Chapter 7: Return to Hyrule 1/2

Over 5000 views. Holy fuck, I honestly can't believe it. How in the holy hell did this get that many views!? Thank you for looking at this story, all the same, it surprises me no matter what that people have an interest in this story. This chapter gets dark, like extremely quick. Fast than I thought it would originally.

Slowly, ever so slowly, I come to. Once I start waking up from my unconscious state, I feel it. The pain that is pounding throughout my entire body. I open my eyes, though they open slowly for some reason, and I see myself in my treehouse from Kokiri Forest. I blink a few times, making sure I wasn't in some sort of an illusion, or just dreaming. I move my head a little, making the pain all the more clear, and see that yes, it is my treehouse that I lived in since a child. I can't believe it. I am back in the Kokiri Forest. But how? I know for a fact that I couldn't leave through the entrance I came through, and I know I wasn't anywhere near it for me to go through. Then it dawns on me. That portal that me and Thalia... Thalia! Where is she? I get out of my bed, then I quickly run out of my house, and confirmed my fears. I am back in Hyrule, specifically, Kokiri Forest.

Jumping from the overhang on my house, I quickly panic, worrying about Thalia. If I don't find her fast enough, she might become a Stalfos or Skull Kid if I don't help her as soon as I can. I start running around the village, looking in the houses to see if Thalia is in one of them. After five minutes of searching, nothing. She isn't in any of the houses, so doing some quick thinking, I decide to go to where the Great Deku Tree is, well his sprout to be exact.

I rush past the entrance to the grove, through the short pathway, and reach where the Great Deku Tree Sprout sits. At the spot in front of the Great Deku Tree Sprout grows, is the Kokiri, and Thalia. I ran up to the group, to see what the actual Din is going on. As I walk closer, I start to hear the Kokiri speak.

"What should we do?" One of them asks, who I recognize as Fado.

"She is clearly an adult, but at the same time, she appeared with Link. We should at least wait for him to wake up to decide first. He may be an adult now, but he is still a Kokiri all the same." Saria says, making the other pay attention. You don't want her angry after all, as the last time she was angry... Well it didn't end well. The Lost Woods only lets her to the Sacred Meadow for a reason. The Great Tree of The Woods is still recovering from the beating it got from her.

I slowly walk up to the Kokiri, making sure to make myself known. "Hey Saria! It has been a while!" I say, happy to see her. Only for her, and all the Kokiri to ignore me. What? They never ignore me, not even when I disappeared for an entire year.

"They ignore you, because you aren't here, child." A voice, I recognize as the Great Deku Tree Sprout says. I look at The Sprout in surprise.

"What!? I am clearly here, so how can I not be heard?" I ask, completely and utterly confused. I look around, and yep, it is the Meadow of the Great Deku Tree. The corpse of the Great Deku Tree that died by Ganondorf's curse is there, slowly being absorbed by the Sprout, to grow up.

"It's because your physical body still sleeps in your treehouse. Look at yourself my child, and see for yourself." The Great Deku Tree Sprout says in a tone the speaks of absolute honesty and seriousness. So I do that, and look at my hand, and see it and the grass of the ground through it. I go to say something, only to double-check that indeed, my hand is in fact transparent.

"W-what?" I say, in a shocked, yet quiet tone. I know of the fact that dreams can be weird at times, but I haven't experienced something like this. Quite frankly, I am confused as too HOW this is happening.

"I sense your confusion child, excuse me, Link, and I understand why you are confused. Quite simply, the portal that transported you and your friend here messed with you in a few ways. Your physical body is readjusting to the difference in magic potency and the fact you weren't ready for the portal, and your injuries from whatever happened before you went into the portal caused you to be unable to move much. But your very being sense something was wrong, so it decided to let you come here, spiritually. You came here because you were concerned about your friend and wanted to talk to Saria. As the guardian of the Forest, I knew what was going on immediately, and you wouldn't have known right away, because you thought everything was alright. The world is the same as the physical world, but the interactions with beings here is far different. I believe the only one to actually enter this realm beside you, is the Hero of the Sky. I in my fifteenth life cycle when he came down, to save his Zelda. I don't remember much of then, other than his life was difficult, but I do remember the Silent Realm, which was his trials, and the Spirit Realm, which was the same thing. You are currently in both, not because of a trial, but because you are healing. Normally, this wouldn't be the case, but Zelda, your Zelda, created a portal to being you to Hyrule, and it worked but had an unintentional consequence. It made your spirit go to the Silent Realm, and the Spirit Realm. That is whats going on with you right now. I can return you to your body, but I won't right now. I won't because you and I need to have a serious talk. It involves what has transpired since you left." The Great Deku Tree Sprout says, clearly upset, even though he is a tree.

"What is it you must tell me?" I ask, curious. Hey, while I meet my mother, found out my Father was the nephew of the King of Hyrule, and I am a member of the Royal family, through my father, not much can really shock me at this point.

"You were meant to never return here Link. The Princess of this Era brought you back, for reasons unknown. But I don't sense any good intentions behind your return. I am worried. From what I have gathered, she is hunting you down, what for I have my ideas, none of them good for you. I believe, no, I know she is looking for the Kokiri Forest, for you. I fear that once she gets here, she won't be happy the Kokiri won't give you up, and do something only she can do. Throw them in the Shadow Temple. Link, the Curse of the Shadow Temple still exists, and I think it is using her as a way to influence Hyrule. If she throws the Kokiri in there, I will have to take action and kill her. Link, I know how the Shadow Temple messed you up, to a degree at least, based on the fact you are pale and shaking at its mention, and the idea you have to return to it, but you need to stop Zelda, and completely break the Curse of the Shadow Temple, before you can return to where you came from. Some form of Magic is causing this, and only you can break it. I will keep Thalia safe from Zelda, as if she discovered who Thalia is, and what Thalia thinks of you, she will throw her into the darkest depths of the Shadow Temple, and you know what that means." The Great Deku Tree Sprout says.

Hearing the fact that I have to return to the Shadow Temple again, breaks me a little. I barely survived it physically and mentally the first time, what is to say I can do it again? No. I won't let myself be controlled by my emotions and feelings about that place. Thalia, the Kokiri, and Hyrule need me again. No matter what, I will protect the Kokiri and Thalia from it. I do my best to steel myself up, for the fact that I have to go back there, but I will protect those I care about, from a fate worse than death.

"I understand. Send me back to my body." I ask. The leaf on the top part of the Great Deku Tree Sprout just waves up and down, and I slowly fade from the location, back to my body back in my treehouse.

I wake up, this time I feel the pain. I now understand what he meant. I quickly reach my pouch, which was on my belt, and pull out a bottle of Blue Potion, and drink the whole thing in one go. I instantly feel better, the potion doing its magic in healing my injuries, and restoring my magic. Fully healed, and magic restored, I leave my house, grabbing my stuff, and climb down the ladder. I quickly run to the Kokiri and Thalia's location, to see Saria looking at me with an intense amount of joy.

"Link! I am so glad to see you after so long!" Saria says, greeting me, then proceeding to hug me. While I am not used to hugs still, this not being as strange mainly due to the fact I have known Saria for so long, so it doesn't bother me as much compared to when Thalia hugged me. Which I didn't expect, or Cremia hugging me as an award for helping her after she gave me the Romani's Mask, which had a limited, yet interesting use. She lets go after a few seconds, smiling at me. "Link, I know that you want to help her. The Great Deku Tree Sprout has promised her safety from becoming a Stalfos while you are doing something for him. He told us this a bit ago." Saria says quickly while looking at me and Thalia. "He didn't say where to put her though. "Saria continues, then looking at me. "Do you know of a place to put her while she recovers?" Saria finishes, looking at me seriously.

"Put her in my house, on my bed. Let her recover there, instead of here. That way she isn't exposed to the elements, and if something happens, she isn't out in the open. Her name is Thalia by the way, so it isn't questioned. If she wakes up while I am gone, tell her that I am doing something important." I say, sighing. I am trying my best to keep myself from screaming at the Sprout honestly. The Kokiri all together lift Thalia, and walk away from the meadow, to put her in my house. I wait a few moments, to make sure they are out of ear range before I turn to the Great Deku Tree Sprout. "Now, what was that about me having to return to the Shadow Temple?" I ask, with a bit of worry and fear in my voice. I couldn't act like I wanted to in front of the Kokiri, as they would have asked questions I didn't want to answer, as that would be a mess in of itself.

"As I told you, the Shadow Temple is influencing the Princess. I don't know how much, as it isn't within my range of ability to sense, I just know it is influencing the Princess to act like the way she is. I did sense the monster Sealed Within The Well escaping a few years ago, and I only recently noticed it influencing the world. You must go to the Temple, and Destroy the monster once and for all Link. Maybe destroying it will free Zelda from whatever is causing her to act the way she has." The Great Deku Tree Sprout says. I sigh, and play the Nocturne of Shadows, fearing my return to the Temple. I finish the last note of it, and I am turned into a bunch of purple ball things, representing me being teleported to the Shadow Temple.

A few seconds of waiting, I arrive on the pedestal that has the framework of the Triforce and the Shadow Medallion. I look down the tunnel and shiver in fear. I really am going to have to go down there. I am going to go there, and face it a second time. I was really, really hoping I wouldn't go back to that HELL. I take one step forward, to the tunnel leading to the Shadow Temple, when I start to feel sick to my stomach. It starts churning so much, that I step back, and start heaving. A couple of heaves and I end up hurling. A few minutes of this pass, and I step towards the Temple again, still shaking in fear. This time, I make it halfway through the tunnel, before I pause to throw up again from my fears and nerves. I think this is anxiety.

I really, really don't want to do this. This is the last thing I wanted to do in my life, returning to the Shadow Temple. I keep the Master Sword in hand, to at least comfort me a little, which it does. I still am sickened to my stomach at the idea of returning to that Hell Hole mixing pot of nightmares, death, corpses, and evil. I thought since I beat the Shadow Temple the first time, and experienced horrors I wish to never speak of, I wouldn't return. Instead, I have to come back here and fix the influence it has put on Zelda, which isn't even a guarantee to do anything to help her. This may end up being a waste of time, and I hate that idea. But removing Bongo Bongo, the only monster that would make the Shadow Temple it's home that I know of, from influencing the world, will be of more use than anything. Except for removing the Shadow Temple entirely, but that isn't possible from what I researched. It doesn't make this any easier honestly.

At this point, I am just stalling myself, as I haven't moved from where I stopped. I take one step further, then get that same rush of nerves that makes my stomach feel like removing everything in it. I take another step forward, then stop again. I keep getting overwhelmed by the emotions of fear in me. I fear the Shadow Temple. At this point, I do my best to force myself forward, even if it is one step at a time.

It takes five minutes to reach the actual entrance to the Shadow Temple. The stone door is down, with the symbol of the Sheikah tribe on it, and the torches unlit. That doesn't surprise me, as in this timeline, I never went to the Shadow Temple. Avoided it in all honesty. But now, I have to face my fears and show the courage of mine once more. Even if I don't want to. I walk to the center of the torches, that is jutting out from the ground, with the symbol of Din on it, and use Din's Fire on it.

The torches get lit, and the door slowly starts to rise, releasing the air of the Shadow Temple. The air of Death, Evil, Darkness, all that less than fun stuff. The stuff that makes the Shadow Temple, itself. I slowly walk to it, that air getting that feeling of evil and death getting stronger and stronger until I finally enter it.

It's the same as the last time I entered it. This time I know the foundation of the walls are in fact, made out of compressed Bones into a brick shape, layered just right to give it that creepy and intimidating look. I walk around the corner, and yep. The spikes down there have the dead bodies of before, all in the various states of decomposing and fresh. But something seems odd this time about them. Instead of looking truly dead, I see something coming off of them. Something that I know wasn't coming from them before. An aura of red. Taget comes out of my hat, scaring the crap out of me, and floats next to my head.

"Taget, do you see the aura coming off of them?" I ask, making sure I am not seeing things due to my fear of this hell hole.

"Yes Link. I see them. It's odd that corpses have that around them. Maybe it is because something has changed from the last time you were in here? Maybe Bongo Bongo did something different? I am unsure." Taget says, confirming what I am seeing and giving a few ideas of her own about whats going on.

Suddenly, one of the freshest bodies down, being impaled on the spikes starts moving. A female Hylian, looking extremely close to Thalia, way to close to be comfortable, looks up while moving. "I see you are back, boy. The Shadow Temple never forgets, not even the passage of time, or splits of time can make it forget. You have seen the true face of Hyrule once, and you survived the horrors once, but the Shadow Temple knows of your fears and terror of this place. It may be where it holds all the evil, and darkness of the land, but it isn't inherently evil. The creature inhabiting it, Bongo Bongo, is what is making the Temple evil. Bongo Bongo remembers you, what you did, and how you defeated him. He has prepared himself for a fight again, and this time, he thinks you won't survive. Destroy Bongo Bongo, and let the Spirit of Shadows speak to you before you go. I am but a servant of her power, but Bongo Bongo has her locked up and is making sure to prevent you from speaking to her. Save her, and forgive us for what we and the Shadow Temple has done to you in the past, and what it will do to you soon." The servant of the Spirit of Shadows says, before going limp again.

Taget and I just look at the corpse, in shock and in my case, fear. That didn't happen the first time, and Bongo Bongo remembers our encounter? That's not good. Thankfully I got much stronger since last time, but I don't know if he got stronger too. Do I also have to help this Spirit of Shadow? I have never heard of her from ANY book. Not the Hylian Royal Family Library, not the Shiekan History Book both official and the true history, not even from any form of a legend that exists, does such a being get mentioned. That is the most terrifying truth, I have no clue what to expect. "Taget, do you-" I start to ask, only to get stopped.

"No. I have no clue who the Spirit of the Shadows is." Taget says, worried.

We take a minute to process this, before I equip the Hover Boots, and use the Longshot to get to the other side of the gap. Walking past the painting that speaks about the Shadow Temple, I pull out the Lens of Truth to see which skull torch to push the statue too, so I can progress quickly. Pushing it, I cross over to see I need a key to continue on.

"SON OF A FUCKING BITCH!" I scream in terror, anger, and disgust. I have to go through the corpse hallway again. I go back, cross the chasm of dead bodies, and reach the door to the hallway. I see Taget floating by my head still. "This is the longest you have been out Taget. Why is that?' I ask, curious, yet worried about what effect the Temple might have on her.

"I am out because you need me to be out. While on the quest for your mom, we can speak freely about her here due to the others not being able to hear us, I felt you were okay without me. Here, you need me to help you. Not in a literal sense, but an emotional sense. I started to realize that outside, but now I know it. You need more help than you think emotionally. Navi didn't know that, mostly because she was a temporary fairy. I am not leaving you Link. No matter what, and your mental health IS a health concern to me. I don't" at that that, Taget gains a voice that speaks of her starting to cry, "I don't want you to be hurt more than you already are. You made small progress, and I don't want you to revert. I know you weren't in a good place mentally. Before you meet your mother, even if I was asleep, I could sense your emotions. I know what you tried to do, to escape the pain. I know you" Taget stops for a minute, trying to regain her composure, as I can see tears coming from her, and I can feel tears of my own coming off me, "I know you tried to kill yourself.' She finishes, saying the last part quietly.

I stay quiet, knowing full well what she is talking about. It was about a month before I entered the world my Mother lives in. At one point, I couldn't take the memories, the horrors, the anger, none of what I felt. It was overwhelming me. I tried multiple things to try and kill myself. I even went into a portal to find a cliff but failed as that world's guardians prevented me from doing it. It was easily the lowest in my life so far, and I was close to doing it again when I ended up in a world where I meet my mom. That is something I won't tell the Hunters or Artemis, like at all. Fuck I wasn't going to tell anyone, not even Taget, but she knows somehow. She somehow knows of it. That's terrifying to know. While I am still close to that mentality, I think meeting my mother, and meeting Thalia helped me somewhat. Though, I think Apollo was suspicious of me but didn't comment due to the circumstances.

We just move on to find the key and go through the temple as quickly as possible. For the most part, the Temple was the same as when I went through it before, which is a good thing. I knew where the items were, what the enemies coming would be, and even what traps and puzzles to expect. But it isn't a good thing, as I would figure that Bongo Bongo would change it, unless he wanted to lull me into a false sense of security, which I think might be possible. Taget and I eventually reach the room with a hole leading towards the location of Bongo Bongo.

I jump into the hole, and land in the same arena I faced Bongo Bongo the first time. The shadows slowly reveal Bongo Bongo in his original form of a headless thing, with two severed hands hanging from the ceiling. "Ah Link. We meet again, under different circumstances, yet the same reason. You are wanting to save Hyrule, while I want to cause as much chaos, evil, greed, and lust as possible. You were sent here, under the assumption that I was the cause of Zelda's change in behavior, correct?" Bongo Bongo asks me. I nod yes, just wanting to get to the point. "Well, I will be honest with you here. The most I did, was just nudge her. The rest was one hundred percent her though. She has gone down the path of evil herself, so yeah. But even though I admit to not doing it, you still hope by removing me from the Shadow Temple will at least do something, which it won't. I learned from our first battle Hero, I hope you are ready for a treat." Bongo Bongo says, before fading back into the shadows.

The fight starts with one of Bongo Bongo's hands slamming into me with enough force to push me off of the drum. The liquid I land in must be a form of acid or something, as it starts to hurt immediately. I quickly get back on, and fire a light arrow at Bongo Bongo's hand, and look in shock when it actually removes it from existence, which shocks me.

"WHAT! YOU HAVE THOSE ARROWS! IMPOSSIBLE!" Bongo Bongo screams coming out of the shadows, pissed off. Suddenly, he transforms into the form Ganondorf gave him. "I WON'T FOOL AROUND THIS TIME! DIE!" Bongo Bongo screams, before firing a laser of darkness at me from his skull mouth, forcing me to run form it. One of the hands that grew back thanks to the transformation, grabs me and starts slamming me on the drum. I quickly equip the Silver Gauntlets and force open the hand. So I can be released. I quickly fire another light arrow at the hand that grabbed me, destroying it in the process. The remaining hand slams me back into the acid, then slams into me in the ribs, cracking a few. I fight through the pain, climbing back onto the drum, and fire a second light arrow at his other hand, destroying it. The skull and the main body proceed to attack me into separate directions, the skull firing lasers of shadow, while the body attempts to rush into me, to slam me once more.

I quickly fire a third light arrow at the body that was flying at me, and it gets hit. It doesn't get destroyed instantly, but I can tell one more would be enough. I jump down into the acid, to avoid the slam of the body, then shoot another light arrow at is, sealing it for good. The remaining part of Bongo Bongo is the Skull, which is annoying as he seems to be smarter now. It takes a few minutes, before I finally beat the skull, while it fires beams of darkness and all sorts of dark based projectiles capable of causing me huge amounts of damage.

I assume the fight to be over, which was a mistake. As I put my bow away, something about my size slams into me, knocking me on the ground. I see a sword coming my way, and I quickly roll out of the way, as the sword slams into the ground. "You thought it was over, didn't you hero? I had seven years to ready myself for a rematch. I took the form of that idealistic fool, Dark Link," I pale at that, "and now, I will kill you!" Bongo Bongo yells, indeed in the form of Dark Link, and I quickly get up, using my sword to stop his blade.

CLANG! BANG! SLASH! CREAK! The sounds of our two blades meeting each time is brutal, to say the least. I thought Bongo Bongo was strong in those two forms it had, but the fact that he now can be in such a smaller form with the physical strength of his bigger forms, makes him all the more dangerous. I can't use the light arrows because he now has a shield to block them, meaning this fight has to go the nitty-gritty way. Swordplay this time.

The fight goes on for a while. I slash at Bongo Bongo, he dodges, and slashes at me, only for me to block it with the Hylian shield, and he back away, to ready another attack. I realize it, no progress has been made on the fight. I know Bongo Bongo only knows of the alternate timelines powers. I decide to use my secret skills. As Bongo Bongo goes for a slash I put up my shield, and when he swings, I use the Parry Block, knocking his sword out of his hands, and stunning him. I then jump into the air, doing a slash at his head, the Helm Splitter, before landing behind him, and doing magic fueled Great Spin Attack, which seems to knock him onto his face, stunned probably. I quickly jump up into the air, with the Master Sword aimed in a downward stab motion, stabbing Bongo Bongo in the back, impaling him fully, it starts leaving a black substance to stain the ground.

A few minutes of waiting, with the sword in his back, I pull it out. As soon as the very tip of the blade is pulled out, a massive geyser of black substance shoots out and starts covering the area. I quickly activate Nayru's Love, just in case it is an attack or a substance that can harm me, and watch the geyser unleash. Slowly, it starts to settle down, and Bongo Bongo starts to fade away, before turning into a purple mist. I look to see that the Dark Master Sword was left behind, to my shock. I walk up to it, and look closely at it, able to examine it for the first time. It looks identical to my Master Sword but has one major difference between them. The Triforce on it is flipped, with Power at the bottom, and Wisdom and Courage on the top. I wouldn't think much of this, but I know of alternate worlds and dimensions, so it makes me wonder if this sword was originally from another dimension, parallel to Hyrule. Not like the Sacred Realm, but a reflection, as a reflection isn't an exact replica of oneself, unless you look in a high-quality mirror. Then again, it might just be a sword created by dark magic, but I decide to grab it, and see what it does.