//------------------------------// // [12] The Fire Temple, Part 2 // Story: Hero Of Harmony // by MattTOB //------------------------------// The door slid open, allowing Spike and the fairies passage into the next chamber. It was a small room, about the same size as the others. On the far right side was an outcropping of wall that separated a deep chasm from the rest of the room. A handle-like switch was attached to the wall over the pit, making it unreachable by conventional means. On the left side of the room were some statues surrounding a chest, and there was another door on the left-hand wall. Thankfully, there were no enemies to be found. Spike observed everything in the room, then approached the statues. One of the statues seemed slightly sunken into the floor, which Spike took note of. However, he couldn't do anything in the room at the moment, so he quickly moved on to the next room. When he entered, he almost immediately had to stop in order to avoid falling into another pit. There was only a thin walkway rimming three out of four of the walls, with a small platform next to an ornate door on the fourth. There were two statues on either side of the pit, another door was on the wall farthest from Spike, and the window from the entrance hall on the last wall. This room was also much hotter than the rest of them. "Geez, what's this place's obsession with pits?" Spike asked himself, to the amusement of Hamzah and Nuha. Slowly, Spike made his way around the perimeter of the room. More than once, he had to stop when a small piece of floor gave out near him, falling into the seemingly endless chasm. But he did eventually make it to the next room. It was an upside-down L shape, with one half of the room sectioned off by another pit. On their side of the room, three boulders and two statues dotted the ground, and a sign hung on the wall; on the other side were two statues, a descending staircase, and a door into the unused space of the L. Spike approached the sign, but quickly realized he couldn't read it. "Uh, mind translating that for me?" he asked sheepishly. Nuha nodded, then began to read: The lone statue Opposite two With a fiery embrace Shows the way through Spike pondered that for a moment. "Lone statue, opposite two..." Suddenly, something stirred in his memory. "Wait a second, I think I remember something..." They began to retrace their steps, stopping in the second of the mirrored rooms. Just as he'd remembered, there was one Goron statue on this side of the room, and two on the other side. "Alright, one lone statue opposite two! Nice!" Spike pumped his fist in celebration. "You're not done yet," Hamzah pointed out. Spike nodded. " 'With a fiery embrace'..." Spike rubbed his hands together in preparation, then blew a stream of fire at the statue. Nothing happened. Spike blinked. "Maybe I didn't hit it right..." For the next fifteen minutes, Spike tried everything he could think of. He blew fire on the statue's head, on its torso, on the base, lengthwise, widthwise, and even up its nostrils. Nothing happened. Then he tried pushing the statue, and it moved no further than one tile to the west. Nothing else happened. "Well, that was a bust," Spike mused. Nuha was waiting patiently on the sideline; Hamzah, on the other hand, was seemingly banging his head on the wall in frustration. Spike noticed this, and asked, "What's up, Hamzah?" The fairy in question pointedly turned around. "Would you like a hint?" he asked, his exasperation apparent in his voice. "Sure?" Spike replied reluctantly. "Do you remember what you pointed out about that first room after the entrance hall? The one where you found the Boss Key?" The dragon thought for a moment. "That it was the only room with lava instead of a pit—" Then it hit him. "Wait a second... Is THAT what it meant by 'fiery'!?" "What'd you think it meant?!" Hamzah cried out. "I thought it meant literal fire, not just 'hot'!" If Hamzah had hands, he would've screamed into them. When they returned to the room, Spike made a beeline for the statue. Placing his hands on the base of the statue, he gave it a hearty shove. With a scrape and a small congratulatory jingle (Spike was too exasperated to question it), the statue moved to reveal a staircase leading downward. "Alright, let's just get this over with, okay?" Spike grumbled. Hamzah snarked, "We'd be done already if you were just a bit more clever." "Stop it, you two," Nuha admonished. "We're past it; there's no reason to still be bitter." Both of them deflated a bit. "Sorry," Hamzah muttered. Spike shook his head, "Me too." With that, the three of them made their way down the staircase and into a narrow hallway. The hallway was askew compared to the rest of the temple, slanting towards the northwest, but otherwise, it still followed a grid pattern like the rest of the rooms. This hallway, Spike realized, must be why there was lava in that room; because there wouldn't be space for a pit. Spike made his way down the hall, eventually reaching a staircase that led upwards. When he ascended it, he found that it was the staircase on the other side of the L-shaped room. Remembering the doorway into the unused space of the L, he quickly entered to find medium-sized chest surrounded by two statues, and two unlit torches across from them. Lighting one so he could see, he slowly approached the chest. "♪Da-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na..." Nuha imitated a suspenseful fanfare, but stopped when Spike looked questioningly back at her. The young dragon turned his attention back to the chest, opening the lid to find... "♪Dah-na-na-nah!♪ You found the Hookshot!" Nuha exclaimed as Spike held the new item up. "This amazing device allows you to tether to distant objects, acting as either a grappling hook or a means of remote interaction!" Spike took in the details of the device. On one end, there was a spring-loaded arrowhead attached to a chain, which wrapped through a mechanism and around the body of the device; on the other end was a handle with a comfortable yet grippable leather wrapping, as well as a trigger to activate the mechanisms; and on the barrel, there was a secondary grip area with two buttons that Spike assumed were controls for the mechanisms inside. Deciding to test it, Spike aimed at one of the unlit torch stands and pulled the trigger. The hook shot out at such a speed that Spike flinched at the recoil, embedding itself into the torch with a satisfying crunch. After a moment, Spike pressed one of the buttons on the barrel. When nothing else happened, Spike decided to try the other button, and found that it detatched the hook from whatever it was embedded on. He relaunched it, then decided to release the trigger, and immediately found himself being carried along by the rapidly retracting chain. He quickly re-pressed the trigger, and the chain stopped retracting. After a moment to brace himself, he let it go again, and found himself once again being pulled forward. In just a moment, he'd reached the torch he'd latched onto, and the second button detatched the hook. "Cool..." was all that Spike could say. The next few minutes were spent getting accustomed to the device. It had one heck of a kickback, but it wasn't anything Spike couldn't get used to. He also found out that the first button, when held in tandem with the trigger, allowed the chain to be freely brought in and out (like a measuring tape). It had a maximum range of about 20 feet, and could latch onto most objects (such as the torch stands and the base of the statues), but not the walls of the dungeon. With that last revelation, Spike suddenly realized why there were so many statues: to give the Hookshot things to latch onto. As he left the small room that contained the item, he saw the two statues across the pit from him, and had an idea. Spike moved to the edge of the pit, aimed the device, and fired it at the statue. The Hookshot recalling its chain gave him enough momentum to clear the gap easily. Spike chuckled giddily. So Spike went back through the dungeon, clearing everything he hadn't been able to before he got the Hookshot. In the northeast room, he used the hookshot to grab onto the switch over the pit. When he tried to reel it in, the switch pulled out, activating a mechanism which moved the slightly sunken statue fully into the ground. A small jingle played. "Where does that jingle even come from?" Spike asked. Hamzah shrugged as best he could (having no arms and all). "Nobody really knows." Spike frowned, but nodded in understanding anyway. He moved to the now accessible chest and opened it, finding a purple Rupee. Spike caught both fairies staring nervously at him. "What? I'm not gona eat this one!" In the Southeast room, Spike used the Hookshot to grapple across the pit, landing next to the chest. Inside was a yellow Rupee. Nuha quickly flew over at the sight, but upon closer inspection, she sighed. "Darn, I thought it was a gold Rupee." "How much are they worth?" Spike asked. "300 regular Rupees." Spike nearly dropped the Rupee in shock. "Holy guacamole, that's a lot!" "I know, right?" Hamzah flew over as well. "Though that yellow Rupee might be worth something, too; you don't really see those as much anymore." Spike pocketed the gem, then used the Hookshot to return to the other side of the pit. He reentered the entrance hall, bringing out the map and looking over it again. "That can't be right..." Spike muttered after a moment. Nuha moved beside him. "What can't be right?" "The map says there's 8 chests in the Temple, but we've only found six," Spike counted in his head. "We've been in all the rooms, so where could the last two be?" Hamzah pointed out, "Well, there's almost always a chest after the Boss Room." Spike shook his head, "But then there's still one besides that." Nuha looked over the map closely. "I don't know what to say; it must be hidden pretty well." "Maybe there's something you need to do in a certain room?" Hamzah suggested. Spike thought back for a moment. "You said this map had a compass built in, right? What does that mean?" "If you have it out when you enter a room, and there's a chest in the room, it'll make a noise." The fairy noticed the dumbfounded look on Spike's face, and added, "It just does that, okay?" Spike nodded, then started walking. After several minutes of entering into rooms while holding out the map, they finally reentered the room where Spike obtained the hookshot. The moment Spike stepped foot in it, the map made a little 'ping' sound. He sighed in relief, then started looking around the small room. He checked each wall for anything unusual, tried to push everything, and even stepped on every tile. Thankfully, the last one bore some fruit; the tile in between the two torches sounded hollow, as if something were underneath it. He bent down and tried to pry it up, but he couldn't get his fingers around it. But while he was down near the floor, he noticed something odd about the torches: the unlit one had twine leading from its head and into the floor. He looked under the lit torch, and saw a hole that a twine could go through, along with a small amount of ash around it. He stood up, breathed in, and lit the second torch; when it caught fire, the twine also lit, acting as a fuse. The fire disappeared into the hole, and a moment later, the hollow tile popped loose. "Aha!" Spike exclaimed. "Woah, way to go!" Nuha cheered. "I have to admit, I wouldn't have thought to check the tiles," Hamzah gave him props. Spike blushed as he leaned down to move the tile. "Aw, it was nothing; I just looked for the small detail. I do that all the time when I'm helping clean for Twilight." Pushing the tile away, Spike found a small chest in the hole. He opened it, and gasped. "A Gold Rupee!" The fairies rushed over to see. He was right; a golden Rupee sat waiting in the chest. He took it carefully in the palm of his hand, and held it up, mesmerized by how it glittered in the torches' light. A feeling of giddiness welled up inside of Spike, as if the Rupee's radiant golden shine was illuminating his soul. Spike placed it into the pocket on his belt, patting it for good measure before closing it. He then turned to Hamzah. "Well, all that's left now is the boss, right?" The fairy in question shook himself out of his daze. "R-right, yeah." Spike responded by taking out his Hookshot. "Then I guess it's time for a boss fight." Spike now stood just outside the Boss Door, the Boss Key in his hand and his shield at the ready. "Alright, what should I expect from this?" Hamzah shrugged. "You got the Hookshot here, so I'd guess that there's something to do with it." "Right," Spike agreed. Playing enough Ogres and Oubliettes had taught him that, if a dungeon gave you an item, it was going to test you with it. "Other than that? I'm not certain," Nuha added, then panted under the heat. Spike nodded, taking a moment to reflect on everything that led him here. His fist gripped the key tighter as he thought about what he was fighting for. For the Gorons. For Princess Zelda. For the Deku Sprout. For Twilight. He placed the key into the lock and turned it, then opened the door.