and now the rest of chapter 21! hope you like ^_^
A few minutes later they heard the door click and Sheik’s shadow slid back onto the floor. He opened his eyes and grinned.
“I found him and I got the doors unlocked.”
“Do you remember the way?” Gerad asked pulling on the door, it still didn’t move. Sheik pushed on it and it slowly opened.
“Yeah, I think so.” Sheik said as he led the way. Gerad rolled his eyes and swam in after him. Sheik led them through doors and corridors and down staircases.
“Why aren’t there any monsters?” Selene asked.
“Maybe that big one ate them all?” Meria suggested.
“Either way, stay alert.” Gerad said as they came to another door at the end of the tunnel they were in. Sheik turned the handle and pulled it open slightly, he peeked through the crack made by the side of the door that was connected to the frame.
“See anything?” Sasha asked.
“Looks clear.” Sheik replied opening the door more so Gerad could get through. Gerad surveyed the circular room with the sandy floor and broken columns as he waited for the others to come in after him.
“Lucius is over there.” Sheik said pointing to the middle of the room.
Gerad nodded his head; he had already seen the crystal chunk with Lucius inside of it.
“Lucius!” Sasha cried seeing him. She swam up to the crystal block and banged on the surface as she screamed his name.
“How do we get him out?” Gerad asked as he ran his hand over the surface of the crystal. The crystal began to hum and Gerad jerked his hand back.
“Well, if it’s what I think it is, we have a problem.” Sasha said calming down a little bit.
“What do you mean?” Meria asked, she, Sheik, and Selene were scouting out the rest of the room. Sasha studied Lucius’s face. He looked so peaceful.
“Well, if this is the crystal seal, one of us has to trade places with him to get him out. Once we do that he should be able to get us out assuming he can get Lara back here to seal her inside of it.” Sasha replied studying the crystal block.
“And if he fails to get her back here?” Selene asked.
“The one inside will be stuck in there till he does. You see the way it works is the person has to be willing to trade places, unless the Water Sage is involved then he can force someone to trade places.”
“And if he dies in the process?” Sheik asked from where he sat on one of the fallen columns.
Sasha turned and gave him a sad smile, “They will be stuck in there for forever.”
She chuckled, “Unless someone else changes places with them.”
“Ok, how do we decide who it’s going to be?” Meria asked.
“There’s no deciding, I’ll do it.” Gerad said looking at Lucius.
“Says who?”
“How come you get to decide?”
“I don’t think so, it should be me.”
Gerad sighed as their protests continued and escalated in volume.
“It can’t be any of you.” Sasha said calmly. Gerad looked at her as the others fell silent.
“Why not?” Meria asked.
“Because only a Zora can trade places, I don’t know why but that’s the way it works.” Sasha replied.
“How do we know you’re telling the truth?” Selene asked her.
Sasha laughed, “You don’t. But I would hope I didn’t ever give you cause to think me a liar.”
“Besides, Lucius is going to need all of your help to defeat Lara and seal her again. I can’t do much, I’m not a warrior. I’m just a sculptor after all.” Sasha said with a smile.
Gerad stared at Sasha. Selene watched her brother, “You can’t be considering this?”
Gerad looked at her, “It’s the only way it seems. And besides I don’t think she’d tell us how to do it, her mind is made up.”
Selene rolled her eyes, “Fine, Sasha, what do we do?”
“First we need to empty the water in here. So you guys can fight better, in case something attacks while I’m working.” Sasha answered.
“Ok, how do we do that?” Sheik asked.
“Well there should be a picture of the royal family of Hyrule somewhere on the bottom floor that controls the water level. See if you can find it like you did earlier.” Sasha suggested.
“Ok.” Sheik said.
“Wait, don’t you need an Ocarina? I remember our father telling us a story from his adventure about the Water Temple.” Gerad asked.
“Do you have one?” Sasha asked him.
“I do.” Selene said digging into one of her pouches. She pulled out a green Ocarina.
“Yeah, that’ll work. Sheik, find it then use your Shadow portal to get Selene there so she can play the song and then come back.” Sasha said.
Sheik nodded and gathered his energy once more. His shadow swelled up as before and they waited for him to finish. Finally his shadow sank back down.
“I found one. Selene, hold onto me tightly, and don’t be scared.” Sheik said with a smile, which was kind of frightening with his black eyes. Selene grabbed Sheik’s hand and he guided her onto his shadow. They sank through and disappeared.
Gerad leaned against one of the stones and waited. It seemed to take forever till finally they heard a noise that sounded like water draining through pipes. The water level in the room lowered to about ankle depth. Gerad was wringing out his clothes when Sheik and Selene appeared from his shadow.
“Welcome back.” Gerad said brushing his wet hair out of his face.
“Thanks.” Selene said wringing out her hair.
They turned to Sasha and Gerad asked her, “Now what?”
Sasha smiled, “Move to the entrance, so you don’t get hurt.”
They followed her instructions and moved to stand by the door. Sasha put her hands on the crystal palms flat. The crystal began to hum and then started to glow. The volume of the hum increased as the light intensified. The rest of them hid their eyes from the light unable to look at it directly. The hum grew so load it started to hurt, just when it almost became unbearable it stopped and the light disappeared.
Gerad looked up to see the crystal still there but Sasha was inside and Lucius was lying on the sandy floor. Gerad ran to Lucius’s side and checked his pulse.
His eyes fluttered open, “Sasha?”
“Um, she’s ok. I think.” Gerad answered him helping him sit up.
Lucius sighed, “She’ll be alright, assuming I don’t fail.”
Gerad helped Lucius stand up as the others came over from the entrance. Lucius put his hand on the crystal and whispered, “I promise I’ll get you out soon.”
Lucius smiled a half smile at them as they came up.
“How are you?” Selene asked.
“I’m fine.” Lucius answered her standing on his own.
“Good.” Selene said then punched him across the face.
“That was for going off on your own you idiot.” Selene said pointing her finger accusingly at him as he rubbed his jaw.
Lucius chuckled, “Sorry.” The others chuckled as Selene rolled her eyes.
“We should get back to Zora’s Domain; we have to save Sasha now.” Meria said.
“I don’t think so.” A voice echoed around the room as the door slammed and locked shut.
Lara materialized on one of the fallen columns and glared at them.
“Great.” Lucius whispered.
“Lara! What are you doing here? And when did you shrink?” Sheik asked.
“That’s Zara.” Lucius corrected him.
Sheik looked at him confused, “You mean there’s two of them?”
“Well, sort of. Lara is part of Zara, who was sealed away a long time ago by a Water Sage.” Lucius answered.
“Is she dangerous?” Meria asked.
Zara stretched out her hands and about twenty spears materialized around her, “You won’t take him from me again!” She pushed her hands in front of herself and the spears came at them.
Sheik and Meria dodged to the right behind a standing column while Gerad, Selene, and Lucius ducked behind a fallen one to the left as the spears rapidly approached. Ducked down behind the column they heard thunks from the other side. Gerad peeked over the top of the column and saw the spears imbedded half way up their shafts.
“Does that answer your question?” Lucius asked.
cya'll next week!
