...into the dungeon below. The room he entered was dimly lit, only faintly illuminated by torch light. Link coughed as dust settle around him. How long had it been since this place had been disturbed? It had just been remade when the temple had been "restored." How could it already be covered in dust?
Pulling out his phone, Link made do with the built in flashlight. He hoped the battery would hold out on him. Or that he had his flashlight back from Dwarf, but it seemed that had gone with his friend as well. So Link would have to deal with this temporary solution.
At the far end of the entrance chamber was a door, old and heavy like something out of a castle. If Link hadn't been trapped down here, he might have rolled his eyes at the archaic design still standing. As it stood though, this was his only way forward.
On the other side of the door, more either more torches were lit or there was another source of light. All that mattered to Link was that he could see again. As he peaked his head out the door though, he would have preferred to not to, slowly sinking back behind the door for a moment as he processed what was waiting for him on the other side.
"Giant spiders," Link muttered to himself. "Why are there giant spiders?"
"Those are skulltulas," came the voice of the disc. "Their outer shell is incredibly dense, but their undersides are vulnerable."
"No, why are there giant spiders?" Link repeated. "Who in their right mind would make giant spiders?"
"These are a natural enemy of the Hero."
"Bull, they'd be an animal existing the wild if that was true," Link answered, gesturing emphatically at the door. He really hoped those weren't natural creatures. The idea of spiders that big just roaming the forests sounded terrifying. "Those are a creation and they are disgusting and I want to know why anyone would want to be in a room with giant spiders."
The Restoration didn't respond, leaving Link in silence. If Link didn't need to conserve his battery for the light, he might have searched for suggestions on what spiders were scared of. Then again, if a spider was as big as those were, he didn't think they would be scared of anything.
Staying close to the door, Link slipped through the doorway back into the room. The skulltulas didn't move from their perches on their cobwebs. They swung idly back and forth, though Link felt like at least one set of those thirty two eyes was on him. It seemed this disc really did expect him to fight with that sword. Link reached up to the hilt and slowly pulled it out of the sheath.
It was odd holding a weapon. The weight felt strange in his hand, but somehow familiar. If he had known what it meant, Link would have said the sword was balanced, not perfectly, but decently. He swung the blade down in an arc. Some reflex he didn't know stopped the blade before it hit the ground. Link held the sword up to his face, looking at his reflection in the blade. Why did this feel so familiar? Why was it so easy to use?
Who just hands a person a sword and sends them running off into a dungeon anyway? At least this had never happened when they were kids. Link couldn't imagine his ten year old self lasting long in here. If he was honest with himself though, he didn't see his twenty one year old self lasting long either.
"Am I just supposed to wander around here until something happens?" Link asked, taking a tenuous step forward. The closest skulltula lurched on its web, dropping down a bit before climbing back up. Link felt himself brace at the movement, his sword raising an inch in front of him as he prepared to guard.
"If I just back up, then the other two shouldn't drop," Link said, looked at the other corners of the room where the remaining skulltulas hung. Hopefully they wouldn't all target him at once.
Pulling the shield free of the belt, Link raised his shield up as he made his way towards the center spider. As Link got closer, the skulltula dropped from its web and reared its front two legs like spears, exposing its hissing mandibles and pincers. Link felt his legs wanting to go backwards as he stared at the venomous maw of the spider, but he stood fast.
Long legs outstretched, the skulltula reached above Link's head. As it reached further up and further, Link remembered the advice of the disc. He swiped his sword up, cutting across the belly of the beast. Smoke began eeking out of the gash before the entire thing turned to dust.
Three things fell from the space where the skulltula had been. The first was a large gem with a green hue. The second was miniture version of the leg the spider had had. The third was a glowing, red heart. Fortunately, just the shape of a heart, not a real human heart. Still, Link eyed it suspiciously. "What are these?"
"The spoils of war, Link Sayre."
Link winced reflexively. War? "Can you be more specific?"
"The Hylian currency, a trophy of your enemy, and a collection of healing energies. Collect them, you will need them on your quest."
"And carry them where?" Link asked, emptying his pockets out. As his wallet tumbled out into the open, it suddenly expanded into a large bag. Link grabbed at the object as it transformed, but was too late to stop it. His face went pale as he stared at the empty bag. "I'm dead for losing that card." He eyed the gemstone. That might make it up to his parents.
As Link tucked the green gem into his new wallet, the Restoration went on, "You will need another pack for your treasures." Before Link could protest, his satchel dropped through the air. Link grabbed at it, cracking it open to make sure it was emptied. He blinked, looking up at the ceiling. "How did you get this?"
"I relocated it from its previous location."
It was the same. Link's binder, laptop, and textbooks were still inside. Yet as Link stared into the bag, there was something different about it. He could see his belongings inside, but they were relocated somehow, in a way he couldn't place. It was like the spaces inside were shifting into spaces that didn't exist.
Cautiously, Link grabbed the spider leg and stuck it into the pack. As he did, he watched it move to another space than where he had placed it. "What did you do to it?"
"Improved it," the Restoration answered. "You will need many things in your quest, Hero. You cannot be burdened with weight or packing. I am happy to say that I was able to make this enchantment permanent. I am still working on sealing these magics on your other possessions."
"No rush," Link muttered, turning towards one of the other skulltulas. Maybe that meant he would get his old wallet back. "Why aren't there any other doors in here?" Link asked, surveying the room.
"The temple is still being rebuilt. I have nearly finished the preparations. You will be able to continue shortly."
"Again, no rush," Link said as the second skulltula dropped in front of him. This one wasn't going to make it as easy to hit its underbelly. Link sidestepped the spider's front legs as the skulltula swung them both forward. As he moved to bash his shield against the monster's side, the floor beneath him started to rumble. Staggered, Link raised his shield in front of him. At least for the moment, the skulltula was stunned too.
Around him, the walls began to move. Not the wall where the door was, but all the other three walls. They began to sink into the floor until they were merged with the floor, leaving Link in a far more open space. Instead of a small rectangular space, he was in one big circular room with a pit in the center.
Before Link could study his surroundings more, the skulltula was back on its feet. The room quit shaking, and Link raised his shield to the spider as it flung itself at him. He shoved his shield, knocking the skulltula on its back.
There was a skittering noise behind Link, and he realized that the shaking of the temple had made the other skulltula drop. Link stabbed his sword into the flipped monster quickly as the final creature raced towards him. He sidestepped the charging beast, hooking his sword on the tail of its shell, before flipping it. As the massive spider spiral in the air, it tumbled backwards until it teetered over the edge and fell.
Link let out a sigh of relief. Three down, however many more to go. Not actively being attack though, Link took a look around the room. Beyond where the walls had been, vines and ivy climbed up the walls. There was a soft bed of grass growing out of most of the floor beyond the stone portion Link now stood on.
The most unnerving change was the pit in the center. It was massive, spanning a good thirty yards across, and as Link leaned out, he found that it was deep. Its sides were mostly coated in vines as well, leading down to other levels deeper in the pit. Near the bottom, Link could see a grate cutting off the floor of the pit. "You want me to go down there?"
"An evil is dwelling there, yes."
This Restoration had an odd sense of evil. Link wasn't sure what he ought to expect from it. Maybe it was Dwarf. Part of him hoped it was Dwarf, because he wanted to know that his friend was alright.
Even more skulltulas crawled across the vines down, though they were much smaller than the three he had faced. Link took a step back from the edge, looking around the platform for others doors. There had to be a way to open the gate at the very bottom of that pit, but all the other doors around the top of the pit were locked. It was about this point that Link's phone began to ring.
He hoped it would be Dwarf, but he should have known it wouldn't be. Dwarf, wherever he was, was under some kind of mind control. Link doubted the Gerudo would remember his phone based on this medieval interest the Restoration had. No, it was Link's mom, and Link debated whether or not he should even bother answering her call, since he could almost guess what she was going to say.
"Hey."
"Link, where in the Goddesses's names are you?"
Link tilted his head back to look around the temple. "That's a great question."
"Oh, is that so? Because I can see our van parked outside that old temple on the TV right now. Would you like to explain yourself?"
"If he doesn't get back here in the next hour, you tell him he will not be staying--"
"Lance, let me handle this. Link, your father is very mad."
Link pulled the phone back to his ear. "I got that, thanks."
"You and Dwarf need to stop horsing around in there and get home. There's some kind of light coming out of that building. The police are there, they think it's some kind of explosion. Oh, Goddesses, Link, what were you thinking?"
If the police were outside the temple, Link couldn't hear them. He could faintly hear their sirens from the TV on the other end of the call, but the temple itself kept everything else out. "I can't."
"What do you mean you can't?"
"The door locked. I'm stuck in here until I find another way out. Something-- Someone is trapping me in here until I do something for them," Link explained. It wasn't that far off to call the Restoration a someone. It might very well be a man behind a curtain. It seemed more like some kind of computer, but he figured it was easier to explain this way than to walk his mom through everything that had happened so far this night.
"Oh, no...Oh, Goddesses, sweetheart, are you ok?"
"I'm alive," Link replied. "They took Dwarf. I don't know where he is, but they're messing with his head. I'm worried they're going to make him do something really messed up."
"Link, I love Dwarf, but you need to get out of there. If you're hurt, or--"
Link tightened his grip on his phone. "I've got to help him, Mom."
"Can you?"
The sword felt heavy in Link's hand. "Yes." Before she could respond, Link hung up. He flipped the settings to airplane mode so he couldn't get anymore calls, because he knew she would try again.. He didn't want to hear about the outside world right now. He just wanted to get his way through this dungeon.
Swinging over the edge, Link slowly climbed down the wall. He clutched hard on the vines until he felt the floor beneath him. The room was lit well enough even down here that he was able to turn off his phone's flashlight for a bit. He walked along the next ring down, looking for an open door.
Finally, across the pit from where he had first entered, Link found an unlocked door. He had no idea what he was going to find, but it couldn't be any worse than what he had already been thrown into. So he pushed open the door...