The first thing Navi noticed about the cavern was that the putrid odor she had smelled when she had first entered the cavern was gone. Well, maybe it wasn’t completely gone, but it had definitely diminished tremendously in intensity. Having encountered dozens of natural corpses in the Lost Woods, she knew a corpse wouldn’t lose its powerful odor this quickly!
So something had happened to the two Lizalfos while she had been away…
When she had emerged completely into the cavern, she saw exactly what had happened to the two creatures: they were gone. There wasn’t a single trace of them, not even a speck of their vile black blood. It was as if their carcasses had been…licked clean from the ground! But what…?
“Dodongos!” Navi realized with a start. “There must’ve been Dodongos here! But they couldn’t cause that enormous rumble, could they…? Hey, what’re these?”
Her question referred to the hundreds of small white objects that were scattered across the cavern floor. They definitely weren’t there before; so all Navi could guess was that they had been put there because of that strange rumble. But what exactly were they…?
Feeling a little curious, Navi flew down to the floor and examined one of the larger pieces about twice her size. It looked familiar, but she couldn’t pin down its original form just by looking at it. After a few moments of examining it, Navi reached out and touched the piece with her tiny hand.
“Eek…!”
The moment her hand touched the object she withdrew it with a quick jerk. The piece felt cold and hard yet also possessed a definite and recognizable sign. It was a sign that it once held life, once occupied the precious energy that gave creatures a soul. It wasn’t at all pleasant, yet she had felt it many times after touching dozens of examples just like it.
The object was once a part of a skeleton!
“But…there are so many pieces! The thing must’ve been huge…but they all look like they’re from one part of a skeleton! But what part…? And how did it break…? What in the world is going on here…?”
Just then, she heard a soft yet audible moan…
The evening settled in peacefully over Gerudo Valley
What put her in her mood was her impending journey into the Haunted Wasteland.
She had always suspected that Ganondorf had a secret stronghold hidden somewhere within the forbidden desert that neighbored the Valley. He had most likely used his magic abilities to get past the deadly natural traps that plagued the wasteland, so it would undoubtedly be difficult for her to even consider navigating the desert.
But she had had enough of Ganondorf, her supposed king. He hated everything about the man, but couldn’t kill him because of the ancient laws passed down through the Gerudo. Even so, she couldn’t and wouldn’t bow down to such a wicked man. The Gerudo may be thieves, but they weren’t merciless killers, and Ganondorf had fooled virtually all the Gerudo into following his immoral schemes.
And besides, she couldn’t lay eyes on the man who made a constant lie of her life. She was never meant to be his second-in-command, but he did so to hide what he had done to her. She couldn’t bring herself to remember what he had done, but it had hurt her in the most painful way – and still did – and she couldn’t bear to live with that lie anymore.
No, she was going to put an end to the falsehood that had kept her imprisoned as a Gerudo. She was going to hurt Ganondorf in every possible way she could, and the first step was to strike one of his greatest desires: his wealth. If she could find his stronghold in the Haunted Wasteland, she would make sure he lived to regret what he did to her.
“I can only hope I don’t run into them!” she thought with a shudder as she rummaged through her trunk of belongings, searching for important items to take with her. “They’ll spoil everything if I do. Then again, why would Ganondorf put his own mothers in the middle of the Haunted Wasteland? Is it possible for even him to be that cruel?”
Dismissing the idea from her mind, Nabooru continued to grope through her trunk. If she was going to cross the deadly wasteland and make it out alive, she wasn’t going to let something like loose fears hinder her.
But one thing continually plagued her mind. “What’s this rumor about Ganondorf always taking a child with him into the desert…?”
********************
Another one.
Link turned around to face the baby Dodongo that had just scratched its way to the surface. The green, worm-like creature made no attempt to proceed cautiously to its prey. It raced along the sandy floor like a desperate insect, its jaws snapping vigorously before it leaped into the air and dove for the Kokiri. But Link was ready for its already-mundane attack. He dodged the flying creature and hacked at it with his sword as it landed. It released a familiar scream of pain before lying still in perfect silence. Link, as he had done several times already, then turned and continued down the dark tunnel.
He was somewhat surprised that he could see in the dark tunnel with the little light available at the now-distant end behind him. Maybe he was growing more accustomed to the darkness because he had been in it for prolonged exposures of time. Or maybe it was some other reason he couldn’t think up or fathom…
But despite his unexpected ability to see fairly well in the dark, what intrigued him more was the fact that he hadn’t encountered any adult Dodongos since entering the tunnel. Were there only a small number of adults and a large number of babies? Or was he about to stumble upon the beasts’ den any minute now? Either way, it didn’t matter. Link was going to do what he had promised, even if it meant killing every single Dodongo one by one.
Of course, it would be easier – and difficult at the same time! – to just slay the King Dodongo…
Just then, Link spotted a lot jut of rock protruding from the ceiling, so low that his face would’ve crashed right into it. He dodged effortlessly…then realized he had just spotted a low-hanging rock formation in almost pitch-blackness!
“What is happening to me?” he thought as he shook his head fiercely in a vain attempt to get rid of the strange anomaly. “Why is this happening? What is going on?”
Before he could answer his collection of questions, the darkness of the tunnel suddenly stopped and brightness flooded his vision. The corridor had been sloping downward for some time now, so the light had been hidden by a sudden upward curve in the tunnel. The abrupt transition would’ve been enough to temporary and severely blur his sight, but to Link’s amazement his eyes made a smooth adaptation to the new light, as if he had done such a thing before.
But he didn’t have time to ponder this peculiar circumstance before his eyes made a quick sweep of his new whereabouts. He was in another cavern, this one smaller than the main one; the ceiling wasn’t as high and the walls were closer together than before. However, this cavern distinguished itself from the other one by having dozens of ledges and tunnels scattered all over the walls and even ceiling. The air reeked with an overwhelming stench of decay, and hundreds of tiny skeletons were scattered across the ground.
Link had found the Dodongos’ lair.
“Great,” he thought to himself, now a little unsure about what to do next. “Now that I’ve found them, how am I going to get rid of them? Are they even here? I don’t see anything!”
In the middle of the cavern floor was a large hole that appeared different from the others all over the cavern; it also happened to be the only one in the floor and the largest. Interested, Link headed for the large crater, quickly yet cautiously, and soon discovered that the hole was where the unexplainable light in the cavern was coming from.
“What could be down there that causes this much light…?” Link wondered.
As he reached the edge of the fissure, Link felt a surge of heat erupt from it. The warmth wasn’t enough to harm or deter him, but it did get his attention quickly. Deciding to act a little cautious, Link made a firm foothold at the hole’s border and carefully peeked over the edge.
To Link’s surprise, the hole didn’t lead to a tunnel but to another cavern below the current one. The drop was a good one that would probably kill anyone who wasn’t prepared for the fall, and there was also something else dangerous down there. Not directly underneath the opening but close enough to it was a bubbling lake of red, burning, molten rock, something Kaepora Gaebora had called “lava.” The passionate heat surging from its sparkling surface gave Link all the hints he needed to know that that was the source of the mysterious light.
Stepping back from the gap, Link spat and stroked the edge of his sword for a moment before asking himself quietly, “Okay, so where are all the Dodongos? Did I scare them off because I killed a few of their young or something…?”
A soft scratching sound forced Link to stop talking and tighten his grip on his sword. He vaguely remembered that sound, and it wasn’t one he liked to hear. He looked around the cavern frantically but couldn’t see anything unusual. Even so, the scratching noise only grew louder and louder. And it sounded like there was more than one…
“Come on,” Link dared silently. “I’m ready. Come and get me. I’m already dead…”
A small part of Link wanted to get rid of that notion, but the rest of him couldn’t help but feel it was true…
Then he saw them. Two Dodongos crawled their slimy masses from a floor-level tunnel and snaked their way towards Link, their tongues wagging in anticipation. Moments later, a third Dodongo appeared on a ledge above and to the left of the first two. Like an enormous fly without wings, the beast surprised Link by grabbing the wall and climbing down it with relative ease! Then two more Dodongos emerged, each from different tunnels. Subsequent Dodongos followed.
Within a matter of moments, every tunnel except the one Link had used was occupied by at least one adult Dodongo, each one with a look of lust in its dark eyes. More were appearing every second, some fighting others to enter the small cavern and others even climbing the walls of the tunnels to get inside. One thing was sure about all of them, however. They were all after blood, and they wanted Link’s.
“Completely surrounded without any escape…except for maybe death by jumping down to my death behind me. Okay, so who’s first?”
As if answering his question, one male Dodongo took a few steps closer to Link and stopped just a short distance from the Kokiri. It began to rear its head and lower its tail, a sign that it was about to breath its deadly fire. Remembering what had happened the last time, Link realized that this could be the perfect time to strike. If he could hit it while it was preparing to discharge its breath, he might be able to kill it before it had a chance to use its tail.
“Here goes nothing…” he bellowed as he lifted his sword, but he didn’t have a chance to finish his sentence.
Before he could even begin his charge, something found its way underneath his foot and pushed him upward, causing him to loose his balance. He tried to regain his stability but because he had shifted all his weight to a single foot the ground near the crater’s edge suddenly gave way beneath him. He tried to reach out and grab the rim of the hole, but his fingers were too far out of reach.
As he felt himself fall into the rift, the last thing Link remembered seeing was the snapping face of the baby Dodongo that had surfaced and caused him to fall, rapidly fading in the distance…
********************
“I don’t understand. What do you mean that the young fairy will guide him? Are you referring to Navi?”
“Yes. The one called Navi will be the one most likely to guide the boy of destiny to the right path. She has felt the aura of the task and has accepted its responsibility. I only aided in showing her that aura, nothing more. As I said, I cannot teach magic to the one called Link, but I might help him to the path. I have done so by helping Navi witness her chosen mission.”
Kaepbora Gaebora didn’t know what to think about this unexpected information, but he decided to try anyway. “But how can Navi help him when you can’t do so…? I’m very confused, Faria Garuia. If you can’t teach the young boy magic, how can he even learn it? The only way to learn magic is for someone to teach you…”
“Are you familiar with Magi-Con, Old One?”
When the Faria Garuia said that name, the Owl’s feathers shuddered violently down his back. His wings flapped uneasily and his legs nearly lost their ability to make him stand. “Mage-Bounds? Unfortunately, I am familiar with them. Why…wait, are you suggesting…that Link…?”
“It isn’t certain,” the Faria Garuia said gently, “but it is possible the young Link is a Magi-Con.”
Kaepora nearly stumbled back and landed on his tail feathers. Link, a Mage-Bound? That wasn’t possible, was it? Mage-Bounds were people that gained magic through growth and development, without any assistance from teachers of magic or the like. Mage-Bounds tended to be some of the most powerful wielders of magic in the land, and also some of the most dangerous. All it took was a single event of some high emotional caliber to awaken a Mage-Bound’s power, and if used incorrectly that power could create devastating results.
Before being an Owl, Kaepora Gaebora had once been a Magi-Con. And it wasn’t something he liked to think about.
“Why didn’t you tell me about this during our first meeting?” Kaepora demanded. “Why didn’t you warn me about this possibility…?”
“If I did, then it would’ve been a near certainty that Link would’ve never learned magic. Any worries would’ve obstructed any chance of him awakening his abilities, and I’m sure that isn’t what your visions required.”
The Owl couldn’t help but agree with the Faria’s words, but still…
“But you could’ve at least warned me about his potential without directly telling me he was a Mage-Bound! I would’ve kept a closer eye on him and…”
“That, too, would’ve aided in the certainty of him never learning magic. The one called Link must experience a surge of emotions as never before felt in his entire life. Right now, I can feel his isolation, his misery, and his desires. Already his powers are awakening, but they haven’t emerged completely…and this was all because of a fit of cruelty I have never seen in someone so young.”
The Owl wanted to scream at the Faria Garuia, scream his anger towards her and let her know his displeasure in keeping some of the truth from him. But he managed to keep from letting go of control over himself, although he nearly lost that control when he heard about the “fit of cruelty,” something he never expected to hear about Link.
“But why haven’t his powers awoken completely?” he asked, trying to restrain his anger. “Why are they still lying buried?”
“Because his powers are far more powerful than any Mage-Bounds before him. This boy of destiny will have the power of the gods. To awaken such power requires an enormous flow of emotions, a flow that might possibly end up destroying his soul. We can only pray that he accomplishes such a task.”
“By the Three Goddesses…” Kaepora shuttered. “What have I done…allowing him to go into that cave without me…?”
And one question still remained unanswered: what did Navi have to do with this?
********************
“W…w…what happened? Am I still alive?”
Link sat up surprisingly easily, and he felt nothing painful except for maybe his old wounds from the Bomb Flower blast. He had landed on the ground right next to the burning lava pit from a profound drop and hadn’t sustained any new injuries! He didn’t even seem to be bruised from the fall! What was going on?
Deciding to find out, Link took his hand and struck it hard against the ground next to him. To his complete amazement, his fist didn’t strike sold rock but instead sank slightly into the ground before halting, buried a little ways in the soft soil. Link yanked his clenched fist out effortlessly, although it was covered with a thin layer of black dust.
“Well, that’s interesting,” Link noted as he stood up, keeping his eye on his fist. “The soil’s as soft as a leaf bed. It must’ve broken my fall! But why’s it so soft? Maybe it’s this heat or something, ’cause this soil is a little hot…but even that doesn’t explain why I don’t have any new injuries. Huh! Maybe I really am dead…”
Just then, the ground shook.
The tremor was brief, but it was enough to get Link’s attention. It reminded him somewhat of the Bomb Flower blast in the main cavern, but it wasn’t this abrupt. It was accompanied by a loud and just as hasty crash sound, and then everything stopped. Link’s mind raced like the wind, trying to figure out what had just happened.
Being willing enough to presume, Link guessed that the sound resembled a giant step made by an equally giant foot!
“But that’s impossible…isn’t it…?”
His mind stopped thinking when the ground shook again.
“Isn’t it…?”
Another colossal thud.
“Three. Just one more to confirm. Please, no…”
A fourth one.
“Confound it…” Link grimaced before turning around.
If Gohma had won a prize for most terrifying creature yet encountered, then King Dodongo would be her biggest challenger. The first thing Link noticed was its sheer size. It towered a size that seemed to dwarf the skeleton found in the main cavern in the mine, and its head did its part to belittle the enormous skull Link had destroyed. However, its resemblance to a lizard was all that linked this enormous behemoth to its smaller Dodongo children.
Unlike the adult Dodongos Link had seen, King Dodongo walked on four fully developed legs, each pulsing with muscles that rippled underneath scales. Instead of green skin, the giant boasted a deep gray all over except for several key spots. Its shoulders were covered with a strange green substance that looked like throbbing crystal, and its underbelly was completely pale except for red and green rings that bordered it. The biggest “key spot” were its eyes, a deep green that glowed with an undeniable hunger.
Its arsenal of weapons wasn’t lacking, either. Its three-toed feet were equipped with flat yet deadly looking claws. Several spikes were arranged in a row upon its back, and a gigantic horn grew from its armor-like head. Its teeth were undoubtedly lethal, but two of these teeth stood out, literally, by being longer than all the rest and protruding from its bottom lip like swords.
And Link was willing to bet that King Dodongo had a fiery breath stored within its enormous mouth. His teeth clenching together tightly, he tightened his grip on…air?
“My sword! My sword! I dropped my sword!”
But Link didn’t even have time to look around for his weapon, for King Dodongo suddenly stopped his thunderous march towards the Kokiri and emitted an earsplitting roar. The blast was so overwhelming that Link fell on his back, shy of landing in the nearby pool of lava.
In a panic, Link struggled to stand up, but before he was even halfway up King Dodongo had a surprise waiting for him. Link stretched out his left hand for balance…and nearly jumped with fright as an enormous tongue of flame flew right past him. He remained frozen, unable to move, and could only watch as the wall of fire engulfed his left hand. The fire receded quickly, but not the shock.
To the Kokiri’s utter horror, his left hand had been completely burned. The skin was burned to a crisp red and the blood didn’t even drip because it had dried so quickly. There was no feeling in it for a few moments before the pain arrived, forcing Link to cry out in pain and press his wounded hand against his stomach, where he wrapped it in his bloodied shirt. This only caused more pain, however, but Link fought it through gritted teeth and tears.
“No!” he wanted to cry but could only think. “If I must die, I will not die like this! Not like this!”
King Dodongo apparently didn’t respect Link’s wishes, for he didn’t give the Kokiri time to dawn on the pain. Instead he drew breath deeply again and allowed a column of fire to soar straight towards his prey. Link, however, despite his suffering, was ready this time and jumped to the side and avoided from being burned alive. Deciding not to stick around and remain an easy target, Link stood up and ran in the direction opposite from King Dodongo.
The mighty leader of the Dodongos could only slowly yet heavily give chase…
********************
Ah, at last!
He had waited so long for such a meal, and today he was about to have his desires come true! The Hylian had fallen straight into his lair, something he had only wished would happen; he hadn’t expected his wish to come true completely according to his aspiration! But it had, and now he would indulge in something he had waited ages for.
Since the creature had entered the Great Mountain he had been afraid that his children would find it and claim it first, but he had had high hopes that this Hylian would find a way to him. After all, it had killed the two creatures given to him and three of his own children, so it wouldn’t have given up easily. And that would make this treat even more worthy for his taste buds to savor.
And once he’s finished with this delicious morsel, he will allow his children to roam the Great Mountain in search of the Stone Eaters that banished his kind from their ancestral home…
Wait, The Hylian is running away! But where can it go? This lair is where he had lived ever since it had claimed dominance over the Dodongo race, and no living thing has left its confines. No, this Hylian will be his and there was nothing it could do to save itself.
********************
“A way out! A way out! Oh, please, let there be a way out!”
But Link’s silent prayer went unanswered as he scrambled away from the giant beast behind him. The walls of the caver were smooth and vertical all over, offering no possible way for Link to scale them. The hole in the ceiling was far too high for him to jump, and there were apparently no other openings he could use.
In short, he was trapped.
With pain racing up his left arm like liquid fire, Link sprinted as fast as he could, hoping he might outrun the brute until he could formulate some form of plan. But the underground cavern wasn’t as big as he had thought, and he soon found himself at the end of the cavern. Because the lava lake was positioned right in the center of the room and King Dodongo was leisurely making his way towards him with his thundering footsteps, all Link could do was turn left and run that way.
King Dodongo, slow as he may be, wasn’t about to let someone get away that easily; so when Link looked back to make note of the lizard’s progress, he wasn’t surprised when he saw King Dodongo preparing another breath of fire.
“Oh, here goes…!”
The blast was quick yet predictable, so Link managed to roll away as he ran to avoid getting singed by its fiery touch. The sting in his burnt hand pulsed even harder, forcing tears to stream down his cheeks like trickles of rainwater. King Dodongo, a little peeved by his miss, sent another blast towards his prey. Link moved to dodge the blast again, although the back of his shirt was scorched by the attack. His back sent messages of pain to his brain, but they couldn’t compare to the pain in his hand so he completely ignored his new scars.
Just then, as he noticed King Dodongo about to make a third blast, Link’s foot caught on something. His eyes darted down and managed to spot the bleached skeleton of an unidentifiable creature buried in the ground, but he didn’t have time to think before he lost his balance and went tumbled to the ground. He managed to duck in a way that allowed him to roll forward slightly, but this only agitated his burnt hand further. Even so, it did manage to hide him from King Dodongo’s third attack.
Link tumbled around several times before coming to a stop. His eyes were slightly dizzy from the experience but he didn’t allow that to stop him from getting up so he could continue running. When he stood up he realized he had reached another wall that forced him to turn left yet again. He was about to go down that direction when he noticed something affixed to the nearby wall. He rubbed his eyes with his right hand to make sure he wasn’t hallucinating; he wasn’t.
All over the wall and along the floor were clumped dozens of Bomb Flowers, perched there like dark seeds waiting to be sown.
Forgetting about the approaching brute behind him for a moment, Link ran up to the nearest flower and hovered over it for a moment in amazement. When he remembered King Dodongo, he grabbed the deadly plant by its grassy tuff. Luckily, the bracelet Darunia had given him was on his right hand, so it should still work with his left hand out of commission.
“Maybe I can use this thing to distract him…or maybe I could even blind him. Killing him with this is too hopeful, and that’s going to get me killed!”
Taking a deep breath and clenching his grip on the Bomb Flower tightly so it wouldn’t slip like last time, Link yanked with all his might. He felt the power of the bracelet coarse through his veins like a solid wind, granting him forbidden power so that he may live. His left hand throbbed even harder with his feat of strength, but Link could care less. Within moments he had the heavy pod in his hands, ready to be used as a weapon against the mighty behemoth.
Link, after holding the Bomb Flower for a split second, turned to face his opponent. By now, King Dodongo was facing him directly and slowly advancing. For some reason the giant lizard was no longer using its breath as a weapon, but Link didn’t use precious time to contemplate this. Instead he gripped the Bomb Flower firmly in his hand, held it in a position ready to be thrown, and yelled at the top of his lungs:
“Here you go! Try some of this!”
He then threw the Bomb Flower with all his might, using only his right hand. The black pod soared through the air like a dark raven, ready to spread its shadow of death to all it touched. When it landed, it fell shy of King Dodongo’s body, but that didn’t matter. When the monster passed over the thing, it would explode in its face…
Wait a moment! Oh, no! The fuse! Link had forgotten to check the fuse! It wasn’t alight! It hadn’t ignited like the first time he had picked a Bomb Flower! Now it was just sitting there, like a harmless overgrown insect that would sting only if it were bothered.
“Great!” Link thought, starting to get frantic. “Unless he steps on that thing it’s not going to do anything! Better hurry and get another…hey, what’s that? Is that…?”
********************
What was it trying to do? Kill them both?
The Hylian was obviously a smart one, for it had stopped its frantic retreat right before the cluster of deadly growth that he was careful to avoid. He had injured himself badly once before when he had accidentally set off one of those terrible plants, so he rarely went to that corner. Oh, sure, he wanted to kill the Hylian, but he didn’t want to destroy it!
And now the Hylian had thrown one the deadly plants, probably in an attempt to kill him. But as luck would have it, the plant hadn’t been set alight, so it was harmless unless he touched it with either flame or carelessness. All he had to do was walk past it carefully to get to the Hylian and then destroy it from a safe distance afterwards. It was that simple…
But he must hurry, for the human might try again…wait a minute, what’s that smell? It was something he had never smelled before. From the power of the odor, it was coming from some small creature, but it was overwhelming enough for him to take notice. What is this new aroma’s odor, and where was it coming from…?
Just then, he saw it…
********************
“Link! Link!”
“Navi…? Navi!”
Link felt like crying. It was indeed Navi, his little pink friend, hovering by the hole he had fallen into. Her voice was shrill but he could hear it easily in the echo-prone cavern. And although he couldn’t see her as clearly as he’d like to at that moment, he could easily tell she was crying. The telltale signs were her uneasy voice and her bright flickering light.
In an instant, all his worries were swept away: Malatite’s death, King Dodongo, his burning left hand, everything! He was just happy to see his friend again, the friend he had feared dead, the friend he had never had a chance to tell how much he loved her despite their initial differences. The whole world seemed to revolve only around the two of them and include only them. Everything and everyone else were nothing more than mere thoughts.
“Link…Link…Li-ink…” Navi spluttered loudly, unable to contain her evident joy. Link thought he noticed several tiny tears fall from her hidden face. The fey continued to stutter his name as she flew towards him, her light pulsing furiously. Link, in a state of trance, held his arms open as if welcoming a person his own size. He couldn’t wait to touch her again, to listen to her commanding yet soothing voice, to rekindle their friendship once more…
VFOOOM…
In the blink of an eye, everything changed from blissful to horrific. Before Link’s very eyes, a tongue of flame courtesy of King Dodongo engulfed the tiny fairy. Link’s jaw dropped as he watched the fiery column conceal his friend from view before evaporating, leaving its familiar sulfuric stench behind. It was over in a flash, but the impact remained. Navi was gone; she hadn’t even had time to scream.
Link felt his knees strike the soft ground beneath him, but his eyes remained on where Navi had disappeared. His face had fallen to one of surprise and disbelief. The blood in his face had been drained and his ears became deaf to the world, even to King Dodongo’s roar of satisfaction at his execution.
“Navi…” he whispered to himself before tears started rolling down his cheek, this time in sorrow and grief. “No…no…no…”
He bent down and started to beat the earth with his right hand. Each blow to the ground created a small crater and chunks of earth flew into the air and into his face. He continued pounding until he finally grabbed the soft earth in his hand and scratched a ball of dirt into his fist. He lifted the clumped earth into the air and stared at it through his tear-filled eyes.
He then squeezed, forcing the dirt to flow through his fingers like a sickening, chunky blood. The tighter his grip became, the tighter his face grew until he finally threw the earth to the ground and threw both hands into the air.
“Naviiiiiii! Naviiiiiii!”
Impossibly, a loud thunder rolled in the cavern.
Something inside of him snapped.
Then he felt something else, felt it rise.
It surged through him like a snake, wrapping its unseen coils around every part of his body. It was warm, like a sun burning its rays into his heart. It possessed all that he needed: strength, vigor, perseverance, determination, and intensity. He had never felt this before, but he knew he could use it. He could use this thing to suit his own purposes, bend it to do his every will and desire.
And right now, his will and desire was to kill…
He stood up, still crying out his pain like a wild animal. He threw away his tears with a shake of the head and bared his teeth, allowing his unyielding face to confront the monstrosity before him. He snarled and bellowed, wanting to show the powerful behemoth that if he was to go down, he wasn’t going to go down quietly.
But during that moment Link didn’t have a single thought about losing to this wicked creature…
“You…” Link cried in a potent tone. “You won’t get away with this! King Dodongo, you are going to diiiieeee!”
The monster didn’t seem to be intimidated by Link’s threat, so it just pushed on towards its prey. Link’s eyes remained affixed on his target for a moment before darting to the Bomb Flower he had thrown earlier. It was just a few steps away from being underneath the lizard’s face, so if he could…
“Yes, you will die!”
Link then reached for it, trying to divert it, redirect it, and touch it. He had no experience with this new thing, but something locked away in his mind somehow showed him the way, showed him exactly what he needed to do. With his mental strain running high, Link managed to force the thing to his right arm. There it was; now all he needed to do was…
“Diiiiiieeeeee!”
…let it go, and he did.
A stream of fire flew from his hand, sailing through the air like a liquefied sunbeam. The blast headed straight for the Bomb Flower Link had thrown, heading for the sleeping beast underneath the mighty King Dodongo. The tongue of flame struck the pod dead on, licking it for a moment before completely engulfing it. The flower quivered for a moment before releasing the power of its seeds in a deafening and bright explosion…directly underneath King Dodongo’s face!
Link didn’t look away from the blinding flash; he didn’t want to look away. He wanted to watch his enemy die, watch his friend’s murderer suffer for what he had done. He may be blinded because of it, but then so be it! Although he was no longer sending fire from his hand, he still kept it up as a gesture of dominance.
“Die!” he screamed in his mind. “Die! Die! Die!”
But King Dodongo didn’t die, although he came close. Amazingly, the blast didn’t affect Link’s eyes in the least and they quickly adjusted to the brightness changes. When the flash had subsided, Link saw what the Bomb Flower had done to his opponent.
The creature’s face was completely unrecognizable. Its gray skin had been stripped from its face, exposing blood veins and white bone underneath. The giant horn on its nose had been blown off and was nowhere to be seen. Most of the creature’s teeth were either missing or hanging from its sockets, and one of its eyes was bleeding green pus as if it were tears. King Dodongo was obviously in pain, as he roared loudly and angrily, allowing his enormous mouth to gape like a deadly abyss.
“This could be my only chance…” Link realized.
Without taking his eyes off the suffering monster, Link reached for another Bomb Flower and pulled it free. This time the yank ignited the fuse, and Link heard it fizzle its way to the awaiting seeds in the sac.
“May the Three Goddesses forgive your wretched soul, King Dodongo! This one’s for you, Navi!”
Link then threw it with his right hand. This time he used the strength of the thing surging through him to throw it, forcing it to go farther than before. It sailed through the air like a demon, its burning tail itching to destroy everything it touched. The Bomb Flower flew in such a way that it seemed guided by something towards its intended target. It slowly began its descent…
…and landed directly in the thrashing King Dodongo’s mouth. The beast took no notice of the small item it had just swallowed, and soon the Bomb Flower had disappeared from view. Through his rage, Link became a little unsure took a step back, not knowing what results were about to come to pass…
BOOOOM…
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