…and into the first room they had visited. Link pointed across to the other side of the room, where the door was sealed with the same mark. Endeavor studied it for a moment, before saying, “I can not read it very well from here. We need to get over there.”
Link had an idea. He pulled out his clawshot, and fired at the counterbalance on the hanging hourglass. He pulled the counterbalance towards him until the top of the hourglass was level with the floors between them and the other platform. He asked as he dug his heels in to keep the hourglass in place, “Will this work?”
“It should,” Endeavor replied. She took two long strides and reached the other side. Link tightened his grip has she landed on the hourglass to make sure it didn't fall. She turned back to Link and Zelda. “Yes, it works fine.”
Zelda followed over behind Endeavor. Link pulled the hourglass a little higher after Zelda made it across, before he took a running start to cross the gap. The hourglass lurched when he landed on it, but he made it across. He had to roll though to keep from face planting into the floor. He stood up and looked at the door.
“I am not familiar with these runes…” Endeavor muttered. Then, after a few moments, she corrected herself, “No, wait…these are music notes. Which would make sense. After all, you did just recieve the most powerful instrument in Hyrule.” She rubbed her hand in some dirt, and ran six parallel lines across the runes. “Do you know how to read notes?”
“Not really,” Link replied, though to correct answer was not at all.
“Of course not,” Endeavor muttered. She set her violin to her chin, and said, “Here is a scale. Try to remember it.” She played a series of notes from lowest to highest in pitch. Link repeated them as best he could on his ocarina. Endeavor pointed to the runes again, her finger below the lowest line. “This is where the lowest note would be marked, and this,” she pointed to above the top line, “is where the highest would be marked. Knowing the scale, try to figure out these notes.” Zelda almost said something, but Endeavor finished, "No one is going to teach him in combat a new strike. This may be just as vital to progressing in our quest to destroy Ganondorf, and he needs to learn quickly."
Link nodded, not particularly certain of his brief music lesson, but he agreed with Endeavor's logic. So, he tried to figure it out as quickly as he could. After a few tries, Link played the notes on the wall successfully. The runes faded and the door opened for them.
Taking a step inside, Link held his shield up to prepare for whatever might be in the room with them. He wasn’t sure what he would find in here. Something moved behind him, and Link turned. The door closed behind him. Zelda had just made it through when the door shut. Link whipped his sword out, and waited for the monster to appear.
It was a slender creature, and for the first time, appeared mostly feminine. A pair of notched blades dragged against the ground, grasped by two pale, thin hands. The flesh barely clung to the body. A worn slip hung loosely from the creature’s body. Long black hair hung over the head.
Link almost placed it as a distorted human, until it pulled two more pairs of arms from behind its back. The long hair tossed back, and revealed a human-ish face, with a pair of pinchers extending from the mouth, and two extra sets of eyes glowing yellow with slitted pupils. Link grimaced as the monster hissed at him and raised its blades up. It juggled the pair of swords from its six arms, before it began to rapidly swing at Link.
Not sure how to block the attack, Link parried the swords with the full of his sword. It left him with few options other than to just hold his sword there. They grinded against his blade with a painful hiss. He pushed his sword upward, and swung wide across the creature’s front. He felt like one hit would kill it, but he was sorely mistaken.
Link was soon on the defensive again as the monster switched its blades to its other hands. Link put his shield between him and the swords. He hit the creature again and again, until it took a step back.
After repeating similar clashes like this, the creature stumbled. Link didn’t wait to drive his sword through it. It slumped, and died. It didn’t disappear, but Link knew it was dead. Or had this overwhelming hope that it was.
The door opened behind them. Endeavor came through and looked at the creature lying on the ground. Zelda asked, “What is that thing?”
“It is ancient…from before the time of Hyrule, from the time before Demise was imprisoned,” Endeavor said with a slight hint of fear in her voice.
Link looked at the creature. That was thousands and thousands of years ago, at the very beginning of time. Endeavor went on, “It is a pureblood Gohma, from which all the superior arachnids of the Demon Lord descend. And this is merely a child of that wretched breed.”
“So, why is it in the Goddess’s temple if it’s so evil?” Zelda asked.
Endeavor swallowed, and Link saw genuine fear in her eyes. “It is a sign, most likely.” She looked at the both of them. “I fear that we may find grim news at the end of this temple, but I will not say anything lest I be purely misguided. For now, let us continue and find the answers we seek.”
She lifted the two blades as the body of the Gohma finally disappeared. She held their flat sides together. “It seems though that these are indeed by the Goddess’s design.” She held up the swords to Link, and he saw another set of notes on them. She asked, “Can you play this?”
Link played the tune. A light covered the two blades. As if faded, it revealed the bottom half of a key in the place of the blades. As Endeavor handed the key shaft to Link, he repeated the tune in his head to be sure to memorize it. It seemed like it might be useful later. “It seems we may need to find the other half to continue on," Endeavor said. "I would guess there is another room like this on the other side of the temple.”
“That would make sense,” Link muttered as he put the key part into his pouch.
Zelda asked, “Then what are we waiting for?! Let’s go!” She rushed out of the room, encouraging Link and Endeavor as she went. Following behind the princess, they headed back over to the eastern portion of the temple…