Fan Fiction ❯ Professional Hero ❯ Grieves and bloodoathes ( Chapter 37 )

Chapter 37 - Grieves and blood oaths

"What should we do?"

The sheikah looked at his compatriot and looked down the well again.

"Well?"

"I'm thinking!" the sheikah hissed, "we were told to warn queen Zelda when Link returned, but now that he saved the town, I can't believe he's a threat."

"Yeah, but…" the second sheikah suddenly stopped and peered down the black hole, seeing two red dots coming closer, "uh, what's that?"

The two sheikah jumped out of the way as two fire arrows flew up in the sky and then fell down on extinguished. When they looked back at the well, Link with the two Zora stood on the stone circle, bows ready.

"Are you two gonna give me trouble or will you let me pass quietly?"

"Let… let you pass." One of them muttered.

"Good." Link grinned as he jumped down.

He reached back into the well, never taking his eyes of the two sheikah and helped his children out of the well, followed by Impa and Madakar and finally Goro.

"Time to go to Death Mountain?" Goro grinned.

"Indeed," Link nodded.

"Wow, wow," Mikau-zora interrupted, "wait just a fucking minute. What do you mean, Death Mountain."

"What?" Goro asked, "I told you about Death Mountain, didn't I?"

"Yes," Mikau-zora affirmed, "you said you lived NEAR Death Mountain, an active volcano, and now we're going TO an active volcano?"

"Well yes," Goro admitted, "the Fire Temple is in the volcano."

"No fucking way we're going," Zora said, "we're too young and good looking to dry up."

"Don't worry," Link assured his Zora friends, "only Goro and me are going into the temple. It's too hot for the others to enter. Impa, you should come with us. There's this thing that's going after sages. It's killed already Ruto and Nabooru."

"I can handle it," the sage of Shadows said.

"No you can't," Madakar shook his head, "it's best you come with us."

"Fine," Impa sighed, "but don't think I will stand idle."

"I'm not expecting you to," Link told her and turned towards Mount Doom.

"Strange," he mused, "I keep getting the feeling I forgot something."

Rauru kneeled before the altar in the temple of time and started praying to the goddesses, but his mind was preoccupied. Darunia's son, Link, had called for a meeting with the distinct warning not to tell anyone, especially queen Zelda. He honestly didn't think much of the so-called grandeur of Link, but was giving him the benefit of the doubt since he was the son of the sage of Fire. The ever present music stopped and the sudden silence made Rauru look up. A large hulking man in a darkblue leather suit stood before him waving a large scimitar.

"That's an appropriate position to die," the booming voice seemed to laugh.

Rauru tried to jump up but the sage of Light was quickly pinned down on the altar. The monster turned the sage to face him.

"Time to die," the man hissed as he brought his scimitar back.

"That mark…" Rauru whispered as he suddenly saw a red eye drawn on the black mask of his assailant.

The assassin just decapitated the sage and sheathed his sword.

"What I was," he said to no one in particular, "a long time ago."

The group of warriors quickly made their way up to the Goron village and everyone was excited to see Darunia's son again. Link, however, did not join in their excitement and demanded to see his father.

"He's at the fire temple," one of the Gorons said, "apparently some evil force showed up there and he went to defeat it."

Goro cursed and jumped down the cave wall to his fathers residence. The others followed him effortlessly and soon the secret passage to Death Mountain was revealed behind the large statue in the throne room.

"Uhm, that heat coming from that corridor," Mikau-Zora asked, "is that normal?"

"Well," Goro scratched his head, "Death Mountain IS a volcano…"

"No fucking way we're going down there!" Mikau-Zora backed up while his brother shook his head franticly.

"That's okay," Link assured them, "only Goro and me are going down there."

"Dad, come on!" Darmani started but was cut off by his father.

"It's not only too dangerous, the heat is tremendous. You'll be burned alive."

"It's better you stay here," Madakar agreed, "you can train some more, 'cause I have a feeling this is still far from over."

The four kids sighed but agreed. Link nodded towards Goro and the two friends ran down the tunnel towards the crater.

Two Gorons were standing guard before the Temple entrance and were pleased to see Goro's return.

"Later," he cut them short, "where's my father?"

"He's inside, trying to fight the evil." One of them answered.

"Not trying," the other interjected, "he will beat it."

"And we'll help," Link readied his two handed sword and ran inside, followed by Goro, wielding his Megaton hammer.

Inside the temple the two heroes turned left, towards the end chamber, but when they reached it, it was empty. A loud thunder sounded from the other side of the temple.

"We're at the wrong side!" Goro shouted as he started running back, "how come?"

"I have no idea," Link shouted back, "all evils, except that Sheikah guy, appeared in the chamber!"

"But my dad isn't here either!" Goro replied.

Suddenly it dawned to them.

"He opened the door and the monster got out!" they both shouted.

"They're fighting somewhere else now!" Link continued, "but where?"

"The sound came from above!" Goro said, "so let's get to the second…"

A second loud thunder interrupted him and proved him right. Whatever making the noise, it came from the upper levels.

"At the end we can advance upwards!" Link shouted.

As they sped through the maze on the second level, the sound had become more frequent and louder.

"There's an elevator up there to the towers!" Goro pointed.

"I know," Link nodded, "I'll use my hookshot."

"Think it can carry my weight?"

"Only one way to find out," Link shrugged as he handed over the hookshot.

Goro aimed the device and pulled the trigger. The hook shot out and attached himself to the elevator. Soon Goro flew up high and grabbed the ledge of the elevator. He threw the hookshot down and Link followed him. Slowly the stone construction raised. Link readied his bow as Goro kicked the door open and both heroes emerged into the highest level of the tower.

"Now where…" Goro started as he scanned the area.

A loud sound interrupted him and drew his attention to the large hole in the middle of the room. Quickly they ran towards it and looked down.

A large spiderlike creature hung from one side of the tower while Darunia stood on a ledge on the other side. Darunia pulled a large rock out of the wall and threw it at the monster. It hit with a loud thud and the monster fell down, but quickly drove the claws at the end of it's four paws in the wall and climbed back up. It seemed to hiss and jumped forward towards Darunia. It extended two paws and they hit Darunia full in the chest. Darunia was smashed into the rock wall with another loud bang.

"That explains the noises," Link whispered.

"This is not the time to crack jokes." Goro hissed back.

As Link apologised, Goro jumped down with his hammer ready.

"Fuck!" Link shrieked and grabbed his bow.

He sent a couple of flame arrows down, hoping it would do some damage, but it just warned the monster that something was coming from above. It was however too late to avoid the collision with Goro and the young Goron smashed his hammer down on it's ugly head and send it down the tower. He could barely grab the ledge as the monster tried to drive one of his claws in the wall to slow it's descend.

"Link? Is that you?" a fatigued Darunia asked as he helped his son on the ledge.

"It is," Link said as he came down the wall with his hookshot, "and me as well."

"My bloodbrother," Darunia grinned as he hugged Link, "it's been too long. Now my family is truly united! No wait," he shook his head, "what am I thinking? Your little brother isn't here, where's Terrani? Is he safe?"

"Terrani…" Goro hesitated and looked the other way, "he's… he's dead, I'm sorry, father."

"Terrani? Dead?" Darunia repeated with disbelief in his voice, "how? When? Why?"

"Mashka of the Tempora Gorons killed him," Goro responded with sadness in his voice, "I had left him with the Great Bay Zora's under the custody of an entire Zora army squad. They were all killed to get him. Mashka killed him right before my eyes."

"Then Mashka…" Darunia's voice shook with anger and grief.

"Mashka's dead," Goro continued, "I killed him. But he wasn't the one that was behind this."

"Then the one behind this must die as well!" Darunia roared.

Link had never seen the old Goron like this. Darunia had always been an example of calmness and ease, but now the Big Brother of the Gorons was out for blood.

"She will." Goro assured him.

"She?" Darunia frowned.

"Zelda was behind this."

"That can't be," Darunia shook his head, now nothing seemed left of his rage, "not our queen."

"Trust me," Link nodded, "she's controlling most of the continent, either through force or manipulation. And nobody in Hyrule knows of a thing."

"No," Darunia continued to shake his head.

"It is!" Goro grabbed his father by the shoulders and forced him to look straight in his eyes, "Zelda is responsible for the death of your son, the corruption of the temples and the death of the sages."

"The sages?" Darunia asked, "but…"

"Nabooru and Ruto are both dead," Link explained, "a large monster killed them both and we stood helpless against it."

"This can't be…" Darunia repeated.

"It can't, but it is." Goro assured his father, "Zelda is evil and she must be stopped."

A loud roar from below interrupted them.

"Fuck, is that thing still not dead?" Goro asked as he looked down.

"Those things don't die easily." Link shook his head.

"Do you know what that thing was?" Darunia asked.

"Uhm, no," Link admitted, "I meant the monsters in Temple chambers in general… ah fuck this."

Link unsheathed his sword and jumped down, followed by Goro.

"This might be a bad time to ask," Link shouted as he fell, "but what's down there?"

"Lava!" was Goro's reply.

"Ah," Link thought of his options, "fuck."

"That wasn't part of the plan?"

"Nope."

"Then why did we jump?"

"I jumped because I didn't know there was lava down there! Why did you jump?"

"I thought you had a plan," Goro grinned, "well, a better one than mine."

"What was yours?"

"Jump down."

"Ah."

"And grab a ledge before we get down."

Goro grabbed a nearby ledge and stopped his decent abruptly. Link took out his hookshot and anchored it into the wall. Just below them was the monster, heavily damaged, making it's way to the top. It's mouth went open and shut in anticipation of eating the two heroes as it tried to keep one of it's wounded paws out of the way. Link tried another fire arrow, this time pointed at the gaping wound on it's back. It roared in pain as the arrow struck but it didn't seem to have the desired attack.

"Apparently it's heat proof." Link sighed.

"Gee," Goro grinned, "what made you think that? The fact it lives in a volcano or the fact it survived this boiling heat?"

"Hey, sarcasm is my gig!" Link shouted back as he tried a light arrow this time.

This time the arrow made it's way deep into the wound and the monster exploded in a ball of blinding light.

"That's better," Goro nodded and looked up, "uhm, how do we get out?"

"I don't know, usually there's a ball of light that transports me back to the entrance."

"You mean like the one that blew up the monster?"

"No, a blue light."

Several minutes passed.

"Still no light, Link."

"Fuck."

"Thanks for the save, dad," Goro padded his father on the back as they exited the fire temple.

"It was nothing," Darunia grinned, "let's not mention it again."

"Please don't," Link grinded his teeth, "I never want to be reminded of that infernal rope."

"What was wrong with the rope?" Goro asked innocently.

"Well, I've heard of rope burn," Link calmly said and then held up his hands, showing two black marks on his gauntlets, "but none of them ever scorched my gloves. That thing was fucking hot!"

"Well," Darunia admitted, "it was made of steel wire. Any other rope would have burned. And we were lucky it didn't melt."

"Fuck," Link continued, looking at his gauntlets, "I mean, these are magical gauntlets, I think, very hard to get by."

"I'm sure you can fix them up agai-"

Darunia stopped in his tracks as a large burning pole hit him in the chest.

"Father," Goro caught Darunia while Link looked up to see the assailant.

"I'm… alright… I think," Darunia coughed, "just… just… help me… please…"

Goro had never seen his father this scared before. The large wooden pole had gone right through him and would have killed him if it had been a bit higher, piercing his heart, but now he was barely alive.

"There!" Link shouted and pointed to the top of the crater.

A large figure was standing there loading a huge crossbow.

"Fuck," it shouted, "the draft from the heat wasn't strong enough and I shot too low. Oh well, a mistake easily corrected."

The darkblue assassin laughed as he fired his second arrow. A small thud was heard and the large pole that already started smouldering suddenly changed direction and landed several meters away from Link. An arrow was seen through it.

"Yo fucker!" a voice came from the crater entrance, "ready for another round?"

Zora and Mikau were standing there with their bows ready, both dressed in a red armour. Link grinned at the two brothers and directed his attention back to the murderer. The monster jumped down and landed before Link.

"Move out of the way so I can finish my job." He commanded.

"You die." Link hissed back.

"Then we'll both be disappointed," the monster sighed and unsheathed his scimitar.

"Link…" Darunia whispered to his son, "save… Saria… and tell… Rauru…"

"Too late," the monster laughed, "he's already crossed off my list."

"Fuck," Link whispered as it hit him he had forgotten about the sage of light.

"I guess that's what you get when you don't have a decent temple that needs rescuing," the assassin laughed.

"Who the fuck are you anyway…" Link demanded.

"You can call me Gravedigger," The monster said and leaped forward.

Link barely dodged the blow but then saw it wasn't meant for him. The Gravedigger's arm shot forward and several knives left his open hand and struck Darunia. With a small grunt the Goron Big Brother died.

Goro roared and leaped to his feet. Waving his hammer he jumped towards the Gravedigger, but he just ducked the blow and hit Goro straight in the gut.

"Just be glad you're not my targets," he hissed and jumped up against the wall, scurrying up.

Zora and Mikau started firing arrows, but the Gravedigger dove away from each one.

"Fuck, that's fucker's fast." Mikau said as he reached Goro who slowly stood up.

"Where did Zelda ever find that monster?" Zora asked as he watched the assassin climb out of the crater.

"Father…" Goro kneeled by the corpse of the sage of Fire.

"We will avenge his dead." Link assured his friend.

"We will have his head!" Goro roared, "the Gravedigger will die by our hands!"

"Gravedigger!" Link suddenly shouted, "of course! Alexis! What the fuck did that bitch do to you?"

AN: Finally the identity of the Gravedigger is revealed, and I'm pretty sure none of you saw it coming. How Zelda turned her one time lover, bodyguard and psychotic stalker in this hulking murder machine under her control is surely the result of Gerudo witchcraft and physical and mental torture of Zelda (Chapter one of the Sheikah handbook: how to kill a man in 500 ways, chapter two: how to keep a man alive in 50000 ways). For those who are keeping score, this means there is still one temple and one sage left, and then the big finale, if Link survives, anyway (and if I can find some monster that can haunt the forest temple). And don't worry, it might take some time, but I WILL finish this. Just keep reviewing.h, and review.