The Legend of Zelda: Goddess of Secrecy

Dungeon Chapter 18 - The Temple of Secrets

            …into the Temple of Secrets. The lack of light would take some getting used to, though Link’s eyes were slowly adjusting to the dimmer setting. He had to blink a few times before he could make out the room around him.

            The entrance hall to the temple was a long, straight passage, lined with columns. Everything was made of a dark marble, made darker by the dim lighting. On each column, a torch with a purple blaze was bolted. In the center of the room, a large pyre sat with this same color of blaze. The color cast an eerie shade across the room.

            “That’s a creepy color,” Zelda muttered.

            “It is the Goddess’s color,” Endeavor commented. “These fires burn in Her honor.”

            “Then what have the monsters done?” Zelda asked.

            Endeavor continued on down the hall. “Nothing here. Come along.”

            Endeavor led them through an archway. The walls expanded beyond it to form a circular room, revealing even more pyres and pillars along the walls. Above them, the sky was revealed through a glass dome. Night was approaching quickly outside.

            Link continued on through the doorway and on into the room, until Endeavor grabbed him by his shoulder. He looked back at her. She pointed to the center of the floor. “Look again.”

            Looking back at the floor, Link studied it for a while. Suddenly it dawned on him. It was hollow. The sides of the pit were designed to look like the floor around it. It was a brilliant trap. Link took a cautious step back. “So, where do we go?”

            “Down there,” Endeavor answered. “But slowly. I doubt you really want to fall down into that place.” She pointed up at the ceiling. “There. Those levers should make the lift appear, unless the creatures have tampered with it somehow.” She called Yore, and sent the bird after one of the levers. Link pulled out his slingshot and hit the other.

            Once both levers were hit, the floor began to rumble. From the side of the pit, two slabs of stone slid out into the center. A purple crease of light sealed the two pieces together. It hovered there in the pit.

            Mounting the slab, the three made their way down into the heart of the dungeon. It was a slow ride down, and it gave Link time to study the runes carved on the walls inside the pit. He was sure there was some kind of story to it, but he couldn’t read the runes. He would have to ask Endeavor about it later when they had time.

As soon as they had stepped off at the bottom, the slab began to go back up. Zelda pointed, and shouted, “Where is it going?”

            “Hush,” Endeavor hissed. Silence crept over them. Link looked across the room. Odd piles of stone sat around the room. Link gripped his hilt, having a bad feeling about those rocks. Endeavor whispered, “It goes up and down on its own once it has been activated. Now, be quiet. This is a silent place. The slightest noise will alert everything in here of our presence.”

            “You want us to tiptoe around everything in here?” Zelda asked.

            “As best we can,” Endeavor answered. “Right now, the best way to fight these creatures will be with bombs, of which will create attention that we cannot afford. But if I am right, then the gift the Goddess Reechka has left you, Link, will help avoid that noise but allow us to purge this place of the Demon Lord's minons.”