Legend Of Zelda Fan Fiction ❯ The Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess ❯ Freeing Eldin ( Chapter 11 )

A.N.- None of these characters belong to me, they are the property of Nintento. Noticed a few spelling errors so I figued I better go through and fix that asap. Also if something seems weird with the page it could be because my vista program doesn’t like this site or something stupid like that. At any rate enjoy.

“These kids knew you’d come save them! What a hero!” Midna said, giggling to herself, “How sad, to be right in front of someone and not be noticed at all…Eee hee hee! You are chosen by the gods, and only that keeps you from turning into a spirit, or worse, a dark monster, when you enter twilight. And no one knows what you have done…You may be forced to toil in obscurity forever…You’re the type to worry about everything. I can tell…bot don’t fret over Princess Zelda! She chose this state of affairs, after all…Anyway, what’s with having to light candles to get to the basement? Not very subtle, is it…So, what are you going to do now? My lonely little hero…Eee hee!”
“Now I’m going to light those candles,” Link said, taking Barnes’ lit torch in his jaws and climbing to the stairs to the second level of the rom.
He ran along the circle lighting candles as he jumped across the gaps with ease. As soon as he had lit every candle the statue of the bird slid back to reveal a ladder leading down into Renado’s cellar.
Link hopped down of the second level, spit the torch out of his mouth, and jumped down into the hole without hesitation.

Down in the basement Link quickly found and destroyed the dark insects. He gathered their light and went on to the back of the basement since he couldn’t very well get out the same way that he had come in. Luckily enough there was some scafolding in the back that looked climbable.
“How about that?” Midna said, looking up at it, “Looks like you can climb the scaffolding…”
With her help he climbed the scaffolding out of the cellar and came out in a graveyard. A few mutated keese were hovering around in the sky, but Link paid them no attention. He had caught sight of the telltale sparks that marked the location of a dark insect. Focusing in on it he spotted its visible form and attacked. Now he had four of the 16 tears he needed to revive Eldin.
With Midna holding the map for him so that he could se where the insects were Link left the graveyard to head back into the town. According to the map there were insects hiding in the buildings on both the right and left side of town as well as up towards Death Mountain itself.
So since he was already on the right side of the town Link started his search there. He clambered his way on top of the cucco’s coop that was set next to the first building and from there climbed up on top of the roof. There was no way into this first building so Link jumped the gap from it to the next, and then to the next one after that. The previous buildings had shown no way for him to gain access to them from the roof, but the third one did.
Like Renado’s home this building too had a mound of thatch for part of the roof. He could see that it would be the only way into the building where the insect hid so he willingly stepped onto it and fell down into the home.
The home had only a single room and was dusty from lack of use. An old bed sat in one corner surrounded by crates and a wardrobe was in the other at the foot of the bed. Concentrating hard Link could see that the insect he sought was trapped underneath one of the crates. So he rammed into it and set the bug free if only for a moment before he destroyed it. With another tear collected he jumped up on top of the wardrobe and out of the hole he had made in the roof.
Outside again he gazed at the metal building in front of him. The map said that another insect was hiding inside of it, but there was no way for him to get to it from this side. Snorting to clear the dust from his nose Link hopped off the roof of the building he was on and trotted around to the other side of the metal one; looking for a way in. He found one but knew that the owner of the building wouldn’t like it.
On the left of the building there was a small storage shed that he was able to climb up on. Once on top of it he braced himself and then did a little running leap off the small shed, through the window in front of him, and into the building.
Inside there were flyers stuck to the walls saying ‘Barnes’ Bomb Shop!’ or ‘Lanterns Strictly Prohibited!’ and the smell of gunpowder was heavy. Link recognized the name Barnes as that of the portly man he had seen earlier and that this bomb shop must be how he made his livelyhood. Nonetheless he hurried up the stairs to the right and up to the second floor where he could sense the presence of another dark insect.
He didn’t recognize where it was at first, but soon spotted it hiding out in the lone wardrobe. Link rammed into it; knocking the wardrobe over and shaking the insect loose. It attempted to fly out of the open window and escape. Link had his jaws around it almost immediately after he had knocked it free however. Another tear was collected.
Link knew that he couldn’t leave the building the same way that he had come in unless he wanted to shred his paws on the broken glass. Therefor he left Barnes’ Bomb Shop the same way the insect had just tried to do; through the upstairs window.
Outside he had Midna hold the map out for him again so that he could see where he had to look for the parasites next. He saw more close to where he was so he scaled the steps on the roof of the house and took the sloping path upwards.
At the top of this path he saw one of the parasites, but it saw him too. It scurried away from him and took refuge in a metal shack with the name Barnes’ painted on the side in bright red. He ran over and crawled through the small hole in the wall into the building itself.
Inside he could see sparks coming from the stove so he knew where the insect was taking refuge. Link knocked against a couple of times in an attempt to scare the creature out, but it wouldn’t budge from its hiding place. Growling in frustration Link took not of the small fire that was burning on the floor and the sticks strewn near it.
“Thin should fix you,” he said, picking up one of the sticks in his jaws and lighting the end on fire.
He then took the lit end and rammed it into the stove’s opening, smoking the insect out. It flew out of the stove in a panic flinging sparks from the fire Link had started everywhere. The sparks ignited the gunpowder in the room and the entire building was ablaze seconds later.
“Huh?! What did you do?” Midna shrieked.
“I was just trying to flush out that insect!”
“Sorry, but as romantic as this is, I’m not going to stay here with you. I’m getting out!” she said, disappearing through the hole Link had crawled through.
“Midna wait! You can’t just leave me here like that!!” he said, yelping as a piece of flaming wood bounced off his back.
The smoke was thickening quickly so Link hurridly crawled out of there and ran as far away from the shack as he could get. Seconds after he had done so the shack exploded leaving behind three tears of light in its burned remains.
“Hmm…”Midna mused, appearing on his back once again, “I don’t suppose there’s any nicer way to hunt these things, huh?”
“I suppose not,” Link said, feeling bad that he had destroyed part of Barnes’ livelyhood.
“ Well, you had to sacrifice someone’s house to find the Tears of Light…but that’s how the cookie crumbles, right?”
Link snorted, but was glad that at least some good had come out of destroying the shack. Now he had three more tears instead of just one.
After another quick glance at the map he saw that only one more insect was on this half of town and that the others were either on the other side or on Death Mountain. He headed up the wooden supports to the lookout tower he had seen earlier; the only possible place that the last insect could be hiding.
He burrowed under a weak spot of dirt in the wal and emerged inside of the building. Link concentrated hard and sensed the insect hiding in one of the pots that were strewn across the floor. Smashing them easily with one quick swipe of his paw the insect flew free. It sparked angrily and dove down at Link only to be swatted aside like the pesky creature it was.
Out of the building Link’s paw slipped on some loose gravel and he went tumbling down the steep slope. Though when he had finished his bumpy ride he stood up to find that he was surprisingly unharmed. All he had to show for his unexpected trip was some sore shoulders and dusty fur. But he shook it off and headed back towards Renado’s home.
He could sense the presence of an insect inside of the first building marked as the general store but couldn’t get in though the dorr because of his lack of aposable thumbs. So he wandered over to the side of the building and found a hole that he could just barely squeeze through. Link emerged on the other side of the counter but could sense the parasites presens coming from the floor above. He climbed over crates and up to the second level where the bug was clinging quietly to the wall in the hopes that Link wouldn’t be able to spot it. It was wrong as Link knocked it off its perch and caught it easily in his jaws. With another tear collected Link left the store the same way that he had come in.
Checking his map yet again he saw that he only had two more of the insects to destroy inside of the village. So he made his way up the winding road behind the store and jumped the gap between it and the porch on the second landing of the village inn. The door here had been carelessly left open so Link entered through there and jumped down to the first level. He was apparently in the storage room of the inn and could see a parasite trying to hide in the stove. Link took a stick in his jaws, climbed on top of a wooden crate, and lit it from a torch that was hanging in the wall; then he took it and used it to smoke the insect out of the stove.
Luckily another incident like the one at the bomb shack did not occur. The insect flew out of the stove like it was supposed to without spreading any sparks and Link destroyed it. Link then proceeded to explore the rest of the inn, destroying the two twilight bulbins that were roaming around the bar area, and heading upstairs to deal with another. With the mutated bulbins taken care of he proceeded to search for the last parasite in town. Like two others before it, it was hiding in a wardrobe, and was easily taken care of.
Now the only insects left to dispose of were on Death Mountain. So Link climbed up the shelves in the storage room and left the same way that he had come.
Back out on the landing Link gazed for a moment at Renado’s home in the distance.
Please…he thought, Please, just wait a little longer…
He then jumped off the landing and headed up the trail to Death Mountain.

Link tipped his head in confusion at the sight of a large steel net slung over the side of the cliff that started the trail. And at the top of that cliff was a spirit flame.
“Looks like the paths’ impassible…” Midna said, surveying the net, “but I can get you up if you want to go.”
“Please do,” Link said, nodding.
No sooner had he nodded than he was jumping along the invisible cord that Midna’s power created. Once at the top he tuned in to the spirit and saw a creature that he had never encountered before in his life.
He had heard Rusl tell him tales of the Gorons, but this was the first time he had actually seen one himself. It was slightly orange in color with gray-brown pieces of rock jutting out all along its back; and the backs of its head, arms, and legs. In addition to its already intimidating appearance it was covered in ceremonial tattoos and a good two or three feet taller than the average human. But Link knew that the creature couldn’t see him so he felt no fear in approaching it and listening in on whatever it was saying.
“Ugh…Why do I have to stand guard….” It complained, “The ladder is destroyed, so it’s not like any humans will come up…And what is with the elders? If we have a problem the humans can help with, we should ask. It is better than suffering for the sake of pride.”
Link tipped his head curiously, wondering if the problem the Gorons were having might have anything to do with another fused shadow like the one he and Minda had already found.
There was no poing in worrying about it now though. He had three more insects to find and destroy. Not to mention that the kids were counting on him; especially shy little Colin.
Using Midna’s help occasionally Link made his way up the winding path to Death Mountain’s summit. Stopping at an area of craters that randomly burst forth a scalding stream of steam. He moved through them slowly, not wanting to even think of the hurt they would cause if one of them were to hit him. That’s when he noticed the parasite burrowing for its life underground.
“Oh, no you don’t!” he growled, digging it back up and killing it.
As the tear glided into its place on the vessel Link noticed a strange stone. He trotted over to it an noticed that it was adorned with strange markings and had a hole in the center through which the wind was whistling a sort of tune.
It was then that the words of the hero came back to him. About finding the stones that howl with the sound of the wind. Despite his desire to quickly restore light and reunite himself with the children Link felt excited. He sat down in front of the stone and listened closely to the tune for a few minutes before he felt that he could howl it.
When he did so successfully the stone stopped making noise and the scenery around him vanished.

Link was now sitting on a stone perch that was shaped like a wolf howling at the star-strewn sky. In the distance Death Mountain loomed; only just visbly through the mist that enshrouded it. And two his right seated on a similar moss and vine covered perch was the white wolf. He nodded to Link.
Understanding what he wanted him to do Link started to howl the same tune that he had heard from the whistling rock along with the white wolf. They sang their wolf song together; the sound echoing throughout the distant place even after it was finished.
“Let teachings of old pass to you…” he said, standing up, “Take sword in hand and find me…”
With that said, he jumped off his perch and into the mist-enshrouded land beneath him.

Link came to by the howling stone. He shook his head a moment to clear it then continued heading up the trail.
The path ended shortly from where he had found the last twilight parasite with large stone platforms that looked like they had been cut out of a former cliff. Death Mountain loomed above him in all its feasome glory sputtering out the occasional chunks of lava rock.
Desperatly hoping that none of those lava rocks would hit him while he was down there Link bounded down the stone steps. Once at the base of death mountain the pillars descended from the sky and not three, but four of the shadow creatures appeared.
Three of them were staying together for the most part, but one was staying off by itself. Link decided that he would take care of that one first before dealing with the other three so that it wouldn’t be alive to shriek the other three back. When he went to lunge at it however he was repelled by the same force field that kept him from running away in the first place. Growling he located the way to the creature and killed it; then he turned his attention to the other three. Lureing them into a group he took them out all at once with the help of Midna’s field of power.Defeated they dissolved into the portal through which that had come.
Sensing the presence of the 15th insect on the mesh covered wall to his right Link trotted over and destroyed it. Now he had only one more insect to destroy before light was restored to the land of Eldin.
Using Midna’s help he scaled the side of Death Mountain and looked over at the other side at what appeared to be hot springs. He was about to turn and look in the other direction when he saw a purple spark. Link jumped down into the lukewarm water without hesitation and stretched out his senses to see the insect clearly. It noticed him and attemped to scurry away, but was too slow. Link killed it with one rake of his claws and collected the final tear that it yeilded.
Once the vessel of light was filled he felt the same warming sensation he had felt when he’d collected all of Faron’s light and knew that he was being transported back to the Spirit’s Spring.