Waking of Friday, August 11, 2017 ~ 5
I warped to Robbie’s place, and
spoke with Cherry.
But I was still a few gears
short—she wouldn’t be crafting me the Ancient Cuirass today.
Rats.
I went back outside. Full of the
restlessness of the thwarted, I again regarded the large, cubic maze standing
in the sea. The last (and only) time I’d tried to paraglide to it, I’d run out
of stamina just before I got there.
I had more stamina now.
....
In a raging fit of stupid, I leapt
for it again.
The wind was not on my side.
One, two, three, and four Guardian
Flyers once again came into view as I neared, sweeping over the corridors like
vultures. Did Guardian Stalkers roam the paths beneath?
There was the entrance, that
solitary gap in the strange, monumental edifice.
I touched down near the lip with
both altitude and stamina to spare.
Lomei
Labyrinth Island it was called.
A Guardian Stalker crouched at the
far end of the large, central court.
It wasn’t moving.
I consulted my map.
Only one pathway seemed to lead to the
shrine at the back, the first pathway on the right off the central court.
I took a step—
And the monk of the Sheikah Shrine
addressed me. His name was Tu Ka’Loh.
His treasure would be mine if I
could find the end of the labyrinth.
And as his words ended, I realized
the boundary of his foreboding welcome must also have been the boundary of that
Guardian Stalker’s ken—for it lit up and started moving toward me, preceded by
its needling laser....
I booked it to the right, found the
hole, dashed in quick, turned around a corner, and hid, my heart’s blood in my eyes and my lungs running silent—where were those Flyers?
The Piano drew in close to me,
plinking its unobtrusive G minor again.
I gazed at the blue crack of sky
above me, waiting for one of them to pass, desperate to learn its pattern, and
so evade it....
But if I sat here too long, would
something else find me?
I looked at my map again. I could
see the way to go. Maybe if I just made a
run for it....
But as I turned corners, pressed
myself into walls, wedged into alcoves and dead ends, my eyes combing the
strips of sky above for deadly threats.... I found that the maze seemed to be
emptier than I had thought.
Almost.
A few stray Keese and Flame Chuchus
wandered here and there. But they posed little threat.
I had thought that, as my map
seemed to indicate, some of the
passages were only an intricate series of dead ends. But I soon discovered that
they were more thoroughly interconnected than I could have imagined. Ladders
led up to hidden chambers inside the walls, huge Magnesable blocks revealed
further sprawling junctions.... I soon became quite lost, my only gauges of
proximity to the shrine my Sheikah Slate and HUD.
Wandering in the northern reaches
of the tangle, I soon turned off my shrine locator; the beeping combined with
the towering entrapment of the maze was enough to make one mad. And the deceptive boundaries shown on my map eroded my resolve
to follow the map at all. I began to chase down every avenue I could, running,
turning, delving, trying, hitting dead ends, spilling into endless branches of
corridors....
Actually I reminded myself
something awful of Fleur Delacour in the fourth Harry Potter movie.
But I hadn’t quite lost my mind yet....
Eventually I did come to that topmost corridor on the map—the one that surely would lead me to the shrine—
It didn’t.
It was just a long hallway.
I could hear the Islander Hawks
crying. But when I looked up, I only saw a Guardian Flyer sweeping over the top
of the maze, the red light of its eye swiveling....
Seemed they couldn’t see all the
way to the bottom where I was, though.
The mighty labyrinth walls were climbable, as it turned out.
The Flyers were only there to keep
me from cheating.
For all the hidden passages there
seemed to be, I could find no way to get to the western half of the labyrinth. I had dashed into that hole on the east, and east was where I had been. But
was the way to the shrine in the western half of the island after all?
The only way I could see to get to
the western side was to cross the central court. There was only one problem—and
when I’d crossed into the maze, that problem had started patrolling around. The Guardian Stalker was still too big to enter
the tight labyrinth passages. But it made the central space a very dangerous
place to enter, or even to look in on. I’d passed by those doorways a few
times, and every time the Guardian saw me, it would gleam hot red and the Piano
would make a fuss before I got the heck outta there!
But I couldn’t be afraid forever.
And I needed to get to the western
side of the labyrinth....
And—rare gifts I’d received, but
never used—I did have four Ancient Arrows on me.
And I’d heard some hearsay
lately.... One man I spoke to said he’d heard that an Ancient Arrow could take
down a Guardian in one shot.
One
shot?
I’d
heard they were strong against Guardians, but.... Really?
Could
it be true?
I could do it.
I just had to keep my cool.
Such a nervous thrill of dread as I
stood around the corner of an entrance to the court, hearing the approaching tunk-tunk-tunk of its feet, watching its
life-meter (1500) float across the screen—thanks, Champion’s Tunic.
I let it complete its pattern once
more.... and then stepped out where it would see me on its next pass.... and
waited.
It had wandered off northward, toward
where the Shrine was. It would come back south along the west side before
turning in my direction.... and it did.
A hot red glow. A rush from the
Piano. The laser found my shirt. I zipped behind the corner again. But that
didn’t quiet its intent approach.
I took another peek. So did the
Guardian, with its laser. It was still coming my way as I again ducked behind
the stone. It was quite a mossy old thing, now I took the time to look.
It came right up to the wall, right
up to the entrance—dared I step where
I could see its eye and try a few practice shots with normal—ITS LEG CAME THROUGH
THE HOLE AND STARTED STEPPING AROUND NOPE—NOPE BACK UP—YUP—’KAY—THAT WAS A GOOD
PRACTICE RUN—GONNA LET IT RESUME ITS PATTERN NOW.
I pulled back.
Good
GRAVY I pulled back for a moment.
Okay.
Okay I just had to take care of
business before it got that close
again.
I could do this.
Hoooo....
It wandered back into its patrol,
and I again stepped out from behind the corner. And again it turned to see me right on that parallel, dead ahead
across the court. And again the Piano threw up the cry and the Guardian and I
played a deadly game of peek-a-boo
chicken with each other, I lingering so long on one look that it actually
fired a blast into the hole where I was—I evaded the fireball.
And when it was close—but not too close—I stepped out for the last
time and took aim with my bow and a plain, wooden arrow.
The Guardian glowed so bright
magenta and angry, white-hot power whirring up in its casing as its laser found
me.
It was close enough. I could hit
that.
I let fly.
Khing!
That SOUND—that WINNING SOUND that lets you know you’ve
struck somewhere tender!
And the Guardian lurched backward—its head swiveled as if
to clear itself—found me again—glowed that angry red—
I let fly again.
Khing!
Another arrow to the eye! Another
lurch, another stumble, another shaking and regaining itself—A shot to the eye could forestall the laser.
The Guardian locked onto me again.
And I let fly again.
Khing!
And that was enough practice.
The Guardian recovered, began to
glow—
I nocked one of my four precious
Ancient Arrows....
....and let fly.
And for some reason the spectacle I
remember most vividly was not the smashing, the glowing, the shattering, the
breaking, the crumbling down, the hot
glowing to explode—
It was the instantaneous, complete
and utter darkening.... erasing.... EMPTYING of the life-meter.
I, with one Ancient Arrow, had
slain a Guardian Stalker.
I cheered as I ran out to collect
the spoils it had left behind—including three Ancient Gears! Still left me one
short for the Cuirass, but what progress this was! I would have to come back
here after the next Blood Moon!
The central court was now mine to
cross freely, and I plunged into the west side of the maze. This side likewise
had hidden passages and alcoves, all in a deucedly confusing tangle. But after
a very long while, I came to a series of staircases that took me up, up, up to
the chamber where the Shrine was. Tu Ka’Loh you dastardly....
There was no challenge inside the
shrine. Of course it was a Blessing Shrine.
I came up to the requisite chest,
wondering if I’d have room in my inventory for whatever weapon this might be.
But it wasn’t a weapon this time.
It was a Barbarian Helm.
A menacing, bleach-bone skull over
the crown; long, cruel, curving horns on either side; and a wicked mane of wily
red hair down the back.
I might have accidentally glimpsed something like this on the
internet once....
But seeing it now, taking my time
to take it all in from every angle....
It was AWESOME. >u<
Well, new clothes meant only one
thing: time to see a Fairy.
I went first to Mija, then to
Kaysa, and each of them enhanced my new Barbarian Helm by one level. But after
that I needed more materials.... materials I didn’t have time to collect at
that moment because of how very late it was and how very tired I was getting.
But content that I had conquered
the most daunting shrine on my map, and acquired a WICKED new hat.... I warped
back to the shrine by the Tabantha Bridge Stable.... saved.... and quit.
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