[EDITING] The Legend of Zelda: Goddess of Secrecy

Mini Dungeon 1 - The Royal Vault

...that was the Royal Vault. The blue steel shimmered as light filtered in from the outside world. A few torches flickered in the otherwise empty room.

Zelda whispered something, and a light orb appeared by her head. It had a fairly weak shine to it, but Link saw it glow a little brighter as it went into a slightly darker part of the room.

Looking around the room, Zelda said, "Now, let's find that armor." She walked over to the only door in the room, and stood there. She turned back to Link. "Come on! You're not going to make me open this door, are you?"

Link joined her at the door, and turned the gear. Like the one before, it swung open with a loud groan, but the room behind it was far more to it than the first one they had entered.

Large barred off sections blocked other doors that led further into the Vault. Zelda pointed straight ahead of them. "That one is going to have the monster in it, I'm sure of it. It's bolted shut. You wouldn't lock up something like that if it wasn't important."

Sure enough, the large door on the other end of the room was bolted shut with a large iron bar. They would to find a key though to open it, and who knew where one of those were hiding in the Vault.

Suddenly, Zelda loosed an arrow at the ceiling. Link watched a large insectoid creature as it crumpled up and fell to the ground. He turned back to Zelda as the golden metal bow in her hands began to stop shimmering. She faced him, asking, "What? Did you still think I couldn't use it?"

She shook her head and walked down a flight of stairs further into the Vault. "Not you too."

Link quickly followed behind Zelda as she marched on. He looked around behind the metal bars. One of the doors still stood ajar behind a mostly rusted set. He pointed towards it. "There. Seems as good a place to start."

Zelda inclined her head in agreement. "Sure. Let's go." She marched up to the bars, quickly slipping through. Link hurried to follow.

The room was empty. Link rubbed the back of his neck, embarrassed at his complete failure of a guess. Zelda looked up, saying, "Something was in here though."

Following her look, Link saw the giant blue blob on the ceiling. Inside it crawled a large green creature, with budding limbs. It looked down at the two of them, and tilted its head.

Zelda murmured, "That's repulsive." She covered her nose and lowered her bow.

The chu dropped from the ceiling, and the little insect crawling around inside tried to get its eye back on Link and Zelda. Link slashed at the chu, but unlike other chus he had faced before, after he removed his sword, the gelatinous form merged back together.

So Link changed his attack towards the worm inside the chu. It tried to squirm away, but Link's blade was faster. After a few well-timed blows, the worm curled up and blackened. And once the worm was dead, the chu shriveled up and died with it.

With the chu worm dead, Link turned back to Zelda. Motivated by his quick display of combat, she asked as her smile brightened, "There are only three other rooms left. How hard could this be?"

As Zelda left the room, Link's arms drooped a little. He had an idea about how hard it was going to be, but he would hate to ruin her mood. He was finding very suddenly that he didn't want to make her hide her smile. He followed behind Zelda before she got too far away, dealing with a few more of the insect creatures as they tried to find another open door.

Two of the doors remaining were out of reach for them. Link saw a gap at the top the bars that blocked them off. There were gold plates with red gemstones in the middle on the ceiling on the other side of the bars. Link figured he would be able to get in there one day, but for now what was behind those doors was out of reach.

That left one other door. This time Link led the way into the room. It was much larger, with a chest on a higher platform. Zelda smiled, and, despite his attempts to lead, raced over to the platform. As she climbed the ladder, a bolt latched on the door. Tightening his grip on his sword, Link readied himself for a fight.

Two lizalfos dropped down to his level, and a third one landed on the platform with Zelda. Unlike the ones he had fought in Silvervien Mines, these monsters had crude axes tied to their tails. Link kept an eye on the sharpened ends as he readied himself, eyes going quickly between the two creatures.

He let the monsters move first. One came at his left, and Link quickly pushed it back with sharp cuts beneath the lizard's defenses. As it retreated, its ally came at Link's right.

Link sidestepped to the right to get a wider range for his sword on the lizalfos's side. He knocked the lizalfos off its feet and onto its back. He quickly jumped and drove his blade into the creature's chest. As it disappeared, he pulled his sword free and turned to the remaining one. Before he could attack however, the lizalfos teetered over. A long, gold arrow bloomed from its neck before it vanished. Link turned to look at Zelda. She waved a key at him, no sign of the lizalfos that had landed beside her or the long iron bolt that they needed to get the door open.

His jaw slacked and he tilted his head. He felt bad for his earlier thoughts about the princess helping. The stories weren't as true as reality, it seemed. Zelda was a true marksman, despite what he was expecting.

Zelda dropped down next to him as the last of the lizalfos disappeared and the door behind them opened once more. She asked, "What are you waiting for? We've got the key. Come on, Link!" Grabbing Link by the arm again, she pulled him along back into the main room, before she rushed to the big vault door that was bolted shut.

As Link caught up, she said, "I saw it briefly swimming through the river. It's probably a little at odds not being in water, but it's still huge. I'm going to stay back and take my shots from a distance, so you have to do most of the damage on it. Got it?"

Glancing at Zelda's quiver, Link replied, "You're a little low on arrows."

Zelda looked at her quiver, agreeing, "So it would seem." She grinned at him, before snapping her fingers. There was a shimmer of light and the arrows reappeared in her quiver. She asked, "So, are you ready now that I can watch your back?"

"How did you?" Link asked, pointing at the refilled quiver.

The princess shook her head. "You have so much to learn, Link. But this isn't the place for a magic lesson. We have work to do." She slid the key into the lock as Link recollected himself. As the door swung open, she asked, "Do you know what to do, or are you still distracted by my magic?"

Link replied, suddenly a need to seem more impressive, "I've fought bigger things than this."

Zelda shrugged, unaffected by the attempt. "If you say so. You lead." She waved her hands for Link to head in.

Taking a deep breath, Link walked down the tunnel into the chamber beyond. Zelda was behind him, with her bow in hand. He tried to tell himself that that was good, but he wasn't sure how to feel about Zelda. He decided to try and be positive about it. He liked her here, but she was definitely a lot. And still the Princess.

There was a rumbling ahead. Link tightened his hold on hissword and readjusted his grip on his shield, and carried on...