The Demon Lord's Inner Battle

Chapter 10

I wake up from the sunlight through the window. Phew. I needed that rest. Alright today I'm heading for Eldin.

I get out of bed and head for a bath. Been way too long. I smell like one of these Bokoblins...

After I feel clean, I get dressed and head outside. Right, before I go, I should tell that demon that Kukiel is safe.

I head to the graveyard and climb down the ladder to his house. After knocking I enter.

"Hello uhm... Batrix...? I'm sorry, your name is so difficult to remember for me."

The demon turns towards me and laughs.

"No worries. Just call me Bat. Did you find her?"

I smile at him and nod.

"Yeah. She's safe and sound. I found her the night I was here already but couldn't come to tell you earlier. I'm sorry."

He shakes his head.

"No, no. Please. I appreciate that you went through the bother of coming here to tell me at all."

I smile.

"I promised you."

He nods and smiles brightly. I wave to him and head for the goddess statue to put in the tablet for Eldin.

Just like before, a light beam is hitting through the clouds. A red one this time.

"Master. The Eldin Volcano is like I already mentioned before, a scorching hot area. I suggest you get a fire proof shield before heading there."

Fireproof, huh? Guess I'm gonna check out the market for one. So I head over to the tent and buy an iron shield from the item shop. Since I'm already here, I should stock up on healing potions, too.

Alright now go get Crimson. I walk to the sparring hall and see Instructor Owlan looking into the sky. Crimson and Sapphire fly around, making me smile.

"As you see, he's getting better and better. How are you?"

I didn't noticed the instructor came over to me and nod.

"I'm happy his recovery is going so well. I rested and am about to head to the surface again."

He nods and calls down the two loftwings. They land next to us and greet me with a nudge of their beaks.

"Haha. Hey guys. Oh right. Did they got food already?"

I turn to my instructor and he nods.

"Yes. I fed them when I saw you leave the dorms. I expected you wanted to head out so I made sure Crimson is ready."

I bow to him.

"Thank you, sir. Alright Crimson. Let's go."

I pet his beak and he lowers himself for me to hop on. As we take off, the instructor calls out to me.

"Be careful, Link!"

I nod and wave to him and Crimson heads to the red light pillar in the sky.

"Alright, buddy. See you later. Be a good boy and don't miss me too much."

I pet Crimson's head as he eyes me worried. He must think about last time I got hurt....

"Don't worry. I will come back to you, I promise."

I lay down on his neck and hug him strongly. Then I jump off and head for the unknown land.

"We arrived at Eldin Volcano. Approximatly 65% of the region is covered by lava. Please proceed with caution with flameable fabric."

Fi gives me a sum up of the area as soon as we land. Oh my. 65% of lava? This is gonna be lovely. I'm going to have to be very careful to not get my clothes on fire.

Carefully I proceed to look for any hint for Zeldas whereabouts. That spring is probably also located at a temple like the first one. So I'm gonna keep an eye out for one.

As I search the area, I come across a lot of burning enemies. They must have adapted to the heat and lava here. They don't seem to mind at all that they're literly burning.

I am extra cautious and block their attacks with my iron shield so I don't catch fire.

After a while I spot the entrance to the temple on top of a steep hill of some sorts. There are Bokoblins on wooden platforms walking around.

I take out my slingshot and hit them. Then I quickly run up there and slash them with my sword.

"Whoa!"

A boulder almost hit me as it rolls past me and I look up. Oh wow what assholes. Up there are Bokoblins with boulders, about to throw them down at me. We'll see about that.

I take aim at them and they let go of the boulder, which crushes them beneath. Ouch.

With the path clear, I head to the top and overhear some mole like creatures. They talk about the key being burried somewhere in pieces. Guess I know what I'm gonna look for now.

Luckily finding them isn't hard and I quickly gather all of them and head back to the entrance.

I open the door and some scorching hot air is flowing out. I take a deep breath and head inside.

I'm standing infront of a giant lava pool with some platforms around. One wrong step and I'm done for... I take a few steps back and dash towards the platform.

I do that a couple of times more until I see a lizard monster.

"Master, be careful. That's a Lizalfos. They are strong and fast."

I nod at Fi's warning and approach him. He's not too hard. A little challenging but I expected worse. Being too occupied with fighting him, though I don't notice a fire Kees attacking me from the side and my tunic catches fire.

"Argh! Crap!"

I quickly take out my water bottle and pour it onto my tunic. Luckily the fire is out but my arm has a burn wound now.

I look around if there are any enemies and take care of it as good as I can. I bandage it with some veins I got from the Faron Woods and drink some of my healing potion against the pain.

After a little rest I continue my journey. With the platforms now being too far away from each other to jump I'm forced to proceed on a giant boulder around the lava pool. How. Can. This. Be. Safe?!

Ugh. Carefully I balance around until I am presented with a super narrow path of lava and deep abyss around. Oh my... don't fall here... don't fall here...

I slowly walk through the narrow path on the boulder but the boulder spins too fast and I lose balance. I try to get back to the middle but I can't. Crap!

I start panicking when suddenly the boulder stops spinning and I am able to getting back to the middle. I look around me. Was that...?

I shake my head and continue slowly. I musn't get distracted. I need to focus on my task.

For the rest of the time it feels way easier to proceed. The boulder goes exacly where I want it to and doesn't spin too fast anymore. It's almost like someone's controlling it for me...

After a felt eternity I can finally jump off the boulder and enter the locked room with the puzzle piece I found.

I know he's in there... and this time I am sure I have to fight him... we're enemies after all...

I unlock the door, trying to ignore that stinging pain in my chest.