Something had been puzzling Link. He wondered if there might be other worlds like Termina that he could get to from Hyrule, somehow, that would still be a mystery to everybody else. But he wasn’t sure where to look. Anyway, one day, he went to visit his friend Malon, who lived at Lon Lon Ranch. As usual, he found her talking to the horses. Link got off Epona and went to say hello.
“Hi, Malon,” he said.
“Hey Fairy Boy, hi Epona!” Malon responded. She always called him fairy boy because of his strange clothes and the fairy (Navi) that he used to have. She didn’t know much about Tatl. “Did you know, Link,” she began, lowering her voice, “that Dad and I have found this really strange place, up the other end of the ranch. It seems that there is some cave that has opened up since. Do you think it could lead to another world?” She looked at Link. He suddenly felt really interested to know where it actually led.
“You’ll always be wondering about that, won’t you, Malon?” he laughed, not telling her that he would, as well. How many different worlds could there be? “Come on, I’ll show you where it is. Follow me,” Malon said.
Link obeyed and when they got there, Malon turned out to be right. There WAS a huge cave.
“Have you been in, yet?” Link asked.
“No,” said Malon. That was all she said, and Link wondered why. So many embarrassing reasons, he though gleefully, until he realised that his thoughts were probably mean. “But I was going to go in tonight. That’s when you always see things – at night,” she continued and Link felt guilty. He’d thought she was scared of the dark!
“Well,” he said.
“What?” asked Malon.
“Um, you shouldn’t go in at night, cos who knows what might be in there. I mean, Ganondorf or…”
“But Ganondorf is gone, idiot!” Malon laughed.
“True,” said Link, standing up straighter as if to probe Malon into telling him how brave he was for defeating Ganondorf. But Malon knew what Link was thinking and would do nothing of the sort.
“Well, should we go in now, Fairy Boy?” she asked, trying not to laugh at Link, who was looking too stupid at the moment to come across as heroic.
“WHAT! You can’t go in, it’s probably too dangerous for girls,” he exclaimed. Malon glared at him. “Well, er… just let me see what’s inside first. You can come next time, I promise,” said Link, changing his mind slightly.
So, before Malon could say anything else, Link took a step into the strange cave. And Malon screamed as the opening slowly closed up, leaving Link trapped inside. Little did they know that Link had just fallen into the biggest trap of a new evil force…
He looked around inside this dreary cave. It was small and dark, therefore not really much to see! “Um… hello?” he called, beginning to get excited and frightened at the same time. Suddenly a purple gas came out of the floor of the cave, hissing and twisting itself around in circles. Link stood still, biting hard on his lip, until he remembered that Malon was still outside. He turned around and started banging on the cave walls. “MALON!” he cried. “GET ME OUT OF HERE!”
A reply came back, “Link, I can’t! It just somehow swallowed you up!”
Link turned around again, trying to escape the surrounding purple gas. “Hey,” he said out loud, “it must have come from somewhere.” Link dropped to the ground and started crawling, when he slid into a large crack. “Aha!” he said triumphantly. “I know what to do here.” He got out one of his bombs (luckily he still had some) and placed one neatly on the crack. Then he moved away from there – fast! Putting up his shield and closing his eyes tightly, he listened to the bomb explode. Still trying to avoid the gas, which was coming more quickly now, he reached his foot out to where the crack had been. “Yes! An opening!” he cried.

“Link!” he then heard Malon call. “What happened there? I heard an explosion,” she said, sounding worried.
You want to hear a real explosion, Link thought. “It’s alright!” he called. “I bombed a crack and now I’ve got this opening. I don’t know where it leads, but anywhere is better than here in this tiny cave!” “Be careful!” Malon called. She could almost feel Link’s grin as he said, “I always am, aren’t I?” With that, he slipped down through the opening, just as the entire cave filled up completely with the poisonous gas. But Link was falling down, down…
“AAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!”
Link kept falling, his arms reaching out for things to grab. But he found nothing and all he could do was keep on screaming. “AAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!
HHHHEEEEEEELLLLLLLLPPPPPPPP!!!!!!!!!” Then he thought out loud, “I don’t cry for help!” But he kept on falling through the air, his arms outstretched, his body twisting and turning, somersaulting and backflipping. It was much longer than the drop to Termina when he was little.
Then he landed.
BANG!
“Oww… my head hurts,” he moaned, his eyes closed, not daring to look up. However, he realised that he couldn’t stay there forever and only when he opened his eyes did he feel the hot sun blazing onto his face. “Oh help, now the sun is going to fall,” he heard himself say. He heard a girlish laugh near his head.
“Never have I heard such a stupid thing,” said a tinkling voice.
“Well,” said Link, not looking at where the voice was coming from. “I once went to a place where the moon was going to fall.”
“Oh,” said the little voice.
Link sat up and finally looked in the direction of the voice. His eyes widened, his mouth dropped open and he stared in utter shock and surprise. There was a fairy flitting right next to him. She looked like and reminded Link of someone.
“N-Navi?” he said, in a low, surprised voice. The fairy just looked at him. Link blinked. “Are you… really Navi?” he asked, in a voice that seemed strange to him.
But the fairy just looked back at him.
“Why are you looking at me like that?” Link asked, suddenly becoming wary. But the fairy wasn’t looking at Link. She was looking at the Iron Knuckle behind him. The Iron Knuckle raised up its axe, preparing to strike Link in the head.
“Look out!” cried the fairy when she could find the voice to speak. And it was just in time, too! Link swiftly turned around, dodging in the sitting position. He flung his legs away just as the Iron Knuckle swung its axe, moving towards the ground. The impact of the axe hitting the ground threw Link backward into a tree in the weird little area of plants, shrubs and trees he had landed in. Finally, Link managed to stand up. He drew his sword and, without thinking, rammed it into the Iron Knuckle about three times. They started circling each other. The Iron Knuckle swung its axe again, just barely missing Link, who then found it the right time to deliver another blow. This Iron Knuckle was weak. It actually fell backwards, which Link didn’t expect. Not thinking of the dangers, he then jumped on top of it, hitting it over and over again, until it died. Link, however, was exhausted from the battle and told himself that he should have been practising more. Then he remembered the fairy. He looked around. But she was gone.
“Navi!” he called. “Navi! Where are you?” Just then, he saw her. Fluttering away into the distance.
“Hey! Wait! Come back!” he called to her. After endless screaming and shouting on Link’s part, the fairy finally heard him and flew down to him. “Can I talk you?” Link asked, breathlessly.
“Sure,” said the fairy, who then added, “You did REALLY well down there against that Iron Knuckle. I thought you were gone for sure! Those Iron Knuckles have been coming in swarms lately. I don’t know what’s going on. But there are lots of them now. Much more than before. Heaps!”
“Great,” muttered Link. Iron Knuckles had never been his favourite enemy.
The fairy sighed. “You should go into town and try and find out what’s going on,” she said.
Link looked down the hill, where he could see a small town similar to Kakariko Village. Then he looked at the fairy.
She said, “Hey, have you fought those Iron Knuckle things before? Cos I just can’t stop thinking how well you did!”
“Hey, come on! You know I’ve fought them before, Navi,” Link laughed.
The fairy stared at him, like she had stared at the Iron Knuckle.
“What? What’s behind me this time?” Link asked in a panicked tone. Not because of the fighting, but because he might lose the fairy again while he was doing it! But she just kept staring. And this time, she really was staring at Link.
Well, as much as Link wanted this fairy to be Navi, he was getting rather impatient. “Please, Navi,” he pleaded. “Why do you keep staring at me like that? You – you are Navi, aren’t you?”
And then he waited for the answer. “Navi?” he asked. “Who’s Navi?” the fairy inquired suddenly. Link’s shoulders slumped. “You… just look like a fairy I knew once, that’s all,” Link sighed, half-heartedly. “Well, why did you keep looking at me, like that?” “I was trying to sense what you were feeling. You… wanted me to be Navi. But… I can’t… lie to you. I hate lying,” said the fairy.
“Hmm. Why did you suddenly say ‘Who’s Navi?’ If you knew that I so deeply wanted you to be Navi…” Link said, not believing that he was having this kind of conversation. He sat down and started to cry.
“I – I’m sorry I’m not Navi,” said the fairy, going closer to him.
Link turned his head away. “This is so embarrassing,” he murmured.
The fairy grinned, but didn’t let Link see. She flitted there for a while, just watching Link cry and talk, although she couldn’t really understand what he was saying.
Finally, Link stood up to face the fairy. “If you EVER tell ANYONE what just happened…” he began, seriously. “I know, I know. I promise!” squeaked the fairy, seeing that Link was now somehow menacing, despite the fact that she didn’t really believe he was. “Well, what is your name, then?” Link asked.
“My name is Amalina. What’s yours?”
“Link.”
“Well, pleased to meet you, Link,” said Amalina, not really knowing what to say.
Link gave a sarcastic laugh, then softened. “Will you come with me down to the village, to ask about the… WHOA!” He stopped mid-sentence as another Iron Knuckle came out of the shadows. “Stay with me, Amalina!” he shouted, as he blocked the Iron Knuckle’s axe attack with his Master Sword.
“No problem,” Amalina squeaked. “I’m just going to go up somewhere… nice and… high… while YOU KILL THAT THING!” And she flew up out of harm’s way. Link defeated the monster quickly and Amalina came down. “Now,” Link began, “are you going to come with me to the village?”
Amalina giggled. “Well, Link, you can still tell what happened… with the Iron Knuckle and… you know – the embarrassing thing.” She moved up closer and whispered in his pointed ear, “you look like a madman! Maybe we should wait a little while.”
Link laughed. “Well, that wasn’t part of the promise, so I can tell you really keep your promises… um… that IS now part of the promise, right!” he said. Amalina started to laugh and Link made his way to the nearby little pond to wash his face. To the surprise of Amalina, he jumped right in!
“What?” she gasped, horrified.
“I do this all the time!” Link said.
“But… but…” Amalina started to say, urgently. But it was too late. Link was suddenly being pulled under. “What’s going on?” he cried, as he struggled to keep his head above the water. However, it kept getting pulled under. “Help!” he shouted, while submerged for a short time. Link tried to swim to the edge and finally managed to grab hold of the bank. “Help me get up!” he screamed to the helpless fairy. Struggling, he finally managed to pull himself up. Completely ringing wet, he moved over to a sunny patch to dry a bit, shaking from the fear. “That was a terrifying experience!” he exclaimed. “What WERE those things? They remind me of the things in Termina that grab you and shake you, but… these just kept on…”
“Pulling you under, yes,” said Amalina. “I guess they’d be kind of like those creatures you described, but instead of shaking and releasing you, they pull you under until you drown. Nobody knows exactly what they are. I thought you were gone, for sure!”
“I’ve heard THAT before,” said Link, in a mockingly scornful voice. “Maybe I really was safe after all!” “Ha-ha-ha!” said Amalina.
“Well, I think I’m drying. Let’s go to the village now,” said Link.
Amalina agreed: “Okay. Let’s go!”
Link and Amalina finally reached the village, after what seemed like a VERY long walk. Of course, it wasn’t really a very long walk, but, after encountering several Iron Knuckles along the way, Link was completely tired out.
“That was eight Iron Knuckles in the field. Eight, I tell you, EIGHT!” he complained, while Amalina could only watch helplessly as Link lay sprawled on the ground, near the gates to the village, gasping from the intense fights – eight in a row. Plus, the first Iron Knuckle had been the hardest to defeat, so that battle had already drained most of Link’s energy. “Oh I really need to get more fit. I can fight two Iron Knuckles at a time, but eight in a row is too much. Too, too much!”
“Well,” said Amalina, “you still beat the bullies out of them all!” They both giggled.
“In Termina and Hyrule… well, my energy never went that quickly! Still, I guess they were Iron Knuckles…” Link started to prattle.
“Hang on, wait a minute, wait a minute! Did you just say that you have been to Termina and Hyrule?” the fairy asked, stunned.
“Yep, and I did mention Termina before!”
“But I was worried about you drowning that I did not really take much notice,” Amalina confessed. But she then continued with: “I have never met anybody who has been to Termina and Hyrule! So, THAT’S why you wear such funny clothes.” She was, of course, referring to Link’s green tunic that he always wore.
“How do you know about all the different worlds?” Link asked. “In Hyrule, we don’t even know how many exist! Guess all I’ve got to visit now is the Wild West and I’m done!” Link laughed, making light of the situation.
“We know all the lands here,” said Amalina, not being particularly modest. “This land also has different names. Some call it Drestonia, others Grestonia, some even say Grestdrest!” she continued, laughing. “Ha, as in ‘best dressed’?” Link joked, following it up with: “Obviously meaning me!”
“So welcome to Unnamed Land. That’s what I call it!” Amalina paused for a moment, thinking about something. “Did you say that your name was Link… and that you were from… Hyrule?”
“That’s me.”
“Oh my gosh, Link! We know all about you! You were the one who saved the whole of Hyrule from… the wrath of Panindrof!” Amalina said, getting VERY excited indeed.

“Actually, it was Ganondorf,” Link corrected.
“That’s him! Anyway, you saved the land. So maybe… you can save ours.”
“I beg your pardon?” Link choked.
Amalina let loose a giggle: “Whoever thought that the Hero of Time was such a crybaby!”
“PLEASE, do this all in order, Amalina! So… you’re really excited about me being here because… I’m supposed to save your land or something? From what?” It appeared that the fairy was not listening because she was dancing around in circles in the air, feeling very pleased with herself for working out: “Of course! That’s it! That’s why you were so wonderful at fighting off those Iron Knuckles!”
“PLEASE, Amalina!” Link repeated. “What is it I can do to save you? And er… how do I get home?”
Finally, the fairy took some interest. “Anybody who comes into our land cannot get back. Unless they defeat the wrath of the Iron Knuckles and get to the source of the evil in this land.”
“What’s the evil, Amalina? And of course, I will help you. But… what is the evil?”
“Nobody is more sure of that than the scientist in the potions laboratory. I shall take you there!” cried Amalina, and off they went.

Meanwhile, Malon was surprised to learn that, in waiting for her friend to come back, she had fallen asleep near the boulder. And when she woke up, it was dark. She sensed something behind her, as she stood up. Turning around slowly, hoping that her intuition was wrong, she was terrified to spy a Stalchild advancing towards her, its claws ready for striking… Malon just couldn’t believe it! “These creatures always stay away from the ranch! And since Link defeated Ganondorf, I haven’t seen one! Unless… somehow… it managed to get out of Ikana… and escape Termina with Link! But then… maybe there’s others!” Malon cried. “If only I had the Captain’s Hat… then I could ask…”
“What? You have the Captain’s Hat?” the Stalchild asked incredulously.
“N-no, I said if…” Malon began and then realised. “Um, I mean… er… yes, y-yes I do.”
“Then… why are you not wearing it? Master.”
“Um… it-it’s inside that house,” Malon bluffed, pointing to her home.
“Then allow me to go and get it for you, Master. Or should I say Mistress. He-he.”
Uh-oh thought Malon. But, she realised, there was no doubt that that this Stalchild came from Ikana, otherwise it would not be talking about the Captain’s Hat. “Just allow me to ask you one thing, Stalchild,” Malon started, suddenly having an idea, as she spied a stick lying on the ground. “How many of you came out of Ikana into this land?”
“Well,” said the Stalchild, leaning closer. “I found a way out. I should not have left Ikana, or the others, but, loving adventure, I did go. And I was the only one. Just me. Just me got out.”
“I see,” said Malon, feeling relieved. She looked at the stick and remembered Link saying that Deku Sticks could handle a couple of slashes. This wasn’t a Deku Stick, but it did look pretty strong. “Please fetch me the Captain’s Hat,” Malon said.
“Call me Stal-Bob,” the creature said, grinning evilly. Malon watched it turn around and then grabbed the stick.
WHAM!
The head of the Stalchild came off, but the stick broke.
“BETRAYER!” it cried, as it’s bony head rolled onto the ground and disintegrated into dust. It wandered around with no head as Malon dashed to find another stick and finish it off. But as it couldn’t see where it was going, Malon figured that she would be safe. “That’ll keep him busy for a while,” she laughed.

Link and Amalina were on their way to see Unnamed Land’s elusive resident scientist. When they finally stepped into the village – well, actually, only Link ‘stepped’, Amalina ‘fluttered’ – Link felt very weighed down by his shield, sword and a range of other weapons and items. (He always kept the Sage of the Forest medallion on him at all times, as it had been the last thing his best friend for so many years Saria had given him.) But his breath was also taken away by the beauty of the village. As Amalina led him around, he thought it nice to be toured for once in his life, rather than having to find everything out for himself. At last, she led him to a crumbling old shack in the northern part of town.
“Here we are,” she said, “at the Scientist’s house, laboratory, whatever you want to call it, but this is where he is!”
So, Link opened the door, but instead of the quiet, gentle and non-speaking kind of attitude he usually adopted for these kind of visits, he just burst in and went straight up to the Scientist (who, by the way, resembled the ones of Lake Hylia and Great Bay!) and asked, “What do you know about the terror that has befallen this land?" Tell me all you know. Please!” Link was very tired of his old approach, thinking he would have less to work out if he went in with this new one.
“Calm down, sonny,” the Scientist said in a crackling old voice. “I will tell you as soon as I have finished this experiment I am in the middle of.”

Malon soon found another stick and finished the wandering Stalchild off. “Phew!” she gasped. Although Link could easily get rid of these enemies, Malon had no sword and nowhere near as much experience as Link.

While Malon had been battling the Stalchild during the endless night, Link was sitting on a table, bored in the Scientist’s Laboratory. He had a faint recollection of Biggoron telling him he had no patience.
“Aha,” Link said aloud. “If he saw me now, he’d believe it more than ever.” “
What?” asked the Scientist.
“Nothing,” Link replied. Then: “Are you nearly finished?”
The scientist laughed. “Just about.”
Then: BANG!
As the scientist poured one chemical into another, his whole experiment erupted! Cloudy gas filled up the room, similar to what Link had seen when he was trapped in the cave. But it was different, as the last time, it had not made Link’s vision blurry and his eyelids tired. He vaguely saw Amalina drop to the ground beside him and as he swayed from side to side, trying to stay awake, he heard the scientist cry, “At last! It is done! Sleeping… gasssssssss…” He began to snore.
Link tried to find a way out of the room before he fell asleep too. He found the door to his right, but it seemed to stretch further and further away from him. Link knew it was only an optical illusion and tried to get up and find his way to the door. But his legs wouldn’t move and he didn’t feel the impact when he fell off the table into sleep.
It was morning by the time the gas cleared. Amalina, being the first to fall asleep, was the first awake. “What happened?” she asked herself, flying over to Link. “Link! Wake up! Link! Link!”
Link was, actually in deep dreaming, but somehow Amalina’s cries got through to him and suddenly he felt like he was a little kid again, back in his home in Kokiri Forest, being woken by Navi shouting to him…

“Wake up Link! Wake up! How can the Hero of Time be so lazy?!” Amalina continued. And that was what woke Link up with a start, screaming. “AAAAAAAH!” he sat up straight. “What? What?” gasped the fairy. “That’s like what Navi said to me…” Link began, but stopped when the scientist started to sit up. “Very powerful sleeping gas,” he said in his old, cracked voice. “Now I may help you, young lad. Are you the one who has come to defeat the evil in this land?”

“Umm… I guess so.” Link shrugged.
“Oh at last!” cried the overjoyed scientist. “What you must do is follow the track to the mountains. You will come across a series of large fences. You may be able to climb over a few of them, but you will be tired after that. Not even sleep will help you, for by that time the evil will have spread across the land and there will be nothing you can do.”
“So…” Link started. “How do I…” He stopped mid sentence, fearing that he was missing something he would need. “Oh no… I need a horse, don’t I?” “Ah, yes. A horse would be good,” said the Scientist. Link swallowed hard. “I have a horse. But she’s back in Hyrule.”
“Well, you can’t get back,” said the scientist. “Hmm… well, come with me to this back room. I have a little experiment…”
“OH no you don’t!” Link cut in. “You did a ‘little experiment’ yesterday and if it hadn’t caused us to all fall asleep I could be on my journey now… except… without a horse… so… well I guess you’d better lead the way!”
“Thankyou,” said the scientist smugly. He took Link and Amalina into his back room where he unveiled a funny little contraption. He told them that he had worked on this for years but never needed to use it.
Until now.
“This is used to communicate telepathically to people in other worlds,” the Scientist explained. “Well, everybody in Hyrule has at least a little bit of magic, so let’s give it a try!” exclaimed Link, feeling hope at last. “My friend Malon is the one with the horses, can I try her?”
“OK.” The scientist led Link over to a capsule he could stand in. “Step in here and put on the hearing device. You will appear magically to your friend, but you will only be able to hear her words. Look at my little contraption over here and when the light is red, begin your message. Got that?”
“Well, Okay,” said Link. “Here goes.” He closed the door to the capsule. The scientist turned the machine on. The light turned red. Link opened his mouth to speak… “Hello?”

Malon was still outside, talking to Epona when she saw Link standing next to her. Only he didn’t look like Link, he seemed as if he wasn’t really there. It was to us like a computer image, with lines through him, but since in Hyrule, they don’t have computers, that was not how Malon could have described Link. “Hello?” the Link-thing said. He began to explain how he needed to save the Unnamed Land but had to have a horse to do it.
“Can’t they lend you one of their horses?” Malon asked. “I don’t know how I can get Epona there.” “I don’t think I can get their horses,” said Link. Then, Malon had an idea. “Maybe we CAN get Epona there. But we need higher magic. We need Zelda.” Link was silent for a second. Then he said: “Do it.” “Okay, Link, I’m going to take Epona to Zelda now. How can you come with me?” Malon said.
“Okay… the scientist is saying that… I’m attached to you because you’re the one I chose to speak to,” Link said, listening to the scientist, who also had a hearing device and could hear Malon talking.
“Great! Then, let’s go!”
Link felt as if he was being pulled but he could not see anything apart from the scientist’s laboratory.
“Are we here yet?” he asked.
“No, can’t you see?” Malon’s reply came back.
“Actually no. You can see and hear me, but I cannot see you. I can only hear you.”
“OK then, I’ll tell you when we get there.”
Finally, Link felt as if he were being pulled up the steps of Hyrule Castle. “Whoa, I feel as if I’m falling back!” he cried.
“Your telepathic body looks pretty funny, it actually looks as if it’s falling,” Malon laughed. “We’re nearly there, Link. Epona’s pretty hard to pull up the steps!”
“You’ve got Epona there?”
“Of course I do, Link! I’m going to see if Zelda can find some way to send Epona to you… hey, your body looks as if it’s really falling backward, more than before. I wish you could see yourself!”
The scientist cut into the conversation. He couldn’t talk to Malon but he could talk to Link. “By what Malon is describing, it sounds as if something is going wrong with the connection! You have to get out of the capsule now, Link!”
“What? I have to go now? Why?” Link started panicking. He didn’t know what would happen if he stayed in the capsule, but if he got out, would Zelda be able to send Epona to Unnamed Land?
Malon heard what he said. “Now? Link, what’s going wrong? I’ll try to get Zelda to send Epona to you… but why do you have to go?” On Malon’s side, she could see Link’s image shaking and becoming distorted, on Link’s side, sparks were flying out of the sides of the capsule!
“Link! You have to get out now! You’re in danger if you don’t!” shouted the scientist. The capsule started toppling. But Link had to say goodbye to Malon… just in case he never made it back from Unnamed Land.
“Goodbye Malon! I really have to go. Please try… please get Zelda to help me… bye!”
And before Malon had a chance to say more than “bye”, Link’s image fizzled and shrunk until it went away with only a tiny star left in its place. Link opened the capsule and stepped out just in time. The scientist pulled him to the other corned of the room, with Amalina following and then the capsule exploded. BANG!
“Why does everything of yours explode?” Link gasped, as he hunched in the corner with hair over his face.

Meanwhile, Malon reached the top stair and hurried into Zelda’s chamber.
“Malon! What on earth is the matter? And why did you bring Epona?” Zelda asked, becoming worried. She suspected that Link was in some kind of trouble… again! Malon quickly explained everything to Zelda.
“Well,” Zelda began, deep in thought. “I do know of a Hyrule Princess spell… but I have never done it before. My great-great-great-great grandmother performed this spell… only once, mind you. And it has never been done since. But I will try.” She shook her hands and closed her eyes feeling a magnetic blue tinge forming on the tips of her fingers and slowly making its way down to her hands. Then she stopped. “What… why did you stop, Zelda?” asked Malon. “I thought we should write Link a note first and attach it to Epona,” explained Zelda. So, Zelda began to write the note, both she and Malon deciding what to say.
Dear Link, here is Epona! Good luck on your new mission and you better help those people the way you helped us! From Zelda and Malon.
Malon fixed the note onto Epona’s reins and Zelda began the spell from the start once again. Eventually, a bolt of blue lightning struck Epona and circled all the way around her, lifting the horse into the air. As if a strong wind came blowing through, Epona’s mane was pushed back and she started neighing and kicking her legs. Zelda was aching, the spell taking energy out of her but she kept going. Finally, both she and Malon noticed Epona was starting to lose colour, growing paler and paler and then shrinking into nothing. Then she was gone. Zelda waited in silence to hear the tinkling of a bell, which meant that the spell had worked. The ringing came. Malon didn’t hear it, as it was only in Zelda’s ear. Then Zelda turned to face Malon.
“It worked!” she cried with joy.
“Hooray!” laughed Malon, hugging the princess.

“I’m waiting for the horse!” Link was growing more and more impatient in the scientist’s back room, when all of a sudden, there was a flash of blue lightning and Epona appeared next to the scientist’s destroyed capsule. “Epona!” exclaimed Link, running over to hug the horse. And then he found the note. He read it and laughed.
“Okay, Link,” began the scientist who had now learnt his name from hearing Malon say it so many times. “You are, at last, ready to begin your journey!” He handed a bottle to Link.
“What’s this?” Amalina asked.
“That is the sleeping gas. I believe that you will encounter many Iron Knuckles on your journey…” “Oh help!” said Link.
“…so you never know when you might need this. Or you could find something else to use it on, I don’t know what else could be out there. If you run out, come back here or find the hidden store in the mountains. I don't know where it is, but if you look, you’re sure to find it.”
“Alright,” said Link, tossing the bottle from left hand to right hand back to left hand.
“You will find many puzzles, tests and enemies, I am sure of it,” said the scientist. “But not even I know what is at the heart of this evil and how to stop it or even exactly where it is in the mountains. But what I do know is that if you vanquish it, all the evil in the land will be gone and you will be able to return home.”
Link left the village with Epona, his Hero’s Shield, Hero’s Sword, the bottle of sleeping gas, his Ocarina and his new fairy, Amalina and prepared for the long journey ahead. It first dawned on him, when he was halfway to the mountains and three Iron Knuckles surrounded him.
“Um, you don’t want to use the sleeping gas yet, do you, Link?” Amalina wondered.
“Not yet. If these are the things in the field, what’s going to be in the mountains?” Link replied, jumping off Epona and drawing his sword. “Or how many of these will be there.”
The first Iron Knuckle had not charged at him yet, but Link hit it as many times as he dared, before it swung around and shot its axe into the ground where Link had been standing. Link jumped out of the way just in time, ran around to the back of the Iron Knuckle and hit it twice more. Then it started going ballistic! “Look out!” cried Amalina, as another Iron Knuckle advanced. Link didn’t fully turn around, he just moved his head and opened his mouth widely as the second Iron Knuckle raised its axe and prepared to strike. Link quickly ducked and rolled to the left, out of the way, where he accidentally brought his sword onto the first Iron Knuckle’s feet. Link was pleased when it disintegrated into dust.
“One down, two to go,” he cheered, getting a swipe in at the second Iron Knuckle’s legs. Then he turned around and saw what was in place of the first. “Hey! He left me a Bomb Bag! Full of ten bombs!” exclaimed Link, grabbing one and throwing it as hard as he could at the second Iron Knuckle and then one at the third. Link then had time to charge up his sword and did a special spin attack, hitting both Iron Knuckles, as they were still recovering from the powerful force of the bombs. That stunned them some more which gave Link time to charge his sword some more and let loose a stronger spin attack which doubly hit one of the Iron Knuckles. Finally, that one went crazy and charged at Link, running full speed. Again Link jumped out of the way and rammed his sword three times into the Iron Knuckle’s side. That Iron Knuckle left him nothing, but Link still had eight bombs left. He threw another at the last Iron Knuckle as it recoiled from the shock of the bombs. Link hit it, outraged and angry about these monsters, starting to get tired of fighting them and began losing his wits. And because of that, the Iron Knuckle managed to move its axe around, striking Link in his shoulder. “AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!” Link clutched his injured shoulder and fell to the ground. “AAAAAAHH….”
“Link!” cried Amalina.
The Iron Knuckle took advantage of this situation and prepared to finish Link off.
“Link, you’ve got to move!” Amalina shouted.
An Iron Knuckle can’t kill me. I have to move. I have to get it again… Link thought. But his shoulder hurt so much, more than any other time he had been hit by an Iron Knuckle.
“Link…” whispered Amalina. Finally, Link knew he had to move. But as he slowly picked himself up, his shoulder throbbing with pain, the Iron Knuckle began to bring the axe down towards Link’s head.
“NOOOOOOOOOO!” cried Link, squeezing his eyes shut tight and holding out his sword to block the attack. And it worked! But the axe broke his sword! Now what was he going to do? He suddenly started thinking again and this time, not just about how unfair it was that he had to fight these Iron Knuckles and why did he have to be the Hero of Time and that he should have just left that stupid cave alone. But no. He remembered the bombs. Going mad once again, he plucked out three and threw them all at the Iron Knuckle. It died on the second explosion.
“Well, I wasted a bomb but at least I’m alive,” he gasped through the sharp ache in his left shoulder.
“Oh Link, are you alright?” Amalina asked, genuinely concerned.
“Grr… what do you think!” Link shouted and immediately regretted it. “I’m sorry,” he apologised straight away. “Just my shoulder hurts so much.”
“It’s okay,” said Amalina. “Come on, we really need to find that Mountain Store man and get you some Red Potion.”
“You have Red Potion here?”
“Of course.”
“Just I’m not sure if I can ride Epona. I’ll leave her here and play Epona’s Song on my Ocarina when we get there. It’ll bring her to me,” Link explained. And off they went.
Link was walking a lot more slowly than he had been before. He hoped that he would find no Iron Knuckles. If he did… well then he knew that would be the end. He would not be able to fight. But, luckily, he reached the rocky entrance of the mountains with no more Iron Knuckles in sight.
Then: “Oh no!” cried Link. Before him lay a series of ten golden iron fences, which, even as he was the Hero of Time, he would be able to climb only a maximum of three of them – without his injured shoulder! “No!” he exclaimed. “I cannot ride Epona yet – my shoulder hurts too much. So I certainly can’t climb these fences!”
“Uh-oh,” said Amalina. “The hidden shop must be past those fences,” she continued.
Then, Link spied a rock near the first fence. “Maybe there is something hidden under that rock. Maybe a heart or something,” he said.
“What?” asked Amalina.
But Link ignored her and he picked up the rock. “OWWW!” he shrieked, dropping the rock.
“What? What? What’s the matter?” cried the helpless fairy.
“My shoulder hurts!” Link yelled. He felt a fool, being so upset over an Iron Knuckle hit. One… tiny… Iron Knuckle hit that had taken away so much of his energy. Amalina placed her tiny hand on Link’s shoulder, causing him to clutch it tightly and howl. “Wait…” he said through gritted teeth, seeing what the rock’s smash had left him. “A heart!” He stooped down and grabbed it, feeling its power explode into his body. It made him feel a little better, but that was all. He got out his Ocarina and played flat notes one by one. Little did he know that his notes turned into a very slow and flat version of Saria’s Song, an Ocarina tune that he had long forgotten.
“You could always go back to the village and buy red potion there,” suggested Amalina.
“What! And run the risk of meeting another Iron Knuckle out there in the field? No thank you!” Link exclaimed.
“Then run, Link!”
“Look, Amalina, you don’t know how much this hurts. I don’t think I can… RUN!” Link saw a gigantic thing approach Amalina’s head and meant the word “run” in a different way! They both screamed.
“Wait… what’s that? It’s calming…” Link squinted at the bright light following the… the… thing. Then, the light followed the “thing” down as it landed, angelically and lightly on the ground… and it wasn’t as big as it seemed.
“SARIA!” cried Link, happily.
“Link…” Saria began in a wise Sage-like voice. “Your shoulder must really hurt. And I know what you’re thinking.”
Link opened his mouth to speak but Saria silenced him. “Ssh… don’t speak. Every word you say drains more energy from you. I’ll provide your words. You don’t know how that strike of the Iron Knuckle’s could have hurt you so much. Well, Link, the Iron Knuckles here are much more powerful than the ones in the other lands. They are strong, Link, very strong. And even if you got back to the village or… across the gates… well, ha, you couldn’t normally get across the gates… no! You have no rupees. Does it matter when you’re hurt? But, you’ve forgotten something, Link. This may never have worked on you before… but I can make it work today. But only this time… Play the Song of Healing, Link.” And she began to hum it.
Link took out his Ocarina and repeated Saria’s tune. “Now find some rupees, Link,” she said. Saria took a step towards Link and held out her arm. Link reached and they touched fingers briefly, before Saria was quickly carried away in a spur of white light. Link heard triumphant music as he watched the light speed away into the distance. He kept looking until it was completely gone.
“Who was that, Link?” asked Amalina.
“Oh… just an old friend,” Link replied. He then played the Song of Healing once more and enjoyed his growing power as all his pain left him. But Amalina just stared.
Link flexed his arms. “I’m back!” he cried and immediately grabbed his Ocarina and played Epona’s Song. Soon, Epona appeared, cantering up to the duo. Amalina flew high over the fences and was at the other end in no time. Link mounted the horse and he was away! He hadn’t jumped so high in a long time! He felt the wind rush through his sandy blonde hair and heard it sail past in his pointed ears.
“Go, go Epona!” he shouted, having an enormously fun time. Finally, he saw the last fence come into his line of vision.
“Okay Epona,” he began, “make this the best of all!” Epona didn’t slow down. She really did speed up! And that was when Link felt his foot starting to slip from the stirrup.
“Oh no, EPONA! SLOW DOWN!” However, Epona was enjoying the speed and she took no notice of Link’s cries, this horse would not stop for anything! She started to jump, sailing high in the air. Link was still fiddling with the stirrup.
“Oh no,” he started, “I’m starting to fall…” He let go of the reins… “I’m falling!” And his last thought occurred just as he hit the ground and heard Amalina’s high-pitched shriek… “I fell!”
Amalina knew that she had to do something. Link was unconscious – what could she do? And then she had the ultimate brainwave! The Song of Healing! It had to work, it just had to! Neither of them had any money whatsoever, so Amalina could not search for the hidden Mountain Shop supplier and buy a Red Potion! After all, she couldn’t carry it by herself nor would Link be able to drink it. But The Song of Healing just had to work! Even though Saria had said that she could make it work for Link on himself only once, that applied only to Link. Surely Amalina could use it on Link? Surely…

He was falling again, through twists and turns of spiralling brightly coloured strings. He reached out to touch one… it was wispy. A melody filled his head and Link knew that he was still alive, but could not break free, could find no way out of these dreamy surroundings. And then it occurred to him somehow: he was in a dream. Only a very different kind of dream. And he had to get out now, otherwise there would be no hope and he would be lost forever. He could feel the vibration of good intentions. But they were useless… it just couldn’t work. But it was only his mind in this state, he searched for his body – to no avail. He knew he was in deep trouble, as the further he fell through these hippy visions, the further he was from the real worlds. He had to get out. And he had to get out now.

Amalina prepared to flutter down and ruffle through Link’s belongings to find the Ocarina. She only hoped that she could carry it. The Ocarina looked so big for such a tiny fairy…

Link felt himself drifting back. He concentrated on getting back. Even though the descent seemed to be so much more inviting. But no… he knew there was some importance in getting back. Much more than the enticing depths of darkness. Much, much more. And these thoughts sent Link back in a flurry. It did not make him feel dizzy. It was still very dreamlike. But Link was hitting home!

Did Link ever wash his clothes, Amalina wondered. She found his Ocarina and tried to pull it back. However, her tiny fairy feet had to land on the ground and she struggled with all her might to grab Link’s Ocarina. Then she saw the problem. She was too little! And she would not be able to blow through the mouthpiece! She had to find the man in the Mountains! It was her – and ultimately Link’s – only chance! But, weary from her attempts at getting the Ocarina of Time, she collapsed, sobbing, on Link’s chest. She felt it moving up and down, Link was breathing – as if ever she would hear cockiness and then wounded words escape from his mouth again (though she hoped not the latter!)… Would this be the last time his eyes ever blinked? Wait – did they blink?
“Link!” Amalina gasped, tentatively. “Are you awake? Link?”
His eyelids fluttered again! Yes! They blinked again – and then he managed to keep them open!
“Link…” said Amalina, disbelieving it.
Link grinned. He closed his eyes again. “Shut up, fairy,” he said, weakly. His eyes opened again, just in time to see Amalina recoil from his words. “Ssh – sarcasm, Lina.”
“It’s Amalina,” she corrected, relieved that the blow had not done anything evil to his brain – presuming he had one, that was. Hey! Amalina wondered what she was thinking. Right now, she didn’t really care who had a brain or not – Link was back.
“Right, whatever…” Link managed to laugh. “Shouldn’t we get going, fairy?”
“Link! Where did you go? How did you get back? And… you can’t get up yet!” Amalina laughed too.
So, Link survived a ‘hit on the head’. But their entire journey was far from over…
He mounted Epona. He didn’t even glance back at the gigantic fences, nor did he talk to Amalina about the throbbing pain in his head or about what visions he had seen when he was unconscious. Anyway, he was riding along, when he saw a huge clump of grass and a wooden sign in front of the patches. Link narrowed his eyes and slowed Epona to a halt. He dismounted and wandered over to inspect the sign. Amalina followed him.
“Can you read this language?” Link asked her, as he could not translate the foreign script that was written on the sign.
The fairy squinted. Her tiny eyes scanned the writing. “…oh my gosh,” she said suddenly. “This sign – it declares the name of this land!”
“What?” exclaimed Link. “Nobody knows the real name, yet a sign… a mere sign knows the name!” He shook his head in disbelief.
“No, Link. Of course the sign doesn’t know the name. Somebody put it there,” the fairy replied.
Link snorted. “Of course, Amalina. Just another person making up a name.” He paused. “Does it say anything about the grass patches?”
“Yeah, just cut it and you get items,” Amalina said absently.
“Oh, is that all? Well, I’ve done that before.” But the fairy was still distracted.
“Come on, Amalina! It’s just another person making up a name. Anyway, you haven’t told me what this new name actually is!”
“It’s… Eden.”
“Like the Garden of Eden, you gotta be more original,” Link scoffed. “Now, let’s get going!”
“Well, alright,” said the fairy, as she sneaked a last peep at the elusive wooden sign, her expression that of melancholy nostalgia. Link had already pulled up a lot of grass and been rewarded with bombs and 50 rupees. He had found more rupees, but he could only hold fifty in his pocket, before he managed to get hold of a wallet. Hopefully, he could find the hidden mountain shop and buy a wallet there. He looked back at the fairy. She glared back at him defiantly, as if to say, “don’t look at me like that. I’m alright, you fool!”
Link glanced at her again. “Amalina, are you alright?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. Get moving, man, before it’s too late to save anything!”
“OK… well, I’m going to gallop, so unless you can keep up, I suggest you sit inside my hat.” Amalina didn’t want to sit inside Link’s hat, nor did she want to bow down to him by admitting that she probably could not keep up. But reluctantly, she climbed underneath his hat. Link also knew that something was up with Amalina, her whole behaviour had changed since she saw that sign. However, he also understood that she was completely right about having to hurry up, so he figured that he would just question her, later.
So, he rode along in silence, Epona was going at full speed. Link kept hearing explosions behind them, but thought it was only Epona’s hooves pounding along the soft ground. Amalina, however, was not having a particularly good time in Link’s oversized hat. She was bumping about, not very comfortable at all. Amalina decided that she would tell Link to slow down a little, when, all of a sudden, Epona made an abrupt halt.
“Link…” Amalina whimpered, “Link, what’s going on?”
“Ssh!” a man’s voice came back. Amalina looked around and then realised that it was Link. She quietly peeped her head out from underneath the hat and reeled in shock. Link had stopped Epona behind a large rock. In front of the rock was an Iron Knuckle standing before a chubby man, about to strike.
“Stay silent,” Link warned.
“But… the man!” Amalina protested shrilly. They were well hidden behind the enormous rock, but still had a good view of the monster and the man. Then, the Iron Knuckle turned its mechanical head towards the trio’s hiding place. Had it heard Amalina’s shriek? It seemed as if it had heard something. Then it turned its head back.
That was close, Link thought.
“Link, kill it!” Amalina whispered harshly, having learnt her lesson from nearly being found. “I can’t, remember! I haven’t got a sword! I could’ve just ridden past it, but there was no way I was going to leave that poor man behind,” Link said.
“Then what are you going to do?”
“Ssh, Amalina! I’m thinking, okay, I’m thinking!” They watched for a bit. The Iron Knuckle was taking its time. Amalina told Link he’d better hurry up and think, cos they Iron Knuckle wouldn’t pause for much longer, nor could Epona stay silent. Then Link remembered…
“Bombs!” he cried. This time, both the Iron Knuckle and the chubby man looked up. Link knew it was no time for procrastinating. He got off Epona and Amalina darted out of his hat. She hid back behind the rock. Some hint-giving fairy, Link thought, but his heart was already racing. He reached into his bomb bag… and found absolutely nothing there!
“Oh no…” And then he realised that the explosions he heard would actually have been the bombs falling out of his bomb bag as he rode along! Link didn’t think he had anything else. The Iron Knuckle began walking towards him. Breathing hard, Link did the only thing he thought he could do… he ran. He ran and ran, raced past the rock, raced up to the fences, feeling like a big coward. And then he saw that he was trapped. He didn’t think the Iron Knuckle would be running yet, so Link thought he still had a chance to get back to the rock. So, he bolted, feeling even more cowardly. He actually had to dart past the Iron Knuckle and then he made it to the rock. The Iron Knuckle turned around, coming back for Link.
“Link, you’ve forgotten something!” Amalina shouted, as the monster came into view again.
“What’s that? That I’m the Hero of Time and shouldn’t be running from this thing,” Link panted, sarcastically.
“No, you fool! What the Scientist gave you.” “Oh… yes!” Link suddenly felt enormously relieved. “Oh, you beautiful most helpful fairy in the whole wide world!” he cried, overdoing his gratitude. Link retrieved the bottle of sleeping gas, carefully pulled the top off it and rolled it towards the monster. It worked! Link crept over, grabbed his bottle back and went over to help the chubby man.
“Hi,” he said. “Are you alright?”
“You saved my life!” cried the man enthusiastically. “Gee, yeah, well… I do it all the time…” Link began. “I’m the owner of the mountain store,” the man replied. “And I’ll give you this. We don’t stock sleeping gas, if the scientist told you that…” “How would you know?” Link suddenly inquired.
“Ah, I heard your friend mention the scientist and all those village people think the same… that we have everything out here… well, young man, I shall give you this, as a token of my gratitude. I noticed that you didn’t seem to have one on you.” He presented Link with a new sword! Immediately, Link thanked the man and then proceeded over to the sleeping Iron Knuckle and killed it. He obviously admired his new toy! Link gazed at his new sword admiringly. Wow, he thought. The pattern was completely different – there was a castle outlined on the grey metal handle and the blade was polished silver and extremely sharp. Link swung it around and did a sword trick, slashing at the air.
“Watch out for me!” cried Amalina. And then she turned around to face the direction behind Link. “And watch that THING!!”
Link turned around just in time and ducked as the Iron Knuckle’s axe pounded the ground where he had been. Luckily for Link, the axe had stuck in the hard rocky ground and the monster was trying desperately to free its weapon. Link rammed the sword into the creature a few times and then walked good as gold and completely unharmed back to his fairy. Another Iron Knuckle had been conquered by Link. Plus, Link remembered that the man had told him where to find the store if he ever ran out of supplies: knock on the big boulder that he used to hide behind, and he'd be let into the store under it!
They walked a bit further, the ground was rocky, and they had been through a cave with nothing to see. Then, Link asked Amalina to fly a little bit higher and see if there was anything atop the mountain. So, she did and about two minutes later, she came fluttering back down, very excited.
“Link!” she exclaimed. “There is some kind of temple up there!”
Link sprang up from the rock he had been sitting on.
“Really?!” he cried, “well, there’s no time to waste!
Let’s go!” He explained how there may be some evil hidden up there in the temple and that she should go back if she didn’t want to meet with a gigantic evil so big that they both could die.
Amalina shook her little head. She was silent for a while and then she blurted out some meaningless waffle, which Link couldn’t understand.
“Repeat, please, Lina!” he said.
She didn’t correct him on her name and began again more slowly this time.
“OK, Link, remember when we saw that sign that said the real name of this land?”
“Uh-huh,” said Link.
“Well, my real reason for wanting to come with you was that… my mother’s name was Eden. She was the fairy queen. She once told me that she would declare the name of the land and that everyone would abide by it.”
“Uh-huh,” Link said again, sensing where his fairy friend’s mother’s biography was heading.
“I asked her why,” Amalina continued, “and she said that she was queen and nobody goes against the wishes of any queen, least of all her, because she was the first royal putting forward a suggestion for the name of this land. She was going to name it after herself. Eden.”
“Uh-huh.”
“Well… the day before she was to publicly announce the official name of this land… she was out in the field and… an Iron Knuckle got her.”
“Uh-huh,” said Link, again, he was right. And also becoming very monotonous!
“So, I went to everybody I could find, and told them of my mother’s plans to name this beautiful land Eden. I told them how it would prosper under a delightful name. But nobody believed me. And it still remains the Unnamed Land.”
“So…” began Link. “What has that got to do with that sign… I mean, apart from it being your mother’s name and all?”
“I believe it was a sign,” said the fairy mystically. “Well, duh! Of course it was a sign. A wooden fencepost sign!” exclaimed Link.
“No, I mean the other sort of sign.”
“And how?”
“Well, maybe if we get rid of this evil, we can name the land. And then we can name it Eden. I believe that sign came from my mother, somehow. This is a very magical land. It could possibly be.”
“But we won’t name it Eden!” Link protested. “We can name it Link Land! Or even Linkalina Land, but that sounds kind of girlie, don’t you think?” Link stopped his smart comments when the fairy looked deep into his eyes.
“Stop the sarcasm, Link. I’m serious. We must do as my mother wanted.”
“OK, OK, Eden it shall be, then.” They continued their journey up the mountains and ran into no more Iron Knuckles along the way.
And then they reached their destination.
Link gazed in awe at the magnificent sight in front of him. A huge cave! Link took a deep breath; he was ready to face whatever was inside it! Link stepped forward, not realising that he had just stepped on a gigantic grey platform with a lighter shade of grey on it that made up a simple swirl. He was suddenly blinded with a very bright pink light, and automatically held his arms up to shield his face. Amalina, previously frozen in fear, regained control of herself and darted underneath Link’s hat. Finally, when the light became less bright and easier on Link’s eyes, the fellow in green looked up to see an angelic being that looked like a Great Fairy.
“I am the Great Fairy of the Temple of Rock,” she announced to Link.
“Oh I see, so… you’re good. Right?” Link asked.
The fairy chuckled. “Of course I am. I’m here to help you, brave young man. If you become stuck and unable to proceed any further in this temple, play a simple song on your Ocarina to return here. Then play another song to bring me to you and restore your health.”
“Well, what are the songs?” Link asked.
“Listen to me,” said the Great Fairy, “and play this. It is called The Sweet Soprano of Self.” She began to hum a tune, and Link got out his Ocarina and followed it with ease.
“OK, The Sweet Soprano of Self, I got that,” Link said proudly.
“Good, young man. Now, play with me… The Ode to Eden,” the Great Fairy approved.
Amalina heard the name Eden and flinched. But she stayed underneath Link’s hat. Link easily copied the Ode to Eden and bade goodbye to the Great Fairy of the Temple of Rock.
“Okay, Amalina. Are you coming into this… Temple of Rock with me?”
“Yes,” sighed his fairy. And Link entered… the be promptly knocked back out by a giant spider. “Wow, they are like those huge things I used to fight…” he gasped, once he got the majority of his breath back.
“Here we call them Spirtians,” Amalina offered helpfully. “They’re suckers for swords in the stomach!”
“Just like the others,” Link reminisced. He took his time and carefully crept towards the monster. He stabbed in three times in the stomach once it turned around. So after that, Link rushed through the narrow corridor, which was the first room of the Temple of Rock. Once he was out of there, he found himself in a big room and he was standing on a platform. There were two ramps. One led to his left – where a dormant Iron Knuckle stood guard at the bottom. And then there was one leading to the right, which then proceeded to a locked room! Link did not favour either room, so decided to go straight-ahead and jump down off the platform. He got to the edge, and then hovered there for a minute, struggling to regain his balance. It led straight to a pit of lava!
“Maybe I could just sneak past the Iron Knuckle and go into that unlocked door past it,” Link suggested to Amalina.
“Well it doesn’t look very alert, does it?” the fairy agreed.
Link decided to go down there, but first he cut some scraggly grass growing behind him. He was rewarded with some bombs. He then headed down the left path, when the ground rumbled beneath his feet.
“Whoa!” Link cried, jumping back. “Hey – I just got some bombs. What does that tell me?” he suddenly thought out loud. He stood a distance away from the thumping area and threw a bomb. Link was right. There was a big hole, in which he wasted no time in jumping down.
Inside the hole, it smelt very musty. Link advanced forward, and that’s when the tiny room started to smell like somebody had done a silent-but-deadly! “What is that terrible stench?” Amalina questioned, edging her head out from underneath Link’s hat. “It wasn’t me!” Link defended himself.
“Well, it certainly wasn’t me,” said Amalina. Link could feel her heated gaze on him.
“Hey – come on, Lina, I’d never do that in the presence of a lady!”
“You don’t seem to regard me as a lady,” Amalina retorted.
“And what makes you think that?” asked Link heatedly. How dare she blame him!
Amalina was stunned. How dare he blame her!
“Look, let’s just get out of here,” Link suggested. “But it’ll still be following you around!” Amalina nearly screamed. “Boys are just disgusting,” Link heard Amalina mutter under her breath.
“Look, I pinky-swear on my mother’s good name…” Link began.
“Don’t waste your time on quotes,” Amalina snapped. “This is really stupid, you know,” said Link, looking slightly to his left, “I don’t think it was you -or me… I think it was THAT thing!” He pointed.
“What thing!?” Amalina squeaked. Then screamed!
“What in Din’s name…?” began Link, as a big, smelly blobby thing approached them. And behind it, Link could see a treasure chest…
Link swiftly swept out his sword and cut the huge blobby thing in half.
“Whoa, what was that?” he exclaimed, breathing hard, although it wasn’t a big fight. He was also trying to get rid of the really bad smell wafting around the room.
“Link, the treasure chest!” cried Amalina. “Okay, you got it!” said Link. He clasped the handle of the treasure chest and heaved it up with all his might. But he lifted it with too much force and the little room was suddenly covered with a blinding yellow-gold light. Link was flung backwards into the beam that sent him back up to the Temple of Rock. Amalina, unsure of what to do, just followed.
“Oh, darn it!” Link exclaimed, “I bet that there will be another of those things in there when we go back in!”
“One way to find out,” Amalina suggested, and she dived back down the hole before Link could even say anything.
“I better follow,” he murmured and was just about to jump down after his fairy friend, when he heard her cry out, “Yuck!” And then she screamed. Yes, that monster was back! Link thought it resembled a Like-Like, just the original Like-Like was minus the stench!! Link dived in and once again swung his sword through the monster and made his way towards the treasure chest.
“What now?” he asked.
“Well, don’t yank it so forcefully, man!” Amalina said, impatiently. She really wanted to know what was in it. So, this time, Link carefully seized the handle and pulled more gently. And it worked! The black walls were covered in yellow light and the few simple weeds seemed to disappear with the force of the good light presence. Link noticed a Bow And Arrow in the treasure chest, along with a case to hold the arrows in! Link prized his new findings and leaped out of the hole. Finding that spectacular treasure had given Link new enthusiasm to fight the Iron Knuckle. So he shot an arrow at it so it would be aware of Link’s presence, and then he threw a couple of bombs. The Iron Knuckle started to charge at Link.
“Uh-oh!” he cried out. He was standing on a narrow pathway and if he fell… well, the lava waited! Amalina screamed and hid under Link’s daggy green hat. But Link, panicking, did not know what to do… but the Iron Knuckle was getting closer and closer and closer… Link squeezed his eyes shut tight and held out his sword. The next thing he heard was a mechanical cry of pain. Link was sure he must have been dying, for him to sound like that! And then he realised… no, he was not dead! He was alive! It was the Iron Knuckle that had screamed. It had run full length straight into Link’s protruding sword! YES, Link thought.
“Come on, Lina! We’re all right! We’re alive!” He ran down the rest of the pathway and entered the next room.
Link and Amalina looked around. It was a stone room. Beyond it lay the Boss Room!
“Amalina, you sure do have small temples in this land!” he said. He was sure that in this room he would get the key to open the next door on the other side of the main room, and in there would lay the Boss Key. Link did not think that a map and compass would be necessary here! He took a step forward. Before him was a pool of lava, with three large stone steps on it. The middle one sported a big red lever.
“So, we probably just jump across the stones and then we come across a treasure chest,” said Link, becoming cocky and overlooking the lever.
“Um, Link, I think you might need to pull that lever,” said Amalina, but either Link didn’t hear her or he took no notice. Link was already running full speed towards the first block. He jumped on it… and then it started to sink!
“Aaah!” Link screamed. He fell to his knees and nearly rolled off. Just in time, Link managed to stand up and jump to the next block (the one with the lever). That too began to sink, so Link hurried onto the third one, which did the same and then he jumped off, thinking he was free. But there was no treasure chest.
“Well, where’s the key?” he asked. There was nothing else in the room, no ledges, nothing.
“Link, you are supposed to be the Hero. You must have come across harder puzzles than this!” Amalina said, pointing to the lever on the rickety old block in the middle.
“Oh. Yes,” Link said, suddenly deep in thought.
Pulling that lever could change his whole attitude. And it did.
Link jumped back to the last platform he was just on and Amalina followed, floating along behind him. He tried not to stay on that platform too long, as it started sinking again, and of course, he wanted to hurry up so that he could go home. Link was now on the middle platform – the one with the lever.
“Well, pull it, Link!” shouted Amalina shrilly in the man’s ear.
Link, however was already trying. “It won’t budge!” he groaned. Suddenly, he realised that the platform was nearly under the hot lava.
“Move, man, move!” cried Amalina. “Jump to the next platform, Link! If this block goes under, the lever might disintegrate and then… and then you won’t be able to save us and you’ll never get to go home!” But Link had already figured that much out and he was moving very swiftly. Link reached the complete other side.
“Maybe I should try pulling it the other way,” he gasped.
Amalina calmly replied with, “Yes. Maybe you should.” So Link moved back to the platform in a fast manner and pulled the lever the other way. And guess what! It worked! The platform stopped sinking. Lava shot up from the red-hot pool. And two giant Stalfos dropped down from the ceiling – one on the left platform and one on the right. They were enormous! Bigger than the previous ones Link had encountered. Plus, their weapons were huge, too! And poor Link was stuck in the middle platform. Well, just when Link started thinking that it couldn’t get any worse, the platforms started sinking again.
“Oh no!” he cried.
“I think the trick might be to keep jumping,” Amalina suddenly whispered in his ear. “That way, the platforms won’t sink quite as quickly.”
“Right,” Link agreed firmly. Both of the monsters began advancing on Link at the same time. He was about to panic, but realised that it would do him no good. He jumped three times very quickly to make his platform go up, but by the time he started thinking it just might work, both Stalfos landed on that middle platform at the same time, making Link’s jumps absolutely useless, as they wouldn’t jump.
“Maybe they’ll fall in!” Link shouted. He performed an almost perfect back-flip over the head of the Stalfos that had come from the Boss Room side. He landed on its previous platform. Then, the two Stalfos’ platform sunk.
“Yes!” exclaimed Link, but his happiness was cut short, when he spied the two monsters using their big round shields as boats. OK, now Link knew that he was in for a big battle. He turned around and forward flipped onto the safe landing (where nothing sank!). The Stalfos gradually drifted over and they climbed up, one on either side. They looked the same, except one of them had a plain gold and pink shield and the other had a plain silver and green shield. Link made a mental note to distinguish them as Green and Pink. Pink came up on his left. Link turned and started sword fighting with it. Pink dropped its sword under Link’s and rose up, but Link pushed it back. Green (from the right side) came up from behind. Link tried to kick it away with his right foot, but Green would not move. So, in a swift movement, Link pulled his own sword up, grating it against Pink’s, which made a sharp metallic sound, and then he stabbed Green very quickly in its chest. Green did not have time to manoeuvre its shield. That held it back for a couple of seconds, so Link took a stab at Pink. Pink blocked and Link was flung back from the force. His back landed hard against Green’s shield. Luckily, Green hadn’t quite recovered, so Link hurriedly moved around and stabbed Green again some more. Green had blocked one move, Link turned back and fought a bit with Pink, then, just when Green wasn’t expecting it, Link did a quick turn and stabbed it. This was enough to finish the Stalfos off. But Link had no time to admire his own efforts or even to catch his breath, as he wasn’t finished with Pink yet. This Stalfos was a bit harder. Link had not sliced it at all yet. Not once. But after some tricky swordplay, he finally got in a blow to it. Link tried again, but this Stalfos was quicker to react than the other. The Stalfos blocked it. Luckily, Link had not tried to stab with as much force as the last time, so he was not flung back. He glanced up and saw Amalina floating in the top right hand corner of the high ceiling room.
She shouted out as loud as she could, “Slice him, you fool!”
Link could hardly hear her, but he did catch the words “slice” and “fool”.
Is she saying that Pink is a fool? Of course! I must be able to kill it! Link thought. Of course, this was not what Amalina had in fact said, but it gave Link enough motivation to grab the handle of the sword with both of his hands, jump and… WHACK!
He brought down his sword and cut off Pink’s arm! And it was the one that was holding the sword. Now Pink could only defend itself. Link kept hitting and hitting and hitting at the shield in Pink’s left hand, but that wasn’t right. Link had to be more devious than usual. He turned and started to walk slowly away, then quickly did a back-flip over the monster’s head. Link knew he had this fight won. He stabbed the Stalfos in the back three times. It fell down and died.
Amalina flew to Link, saying, “Well done! Well done! You’re not a fool after all!”
And Link suddenly realised that Amalina had been calling him a fool, not Pink the Stalfos! Link was about to insult her back, but then he heard a strange noise. He looked to where the platforms were. On the middle one, in place of the lever which had been melted off, was a wooden treasure chest. And the platform was starting to sink! Link quickly hurried, jumped over the first platform, in fact! He got there in record time, opened the treasure chest and retrieved the key inside it. Then he hurried back to the side which had the door that would take him back to the main room. Amalina slowly floated across. “Let’s go!” they both exclaimed at the same time. Link was nearly dancing as he exited the large stone room, he was hopping from one foot to the other. “I’ll bet it’s not too hard, this next room,” Link chanted to Amalina, as he made his way over to the door, took out his key and turned it in the lock. How very wrong Link was. He peeped his head through the door and nearly cried out, as if he had already been hit.
“What is it? What’s wrong?” Amalina asked.
“Well,” began Link, “you take a look and you tell me.” They crept into the room. Before them lay a wide, smooth stone floor, then there was a gap in the middle of the room, which, when Link and Amalina looked down it, led down to the shadowy darkness and ultimately… death. Going down either side of the enormous crevice were two stone ledges. In the middle was a rope. And on the other side… well, there was a narrow platform and on it were ten giant Iron Knuckles, all lined up in a row! Link took a flying leap at the rope and swung it over to the side with the Iron Knuckles. He shot an arrow at the first one, and then they began their swordplay! The Iron Knuckle brought down its axe and Link blocked it by flying his sword upwards. He did it with such force that, luckily his sword didn’t break, but the Iron Knuckle actually hit itself in its face with its own axe! Link snickered. He did a back-flip back off the ledge, meaning to catch onto the rope. But Link just missed it! He started to fall down into the depths and was nearly past the point of survival, when he managed to grab onto the very end of the rope! His hands clutched it at the bottom and his legs dangled below. Link shouted out as his grip loosened. Swinging in the air, Link hoisted himself up, one hand at a time. Eventually, he was at the point again where he could swing and grab hold of the ledge.
But just then, Amalina shouted, “Link! Watch it! Look out!” The Iron Knuckle swung its axe into the ground. The whole room shook and then Iron Knuckle number two awoke! But Iron Knuckle #1’s axe had hit the ground so hard that it was flung over the edge! It’s sword gashed Link’s right leg as it fell. Down… down… And Link never heard it hit the bottom. Either falling would mean certain death or this was a bottomless pit. As the Iron Knuckle fell, it cut off a bit of rope too. Had Link fallen the way he had before again, he would have had no hope. But now he did! He twisted his body around, so that he was facing the right hand ledge, and climbed up a bit more. He swung high and hard on the rope, jumped… and landed on his feet on the high right hand ledge. The second Iron Knuckle was confused, looking around for him. Link shot two arrows at it and they both hit. Next, Link threw a bomb. The Iron Knuckle charged at the ledge and rammed its axe at it. The whole ledge began to crumble with the force of the blow.
“What can go wrong, will go wrong,” Link muttered, as he struggled to keep his posture on the ledge as it swayed. Then, Link noticed cracks going up the ledge. This ledge would join the first Iron Knuckle, he suddenly realised. He heard Amalina shriek from over by the rope and then he was flung forward. He stepped down on the ledge hard, but it crumbled even more. Rocks were flying out from the edges and, if Link hadn’t known it before, he now knew that it was time to move… and fast. This decision was made for him anyway, as he was once again flung forward into an awkward front-flip. Link held his sword over his head and stabbed Iron Knuckle #2’s head as he flew over it. The Iron Knuckle had been killed! But there was more to worry about now! Link landed hard on his bottom. He stood up and turned around just in time to see the whole ledge crumble down into nothing… or rather, into the black depths below. Link stood up and hunched over, clutching at his knees and breathing hard.
“Link, are you all right?” Amalina called from the same place.
“Yeah. Yeah!” he mustered a lot of strength and called back. Link really wanted to quit, but he had to fight these next monsters. There were eight more to go! So, Link fired two arrows at Iron Knuckle #3. One to awaken it and one to count as a hit. Neither failed. Link threw another bomb. The Iron Knuckle started to run at Link. Link moved over so that he was just standing on the very edge of the ledge. The Iron Knuckle kept running. Just as it was close enough, Link ducked to the left and rolled. The Iron Knuckle never had a chance, it literally flew straight over. Link stood up wearily. “Three down, seven to go,” he gasped, and in a brief moment of satisfaction, Link forgot about the black depths behind him and stepped backwards. He wavered on the ledge for an instant before crying out and falling backward. He quickly flipped and pushed himself forward, just managing to grab onto the ledge and heave himself up. Another narrow, lucky escape! Link ran at the fourth Iron Knuckle and stabbed it. Then, he sprinted back, jumped, grabbed the rope and pushed himself with an immensely strong force. His legs disentangled themselves from the rope and flew away from it as Link managed a turnaround on the other side. As Link came forward, his feet struck the Iron Knuckle in the head. He knocked it over, let go of the rope and turned in mid-air. He executed a perfect landing and stabbed Iron Knuckle #4 while it was lying down. Link turned to the remaining creatures and decided to dispose of them like targets. He fired an arrow at Iron Knuckle #5, then at Iron Knuckle #6 and so on. All of the monsters awoke. Link soon realised that he was out of arrows. He threw a couple of bombs, which nearly killed Iron Knuckle #5 and then one bomb got rid of both Iron Knuckles #8 and #9. Iron Knuckle flailed around for a while, and Link thought it would keep it busy for a while, so he focused more on the others. Link zeroed in at Iron Knuckle #6 and charged at it, ramming his sword into its stomach. The creature didn’t have time to react and it died nearly instantly. Link was pleased. He now only had to destroy Iron Knuckles #5, #7 and #10. But the problem was, he was running out of arrows and bombs. And there were three angry monsters making their way towards him. He grabbed the rope and swung back over the gap onto the other side.
“I can’t lure them with anything and I have no items left!” he whispered to Amalina. “What do I do?” “I don’t know. How are you going to kill them? Maybe you could try more with your sword. You destroyed those Stalfos really well with it.”
“Yes, I did, didn’t I? I will do that. Thank-you, Amalina.”
Link prepared himself to run and grab the rope, when Amalina said, “Link! Your leg is bleeding. You were cut.”
“No time to worry about it now,” he said. And then… “Wait. There are three Iron Knuckles!”
“Well, you killed three in the field,” Amalina reasoned.
“But I hurt myself pretty badly. What if it happens again?” Link protested.
Amalina looked at him, her eyes full of pleading. “That’s a chance you’ll just have to take. Save our land, Link. Save us.”
Link swung back over to the ledge. Well, he tried, but the rope was getting harder to hold on to! And Link jumped a moment too soon! The third time he had nearly fallen into the pit! But he didn’t, luckily. Link grabbed hold of the end of the ledge and dangled there for a moment. Then he managed to haul himself up. He braced himself for another fight with the remaining three Iron Knuckles. Amalina’s words played in his mind… “Save our land, Link. Save us.” Iron Knuckle #5 was pretty weak now. It didn’t have the strength to fight back. Link just jumped high into the air and dove straight at it, the sword sticking into the monster. Again, it flailed around blindly for a while and Link managed to stab it again. It had no more strength left and no more hope. It died. Link executed a perfect roll between the legs of Iron Knuckle #10, turned around and stabbed it in the back. The creature turned angrily and raised its axe. Link jumped back and then he jumped to his right. This Iron Knuckle didn’t bring down his axe. He charged towards Link. “Link! Behind you!” Link heard Amalina shout out. He turned around just in time to see Iron Knuckle #7 advancing and about to strike. Link hit it in the stomach. It reared back and Link flew at it, attacking. Just as well, too, because Iron Knuckle #10 hit the ground as Link jumped off it! Link felt a tiny prick on his left ankle. Sure enough, he’d cut himself on the axe. But there was no time to feel any more pain. Link stabbed Iron Knuckle #7 in the head and then he twisted around in mid-air and stabbed Iron Knuckle #10 in the same place. As Link landed, the sword came down as well, through Iron Knuckle #10’s face. It fell to the ground and was no more. Link stood there laughing, just as Iron Knuckle #7 began to strike. Link heard Amalina scream and he turned around.
“Whoa!” he cried and tried to flip backwards, but he copped the axe in his stomach. “Aaah!” he shouted out in pain as he fell down. To make matters worse, he also landed on his stomach! Link rolled over, clutching at his wound.
“Oh no,” whispered the fairy. “It’s going to finish him off.” She knew that she had to do something. Iron Knuckle #7 was making its way towards Link, holding its axe in two enormous hands. It walked like an executor, showing no mercy. And that was its job, too.

Amalina flew over to the big creature and whispered in its ear, “You know, he’s not the one who wants to destroy you…” The Iron Knuckle turned its head, showing curiosity and not so much vengeance. It was interested. Or maybe it just wanted another easy kill… either way, Amalina had to keep going. If Link died she wouldn’t be able to bear the fact that she was the one who made him keep going. But either way now, both Link and Amalina would come out as winners or losers. “It’s… it’s your boss who wants to destroy you.”
Iron Knuckle #7 shook its head.
“We’re coming to kill the boss for you. For everybody. But we need the key to your Boss’ room.”
The Iron Knuckle stood there, thoughtful for a second. Link continued to lie on the ground, unable to do anything, but watch Amalina’s clever deceit. If only it would work. Suddenly, much to both Link and Amalina’s surprise, the Iron Knuckle lowered its axe and put it on the ground. It nodded and clapped its hands. A bright pink beam of light appeared next to Link. And a big purple treasure chest was lowered down through the light.
“Oh my gosh,” said Amalina. It worked! The Iron Knuckle made its way towards Link and picked him up in one enormous hand. It slung the man over its shoulder. Then, with the other hand, it opened the latch of the treasure chest and retrieved the big gold and ruby Boss key. It set Link on the ground. Amalina hovered above Link, wondering if he would faint.
Link just said, “The Sweet Soprano Of Self! The Ode To Eden!” Then he fell down in a faint. The Iron Knuckle looked at Amalina guiltily and then it shrugged, bent down and slapped Link really hard across his face. “Ouch!” cried Link! He sat up, his stomach still with that searing pain. “I must play the Sweet Soprano Of Self. It will help me,” he said.
And then he looked at the Iron Knuckle and screamed like a girl!
Amalina explained the whole thing about the Iron Knuckle to Link, but didn’t mention that she was lying to it. Link could tell from her tone anyway, but Iron Knuckles are big, dumb and stupid and didn’t have a clue.
“Isn’t that right?” she winked. “We are here to save you all from the wrath of your boss.”
“Oh, yes,” Link agreed. He said he’d heard the whole thing, but his memory had kind of escaped him when he had fainted. Link managed to find his Ocarina and played the Sweet Soprano Of Self. A white light engulfed him and Amalina and the Iron Knuckle ran to fit into it. They were transported back to the grey stone, where Link, still clutching his Ocarina tightly, played the Ode To Eden. The fairy appeared before him, but she was shell-shocked when she saw the Iron Knuckle accompany the duo.
Amalina explained everything as she had to Link. “Oh, yes,” Link said again, through his agony. The fairy could also tell from Amalina’s tone that there had been a big problem and Amalina had had to make something up.
“Well, okay,” said the Great Fairy. She restored Link’s health by placing her hands above his body and pushing some sort of energy in. Link was lying down and writhed under her power. It seemed to sting a little. But he could tell when she had finished. He stood up, ready to face whatever might be inside that temple once again. Link bade goodbye to the Great Fairy, after she said that these songs could only be used once and he, Amalina and the Iron Knuckle entered the Temple Of Rock once again. Link killed another spider in the entrance and then they were in the big main room again, lava surrounding the bottom. They followed the path down to the room that had previously held the Stalfos. Link jumped across the stones, full of energy and life. Amalina fluttered above, but the Iron Knuckle was very big and heavy and it was hard for it to get across as well. It jumped onto the first block very hard and it started sinking rapidly. But the Iron Knuckle jumped again and again and again and finally, it was off onto the other side. It handed the big boss key to Link, who admired it for a few seconds, until Amalina finally said, “Hurry up, Link! Let’s get in there and fight!”
“Ha,” began Link, “I fight. You stand there and scream.”
“But you must admit I’ve saved your life on more than a few occasions by doing that,” Amalina giggled.
“True, true,” Link admitted and finally he put the key into the lock. He turned it and pushed open the door. The man, the fairy and the Iron Knuckle stood mesmerised for an instant, before they strode firmly into the big room, ready to face whatever was inside… The Iron Knuckle seemed to be shivering in its big masculine body. Link surveyed the room, with Amalina closely fluttering by his head. The room was actually very small, but there was a high ceiling. This side of the door was clean, shiny brass! There was also a tiny pond of lava in the middle of the room that could easily be jumped over, but it stretched to the sides of the room. It had a grey stone sticking out of the middle of it. Link casually walked towards it, crouched by the edge of the little lava pool and stretched his hand out to it.
“Hey!” he called, “it feels like a gossip stone!” “What’s a gossip stone?” asked Amalina. “What does it do? What do you usually do when you come across a gossip stone?”
“Well,” began Link, “I usually… I’ll show you.” He stretched out his sword and hit the stone. It jittered a little but nothing happened. Link sprinted back to Amalina and the Iron Knuckle. The Iron Knuckle was looking around the high corners of the room, but stayed rooted to the ground. Link nearly ran into the door and he stopped suddenly, swiftly turned around and pulled out his new bow and arrow. He glanced at Amalina and winked.
“What?” asked Amalina, confused?
“Well, this could be a target,” Link explained. “Obviously, the boss is going to come soon, so I’d better sharpen up my archery skills… Pardon the pun!” Link pulled back the arrow and shot it. It landed perfectly in the middle of the stone. And then suddenly… the whole room began to shake. Lava darted out all around the stone in the pool. A few rocks crumbled from the ceiling. Link was having a hard time trying to keep his balance. The Iron Knuckle had already fallen, and rolled to the left side of the room. It lay in a heap in the corner.
“Whoa!” cried Link. “What did I do? I didn’t sharpen up my skills enough! The boss is coming! The boss is coming!”
“Now, where have I heard something like that before?” Amalina muttered to herself, but then decided that it wasn’t worth worrying about now. The boss was coming! The boss was coming!
“Link!” she shouted back. “I think your skills are just fine! And I think you might have awoken the boss by shooting the arrow at that stone!”
“Maybe!” Link replied. He still looked like a struggling surfer. They had to shout, because a lot of noise was being made, too. Suddenly, the room was still.
“Hmmmmmmmmm…” came a loud voice. “Hmmmmmmmmm…” And then, the rock in the middle of the pool exploded! BANG!
It was so loud, that Link finally fell and Amalina dropped from the sky, landing on Link’s body.
“Whoa, what happened there?” Link asked, rubbing at his head. “Don’t tell me that the room was the boss?” “I… don’t think so,” Amalina replied. She looked back towards the lava pit and saw a tiny little thing there in place of the rock. “Hey… what’s that wormlike thing over there?” she asked Link.
He looked. “I don’t know. In fact, I have no idea whatsoever.”
It was a little green thing, about ten inches tall and half an inch wide. “Hmmmmmmmmm…” it said.
“Ohhhhhhhh no! No way!” exclaimed Link. “THAT cannot be the boss! No way! It’s puny!”
The little worm thing seemed to stretch. “You disobeyed my orders,” it said in a voice that was way louder than would be expected for its size.
“It’s the boss,” Link said matter-of-factly to Amalina. “This should be simple!”
“That’s what you said last time,” the fairy informed him. “And the time before that.”
“Whatever,” said Link.
The boss turned to them. “Here to destroy me?” it asked, no, more like, STATED, in that same threatening voice. “Well, your little friend here… or should I say extremely large and stupid friend… will be punished for disobeying me.” It pointed its end to indicate the Iron Knuckle slouched unconscious in the corner. It sucked in a huge breath of air and blew out a fireball. The fireball engulfed the Iron Knuckle, leaving no trace whatsoever that it had been there. Everything seemed quiet. From the big disaster before… to this serenity of no sound. But Link’s heart was pounding. Soon, there would be eruptions of sound. The shaking of the room had subsided, but Link was sure that his head would be shaking soon enough. After the worm thing blew out all that fire, its body actually tripled in size!
“Oh NO!” shouted Link, fury building up inside him. “You killed my new friend! Now you’re gonna pay!” He lurched forward in all his rage and dived at the Boss. But it simply hovered above the lava and spurted a great gush of pure water out of its tail. Link was caught in the tidal wave and thrust backward against the big brass door.
“Aaah!” Link shouted. Tears spurted out of his eyes. He lay on the ground.
“Ha-ha-ha-ha. You’re mine!” the Boss announced. It flew over to Link and hovered above, sucking in some more air. It became ready to spit out another gigantic fireball, when…
“No!” Amalina shouted, and flew up at a mile a minute towards the Boss, the fastest she had ever flown. She let loose a fairy punch at the Boss, striking it in its big black eye. Ordinarily, a fairy punch would not help matters much, but the Boss’ weakness seemed to be in its eyes.
“Link!” Amalina shouted. “Shoot for the eyes!”
Link moaned weakly on the floor.
“Hey,” Amalina whispered to herself, as she landed another punch on the creature’s other eye, “Some fairies have healing powers. Maybe I’m one. Those songs could only be used once. Maybe I can try and let out my healing powers. Help me, Mother.” She punched the boss again and it flew backward, upside down, around and around. While it was upside down, it had to suddenly breathe again, and all of the fire flew the other way. Meanwhile, Amalina had flown down to Link and hovered above him, mustering strength and trying to let it out.
“It’s not working!” she groaned in frustration. Plus, the boss had recovered and was moving back. All of a sudden, Amalina heard a voice in her head. “Amalina, see your healing powers. See him fight again and live to tell the tale. You are a brave young fairy. See it…” And the voice disappeared as quickly and as sudden as it had come. Tears pricked at Amalina’s little eyes, but she saw through them and visualised Link battling the boss and winning, too!
And then… Link suddenly blinked. “Oh, ow, my poor head,” he murmured. And then the boss was nearly upon him and Amalina.
“Oh my… aaah!” Amalina cried, as the boss whacked her away to the left with its tail. She landed on the floor with quite a large thump for a fairy. Link, recovering, saw his chance and seized upon it. As the boss was priding itself upon shooing Amalina away, Link cut off its tail that spurted water, with his sword. The boss screamed. It dropped to the ground and lay motionless. Link crept up and prodded it in its side with his sword. It didn’t move. Link, once again becoming quite cocky, seemed to ‘forget’ to finish it off and hurried over to see if Amalina was alright.
The boss had a trick up its sleeve and it worked. As soon as Link turned his back and hurried away, it lurched upward and head-butted Link, who went sprawling forward over to Amalina. Link was knocked into the air, his arms and legs flailing, until he dropped onto the floor in a forward roll.
“Aaah!” Link screamed. Luckily though, the roll had saved him, and seeing red, he staggered to his feet and eyed the Boss. He had just enough time to grab two arrows and, one after the other, he shot them into the Boss’s right and then left eye. Well, if a fairy punch had had the effect that it had before, these arrows were definitely just enough to finish off the Boss. It screamed a loud, piercing shout and tumbled backward. Link rushed over and stabbed it and stabbed it and stabbed it, until it dissolved into nothing. Finally, Link realised. He had won the fight! The boss had been destroyed! A blue transporter light flickered over across the stream of lava. Link looked to Amalina’s lifeless body, laying still on the floor.
“She saved me,” Link whispered of Amalina’s healing powers on him. “What can I do for her now?” He felt a sensation of tears suddenly streaming down his face, but he brushed them away with his wrist in aggravation. And then, the whole room began to shake like before. Only it was worse this time. Rocks fell from the ceiling and Link jumped back and forward and then from side to side to avoid them. He realised that he had to make it to the transporter beam before the whole room collapsed. But would he make it to Amalina in time… with more to spare? Link wasted no time at all. He jumped to the left side and then performed a sideways roll, until he landed behind the fairy. He gently scooped her up in the palms of his hands and covered with them, as he ran forward. An exceptionally large rock landed right in front of him. Link shouted and skidded. He landed hard on his back, but he still clutched Amalina in his hands. He got up and sidestepped to the right as rocks began to fall harder and louder. Big, grey, hard rocks falling ninety to the dozen! Link had reached the lava pool and dived across, landing awkwardly on the other side. He rolled right next to the transporter beam. Link stood up and took one last look behind him… the ceiling had started falling. It had already collapsed by the door and was fast approaching the other side. Link jumped into the transporter beam, when Amalina fell out of his hands. “No!” Link cried. The transporter beam started moving upwards. Link fell to the floor of the beam and stretched out his right hand and managed to grab hold of Amalina’s little legs. Then the beam dissolved with both Link and Amalina inside.
Soon, Link found himself in a big room, surrounding by white fluffy clouds, like the rooms he had been in before. Something appeared before him. It was only tiny, but it was magnificent. It was a beautiful fairy and she sported transparent wings with little bits of silver creasing through them. Her hair was long and a pretty golden blonde colour. The dress she wore was pale blue. It hugged her upper body and had no straps, it was simply spiked up the top. The skirt part was all in bits like leaves. It spread away from her body and, like her wings, sported glittery silver stripes through it.
“Eden,” Link murmured, before he even realised what he was saying.
“Yes. You saved the land,” Eden simply said. “Although I will not be on it to see it prosper, I am proud that it will now do that. Prosper under my daughter’s ruling. You have reached my realm… with my daughter. Amalina.”
“Yes, but…” Link began.
“I know, dear boy. What you see now is not the Amalina that will be. She will rule the land under the delightful name of Eden.” Eden chuckled a tinkling, feminine laugh. “Give her to me.”
Link handed over Amalina, who was much smaller than her mother. Amalina floated in the air, while Eden hummed a healing tune. The Ode To Eden. Amalina slowly opened her eyes and said, “Thankyou, Link. Now you may go. I shall send Epona. This land will now be named Eden. Everybody will know about you. Everybody will know that you saved us.” She paused. “And everybody will know that you named this land, in a selfless manner. That you named it Eden.” She managed a little laugh. “And not Linkalina Land or whatever!”
Link laughed with her, wondering what was to happen next.

And then everything went black…

Link found himself lying on the ground near to the entrance of the cave into which he had entered Eden. He felt strange, like he had just been transported through a swirling whirlwind from another place and time. Link heard a voice ringing in his ears, “Thank-you, Link. We will never forget you…”
Link had heard that voice before. But from where? A word entered his mind… FAIRY.
“Navi?” Link guessed out loud, in a whisper.
“No,” chuckled a girl’s voice from his left-hand side. He looked and saw Malon crouching beside him.
“Malon,” he gasped. “What are you doing here? Where am I, more to the point?”
“You are at the ranch. You’ve returned from the land that you went to, Link. The land, which I believe, you saved. Since you are back here… you did… you did save it, didn’t you?”
And then all the memories came back to Link. The Iron Knuckles, Amalina, Eden, Unnamed Land (which was now called Eden), The Temple Of Rock… and Epona. “Epona!” he cried.
“No need to shout, Link. She must have transported back to some other place on this ranch,” Malon suggested.
Link remembered Amalina saying, “I will send Epona back to you.” He repeated it.
“Link, you’re delusional!” Malon said, but then she heard a tinkling noise behind her. She turned around and Link sat up. A bright light pierced the pair’s eyes. Suddenly, it just dissolved away, leaving Epona standing there, whinnying and shaking her mane roughly, from side to side.
“Yay! Thank-you, Amalina!” Link shouted and threw his hands in the air as he stood up. But he doubted that she could hear him now. “Yes, Malon. I sure did save the land,” he laughed.
Malon smiled, too. Link and Malon hurried over to the horse, both with a look in their eyes that suggested they had a lot to talk about. Link stroked Epona’s mane and he thought of Amalina as he looked out upon the ranch, glad to be back in Hyrule. Link turned to face Malon and wondered if Amalina had had a final talk with her mother. He hoped she had.

THE END.