Life in Zora's Domain

Chapter 33 - The Third Gem

Summary: Mipha and Link seek to recover the third gem while striving to keep it from Queen Sopha.

Purah's Sheikah Slate showed a message.

Doing fine, but our investigation continues. Give our love to Tila and Tidon. We miss them.

"That's interesting," thought Purah as she read the reply to her message, a message she had deliberately baited with false children's names. Her suspicions were correct. Link and Mipha were not sending her messages, but someone was pretending to be them. The sender had been overconfident and had not learned the names of their children. What did this mean? It meant someone had taken the Sheikah Slate from Link. But the person replying wanted to keep up the appearance that Link was still sending messages. So they had a reason to prevent Link from sending a message, yet were concerned about what might happen if it was learned he was not the one sending them. Perhaps they were concerned about help being sent? In any case, this left no doubt Mipha and Link had encountered civilization advanced enough to use a Sheikah Slate. And she feared it also meant they were in trouble. She needed to think about what to do next.

Meanwhile, Mipha and Link made their way slowly down the long stairwell into the depths of the ancient structure. The steps were old and broken, so they walked carefully, Link taking Mipha's hand. When they reached the bottom, it was as the guard described. The walls contained a ribbon of luminous stones that illuminated the passageways. The only direction led to the room straight ahead of them, and Link slowly stepped forward into it. It was empty, save for a large flat pedestal in the center. The dust on the floor revealed several sets of footprints, some ending at the doorway ahead and others returning to the entrance.

"Presumably, those footprints are from Queen Sopha's subjects who attempted to enter here," said Link. "We need to be careful. I will be the first to enter any rooms from now on. And let's keep out of a direct line of sight of any doors. I wouldn't expect there to be any living enemies here since this structure is so old, but there may be traps. Fi, I assume you will warn me of any danger?"

"Most certainly, Master. Your safety is my reason for being."

Link approached the pedestal and wiped off the dust on top. There was a stone tablet on top with a message inscribed on it, but the letters and language were foreign to him, and he could not read a single word. But Fi could.

"Master, I will translate this for you," said Fi. "It is in an ancient dialect and claims to be written by the person who hid the gem. The translation is as follows."

My name is Lantor, and I write this for you who seeks the sacred gem hidden within. In my lifetime, our land was plagued by monsters of many kinds, and like many, then I prayed for relief. And the Goddesses answered our prayers, but not by destroying the monsters. Instead, they gave us the means to do so ourselves if we had the will. By the blessings of Farore, Din, and Nayru, I was granted the honor of holding three sacred gems. These gems gave me great power, enough to destroy all monsters from our land, even the strongest. The story of my quest to free our land is told elsewhere. But when my task was finally done, it was my duty to leave the gems for another should monsters ever return. I will say to you, seeker, to beware: giving up these powerful gems is no easy task. They create a desire in your heart to keep them and use them, even if only for the good that you believe you could do. These gems could cause enormous harm in evil hands, and I fear holding them too long could corrupt even the noblest among us. In the end, it was only by the grace of Nayru's wisdom that I overcame my desire to keep the gems and willingly surrendered them. I pray my spirit will have peace for finally doing what was right. But I came to understand that only someone skilled in combat and strong of character is fit to hold these gems. Someone weak in combat will not use them to their potential. Someone weak in character will, sooner or later, use them for their own ends. So I chose to place the last sacred gem in this ancient structure built to challenge a hero of old. This will test the strength and character of any who would seek it. If monsters have returned to our land, then I wish you success. Farewell.