//------------------------------//
// Chapter XIV 
// Story: The Legend of Zelda: Friendship is Magic 
// by Multi Personas 
//------------------------------//


Chapter XIV


I dashed down the mossy cobblestone stairs, careful not to trip. At the end of the stairs was an old wooden door, which I struck open with both forehooves
Crash! The door slammed open and hit the wall it was attached to. I landed and unsheathed my blade, ready to strike at anything that moved. However, I saw no threats in the small room. The walls were cobblestone, and wall-mounted torches lit the small room. The floor was just a plain old dirt floor, with a small, mysterious plant growing in the corner. On the other side of the room stood a simple wooden door, I slowly walked over to it, watching for anything to jump out of the shadows. When nothing happened I steeled myself and slowly nudged it open.
I was greeted with the sight of an old rusted metal fence stretching floor to ceiling and blocking off what looked like a large portion of the room, leaving me just enough space to have a small walkway extending to my left and right. It was dimly lit so I couldn't see what was behind the metal bars, I only heard the steady breathing of something in the dark, which made me grip my knife tighter between my teeth.
After looking both ways and seeing nothing due to the poor lighting, I turned left and started to walk, stepping lightly as to not alert anything as I walked. After walking a few yards I saw a wooden door at the end of the walkway, I tried to open the door only to find it locked. I followed a path to my right only to find a dead end.
I swore to myself as I turned around. ‘Goddesses this is creepy’, I thought to myself. I found myself wondering how Link did this constantly. It was very unnerving walking next to an old, rusted metal fence with some unknown enemy breathing (very audibly might I add) on the other side, perhaps it was watching me. I took a deep breath and trudged on, Back past the locked door and the door I came in.
As I walked, I found myself wondering who had made this place. As I was thinking I almost ran into a wall, but a few Keese flew over my head bringing me back to reality. I quickly killed them and they exploded into black smoke that quickly faded away. I looked around to get my bearings and found at the end of the hallway what looked like a raised section of stone on the floor.
I slowly walked up to it, trying to look at it in the low light. It looked like it could be pressed down so I tried pressing it with my hoof. When nothing happened I put both hooves on it and pressed down with the entire weight of my upper body. The switch jolted once then sunk all the way with a Thunk! Then screeching of metal on metal echoed through the room.
Whoosh! A bright fire lit up the middle of the room, revealing three big black wolves, bigger than the ones I had encountered before. All at once they pounced at the metal fence, shaking it and causing small pebbles of stone to fall and shower me, gnashing their maws at me. With lightning quick reflexes I jumped back and slammed my back against the wall, clenching my knife tightly between my teeth.
I dashed back down the walkway, trying to get away from the wolves. They followed along the other side of the fence, they had stopped trying to get past it. They just stalked me from the other side, growling. I ran past the door that I came in through and back to the locked door, trying it again, this time throwing myself at it, but all my efforts were in vain. I whipped myself around and spotted a chest down the hallway that was once empty. I ran towards it, shying away from the metal fence as I did. I got to the chest and I quickly opened it up. I sheathed my knife and picked up the small metal key that laid on the bottom.
Quickly thinking that the key must have belonged to the door behind me, I dashed back to the door and quickly shoved the key into the lock and twisted. There was a loud clink and the door swung open. I yanked the key out and slammed the door closed. I sunk to the ground and leaned back onto the door, breathing heavily. I heard footsteps up ahead and snapped my head up. I couldn't see the source, because the room made a sharp turn to the right and that's where the sound was I quickly tucked the key I had in my mouth into my little pocket, right next to the paper Twilight gave me, and pulled out my knife, standing up as I did.
Whatever was behind the corner slowly crept out. As I saw it was just another wolf, I relaxed and let out a smile; a foe I’ve faced before. It growled at me and I returned the growl. It gave a bark and rushed me; I readied myself for its attack. It pounced and I tried to jump to the side, but the hallway wasn't that big and I hit the wall. It took this opportunity to spin around and hit me with its front paws, causing me to stumble forwards.
I quickly got back to my hooves and faced the wolf. I charged again, but this time I ran to meet it head on. When it got close it jumped again but this time I ducked low and thrust my knife upwards, catching its stomach. It gave a sharp yelp when it landed and it turned around, but I was already rushing towards it again. I swung my knife at its head but it managed to duck in time and I caught the tip of its tail instead. By the time I turned around again, it was already jumping towards me.
It knocked me down and stood over me. It reeled back and bared its teeth before trying to take a bite out of my head. I rolled my head to the left and thrust my knife into its head, hitting its temple. It went rigid before collapsing on top of me. I let out an “Oof!” and tried to lift it off of me. It was much heavier than it looked but I managed. I plucked my knife out of its head and a pool of blood started to form around its head. A little blood got on the handle and it tasted very coppery and gross. I spit out my knife and used the paper Twilight gave me to clean it off a little. I didn't get much off the actual blade but I got most of it off the handle, which I really cared about. I threw the paper on the ground when I was done.
I picked my knife back up and it tasted much better. I slowly started to walk down the hallway and around the corner. I didn't see any more wolves but I did see another door so I tried the knob. It turned with ease and I slowly opened the door. The room was cloaked in darkness, a little light shined into the room when I opened the door but it only showed another door on the far side of a somewhat large room.
I slowly crept into the room, but after a few steps the door behind me slammed shut with a bang and with a whoosh torches lining the walls ignited, lighting the room. Three wolves slowly rose from what looked like a peaceful nap and looked for what woke them. I gulped hard when their eyes landed on me.
I took a step back when one of them took a few shaky steps towards me. One of the wolves that stayed behind let out a loud yawn which set off a chain reaction, making the wolf next to it yawn, then the wolf that was a few steps away also yawned.The wolf closest to me blinked half-lidded eyes at me before sitting down and then fully laying down. The wolves behind it copied their comrade and soon the whole room was filled with the sound of snoring.
I let out a shaky breath that I didn't know I was holding, and as quickly and quietly I moved to the door on the other side of the room and tried the door, cringing as the handle wouldn't turn. I slowly turned back around and I saw, right in the middle of the room was a wooden chest.
‘Goddesses give me strength.’ I thought as I sheathed my knife and slowly crept to the center of the room. I kept an eye on the wolves but unfortunately one was right in the middle of my path. I slowly walked around him, but as I was sneaking around its head I kicked a rock that skidded across the room. The wolf yawned loudly and my breath caught in my throat. Only when it rolled over and continued snoring did I breathe again.
I quickly covered the rest of the distance to the chest and nudged it open, scooping up the key inside. With the key in my mouth I retraced my steps and quickly returned to the locked door. I inserted the key into the lock and slowly turned until I heard the clunk of the lock unlocking. I put the key next to the one that I already had in my pocket and the door opened with a creak. I quickly dashed into the empty hallway and closed the door behind me. Letting out a breath I turned around faced the short empty hallway and slowly walked down it, my knife back in my mouth.
There was little of interest except a door at the very end. I tried the handle and it turned with ease. I opened it carefully but didn’t see any monsters on the other side, only a small room that opened up to another room. I walked to the bigger room which was well lit and I saw a rather large white wolf sitting in the middle of the room. It didn't charge or anything, it just looked at me. There was a golden metal device on its left paw that crawled up to its joint.
Shink!
I quickly turned behind me and I saw long spikes had shot up, blocking the small room that I came from. I turned around to face this alabaster foe and I took a fighting stance. It didn't do anything but blink, so I charged it. It still didn't move until I was close enough to attack with my knife. But with lightning fast reflexes it shot out its metal leg and caught me from underneath. I suddenly felt the most terrible pain shoot through my body as I flew through the air. It only stopped when I hit the wall and fell to the ground.
My eyes couldn't focus until I shook my head. I saw the wolf slowly walk towards me, a sort of cockiness in its eyes. I let out a growl and grabbed my knife from the ground beside me and stood back up to face it. I charged at it again, and again, when I got close it swung its paw at me but I jumped to the side to dodge and quickly raced forward to slash at its exposed back. It let out a loud yelp before jumping an impressive distance away. It lowered its head and growled loudly before charging at me with speed that was much faster than the other wolves. I just barely jumped out of the way in time and instead of hitting me it rammed into the wall, stunning itself.
I took this chance to attack it again, I jumped and ran around it; just as it was starting to stand back up I reached the paw that had the metal device on it and I charged towards it. At the last moment I turned around and bucked it as hard as I could. I got shocked again but not as badly as before. I turned around just in time to see the device, and paw, connect with its other paw, shocking it, and making it yelp in pain. As it fell to the floor again, I gripped my knife even harder and aimed for its neck.
It was still stunned when I plunged my knife deep into its neck. It let out a single yelp before falling limp. I yanked my knife from its neck before falling back, panting. I watched as dark wisps of smoke took over the body, dragging it underground. I started to walk away but I heard something tink against the ground behind me. I turned around and saw the metal device that the wolf was wearing. It had grown large enough to fit a pony’s hoof. I walked up to it to inspect it and it looked like it would fit my hoof quite comfortably.
“What the hell?” I asked myself, something I heard Link say before he did something potentially dangerous. I shoved my hoof inside and I felt it tighten, then there was a sort of electricity in the air. I swung it around to test its weight. My hoof didn't feel much heavier and as I swung I saw a sort of static in the air. With a smile I put my hoof back down.
I looked for a way out of the room and found a set of stairs that lead downwards. It looked well illuminated, so I took a deep breath and headed down.