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Zelda Skyward Sword Ch 15

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Chapter 15: A Shift in Time

Even though he said he was fine, the maids at the Knight Academy insisted they take care of Link. They gave him medicine to soothe his pain, and fed him a meal of soup and crackers before sending him to bed.

As he lay in bed on his stomach since his back was so badly burned, he began to wonder. He wondered about Zelda, and the woman with her. She kept calling Zelda 'Her Grace'… was that just for flattery? Or was there a reason? And just who was that woman anyway?

His mind full of questions with no answers, Link eventually fell asleep to the tune of Zelda's harp playing in his mind.

He awoke in the morning, much earlier than usual. Breakfast was still going on, and the dining hall was full of students. No one spoke to him directly, but many pointed at him and whispered excitedly to their tablemates.

Link sat at a vacant table and chewed thoughtfully on a piece of bacon, watching a girl sneak a furtive glance at him before whispering to her friend. They both nodded and giggled. At least Groose isn't in here, he thought.

Fed up with people, he left in a rush. The cooks slipped him some food on the way out for the trip, and he quietly thanked them before heading out into the sunny morning.  

He had no needs to take care of in town, so he headed straight for the statue, the Amber Tablet tucked under his arm. He descended into the once concealed doorway, casting a fleeting glance at the sword pedestal. He approached the altar, and fit the tablet in next to the other two. With the three shards, the whole tablet was now complete. The amber gem glowed, and a light shot from the great statue and fell to the clouds. Yellow light streamed up from it, the sign that it was new way to the surface.

About five minutes later Link was circling the new light column on Ethan's back, gathering the courage to jump. The strange woman's words echoed in his mind.

If you wish to be of help to Her Grace, you must summon a shred of courage and face the trials laid out before you.

Link jumped without hesitation after that thought. If he wanted to help Zelda, he would have to be more courageous. And freefalling through a hole in the cloud barrier with no clue as to what was waiting below was about as much courage as you were going to get out of him at that moment.


As he fell through the opening, he noticed that the whole area below him was a yellow-gray. It looked metallic, almost like the remains of some great machine. It baffled him as he tried to imagine what the ground must be made of.

As he touched down on a raised platform, he discovered that the terrain was sand, with old machine parts thrown in here and there. It looked like it had once been a facility at one point, but nature and time had taken its toll on it.

Fi appeared next to him. A report, Master Link. We have arrived at Lanayru Mine.

So that's what it had once been. A mine. That explained all the old mining carts littered around.

This arid region was transformed into a desert over the course of several hundred years, Fi continued. My projections show that Zelda must have traveled through this area.

That's all Link needed to hear. As Fi disappeared into his weapon, he jumped from the platform, raising a cloud of dust as he hit the sand.

He walked forward, willing the vibrations of Zelda's aura to stir within him. The only thing that stirred was the dry desert wind rustling the parched plants. Everything else was quiet.

It was a bit eerie, and it got his nerves on end. His eyes glanced everywhere at once, over rusted carts, overgrown tracks, and piles of rubble. He had never been somewhere so still.

As he exited a narrow dim tunnel, he came to a round area, high rock walls surrounding it. Littered around were what looked like small piles of rocks, but a closer look revealed them to be some sort of machine. They were a dry tan color, with blank stares on their small bodies sticking out of the sand. The strange thing is they seemed to be speaking to him, whispers of their quiet voices reaching his ears. However none of it made sense to him.

Turning his eyes from the bots, he caught his first glance of the large rich purple stone sitting in the middle of the area. The bright sunlight reflected off it, causing the strange symbol upon it to glimmer and glisten. It seemed to silently beckon him towards it.

Feeling the empty stares of the robots on his back, he walked to the stone, sword held in his slightly shaking hand. Hesitant to touch it, he prodded the shining stone with the tip of his sword, expecting it to explode or summon a monster.

The stone hummed and turned a bright blue. Then the queerest thing happened. Light seemed to pulse from it, sending a ripple of color across the area. The grass turned green and lush. Bright designs appeared on the metallic framework. Machines started whirring and spinning. It was as if the mine had come alive.

Even the robots responded to this seeming time shift. They pulled themselves from the dirt, bright colors shining in the sun. They set to work, as though they had never laid still.

Link stood, astounded. The breath of life had somehow found its way into the silent mine, and now it was teeming with activity once again.

One of the robots went past him, moving soundlessly over the ground. It stopped and stared at him quizzically.

"Where did you come from?" it asked in a metallic voice, looking him up and down.

Now that he was looking straight at one in its prime, Link could see what exactly these robots were. They were short and tan, with round red faces. Large hands stuck out from their sides by electric blue energy, humming quietly. Black hats were carved on their heads with strange designs on each side.

"We're collecting Timeshift Stones and transporting them to Lanayru Mining Facility," the robot briefly explained. "Stay away from the blue stones. They're too dangerous for humans!"

It wandered off, muttering about how clueless humans could be. Link glanced to the now blue stone. So this must be a Timeshift Stone, he thought pensively. I wonder what they use them for.

He looked up at the lush green rock wall. A bit past where it leveled out, he could see a sort of blue line. Past it, the area was the same as before: windy, sandy, and dry. A Timeshift Stone, as the name suggested, disrupted the normal flow of time and turned the area around it into its past state.

Link tried not to think too hard about how this could be possible, and he walked around. He thought he felt a slight stir inside him, and he walked briskly in hopes that it would get stronger.

As he went past them, the groups of robots gave him disgusted looks. They whispered to each other about how uncivilized and unadvanced humans were compared to them. Some chose to ignore him, but he still heard them muttering to themselves. One wagged a long sharp claw at him that it was using to scrap away at the rock wall.

He didn't let this get to him, as he was used to being talked about behind his back. Instead he hummed tunelessly to himself to drone out their voices.

Even though the area around him was long before her time, he could still sense Zelda's aura faintly within him. He followed the feeble vibrations to a door. However he couldn't open it from the outside; it only opened as the rows of mining carts rolled silently over the tracks towards it.

He got a crazy idea. He slipped into one of the moving carts, concealing himself beneath the blue and purple Timeshift Stones. It rolled slowly through the door and down a long corridor.

Link peeked out from under the stones to see rows of robots hard at work. Some scrapped at the walls with sharp claws. Others carried armfuls of Timeshift Stones to various locations. And some stood awkwardly, glancing nervously around. Link heard snippets of conversations as he passed.

"…Got captured yesterday. I heard they sucked all the electricity out of him!" a robot cried, and their fellow robot shook their head. "Who's next?" they asked feebly, whimpering.

Link wondered what sort of person would kidnap small robots and suck the life out of them. Maybe they wanted the advanced power that flowed within their metallic frames. It sounded like something Ghirahim would do, but he was already so powerful, so there wasn't a reason for him to.

The cart rounded a corner and went though another doorway, leading back outside. It stopped abruptly, in line with the others. Link was about to get out when he felt someone digging around in the cart. They pulled a handful of stones off the top, exposing his head.

The robot screamed, dropping the stones to the ground. "What do you think you're doing, human?!" it shrieked.

Link leapt from the cart, flinging stones in all directions. He ran as fast as he could, hearing the robot shouting behind him. "And don't come back, you meddling monster!"

When he felt he was a safe distance away, he leaned against a wall to catch his breath. That's when he noticed the area around him was no longer lush and green. It was a dry yellow, covered in dust and sand. Dunes stretched across the landscape as far as the eye could see, and far, far in the distance, the blistering sun shone on a tall statue of the symbol of a bird, holding three triangles up with the tips of its wings.

He was out of range of the Timeshift Stone's effects, leaving him to wander in the vast Lanayru Desert.

The climate wasn't nearly as searing as the one at Eldin Volcano, but he still found himself wiping his forehead frequently and panting slightly as he walked. Thin clouds skirted across the sky, occasionally blocking the sun's scorching rays from beating down onto the sandy terrain. Tumbleweeds blew across the barren landscape in the dusty desert wind.

He came to a gap in the solid ground. It was full of pale yellow sand, completely still despite the wind. He didn't think anything of it and walked right onto it. His first step had his foot engulfed by the powdery substance. It ate away at him, causing him to sink deeper into it.

Sinksand, he thought desperately. It was notorious for swallowing up unsuspecting travelers, never to be seen again. How could I have been so stupid?

He squirmed against it, only succeeding in making him sink even more. It was up to his thighs now, and he couldn't move to save his life.

He cast his eyes around, desperate for something to cling to. A low hanging tree was rooted nearby. He made a wild grab for one of its branches, only barely brushing against it. He tried again, but he was getting too low to reach. Now up to his waist, the sand was swallowing him whole.

He tried one last time, but it was no use. He stood, squirming to no avail, as the sand covered him; up to his chest, his shoulders, and finally his neck.

His hands were still visible, trying to grasp at the air, sheer terror on his face. There was no way out now. As the sinksand reached his mouth, he screamed out Zelda's name, cut short by a gurgle as his head was sucked under.

…you must summon a shred of courage and face the trials laid out before you…

His hand shot up and grasped at the edge where the solid ground began. With great force, he pulled his head free of the sinksand's grasp. Choking on sand, he reached up to the tree, and with strenuous effort, he managed to grab the lowest branch. Using the remainder of his strength, he pulled himself, little by little, from the sandy deathtrap.

With a loud sucking sound, his feet were freed, and he collapsed in a heap at the base of the tree. Raspy pants escaped his mouth, and he frequently coughed up sand. His body ached from effort, every movement felt at his core. He tasted salty water on his lips, and it took him a moment to realize he was crying. He had so nearly escaped death, and from a natural occurrence, not a bloodthirsty monster. He felt defeated and humiliated, not triumphant and jubilant as he felt he should.

He wiped at the tears with an aching arm, and curled up in a shivering ball, even though the heat was blistering. The only thing running through his tired mind was what he had done when he thought he was going to die. He hadn't said a prayer to the goddess, or had his life flash before his eyes. He had simply cried out for Zelda, in one last desperate attempt to make things right between them.
Link encounters an ancient civilization, far more advanced than the present day. I'm really pleased with how this chapter turned out, and I hope you guys like it as much as I do. :D

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© 2012 - 2024 SlyCooperRocks101
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Thadyla-Baraclay's avatar
Yay! More chapters! I was planning to ask u to upoad more today but now I don't have to! Thanks!