The Fire and Ice Arrows proved to be invaluable, allowing them to continue their quest. The Ice Arrows froze the lava erupting out of Fire Mountain, allowing Krystal to enter the island's interior and find a pair of Power Crystals, which filled her arms with the strength of a dinosaur, allowing her to lift and move huge boulders.
The Fire Arrows, meanwhile, put an end to the arctic blasts coming out of Ice Ring Isle, allowing the King of Red Lions to approach the outer ring. Her fur kept her warm as she entered the interior of the island, where she found a pair of metal plates that expanded into heavy metal bracers when she pushed a button on them. She was grateful she had found the Power Crystals first, otherwise they would've painfully forced her arms down the first time she pressed the button.
Back on the boat, she consulted with Tetra on which island they should go to first. The pirate-turned-princess thought about it before saying, “We're closer to Headstone Island. We might as well get blown that way and see if those stones on your wrists are all they're cracked up to be.”
Krystal nodded, “Right.” As she reached for the Wind Waker, she glanced back at the Master Sword and the sword Orca had given her. “Let's make a quick stop at Outset Island first. There's something I have to take care of.”
As the vixen began to conduct, Tetra rolled her eyes and said, half-jokingly, “Didn't you take care of all your business at home last time you were there? This better not be a waste of our time.”
________________________________________
After the cyclone dropped them off near Outset Island and they stopped the King of Red Lions next to the dock, Tetra followed Krystal to Orca's house. He stroked his beard as he listened to Krystal's tale, nodding in understanding when she finished. He took his sword back and dug around in his collection for a minute before coming up with a yellow scabbard that was roughly twice as long as the one she'd been using.
“Here, Krystal,” he said as he walked over to her. “This should be long enough for your new sword.” He held it out to her, “Take care of it as you took care of my sword.”
Krystal took it into both hands and said, “I will, Orca sir.” She knelt down and picked the Master Sword up off the floor. She brought the tip of the blade to the opening and slid it in slowly. The entire blade fit inside, the tip resting snugly at the bottom of the sheath.
As she swung it around to put it on her back, it bumped the side of her Adventure Pouch and something fell out. Orca's eyes widened when he saw the purple-brown belt that landed on the floor and he visibly recoiled. “That's… a Knight's Crest!” he exclaimed.
Tetra, who had been leaning against the door frame, asked, “You know about that thing, old man?”
He looked over at her, his usual stoic expression hiding how he was really feeling. “Of course I do,” he said. He gestured to the back of the room and Tetra looked, seeing a Knight’s Crest sitting on a shelf on the back wall. He looked back at Krystal, “How many of those have you gathered, Krystal?”
The blue vixen blinked at the question. “Um… I gathered a lot recently,” she murmured, reaching into her Adventure Pouch to find the rest of the crests she had gathered.
After a minute, she had pulled them all out and Orca had counted them up, coming up with ten. He nodded and said, “Very well, Krystal. I suppose the time has come for me to talk to you about the crests.” Krystal sat down on the floor as he stood up and explained, “The Knight’s Crest… It is the symbol of a courageous knight… But not just anyone can gather them, no! It takes a soul who possesses not only power, but wisdom and courage as well! Any courageous soul who can gather ten crests is capable of learning a powerful sword technique known as the Hurricane Spin!”
Krystal’s eyes widened and she asked, “Have you learned it?”
Orca’s expression seemed to be slightly downcast as he responded, “Both my brother and I dreamt of learning the technique in our youth. We worked so hard to collect the necessary number of crests, but it took many long years and adventures before we even approached finding ten of them, and by that time, we had grown old…” His expression became a little brighter, “But you, Krystal, have already obtained the crests. Perhaps you possess the might required to learn and master it!” He gestured for her to rise, which she did.
A minute later, they were standing across from each other, Orca holding one of his fishing spears while Krystal held her shield and the Master Sword in her hands. They gave a quick bow to each other and then leapt back. “Hold your sword back as if you’re readying a Spin Attack and focus! Feel the wind and the air around you and channel it into your blade! Build up power and release it at me!” Orca explained.
Tetra raised an eyebrow as she watched Krystal take a deep breath and spread her legs out before holding the Master Sword out behind her. Orca could have been talking metaphorically or spiritually as far as she knew, but she was curious to see if Krystal could learn the sword technique he was talking about. It would surely make the whole detour worth it. As she stared, both of her eyebrows raised as she started to see glowing yellow energy gather around the Master Sword’s blade. Soon, the whole blade was surround by glowing yellow energy.
Krystal, for her part, had sensed the energy gathering behind her as she focused on what she knew about the wind and she felt like she couldn’t hold it anymore. As soon as she let go, she felt herself spinning in a way she never had before. She balanced on one leg as she spun around Orca, striking him several times though she couldn’t tell due to how the room was spinning for her. She came to a stop after several seconds, her eyes rolling around as she tried to stay upright. “Uhhh… What happened?” she dazedly asked.
Tetra ran over, afraid she was going to fall, but she managed to stop wobbling and plant her feet against the floor after a few moments, though her eyes were still spinning a bit. She looked over at Orca, noticing the bruises forming where he’d been hit. She wondered if he Master Sword had held back from doing him severe harm. It was either that or the technique wasn’t all that powerful. “Was that it?” she asked, noticing the way he was intently staring at Krystal.
As the vixen’s vision stopped spinning, Orca’s spear fell from his grip with a clatter and Krystal looked over at him. She was shocked to see streams off tears coming out of his eyes. “Amazing, Krystal! You did it! You have learned the Hurricane Spin! At last, you have made our long-held dream come true!” he exclaimed, his voice thick with emotion as his head tilted back slightly.
Krystal didn’t know what to think. She had never seen Orca like this. “Sir?” she asked cautiously.
Orca didn’t respond for a moment, tears still running down his cheeks. “Oh, the joyful tears… They won’t stop… I thought my tears had dried up long ago,” he wept. He raised his left arm and swiped it across his face, wiping the tears away. He narrowed his eyes, his expression looking more familiar to Krystal as he said, “There is nothing more for me to teach you! I am certain now that your journey will be successful and you and your sister will return here to Outset! Keep practicing, Krystal! Master this skill, and it will serve you well!” Krystal nodded and bowed gratefully in response.
A few minutes later, Krystal and Tetra were back on the King of Red Lions and sailing to the east, to Headstone Island. After reaching the shoreline, they hopped out onto dry land and made their way to the stone in the back that the island was named after. This time, it didn’t block their progress; with the might of the Power Crystals, Krystal was able to lift the stone over her head, revealing an opening behind it. She threw it to the side and she and Tetra walked into the opening.
There was a small cave inside the opening, a pair of torches standing sentinel in front of a stone slab on the opposite side of the opening. They walked up to it and examined it. The slab went about halfway up the wall to the ceiling, and the top of the slab was adorned with the Triforce, which was positioned above a pair of white wings. In the middle of the slab was a heart-shaped groove that had a red harp in the center. It was a curious detail that they didn’t yet understand the significance of.
Near the bottom of the slab was a series of markings arranged in a neat row. There were six of them and Krystal immediately recognized them as directions. Tetra, on the hand, stared at them in confusion, having never seen such markings before. “Are these… directions?” she asked.
Krystal nodded, “Yes. It’s another song for the Wind Waker.” She pulled out the baton and moved into 6/4 time before conducting in the indicated directions, an angelic voice singing in her ears as she conducted. After she finished, she opened her eyes expectantly, but nothing seemed to happen.
After a few moments, the Triforce on the slab began to glow faintly and a gust of wind swirled behind them. They turned to see a humanoid figure standing there clad in a long light purple dress. She wore a golden headpiece similar to a crown on her head and golden bracers on her arms. Each arm had a long fin sticking out behind her below the bracer, and she had a long fish tail-like appendage on the back of her head. She held a golden harp in her hands, and it only took them a moment to realize they could see through her.
“O great hero, chosen by the Master Sword, and honorable princess, carrier of Hyrule’s royal bloodline!” she said, her voice filled with awe and relief.
Krystal and Tetra looked at her curiously. “Who are you?” Tetra asked.
The ghostly figure answered, “I am Laruto of the Zora people, Your Highness. For an age, I offered my prayers as the Sage of the Earth Temple so that the power to repel evil would ever remain within the Master Sword.” Krystal glanced at the sword on her back for a moment as she continued, “And yet… due to Ganondorf’s evil designs, my life was taken and the connection to the heavens was lost and the Master Sword lost this power.”
Krystal looked back at Laruto. “What happened?” she pressed softly.
Laruto explained, “After his defeat at the hands of the Hero of Time, Ganondorf was sealed away… but not for all time. When the seal broke, he returned to Hyrule in a red wrath. When he escaped the sealing of the kingdom, he attacked this temple and stole my soul, knowing he had to remove the power of the gods contained in that enchanted blade. In order to restore it, you must find another to take my stead in this temple and ask the gods for their assistance.”
Tetra raised an eyebrow, “And who might we ask for that?”
Laruto's right hand brushed over the side of her harp, “You must find the one who carries on my bloodline… The one who holds this sacred instrument…” She looked back up at them, “Nothing can stop the flow of time or the passing of generations… but fate carried within my bloodline endures the ravages of all the years. It survives.”
She looked up at the stone behind them, “That song will open the eyes of the new sage and awaken within that sage the melody that will carry our prayers to the gods. When the sage plays that song before the stone, the door will open.” She looked back down at Krystal and Tetra, “May the winds of fortune blow with you both.” The wind from before swirled around her as she faded from view.
“Of course she can't just tell us… She must know if she's so sure her bloodline lives. That would only make sense,” Tetra grumbled. She turned to Krystal, who had turned around to look at the harp on the stone. “Well, do you have any ideas on where to start looking, Krystal?”
The blue vixen's tail twitched a little when she heard her name. She turned her head to look at Tetra for a moment before saying, “Actually… I think I know where to go.”
________________________________________
Krystal’s ears twitched as she stepped out onto the shore of Dragon Roost Island. She could hear the strings of a harp being played. Medli’s harp. She looked back at Tetra, “I won’t be long.” The pirate-turned-princess watched as she made her way up the beach and climbed up the rocky cliffs, disappearing past the archway.
Krystal made her way up to the cliff where the harp music was coming from, saying quick hellos to the Rito in the Mail Center and using the Grappling Hook to swing over the gap to it. The Rito girl was standing by the railing at the edge of the cliff as she played, her eyes, though she couldn’t see them, shut in concentration. She wasn’t too caught up in her playing to not pay attention, though, as she paused as Krystal approached her, the fox walking up the slight slope behind her.
She turned around, her eyes lighting up when she saw Krystal. “Oh, Krystal! You're okay!” She wrapped her right arm around Krystal, who returned the hug. Her gaze went to the bandage wrapped around the vixen's arm before saying, “I heard about the Forsaken Fortress. I can rest easy now that I've seen you safe and sound with my own eyes.”
Krystal tapped the ground with the tips of her boots as she replied, “Yes, it was certainly a close one, but at least Aryll is safe now.” She looked back at Medli, “How have you been?”
Medli smiled, “Oh, I've been well. My studies are progressing, and Prince Komali is growing into a fine young adult. He told me about the Forsaken Fortress; he's looking forward to the next time he can help you on your adventures.”
Krystal tilted her head. “I'm a little surprised you weren't there with him,” she admitted.
Medli replied, “Well, he's gotten to the point where he can do things without my guidance.” She glanced down, “Watching Prince Komali grow up fills me with pride… but it makes me a little sad as well… I wonder if this is how a mother feels…” She blinked, her cheeks flushing as she looked back up at Krystal, “Oh, but just listen to me go on! How weird I must sound!” She let out a little giggle that Krystal shared before saying, “Well, I'd better keep practicing so I can continue to be useful around here!”
Krystal said, “I heard you playing down on the beach. You're very good.” She looked at the harp, noticing that it looked exactly like the one Laruto had been holding.
Medli, not noticing her gaze, replied, “Thanks. This instrument is called one of Kate's tools. Prince Komali's grandmother saw me carrying it one day and called out to me to stop. She'd seen my fate in the curves of the instrument, you see. She eventually became my teacher, and that's how I became the attendant you see before you today.”
As she was about to place her fingers over the strings again, Krystal glanced in the direction of the boat for a moment before turning back to Medli and beginning, “Medli…”
The Rito looked up at her, “Yes?” Krystal held up the Wind Waker and her eyes widened slightly, “Hey, is that the Wind Waker?! Wow! Are you going to conduct me?”
Krystal nodded and softly said, “Follow along.” She conducted the song from the rock, watching Medli's fingers glide across the strings. After she finished, Medli opened her eyes and stared straight ahead, resting her harp against her left side as she turned to look in the general direction of the Earth Temple, her gaze distant. “Medli?” Krystal asked as she moved closer to her.
“What a mysterious song… It sounds so… familiar,” Medli mused as she stared. “It’s almost as if something I’ve forgotten is trying to be… remembered…” Her head dipped as she said, “Oh… I feel…” She began to fall backwards, Krystal shifting her arms and hands to catch her head, the vixen’s eyes wide.
“Medli?! Medli!” Krystal breathed as she lowered the Rito girl down gently. She checked her forehead; she wasn’t spiking a fever. Her breathing seemed to be the same. Silence ruled the clifftop for a minute before Medli’s eyelids began to shift. Her eyes opened, looking straight up at the sky, and Krystal breathed a sigh of relief. “Are you okay?” she asked.
Medli was silent for several moments, images flashing through her head. Laruto. The song that would carry the prayers of the sage to the gods. A glowing Triforce mark. The Master Sword. “Just now, a sage spoke to me. She spoke so gently…” she said quietly. “There’s something… something that I must do.” She looked up at Krystal, “Krystal… I realize my destiny now because of that song. The Earth Temple. The Master Sword. I can feel the call to action, to stop evil in its tracks.” Her eyes closed, a tear escaping her eye as she said, “I bet my teacher knew all about this…”
Krystal leaned closer as she asked, “Medli?”
The Rito girl opened her eyes again, “Krystal, please… You must take me to the Earth Temple. We must hurry and wake the power to repel evil that sleeps inside the Master Sword.” As she sat up with Krystal’s help, she noticed something off in the distance that made her pause. Krystal followed her gaze and saw that it was Prince Komali, flying high up in the sky. They stared for a few moments before Medli said, “Let’s go now, quickly and quietly.”
Krystal looked down at her, “You don’t want to say goodbye first?”
Medli closed her eyes, “Oh, Komali… I just want him to remember me as a simple attendant… Please, don’t tell him about this.”
Krystal nodded softly, “Okay. I won’t,” she promised. She helped Medli to her feet and they made their way down to the beach. Komali landed on the cliff a minute later, his wings retracting to reveal a pink flower in his right hand. He looked towards the end of the cliff, expecting to see Medli there, but she wasn’t. He looked around, not noticing the King of Red Lions sailing away from the island.
Medli sat on the King’s port side while Tetra continued to sit on the starboard side. Medli gave her a friendly wave, which Tetra returned with a raised eyebrow, uncertainty in her expression. The pirate girl wasn’t up for the Rito’s small talk, but Krystal was able to keep the trip from getting awkward with the Wind Waker’s help. One performance of the song Cyclos had taught her lifted them up and carried them across the ocean. With the cyclone’s help, they were soon back at Headstone Island.
After they disembarked, they stood on the shore and turned to look at the King. He turned to look at Medli and said, “Medli, listen carefully to what I am about to tell you.” She stood at attention as he continued, “The temple ahead was once a place of peace and quiet worship, but Ganon has turned it into a lair of monsters… and I imagine there’s one in particular that’s responsible for ending the life of your processor.”
Medli looked at Krystal and Tetra before looking back at him and asking, “What should I do?”
The King answered, “It is a dark and frightening place now, but it was designed to protect those within should an emergency arise. The various protective methods built into it are likely still engaged, and you will play a part in releasing them, not just with your wings, but also with your instrument. I think you’ll find it can be used for more than simply playing the song you carry with you now. It will be essential to unlocking the temple once more.”
Medli bowed and said, “I understand.” As she straightened up, she added, under her breath, “I think…”
The King turned to Krystal and Tetra and said, “And Krystal, Zelda… Medli will be relying on your experience and judgements to make it safely into the depths of the temple. Work close together with each other to solve the puzzles in the temple and navigate the darkness carefully. Do you both understand?” They both nodded, so he concluded, “Work together closely and protect each other. The power to repel evil shall surely be returned to the Master Sword!”
They made their way up the beach to the opening. They approached the stone slab and Krystal conducted the lyric with the Wind Waker. Medli performed the song on her harp, and when she finished, a crack shot down the slab in a jagged line as a golden light shine from within. The slab then crumbled to dust, revealing an entryway behind it. They walked through it and up a set of stairs leading up to a hole in the carved stone. Krystal, Tetra, and Medli looked at each for a moment before Medli nodded and dropped into the hole, Krystal and Tetra following her down.
They dropped into a foyer-like room, a door across from them on the other side of a gap. Medli was standing near the edge, holding her hands together as Krystal and Tetra stepped forward. She turned to them and said, “It looks like there was a bridge or walkway here at one point.” Krystal walked over to the edge and peered down. She quickly saw it: broken pieces of stone were littered across the ground below.
Tetra looked behind where they had dropped down from and saw a collapsed entryway in the wall, rocks sealing it off. “It's a good thing the path in Hyrule was sealed off,” she remarked. She looked back at Krystal, “I would've been pretty upset if we walked all the way from the castle only to find the entrance blocked.” She walked over to the two girls, “So, how do we all get across?”
Medli twiddled her fingers together as she said, “Well, I’m feeling more capable and confident in my flying now. I should be able to fly and carry… but only one at a time.”
Krystal nodded, “That’s fine, Medli.” She pulled out the Deku Leaf, “You can carry Tetra this time. I can use this to glide to the other side.” Medli nodded slightly, though her expression indicated she was relieved. Tetra walked over and lifted the Rito girl up over her head while Krystal ran to the edge and leapt before opening the leaf to glide to the other side. Tetra followed, Medli flapping her wings as they soared over the gap.
The doors on the other side were stuck, but with the Power Crystals, Krystal was able to slide them open enough for them to slip through, going up the short set of steps beyond. The entrance hall had stairs leading up to a ledge on their left and another door up on the right. There was a Moblin in both directions as well as a third in front of them, all of them patrolling. “Okay, fox girl, what's the plan?” Tetra asked.
Krystal looked at the Moblin up the stairs to their left. “I'll deal with that one first, then you two go up there while I deal with the other two,” she said, already moving without waiting for a reply. She caught the Moblin by surprise, the Master Sword making short work of it before it could react. She ran back down the stairs while Tetra grabbed Medli's hand and pulled her up the steps.
At the top, they could see not only Krystal fighting the Moblins below, but also switches on top of the columns across from them. Medli looked at Tetra and said, “Um, miss? I'm not entirely confident, but I think I can fly you over there.” Tetra nodded after a moment and picked her up over her head.
She jumped from the edge and Medli spread her wings, flapping them rapidly to stay airborne. She managed to reach the column before dropping; Tetra set her down and hopped on the switch while Medli spread her wings again and flew to the other column, landing on the switch. Down below, Krystal dealt with the last Moblin and looked over at the door as the bars blocking it slid up.
After Medli helped Tetra down, they moved into the next room, only for the bars on the other side to slide down after the doors closed. Chuchus dropped from the ceiling of the square-shaped room they were in, splatting when they hit the floor. There were not only the red and green varieties, but also a dark purple type Krystal hadn't seen before. She drew the Master Sword and leapt at them while Tetra pushed Medli over to the side. She made short work of the Red and Green Chuchus, but the Purple Chuchus pieced themselves back together moments after she slashed them.
Tetra gritted her teeth at this. “There must be some way to defeat these things. You stay over here!” She pushed Medli towards a spot near the middle of the room, where a shaft of light was shining down through an opening in the ceiling. As she watched Tetra take Krystal's bow and quiver in an attempt to help her defeat the three Purple Chuchus, she heard a splat sound behind her. She looked back over her shoulder and yelped when she saw another Purple Chuchu inching towards her.
She turned to run, but paused when she heard the creature let out a surprised squeak. She looked back and saw not only the Chuchu turning to stone, but also the light from above reflecting off her harp, the light bouncing off on the shape of the engraved pattern. She blinked; it seemed a bit far-fetched, but perhaps…
The Chuchus were inching closer to Krystal and Tetra, who were edging back, when Medli pulled her harp off her back and shined a beam of light at them. They both stared as the blobs turned to stone. They looked back at Medli, who said, “It seems the light has an effect on these monsters! Maybe they can be defeated now?”
Krystal looked back at the Chuchus. She got an idea and pulled out the hammer she got from the Forsaken Fortress and swung it at one of them. It shattered into pieces and didn't pull back together, so she did the same t the other two. Turning back to Medli, she noticed the last one was starting to shake. She ran towards it and jumped at it, swinging. She managed to break it as the stone was beginning to crack and the bars on the doors slid up. Tetra gave Medli a raised eyebrow as well as a slight nod as they made their way to the opposite door.
The room beyond had a large statue in the back with a wide sharp-toothed smile and glassy eyes that lit up when Medli reflected light on one of them, but it seemed they would have to find a way to shine light on both eyes at once in order to see if something would happen. Seeing no way to do that at the moment, they went through the door to their right, where Tetra raised an eyebrow at the caskets sitting on raised platforms on the sides of the room in front of them. “What was this place before it got buried under the Great Sea?” she wondered aloud.
Krystal and Medli looked at her, the former asking, “What do you mean? Isn’t it supposed to be a place for prayer?”
Tetra shrugged as she stepped forward, “Yeah, but I imagine not every room was used for praying. Take this room, for instance; was this where they lay the dead to rest?” She got an answer of sorts when the lids of the caskets suddenly rattled and slid off, causing her to pause. A skull rose up out of each casket, a pair of glowing green eyes shining from their sockets and flames surrounding them a moment later. They turned to Tetra and cackled at her before snapping towards her, their jawbones creaking with every little movement.
Krystal stepped forward and pulled out the Deku Leaf, blowing a gust of wind at them to put out their flames. They dropped onto the floor, their eyes no longer glowing, and Tetra used Krystal’s bow to take them out. Moving to the back of the room, they found a key when Krystal moved a large block and Medli reflected the light that streamed in afterwards on a translucent chest. They quickly left the room afterwards, not wanting to find out what other horrors might be lying in wait, and used the key to unlock the door opposite the one they exited from.
They continued through the halls and rooms of the temples, encountering not only more patrolling Moblins and Chuchus, but also Floormasters reaching their hands out of the floor and spiteful Poes that needed to have light shone on them in order to be made solid. They eventually came across another chamber that looked like it might have been used for burials, given there were two caskets in the back corners, but as they stepped off the stones and onto the dirt, something suddenly pulled itself out of the dirt in front of them: a Stalfos, a skeleton warrior wielding a big club with spikes on it. It lumbered towards them slowly, the end of its club dragging across the ground behind it.
There was a raised section across from them in the back, so Krystal said, “Medli, fly up there while we handle this!” The Rito girl complied, spreading her wings and flying over the Stalfos, which glanced up for a moment when she flew overhead before returning its gaze to Krystal and Tetra, its stride not breaking. Krystal drew the Master Sword and her shield while Tetra readied an arrow. Medli landed on the edge of the platform and lowered her arms. She noticed something on the wall across from her and blinked in surprise. She turned to look back down at Tetra and Krystal, watching the Stalfos continue to lumber after them.
Tetra's arrows hit it in the head, but all they seemed to do was make its head spin around for a second before it slapped itself on the side of its face to stop and right it. This did allow her to slow it down so Krystal could move close and slash it with less fear of the club, however. After a couple of thorough swipes from her, the Stalfos’ body broke apart, but while most of it stayed scattered on the floor, its head started jumping around. It was slippery for a head, since Tetra couldn't hit it with an arrow while Krystal chased it, and it was able to reanimate the rest of its body after a couple of seconds, piecing itself back together like it hadn't broken apart in the first place. Despite this, they attacked it again, and the next time it broke apart, Krystal used her boomerang to hit its head midleap, stunning it long enough for her to slash at it until it turned to dust along with the rest of its body.
They didn't have time to relax, though. As they were catching their breath, Medli heard a sound like when the caskets had slid open earlier. She looked and saw the other two caskets were open, a Stalfos standing up out of each of them. “Krystal! Tetra! There are two more of them!” she called, causing them to look over at the staggering skeletons.
Krystal looked over at the Stalfos to her left, currently the one that was closer. “Well, if we have to take them apart to defeat them…” she uttered as she reached for her Adventure Pouch. She pulled out a bomb and threw it at the skeleton, the explosive briefly sitting between its hips before it rolled onto the floor. The Stalfos didn't speed up or try to back away, however, so the explosion still blew it apart. Tetra used arrows to delay the other one while Krystal dealt with the one, then turned and dealt with the other one quickly. A pair of shifting panels opened in the ceiling, letting in a stream of light, and a set of stairs leading up to Medli lowered after the second Stalfos was destroyed, indicating the room was clear.
Medli called down, “Hey, come up here! There's something you have to see, Krystal!” The fox ran up the stairs with Tetra following behind. She saw it almost as soon as she reached the top. Hanging on the wall behind Medli was what appeared to be a dust-covered shield, its blue edging still visible under the dust. It looked similar in shape to Krystal's shield, though it looked slightly bigger and had three ridges sticking up at the top like small hills.
Medli flapped up the short distance and bumped it loose, the shield falling facedown onto the floor. Krystal walked over to it and knelt down to pick it up, looking at it for a moment before blowing the dust off of it. She looked at it; it had a small colored Triforce in the center with two bird creatures facing each other around it, but its most striking feature was how reflective the front surface was, like a mirror. She could clearly see her reflection in it and noticed Medli and Tetra approaching from behind her as well.
“Fancy old shield,” Tetra remarked, looking it over. “Can it do anything your old shield can’t?” Krystal thought for a moment before looking over at the light shining in through the opening in the ceiling. From this vantage point, she noticed something: a spot on the wall above the door they entered through that looked like the eyes in the statue in the main hall. She wondered if it worked the same way.
“Let’s test it,” she said, sliding the shield over her right hand and making her way down towards the beam of light with Medli and Tetra following. Sure enough, the shield’s surface reflected the light the same way that Medli’s harp did, and upon shining the light on the spot above the door, the room lit up and the bars that had slid over the door they had come through slid back up. Seeing this, they knew exactly what to do with this new find.
They made their way back to the main hall, the Mirror Shield as they dubbed it allowing Krystal to reflect light bouncing off of Medli’s harp in a way that couldn’t be done before, which allowed them to open an alternate path back. When they got back to the main hall, Krystal and Medli both got under the shafts of light coming down from the ceiling in front of the statue and shined a light on both of the statue’s eyes together. A light lit up around its head, looking like the sun, and the hall became filled with light, banishing the strange mist that had been lingering around the floor beneath it.
A staircase leading down slid open in the floor underneath the statue, no doubt leading deeper into the temple. Tetra shouldered Krystal’s shield as she said, “All right, now we’re starting to get somewhere. Let’s get going!” The two girls nodded and they all hurried down the stairs, opening and going through the doors at the bottom.
A little while later, after dodging more cursed skulls along with more Stalfos and undead Redeads with their soul-freezing stares, they reached a large ornate set of doors that looked like the entrance to a sacred chamber, though the skull-shaped design on it underneath the lock didn’t look inviting. Krystal moved forward first, placing her hands on one of the doors and pressing her ear against it, trying to listen. “I think… I can hear something on the other side,” she said after a few moments.
Tetra and Medli stepped closer, the former saying, “Well, the boat did mention that there’s a monster somewhere in this temple that ended Laruto’s life. Makes sense that it would pick the most sacred part of the temple and make it its lair while waiting for a new sage to come to it. Medli looked a little nervous at that.
Krystal pulled back and looked back at Tetra. “It’s strange, though. It’s hard to tell, but it doesn’t sound like there’s a large creature in there. It almost sounds like there are a lot of things moving around in there. I can hear noises, but they don’t sound like footsteps.” The blonde girl raised an eyebrow, looking concerned at that.
Medli steeled herself and said, “Well, it doesn’t matter what’s in there. If we’re going to restore the Master Sword’s power, we have to go in there and deal with whatever it is!” Krystal nodded in agreement and turned back to the door, pulling out the key they’d found earlier and jumping up to insert it into the lock. She jumped up again to turn it, the chains pulling back in before the lock clattered to the floor. The doors slid open slowly with a prolonged groan, sounding like they hadn’t moved in hundreds of years.
The doors slid shut behind them with a heavy thud as they saw what was inside the chamber: a lot of Poes, at least a dozen, all waltzing around in their solid state like they were dancing on the sacred ground. The closing doors caused them to pause for a moment, and they all turned to look at Krystal, Tetra, and Medli with unnerving intensity. The chamber dimmed suddenly and a transparent Poe head appeared above the Triforce marking in the center. All the Poes became transparent and rushed towards it, leaping into the top of its head.
Seconds later, the head grew a body that was dominated by its large, round belly, its arms and legs looking thin as sticks by comparison. “That’s a lot of Poes packed into one body,” Tetra remarked as it looked at its right hand for a moment before snapping its fingers. In response, a lantern like the one Poes typically carried appeared, its fingers wrapping around the handle as it let out a deep belly laugh, as if it was mocking them for how small they were compared to it. “Any ideas?” Tetra asked as it stopped laughing.
The big Poe began to float towards them, so Krystal suggested, “You two go that way, and I’ll go this way!” Medli and Tetra quickly ran to the right while the fox ran to the left, breaking just moments before the big Poe tried to bellyflop onto them, its transparent body displacing the air around it as its belly briefly pressed and flattened against the ground. As it floated back up, Krystal pulled out her boomerang and threw it at the lantern. It bounced off the side without doing much of anything aside from causing the big Poe to turn its attention towards her. Krystal gulped, not liking the way it was looking at her, and turned to run as it began to float after her.
On the other side of the room, Medli spotted a shaft of light streaming down through an opening in the ceiling above ahead of her as she and Tetra ran around the circumference of the room, the light partially obscured by a thick spiderweb. “Oh! Maybe it’s affected by light the same way the Poes inside of it are!” she suggested. She grabbed her harp as she got under a spot where the light reached the floor and used it to shine the light across the room. The big Poe, which had been holding up its lantern like it was going to blow into it, began to flail when the light hit it, its body dropping down heavily after a few seconds due to becoming solid. It sat on the ground with its lantern beside it, its limbs unable to lift it off the ground.
“Not bad, Rito girl,” Tetra murmured as she reached for an arrow. It hit the swirl marking on the big Poe's belly, but it bounced off harmlessly. “Unfortunately, that thing's bulk is still working in its favor. We need to find a way to split it into individual Poes again.”
Her words carried across the chamber to Krystal, who stood across from the Poe. She looked around; she realized the chamber was circled by spikes in the wall, some sticking out more and stretching up columns to the ceiling. She looked down at the Power Crystals on her wrists for a moment before looking back at the Poe. “That could work,” she thought.
She ran over to it and placed the palms of her hands underneath it. It began to flail its arms and legs as she lifted it up over her head with a grunt. She managed to turn enough to look at one of the nearby spike-covered columns and threw it. The Poe was sent rolling forward when it landed and it was knocked up and back upon hitting the spikes. It broke apart when it hit the floor, the Poes inside being sent flying, their forms solid.
Tetra smirked at this. “Nice going, Krystal!” she called as she readied another arrow, hitting one of the Poes before it could start running. Krystal drew the Master Sword and chased after the Poes, slashing at the ones she got close to while Tetra targeted them from where she and Medli were standing.
When about half of the Poes had been taken out, the room suddenly dimmed and the big Poe head reappeared above the center of the chamber. The other Poes became transparent and rushed towards it. Medli looked up at the ceiling and noticed that not only was the opening she and Tetra were under had slid closed, but there were two other openings as well, both covered by spiderwebs as well. She looked over at Krystal as the big Poe reformed and called, “Krystal! I’ll try to let the light back in!” She spread her wings and flew up towards the ceiling.
Neither Krystal nor Tetra had a chance to say anything as the big Poe drew in a big breath, the inhale pulling them towards it and briefly messing up Medli’s flight. It then held its lantern up and blew out, flames spewing out in response. Krystal ran to avoid them as the Poe swept around towards Tetra, though its breath had petered out by the time it turned towards her. They were relieved to have avoided the flames, but they were still currently unable to do anything to the Poe.
Medli wasn’t having any luck removing the webs, the threads stubbornly refusing to pull away as she pecked and pulled at them. Krystal was distracting the Big Poe, so Tetra decided it was time to see if being a princess of Hyrule meant she carried any magic in her. She held up Krystal’s bow and readied an arrow before focusing, trying to will either the Triforce of Wisdom or her body to fill the arrow with magic. She felt foolish, but she continued to focus, and after a couple more seconds, a spark ignited at the tip of the arrow and spread around the shaft. She gasped at the sight of the Fire Arrow and pointed it up towards the spiderweb Medli was still vainly trying to peel away. “Medli! Get out of the way!” she called, stretching the bowstring taut.
Medli flapped to the side to avoid the arrow as it hit the spiderweb, the threads quickly catching fire and falling towards the floor, burning up to nothing partway. She looked towards Krystal and called, “Krystal! Use your shield!” The fox looked over and quickly caught on, diving to the side to avoid the big Poe’s swinging lantern. She reached the shaft of light as it was floating after her and turned around as she pulled the Mirror Shield off her back. It worked the same as before, the Poe solidifying after a couple seconds of the light shining on it, allowing her to send it rolling towards one of the spiked columns. She and Tetra quickly started picking off the Poes once they finished scattering, managing to take out the rest of them.
As they caught their breasts afterwards, the big Poe’s reappeared in the center of the room and they tensed up, but it looked around, upon seeing there were no more Poes left, began clattering towards the opening still covered by a spiderweb, getting under it before rising up towards it. It only got about halfway up before Medli managed to peel off enough of the spiderweb for the light to shine directly on it, causing it to stop as it began to lose its transparency. It became solid after a few seconds and fell towards the floor, shattering like a vase when it hit.
Krystal and Tetra breathed a sigh of relief at this while Medli fluttered down. She smiled light at them and Tetra shot her a nod of approval before they all looked towards the center of the chamber. A blue light was pulsing up from the space in the middle of the Triforce marking, where they noticed there was a small hole in the center. Medli gasped and said, “This is… what I saw when the Sage spoke to me. The Master Sword must be placed in the center in order for the gods to restore its power.”
Krystal nodded and said, “Right.” She placed the Mirror Shield on her back and walked over to Triforce, shifting the Master Sword into a reverse grip to place the tip of it into the hole. She stepped back from it and made sure it wasn’t going to fall before moving to the base of the marking, where Medli and Tetra had gathered. Krystal pulled out the Wind Waker as she stood across from Medli, who held up her harp. Tetra stood a short distance away between them, the three of them forming a triangle of their own, and looked between them as Krystal raised the Wind Waker and shrugged to herself before clasping her hands together in front of her, closing her eyes to pray her own way.
Medli began to play the song on her harp as Krystal conducted, both of their eyes closed as the motions came naturally to them. Music filled the chamber, echoing off the walls as they all focused on playing to the gods to restore the Master Sword. In the middle of it, they thought they heard a second harp playing, but none of them paused to look. They diligently continued to offer their prayers to the gods.
The Triforce marking on the floor began to glow as the song came to its end, a low hum filling the air under the final notes. They looked towards the sound as their prayers concluded, all of them noticing Laruto standing next to Medli for a moment before she faded away. Krystal walked over to the Master Sword and pulled it out, holding it up to examine it. She winced and took a step back as it felt like some force was shooting down through the blade and against her. She heard a noise as she stood in place for a moment, and when she opened her eyes and looked at the sword, she saw that it had changed, the blade sharper and the sides of the crossguard now fanning out like spread wings.
“That sword’s looking a lot better now,” Tetra remarked as Krystal made her way back over to her and Medli, letting her arm drop against her side as she stood between them.
They both turned to Medli as she said, “Krystal, my prayers have restored the Master Sword’s blade, but the power to repel evil hasn’t been fully awakened yet. There’s one more thing that must be done first.”
Krystal nodded knowingly. “The Wind Temple,” she murmured. Medli nodded in reply. They all heard a sound and looked over at the Triforce marking. A bright yellow light surrounded it now, sparkles of light floating up from the floor. Krystal knew what that meant. She slid the Master Sword back into its sheath and looked at Medli. “Are you ready to leave?” she asked, holding her hand out towards it.
Medli shook her head and said, “I can’t, Krystal. I have to remain here to play my music and extend my prayers to the gods for your, Tetra, and the land’s safety.” She looked between her and Tetra, “Please step into the light and return to the surface, both of you. You must go to the Wind Temple next.” They both looked at her for a moment before nodding in understanding. As they turned and stepped closer to the light, Medli called, “Krystal!”
They paused and looked back at her over their shoulders. “Yes, Medli?” Krystal asked.
Medli hesitated for a moment before saying, “Um… I know you have a lot to do, but if you get the chance… can you make sure Prince Komali is doing all right for me?” Krystal smiled and nodded in reply. “Thank you,” Medli said before they turned and stepped into the light. She watched it lift them into the air for a several seconds before they vanished in a swirl of light. She looked up at where they had been for a moment before raising her harp and closing her eyes, beginning to play again. She was alone in the chamber now, but it didn’t feel that way to her. Through some kind of awareness, she could feel Laruto’s spirit in the chamber with her, the Zora Sage silently offering reassurances with her unseen presence.
