Legend of Zelda: The Eclipse War: Chapter 10

Chapter 10: The Fire Territory
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As the group entered the Fire Territory, they noticed the heat was rising.

"Guess we should've seen this coming." Zelda says, "It's called the FIRE Territory for a reason."

"And not just for the heat, but because of the volcano we're heading for." Navi says,

"Volcano?" Volvagia asks,

"Yes." Navi says, "The Fire Territory is basically a large volcano known as Mt. Blaze."

"There's a wall of twilight up ahead too." Link says, noticing the wall up ahead.

"Should we go in?" the King asks, coming to a stop.

"Yes." Midna says, "It's necessary to do that if we're going to save this realm."

"Here we go again." The King says as he sees Midna and Basque enter the wall and create an opening to let the rest of the train in.

"Now, Volvagia." Link says, "You stay here in the caboose. I'll have Navi stay with you."

"Thank you." Volvagia says, wrapping Navi in her arms to keep the fairy close and turns into a spirit.

"I'm still not used to the feel of being in this area." The King says as he enters the area,

"You'll have to live with it." Midna says, "It's going to be like this for a while."

"Then let's get going to the light spirit's shrine." The King says, "It's just further up Mt. Blaze."

"This doesn't look easy." Basque says, looking at the volcano in the distance.

"We better move quickly." The King says, "Otherwise--"

Just then, the ground under the train shakes.

"What's that?!" Zelda calls from the passenger car as she falls on top of Link.

"No, it can't be happening now!" the King says,

Link and the others look outside the train to see lava shooting out of the volcano's summit.

"The volcano's erupting!" the King of Golden Wolves says in shock, "Full throttle!"

Basque pushes the locomotive's throttle as far as it could go and the train rockets off toward the mountain.

"This track is getting steep." Zelda says, noticing the slope they were climbing. "I hope the train can make it."

"Same here." Link says, "But the main thing we have to worry about is what will come out of the volcano, and I don't mean just the lava."

"Incoming!" the King yells as a flaming boulder crashes into the ground near the tracks.

"I'll get the cannon ready!" Midna says, taking control of the device.

"Another boulder's coming!" Basque says,

"I got it!" Midna says, shooting a cannonball at the boulder, destroying it.

Soon enough, the train enters a clearing with a large stone house in the middle.

"What's that?" Basque asks,

"It's a forge." The King says, "It's used to make the best metal objects in this realm. Even I am made from the metal that was created here."

"Wow." Basque says, "I wonder if the forge helped during the Eclipse War."

"It has." The King says, "The forge has created all the weapons such as swords for the war. But it didn't only use metal."

"It didn't?" Basque asks,

"Yes, it even made things from gold, silver, copper, and diamond." The King says, "Oh how wonderful the things made from them looked."

"You're made of gold too, right?" Basque asks,

"Yes." The King says, "So are the cars I'm pulling."

"Can we focus on the problem right now?" Midna asks, destroying another boulder with the cannon.

"Right." The King says, heading down another line heading for the volcano.

Soon enough, the train enters another clearing, but bigger from the last one.

"This is the place." The King says, "This is where the Light Spirit resides."

"But where do we go?" Midna asks,

"The hot spring over there." The King says, looking toward a cave above the nearby hot spring. "You go on ahead, I'll find a station."

"If you say so." Basque says, getting off the train with the others.

As the King of Golden Wolves continues further into the mountain to find a nearby train station, a large half-molten rock crashes into the ground near the 4 wolves, sending them flying into the hot spring.

"What was that?!" Zelda asks when she resurfaces,

"A large partially molten rock." Link says, pointing to said rock that wasn't there a few seconds ago.

"Oh." Zelda says, adjusting her tiara.

"Well, we're closer to the Shrine." Basque says as he swims to the edge of the hot spring,

"Who knew the force of a half-molten rock could be so helpful?" Zelda asks as she gets out of the spring,

"Us." Link and Midna say in unison,

"Oh yeah, like that time you thawed out Zora's Domain." Zelda says,

"Exactly." Link says,

Soon enough, the wolves encounter the next spirit in the shrine.

"Please restore my light and I'll help you." The spirit says,

"Understood." Midna says as she takes the Vessel of Light,

The wolves soon set out to get the parasites and find four in the clearing with the hot spring.

"Four down, 12 to go." Link says as the tears enter the Vessel of Light,

"Let's try following the line the King went across." Zelda says, following the tracks to where the King of Golden Wolves went.

The tracks soon led the wolves to a tunnel, and in it was a large cave with spirits flying around the area.

"What is this place?" Zelda asks, looking at the large open area.

"Dragon Cavern." The King of Golden Wolves says as the wolves reach the station, "It's the town of the Fire Dragons."

"Fire Dragons?" Link asks,

"Exactly." The King says, "They're the main residents of the Fire Territory, just like the Lightning Wolves are to the Thunder Territory."

"Impressive." Zelda says as she looks at the dragons with her senses,

"There are some parasites around here too." Midna says, biting one off the train's passenger car.

"There's seven more parasites in here too." The King says, "You'll have to check each level for them."

"Well, this is a 4-story cave." Link says, looking down one of the three circular pits, "It could take a while."

"Then we'll split up." Zelda says, "We can cover more ground that way."

"Midna and I will check this pit." Basque says, pointing to the northern pit, then he points to the southwestern pit. "You and Link check that one."

"Understood." Link says, "Just how do we get down there?"

"Over here!" Navi says, flying over to a doorway. "Dragons that haven't learned to fly yet often use these to go to different levels!"

"Great work, Navi." Link says, "Let's get moving."

Meanwhile, Midna and Basque were just entering the bottom of the north pit. Suddenly, Basque holds Midna against a wall on her hind legs and stands up on two legs himself and presses his body against the wall.

"Stay back!" Basque whispers, "We got beasts."

"The Twilit Messengers again?" Midna asks,

"Yes, at least three of them." Basque says,

"We better destroy at least one of them first." Midna says,

"Good idea, they don't revive each other unless one is still alive." Basque says,

"I'm going in." Midna says, pulling out her sword, then she swiftly kills one of the shadow beasts.

"Great work Midna, but you got more attention." Basque says, running up to Midna and pointing out the alerted Beasts.

"Together, now!" Midna says, then she and Basque jump at the two beasts and kill them.

"That was easy." Basque says, putting his sword away as a blue portal forms above him.

Just then, the wolves hear a scream.

"What was that?!" Basque asks,

"I don't know, but it came from there!" Midna says, pointing to a door behind them.

The two wolves enter the room and find it to be a house and find 2 spirits flying up to a door.

"We better see what's up." Basque says, using his senses to see the spirits were dragons, but they were bigger than any of the other dragons.

"What's wrong?" One of the dragons asks from a door,

"Bugs! Big ones!" a young female voice says from behind the door,

Midna and Basque enter the room to see a small female dragon clinging to a small chandelier on the ceiling and notice two Twilit Parasites skittering around on the floor.

"Get them!" Minda says, biting a parasite.

"Got them!" Basque says as he kills the other one,

"That's seven so far." Midna says as the tears enter the Vessel of Light,

"Make that ten." Basque says as he sees more tears fill up three more beads on the vessel,

"Then that means we have two more to find in here." Midna says,

The wolves leave the room as the confused dragons wonder why the "bugs" suddenly disappeared and meet up with Link and Zelda on the 2nd floor.

"We found one in the Bomb Shop back there." Link says,

"And we found two more on the 3rd floor." Zelda says,

"And we got two on the bottom floor." Tatl says,

"That means there's only one left in here." Zelda says,

"But we searched the whole cave." Link says,

"Maybe we missed one on the top floor." Midna says,

"There's a good chance of that." Link says, "Let's go."

Sure enough, there was another Twilit Parasite on the top floor, but it was on a platform in the middle of the cavern supported by ropes.

"Anyone know tightrope walking?" Thorn asks,

"Well, I learned it before when I left Hyrule Castle." Zelda says, placing her tiara on Link's head, "I'll go."

"Be careful though." Tael says, "It's a long drop from here."

"Got it." Zelda says as she walks onto the rope,

However as soon as Zelda walked onto the rope, she started lean from side to side.

"Careful!" Link yells, but Zelda loses her balance. "NO!"

"Hold on!" Midna calls out,

Midna transforms her tail into a hand and places it under Zelda, who lands on her back upon landing on it.

"Thanks." Zelda says,

"You're welcome." Midna says,

"Wait, Midna can you reach over to that platform?" Link asks,

"Yes, why?" Midna asks,

"You can get Zelda over there." Link says,

"Good idea, Link." Zelda says,

"Then let's get that parasite!" Midna says as she reaches over to the platform and places Zelda on it.

"Got it!" Zelda says as she destroys the parasite, "We got five more parasites to find!"

"Great work!" Midna says as she brings Zelda back to the cliff-side,

"I wonder where the final parasites are." Zelda says,

"Maybe they're outside." Link says,

"But it's raining flaming boulders out there." Basque says,

"You won't have to worry about that." The King of Golden Wolves says from the station, "The final five parasites are in the passenger car."

Soon enough, five Twilit Parasites came out of the passenger car in attempt to escape, but were done in by the wolves. Finally, the Vessel of Light was full and the wolves were transported to the Light Spirit's shrine and the twilight disappeared.

"There goes the twilight again." Midna says sadly,

"Don't worry." Basque says, nuzzling Midna. "We'll be back in our homeland soon enough."

Just then, the light spirit appeared.

"Young heroes, thank you for restoring me." The Light Spirit says,

"You're welcome." Link says,

"By the time you leave my shrine, the volcano's eruption should cease a bit." The Light Spirit says,

"Thanks for the help." Link says, then the Light Spirit disappears.

"Now let's go find the sage." Zelda says, "I'm guessing it'll be in Dragon Cavern."

"Yes, and since dragons breathe fire, there's a strong chance one of them will be the sage." Midna says,

"It's safer if we check with the King of Golden Wolves." Basque says, "Let's get going."

The wolves soon return to Dragon Cavern and ask the King of Golden Wolves about the next sage.

"Yes, the next is supposedly a dragon." The King says, "And in case you forgot, the sage is said to have a red guitar with fire designs painted on it."

"I think I saw that while we were searching for the parasites." Midna says,

"Where?" Zelda asks,

"A house-like cave at the bottom of the northern pit." Midna says,

"There appeared to be a family of dragons in it too." Basque says,

"Well, then let's get down there." Link says,

"Wait for me!" Volvagia says, jumping onto Link's back.

"Hold on tight." Link says as he walks off,

The four wolves reach the cave Midna mentioned and find the door closed.

"It wasn't closed before." Midna says,

"Allow us." Tatl says, then she flies through a crack in the door with Navi.

After a minute, the door finally opened.

"Are you the wolves these fairies told us about?" the large male dragon asks,

"Yes." Link says,

"Come in." the dragon says, heading back into the cave with the wolves.

"We were told you work with Spectrum." The dragon says,

"You know her?" Zelda asks,

"Yes, I used to fight in the war alongside her." The dragon says,

"We dragons can live for long periods of time." The large female dragon says,

"I can understand that." Midna says,

"Either way, my name is Volcanus, leader of the Fire Dragons." The male dragon says, "This is my mate, Blaze."

"Our kind is skilled in explosives and forging metals." Blaze says,

"Pleasure to meet you." Zelda says, "I'm Zelda, this here is Midna and Basque."

"We're the fairy companions." Navi says, "I'm Navi, these are Tatl, Tael, and Thorn."

"And I'm Link." Link says, "And this little one here is Volvagia."

"Why aren't you the cutest little dragon I've seen?" Blaze says in loving way while scratching Volvagia under her chin,

"Look, I don't mean to rush you, but we're kind of in a hurry." Thorn says,

"Yes, we need to find the sage of fire before we can get to the temple." Tatl says,

"And it's said the next sage has a guitar, red in color with flames painted on it." Tael says,

"I had a feeling this day would come." Blaze says,

"Our son has the guitar you speak of." Volcanus says, "Since he got that guitar, we knew he'd be destined for greatness."

"But he won't go anywhere because of his sister, Fira." Blaze says,

"Why not?" Midna asks,

"She's ill." Blaze says, "Our son, Fumus, is concerned for her safety."

"Red Potion would help heal her, but we'll need large amounts of it." Volcanus says, "At least the size of a barrel."

"But it's too expensive for us to get." Blaze says, "It costs 100 rupees but we only have 75."

"We have over 200 rupees." Midna says, "We could get fire a large amount of red potion in no time."

"Thank you." Blaze says, "But remember, we need a barrel load of it."

"Understood." Midna says as she and Basque leave to get the potion.

"Can we see your children?" Zelda asks, "We could help them out while Midna and Basque go get the potion."

"Sure, Fumus and Fira's room is over there." Blaze says, pointing to a door.

"Thanks." Zelda says, then she Link, and Volvagia enter the room and see two dragons half the size of Volcanus and Blaze. One of them was playing a guitar while sitting on a nearby bench and the other one was flat on her back in sickness on a bed.

"You two must be Fumus and Fira." Zelda says,

"Yes." Fumus says as he stops playing his guitar, "That's us."

"We could hear you from the other room." Fira says, coughing a bit.

"Well, don't worry. The potion's on its way." Zelda says,

"That's good news." Fumus says,

Soon enough, Midna and Basque return with a barrel full of red potion.

"This should be enough." Midna says, pushing the boulder beside Fira's bed.

"Thanks." Fira says as she starts to drink the potion from the barrel,

"You know, in order to reach the temple, we need the Sage of Fire." Zelda says,

"And you think I'm the one?" Fumus asks,

"Only one way to find out." Zelda says, then she pulls out the Ocarina of Time and starts playing her lullaby on it.

"I've heard that one." Fumus says, then he plays his guitar to match the notes. Then a red light surrounds Zelda and a golden light surrounds Fumus and enters him.

"You are the Sage of Fire." Zelda says as the red light fades, "You shall accompany us on the journey."

"I understand my purpose." Fumus says, "But I won't leave until Fira gets better."

"We understand." Zelda says,

"Either way, you'll need necessary preparations before you go to the temple." Fumus says, "First, you'll need a bomb bag with bombs. The temple entrance is blocked by rocks that only bombs can break. Train cannons can't reach it without damaging the tracks."

"That's understandable." Link says, "Anything else?"

"You'll need these." Fumus says, handing Link 4 red earrings, "Fireshield Earrings. They're what keep us dragons safe from getting harmed by fire, heat, and lava. They'll also keep whoever wears them safe from the same things."

"Thanks." Zelda says,

Link uses his aura to remove his old blue earrings and put them in his adventure pouch, which he made appear with his aura magic. Then he puts on the Fireshield earrings and Zelda does the same.

"Now you'll all be safe while in the volcano." Fumus says, "Now let's go to the bomb shop."

Fumus leads the wolves to the bomb shop where 2 dragons were putting some bombs up for sale.

"Hey Fumus." One of the dragons says, "It's been a while."

"It has." Fumus says, "My friends here need a Bomb Bag."

"That'll be 50 rupees." The second dragon says,

Link tosses a purple rupee to the first dragon.

"Here you go." The first dragon says, tossing Link a large bomb bag. "Use them wisely."

"We will." Link says,

When the group returns to Fumus' home, they see Fira fast asleep.

"That potion worked wonders." Volcanus says,

"She was flying all around the room after she drank the potion." Blaze says, "It definitely healed her."

"That's great." Fumus says, "And now, I have my duty."

"Go ahead, son." Volcanus says, "I'm sure you'll be a great help to them."

"Thanks, father." Fumus says, "I'll return as soon as my duty's finished."

The group soon returned to the King of Golden Wolves.

"Took you long enough." The King says,

"There were complications." Midna says,

"You must be the King of Golden Wolves." Fumus says,

"And you must be the Sage of Fire." The King says,

"Where's the temple?" Midna asks from the cab,

"It's in the heart of the volcano." The King says,

"Where the lava is?" Midna asks, "Here we go again."

"The most obvious way to get there would be scaling the mountain to the summit." The King says, "But there may be an alternative track."

"There is." Fumus says, "This way."

Fumus leads the train to a tunnel heading into the volcano.

"This tunnel leads to the metal-rich areas in the volcano, it's also the way to the heart of the volcano." Fumus says, boarding the train's passenger car.

"Then let's go." The King says, heading into the tunnel.

The further the train went into the tunnel, the hotter it got.

"Wow, these earrings are holding off." Link says,

"I told they'd help." Fumus says,

Soon enough, the train entered the heart of the volcano. Lava was everywhere, but there was a bridge leading to the platform in the middle of the volcano.

"This way." The King says, heading down across the bridge.

"I hope we don't fall over." Zelda says, holding onto Link.

"Don't worry." Fumus says, "The bridge will hold out."

Soon enough, the train reached the other side of the bridge.

"Congratulations." Lunar says, appearing in front of Link, Zelda, and Fumus in the passenger car. "You have done well to beat the heat."

"Thanks." Link says, climbing out of the train.

"And now, I will teach you this song, for it will help you warp back here and get you through the temple. Your red heat-proof friend should learn this too." Lunar says, raising his head to the heavens and howling in a certain tune, followed by Link.

Zelda pulls out the Ocarina of Time and Fumus pulls out his guitar and they start playing the same tune, the song soon ended when they got the notes correct.

"You have learned the Bolero of Fire." Lunar says, "I trust that it'll help you. The next place we'll meet will be at a bay."

With that final word, a ring of fire surrounds Lunar and he disappears in it.

"Let's get going." The King says,

The train soon entered the temple and stopped at the station.

"We're here." The King says, "The Fire Temple."