The Legend of Zelda: Goddess of Secrecy

Dungeon Chapter 57 - Deadweight

With the key sufficiently protected, Link walked to the door. He would have to twist this grate section quickly to fit it through the door frame, but he didn't think he would have much difficulty getting it through. At least it would provide some protection from incoming attacks until he wasn't blocking Sagi and Taka from defending him. Or maybe not, since he was gripping a large hunk of metal and broad-facing it to a bunch of electric wizards.

Twisting his fingers into the rungs, Link pulled up on the section of grating. It dislodged from its anchors and began to rise under Link's steady pull until he slipped it completely free of the floor and through the doorway. No attacks yet.

As Link carried the bridge piece back through the tower, he saw Zelda materializing a barrier of light around her and the key. It shimmered like light reflecting over water, but seemed to have the strength of two feet thick reinforced glass, more than enough to keep Zelda safe, so long as the barrier didn't shatter. But that would mean it had taken quite the beating, something Link didn't want to allow to happen.

Hefting the bridge piece up, Link pushed forward, walking as quickly as he could while bearing such a massive weight on his shoulders. Taka and Sagi pulled open the doors for him, each taking a side to guard as they crossed over the bridge to the Mist Tower. They picked off any attackers with ease, though those numbers were thinning compared to before.

Moments after the door had swung shut behind Link in the Mist Tower, he managed to catch the faint echoes of attacks back in the Wind Tower. With the bridge piece still over his shoulder, Link couldn't do anything put push forward, continuing down the stairs and trusting that Zelda could take care of herself.

When Link connected the last third of the bridge, he felt his body strained by the almost jog he had pushed himself to to get this bridge completed. He rolled his shoulders as he pushed down one foot on the far third to make sure it was secure, and then returned to trying to mitigate his own stiffness. He shouldn't have been pushing himself like that. Whatever this budding urge he had to try and protect Zelda, and whatever other feelings were mixed into that, he had to accept that he couldn't do that if he hurt or killed himself in the process.

Link clenched a fist and turned back towards the tower basement where Sagi and Taka look patiently on. Taka lowered his bow as Link walked back in. "Everything alright?"

"Yeah, yes, everything's fine," Link answered quickly, not wanting to discuss with anyone whatever was going on between him and the princess. Maybe Shade, but that was different. Almost like talking to an odd mirror. "We need to get going. We just have to get the key back down here we'll be able to fight whatever it is that's causing this storm."

"Then let's not keep the princess waiting," Sagi replied, starting for the stairs before the others could comment or argue.

Taka followed next, hurrying after his companion with Link a few steps behind. The three climbed their way back up and out of the tower, and then quickly crossed back to where Zelda was defending the key.

Dozens of wizzrobes pounded against Zelda's barrier, but the princess, knelt in prayer, showed no signs of dropping her defenses. Her light shield glew just as bright and brilliant as it had when Link had carried the piece off. When the door closed, Link spotted Zelda peaking open an eye and smiling. She casting her arms outwards, and the shield shattered out in several directions.

Shards of light became material, like hard air or glass that emitting its own lighting. The fractured barrier buried itself into the monsters surrounding the room until the attacks slowly dissipated with a little assistance from the reentry of the three warriors.

Rising from her knees, Zelda brushed off her dress and smiled kindly back at the rest of the party as they lowered their weapons. For a moment, Link could have sworn his heart stopped working properly, though he pushed the feeling down as Zelda opened her eyes again and stepped aside for Link to lift the key. Now wasn't the time to address these feelings.

Link hoisted the key up to his chest, smiling weakly to Zelda as those feelings started to bubble up again. If Zelda noticed, she mercifully didn't comment on it. Looking away and letting out a quick breath, Link stated, "Whenever you're ready to go, I'm ready."

"Last defenseless run, hm?" Zelda asked, nudging Link's shoulder as she walked passed him, not at all concerned it seemed that Link refused to return eye contact with her. As she pushed the door open, she added, "I'll be glad to have my feet back on the ground after all this, as amazing as it is to see the world from above like this. I'd like the floor to be still on me for a while though."

Taka laughed. "Do you still notice that weight? I can't even feel the change after I've been back in the skies for a few hours."

"You've also grown up around it," Sagi commented.

As the hawk faced Rito threw an wing around the crane's neck, Link walked out onto the bridge for the last walk down to the door. The air was eerily quiet as they walked along, and even after reaching the halfway point of the bridge, no wizzrobes had appeared.

"Does this feel off?" Link asked, adjusting his grip on the key quickly. "When we left it in the tower with Zelda, there was a massive assault. Why aren't they attacking us now?"

"Don't jinx it," Zelda teased, knocking jokingly on the wooden frame of the door at the far end of the bridge. However, Link caught her quick scan of the skies afterwards.

Sagi craned his long neck back at Link. "I agree that it's odd that there's no attack either. I'd imagine our enemies would be doing more to stop us rather than being resolved to this fight."

"I know there's still going to be a fight, but nothing leading up to it, that's the odd part," Link replied hurrying to get into the tower with the rest of his companions. He didn't like the open air when nothing was approaching them, not when they had been so readily challenged before. A resigned enemy reminded him too much of a caged animal, and he didn't know how it would respond to their encroaching presence. And when Link stepped onto the grate bridge in the basement, he found that that feeling wasn't misplaced.

A bolt of lightning ripped the tower in two. A crack split the floor before one half of the tower began tipping over from the blast and drifting away as the damage of the blast shook the building to its foundations.

Two more strikes like this pounded through the rest of the temple, equally shattering those buildings in the distance. Link didn't have time to look for long as he struggled to recover as the bridge twanged beneath his feet. Link managed to throw himself forward before he lost his balance completely, rolling back up to standing as the tower behind him drifted away. Zelda lept from the lip of the tower before it had gotten too far away, shaking the grate behind Link as she landed, before the two Rito followed with assisted leaps.

Link leaned against the wall of the armory, waiting for the shaking to subside. Zelda pressed herself against the wall beside him, her hand reaching for his free hand. Link hadn't been this concerned about falling for a while, but with the heavy key still in his hands, he knew he would plummet like a rock.

Sagi and Taka leaned over the edge, an awed horror in their eyes as the Keep was shattered by the force of the storm. The pieces weren't falling, a mercy with the idea of those massive chunks falling to the surface. But there was no way these buildings could be repaired like the Keep had been in the past. This building would have to be rebuilt entirely, as well as all the wards and magic around it.

The Ritos' sadness turned to rage. Taka balled his wings and stepped out onto the bridge to look for something to fight. Sagi remained behind, his eyes steeled over as he turned to Link. "We're finishing this."

Holding the key out, Link nodded. He walked over to the door and pushed the key into the massive lock that hung there. Sagi was behind Link in a second, twisting on the key as soon as a click of the key hitting the back of the lock sounded out. Seconds later, Taka joined them and pushed as well. Link stepped back, letting the two Rito handle the key themselves. They seemed more than able to, and far more invested in getting the door open in that moment.

When the lock fell off, Taka scooped it up and hurled it at one of the closest shattered remains of the towers. The hunk of metal echoed off as it landed with a thud before the two Rito turned back towards the door with their bows drawn.

Not wanting to keep the Rito from destroying anything else or running in alone with their anger, Link drew his own blade and stepped forward...