Legend Of Zelda Fan Fiction ❯ The Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess ❯ Freeing Lanaryu ( Chapter 16 )

A.N.- Well it has certainly been a while, and I apologize for that. Things have been getting pretty crazy around here lately. I also apologize for getting lazy with my descriptions of things. The Lanaryu Providence is ridiculously huge and if you’ve played the game you should know where everything is and what it looks like anyway! Also I would like to forewarn you all that I’m likely going to be very lazy with my descriptions of the temples from now on. Because, as you all know, from the water temple on out they get really long and complicated and describing them in detail takes up time that I could be spending on a research paper that’s due the next day.
I don’t own Zelda or their characters, no matter how much I may wish otherwise.

Link had hurried as quickly as he could to Lake Hylia, following Midna’s instructions as she marked their way along their map. They stopped at the entrance to the bridge that spanned the lake and looked around, there didn’t appear to be any way down to the lake from where they were.
“On the other side of the bridge maybe?” Midna suggested.
“Maybe,” Link agreed, starting across.
As he did so he noticed that the bridge was slick with something and a strange scent tickled his nostrils, but he was in such a hurry that he didn’t pay it much attention. At least not until Midna tugged hard on his ears and forced him to stop.
“Hey,” she said, crinkling her nose, “Do you smell anything funny?”
Link pawed at the ground and took in the scent, recognizing it immediately. There was oil on the bridge.
“Oh, no,” he said, assuming a defensive posture and growling at the bulbin archer that had revealed itself at the bridge’s exit.
Seeming to chuckle, the archer notched a flaming arrow to its bow and set the oil on fire behind them, blocking their escape. Then it took another and laid it on the oil on its own end. Link and Midna were now trapped between two oncoming waves of flame.
“Oh no!!” Midna shouted, “We’re trapped!! Get out of here!!”
Link searched around him frantically for a way out, eventually climbing up on a box To prolong the time he had left. As the flames got closer her realized that the only way they would be able to escape them would be to jump off the bridge and into the lake below.
Hoping fervently that he wouldn’t die from the fall, Link climbed over the edge and jumped off into space.

Link landed in the water below with a splash, panting as he surfaced and snorting to clear his nose from the water that had flooded it.
“Phew…” Midna sighed, her feet hanging in the water from the way she sat on Link’s back, “That was a close one. We’re lucky there was a puddle down below, huh?”
“Yeah…” Link said, looking around at his surroundings.
They were in Lake Hylia all right, but there was so little water. In fact the only water he could see was what he was currently floating in. From what he had heard of the Lake, it should’ve been much fuller.
“So this is Lake Hylia…” Midna said, looking around as well, “But there’s so little water… It sounds like the spirit’s spring should be somewhere around here as well… Anyway, let’s take a look around…”
Link shook himself dry at the water’s edge, noticing that there was a trio of Zoras standing nearby. One was standing alone, looking sadly at the little bit of water.
“The drop in water has been faster than predicted…” he sighed, leaning on his spear in despair, “At this rate, Lake Hylia will dry up. It’s a race against time…”
“We’ve had absolutely no water flowing from upstream…” one of the Zora pair was whispering to the other, “There’s no mistaking it. Something must have happened at the water’s source in our home, Zora’s Domain.”
“Yet how are we to return upstream to our home?” the other asked, looking dejectedly to where the water normally would’ve flowed freely from, “With the way things are now we can’t even walk back there…”
Leaving the Zoras to their contemplation about the drop in water, Link continued his exploration of the lakebed. A little ways up a slight hill he came upon a very strange site. There was something that looked like a carnival kind of structure sitting there uselessly while the presumed owner was standing nearby dejectedly talking to himself. Curious Link moved in to hear what he was saying.
“Hurrrm…I’m too old for this…” he complained, “Fyer and Fabli’s Watertop Land of Fantastication...It’s our grand reopening at our new lakebottom location…Whee. Hurrrm…Yeah, nice lake…Don’t lakes have more…I don’t know…water?” He paused for a moment to stare up at an opening in the rock wall that was carved away and ornately decorated. “Did the Zoras who live upriver do something? Or is it a curse from that spirit that floats around up there? Whatever. It’s not like I can go up there and complain…That’s way too high.” He paused again as he and Link both noticed movement on one of the other hills. “Wuzzat? A customer?! YIKES! IT’S A MONSTER!! Stay away…Stay away…”
Leaving the man cowering in fear Link raced to kill the creature snarling and growling at it. As soon as it noticed him however it trotted over to a patch of Hawk Grass and whistled a summoning tune. Seemingly out of nowhere a kargarok mutated by the twilight flew down and allowed the bulbin that summoned it to ride on its back.
Link found himself having a hard time catching the kargarok and its rider off guard, but took his chances whenever and however the opportunity presented itself, and eventually managed to get the archer back on the ground where he could dispose of him properly. But even with its rider gone the kargarok was still hovering above him; poised for the attack.
Midna however leapt from her spot on Link’s back onto the back of the kargarok which bucked as much as Link had in the beginning in an attempt to shake her off.
“Hey! Stop it!” she shouted, “I’m your new master now! Hey!”
The monsterous creature thrashed for a while longer before finally settling down some and hovering just above Link. Midna looked down at him smugly.
“What do you think?” she said, “Why don’t we use this guy to get us all the way to the lake’s water source?”
Link nodded in agreement, but still yelped in mild surprise when the monster swooped down and carried him away in its talons.
He hung there with his paws dangling uselessly below him and the wind rushing through his fur. Squinting his eyes against the rushing air he resigned himself to trusting Midna with their safety. After all it wasn’t like he was going to be much use at the moment.
More than once he thought that they weren’t going to make it as Midna led them through a ravine dotted with bulbin archers and falling pillars. But at every time she would direct the kargarok out of the way so that they remained unharmed. Nonetheless he was more than relieved when they cleared the underground portion of the ravine and the monster set him down safely once again.
“Ah…We’re already here?!” Midna said, resuming her position on Link’s back, “That bird turned out to be more useful than I expected. Well then…Where’s the village of the Zoras? Let’s look for it. It’s getting cold! Hurry up!”
Shaking his head and snorting at her Link jumped down into what was formerly the riverbed since it was logically the fastest way to reach Zora’s Domain without getting lost along the way.
As they traveled further along they began to notice small piles of snow lying in the riverbed here and there. Deeper into the Zora’s realm a few lazy flakes of snow even began to fall and the snow drifts became deeper and more prominent. Eventually they reached a large basin-like area with where even the cascading waterfall was frozen solid.
“Oh…Hey…What’s going on here?” Midna said, as she and Link looked around themselves in confusion, “I thought it was getting colder…but who would’ve throught that it would all be frozen?! This is the Zora village, right? Why don’t I see any then…Well…Anyway, let’s check things out. Let’s find the Zoras…”
“I’ve got a bad feeling about this…” Link said as he trotted forward to the frozen waterfall and climbed his way up with the help of Midna.
At the top of the tall cliffs Link followed the tunnel carved into the mountain to what he could only assume was the inner chambers of the Zora tribe. He’d had hopes to find Zoras within, but was instead met with a quartet of shadow beasts. Quickly he dispatched them and another warp portal appeared in the sky.
“A portal has opened here, too!” she said, excitedly rolling out their map and making a mark on it, “We can finally warp. If you want to breathe the air of the world of light for a moment let me know. I’ll take you there!”
“Sure thing,” Link said, looking around, but still not seeing any Zoras nearby.
“Whoa! Hey! Down!” Midna shrieked, “Look below the ice!”
Since he had become so used to being in his wolf form Link didn’t even have to concentrate that hard to see and here spirits anymore so when he looked down he was met with quite a shock. Frozen within the ice’s grasp were the Zoras. Being in spirit form their bodies glowed eerie green to him and reflected sickeningly throughout the ice. Closing his eyes tightly against the sight, Link felt waves of sickness rising over him.
“Those…those are the Zoras!” Midna said, her usual sarcasm absent in the face of such a thing, “Wow..This is really strange…What in the world happened? Hey…What do you want to do? We can’t just leave them like this…”
“Agreed,” Link said, walking off the ice so he could look down without having to see the frozen Zoras.
“I think all we need to do is thaw them out…” she mused, tapping her chin lightly with one finger, “It does us no good to just stand here thinking…Let’s leave and come back later. The portal should work for us.” She hopped off his back and spread the map out in front of him so they could decide where it was that they wanted to go. “We need to find a way to melt the ice and then come back here…”
She let that thought trail off. Link’s ears perked up as he had an idea, and Midna seemed to know what he was thinking.
“Death Mountain?” she asked.
He nodded and she gave him one of her widest smiles before teleporting them.

“This thing has been here for a while now, but it’s still pretty hot…” she said, looking over the shard of rock that had erupted from the volcano on their previous visit, “Should we take it?”
Link nodded and Midna summoned a great deal of her power to lift and teleport the massive piece of rock before them.

Back in the inner chamber of Zora’s Domain the scalding piece of rock materialized and hovered above the frozen pool of Zoras before crashing down. As it hit the frozen water chunks of ice rose up all around it and began to melt. The Zoras within were freed from their prison and the rock sank to the bottom while the now scalding water rushed out and melted their home back to what it was meant to be. As the spring that supplied the rushing river with its force was freed the cooler waters from below returned and set the water temperature back to normal as well.
Midna considerately brought Link back to the twilight realm standing on the stone circumference of the pool instead of directly in it.
“Who knew that something so dangerous would com in handy…” Midna said, eyeing their handy work, “All right…The Zoras are safe now, so let’s go. The ice melted and restored the water flow to normal. Can we finally meet the spirit of Lake Hylia?”
“I hope so,” Link said, turning to leave.
“Wait!” an ethereal voice called from behind them.
Link and Midna both turned their heads quickly expecting to see some sort of enemy. Instead there was the glowing form of a female Zora spirit. She was by far the most beautiful Zora Link had ever seen. She was tall, slender, adorned with garments befitting that of royalty, and had a very kind face.
“Please, you must let me thank you for revitalizing both my people and this spring, which is the water source for all the lands of Hyrule,” she said, her garments and fins billowing about her as if blown by a gentle breeze, “In life, I was the elder of this Zora Village and the queen of my people. I was called Rutela.”
Link approached her and dipped his head respectively. Even if he was special in the eyes of the light spirits and maybe even the goddesses themselves he was still a common ranch hand by all earthly rights.
“Not to be rude,” Midna said, speaking on equal levels with the ghostly queen, “but we didn’t exactly do it for you guys…”
“Midna!” Link said, even though he knew she couldn’t understand him, ”Don’t say that!”
“The dark ones…” Rutela said, nodding to show that she knew, “They raided this village and, as a message to my people, executed me before them.” She hugged herself tightly at the memory of it, but continued, looking at Link with great respect. “Young man…You who takes the form of a proud beast…I have something to ask of you. When the dark ones descended upon our village, I sent my young one, Ralis, to Hyrule Castle to inform Princess Zelda of our fate. But…I fear danger followed him from this doomed place. I feel it. His presence grows fainter to me over time…But my time in this world has passed, and though I would give it gladly, I no longer have a life to risk in his rescue. Please…Would you save my dearest, Prince Ralis?”
Link nodded eagerly. He knew where Prince Ralis was; by Ilia’s side. The very place where he was headed once he lifted the twilight from this area. Queen Rutela smiled warmly at him and continued.
“If you do this thing, I wil bestow upon you the protection of water. This power will grant you the ability to swim and respire in very deep water as if you were a Zora. Please…” she said as she faded away once more, “Save my son…”
And then she was gone. Link turned to Midna expectantly for her comment on the matter.
“Hmm…So, if we help her, she’ll grand you the power to swim in deep water like a Zora, huh?” she mused, “So…What do you say, Hero?...Oh, but now that I think about it. I don’t suppose you should meet the prince as a wolf, huh? Eee hee! So…No hurry to return you to the world of light then, huh?”
Link nodded and left the chamber. She was right of course, but that didn’t make him any less anxious to complete his task.
Outside the water was flowing faster than what could’ve been considered normal and the spray from where it launched over the cliffs flew in all directions. Likely that it would’ve created a fantastic rainbow had the land not been soaked in twilight.
“Looks like the shock of that impact not only raised the water level, but sped up the flow, too…” Midna observed, “This water should flow all the way down to the lake. Why don’t you let it take you there?”
Link had to admit that it was a good idea, but he was more than a little reluctant to step into the rushing waters. The dangers of drowning were much higher than what he felt comfortable with. Midna however didn’t share his caution or concern as she pushed him into the rushing water, grinning as she watched him get carried away howling in protest.

“Ugh…Aren’t you awake yet?” Midna complained as Link regained consciousness, “Look! We got washed all the way to Lake Hylia, just as I predicted…And It looks like we’re right in front of the spirit’s spring, to boot. Talk about lucky…”
Link groaned and stood up shakily, coughing up the water that had taken up residence in his lungs. He couldn’t remember his water voyage or how long he had been lying on the steps to the spirit’s spring, but one way or another he would find a way for Midna to ‘enjoy’ the ride with him if there was a next time. On the other hand he usually wasn’t one to hold a grudge, and his resentment was already starting to fade as he shook the water from his fur.
“Well, let’s go!” she said, hopping onto his back again, “Snap out of it and get to the spirit!”
”I’m on it,” he said, trotting into the cave where the spirit lived.

Like with the others Lanaryu was nothing more than a feeble looking ball of light that floated above its water.
“I am…the last of the spirits of light…consumed…by twilight…” it rasped, “Hero…Chosen one of the gods…You have…done well to make it this far…Gather…my scattered Tears of Light…that were stolen by shadow…Gather them…in this…” Link stood perfectly still as Lanaryu’s vessel of light wrapped itself around his neck, taking note that there were many more containers than what the other light spirits had. “Collect my light…Lift the final cloud of twilight…”
Following Midna’s directions based on the marks Lanaryu had placed on their map Link went to the general areas within Lake Hylia and hunted down all of the insects that were there. He even had to fight more shadow beasts at the main section of land where all the bridges to the surrounding areas connected, that however was a good thing since he would now be able to warp to that area whenever he wanted to now.
“Seems there’s some in the Zora’s Domain too,” she said, checking the map as certain locations faded from the insects being killed, “And along the way there as well. Wanna try using that bird again, hmm?”
Link nodded, knowing that there was no other way to reach Zora’s Domain in his present state. Trotting over to a patch of Hawk Grass he howled the melody for summoning and the monstrous kargarok came down and picked him up while Midna hopped up onto its back.
Once again Link had to rely on Midna for their safety in navigating the treacherous passage. Luckily though, she could also see the spectral insects and was so able to steer their ride in such a way that he was able to easily catch them in his jaws.
As they were dropped off Link turned to notice the shrieking of the spirit of a woman as she cowered on the steps of her hut.
“What’s…that? A bug? Eww, nasty! Why is it so big?!” she cried as a shadow insect scurried around on the ground in front of her, “Golly, I am so sick of roughing it in the boonies!”
Quickly Link trotted over and easily got rid of the bug; collecting the Tear of Light and heading on his way.
“Huh…It’s gone? That was nasty…I hope it doesn’t come back…” she said as he passed by her, “Golly, work is tanking just as hard as my personal life these days…”
Up ahead and perched on an overhang was a stature to summon the hero of old back for a lesson in swordsmanship. Taking notice of it Link eagerly trotted over and howled the melody that whistled around it.
Instantaneously he was in the dimension of that hero, perched on rock shaped like a wolf and howling a duet with him.
“Let teaching of old pass to you…” the spirit said, jumping down into the land of Hyrule, “Take sword in hand and fine me…”
That taken care of he continued on to Zora’s Domain, pausing again only to listen in on the conversation of two Zora Spirits who were standing by the rushing river.
“Do you think Prince Ralis passed through here?” one of them asked.
“He must have. This is the only waterway that connects to Hyrule Castle. Come. Let’s follow this path in search of him.”
Nodding to each other they dove into the water gracefully and swam down the dimly lit passage to Hyrule Castle. Link looked at Midna as she checked their map.
“There’s an insect in the town if that’s what you’re wondering,” she said, rolling up the map and tapping him on the head with it, “But there’s more in that Zora’s Domain. Go there first and then go to the town.”
Nodding Link quickly headed back to the Zora’s Domain, killing the insects there and collecting the light they had before returning to the spot where the Zoras had entered the river. Without waiting for Midna to brace herself he jumped into the water and followed the same tunnel that the Zoras had, letting the water carry him so that he only had to worry about staying afloat.
Close to Hyrule Castle there was a series of stone steps in the water that led back into the shore. Likely it had placed there by the Zoras or for their convenience when traveling to Hyrule Castle; either way Link was going to use it.
Out of the water he followed Ilia’s scent back to the town and encountered more of the shadow beasts baring his entrance to the west gate. Killing them the portal was opened and he paused for a moment so that Midna could mark the location on their map before heading into the town once more.

He found the insect ironically right outside of the bar where Ilia and Prince Ralis were, hiding from him in a crate. When he collected the light it held though he noticed that there was still one container on the Vessel of Light that was empty. He looked to Midna expectantly.
“What’s going on?” she said, checking their map for the insect they had missed, “There should be one more… Where could the last tear be?” As she said that another white dot appeared smack dab in the middle of Lake Hylia. “There it is…What’s going on? This is weird?”
”Agreed,” Link said, nodding when she showed him the new dot that had appeared on the map.
Without waiting for him to say otherwise Midna snapped her fingers and warped them to Lake Hylia.