Fan Fiction Friday: The Era Without A Hero – Part 43

||  Part Forty-Two  ||  Part Forty-Four  ||

Part Forty-Three

The passage into the catacombs was situated halfway between the Temple of Time and Hyrule Castle. The graveyard that attached to the Temple grounds once held an entrance as well, but an accident during the construction caused a cave-in, blocking that route. The other entrance stood near a small park. It was a carved stone entry with a rod iron gate. The only thing to indicate the purpose of it was a small wooden sign on the outside.

The text on the sign read:

 

No Entry Permitted

Danger of toxic gas and falling rocks

 

“Nothing like natural dangers to ward off graverobbers,” Zelda said.

Rassa smiled, “Yes, although I think a simple threat of monsters would have worked.”

Zelda laughed, assuming Rassa was cracking a joke. When she realized that Rassa wasn’t joking, Zelda stepped back a bit.

“Are… are there monsters beneath Castletown?”

“Another genius idea from previous generations, I’m afraid. At one point, the catacombs were partially a prison or scientific laboratory, depending on your perspective. Similar to the Shadow Temple, these catacombs have played a dark part in Hyrule’s history.”

As Yoon pulled open the gate, Zelda stood and looked down into the cave.

The stories of what occurred in the Shadow Temple during the Hyrulean Civil War were among the most atrocious and terrifying tales. Vile acts that caused generations of damage, all in the name of creating better weapons. It was these atrocities that led to the Sheikah going into hiding for a long time. It was only in the recent 40 years that they had found their way out of the shadows and into everyday life again. Still, there were always rumors and whispers that some of the Sheikah still sought to access the black magic.

“Are there any further precautions we should take?” Zelda asked.

“Nothing more than what we’ve done so far,” Rassa said, stepping past the gate and beginning to descend the stairs. “Besides, even if we run into some monsters down here, I know many spells that will send them fleeing.”

Zelda glanced around, took one long breath of fresh air, and followed. With a heavy slam, Yoon closed the gate behind them.

The stone steps were mossy and slick. The walls were dirt held in place by wooden framing. There were some burned-out torches and by the time they reached the bottom of the stairs, only the light from the stairway provided them with any sort of visibility.

Yoon pulled a pair of torches from the wall and ignited them with a wave of her hand. She handed one to Zelda and kept the other for herself. Rassa, with the newfound light, looked around and examined the three passageways that were before them.

The path to the right had a sign reading Eastern Palace; the middle tunnel read North Bank; and the path to the left said Old Castletown.

“Any guesses?” Yoon asked.

“Beyond a door marked in song, beneath the great door of life and death, and on a pedestal of time,” Zelda recited. “What could be above us that would be a door of life and death?”

“A graveyard?” Yoon asked.

“A hospital,” Rassa said. “Lives come and go in places like that every day. The question is, where would there have been a hospital over the catacombs?”

Zelda examined the words over the passages again, “Why would one be called the Eastern Palace? What’s down there?”

“One of the more unscrupulous locations in the catacombs, I’m afraid. There are two things of note that I remember down there. A fairy fountain that was used for healing and the main hub of the laboratories.”

“Sounds an awful lot like a potential hospital,” Zelda said.

Rassa paused.

“How deep do the catacombs go?” Zelda followed up.

“Four or five stories, I believe,” Rassa said.

“The poem said beneath the great door of life and death. That seems oddly specific,” Yoon pointed out. “When they built the Colosseum, wasn’t it called a gateway out of death and into a new life for Castletown?”

“And that would be on the northern bank of the Zora River,” Rassa nodded.

Zelda narrowed her eyes and looked down the third path. She waved her torch to see down the road better. A dim light glowed from the end of the tunnel where it looked like the path continued on in another direction. She took a couple of steps into the tunnel to try and see the light better.

“Zelda?” Rassa asked.

“There’s something down this way,” Zelda called back. “I can’t tell what it is though.”

Rassa and Yoon peered down the tunnel but remained at its opening. Zelda ventured slightly deeper and finally came to a stop about halfway to the bend.

“What is it?” Yoon asked.

Zelda took another few steps and then dropped her torch as she gasped, covering her mouth. Seeing no danger at the moment, Rassa and Yoon trotted down to where Zelda was.

The three of them could see around the bend in the tunnel. It opened up to a massive pit that resided underneath them. They stood at the very top of a large dome that reached several stories deep. The path they were on, turned again to run along the outside of the dome before descending to the base with a winding flight of stairs.

The source of the dim light that Zelda had seen, was now plainly obvious. Swirling and floating throughout the dome were small balls of blue-green light, similar to fairies save for the wings. In the very center of the orbs, a small cone rose up from the ground before reaching its summit where a flat, chiseled, slab of stone rested.

“What is all this?” Zelda asked.

Rassa, unsurprisingly, responded, “They’re souls. Souls of the dead, awaiting their turn to move on to the next world.”

“Is there a reason they haven’t moved on?” Zelda asked.

“Because nobody has led them, or at least nobody has tried. That stone at the peak of that hill down there, do you see it?”

Zelda nodded.

“That’s supposed to be a beacon. A beacon that shows the way for the dead to find the next world. Instead, this seems to be drawing them and keeping them here.”

Zelda began for the stairs, but Rassa reached out and took her arm.

“Don’t! If the dead sense you, they will think you’re the beacon and try to use your body as the doorway. I doubt even the powers of Hylia will be enough to keep you alive in that case.”

Zelda paused and looked down at the stone slab, then around the rest of the dome. She didn’t see any way down where the spirits wouldn’t potentially notice her, let alone a path to the stone that didn’t go straight through the spirits.

“There must be a way. I’m certain that is the doorway we need to be under.”

“Life doesn’t flow from there, though,” Yoon commented.

“No, but there must be life on the other side. Life that draws the dead peacefully, life after death. What greater door than that could we ever pass through?”

Rassa smiled, “You are quite right.”

Zelda stared down, looking for any sort of path that would safely allow them to reach the stone. After a few moments, she noticed the souls that were circling occasionally would line up and allow a passage from the outside to the inside. It quickly faded, but if they were fast, it was possible.

She pointed it out to Yoon and Rassa, who agreed that it seemed like the only way to the slab. Once they figured out how long it was between the openings and how long it actually remained open, they began their descent.

The souls seemed to pay them no mind at the higher points, but there were several times that a single soul or two might stray outside of the normal pattern and they would have to stop. The soul would return to the mass a moment or two later and the trio could continue on.

The stairs themselves were mossy and slick, just like the stairs that had led them down into the caves in the first place. Between that and the dangers caused by the spirits of the dead, there was a huge sense of relief when they reached the lowest level.

“We’re almost there,” Zelda said.

Between the small landing they were huddled on and the peak with the stone slab on it, there was a narrow bridge-like path that crossed over the countless jagged rocks. The stones on the floor were not just sharp, but incredibly pointed. From up above, they didn’t appear to be nearly as dangerous, but upon closer inspection, they proved to be impassable. The only way across was the bridge and only when the souls aligned perfectly.

“I’ll go, you stay here,” Zelda said to both Yoon and Rassa.

“You’re out of your mind. You are not doing this alone,” Rassa scolded.

“It’s too dangerous for more than one of us to go across, and it’s likely sealed by some sort of magic that only somebody in the Royal Family can break. That’s how it always seems to work in the legends and stories.”

“This isn’t some story, Zelda,” Rassa said. “It’s dangerous to go alone.”

Yoon leaned in, “Would you at least allow me to accompany you?”

Zelda sighed and consented, “You must stay here though, Rassa.”

Rassa nodded, “Very well.”

Zelda and Yoon watched and waited for their moment.

Just as the souls lined up, they broke into a full sprint out across the twenty-yard bridge. Zelda, leading the way, raced forward. Step after step, eyes fixed on the end of the bridge where a small set of stairs led up to the slab. Just as she was drawing near, she could hear Yoon’s hurried steps growing frantic.

Zelda could sense the souls closing in. She pushed herself harder.

Step after step.

They were halfway.

Suddenly, a few souls appeared to begin moving ahead of them. Panic began to set in as they continued.

But they couldn’t afford to stop.

“Duck under them!” Zelda called back.

They both did but at the cost of their speed.

They were just about at the end when more souls began to move across the bridge. So many that there wasn’t a way through. The souls behind them were rapidly closing in as well.

Instinct brought both their feet to a stop just before colliding with the wall at the end.

Yoon turned her back to Zelda’s and watched as the wave of souls seeking the next life poured in towards them.

Zelda slammed her eyes shut and braced for death.

 

The Era Without A Hero will return…