Fan Fiction ❯ Harry Potter and the Hero of Time ❯ Into the keep ( Chapter 11 )

Chapter 11-Into the keep

Volvagia is a subterranean lava dragon. It is similar but not identical to the fire dragons summoned by Father Chaos in Dragons of Summer Flame. Volvagia has scales of magma, claws of diamond, breath of fiery doom, and a mane of flame. The fire dragons resemble and mock the "Western" dragons such as Smaug the Golden or Pyros. Lava dragons are long, scaly mockeries of the thin, "Eastern" dragons. Link and Darunia knew a lot about Volvagia, as did Link son of Darunia, and they were very cautious. Raistlin held back, since the Staff of Magius was not designed to combat lava dragons, only chromatic dragons of Takhisis.

"What a stench," said Alzeroth, gagging. "Well, at least we have a couple of experienced warriors who can deal with it." Link and Darunia nodded and crossed the rickety wooden bridge to the dodecagonal platform. When Volvagia next appeared, they double-teamed it with their hammers and made it retreat in pain. Volvagia then flew into the sky and began circling above them, conjuring huge boulders that dropped on them. The Hylian and Goron dodged, and the boulders banged onto the platform and shattered without harm.

When Volvagia retreated into a pit, they waited for it to show its scaly neck and head again. Link was on top of it when it appeared, pummeling its vulnerable forehead with the Megaton Hammer and Master Sword. Then Volvagia began circling just above them and breathing fire, trying to snag Darunia for a snack. Link stunned the dragon with an Ice Arrow and forced it to retreat into the nearest lava pit.

"That was close," said Darmani as the falling dragon missed Darunia by inches. Link and Darunia kept dodging the dragon when it lashed out and them and struck Volvagia when they could. After about ten minutes, Volvagia flew into midair and curled itself up into a figure eight. The flaming mane of the lava dragon burned the flesh off the bones and left them charred, fifteen in all, on the ground of the platform.

"I will take the bones," said William. "You see; I have two eyes that can see the truth-my magical glasses of true seeing. When I look at those bones, I see the shattered fragments of the Staff of Holiness in them, somewhere, somehow transfigured by Drakan's black rites. Accio Fragments!" With the Summoning Charm, the dust and ash that cloaked the bones fell off and jeweled fragments of a magical staff flew to hover around him. He removed his amulet, and the fragments began to speak in words of the soul.

The first: Tell your brother, son, that the thousand years of raindrops summoned by my song are my tears, my son. The thunder that strikes the earth is my anger!

The second: The rising sun will eventually set; a newborn's life will fade. From sun to moon, moon to sun, bring peaceful rest to the living dead.

The third: Called by the winds she rides away, a steed so noble, her voice raised in a neigh, far from the ranch that brought her to life, bearing the hero on into strife.

The fourth: Awake, wooden warriors, awake to the day! The light of the future is calling! The seas of time cannot sweep you away from the darkness appalling!

The fifth: Life is the most precious of gifts ever given. It comes from the gods who dwell in the highest reaches of the holiest heaven.

The sixth: This is a shell of yourself-an exact duplicate of your current form without a heart. Use him and you can depress one switch at a time as you need to.

The seventh: Sleep is so restful, so calming, so nice, that you can create it without any magical spice.

The eighth: A flame burns inside-the fire of love. Wield this torch with your passion and you will triumph over every foe!

The ninth: When you need comfort, look into the mirror of the soul. Your conscience will provide you the comfort you need.

The tenth: Cry when you feel the need, my child. Not every tear is an evil, and you will grow stronger after you cry.

The eleventh: The light from within, the hope for a better day, will guide you to your destiny.

The twelfth: Time that flows, hold in your course. Beneath my feet, all shall be made firm.

The thirteenth: There is no such thing as luck, only the ability to adapt to circumstances.

The fourteenth: Because by fate even the gods are cast down, weep ye all with me.

The fifteenth, the last: Eilt Druin. From knowledge, from truth, comes all power. Use the power to help others and you will not be subverted.

The voices chanted their magic over and over as the artifacts began to glow. William played the Song of Storms along with the voices and the amulet reacted. Tendrils of magical light grabbed each of the artifacts and held it tight, absorbing its power to help others. As each of the fragments was drained, it flew back to the Opal Tower. The Amulet then elongated, turning into a rod made of shimmering amethyst, glittering jade, shining silver, and cool sapphire.

"The Staff of Holiness is ours once again. It is not a weapon to hurt, but a tool to heal the ills of the world. I will make use of its power when the time is propitious, but for now, I dispatch it to the tower." With a flash of lightning, Drakan appeared near William, his cold eyes turning angry.

"Blast you," the dark deity screamed. "Blast you and curse you all! You refuse to give up, do you? I am not done with you lot yet!" Drakan fired a blast of negative energy at the Staff of Holiness, but William used it like a bat and deflected it into the lava pit below.

"Getting a little worried, are we," William asked. "It would be so much easier if you just gave up now, both for you and for us. Drakan, you are going to pay for what you've done to Elsewhere, to Hyrule, and to all other worlds. Dodge this if you can!" William conjured a ball of green energy and fired it at the castle, not at Drakan. The tower keep shuddered slightly and one of its obsidian turrets fell, crashing, into the lava pit below.
"Dukwa you," Drakan shouted just before he vanished.

"Don't ask what he said," Link said. "It was extremely vulgar and disgusting."

"Well, whatever that git said," Harry replied, "the door to the keep is now open. Link, Mikau, you're up!" The Hylian and the Zora went into the door after Link ducked into the locker room to don his Zora Tunic. This tunic had fish gills and air bubbles woven into its fabric, preventing whoever wore it from drowning when underwater. Link also had a pair of magical Iron Boots from the Ice Cavern that allowed him to sink to the floor of any deep pool. The only thing was that Link could only use his Longshot while underwater, but that was perfectly understandable, as Link was not a Zora. With the Zora Tunic and Iron Boots, Link was a formidable foe for any monster both above and below the water.

Inside the first room of the keep, Link and Mikau dove into a tunnel full of water. When they emerged, they found themselves in a room not unlike the snake-shaped room in the Water Temple. Link donned the Iron Boots and began following the path around the vortexes in the center of the room. Mikau dealt with the Skull Fish and Dexihands in the chamber using the Zora Barrier attack and watched Link go. A chest appeared when all the monsters had died, one of the ornate chests containing a Boss Key. The key snapped into a golden lock over a nearby door and opened the way to the final chamber.

"This water does not look right, man," said Mikau as they entered the chamber. "It looks like a weird jelly or something."

"It's not really water at all," Link said. "It's some sort of water-like substance called cytoplasm that Morpha can control."

"Cytoplasm? Then Morpha is…"

"A gigantic aquatic amoeba. It may look like a blob of strange water, but Morpha's nucleus-its brains-is somewhere in there. It can generate huge tendrils from the `water' and use them to coil around either of us and squeeze our energy out. The only way to hurt the nucleus directly is to grab it from inside with a grappling hook and then whack it before it can escape. You might also want to try the Zora Barrier if you're up to it, Mikau."

"I hear you, man. So, how do we get Morpha to, like, show up?"

"Watch and learn," said Link as he hopped onto one of the four pillars rising from the pool floor below the cytoplasm. Morpha began moving then, its nucleus sneaking up behind Link in a convenient water tendril. Link dodged by leaping to the edge of the platform and Mikau dove in after the red orb. The Zora guitarist had barely brushed the nucleus when it forced him out of the water with an inward-reaching tendril.

"So much for that bright idea," Mikau said. "I do think I can slice that thing with my fins, but I would rather fight it on the dry land." Link nodded and fired his Longshot at Morpha as it snuck inside a tendril to get a good feel of them. The nucleus flopped out, and Mikau whacked it three times with his fins.

"Be careful, Mikau," Ruto shouted through the glass barrier.

"I try to be," the Zora shouted back as he rolled away from the tendril trying to grab him. The battle continued for five more minutes, and then Morpha exploded. The cytoplasm evaporated and the door at the bottom of the pool opened.

"Why is it getting cold all of a sudden," said Mikau, shivering.

"That is not ordinary chill," Link replied. "That is the chill of death and fear, conjured by the guardian of the Shadow Temple. Get Impa and Sheik down here before you freeze to death, please." Mikau nodded, his teeth chattering, and ran up the stairs to the next level. Impa and Sheik appeared downstairs moments later, giving Link the chance to pull out his Lens of Truth, along with his Fairy Bow and Longshot. The Lens of Truth was a magical lens buried in the catacombs at the bottom of Kakariko Village well. As long as the bearer had enough magical energy, they could see invisible monsters, walls, chests, and objects, including seeing through false walls.

Impa was ready for a fight. As a Sheikah necromancer (death-mage) and the Sage of Shadow, she did not have to use the Lens of Truth to see the monsters hidden within the shadows. Sheik had heightened senses from his Sheikah heritage and had the same benefits as the old nursemaid. Strange as it may seem, Sheik looked like a Hylian but was raised as a Sheikah. At least, that's what Link remembered about the Sheik persona from the alternate future where Ganondorf took over Hyrule. The truth of the matter was as elusive as a Red Bubble and as hidden as a Black Boe in a pit.

Past the door, a dreary ramp lead up to the next floor of the keep. As they climbed the ramp, Link in front and the Sheikah to either side, three Giant Skulltulas dropped from the ceiling to attack them. Link pegged one with an arrow, letting Impa and Sheik stick the others with their dirks. At the top, the ramp flattened out into a perfectly square room. Rising from the floor of the room were eight long, pale arms whose four-fingered hands were tipped in blood-red claws.

"Impa, there should be a dark spot somewhere on the floor. Where is it?"

"It is in the very center," the Sheikah replied. "Be careful, Link." Link checked the floor briefly with the Lens of Truth and then chucked a Goron-made Bomb, a small explosive refined from Bomb Flowers, at where he saw the dark spot. When the explosive detonated, the Dead Hand's body rose from the ground and began chasing them. It had no legs, and its two arms ended in sharp, bloody spikes instead of hands below the elbow. The long neck of the Dead Hand led up to an upward-facing head that had a mouth full of sharp teeth.

Sheik lured it down so it could bite him, and then he stabbed through the roof of its mouth with his dirk. Three deep thrusts did nothing but force the creature to retreat underground temporarily. After five more minutes, the pale creature slumped onto the ground and left behind one large jar of Magic Potion. Link drank it, since Impa and Sheik didn't need it, and the glass dematerialized.

In the next chamber, they emerged onto a huge drum, similar to the Goron bongo drums, only this one was surrounded by a moat of poison water. Link and Impa recognized this as the lair of Bongo-Bongo, the phantom shadow beast once imprisoned inside the Kakariko Village well. In the alternate timeline, it broke the seal of the well and took up refuge in the Shadow Temple, where Impa fought it and Link reduced it to impotent dust. The spirit of darkness had the inborn ability to travel time, though, and could have escaped while only appearing to disintegrate.

Whatever the case, Bongo-Bongo soon began drumming on the platform with its large, gray, five-fingered hands. The body, including the red-orange eye with its flower-petal lid, soon went invisible, immune to all attacks, or so it thought.

"Stun the hands and the body will react," Link told Sheik. "It's as simple as that."

"Simple indeed," Sheik said, pulling a crossbow from inside his disguise. Sheik fired five crossbow bolts at the right hand, but it had already moved above him. He rolled back just in time, and Link stunned the hand with the Master Sword. Impa used her crossbow and pegged the left hand before it had time to attack, leaving Bongo-Bongo defenseless, save for one attack. Link pulled out the Lens of Truth and managed to hit Bongo-Bongo in the eye before it could hit any of them. They each scored six hits on the monster, defeating it in an instant.

Instead of dissolving into mist and dust as it had the first time, Bongo-Bongo faded invisible permanently and began to drum on the platform from high above. Link watched it through the eye of truth and waited for a good chance to stick that monster in the eye. When Bongo-Bongo tried to clap its hands together on him, he leaped back and whacked them, and then shot an Arrow at the eye above him. Bongo-Bongo dissolved into gray dust then, its body fading to visibility as it did so.

When the mist cleared, a ladder fell from the top of the chamber to the center of the platform. Impa pulled out a Sheikah Vanishing Orb, as did Sheik. They tossed them onto the ground and vanished, reappearing among the rest of the party. Link heard Nabooru scream just then, and knew that evil Twinrova had taken her into a black magic portal. Raistlin was readying his magic missile spell when the evil witches disappeared in twin flashes of light.

Link climbed the ladder and found himself in a room straight out of the Spirit Temple. On one of the tiny platforms, a Beamos stood with its laser eye ready. Three Anubises-wooden jackal-headed statues that breathed fire-hovered over the catwalks. Link pegged them all with Fire Arrows and then chucked a Bomb at the Beamos. The door opened onto a room full of sun tiles and a rotating mirror. Link knew he was not alone when he heard a low moaning sound from above his head. He dodged the Wallmaster just in time and slashed it to ribbons, earning a tidy sum of sixty Rupees.

Link knew that these Sun Tiles only activated when real sunlight touched them, making his Light Arrows useless. He pushed the mirror so it touched the first Sun Tile, revealing a small treasure chest. The next mirror Link shone the light on created an invisible Floormaster after it evaporated. Link used his Lens of Truth and reflected a bit of sunlight onto the severed hand, evaporating it handily. The door opened on the third sun tile, allowing Link to enter a room that seemed very familiar. Koume and Kotake hovered in front of a throne holding an Iron Knuckle.

"Ho ho ho! It looks like someone is here, Koume!"

"Hee hee hee! It looks like it, Kotake!"

"What an outrageous fellow he is, to intrude so boldly into Drakan's Temple… Ho ho ho!"

"We should teach this outrageous fellow a lesson… Hee hee hee!"

"Oh, loyal minion…"

"…Destroy this intruder on our behalf!"

Koume and Kotake vanished in a puff of magical smoke and the Iron Knuckle stood up. It pulled an axe out of midair with a snap and began advancing on Link. The Hylian knew what to do when confronting an Iron Knuckle-he used the magic crystal of Nayru's Love. Link was safe from damage so long as the shimmering blue crystal of invulnerability remained in effect. When the Iron Knuckle had its axe stuck in the ground, Link struck with the Master Sword. The Hylian knew that the safest time to attack an Iron Knuckle was just after the automated killing machine made an attack move.

After about an hour, Link had dealt sufficient damage to the Iron Knuckle and its armor was falling off. When in clattered to the floor, the armor revealed Nabooru, the Gerudo Sage of Spirit, drained slightly by the hypnosis.

"Blast you," said Kotake as she and Koume reappeared. "You freed the girl!"

"We'll deal with him later, Kotake! You have been forewarned, kid!"

As evil Twinrova vanished again, good Twinrova appeared and levitated Nabooru onto a stretcher they conjured. The Sage of Spirit moaned in her coma as they teleported her back to the rest of the party.

"What happened to her," Harry asked.

"A modified version of the Imperius Curse," said Alzeroth. "The evil Twinrova sisters are fond of using hypnosis to control unwilling servants. They were Ganondorf's surrogate mothers and taught him all the dark magic he knows."

The door behind the throne the Iron Knuckle had sat on was now open. Link knew that the next few challenges would test him even more than the ones he had already faced. Well, there was nothing left to do but face them.