The Legend of Zelda: Mark of a Hero | Part 1 - Hyrule

Dungeon Chapter 2 - Farore's Temple

...sending him tumbling down the stairs. Link managed the catch himself after rolling down three or four of the wide, shallow steps, landing on his back with an unsettling thud. "Ouf." A hollow pain pumped through him before centralizing around his back.

As Link rubbed his back, Saddiqah and Ambrose followed him through the now opened threshold of the temple. They both held out a hand, helping Link back onto his feet. Saddiqah slapped him hard on the back, knocking the last few knots in his spine back into place. "Maybe don't lean on a magic door we're not sure will open next time."

"Noted," Link answered with half of a laugh, rubbing a circle around the small of his back. It was realigned, but still sore. He turned to look down the rest of the stairwell. "Wouldn't have been a horrible fall at least."

The stairs petered out into the main room a few steps later. Three braziers, like those in Hylia's Temple, sat in the center of this chamber. The only key difference here was that one of the flames was bright green, casting an almost ominous glare over the white walls of the chamber. Beyond the brazier was an open balcony, looking across Deku's Shelf. Link wondered why he had never noticed the carving from below, but as he stepped out to look across the dusk swept forest city, he realized he had never bothered to look. The vine and the main temple had drawn his interest away too quickly to bother studying the branch he now stood on. To his credit at least, the balcony and the subsequent levels below him were hardly visible.

"So, is it just this? I'm starting to have flashbacks," Saddiqah commented, lifting her hands over one of the golden flames. "Change out the gold for wood, we're in the same building." A chill evening wind sailed in from the balcony, flickering the flames. Link took a step away from the rail, looking around the room. Saddiqah was right, there wasn't anything else to the room. Had they come all this way for nothing? Did this mean another ride before they could genuinely deal with this temple?

Link leaned out over the balcony. This couldn't be the whole thing. He could see a level beneath him. It was simply a matter of dropping down there. Leaning out over the edge, Link looked at the side of the tree as it stretched down a level.

He wasn't sure what his friends would think as he plunged over the edge. Link knew that he was dropping over to grab at the tree as it curved beneath them, but all his companions saw was him swing over the side of the building to a bottomless plummet. He saw their heads peek out over the railing as he continued his climb down. He arched his head back, calling up, "All good?"

Both of them relaxed, letting out a sigh of relief. Saddiqah shouted back, "Some warning next time before you decide to jump off the side of buildings. I don't think Ambrose can take his heart stopping like that again."

"I'm not that breakable, Saddiqah," Ambrose retorted, leaning up on the railing. "Is this the only way down?"

Landing on the level below, Link looked around to see if there were any other balconies or ladders. He shook his head, cupping his hands around his mouth as he shouted back up, "Doesn't look like there's any other ramps. Might be another entrance later on. I'll spot you if you want to climb down this way."

Saddiqah leaned out an inch further before she swung herself over the rail as well. As the Gerudo climbed down the tree, Link kept his eyes on Ambrose, waiting for the old man to follow. Ambrose paced for a moment before shaking his head. "I think I'll wait for you to find a better ladder before I climb down. These old bones aren't as spry as I'd like them to be."

"Suit yourself," Link called back before he and Saddiqah walked through the only door on their level. The room they passed into was dominated by a shallow divot two steps deep. The room was wide, probably as wide as the branch the room was carved out of, and had three more doors splitting off from it. Two of them faced out to the open air, reaching down to the floors below. The third door, the one directly across from them, led further into the tree.