//------------------------------//
// Chapter 22: Challenge of the Stalfos 
// Story: The Legend of Sunset Shimmer: Ocarina of Time 
// by Ganondorf8 
//------------------------------//

The Legend of Sunset Shimmer: Ocarina of Time.
By Ganondorf8
December 23, 2014
Chapter 22: Challenge of the Stalfos.

" Are those what I think they are?" I asked.
" The result of what happens to non-Kokiri who enter the Lost Woods? These are Stalfos, powerful skeletal warriors who are difficult to defeat as they defend themselves really well, and are only vulnerable when they drop their guard. You'd best use your shield to protect yourself as they can inflict quite a lot of damage on you," replied Spike.
" I just can't believe that those two creatures used to be living people who wandered into the forest," I said.
" Most people who enter the forest do so because of having the inkling to explore the Forest Temple in the hopes of walking away with some kind of riches in their pockets. No one ever seems to take notice of the curse until it starts to happen, and by then it's too late to reverse it. Not even the most powerful of potions can reverse such an effect! 
Don't feel sorry for these two Stalfos as who they once were have long since passed on. They are merely undead monsters whose sole purchase is to see you dead, and protect whatever it is they're guarding from those who would claim it for their own," said Spike.
" You're right in that I have to think of them as monsters, and put them out of their misery so that their former selves can finally rest in peace. Surely a little bit of magic on them right now will do the job as it's always worked before," I said. I don't know what was going through my mind when I made that statement, but I knew right there that I just said that this was going to easy, and bragged about my magic being so good. 
Why did I have to do something so stupid when obviously I knew better, for they protected themselves using their shields, and rendering my attack completely useless and embarrassing. " Guess I deserve that for bragging about something like I have an ego."
" You might want to pay attention!" shouted Spike, but sadly I didn't as the two Stalfos jumped into the air and slashed me with their swords, and sent me crashing into the iron barred door which really hurt my back. Of course, my chest wasn't feeling too good either as it felt like I was hit by a dozen swords instead of just two. 
Just as I was about to get back onto my feet, they jump attacked me again, but I managed to roll to one side and avoid the blows. Then one Stalfos jumped back while the other swung its sword in a rather crooked pattern which was easy for me to avoid, yet I rolled into the legs of the other who looked down on me with piercing red eyes, and a horrible skeletal smile while continuing to laugh.
" What do I do?" I asked.
" Do something otherwise you'll be at their mercy," replied Spike.
" And like I'm not already?" I said sarcastically, but I should have taken his advice as the Stalfos swung its sword which struck me once and then again as it was a two swing attack, and for an added insult it swung a third time which connected. I had to get my distance and use some magic, but as long as they continue to hover over me like they're doing, I have no chance of making any kind of counterattack. 
The first Stalfos then decided to move in and join in the fun which made my problem even worse, so I conjured up a wall of rock via earth magic as the temple's ground was made of the material, but it just blocked it with its shield and shattered it with its sword. That was when the second jump attacked, and I went flying across the room which is what I wanted, but not like that.
" Maybe you should play the Minuet of Forest and get out of here in order to regroup," suggested Spike.
" Now why would I want to go and do that?" I asked.
" Because those Stalfos are mopping the floor with you, and have been blocking all of your attempts thus far. Plus, you're bleeding in several places which surely must be poor for your body and health," replied Spike.
" Granted, they have been controlling this fight since the moment it started, but I need to get through this if I want to save Fluttershy. Running away and coming up with another strategy is a good approach, and I would gladly consider it in any other situation, but not this time as my friend needs my help and I'm the only one who can save her. I'll figure out a way to get around their defences....gasp....why didn't I see it before back when they were swinging at me like I was some kind of target?" I asked.
" What are you talking about?" asked Spike.
" You said to attack them when they drop their guard, and the only time they ever do that is when they swing their swords, or do that jump attack as they need to hold back their shields which otherwise would get in the way. Maybe those Deku Nuts I've been carrying around will finally start to get some use," I replied. The two Stalfos moved in once again with the first one performing a jump attack, and that was my signal to throw a Deku Nut which stunned it dead in its tracks. 
I had no idea how long it was going to last, so I used the wall of rock magic technique again which shattered the undead creature to pieces. The second one jumped back and paced about before moving forward, and followed up with a swing of its sword which I responded with another Deku Nut and the wall of rock. With the second Stalfos defeated, the bars covering the entrance disappeared, and a small chest materialized in the middle of the room. " Whew! That was a lot harder than I thought it would be, but I managed to get through with just a few scrapes here and there."
" Just a few scrapes? You have a lot of wounds which are bleeding right now, so you need to find a way to fix those otherwise you could lose too much blood, and that will make you easy pickings for the other monsters lurking around in the temple," said Spike.
" Yeah....I guess I do have a lot of wounds which need to be healed. Do you happen to have a means of healing my wounds, or at least know of a place where I can be restored?" I asked.
" While it's known throughout Hyrule that regular Fairy Fountains exist along with the Great Fairy's Fountains where the fairies there can recover anyone who happens to be injured or fatigued, I'm not one of those fairies which means you're out of luck. There is a Fairy Fountain that is located outside of the temple, but it's in the middle of the maze where the Moblins are, and I don't think you can make it there in your current condition," replied Spike.
" So what do you suggest?" I asked.
" How about that bottle of Lon Lon Milk which you're still carrying around? That should be able to fix you up," replied Spike.
" I'm not doubting the power of milk Spike as I know that it can help strengthen one's bones if consumed from an early age, but are you telling me that in this world, milk can restore one's health and fix their wounds? Also, I've been carrying it for seven years now, so wouldn't you think that it may have gone bad by now? I have no problem drinking it, but you do have to take those things into consideration," I said.
" Milk can restore up to five hearts of health and heal some wounds with two servings, but it may not be enough to fix any of those deeper wounds which can be addressed by a fairy, or a magic potion designed for healing. I'd say your injuries are nothing too serious otherwise you'd be on the floor screaming in agony right now, so drinking that milk is going to be just what you need," said Spike.
" Guess there is no choice but to try, so I hope this works," I said. I took out the bottle, and uncorked it before taking a sniff to make sure that it didn't smell rancid or anything. It smelt like regular milk, but I had to drink it if I was to recover before continuing my exploration of the Forest Temple. Upon drinking the first serving, my health began to feel restored almost instantly, and some of my wounds began to heal, yet I had to drink the other serving in order to fully recover and have my wounds healed for the most part. " Even after seven years, this milk really does the trick, but I need something to replace it as I'm going to need it."
" I suspect that there are additional Stalfos somewhere in the temple, so having a means of recovering your health would be a good idea to consider. Why not break some of those clay pots that are lining around the room? Sometimes you can find some useful items hiding inside of them, and of course there is that treasure chest which you should open and find out what's in it," said Spike. 
The chest was the more important item on my mind, so I kicked it open and took out another small key which gave me two to use. Then I walked over to the pots, and smashed all of them by picking them up and giving them a toss. Inside most was nothing but one of them contained some Deku Nuts, and another contained a fairy which just hovered around.
" Is that fairy one of the ones that can restore health?" I asked.
" Their pink hue always gives them away, and you can do one of two things in order to recover health. You can let it touch you and restore you, but it will immediately disappear after one use, or you can catch it in a bottle and use it whenever you need to. Bottled fairies will also restore you if you suddenly found yourself being killed by bringing you back to life again," replied Spike. Using some quick thinking, I scooped up the fairy into the now empty bottle and placed the cork back on to ensure that it wouldn't escape, and the fairy simply hovered in place without realizing what just happened. With it and the key in hand, I made my way back to the central chamber which still looked morbid due to the missing flames which was still my priority.
" What's that blue block over there?" I asked as I noticed it in the northwest corner of the room.
" It looks like the same block that we saw back under the graveyard which had the same design as what was on the Door of Time. I wonder why something like that would be in a place like this?" asked Spike.
" Probably another means of preventing anyone from exploring the temple any further. I'll just do what I did underground and remove the block and see what lies beyond it as I think I can see a door peaking out from behind this thing," I replied. By playing the Song of Time, the blue block disappeared and I entered the next room via the now accessible door. " How about that? We're outside the temple in what appears to be some kind of garden although the night sky above does make everything creepy. 
This temple feels more like some kind of ancient mansion or castle based on what we've seen of the environment." That being said, I had to clear out the monsters which took no trouble at all as I needed to think about my next move, and it wouldn't have been easy if there were monsters trying to bite me.
" Hey! Take a look at this!" exclaimed Spike as he flew over to what appeared to be a well.
" What is it?" I asked.
" Even though this looks to be a well filled to the brim with water, I can see a treasure chest at the very bottom, and what appears to be some kind of passageway. I don't think you can dive all the way down there let alone open a chest underwater without some means of being able to walk on the bottom, so I think we need to remember this location for later, and maybe find a switch that can drain the water," replied Spike.
" I could just use some water magic," I suggested.
" I'm not sure if you're ready to manipulate that much water as you yourself did say that you were strained when you used it before against that Moblin. No, I think we'll need to do this the proper way by finding the switch which should be nearby," said Spike.
" This is where a map of the temple would really come in handy right about now as we haven't even been here for an hour, and we're already feeling lost and confused which was never the case with the previous dungeons. Heh....that's the first time I've ever considered these places we've visited as being dungeons. 
Maybe some aspects of this world are starting to rub off on me which may not be a bad thin. We need to find another means of an exit besides going back the way we came, and I think I see it over there. Those vines on that wall in the far corner of the garden go all the way up to a ledge, and I can just barely make out some kind of door up there, so we'll search there next," I said.
" Kind of an obvious clue wouldn't you say?" asked Spike as I walked over to the vine covered wall.
" Maybe that was the point, to give us an incentive to keep going, and meeting our end at the hands of a trap. Sometimes even the most simple of clues can lead to danger because the mind assumes that it's going to be an easy thing," I replied. Climbing up the vines was easy enough, and upon reaching the door and opening it, I came face-to-face with a Blue Bubble whose flames I extinguished with a simple deflection of my shield. Defeating it produced a big chest which I opened and pulled out another piece of paper which I am now designating as the Dungeon Map. " Finally! We have a map of the temple so now we can figure out exactly where we are, and where we need to go from here."
" It looks like the majority of the Forest Temple is situated on these two floors here, yet the two basements each consist of one room each. That's a bit of a letdown as I was expecting all of the floors to feature numerous rooms for us to explore," said Spike.
" That just means less of a hassle for us when we get down to the lower levels. According to the map, this temple is quite symmetrical in that where we are is the middle of what divides the place into two halves, with both sides sharing the same general layout. 	I'm not sure why it's shaped like this, but it should be easy enough to not get lost now that we have a reference. I do wish that we had some way of marking things on the map so as to let us know where we are," I said.
" You need a Compass for that," said Spike.
" Why would I need a compass in order to search for important locations in a dungeon? Compasses are only used to locate true north," I said.
" In Hyrule, a compass found in a dungeon follows a unique function which I'm amazed we haven't brought up before. Then again, we've never found any in the previous dungeons we've explored unless we missed them. I'll tell you more about the compass if we manage to find one as you need to have it in your possession in order to understand how it works," said Spike.
" Okay although I would prefer to hear an explanation now instead of later," I said. The door on the other side of this small room lead to the opposite garden of the temple with the night sky still being present above it all, yet this side seemed to be lacking in monsters at first until I looked down and saw the obvious Big Deku Babas and Octoroks waiting. I looked to the left and noticed a red coloured switch on a small ledge which featured some kind of weird target with a cute smile imprinted on the bottom half of it. " That must be the switch that drains the water from the well, but why is it coloured red?"
" You don't really see red-coloured switches all that much, but I hear that they are a mixture of the regular and blue switches in that red ones when activated remain that way until you leave the temple where the effect resets. I suppose you could try to leap across to that switch, or you can use that Hookshot plate and make your way over there the safest. They serve as targets to latch the device onto in order to drag you over to where you need to go. Any part of the plate will work when it comes to where you can latch onto it, and not just that smiling portion which seems like the most obvious spot," said Spike.
" Being smug as usual I see?" I asked.
" It's my job as your fairy partner to help you out," replied Spike.
" And I wouldn't want it any other way otherwise I'd have been stuck way back at the beginning of the journey. Once I activate the switch and drain the water from the well, I'll have to jump down to the ground. This time there is no other means of getting down safely, so I have to go for it at the cost of a slight buckling of the knees," I said. Taking out the Hookshot and firing it at the plate, I launched over the gap and landed on the ledge where I proceeded to activate the switch causing the water to drain. 
It actually made me wonder just where all that water ended up going as well as how it even got there to begin with. In any case, I leapt from the ledge and landed on the ground below where my knees buckled due to the impact, but I quickly shrugged it off and began to head over to the well reflecting the Octoroks' rocks back at it, and using my fire magic to burn the Big Deku Babas before they could make a meal out of me. " How do you suppose we get down there to the bottom?"
" There's a ladder propped up next to the well's edge, so you can climb down it without having to jump down and getting hurt again. Whatever is in that treasure chest down there must be very important to have placed it underwater," replied Spike. Knowing that jumping down would be faster but more likely to cause me to get injured, I decided to climb down the ladder in order to play it safe. The basement was just one long corridor that resembled what an underground sewer system was, and for some reason there was fog in the distance which gave the room an eerie look to it.
" If I'm reading this map correctly, the end of this passageway will lead us to a wall which upon climbing up will lead us back to the first garden, and not have to worry about coming through this way again," I said. Once I walked the entirety of the corridor and kicked open the small chest, its contents were another small key which gave me three of them. " That's the third small key we've found, and so far we haven't encountered any locked doors. I suppose this does mean we don't have to do any kind of backtracking."
" And we can unlock three different locked doors before we end up getting stumped by a fourth one," added Spike.
" This vine-covered wall will allow me to climb out of here and back into the garden, and from there we'll head back into the main room," I said. Again, climbing up these vine-covered walls was pretty easy as I had plenty of practice, and all of that running around has really done wonders for my health, but the moment I climbed out of the well, I had to take out my shield and defend myself as a Big Deku Baba had lunged out at me and its huge mouth was just a couple of inches away from my head. Not the most pleasant experience seeing the inside of a giant plant's mouth, but I responded with my usual magical prowess, and destroyed it before picking up some Deku Nuts and heading back into the central chamber.
" The monsters are re-spawning in here as well," commented Spike.
" Duly noted especially since I was about to lose my head, again just like all those other times," I moaned.
" There's a door up there on that high ledge, but we can't reach it from where we are, and there is also a door over there which has iron bars covering it so we can't go that way either, so that leaves us with the door to our right which has a lock on it," said Spike. I walked over to where the locked door was, and the fact that the lock took up half of the door's space with the chains covering up more of it looked really ridiculous and not very realistic. " All you have to do is take one of the small keys, and insert it into the lock to remove it."
" Should be simple enough," I said as I took a key and inserted it. The lock disappeared and I entered the next room which was really small and cramped with candles lining the walls as a means of a decoration. There was also one of those Skulltulas in here, but I quickly got rid of it with the Hookshot before entering the next room. This next room was quite expansive with various ledges jutting out in all directions with one high ledge to the right having a door at the end of it. I could also hear the sounds of something moving about, but I had no idea what it was and where it was. " What's making those strange sounds?"
" Those are the sounds of Blue Bubbles, but I don't know exactly where they are in this room. What I can tell you though is that there are most likely two of them as they don't really travel about in large groups," replied Spike. With that information in mind, I climbed up a ladder and began to make my way around some unusual corridors before getting stuck in front of a very large green block. There was no way around as it was filling up the entire passageway, so would that mean I had to go back and find another way around? " If you're thinking that you can't push this block Sunset Shimmer, then you're not giving yourself enough credit."
" You expect me to move that?" I asked.
" It may be a big block, but you'd be surprised as to how light it really is," replied Spike.
" So I can push this along with no problems?" I asked.
" Only way for you to know is to find out for yourself," replied Spike. Placing my hands firmly against the block, I began to push it and expecting to look foolish doing so, but surprisingly it began to move in the direction I was pushing it, and it eventually dropped into a small groove. " See? I told you the block was light enough for you to push. Also, since you pushed it into that groove, it now enables us to continue onwards, so let's see where this pathway goes." Climbing onto the block and moving onto the next passageway beyond it, I came across another block although this one was red.
" I think we need to pull this one along as far as I can, and then somehow get around the other side, and push it up against the wall before coming back around to here and pushing it into the groove over there. Did that make as much sense to you as it did to me?" I asked.
" There must be a hidden ladder somewhere that we missed," replied Spike.
" Can I say that I really don't like this room?" I asked.
" Don't let me stop you from doing that as I don't like the arrangement here either," replied Spike. It took a couple of minutes to find the hidden ladder which was fortunate as I was just about to lose my mind over how confusing this room was. This was followed by a few minutes of pushing the block and backtracking all the way to the original position, and pushing it into the groove which was exhausting; not the block pushing mind you but the backtracking part. After climbing a few more ladders and ledges, I reached the source of the noise which was two Blue Bubbles that I dealt with quickly as I wasn't in the mood to drag it out for very long.
" There's a switch above the door," I said pointing towards what looked like a eye embedded on a diamond.
" It's an eye switch that changes between an open eye and a closed one whenever you hit it the eye with something. We've seen some of these before in previous dungeons, and you activated them by firing a Deku Seed, but you can't use your Fairy Slingshot anymore, and I don't think the Hookshot or your magic is going to work. That must mean we need some other kind of weapon that can fire a projectile," said Spike.
" Guess we should make a note of this switch, and come back to it later," I said. I opened the locked door with a small key, and the next room looked really weird as though someone had twisted it about as a means of distorting it. " Okay, what is up with this room? It's all twisted which makes navigating it awkward." Of course, I had to keep going despite how weird this room was, so I ran down the hallway making sure not to look at my surroundings, and then I entered a room where everything was twisted in that the floor and ceiling were on the walls. " Huh? Is that a treasure chest over there on the wall? It looks different from the other chests we've seen on this journey, but how am I supposed to get it when it's hanging on the wall like that?"
" Maybe there's some way to untwist this room which might involve hitting that switch we saw. By the way, you should watch out for shadows that fall from the ceiling as that's the indicator that a monster is about to drop in on you," replied Spike.
" What are you talking about?" I asked when I noticed that there was some kind of hand-like shadow underneath me that was getting bigger with every moment. I looked up to see what was dropping down, and my face turned cold when I saw that it was some kind of giant hand which I jumped away just in time by leaping across a small gap. " Whoa! Whoa! Whoaaah!" The giant hand came down and started to walk around a little bit before it suddenly jumped back up in the darkness of the ceiling. " That was a close one for sure, but what in the world was that?"
" That was a Wallmaster, a creature that thrives on the ceiling and attacks by dropping down on unsuspecting prey. It walks around for a few moments before returning to the ceiling where it will attempt to attack again in the same manner. If it manages to catch you, it will drag you up to the ceiling and take you back to the entrance of the dungeon. If you don't like the idea of backtracking, then don't let them take you away. Defeating Wallmasters can be profitable though as they are known for dropping plenty of blue and red rupees upon being defeated," replied Spike.
" Let's worry about the rupees later, and get out of here as this room is really freaking me out," I said.
" Good thing you still have another key to use as the next door is locked," said Spike.
" I should be thankful then that we explored the other rooms first before coming here," I said. Using the key removed the lock, and I opened the door which lead into a small room which had some stairs going down. I walked to the staircase and started to walk down before coming to a stop. " Look at that painting on the wall Spike! Isn't that one of those Poes who stole the flames from those torches back in the central chamber?"
" You're right, but why is it being depicted as having the flame in this painting?" asked Spike.
" Why is that because didn't they steal them when we first got here?" I asked.
" Perhaps there's more to this painting than meets the eye?" asked Spike.
" I wonder...." I said as I reached out with my hand in order to touch the painting, but when the Poe disappeared and laughed, it really surprised me enough where I almost gave myself a heart attack. " Whoa! Where did it go? It was just here in the painting a moment ago, but when I reached out for it, it just disappeared leaving the frame black and devoid of nothing."
" There it is over there by those stairs," answered Spike. Sure enough, there was another painting with the same Poe that was in the painting I had tried to reach out to, but when I walked over to this new painting, the Poe disappeared and laughed at me again. That was when I noticed a third painting out of the corner of my eye up on a wall underneath the first staircase I walked down, and the Poe was now located here which was really weird and very irritating. I walked down the other staircase and the same result happened where it disappeared and laughed.
" Well, that was something," I sighed.
" Surely there is something we can do about that Poe painting by stopping it from jumping between paintings," suggested Spike.
" Maybe it isn't a painting but one of the four Poe Sisters that we're looking for. That's just my guess for what we just experienced, but since there's nothing we can do about it, we might as well move onto the next room," I said. At the bottom of the second staircase was a large area with a door which I was about to walk through, but then I noticed the torch next to it which made me realize that it looked awfully familiar. " This torch....it looks just like those torches we saw back in the central chamber. I wonder if there is a connection here." I decided to shrug it off and opened the door which lead into a large chamber which had a big hole in the center, but I was more concerned with the fact that iron bars were blocking the way forward and back.
" Are you getting a sense of déja vu?" asked Spike.
" Don't tell me I have to deal with those guys again," I moaned. Sure enough, a single Stalfos popped up from the ground and began to walk across towards me by walking on thin air as it ignored the fact that it just walked across a big hole. " Okay! That defies all laws of physics right there! How was it able to do that without falling down to the floor below and shattering to pieces upon impact?" Maybe I shouldn't have been thinking about logic, for the Stalfos jumped into the air and struck me with a jump attack which caused a wound on my arm to reopen.
" Are you okay?" asked Spike.
" I'll be okay so long as my other arm remains intact as I can use magic with one or both arms," I replied. The Stalfos began to pace back and forth walking across the big hole as though it were taunting me, but then it moved in and started to swing its sword which caught me off guard, and I got hit by the first strike on my bleeding arm. I managed to bring out my shield and blocked the other strike before it jumped back and performed another jump attack which I managed to block. 
It then jumped back and began to walk forward where it jumped over me somehow, turned itself around, and struck me in the back before I could react. That really was painful as my back was still recovering from the last encounter I had with these guys. As it prepared to swing its sword again, I used my reliable fire magic to blast it from the inside out which sent it flying back, but not enough to fully defeat it.
" Why not use your earth magic like before?" asked Spike.
" That hole in the floor is preventing from using any earth element based spell," I replied. The Stalfos came forward and jumped at me again, but I quickly threw a Deku Nut at it which froze it on the spot, and while it was above that hole which just made absolutely no sense at all. I repeated my fire spell which shattered it to pieces and defeated it. " Why haven't the iron bars across both doors risen up yet? I defeated the Stalfos....unless there are more of them coming." Sure enough, a platform fell down and covered up the hole which was a good thing for me, but when two more Stalfos popped up from the ground, it quickly became a bad thing.
" Something is odd about these two Stalfos," said Spike.
" In what way?" I asked.
" I'm not sure Sunset Shimmer, but you better be prepared for anything," replied Spike.
" At least I can use my earth magic again now that the hole has been covered up, and it seems to be more effective on them than my fire magic," I said. The first Stalfos moved towards me without even taking the time to put up its shield which allowed me to strike it with a wall of rock which shattered it to pieces, but something wasn't right for the pieces scattered all over the floor instead of burning up. The second Stalfos didn't attack me and instead it laughed as though it knew what was happening. " I think we're about to see what's so odd about these two." 
All of a sudden, the first Stalfos began to literally pull itself back together and immediately attacked me when it was whole again which caught me off guard, and I had to get struck in the back of all places. The strike caused my knees to buckle and I landed face first on the ground. Stalfos One then jumped back to allow Stalfos Two to swing its sword which sliced into my back really hard causing me to scream out in pain.
" Why not use that fairy you picked up earlier?" asked Spike.
" I think I need it," I replied. As Stalfos Two came in for the kill, I threw a Deku Nut which stunned it, and I followed up with another wall of rock shattering it to pieces which scattered just like what happened with the other one. Stalfos One laughed and began to swing its sword at me back and forth hoping to get a hit on me. All I could do was roll along the ground and find a safe spot to attack, and while rolling I watched Stalfos Two regenerate and resume its pacing about, but I should have been watching my front as I crashed into the wall. This allowed Stalfos one to strike me in my already wounded arm, and as I tried to counterattack, Stalfos Two swung its sword and struck my other arm causing it to start bleeding and rendering me helpless.
" Things aren't looking good," commented Spike.
" Oh you think?" I asked sarcastically. With my two arms now out of commission, I had to find a way to avoid them long enough and use that fairy before it was too late, so I got up and quickly ran in-between them which caused one of them to strike the other by accident and shattering it to pieces. As Stalfos One was busy trying to put itself back together again, Stalfos Two moved in with its shield up before jumping and striking me in the back just as I was about to turn around. That was when I managed to pull out the bottle containing the fairy which hurt as my arms were in so much pain. 
Unfortunately for me, that was when Stalfos One decided to attack me upon finishing rebuilding itself, and slashed me in the front which was the last hit my body was able to take. My heart felt like it had just come to a complete stop, and I collapsed to the ground unable to move even my fingers.
" Sunset Shimmer!" exclaimed Spike.
" This isn't the best feeling I've had in the world," I replied.
" Are you okay?" asked Spike.
" I want to say something sarcastic, but I'd probably strain something due to being in so much pain right now. Didn't you say that the fairy in the bottle would restore me to life if I were to run out of health?" I asked.
" Yes, but only if you stop breathing if you know what I mean," replied Spike.
" Well, that really killed the mood although I wish now that I hadn't said it like that," I said. Before I could say another word, Stalfos Two struck me in the back so hard that its sword almost went right through my back, and the immediate pain I felt was enough to actually kill me. It felt strange having actually fallen in battle for the first time on this journey, but I was lucky that the fairy in my bottle was able to free itself somehow, and used its magical powers to fully restore my health. 
Once I was back on my feet, I immediately stunned Stalfos Two with a Deku Nut and shattered it with the wall of rock like before, but still it scattered across the ground while the other just laughed about it. " This is getting ridiculous even if I did technically lose to them."
" Maybe you should switch to your fire magic and attack them that way," said Spike.
" That will take longer," I moaned.
" The way these two work is that when one of them falls, the other has to be defeated immediately before the first one revives itself. As long as they are able to continuously revive themselves, this battle will never end and you'll end up being killed for good as you have no more fairies on hand to heal you," said Spike.
" You just figured that out now?" I asked.
" I needed to observe them long enough, but it wasn't easy seeing as you were being hacked to pieces," replied Spike.
" Not the best analogy you've given me Spike, but I do see where you're coming from. I'll wait for the first one to revive itself before I put this strategy of yours into action, and take them both down at the same time," I said. As soon as Stalfos One came back, it attacked me by striking me in the chest which was painful, but I responded with some fire magic which knocked it back, and then I did the same thing to Stalfos two before switching back to the first one, and using earth magic to shatter it to pieces. 
Stalfos Two began to pace back and forth, but I decided to take the fight to it where I found myself avoiding a couple of sword swipes before I used the wall of rock to shatter it to pieces, and causing both of them to be defeated and a large treasure chest to materialize in the middle of the room.
" You did it Sunset Shimmer!" exclaimed Spike.
" Whew!" I said as I dropped to the ground on my rear and began to breathe heavily. " That was a lot harder than I thought it was going to be as I had no idea that they could revive themselves repeatedly. If this is how difficult these temples are going to be, then I need to make sure that my healing items are constantly restocked so as to ensure my survival. Remind me to visit one of the shops when we're done here so that I can make some important purchases. Now let's see what we have in this chest." I got up, walked over to it, and opened it up and pulled out a really impressive looking bow.
" You've found the Fairy Bow! It operates in the same manner as the Fairy Slingshot in which you aim at a target, and let loose with an arrow which can pierce enemy defences as opposed to Deku Seeds which lacked that ability. It might take you some time to get used to wielding something so big, but I think it is going to be very useful. There should be a quiver for you to take which is where your arrow supply will go," said Spike.
" Here it is! It was hiding underneath the bow, so let me count how many arrows are in it....hmmmm....30 arrows is the maximum it can hold. I'm guessing that breaking pots and cutting down bushes will produce extra arrows which will keep me from running out, and defeating monsters will also give me some. I wonder what else I can shoot with arrows aside from switches and enemies," I said.
" Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" asked Spike.
" We should go back into the previous room, and check out those paintings again," I replied. Walking through the now unlocked door back into the previous room, I walked up the stairs and heard the sound of the Poe laughing as it moved from one painting to the next. I kept on walking until I stopped near its current location, and held my ground so as to not cause it to move again. " So let's actually do something and see what happens. Maybe firing the Hookshot at it will work." I aimed for the painting and fired it only for it to clang off and do nothing. I felt like the Poe was going to laugh at me for that, but it didn't so I had to try something else.
" Why not try the bow?" asked Spike.
" I should as I do need to try it out and get used to it," I replied. I loaded the bow with an arrow and fired it at the painting although my shot was really bad to the point where it almost missed the target, but I hit it and the painting burst into flames and the Poe laughed.
" That was weird," said Spike.
" It probably moved to another painting," I said, and that was the case as now the Poe was located in the first painting. I fired an arrow at the painting which burned up, and the Poe moved to the final painting where I fired at it with a third arrow which burned it. This time however, the Poe materialized in the flesh and floated down into the open area below where I followed it. " Looks like it has no where left to go now that it can no longer hide in the painting, but I guess it's decided to attack me instead." 
I managed to jump to the side as the Poe charged at me by swinging its body around and using the stolen flame as a means of an attack. Then it suddenly disappeared although the flame was still there which looked awkward. " So how do we go about doing this?"
" That is Joelle, the youngest of the four Poe Sisters who stole the flames from the central chamber of the Forest Temple. When she is invisible like this, you can't hit her, so all you can do is avoid the flame until she reappears which will be your chance to attack her. Since she is just a regular Poe like the ones that exist in the graveyard, she is likely to fall in one hit to your magic," replied Spike. The Poe continued the assault with the torch which I continued to avoid, and eventually it appeared which is when I unleashed my power to destroy it in one hit. As the Poe burned up into nothing, the flame it was carrying appeared on the torch next to the door and a small chest materialized next to it.
" Hey! That torch just got lit when I defeated that Poe, so does that mean?" I asked.
" That one of the four flames has been restored to the central chamber? I'd say that's a definite yes, so why don't we take the contents of the chest, and continue on by going beyond the room where we found the Fairy Bow," replied Spike.
" Actually, I want to go back to where we saw that eye switch, and hit with an arrow in order to straighten out that twisted room as I want know what's in that blue and gold ornate chest," I said. It took a few minutes to make my way back to the room which I don't like, and upon defeating the two Blue Bubbles again, I fired at the switch with several arrows due to the first few missing the target. 
Once the switch was hit, I heard the sound of the twisting room becoming untwisted, so I entered the room again where it looked normal which made it easy for me to traverse. Back in the larger portion of the now normal room, the chest was on the floor and a new entrance had appeared in the floor. I jumped down to the ground and opened the chest, and pulled out a large golden key which had a red gem in the middle of it and two spikes on it. " Why is this key different from the others that we've found so far?"
" That looks to be a Boss Key," replied Spike.
" What's a Boss Key?" I asked.
" It's a special key that is needed to open the door to the room where the boss of the dungeon is located. It won't work on any other door, so don't think of it as being some kind of master key. I don't know where the boss door is located in this temple, but I'm sure that the compass is going to reveal that answer whenever we find it," replied Spike.
" So what about that hole in the ground?" I asked.
" You want to see where it goes don't you because it's a new direction you can follow," replied Spike.
" It could lead us to either a new location, or allow us to pick up something which we may need for later," I said. With that in mind, I fell down into the hole and landed in a room which was locked with iron bars covering the door, and a Blue Bubble was the only monster which I easily disposed of which unlocked the door. The next room behind this door was in fact the first outdoor garden again, but on a much higher level, and to my right was a Big Deku Baba which had to be dealt with before I could check out what was beyond it. 
Once again, fire magic was the key as I burned the plant away and opened the door on the right. In this next room was a giant deformed hand that was walking on its fingers, but as soon as it saw me, it turned green and charged at me which knocked me back upon contact.
" Be careful with this one," began Spike.
" Why?" I asked.
" This is a Floormaster, a relative of the Wallmaster and much more dangerous. When it glows green and charges at you, it's immune to all forms of attack, so you need to attack when it isn't glowing. Also, when you defeat it, it will split into three smaller versions and run around in an attempt to escape, but this is just a ruse it plays in order for its prey to drop their guard. If one of those little hands latches onto you, it will drain the life energy out of you and use it to grow into a new Floormaster. The problem is that there's no way of knowing as to when the little hands will attempt to latch on prey, so be extremely careful," replied Spike.
" I'm sure that it won't come to that," I said. As soon as the Floormaster was looking the other way, I attacked using arrows instead of magic as I wanted to try a different tactic, and the result caused it to split into pieces. The little hands were quite fast and hard for me to catch up to, but I destroyed two of them after a while, but lost track of the third which was about to cost me as it suddenly came out of nowhere and latched onto my throat, and began to drain my life force while I struggled to get it off of me to no avail. I had to do something before it was too late....

To Be Continued.