10th installment of the VGNU.
The scars of battle run deep in Hyrule's history, but the worst is yet to come.
Again the cycle begins, and a hero must answer the call, no matter how cruel and unfair.
(Originally published 2020-2021)
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Keese, Skulltulas, pits of acid, torture chambers, zombies... Every turn Link made he felt he found something worse and worse. But it was in the last chamber where he started accepting Impa's fate.
He hadn't been able to find any trace of her this whole time, and now there was only one door left, the Triforce embossed on the front, with the symbol of the Sage of Shadow above it. Golden chains hung from the trim, and an ancient lock lay on the ground to the side of it. Someone had gone in... and hadn't come back out.
"Is she in there?" Navi asked.
Link drew his sword and pulled open the door. "She better be."
The chamber he stepped into was pitch black, and as such he misjudged his first step. Assuming there was solid ground beyond the door, he fell through the pit and was sent tumbling down the deep hole. Grasping at the walls didn't help him slow down, but at least he was able to correct himself. Looking down, he could see a large tanned surface.
No way I can dodge that, Link grit his teeth. Tucking in his knees, he prepared to roll using the momentum of the fall.
When he actually hit the ground though, he bounced.
It was some kind of leather, stretched across a large circular platform. It was a massive drum, sitting in a pit of acid, at the bottom of a rocky chamber.
"W... what?" Link was lost, and the trippy glow of the lights cast by the glowing acid didn't help. It looked like skeletal shadows dancing around the walls, and the hissing almost sounded like laughing. He knew the fumes from all the rotting corpses within this temple were getting to him, but he was positive he hadn't fallen unconscious. That didn't change the fact that this was definitely a nightmare.
Then the shadows over took a large part of the wall. Lights flashed near the base of the wall above the acid, making faces that melted away and reformed over and over. And out of that large shadow, appeared two hands-- each bigger than Link's whole body.
A figure followed, dangling upside down from the ceiling, it's arms detached from it's hands at the wrists. It's flesh was opaque, showing the obsidian muscles underneath. As for it's head, it was replaced with what he could only describe as a diseased flower, the center of which being a large glowing eye.
The hissing that Link thought was laughing, was laughing, and it was coming from this... thing.
"I don't know what you are," Link drew his sword and shield. "But you end here."
The severed hands clapped in the air, then slammed down onto the surface of the drum. It sent Link flying upward, and as he landed again the hands repeated their movements. They beat the drum in rhythm, not giving Link a chance to stand up. It wouldn't let Link get close enough, always pushing him away, and even if Link did get close, they would just grab him and throw him at the ground. It never seemed to want to injure him though, but rather push him closer and closer to the acid. For several minutes Link was stuck flailing in the air, bouncing off the drum, as the giant hands continued to beat in rhythm.
