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Chapter VIII. The Coup de Grace, queen of the damned |
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Chapter VIII. The Coup de Grace, queen of the damned Link stepped into the obscuring nightmare. He had already overcome so much. The fetid, dense air and acidic aroma of minerals made it hard for him to breathe. Link knew that he was in the most archaic domain of the Deku Tree. Swirls of mist swept the ground that he treaded. An ice pick of fear speared his heart as an enormous boulder plummeted down and blocked out the little light he had left from the previous room. Navi clung to his arm. “Link!? What’s going on?! Where are we?!?” He did not answer, but instead used Navi’s luminous glow as the only guide to his footsteps. He groped the walls with his hands trying to find his way around the colossal cavern. He leaned up against a gargantuan root protruding from the ceiling, digging deeper into the earth. He saw that there were three other roots around the room that seemed to be giving this region support. Link wasn’t sure of what to do at this point. He started to walk to the center of the room when his ears picked up the sound of movement. He drew his Kokiri sword and his eyes skimmed the ground. He heard a hiss and looked all around him but saw nothing near him. He calmed himself and tried to use all his senses. He heard the reverberation from above and slowly moved his head up. A large yellow orb was rolling around on the cavern ceiling shrouded in darkness. It was attached to something. Link focused on it and realized that what he was watching was looking straight back at him. The eyeball switched to a blood red shade and then changed back to its hard yellow glaze. Link watched in horror as the body that the eye was connected to jumped down with a force so strong that Link fell to the ground. The room lit up with a soft glow that emitted the creature’s form. Link and Navi both finally saw what had been attacking the Great Deku Tree. Standing three times as tall as Link it’s black and brown patched body shivered with think hair follicles sticking out of its legs and back. Link screamed as the gargantuan beast slammed down two of her powerful, armored legs against the ground on both sides of him. Link scrambled up and started to run for some form of cover. He couldn’t see exactly where he was going but he knew he shouldn’t be near that. Navi sped up with him. “THIS??!!? THIS IS QUEEN GOHMA!?” Navi announced breathlessly. “That’s the parasitic monster that’s been inside the Deku Tree this whole time!” Link looked to Navi, wiping moist sweat off his brow. Well…. Its makes sense right? I mean…this is a perfect place for it to live! But how did it get in here? And how do I kill something THAT big?!?” Link took a chance to look behind him and saw that the monster had given up its chase and decided to start climbing the large roots back to her nest. She settled in and it looked almost as if she was meditating. Link sought his gaze back to Navi. “Well what do I do now?” He asked, worried about Navi’s response. “We have no choice in this matter…it’s to kill…or be killed…” try something! I’ll try to help you aim, not that this is a small target or anything…” Navi shouted out as she was zooming away to the face of danger. Link knew he couldn’t defeat it by sword. He took out his only other weapon. He fumbled with his slingshot and gave out a clumsy shot. The seed merely banged against the armored skin of the arachnid. Gohma blinked and the fluid that filled her eye turned scarlet. Link couldn’t see exactly what she was doing but she was getting restless and he then saw little sacs of joy drop down from the ceiling. Navi focused in on them and started to yell something out to him. By the time he got what she was saying three small glowing green eyes were rushing toward him. He was barely able to get up and draw his sword as panic surged through him. He ran in a random direction until he hit a wall and cut his head. All around him was haze. He didn’t know where Gohma’s larvae would show up to prey on him next, Navi was no where to be seen and Queen Gohma would soon produce more of her little minions. Greatly despaired he felt like crying. This was too much, too fast. Link stealthily moved along the wall, casting out his gaze for any movement. He then saw, in the distance, a lesser bulk of a creature that was veiled in an azure radiance. Navi had been following him and in turn, had lost Link. He saw Navi dodging attacks from the maggot but trying to keep her target range on him. Link charged foreword and sliced the larva in half. The creature screamed and for one moment cast a blue flame’s shadow on Link’s face. Navi hurried toward him and shrieked. He spun around in time to hold up his shield to the two other larvae pounding against him. He barely kept his footing and tried out a spin attack that he had learned in his training. Gore gushed out from the two spiders and they howled out into the gloom. Link ran for it looking above him to try to find his queen. Navi hurried along beside him. “I know what happened! Shes was giving birth to these things! Her eye turns a different hue when she’s giving birth! It’s the only time you can harm her with the weapons that you have! Its eye is vulnerable when it’s red!” Link glanced behind him to see if the spawn were tracking him. His eyes were having a hard time adjusting to the darkness with all this confusion going on. He did a back flip just in time as the two now blind Gohma larvae attacked him out of nowhere. He tightened his grip on his sword and stabbed each of them twice, splattering spider juice everywhere. Queen Gohma saw what Link had done and screamed furiously at watching her babies being slaughtered. She was a ten feet tall spider rampant with motherly hormones and leapt onto the floor to rattle Link’s nerves. Link stumbled and fell, trying to crawl backwards but was stuck against a pillar. She wailed out a nasty screech and nailed Link’s legs into the earthy floor with her barbed points. The pain was excruciating as she tore off flesh. Link rolled away from her grasp and felt the warmth of blood trickle down his calves as Gohma leapt onto a wall and started to ovulate again. Navi’s glow emitted brighter and tried to pull Link up in assistance. Link grunted. “Just keep your target around her eye!” Navi flew up, toward Gohma, too small for her highness to try to swat her without loosing her grip on the tangle of webs on the ceiling. Link’s adrenalin allowed him to stand up on his own as he forced himself to drag himself closer to get a good shot. The Queen’s eye changed as she started to ovulate again and Link was ready. He let his small pellet soar. The seed embedded into her eye and she her head convulsed violently as if in some sort of seizure. She had no control over her body and her legs clamped up and she shrieked as she fell to the ground and continued to spasm. Navi fluttered up and down. “NOW LINK! NOW!” Link drew his sword and with driving force he leapt on her, hacking murderously at her eyeball, tearing away bits and layers of tough skin and muscle around it. Queen Gohma finally shook Link off and swiped at his shoulder before hurdling herself back onto the root pillar, climbing up to her nest to try to keep the upper hand. Link pushed himself up to lean on the opposite pillar holding his shoulder with his free hand, trying to stop the blood flowing from his ripped tunic. Everything was getting blurry. How am I supposed to do this? I… I can’t! I’m going to let everyone down…I’m going to let Saria down and The Deku Tree down and I’m going to fail once again like I do every time.. I’m going to die for nothing… Navi kept encircling Gohma’s eye and trying to yell out to her friend. “Link! You almost have her! You keep it up! Don’t get discouraged!” Link looked up and saw how Navi was risking her life bobbing and weaving in and out of the sharp points of queen Gohma’s legs. She was doing this so that he could get a shot and save the Deku Tree. This was bigger then him. What right did he have to give up when they had no one else? Then with a new synergy inside of him he took out his slingshot and pelted Deku seeds with a swift hand at the Queen’s eye, paralyzing her once again and lifted his sword eye level. He ripped out his enemy’s fleshy tissue with a faster speed then before, tearing away the arachnid’s armor. Link rolled away just in time as Gohma regained consciousness and prepared himself for his next shot. He didn’t have many seeds left so he knew he had to make this one count. Navi tried to help as she circled around the spider as close as she could without getting hurt as the Queen tried to create a desperate attempt for her Kin to avenge her. Link wasn’t going to give her the chance. He pulled back his sling and let it fly. He hit the bloody red iris and the monster fell to the ground with a crash and dislocated two of her three legs. He pumped his arms intrepidly using a stabbing technique to the monster again and again straight into the iris, making his highness writher in pain and spurt jets of liquid. He moved his arm back and then with both hands, grabbed ahold of his blade, and plunged his Kokiri sword through the eye and into the very heart of the creature. Bright flashes of Saria, the Great Deku Tree, his home, and Navi flashed across his mind as he got bucked off and hit his head on the floor. Through the mist he saw the spider stand tall, trying to stop the fountain of liquid bursting forth from her eye. He scooted back and stood up as Queen Gohma tumbled down to the ground. Long live the Queen. He and Navi watched a rupture of mystique blue flame engulfing the body except the torn apart eyeball. Navi hovered a bit closer speechless with wonder as the yellow orb slowly formed itself into a large piece of crystal with a rose colored portion gleaming in the middle in the shape of a heart. Link stepped closer once the flames were gone and moved his blistered and bleeding fingers toward the paranormal beauty. Just as his fingers barely clasped around the warmed edges of the chalice, it broke into shimmering fragmental dust and then swirled about him into nothingness, creating a warming sensation inside his chest. Navi spoke in awe. “You got a Heart Container! Your maximum life energy has increased by one third of your energy and you will be totally healed!” Link touched his chest, feeling the now calm beat of his heart. Did this mean that he had gained a heart? Or just the spirit of one? He didn’t feel any different or feel two heartbeats inside of him so he chose to accept the second thought. He moved his shoulders and bent his knees, realizing that all of his deep wounds and minor scraps were gone. The exhaustion and fatigue had vanished as well. He had never felt better. Navi tapped on his shoulder and in the corner of his eye he saw a heavenly cerulean illumination ring gleam behind him like a pattern on the floor. Navi entered the shining ring and motioned for Link to follow. Link had come to realize that the Great Deku Tree must have summoned this teleportation ring to them. This was a strong, natural magic that he had only read about in books. He move one foot in front of the other and stepped into the grounded halo. He closed his eyes serenely and left himself be lifted into the air. The next thing he saw was the dazzling sun through the tree tops.
sorora · Sun Oct 14, 2007 @ 03:40pm · 3 Comments |
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