Chapter 10 - chapter 9: the fortress of fortune

Chapter nine: The fortress of fortune



They banked at the island of the fortress of fortune in a matter of hours.

The castle loomed, dark and forboding, on the island. The windows were dark, and it seemed empty and lifeless, soulless, like a ruthless killer who has lost the gleam in his eyes after many years.

“It doesn't seem very fortunate anymore,” said Link, “I thought you said it was all gold.”

“It was,” said Pterai, “I think something's wrong.”

He flew up, breathing heavily, and landed on the windowsill. He looked into the window and…

The group down beloww heard a wild screech from the Kargaroc, and they began to run up the stairs… gasping.

“O god,” said Link, “what now?”

Pterai was in tears on the floor.

“What's wrong,” asked Linkk, “please tell me. What's wrong?”

“E-everyone's dead,” stuttered the bird,they've been ripped apart, hacked to pieces.”

They opened the door, and a dank smell came to their nostrils, it wreaked of death and carnage, and the sight that met their eyes was the most disturbing thing Link had ever seen.

There were about ten birds. Each had been hacked at least four times, so that it was impossible to determine which severed body part belonged to which bird. Dried blood covered every inch of the floor.

Link vomited. He had never seen anything like this. Even when he was the killer, he had not done such horrible things to his victims. This was unforgivable. He would find the one who did this, and he would kill them. They would get what was coming to them.

“It'll be okay, Pterai,” said Link, “we'll help you through it.”

“Well,” said Pterai, “let's get out of this room, grab the flute, and get out.”

As they continued into the next room, the ironclad door slammed shut behind them.

There were no dead birds in this room, but the walls were horribly mangled. They were not gold, for all of the gold had been stolen, leaving only the wooden studs that held the room together, and even those were splintered and beginning to rot.

“Somebody,” said Pterai, “has broken through the magical barrier that had been placed here millennia ago. The walls had been enchanged so that they would not rot, but yet they do. That's odd.

They did not have time to speak, however, for the roof caved in, and, from above, came some of the most vile creatures Link had ever seen. They were dead, or rather undead. Most of the skin had begun to come off of them. They had large heads, and yellow eyes.

They came in a swarm of over a hundered… but Link was ready. One of them screamed, and surprised Link because when he was screamed at, he froze… dead in his tracks. By the time he was unfrozen, the half-dead creature was almost upon him. He slashed hard with his sword, removing the creature's head from its body.

Together, the group destroyed many of the undead creatures, but every time one died, another would take its place. “I have an idea,” said Link, “move back!”

The group moved back, and Link took out five bombs. He tied the fuses together, and lit them, finally throwing the bombs into the midst of the crowd.

The bombs exploded, but rather then a normal-sized explosion, they erupted, sending an explosion through the crowd, and destroying all of the creatures.

“OK,” said Link, “that was a lot more work then I wanted to do, but now, we can move on.”

“Agreed,” said Pterai, “let's go.”

The door unlocked, and they went through.

The next room was completely dark, and they could see nothing. There were no windows, and everything was painted black. The blackness was so intense that it almost caused Link to feel pain.

“There's something here.” Said Glysconia.

“What?” asked Link.

“There's something here, I can feel it.”

“How?”

“Oras, I can sense them.”

“So do you know if the thing is good or bad?”

“Oh,” said Glysconia, “it's way bad; its ora is black.”

Just then, Link felt a hard force connect with the back of his head. He fell forward, gasping for breath.

“What was that?” asked Link.

“I don't know,” said Glysconia, “I only know that it's really evil, and really dangerous.”

Link heard Glysconia cry out, and he knew she had been hit, “Are you okay?”

“I'm fine,” said Glysconia, “just a little pain in my left wing.”

“So how do we kill it?”

“We don't,” said Glysconia, “you see, everything has a little good in them… a small spot of light in their ora. The key is to expand that light so that it is bigger then the darkness, which brings up an oddity… you're all light… there's no darkness in your ora.”

“Ok,” said Link, “so how do we convert that darkness to light?”

“We'll have to play on a memory that the creature holds… something that made them become the way they are now.”

“But what?”

All of a sudden, Link got a very strong image in his mind. Though he had no idea how, he knew that it was probably Glysconia, sending him an image of the creeature's past.

There was a dark room, with white curtains. Link could hear screams, but he could not see what was happening, but after a moment, a bright light entered the room.

There was a small creature. It was orange, and snakelike. A mane of fire was beginning to grow from its neck.

As Link realized what was happening, a tear came to his eye. The snake-thing must have been Volvagia when she was young. There was another dragon there, who must have been her father. He was scorching her with red hot flame, and she was screaming hysterically. The other dragon proceded to take his gigantic tail, and whip Volvagia with it. The dragon left, and Volvagia lay there, unmoving.

As consciousness returned to Link, he could not keep the tears from his eyes. “Volvagia…” he sobbed.

“Link, could it be,” came the reply, and the lights came on, “It is you!”

“But,” said Link, “it's not you.”

A person stood before Link. She had dark skin, and painted markings on her face. Link recognized her. She had been the leader of the Gerudos at one time. Her name was Nabouru

“Yes,” said she, “it is me. Let me explain. When my father beat me, it was so bad that I was knocked out. While I was unconscious, an evil spirit entered my body, and my good spirit was basically deactivated. That was when I went to death mountain. When you destroyed my body atop that mount, my spirit was freed. Of course, I had no body anymore, so I had to find one I could use. This was the first available one. I saw her just lying there, and figured that her spirit had left for some reason, so I took it. Some would think that was an evil thing, but later, when I heard of all the things that had happened to you, and how she had been a sage, it reassured me. Her spirit had ascended to the skies with the other sages, so she would not be needing her body anymore, however, I would be more then happy to take back any Draconic form that could be found for me.”

“Volvagia,” started Link, “I wanted to ask you something…”

“Yes?”

“Did you… forgive me for what I did… can you forgive me?”

“Of course,” said Volvagia, “you did me a favor. You didn't do anything wrong.”

“But I still feel like I did.”

“Trust me… you didn't.”

“I don't know what to think anymore… I've always thought killing was wrong, and hated myself when I did have to kill, but everybody says it's not my fault. I think I'm going to go insane with all of this.”

“Be calm, child,” said Volvagia, “let me help you.”

She put her hand on Link's shoulder, and Link could feel his pain dissipate, and his anger at himself.

“W-what did you do?” asked Link.

“I transferred just a bit of my own spirit into you… just enough to reassure you of right and wrong, and to help you realize that you can't be blamed for actions that you didn't willingly commit.”

“Thanks,” said Link, “I'm glad for that.”

“It's not a problem,” said Volvagia, “it's the least I could do for the one that set me free.”

“Call it even,” said Link, “I set you free from your evil spirit, and you set me free from my hatred of myself. It's even.”

“We can still be friends, though, right?” asked Volvagia.

“Of course,” said Link, “I would be honored to have one as noble and honorable as you as my friend.”

“Likewise.” Said Volvagia.

“Ok,” said Pterai, “I'm sorry if I'm breaking up a tender moment, but we should get into the next room and grab the flute.”

“Alas,” said Volvagia, “you will not find it. It has been stolen.”

“Stolen,” said Link, “by who?”

“I could not make out the intruders, for they moved as shadows, and when I tried to stop them, they simply jumped over me, and when I turned around, they were gone.”

“Ok,” said Link, “I guess that means that we go to the next place, and see if we can't get the tablet of truth, at least.”

“But,” said Pterai, “there's no use. The items will only work when used together.”

“Well,” said Link, “We'll probably wind up finding whoever has the flute on our journey.”

“Yes,” said Glysconia, “I think we will.”

“Do you want to come with us, Volvagia,” asked Link, “I'd be honored to have you.”

At this time, Volvagia fell down on the ground, “I'm not worthy,” she said, “I'm not worthy of adventuring with the mighty hero of the forest!”

“I'm not perfect,” said Link, “I make mistakes, and it's not like I'm some kind of dictator that expects everybody to be “worthy” it's fine for you to come with us.”

“Are you sure?”

“Of course.”

“Okay, let's go!”

They left the building, and piled back into the boat.

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