "Get back!"

"There are people trapped down there."

"What?" He didn't hear Sheik's query, nor realize that he'd spoken his thoughts aloud.

Odd. If this was an illusion, why wasn't the mask protecting him? That thought, coupled by Sheik suddenly grabbing his arm in a tight grip and hurling him back from the pit, brought him back to reality. It was as though he'd just emerged from a pool of cold water. He gasped, not knowing what had just happened.

"What was that?" he asked, his head spinning as he realized just how close he'd come from accidentally falling straight into the void.

"I'm not sure," Sheik said, eyeing the pit warily but not going near it.

"Could you feel it? There were people down there." Link said, gesturing at the pit.

"I didn't sense anything," Navi said shakily. "You looked like you were about to throw yourself in."

I almost did. Link realized, feeling sick. There had been something in that pit, of that he was certain.

"There's nothing there," Sheik assured them both. "What you felt may have been the Necromancer's doing. Remember the candle flame and guard your mind more carefully. If you do, that shouldn't happen again."

"Right," Link took one last look at the lip of the chasm, a shiver running through him. "Thanks." He eyed the drawbridge, realizing that he'd have no choice but to somehow get across that pit and not succumb to whatever presence had invaded his mind.

"There must be a switch or lever somewhere," Sheik said, turning to inspect the rest of the room.

And so they began to look. Aside from the odd wheel and totems surrounding it- one totem for each wheel spoke- there was nothing. There were faces carved into the reliefs along the wall that gazed at them with leering grins. The two other doors in the chamber led off into yet more catacombs that were almost identical to the ones they'd passed earlier. Only, unlike many of the earlier graves, there were more trinkets here, suggesting that these Sheikah were from a higher rank or class than those buried outside the main temple.

"There must be something we've missed," Sheik said once they circumnavigated the tombs a second time.

They returned to the room with the raven totem. The faces carved into the wall were still smiling, as though mocking their predicament. Link could have sworn the raven was watching them too. As foolish as it might have been to think, he was half-convinced it would come to life and attack. He almost told Navi to stay away, but decided against it, knowing that she'd probably think he was losing it. After he'd almost jumped into a pit, she'd probably be right. As Link examined the raven one more time, he spotted something: writing etched into the stone just beneath the bird's talons.

"Sheik, I've found something!" he called.

"What?" Navi asked, inching closer to what he was looking at. "I don't see anything." Then understanding flickered in her eyes. "What can you see?"

"Writing," Link answered, pointing to the inscription.

Sheik knelt down beside him, holding her lens up to the stone that Link was pointing at.

"It says 'make my beak face the Skull of Truth,'" she murmured.

"How does that help us?" Navi asked.

Sheik's eyes narrowed in contemplation while Link mulled over the words. He turned to face the totems surrounding the wheel, wondering if he could try pushing the spokes until something happened. That was, of course, hoping he didn't trigger some kind of trap.

Finally, as Sheik examined the totems on the room's other side, Link saw a symbol etched into the base of one totem.

"There's an eye on the base of this totem," he called, getting to his knees to get a closer look.

Seeing this, Sheik grabbed one of the wheel spokes. Link leaped to her aid, hoping the wheel wasn't stuck from years of disuse. With a groan, the contraption turned, moving the raven with it. His arms burned from the effort of pushing, but after considerable effort, the wheel slid into the correct position; the raven was now facing the pole with the eye. A deep rumble and a clinking of chains told Link they'd succeeded. The bridge on the far side of the chasm lowered, giving them a way across.

Link's relief was brief. He didn't want to catch the attention of whatever was lurking in that abyss again, especially while he was on the bridge. Doing his best not to look anywhere but the narrow crossing, he crept across and arrived safely on the far side.

The door took them into another dark passage that burrowed further into the earth's depths. When they came to the next room, they encountered more illusions. Link had barely stepped into the next chamber when Navi exclaimed that there was some kind of trap moving along the floor, forcing him to step back towards the door. Unable to see what Navi was referring to, Link took his mask off, and sure enough, he spotted several metal contraptions moving along tracks built into the floor. They featured lethal-looking spikes that could take a man's leg off, and Link immediately understood why Navi was so concerned.

"They're not really there," he told her, holding the Master Sword out over one of the tracks and waiting for one of the fake traps to run into the blade. Sure enough, one went straight through the sword, its path undisturbed.

Even with that assurance, Navi didn't stop fretting until they'd reached the far end of the chamber and were safely within the next corridor. After Sheik had guided them through a dozen rooms, Link was glad Sheik had a map. Otherwise, he would never have been able to find his way back, and it was unlikely that someone had been so helpful as to leave a second map lying around.

The illusions continued, getting steadily weirder deeper and deeper into the temple. One room appeared to contain a trap with two blades fixed to a rotating pole like a wind mill, but with two metallic sails that carved a path above the ground. Again, it was just another illusion.

Link had barely entered the next passage before a warning from Courage stopped him in his tracks. At the same time, Sheik grabbed him by the shoulder.

"Wha-" Link gasped, startled by both Courage's brief contact and Sheik's rough jerk.

She pointed towards the floor. The floor was tiled, with ancient mosaics adorned with murals so faded with age that the half a dozen raised tiles almost blended in with the rest of the dirt-encrusted floor. What Link hadn't seen was that one of these tiles was about an inch from his foot, a symbol etched into its surface. Having seen a similar device in the Spirit Temple, Link knew what it was.

"A trap," Sheik said, before pointing at the high ceiling. Her glowing spell illuminated the long, sharp guillotines that hovered above the raised tiles. There was one blade above the tile he'd almost stepped on. If Sheik hadn't stopped him, he would have been cleaved in two.

"Oh," he said weakly. "Thanks."

"I thought they were just another illusion," Navi murmured, sounding deeply disturbed.

"I would have done the same," Link told her, not wanting Navi to blame herself for his near misstep.

Carefully walking around the raised tile, he kept going and tried not to think about the blades that were ready to fall at any moment. Thinking that age would have rusted the mechanism that triggered them, and that they would therefore not work, was probably too much to hope for.

"Did you say this place was a prison?" Link asked once they'd reached the end of the trap-riddled corridor.

"It was turned into one," Sheik said. "Why?"

"I don't think they needed any cells to keep people in," Link said quietly.

Any prisoner who tried to dash to freedom would have faced a treacherous challenge. Perhaps it had been intended that way, giving prisoners a false hope that they could escape, only to fall victim to one of the many devices scattered throughout the temple. It was a chilling thought.

If he was hoping that the next room would be more pleasant, he was quickly disappointed. There were contraptions with long spikes running along the ceiling, and given the raised tiles within this room, Link knew what would happen if he made the fatal mistake of setting one off.

"Your eyes offend us, child of light." Link shivered as the Necromancer's voice reverberated inside his head. "The light must go out."

Link braced himself against the wall, fearing that the Necromancer might make him trigger one of the traps. When that didn't eventuate, and the contact receded from his mind, he was left with a blistering headache. He groaned, rubbing at his temples.

"Remember what I said, Link. Guard your thoughts," Sheik said, not entirely without sympathy.

"I know," Link replied through gritted teeth. He sighed and then glanced around to see that they were alone.

"Are you alright to go on, or do you need to rest?" Sheik asked.

"I'm hardly going to get a decent rest in a trap-riddled dungeon, am I?" Link exclaimed testily, feeling a wave of irrational anger as pain pulsed relentlessly through his skull.

"I didn't mean here," Sheik said with a hint of reproach.

"I know, I know. Sorry," Link sighed. "Let's just keep going."

Sheik nodded and then motioned him onward.

They reached a small iron door at the corridor's end, which swung open easily. When he entered the next room, Link quickly realized that this part of the temple hadn't just been turned into a trap-riddled dungeon. It was something worse.

Chains hung from grime-covered walls. More lay draped across the floor like dead serpents. A forge stood to one side, covered in a thick coat of dust and soot. There was a rack of metal instruments beside it, but Link didn't know what to make of them. Perhaps the oddest peculiarity was the stone table in the center of the room. There was a block of wood there, half-fashioned into the form of a mask that would forever remain incomplete.

Strange that it hasn't rotted away after all these years, Link thought.

"Is this what I think it is?" Navi asked, sounding like she really didn't want to know the answer.

There was a skeleton lying on the floor, its legs bound.

"It's a torture chamber," Sheik said grimly.

"A..."

Link trailed off as he realized the gravity of this. He knew what torture was. Having rooms dedicated to it was another thing. The gorge rose in his throat. He recalled the Gerudo sorcerers and their sadistic glee at seeing him writhing in agony. Then there was the time he'd seen Forenz in Ordon, whipped and beaten as a punishment for defying his captors.

"There are rooms for this sort of thing?" he asked weakly.

"Yes," Sheik said sadly. "Even Hyrule Castle had one, though my father never used it. Everyone thought it was haunted."

The child inside of Link was confused, unable to comprehend why people would want to make a room to inflict such misery. "Why?"

"Not all view life as precious. Not as the Kokiri do," Sheik answered solemnly. "Others either suffered from war or made choices that caused them to lose their humanity."

"You mean like Ganondorf?" Link asked.

"In a way," Sheik said. Link stared mutely at the room's remains, feeling just as stunned as the day he'd learntbof the Hylian's war upon the peaceful Kokiri.

"Life was so much simpler in the woods," Navi said, as though reading Link's thoughts.

"Yeah," Link muttered, feeling a pang of longing for his forest home. He banished the thought a moment later. "It was."

He fixed his attention on the mask, noting the circle and runes engraved into the stone it rested upon. Even as he drew near the table, he could feel an odd beckoning call pulling him towards the mask. His skin prickled, the hairs on his neck standing on end.

"Beware its call," Courage's voice broke through the noise. "A most foul and unnatural magic infests that mask. It is a thing of evil."

Before he could stop himself, Link reached out and touched the mask.

Someone screamed a blood-curdling shriek that rent the silence asunder. In that instant of contact, Link felt an overwhelming sense of pain and anguish that almost brought him to his knees. He gasped, snatching his hand back as if burned.

"I really wish you'd stop ignoring me sometimes." Courage's voice was an irritated whine, sounding very much like the wolf whose form he chose.

"What is it?" Sheik was beside Link in an instant,  alarmed.

"That..." Link struggled to find words and he could barely stop himself from shaking. He glanced at his hand, almost certain it was burned, but it wasn't. "Sheik, I think there's a person inside that mask."

He was sure he sounded crazy, and half expected Sheik to say something along those lines. Instead, her expression became grim as she inspected the piece of unfinished craftsmanship. Taking care not to touch it, she carefully examined the markings on its surface.

"This wasn't an ordinary torture chamber," Sheik murmured. "This is a soul mask. You must have felt the touch of one of the poor souls used to create it."

Link stared at the monstrosity, horror-struck. "Can we free them?"

"I fear it's far too late for that." Sheik's voice was filled with calm resignation. "The people whose bodies these souls belonged to are long gone, and given what we know of the Sheikah's treatment of prisoners, the ones inside that mask are likely insane. I do not even know if they can be freed, unless we destroy the mask, killing them in the process."

"How do we do that?"

"The Master Sword should suffice."

Gazing at the mask, and still recalling that horrible scream, Link grasped his sword, pulling it free from its scabbard. A dozen times he told himself that this was wrong, but if it meant ending their torment, he knew he had to do it. Mercy killing was something he'd seen Saria perform when she'd found an animal injured well beyond her abilities to heal, and he knew how much she detested it. Usually Mido or another Kokiri ended up doing it. This was no different. At least, he tried to tell himself it wasn't.

"Is there anything we can do for them?" Link thought, feeling increasingly sick.

"There is not," Courage told him, pity clear in its tone. "I have seen this work before. All we can do is free those who are trapped within and end their torment."

The Master Sword quivered in Link's grip. He glanced once at Sheik, who nodded resolutely, then thrust the sword down. A scream tore through the room, the Master Sword piercing the mask's unfinished frame, and a dozen voices all cried out in pain at once. Link wrenched the blade free, stumbling back from the mask as it exploded in blue flames. Smoke erupted from the burning frame, twisting and coiling in the air. The screams went silent, and Link watched as the blue flames devoured the now empty vessel, the smoke dispersing about the room.

Only when the flames flickered and died, leaving nothing but a pile of ash, did anyone dare speak.

"Do you think they're gone?" Navi asked.

Sheik examined the remnants of the mask, looking disturbed.

"They're gone," Courage affirmed. Link didn't voice this to the others. He was still uncertain how they'd react, knowing that he was talking to a voice in his head.

"I can't sense anything," Sheik said quietly, turning to meet Link's gaze. "You did the right thing."

"I know." Link looked away from the pile of ashes. "Let's get out of here... I just hope there's nothing else like that."

Unable to completely banish the horrible scream from his mind, he crossed to the door on the other side of the room.

They entered yet another twisting corridor. This one seemed to get narrower as they traversed its length, but there were no traps to speak of. Finally, they entered a stone room stripped bare of most of its contents. There was only an altar shaped like a pentagon, obelisks decorating each of its corners.

A bookcase, devoid of scrolls or books, lay on the room's far end. Oddly, it was recessed into the wall, almost as though it could be slid backward.

"There's no lever or switch anywhere," Navi observed.

"No," Sheik murmured, her eyes fixed on the altar while she curled her fingers around the hilt of her dagger. "I do not think the door will open by conventional means."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Link asked, turning around. What he saw next stopped him in his tracks. "What are you-"

Sheik had her dagger against the palm of one hand. Before Link could finish, Sheik cupped the blade, crimson dripping onto the stone altar beneath. She didn't blink, even when she opened her hand to reveal a cut across her palm. The blood, meanwhile, soaked into the stone.

"What the hell did you do that for?" Link asked, the sight of blood making him queasy.

"The door requires blood to open it," Sheik said simply as she cut away some of the wrappings on her arm, tying them around her hand. As she did, a scraping sound made Link turn around to see the false wall swing inwards.

"Okay," Navi said. "Trust the Sheikah to come up with that idea. You know, a note saying 'please say the magic word' would have been more civilized."

"Yes, it would have been," Sheik agreed, with no hint of amusement in her voice. Link took several steps forward and then peered into the corridor beyond. From his vantage point, or perhaps it was just another illusion, it seemed to twist and turn in an unnatural fashion. He blinked, sure it was just his eyes, but when he looked again, the corridor did indeed twist and coil, until the floor became the ceiling. There was a door at the other end, somewhere beyond the coiling, twisting walls. Just looking at it made him sick.

"Beware the shadows on the floor,"  Courage warned.

"Be nice if I could tell where the floor was," Link thought back.

"Then keep your eyes to the ground, but know that you are being watched."

"Another illusion," Sheik said, surveying the corridor. "Come on."

It was perhaps the most nauseating illusion yet. Walking through the contorted passage, Link kept focused on the floor. Every time he looked up, the twisting corridor seemed to shift and turn, spiraling until Link nearly threw up in a fit of vertigo. Eyes kept low again, he started running, Sheik not far behind him, while Navi flew close by, dutifully keeping an eye on the door up ahead. Nothing emerged, and judging it safe to go on, Link wrenched the door open, nearly stumbling through the doorway. He came to a stop, hands on his knees as he caught his breath, still fighting back a wave of vertigo and nausea. 

"You're still being watched," Courage spoke again. "They are closer now."

They had stumbled upon another stone chamber. Link swallowed, wondering if they were back in what he hoped was the main temple. At least that would mean no traps, in theory, unless the pilgrims had been in the habit of making one-way trips. Taking heed of Courage's warning, Link turned to Navi for advice.

"Navi, can you sense anything odd?" he asked, still not entirely comfortable with the idea of telling her his hunch was a voice in his head.

"Apart from my upset stomach? Not really," she replied. "Why?"

"I'm not sure... I just feel like somebody's watching us, and it's not the necromancer," Link surveyed the room. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, but even then the hair on the back of his neck stood on end. He stepped towards the middle of the chamber, trying to give himself plenty of room if something chose to attack.

"Do you sense anything, Sheik?" Link asked, hoping she might have an answer.

There was no reply, except the clattering of steel hitting stone. Link spun around. So did Navi.

Sheik was nowhere to be seen.

Next Chapter


Reviews

ZadArchie chapter 50 . Nov 5, 2017 So, things have definitely taken a "dark" turn here (pun intended with the whole Shadow Temple). Still, there are several things I like. I liked the explanation of how "undead" works in this fandom. It made the whole notion quite palatable, and I do mean that in a general sense. This idea really could apply to any scenario regarding the walking dead. While I did find all the clues about Sheikah culture a little confusing to wrap my head around, I still found it all interesting. You've really outdone yourself with the cultural histories behind the various races in this world. I think that has been one of the strong suits of this work. I can't wait to see how this all ends in the final 11 chapters! Best, Zad

SunPraiser31 chapter 50 . Apr 1, 2017 Just like I thought, sunshine and rainbows. This chapter didn't have any horrifying monsters like the last one, but it didn't need them. Seeing and hearing about some of the stuff that went on in there makes the whole place feel that much darker. The thought of being trapped inside a mask for how many years... Excellent job. You do a wonderful job of setting a dark tone in these chapters. They've been some of my favorite from this whole story so far. I did think the ending was a bit abrupt, though. A couple more lines of Link calling out for her and having that "oh shit" moment would've been more fitting. But hey, minor nitpick. I'm about to read the next chapter anyway.

Shaveza chapter 50 . Sep 29, 2015 I swear I can FEEL the aura of the Shadow Temple in my room. It's almost like I can hear the game music, almost. It's really just wow.

TheHero136 chapter 50 . Sep 18, 2015 Very dark chapter. Very good and well-written. If the boss battle is next, then make it an awesome battle. I love the Majora's mask references and I think you're tying it all together in an efficient manner. Good job and keep writing.

Lord Darth Yoda chapter 50 . Sep 18, 2015 I really enjoy the Link Navi relationship here and across the story. You give the attention it truly deserves. Kind of wonder what your take on some of the other partnerships in the series would be like. Your Midna would be awesome. And the Shadow Temple terrifies me. Kept expecting something to jump out at them.