Chapter 17 : Late

The masked demon turned to the robed one. "Now that we're here, I'd like you finish him off, Astaroth. Do be quick about it."

"Of course, my lord," the red demon said. He disappeared in a bolt of light and thunder.

"No! Don't-" the masked demon said, but the sorcerer had already teleported away. Link suspected he knew where the demon had gone. He spun around and hit the sorcerer on the head with the flat of his blade. The red demon crumpled to the ground.

The masked demon uttered a curse from the top of the dragon statue and Link felt his feet being pulled out from under him by some unseen force.

"You will stay away from my sorcerer, vermin. I refuse to walk back to the Sealed Grounds," the lanky demon said.

Lying on the dusty stone, Link saw the sorcerer slowly rise from the ground, still unconscious. Looking up, he saw the masked demon moving one of his arms in the same direction the sorcerer was moving.

As Link cautiously rose, he saw that the sorcerer's body had lifted several inches off the ground, his feet dragging against the stone as he levitated towards the edge of the platform.

Link watched as the floating body began to move more quickly away from him in jerky motions. He saw the sorcerer's form continue to move forward and then float quickly off the edge of the path. The limp sorcerer ended up on a nearby stone slab, which seemed to push itself off of the column of lava it rested on and float downwards until it disappeared from sight.

Link looked back up at the masked demon, who, after a few minutes, lowered his clawed hand. "It seems," he said, pulling a strange sideways longbow from his back, "That I have to do everything myself."

Link heard a 'click' and felt himself instinctively lunge to the side as something whirred past his head.

"I do resent your reflexes." The demon fired a few more bolts from his bow, but Link managed to dodge them by stumbling ungracefully out of the way of the deadly projectiles.

The lanky demon lowered his weapon. "Perhaps I need to try something a little more-forceful. I must admit, I do want to see you burn, little vermin."

"Still, I think I will take your continued existence, this brief time that you still occupy the land of the living, as an opportunity to introduce myself . Yes, a weakness of mine, perhaps, but I want you to know who it is who will make you suffer, who will make you die." He spread his arms. "So-I am Lord Terrin, last servant of the great King Demise. I act for the vengeance of my Master, who was murdered by the hand of your Goddess. And now, as I asked you once before-do you have any last words, creature of Hylia? Any begging, pleading, foolish bravado?"

Link shook his head and raised his sword.

"Your continued silence puzzles me, but I will assume that is a no." He raised a hand, and Link noticed that the boulder suspended above him was beginning to move. The blank white mask tilted to the side.

"Oh, and if my rather more bestial friend here isn't fearsome enough for you, don't worry," Terrin said. "I'll still be here to finish off whatever scorched bits of you remain."

The boulder reached it's tipping point and fell towards Link. He ran down the incline trying to escape the enormous rock that threatened to crush him. As the rumbling behind him grew stronger and louder, Link rolled to the side, stopping near some raised stone ornamentation on the edge of the path. As he stood, he felt an invisible force yank at his legs and pull him off the ledge. Link grasped the edge of the stone path desperately with both hands. Looking down, he glanced at the robed demon, who was still lying unconscious on the stone slab floating in the lava far below him.

Link kicked his feet frantically and felt the invisible force recede from them.

"Stand still, vermin!" The masked demon yelled. Link felt something tugging at his fingers, then, but the demon seemed to have trouble maintaining the force. Link could hear him muttering angrily. With a great burst of effort, the elf heaved himself back onto the path. Looking up at Terrin, he thought he noticed the demon slumping more than before.

The masked demon was silent for a while, seeming to catch his breath. Suddenly, he laughed and pointed in the distance. "Perhaps you should be expending some of your attention to the pyroclastic fiend back there. I did bring Scaldera all the way from the Lower Realms to meet you, after all. But feel free to ignore her if you like."

Link heard a cracking sound from behind him. Turning around, he saw the boulder cleave into pieces and six legs erupt from its sides. Then an enormous toothy mouth opened and the entire creature erupted into flame. Link turned his back to it again and started running. He didn't think he needed to see any more.

The elf heard a roar behind him and the entire room grew brighter. He threw himself to the side as scorching heat and blazing light rushed past his right side. He rose and began running again as he felt the rumbling of the path and heard the sound of the creature's footfalls approaching.

Almost immediately, Link dodged to the right, barely missing the creature's fireball and another bolt from the masked demon. Link knew moving within range of the demon's weapon wasn't wise. But he didn't think turning around was an option. If he could just get to the engraved door ahead of him, though...

Link dodged several more arrows before finally making it to the door. He pressed his hand to its golden surface...and nothing happened. Link hit his hand harder on the door, making a loud metallic sound echo through the room, but he still couldn't get through. Last time the door had let him through easily, de-materializing at his touch and re-materializing when he willed it to. But this door didn't seem to notice him at all.

"What is that rapping? Are you trying to get through the door?" The masked demon laughed. "Oh, but I already dealt with that little problem."

Link turned around. He was under the dragon statue now, so the demon couldn't attack him with his strange sideways longbow. But the rock creature was rapidly getting closer. That was when Link noticed the bomb flowers around him. The mogmas had explained these to him. He picked one up and hefted it at the creature. The bomb exploded and the creature rolled down the incline, stopping when it hit the small cliff at the end. Link remembered the bomb bag he had found on one of the unconscious lizalfos. He quickly picked up more bomb flowers and placed them in the bomb bag. The creature was running up the incline again. Link ran towards it this time and threw another bomb. Then, when it opened it's mouth, he threw a bomb at the creature before it could breath another fireball at him. The creature shuddered and collapsed to the ground. Link ran over to it and slashed the creature with his sword. The masked demon was yelling something angrily, but Link couldn't make out the words over the din of the creature's roars.

Link determined that the masked demon must have run out of arrows. The last two times he had been within range of the weapon, the demon hadn't shot at Link with the strange sideways longbow as he had before. The elf attacked the fiery rock creature several more times with his bombs and sword. He was about to throw another bomb at the creature, but stopped when it made a loud wailing noise, shrinking back from him. Suddenly, it turned around and jumped into the lava.

By the angry yelling he could hear from the masked demon, Link assumed that this was a good thing for him. As the demon went suddenly silent, he turned and began walking up the incline. If he could investigate the golden door a little more, maybe he could figure out how to open it.

When he was two thirds of the way to the top of the incline, he stopped as the demon spoke. "You're certainly persistent, but don't think you're the only one. Do you know what my motto is?" Terrin drew his sword. "If at first you don't succeed, try, try again."

The demon jumped off the dragon statue. Link backed up as Terrin landed with his broadsword plunging into the ground directly in front of Link.

"It's time for you to die, vermin," the demon growled, yanking the sword out of the ground and stalking towards Link. The elf barely had time to wonder how the demon had survived the jump before he was attacked. He clashed the Goddess Sword against the demon's light grey broadsword. He brought out his shield, but the effect was different from the the last time he had used it. The demon's sword made the shield and Link's teeth ring as it screeched across the spelled metal. Clearly, the sword the demon wielded was incredibly strong. But something about the sound of it seemed brittle—as if a strong enough force would not just bend or twist the metal, but shatter it to pieces.

Link held the shield up against the demon, moving it to intercept his sword strikes. Terrin struck the shield repeatedly. Link noticed the shield becoming dimmer, so he reluctantly withdrew it so it would have time to repair itself.

Terrin managed to slash Link's arm. The elf winced and backed away from the demon, blocking his strikes with the Goddess Sword. How could the demon even see anything with that eyeless mask covering his face? Link tried to assess his enemy's fighting style. Fi had advised him to always look for regularities in the fighting styles of others. Those were his opportunities to disable his opponent. Link knew the students in his school had many such habits. The problem was that he couldn't see any regularities in Terrin's attacks. With time, perhaps, he could figure them out. But time was what he didn't have.

Link winced as a dagger sliced at the chain-mail on his raised arm. He hadn't even seen it earlier, and if he hadn't raised his arm moments before, it would have sliced through his neck instead.

Link fended off several floating daggers, as well as the masked demon's sword. Eventually, he managed to knock the daggers with enough force that they careened downwards towards the lava and didn't return. This seemed to annoy the demon—Link dodged as he slashed his foot-long claws at the elf.

Link had an idea. He began running down the incline away from the demon.

"Going to be a coward, then? I hope I get to see the look of terror in your eyes when I kill you, and the look of despair from knowing that your friends will be next."

Link turned and threw two bombs from his bomb bag towards the demon. Terrin caught the bomb in midair and threw it back towards the elf. Link dodged but to his horror he saw the bomb loop back towards him. He ran back towards the demon. Looking back, he saw the bomb had finally dropped to the ground. As he had suspected, the demon was unwilling to levitate the explosive back to himself. When he turned back to face the demon, he could hear and feel the explosion. He didn't have time to consider it, however, since Terrin was already attacking the elf again with his sword.

Link could feel the exhaustion overtaking his limbs. If he didn't find some way to defeat Terrin, the demon would surely drive his sword through Link's heart. Terrin drove Link farther back until Link's foot stepped on air. He lost his balance and fell, but both hands caught the edge of the path. The bomb must have destroyed this section of the path. And Link had been too busy fighting the demon to notice. Terrin stepped over to the edge and then stamped his boot on one of Link's hands.

Link screamed in pain but didn't let go of the ledge. He could feel his grip slipping. The demon raised his sword...

The elf released his mechanical insect. It fluttered around the demon, who growled and sliced at it with his sword. "Not this thing again..." he muttered, his broadsword slashing furiously at the mechanism.

Link quickly pulled himself up and began running up the incline. Looking back, he saw the demon had abandoned the insect and was now pursuing Link. An idea formed in Link's mind. He took two of the bomb flowers out of his bag, but held onto them this time. The threadlike top of the bomb flowers ignited and began to slowly burn away. When they were almost all burned away, Link dropped them and put on another burst of speed up the incline. The vibration shook the entire path when the bomb exploded. Then he heard a rumbling sound. As Link turned, he saw part of the path fall away, separated from both sides by bomb flower damage. Terrin screamed something incomprehensible from the falling segment before he disappeared from view.

Link breathed a sigh of relief and called the mechanical insect back to him. He looked back up towards the golden door. Something was preventing him from opening it. He looked around the room, trying to see if perhaps there was some sort of mechanism for the door. That was when he saw the rounded gem sitting on the rocky ledge. It was a vivid green and glowing. Link thought he saw the outline of some sort of flower pattern etched into it. He sent his mechanical insect to investigate the stone. When the insect hit the stone, Link saw all the walls of the room light up briefly before dimming back to their normal color.

Link attached the insect securely back onto his belt when it returned to him and walked up to the door. Placing his hand on the golden surface, he willed it to open. This time, it faded away, just as the door in Skyview Temple had. He walked through and immediately willed it to close, since he knew the demon sorcerer was still out there and might possibly awaken.

He was surrounded by a cavern with waterfalls flowing into a stream under the central path. Zelda, wearing a white dress, was standing on the raised platform with the woman who she had talked to when they both first met the Sheikahs. She played the last few notes of a song on her harp, and a bright light grew in the center of the raised platform. The woman gestured to the light and Zelda started to walk through it, then stopped and turned around.

"Link!" she said, smiling. She started towards him, but the woman held an arm out.

"No! Don't." the Sheikah said.

"But why?" Zelda asked, looking confused.

"I'm sorry, Your Grace, but something or someone has placed a curse on him which I cannot judge the nature of. I know only that you are the trigger for the curse. Until he finds one who can nullify it, you must not go to him."

"Oh," Zelda said, her face falling for a moment. She looked back up at Link, giving him a small smile. "I'm glad I got to see you at least, though. I wanted to talk to you again. I was so worried we would have to leave before you got here, but—I'm glad everything worked out."

She held up the harp in her hands. "Looks just like the one from the ceremony, huh? I guess it was really accurate, because this is the real one."

Link gasped. Was it really-?

"Yes, it's the Harp of the Goddess," Zelda said. "Although, I'm told the dress wasn't quite as accurate. Anyway, I needed to tell you a few things."

Link tilted his head.

"First, you need to call your Loftwing to the surface. Talk to Tala. She will know how it can be done. Second, Lord Ghirahim has a relic called the Shard of Truth. It allows the wearer to tell whether anything spoken to them is the truth or a lie. You must tell Tala that he has it. Third, please—stay safe."

Link nodded, though he felt overwhelmed by what Zelda had just told him.

"I—I've got to go now," Zelda said, her expression pensive. "I'll meet you again at the edge of time." She walked into the light. Link ran towards the platform, holding his hand out. What had she meant by that?

The Sheikah woman, who had been walking towards the light column, turned to face him, a look of warning in her expression.

"Don't come any closer, Link. Remember what I told you."

Link stopped.

"There's something I think you should know," she said. "Her Grace was being held as a prisoner of the demons, and from what I had heard, they were planning to transport her to an entirely different area today. If I hadn't managed to retrieve her when I had, we would have lost our chance entirely. Do you know what it says in the prophecy, Link? That the hero will rescue the spirit maiden in earth's embrace. It means here, in this temple. And yet, if I had waited for you, all would have been lost." Her eyes blazed. "Do you understand what I am saying? You failed. You were late."

Link looked at the ground. The worst part was that she was right. If Zelda had had to wait for him, Ghirahim would likely have either teleported her away with him, or he would have kept her in that room when he left-the same room the masked demon had teleported into. Link didn't even want to think about what could have happened in the second case.

"Do my words sting you?" her expression was hard. "Let them. You must be faster if you are to be of any use to Her Grace. Time is running out." She turned and walked into the light column.

Link stood in the empty room, staring at the bird statue. He didn't know how long he stood there. Probably only a few minutes, though it seemed much longer as he brooded over his failure.

A memory dislodged from his mind. The first time Fi had told him to use the Skyward Strike, she had told him to hit a statue just like this one.

He wasn't useless. He would prove it. Link raised his sword to the sky.

Ghirahim sunk down into the tub of steaming water until it rose up to his neck. All of these battles—are so tiring. Of course, as a sword, he did enjoy battle. Battle, and his enemies' blood on his blade. The demon lord smiled as he recalled the Sheikahs who had not escaped his sword, and the horror of their friends as he had licked their blood from his blade. They know not who they toy with.

His eyes opened, and he looked around the marble room, his eyes settling on the deceptively peaceful appearance of the vista outside the window. But that does not mean I enjoy seeing my soldiers die. I had victory right at my fingertips, before it was plucked away from me and replaced with this mess. The spirit maiden gone, Link gone, nine soldiers dead fighting the Sheikahs to protect the shield, an enormous chunk of path in the Earth Temple inexplicably missing...

He sighed. Ghirahim had checked back in the Earth Temple when the battle at the Sealed Grounds had ended, hoping that the elf might still be there. But he had only felt a vague sense of unease when he stood in the room. The damage done to the stone path had been especially disconcerting. What had happened? Fortunately, one of his soldiers had seen Link leave the temple. She had said that the moment he saw her, the Sky Hero had touched a bird statue and floated up into the sky.

Returned to his Sky Realm, I suppose. At least he knew the Sky Hero was still alive. He had examined the statue, of course, had even tried to activate the magic in it himself. He had certainly felt some sort of great power seething inside the relic. But the statue hadn't responded to him at all, even to attack him. He had been too late. He would have to wait until the Hero returned to the surface if he wanted to talk with him. At least he is still safe.

Ghirahim examined the golden orb shining through the window, and estimated the time by its position in the sky. Looks like I'm going to be late to Amelia's tea party. A pity, but I am sure she will understand. He was looking forward to the event, which Amelia had promised would feature intriguing surface food, but had also stated might lack a certain excitement. Ghirahim thought that sounded delightful. His day had had far too much of the wrong kinds of excitement, and he thought he could enjoy a bit of relaxation right about now.