Legend of Zelda: Compass of Secrets: Chapter 8

When the light faded, I found myself with Laurel back outside the entrance to the plant. We started to walk up the path when my leg was bothering me. "Are you okay, Link? What did you do?"

"Just some stupid plant. It's been bothering me all day."

"Well, we'll make sure you get better before we…" She noticed a bunch of people coming down the street. "Who are those…"

"It's them! It's the kids!"

"They killed the monster!"

"They're amazing!"

"I'm Reporter Kate Burgund from Channel 12 News. Tell me, what compelled you to come here?"

I was speechless. I hadn't been interviewed before. Well, never interviewed seriously before. All the other times, I failed on purpose to prevent my adoption. "Well, I heard the rumors, and I just had to check it out. I mean, it took Laurel here, and I couldn't let that happen."

Laurel snatched the microphone and started spieling. "I wanted to go because I lost a… umm… a family heirloom inside. Link here tried to stop me, but I wouldn't listen. I bravely went forward. Before I walked forward twenty feet, a slimy vine grabbed my leg and carried me away!" The crowd gasped. "I was dragged away, until I found myself face to face with some… mutated… abomination… It slowly drained the life out of me, until I was cut free by Link right here, and then he killed the thing, and saved me!" The crowd cheered and Laurel gave the mic back. I chuckled to myself. She should've been an actress.

"There you have it, a classic tale of a damsel in distress and a hero there to save her. Now, in other news…"

We started walking back as I collapsed. I guess losing all that blood from that bite did a number on me. I felt myself being lifted as I drifted out of consciousness.



When I finally came back into consciousness, I was in a hospital bed. My leg was in a bandage and Laurel was sitting right by my side with a bouquet of flowers. "Huh, Laurel?" I asked her. "Where am I?"

"This is a hospital. You fell unconscious from losing blood. The doctors are amazed at how fast you've recovered."

"Well, I guess it's because of that Hylian thing."

"Link, listen. When they learned that we were orphans, they wouldn't stop trying to adopt us."

I was aflutter. "Really? But, we're so old… almost adults."

Laurel shrugged. "They're so excited to have the town hero in their homes. I guess age doesn't matter…"

"Something's upsetting you." I noted.

"Well, I think it's fabulous that you're getting this attention, and that I can tag along, too. I mean, I've been dreaming of this moment since I was a kid, and well…"
"It's not like how you dreamed it would be."

"I feel something calling me, like something still needs done. How can I settle down with this feeling nagging at my very soul?"

I smiled, "Your words are very artistic…"

Laurel faintly blushed and started talking again. "Link, just… I don't know what to do."

"Laurel, do you still have the gem?" She nodded and pulled it out of her jacket. It was glowing with a powerful green light. I took it from her hand and placed it in the compass. The compass glowed brighter and the needle spun around again until it stopped abruptly. The needle was pointing outside, away from the town.

"Link, I just want to tell you that I'm going to go. I've got to finish what we've started. She tried to take the compass, but I put my hand over her hand and replied, "No. I won't let you leave. This time, we'll go together." Laurel hugged me and I said, "When my leg finishes healing, we'll sneak out tomorrow night. Alright?" Laurel nodded, and I watched her leave the room. As I lay there, I was thinking about what I was doing. I had found two of the gems, which left only one left to find. I almost killed myself trying to get this one. Who knows what could be waiting ahead?



The next day, I was ready to move on. It had started to snow earlier, and now the flakes were starting to cover the ground. Laurel was wearing her jacket, while I was still wearing the tunic I had acquired. It did very well at keeping me warm. At sunset we finally left town. I looked back, knowing that I probably wouldn't come back for a while. "Link, hurry up. The wind is starting to pick up!" I started jogging to Laurel's side, and we were walking across white hills dotted with bare trees. It felt like we were walking for hours. Laurel started falling behind as her jacket was starting to fail. Laurel was shivering as we made it to some rocks. I decided to take shelter as Laurel sat on some of the rocks.

"Hey, Link. These rocks are warm. It's really refreshing." Laurel was starting to enjoy the warmth of the rock formation. I guess it saved me the trouble of making a fire. I decided that we should rest here for the night.

That night, I had a dream. It was dark and raining. I was running away from some castle when I ran into a man with a black, armored horse while the rider was in dark armor. He had a sinister laugh as he said, "Hero of Time. You thought you could hide your princess from me. It was very clever to hide in a separate dimension. But even now, my power is growing, and I have found your hiding place. Soon, I will rat you out like the mice that you are. And there is nothing you can do to stop me." He laughed more powerfully as my vision was growing darker. I leaped awake as Laurel was starting to wake up.

"Laurel, we need to get out of here."

Laurel rose slowly, still groggy from sleep. "Why do we need to leave?"

Not willing to share my dream, I replied, "We just do." I pulled out my compass, and the needle was pointing to the rock formation. I tapped the compass and turned slowly. The needle was still pointing to the rock formation. "That can't be right…"
Laurel was fully awake now. "What can't be right?" She asked.

"The compass. It's pointing to these rocks."

Laurel started pulling away some rocks. "Well, then that last gem must be here somewhere!" I was about to stop her when she revealed a tunnel small enough for the two of us to crawl through.

"Great job, Laurel." I said. Laurel stooped down to crawl but I stopped her. "You'd better let me go down first. We don't know what's down there." Laurel nodded and stepped back. I crouched down and crawled through the hole. It was a really tight fit, and it seemed to go on for a long time. When the tunnel finally ended, I was greeted to a deep cavern with lava spurting at the bottom. The view down was littered with rope bridges and rock formations, and bat-enemies flying around. The lava was erupting in lava spouts nearly everywhere I looked.

Laurel came out of the tunnel soon after and said to me, "Hey Link, what 'cha looking at? She saw the treacherous landscape and she was as speechless as I was. I looked over at her, and she was breathing with more urgency. I could practically feel her heart stop as she was looking around. When she regained the ability to speak, she half-whispered, "Oh, my, god, we're going to die here…"