Harmony of Heroes: Ultimate Multiverse Explorers [Parallel Quest]

by Cyrus Colter

Chapter 10: Approaching the First Temple.

Link, Sweetie, Rota and Marko didn’t have to travel long to get to Kakariko Village, just across a nearby stone bridge and up some stairs carved into the cliff-face. This still left enough time for Link to be informed of Rota and Marko’s power and for him to be amazed by their ability to fly without any visible means.

Link had to leave Epona at a wooden wall at the entrance of the village before they entered the settlement.

It was a really small village, with a few houses made of stones or bricks, that had for the main landmark a windmill in front of a dried up well. It looked very peaceful despite Ganondorf, but that peace was spoiled by the clear threat of Death Mountain looming above. The village had been apparently a village of Sheikah, a people who served the Royal Family of Hyrule, but now, most of the Sheikah were gone, leaving the village almost abandoned until Impa, one of the last Sheikah, opened it for the other inhabitants of Hyrule who couldn't live in Hyrule Castle Town. Now, the village apparently served as refuge for some survivors of Hyrule Castle Town because Link recognized some of them, and some shops had been relocated here.

There was another problem that had made itself known as they entered the village, however.

“So, this Sheik person didn’t tell you what it is you’re looking for here?” Rota asked as her tail swished in agitation.

“No. He just said that it’s here in Kakariko village. I don’t think he quite knew either, actually,” Link replied.

With a sigh, Rota concluded, “So we’re gonna be looking around and asking questions. Got it.”

So they both began to look around while talking to the villagers, hoping to find something, even just a clue. However, nobody knew anything, although some of the inhabitants talked about some legends and rumors and other info about the village. Like, apparently, there was once a house at the current emplacement of the well, and something that the proprietor once possessed may be now hidden at the bottom.

Thinking it to be a better lead than the nothing they had beforehand, the group decided to investigate the bottom of the well. Upon climbing down, they found out that not only was there barely room for the four of them, but any further progress was blocked by a large boulder.

Marko eyed the boulder with a mix of suspicion and curiosity before thinking aloud, “There’s some kind of seal behind this boulder, keeping it in place. But why block off a well? It’s not like anyone’s coming down here.”

Rota, as she climbed back up the well behind Link, answered with a thought of her own. “Maybe it’s meant to keep something from coming up. You told me that seals tend to work both ways.”

“We’d be better off asking around some more, I’m sure,” Link said.

When they asked an old man what happened at the well, he informed them that Impa apparently sealed a powerful dark spirit in there before making the tunnel collapse. This resulted in the well drying up, but at least, the dark spirit couldn't hurt anyone anymore. And at least, the river wasn't far to compensate. When asked if there was another way to enter the tunnel, he assured that there wasn't as far as he knew, and it was better this way.

So the group continued their search. Rota was drawn to the windmill from the sound of a Phonograph being played in an enchanting melody that the Saiyan woman could tell was driving the windmill. Entering the windmill, Rota and Link encountered a man playing the mechanical instrument. Which struck Rota as weird to see in a world that had yet to develop hand-held ballistic weapons, but nice to listen to regardless. She was lost in the tune to the point where she started to hum to the tune, only to stop when a storm suddenly started inside the windmill drenching her, Link and the bard, who glared at her.

“I’m guessing this is your first time with bardic magic, eh? Gotta be careful with putting power in your voice with certain tunes, lass. Lucky the windmill’s been remade to withstand a storm inside it since that kid with the ocarina came here some 7 years ago,” he scolded.

Rota chuckled sheepishly as she shrugged, replying “Sorry, it’s a habit I’m trying to break.” Meanwhile, Link seemed to think about something.

“Ocarina?” He asked, thinking out loud. Reaching into one of his pockets, Link pulled out a small blue ocarina marked with the Triforce.

“That ocarina! It looks just like the one that kid had!” The bard said suspiciously.

Then Link played the melody that the bard had been playing, and, just like with Rota and her accidental use of magic, summoned a storm inside the windmill. Navi came out from under Link’s cap and spoke up. “Wow! I guess we found what we’re looking for!”

“Glad I could return the favor, then.” The bard said through clenched teeth.

Rota decided to press her luck on a gut feeling that she knew might get her in trouble, asking a single question. “Was the windmill at all connected to the well, do you know?”

The bard nodded as his eye twitched.

“We’ll be going now,” Link said as he, Navi and Rota hurried out of the windmill. Once outside, they were met with Marko and Sweetie Belle, the former stood with his arms crossed, the latter looking at the windmill curiously.

“I’m guessing you found something?” Marko asked with a knowing tone.

“Apparently, I came here 7 years ago and taught the Phonograph player in the windmill a song that can summon storms, and drained the well by the same occasion,” Link answered easily. Marko stared at him for a moment. Then promptly facepalmed.

“So time travel is now a factor in play. Grand,” he said as he dragged his hand down his face. “At least it’s easier for us to travel through time than it is for us to travel through the multiverse, eh Rota?”

“Provided there’s no blocks in the timeline and the deity in charge of time here is more like Dialga than our old boss, I should be able to pull it off,” Rota answered. “We might end up a bit younger, but nothing we can’t get used to or fix.”

“But how would Link go back in time in the first place?” Sweetie Belle asked.

“We’ll figure it out later. For now, let’s just investigate the graveyard,” Link said.

"Time to hit some ghosts, I guess," said Sweetie Belle with a giggle.

So they went to the graveyard, the entrance being just in front of the staircase leading to the windmill.

It was your typical graveyard. Tombs lining beside the paths. There was also a small wooden hut at the entrance, probably belonging to the guardian or gravedigger.

Link looked around, hand under his chin in thought. "Mmh... I don't see where... Wait." His eyes settled on a tomb at the left, near the corner of the graveyard, and he walked toward it. "This tomb wasn't here seven years ago."

"How can you tell?" asked Navi. "I don't remember all the tombs!"

"I counted," simply answered Link.

"Isn't it normal? People die in seven years. It's normal for new tombs to appear with time," said Sweetie Belle.

"Some tombs hide tunnels with treasures or other stuff. Maybe that’s the case for this one," informed Link.

Sweetie stared at Link for a moment before Rota spoke up in his defense. “You’d be surprised what people are willing to let slide or do for the sake of either convenience or the greater good. Besides, sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do, even if you don’t like it.”

Navi then spoke as Link went to check out the new tomb. “It’s how Link got his shield, after all.”

“Better than paying eighty rupees for one, at least.” Link agreed before reading what was engraved on the tombstone. "Here lies Dampé... Oh..."

“The old gravedigger?” Nave asked.

Link nodded before Marko’s voice sounded off in the hut. “If the gravedigger’s dead, then I doubt he’ll mind if we look at his journal.” Sweetie Belle nearly gave herself whiplash with how fast her head swung towards the man to see him walking out of the hut with a book in hand. “From what I can tell, he, or more accurately at this point, his spirit is challenging anyone brave or stupid enough to claim his keepsake, a ‘treasure that stretches and shrinks,” he said before closing the book and putting it onto the table just inside of the hut.

Rota suddenly felt the hair on the back of her neck stand up and gave whatever was behind her a smack with her tail hard enough to be comparable to a whip. She then jumped forward with yelp as whatever it was seemingly burst into flame and nearly scorched her tail.

Navi was immediately in her face, both telling her off for not watching her back and questioning her ability to harm spirits without weapons, while Link and Marko moved the stone lid of the tomb, revealing a hole. Link jumped in after a quick glance, followed by the rest of the group, Rota and Navi last due to being the furthest away from the tombstone.

After they all landed from the surprisingly painless fall, the group spotted the spirit of Dampé the Gravekeeper. With a ghostly whisper, he reiterated the challenge to race him, or more exactly, keep up with him, since Link could not keep up due to Dampé being able to float. Marko and Rota, on the other hand, simply pulled Link and Sweetie Bell on their respective backs and changed forward, easily keeping pace with the spirit. The tomb itself, however, soon revealed to be a maze of tunnels with no way to know where to go, leaving them no choice but to follow Dampé, who knew where to go. But the ghost was quite the mischievous one as he playfully sent fireballs from his lantern to put fire on their path and hinder them, in addition to being faster than expected for the siblings. Marko took a deep breath, still running, and exhaled a frosty mist that Sweetie Belle could tell was some kind of magic, putting out the fireballs. She could also faintly hear what sounded like distant shouting on the edge of her hearing.

“What kind of magic is that?” The filly asked.

“It’s a magical language from a universe we visited some time ago. We’ll explain another time,” Rota replied.

They eventually reached the finishing line after a circling cliff above a seemingly bottomless pit. There, Dampé congratulated them for keeping up with him and decided to reward them with his treasure called the Hookshot as Link and Sweetie Belle got off of Marko and Rota. He then proposed to them to come again one day so they could race again before he disappeared and a big chest appeared in his place. Link opened it, taking the Hookshot, which was pretty much like a grapple with an arrow head linked by a retractable chain to a handle.

“Looks like this is what we’re looking for,” Rota said as Link put the Hookshot on his belt.

“Certainly,” he answered before the five of them moved to the next room to hopefully find an exit they didn’t need to backtrack through a maze to get to. Much to their disappointment, there was only a pair of large cubes stacked on top of each other with the Hyrule Royal Crest on them against the opposite wall.

"Drat," said Sweetie Belle.

"Wait, I have a feeling. Link, use the Song of Time on these cubes," instructed Navi.

Link nodded and took his ocarina before he played the Song of Time.

And the power the song commanded swept over the three visiting travelers as if they had entered the presence of divinity.

The next instant, a light materialized around the cubes and engulfed them before they just disappeared, letting the group enter a hole in the wall that had been hidden behind. They then climbed a staircase…

Which led them right into the upper level of the windmill, to their surprise as they began to hear the familiar song while they climbed. They jumped from the upper level and landed just in front of the man who jumped in fright at their sudden arrival.

"What the...?! You? Where do you come from?!"

"Uh... Your windmill is apparently linked to Dampé's tomb," said Sweetie Belle.

"Say what now? Are you talking about this passage with the staircase at the upper level? But it was blocked!"

"We unblocked it."

The guy put a hand on his face and groaned loudly. "Now I will have to ask someone to do something about this! The last thing I want is for a ghost to come here!"

As if on cue, the sound of an explosion followed by a slight rumbling sounded off, then followed by Rota calling out, “I blocked it off again!”

“Thank you!” The bard called back.

After that, they decided it would be best if they headed out to the Kokiri Forest and left Kakariko village to do so, Link on Epona’s back with Sweetie Belle behind him while Rota and Marko flew overhead, all heading south.

"Hey, I wanna try something," said Sweetie Belle on the way.

"What is it?" asked Link.

Sweetie Belle cleared her throat before she began to sing the dubbed Song of Storms, and to Link and Navi's astonishment, clouds appeared in the sky (the dark clouds constantly covering it were only above Hyrule Castle Town) before it rained.

"Yes! I did it!" shouted the filly when she saw that she succeeded.

The next instant, Navi was right in front of her face, to the point that Sweetie could almost distinguish her head through the blue light. "HOW?!"

Sweetie Belle smirked at her. "I'm a filly full of surprises."

"That's not an answer!"

Link laughed before he stopped Epona, took his ocarina, and played another song. The next instant, the clouds dispersed and the sun appeared in its full glory high in the sky when it had been about to set a few seconds earlier.

Sweetie Belle stared at Link. "You have a song to control the Sun? I am SO going to use it once I'm back home! Do you have one for the Moon too or does this song work for both the Sun and the Moon?"

Rota and Marko, meanwhile, simply took note of the songs and flash-dried themselves off with a burst of energy before they started back on the road.

---

Link left Epona in front of the tunnel that served as the entrance to the forest before they entered it, Link feeling nostalgic. After crossing a wooden bridge, they traversed another tunnel before they entered the village of the Kokiris.

Only to be almost immediately attacked by a carnivorous plant that was promptly put on fire by Sweetie Belle.

Meanwhile, Link and Navi looked around at the seemingly deserted village, seeing more monsters here and there in the obscurity.

"This is as I feared..." said Navi. "Without the Great Deku Tree, the monsters overrun the village. But shouldn't a new Deku Tree sprout be born by now to take his place?"

"Ganondorf," Link simply replied. "He did something. I'm certain. I... I hope everyone is okay..."

Sweetie Belle looked around at the monster infested village and said, "How about Rota, Marko and I clean the place while you go see if your friends are there? Maybe they are simply in their houses where they are safe from the monsters?"

Link nodded and went toward the nearest house, leaving Sweetie Belle and the Bages to do as she said. The filly and Marko started by doing some pest cleaning by eliminating those things hidden under fake autumn leaves and firing nuts while Rota took care of the octopus-like things that hid in water and fired rocks. Once they were done with all of them, they proceeded to weed the place, getting rid of the carnivorous plants.

These monsters were so easy that, after eliminating the octopi like ones, Rota pulled a small bottle from a pocket in her vest and planted some seeds from it into the ground and poured a bit of the green liquid over the seeds. Within a minute, 8 green skinned creatures with three digit limbs ending in claws climbed out of the dirt and looked at the Saiyan woman expectantly. Rota gave them simple instructions.

“Alright, Saibamen, if it doesn’t look like a man or woman about your size at most or any of the people with me, kill it.”

With a chorus of screeching cries, the Saibamen descended upon the remaining carnivorous plants, splitting the seam in their heads apart to spray a white acid at them, ensuring that regrowth would be difficult, at best. After the last of the carnivorous plants were dead, the Saibamen took up positions as if they were guardsmen defending the village, allowing Sweetie Belle, Rota and Marko (after Rota explained to Sweetie Belle what the Saibamen were) to explore a bit.

Eventually they found themselves at the front of the corpse of the Great Deku tree.

Sweetie Belle, Rota and Marko could all immediately see how majestic the tree had been when it was alive. It was immense, with a face like the one of an elder sage. But now, its bark had lost its color, and it missed its leaves. It really was a sad sight.

After remaining a moment to look at the tree, they turned around to return to the village, only to see Link approaching, looking up at the tree. He then stopped beside Sweetie Belle, looked down, and stopped moving, remaining silent as he paid homage.

After about one minute, Sweetie Belle broke the silence to ask, "So, is everyone okay?"

"Yes. They are all alright, just stuck in their homes because of the monsters, like you thought. I haven't seen Mido however, but he's apparently in the Lost Woods. I wouldn't worry about him," answered Link. He then looked back at the tree. "He... He was like a father to me. He is the one who raised me since I was a baby."

“I’m sorry…”

“You three have nothing to be sorry about…” Link then frowned. "It's Ganondorf who should be."

With a subtle aura radiating from her, Rota all but snarled out her answer. “He will be. I promise that much, personally.” Marko then spoke up, allowing Rota to go check on the Saibamen as she had intended

“This might be a bit insensitive, but, how did he raise you? I doubt it was by himself, considering he doesn’t seem to have the kind of limbs to do so,” he asked.

Link laughed. "Yes, actually, the Kokiris did most of the work. He was just supervising to make sure that they didn't screw up. But he was always there when I needed him and his sage advice." He then turned around. "Let's go. We have a forest to save," he said before he walked away.

Marko followed immediately while Sweetie Belle took one last look at the once mighty tree.

They quickly crossed the village, meeting up with Rota who was currently in the middle of watching the Saibamen tear a carnivorous plant up by the roots, some of them digging at the dirt and mixing bits of their acid into it, as if trying to make it either harder or more painful to the carnivorous plants to grow back. Sweetie, Rota and Marko followed Link and Navi to a tunnel that led to a place called the Lost Woods. A place that earned its infamy through being a maze that seemed to shift around its occupants to make them lose their way… or their lives. Adults lost in the woods would become Stalfos, the living skeletons of those who got lost in those woods, while children lost in the woods would become Skull Kids, little creatures in garb thankfully friendly to children but feared adults. However, those with a fairy companion were spared from this fate, making Marko real happy Navi was with them, at least.

However, a merry tune that Link identified as Saria's Song could be heard coming from one of the paths, helping them find the right way to Saria who Link thought was the Forest Sage that they had to save. Despite the ambience of the forest, the song easily cheered them up, and it was with smiles that they followed the song until they found their path blocked by a Kokiri who was none other than Mido.

"Uh? What are you? Though one of you wears Kokirish clothing, you can't fool me! I promised Saria I would never let anybody go through here."

Link just smiled before he took his ocarina and played Saria's Song, to Mido's shock.

"That melody?! Saria plays that song all the time! You... Do you know Saria? That song... Saria taught that song only to her friends..."

“They honestly thought you were a Kokiri like them, didn’t they, Link?” Rota blurted out in wonder, causing Mido to look at Link in shock.

“Link?!? W-”

“In their defense, it wasn’t like they needed to know, under the circumstances,” Link grumbled.

“TIME OUT! Link, is this really you? Last I heard… you… just disappeared after the Great Deku Tree’s death! A-and you’re huge now! Why?” Mido asked, tears rolling down his cheeks at the mention of the Great Deku Tree’s fate.

“Long story short, he’s not a Kokiri, he’s a Hylian from outside the forest, and now he’s here to set things right.” Sweetie Belle explained, causing Mido to stare at her.

“You can talk?”

“Yes, now can we pass? We don’t exactly have the luxury of time.”

“Alright, I guess I should…”

Before anything else could be done or said, Rota put her pinky fingers to her mouth and gave a sharp whistle. Within seconds, a trio of Saibamen appeared in front of her and she pointed at Mido and gave them new orders.

“Obey him. Make sure the others know.”

At once and as one, the pair took up positions at equidistant points to allow a bare minimum of two individuals to tackle anything trying to get past while one ran back to the village..

“These are Saibamen, they are plant-like creatures with the minimum intelligence to take simple orders, for example, I have a set of them under orders to basically keep the village clear of monsters,” she explained.

“Not much good that’ll do when they keep coming back,” Mido grumbled.

“We’re working to put an end to that,” Link said as he put a hand on Mido's shoulder before he walked beside him, quickly followed by Sweetie Belle, Rota, Marko and Navi.

Mido followed them with his eyes as they disappeared into the woods. "Since when did he become so cool?"

---

The group eventually reached a meadow in the heart of the forest. They however had to go through some narrow passages guarded by Moblins, huge monsters looking like bulldogs that charged at them if they spotted them. No way for Link to attack them from the front without being impaled by their spears. He could only use the Hookshot and his bombs to attack them.

Sweetie Bell and the Bages, on the other hand, had no issue dealing with them using their plethora of ranged attacks. In this instance, Rota stepped forward and pointed her right hand at the small horde, then let loose a volley of beams that ripped through their heads and upper torsos, leaving burnt flesh in its wake. By the time she was done, only the big Moblin at the back was left alive. Not for long, though, as Rota put one last blast through its heart, sending it stumbling onto its back. The path cleared, they climbed the big staircase to the entrance of the temple where there was a large pedestal with the symbol of the Triforce.

Link knew this place as Saria's secret spot where she loved to play her Ocarina on a tree stump, but to their surprise, she wasn't present!

But then, who played the song that guided them? Was it still Saria but from a different place?

Then, a blond man with red eyes in blue outfit with a white clothes possessing a red crying eye symbol and hiding most of his face landed from one of the cliffs surrounding the place and walked toward them.

"The flow of time is always cruel... Its speed seems different for each person, but no one can change it..."

Sweetie Belle decided to not comment on the fact that she did know, or heard of at least one being able to do what he just said, and that she will eventually be able to do it too as easily as she could breath.

"A thing that doesn't change with time is a memory of younger days..." continued Sheik. "In order to come back here again, play the Minuet of Forest." And then, Sheik took a lyre and proceeded to teach Link a song that could apparently teleport him to the pedestal here anytime he played it. Very practical if they needed to come back without having to traverse the forest again.

Once they were done, Link then asked "Is there a way to return back to seven years ago? I may need to get an object that may be important but that isn't accessible anymore today. Do I need to play the Song of Time?"

"If you wish to return to the time you left, then you simply need to put the Master Sword back into its pedestal in the Temple of Time," answered Sheik. "You will be returned to your younger self, back when evil hadn't yet fully settled in this land. However..." He glanced at Sweetie Belle and the Bages “Whether your companions can join you or not is subject to the will of the Goddesses.”

Sweetie, Rota and Marko nodded, the Saiyan responding, “Figured as much.”

Sheik stared at Sweetie Belle and the siblings a few seconds before he looked back at Link, said, "Link... I'll see you again..." took a few steps back, and threw a Deku Nut at the ground. The Deku Nut let out a flash, and the next thing they knew, Sheik had disappeared.

"What is he? A ninja?" asked Sweetie Belle.

"A what?" asked Link.

"Nothing. Let's just enter the temple."

It turned out that it was here that the Hookshot was needed, as the staircase to the entrance of the temple was destroyed so he had to plant the Hookshot in a branch of a tree above it to reach it. If Sweetie Belle had known, she could have simply levitated Link with her without even needing the object.

But at least, now, they entered the temple.

Author's Note:

It is starting next chapter that my skill at writing is tested...

Anyway, hope you enjoy the story, so far.

Comments

[Lucar]

Rota has Saibamen? Wow! That's unexpected! These little guys will be a huge help!

[Cyrus Colter]

11874637
She tends to keep a couple of vials of them on her at all times.

EDIT: Besides, you'd be surprised how effective an appropriately sized swarm of the little bastards can be.