The Legend of Zelda: Temple of Time

•Chapter 10•

"Zelda?!" Link gasped.

Her simple purple dress was all tattered and ripped. Her white cloak was wrapped tightly around her shoulders. Her hair was a mess but yet, she still looked elegant.

"Link!" She ran over to them. "What the hell are you doing, jumping off of bridges?!"

"No, you don't understand!" Link quickly explained what had happened.

"That sounds like a close one. You're lucky what's left of this lake was below you." She turned to Midna. "Are you okay?"

"Yes." She said weakly. "Put me down, Link." She scrambled away from him. Then she glanced around. "So this is Lake Hylia? Not much water, is there?"

"I'm afraid not." Zelda said grimly.

"We should look around." Link said. Epona got to her feet.

"Is that a Zora?" Midna whispered suddenly. They looked. Indeed, there was a figure on the top of the shore. It looked like a combination of human and fish and it carried a spear and wore a helmet. He was hunched over.

Link walked slowly over to him. "Sir?"

The Zora glanced at him. "What is it?!"

"What happened to the water?"

The Zora sighed. "The drop in water has been faster than predicted. At this rate, it'll be dry before we know it."

"What's causing it?" Zelda asked.

"I am not sure. Something must've happened at Zora's Domain. The source of the water."

"We should go check it out." Midna said.

"Way ahead of you."

"Thank you, sir." Zelda said.

The group began to follow the river, walking for awhile. Link was walking in it as was Epona. It was so dried up, that the deeper areas were only up to Link's knees. Midna and Zelda sat on Epona. After about two hours of walking, Link climbed on Epona's back, too. After three hours, they took a break.

It took them four hours to get all the way upstream.

"It never fails to amaze me how big Hyrule is." Zelda whispered.

"This is nothing compared to where I'm from." Midna laughed.

"And where are you from?" Link asked.

Midna averted his eyes. "Let's just keep going."

Zelda shivered. "It's getting cold."

Link nodded. Yeah the temperature just dropped considerably.

"Look down there." Midna pointed to the base of a hill. It led to another river, which was frozen over. Link figured that the fact they were surrounded by cliff faces on all sides was what was making the cold air stay.

"I say we follow it." Zelda proposed.

They headed down the hill slowly and began to walk along the ice, slowly, so they didn't trip. They ended up going through a tunnel that opened up into a huge, beautiful cavern.

Zelda sighed. "It's so beautiful."

"Not as much as you." Link winked. Midna clenched her teeny fists.

"You flatter me." Zelda winked back.

Straight ahead was what looked like what was once a waterfall, but was now completely frozen over. As was everything else.

"This is why the water isn't flowing properly." Zelda breathed.

"But why is it frozen?" Midna asked. "This isn't natural. I mean, I thought it was getting colder, but who would guess it was completely frozen?!"