1x1 Private LoZ

[MythicalYoko]

Source: kitsunebaba

x x x x x x x x x x x x x

『Our character is what we do when we think no one is looking』

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↘↘↘ ★ Zelda

Right, right. Leaf was a very nature-y sounding name, it would belong to a fairy. Zelda ate and nodded, considering their options and how to prepare for what was likely to come ahead. "We should probably get an extra supply of water considering the temperature conditions," she murmured to herself.

Breakfast finished, Zelda packed her rations and paused. "Yeah. I guess that that's the best option," nodding to herself, she double checked all of the bags, Link's included, rose to her feet and held her hand out for him. "Let's leave her outside of town I guess. Hopefully she won't try to return to the stables in Hyrule Castle and just stick around instead. Then up the mountain we go. We need to use this extra time while it's available."

[siany-chan]

LINK~-

Mulberry was left in a clump of trees besides Zora river. Link hung her food from a tree to keep it temporarily safe from smaller herbivores. He didn't know how effective it would be, but he took the horse's muzzle in his hands and whispered to her, telling her to stay here and that they'd be back in a few days. They couldn't afford to leave Way with her this time.

The Shadow temple seemed to pull him in this time, incorporeal things tugging at him and wrapping around his soul like ghostly children. The shroud of foxes grew colder around his shoulders and Link drew closer to Zelda for warmth. They moved in silence for the most part, Way hidden in Zelda's hair and shivering.

Emerging out onto the path, Link breathed a huge sigh of relief. The afternoon sunlight was shadowed by the mountain, but the air was relatively fresh compared to the stale town with too many people crammed into it. The faint smell of sulphur didn't do much to hamper Link's mood.

"You think we can get a bomb bag from the Gorons? There are a lot of bomb flowers around here and they'd be really handy to have around." Link commented idly, seeing the patch he'd used on the wall last night.

[MythicalYoko]

Source: kitsunebaba

x x x x x x x x x x x x x

『Our character is what we do when we think no one is looking』

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↘↘↘ ★ Zelda

"So long as there's a shop open I'm sure we could," Zelda reassured, distractedly setting her hand on his arm and looking around. Despite the magic spell she'd been given, her senses were not anymore illuminated than they would have been normally. Sulfurous smells and a veil of negative energy permeated the air. No doubt it would begin to grow stronger the higher up they went.

Zelda took the lead, gripping the hilt of her sword and keeping her attention focused. An hour or so passed of nothing besides the growing heat and the gradually increasing incline. For all of the warmth it grew darker and darker from the seedy black and purple clouds rising up from the top of the mountain.

Eyes upward, Zelda didn't notice she was about to walk right off a ledge until her stomach went cold and she stepped on empty air. Yelping and flailing, she pitched her weight backwards and fell on her rump. One foot stuck out over a ledge that dropping down into a lake of lava eight feet below.

"What? The lava levels shouldn't be this high up," Zelda exhaled and leaned forward. On closer inspection, there were a series of stone gates and chain pulleys put into place in an attempt to control the rising flow of lava. Whoever had been working them was gone and the lake was almost full. A few pieces of land peeked out over the water, tips of greater masses below. At the other end of the lake was a cave, doubtless leading to wherever they had to go.

"A puzzle, hm?" Zelda touched her cheeks, already slick with sweat, and rose. "I think we're gonna have to empty some of this lava out if we want to have a chance of getting across."

[siany-chan]

LINK~-

One moment she was right there, then the next she wasn't. The glow of the lava illuminated Zelda's fall for him and for a moment he was convinced she was going to die. Thankfully she was able to reposition her centre of gravity, but that didn't leave him any less frantic. Link's heart pounded in his chest and he clutched at Zelda's arm, pulling her back from the ledge. "How are you so calm? You almost fell into a lake of lava!"

Way had darted out of Zelda's hair as she fell, startled, but by this point she had composed herself. The fairy hovered, circling Link's head. "But she didn't and now we're stuck until you work this out."

"The only way we can do that is to get to the other side and I am not walking across a foot wide stone gate to... unless..." Link's expression changed as he inspected the set up. There was one pulley on each side of the lake, with three gates to regulate the lava levels and prevent it from spilling off down the mountain and the village below. If he used his fox form to get across then he didn't have to worry about falling in.

Problem was the smog made the natural shadows too dispersed to travel through.

Link solved that issue with one of the sticks he'd collected for a cooking fire. He started a fire on the tip and wedged it into the ground standing up. Then he placed Zelda in its path, casting a weak, but traversable shadow across the closest stone gate. "Don't move or I'm dead." He instructed, before transforming.

The fox emerged on the other side a metre from the shore. Even with the pull of nothingness, Link panicked, scampering the last few feet and then some. He moved well away from the ledge before transforming back. "I made it!" He called out. "Put out the stick so we can use it again!"

Even with Way casting her small light and the lava casting its own glow, Link could barely see more than a blur of his companions due to the smog. He coughed as he inhaled too deeply, catching a lung full of the foul smelling smoke.

Not wasting any more time, the youth found the pulley system on this side of the lake and encountered his next problem. "How the heck do we get this working?!" He yelled at the blur that was Zelda. Link figured it was something both sides had to do in tandem, but the whole thing just looked like a complicated mess to him now that he was actually here.

[MythicalYoko]

Source: kitsunebaba

x x x x x x x x x x x x x

『Our character is what we do when we think no one is looking』

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↘↘↘ ★ Zelda

"I think I've reached my emotional freakout quota for the week," Zelda explained, blasé. "Death would have been excruciatingly painful, I'm sure."

That was not too wise of a thing to have said considering Link had decided he was going to try running across the metal links of the pulleys to work them. Honest to goddesses, she was silently impressed and awfully proud of him for figuring all of this out. Albeit not gifted with book smarts, Link had always been remarkably gifted at figuring out practical problems and puzzles.

Zelda stood where he'd instructed and breathed in shallow breaths to keep herself from moving much. She obeyed his instructions until he called out to her, at which point she studied the pulley systems and realized they were going to have a real problem about not smothering the village blow in lava. Granted it was slow moving, thick lava, so people would be able to get out of the way. Nonetheless.

"Hold on!" She yelled and approached one of the levers connected to a pulley. A good experimental pull showed that while yes, it did work, the lever would not lift the gate high enough to let at least some of the lava out. The gate was connected to another pulley, though, so maybe if Link could pull a lever the same time she did, it would lift and she could get across? "Link, is that a lever to your left? If it is, pull on it on the count of three!"

[siany-chan]

LINK~-

The youth glanced anxiously around the control board, searching for something that could be called a lever. There were two, but the one on the far left was the one he'd been told to pull, presumably. If this went wrong then they were going to be responsible for a lot of property damage. As Leda reached three, Link bit his lip, closed his eyes and pulled.

The chains screeched as they began to move, rattling against the pulley system to lift the first gate. Lava swelled and bubbled, oozing slowly into the next partition. Even now Link could see they were going to need to lift the second gate as well if they wanted to lower it enough to keep going on this path safely. Given how old this all looked, it was questionable whether or not the last gate could fully support the flow of lava. It was quite possible it would simply crumble with the rapid change in temperature.

There was nothing for it though. "Zelda! We have to open the next gate too. When we do, run back to the first gate and close it off after we've let some lava out. That way we'll see if the last gate will hold before we let it all go!"

[MythicalYoko]

Source: kitsunebaba

x x x x x x x x x x x x x

『Our character is what we do when we think no one is looking』

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↘↘↘ ★ Zelda

On the upside, no one had died yet. Considering the quest, that was a definite plus.

Another plus would be keeping everything in here from breaking so they didn't smother a town in lava. Eyes fixed in Link's direction, her Hylian ears strained to listen over the bubbling. Nodding, she stepped over to the lever that had chains matching up to the second gate. Sweat ticklishly trickled down her neck and her new clothes were soaked in it. So much for keeping up a pretty image.

When the second gate was lifted, Zelda ran back to the first lever and watched as the lava levels sunk down. The third gate did not crack. That, however, did not mean it was stable. Small cracks began forming in it and while it didn't look like it would break now, it most likely would under pressure for too long.

[siany-chan]

LINK~-

The hero noticed the cracks as well but it didn’t shatter just yet so he decided to take a chance. He bit his lip as he watched, worrying the capped skin. Link waited until there was just enough room at the sides for them to enter the cave they needed to before acting. “Close the gate!” He yelled, counting to three before pulling his lever. The first gate seemed much more stable than the third, but just to be certain they didn’t rain doom on the village, he made sure they closed the second gate as well. With any luck if the third gate failed, the lava they’d let out would cool and solidify before it got all the way down the mountain.

Their way forward was now open, but there was no guarantee that Link would be able to find his way back to Zelda’s side. He lost sight of her as they rounded the lake and his heart constricted painfully until her vague figure returned to him. The flow narrowed considerably at the cave, but it was still too wide to cross. Inside was only lit for a few dozen feet before the haze swallowed it up. Hopefully inside he could use the shroud. It was getting very hot.

[MythicalYoko]

Source: kitsunebaba

x x x x x x x x x x x x x

『Our character is what we do when we think no one is looking』

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↘↘↘ ★ Zelda

Link's calls obeyed, the gate closed and Zelda took a few steps back in an attempt to get away from the heat. Everything was hot and wet, she may as well have taken a job through the rain. Keeping themselves hydrated would be a big problem, she mused.

Rather than going off to look for Link, Zelda took the closest pathway that was opened up to her and focused on getting to the other side without passing out from the heat. Red light and grey smoke filled her vision, and she held her sleeve against her nose to block out the dark fumes. Did the Gorons constantly live in these sorts of environments?

Link saw her before she noticed him. Wearily offering a wave, she set her hand against the wall to follow it inside. One upside to the lava was that the cave was well-lit by the light. Squinting, Zelda followed her side of the lava stream. Sweat dripped down her nose and into her eyes, and she wasn't sure if it was the fumes or the heat or both, but the farther she walked the more the world slid and slowed in her vision. Following a few minutes, it became a struggle for her just to stay upright, and she was beginning to feel like some of the smog was from her clothes smoking.

She smacked against a stone wall. The path had ended, drawn to a halt at a giant wall under which lava flowed from. A small, white rock was embedded on the wall and when she touched it, a long white walkway extended to the middle of the wall over the lava a few feet away from a door. A similar button was on Link's side. With both of them pushed, a third platform would pop up from the center, connecting both bridges and allowing them access to the door. Zelda walked forward on the white tiles, soaked and hunched forward like a weeping willow. It was so hot she could barely think.

[siany-chan]

LINK~-

Link watched Zelda walk, barely looking where he was going. Thankfully the path was straight so he didn’t accidentally kill himself by walking off a ledge. He almost walked into the wall at the end, stopping abruptly and taking a few staggered steps back so he didn’t break his nose in the recoil. The youth watched as Zelda all but crawled over the newly formed bridge. He glanced around desperately, scraping off skin as he bashed his fist against the node embedded in the wall. His side of the path joined her’s and he was off even as the middle was still forming.

“Leda, you okay? Hey, come on, here.” Link yanked his water skin from his belt, unscrewing the cork and pressing the opening to her mouth. It was probably hot and disgusting by now, but it was better than getting completely dehydrated. Link himself was more used to the heat, working around an oven and with darker skin, but even he could feel the pull of it so he knew she must be suffering.

[MythicalYoko]

Source: kitsunebaba

x x x x x x x x x x x x x

『Our character is what we do when we think no one is looking』

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↘↘↘ ★ Zelda

As hard as it was for Zelda to focus, Link seemed absolutely fine. She distantly wondered if it had anything to do with the new item Impa gave him. Or perhaps it was all of the stuff he made in front of that oven. An oven. Old oven? Broken oven. If anything were to survive a fire, it would have to be an ove-

Water

Zelda grasped the water skin and Link's hand to take a drink. She took two mouthfuls of it and forced herself to stop. Sadly the water seemed to evaporate as it went down her throat, either simmered out by the heat or sucked into the dry skin of her throat.

She held a hand up to show she was okay before gently hammering at the door with her fist. Surprisingly it opened, sending out a wash of cold air. Stumbling in, the room they entered was totally white, with a high ceiling and various purple crystals jutting out of the walls and floor. A crumble of white rocks sat the center. Once Link walked in the door would slam shut behind them and the lights would dim, leaving the crystals as their only illumination.

[siany-chan]

LINK~-

Link frowned when Zelda only took a few sips before pushing him away. Did she not realise how wilted she looked? He’d already lost what might be his whole family, he wasn’t about to lose her too; especially not to something as mundane as heatstroke.

The frown turned to awe as they left the lava behind, but it only lasted a few moments before the door closed and he was blinking in the dim. “What is this place?” He asked, sprinting as his eyes adjusted to the new level of light.

Way emerged from Zelda’s hair, flying sluggishly to land on top of Link’s hat. “I don’t feel too good…”

Link bit his lip and sat down where he was, cross legged. They all needed a brief rest after that ordeal, maybe even some food. He unscrewed the cap off his water again, disconnecting it from the cord that stopped it from getting lost to pour the fairy some. Their companion cared for he took a long draft from his skin, gasping as he drew his mouth away. “You need to drink some more now we’re out of the really hot.” He told Zelda, glancing down at her own water skin.

[MythicalYoko]

Source: kitsunebaba

x x x x x x x x x x x x x

『Our character is what we do when we think no one is looking』

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↘↘↘ ★ Zelda

Time to cool down. Zelda spread herself across the floor as Link sat, flat on her belly, and stretched her limbs out. Undoubtedly there was lava flowing underneath the smooth white rock floor, yet somehow the heat didn't penetrate through it and was cool to the touch.

"I don't want to waste all of the water too soon," she told him groggily, trying to either soak the cool in or radiate all of her heat out. The floor was so cool that it almost burned. "We don't know how far in here we have to go. What if I use up all of my water and we're not even halfway there...?"

She could've very well fallen asleep on the floor. Around them the purple crystals glowed faintly, undoubtedly some puzzle surrounding them that they would need to solve before proceeding to the next part. "How are you fairing so well, anyway?"

[siany-chan]

LINK~-

Zelda had a point, but Link still thought it would be silly to collapse from dehydration. Still he capped his own skin again after Way had drunk her fill, attaching it back to his belt just in case they had to leave in a hurry. Fiddling around in his backpack he pulled out some jerky and a roll each. He had conceded buying the bread that morning because it would be too much hassle to make his own, but that didn’t mean he had to like it.

The more he thought about how badly Zelda and even Way had reacted to the heat, the more he’d wondered about it himself. Link frowned for a moment, knowing his cooking fire wasn’t as oppressive as the lava channel had been. Eventually he shrugged, because it was to their advantage so he wasn’t going to complain. “Maybe there really is Gerudo blood in my family.” It was the only thing he could think of beyond being a freak of nature.

[MythicalYoko]

Source: kitsunebaba

x x x x x x x x x x x x x

『Our character is what we do when we think no one is looking』

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↘↘↘ ★ Zelda

After a few more seconds of resting on the cooled floor, Zelda conceded and reached for her water skin. One, two, three drinks and cap. She was going to have the worst headache later from dehydration.

She hummed and cracked an eye open. "'Really' is? Well, I'll love you no matter what you are. As princess, I decree you as forever Hylian." She lazily waved her finger at him as if it were a wand. Eyes closed, she stayed there for a moment longer and sat up, no longer as dizzy or overwhelmed by the heat. Much as she wanted to stay there for at least a few more minutes, they were working on a time game. Nothing in specific threw itself out to her. It was a small sense she had of the magical energy being mutilated somehow, all twisted up and ready to snap. She sighed. "Legends always have to start themselves at the worst moment possible," she lamented aloud.

Up on her feet, she dusted her front off and surveyed the cave. In the dead center sat the suspicious rocks, yet when Zelda tempted a few steps forward they remained still. Humming, she approached one of the crystals and tapped it with her sword. An echo-y, sweet drum noise emitted from it and bounced off the cave walls. "Oh, wow, it sounds so pretty. I'm already liking this more than the forest. Heat aside."