THERE WAS another loud roar, so loud that Link had to cover his ears.

When it ended, Link slowly pulled his sword from its sheath.

The mountain shivered once again. As Link backed against the wall, he saw a mound form in the pool of lava. The mound became a pillar, and then limbs stretched out of the oozing lava.

It was a horrifying monster, some of it was as black as volcanic rock, but most of it was a ghostly pale stone color. As the lava dripped from its body, a great, blazing eye was revealed.

That was... not good.

Link jumped aside as a large pincer struck the ground, barely missing him.

As he ran away from the pincer, another one slammed down in front of him, halting his progress.

The monster began pulling the pincers together to trap him. Link frantically tried to get out, but he decided to brute force it instead, and hacked at one of the pincers with his sword, vaulting over the scalding hot arm.

He didn't even think of the burn on his hand as he dodged another fiery claw. He shot around, and struck his sword at a joint in front of the claw.

It distracted the monster like last time, but even with his stronger follow-through, the joint was impenetrable.

Gerudo.

He ran faster, dodging attacks, and grabbed a sizable rock.

He aimed for his enemy's eye, but it landed on its abdomen, doing nothing.

He attempted using brute force again, but it only resulted in him getting a hard strike on his shield and his hand getting singed again on the knuckles.

Link breathed heavily, his sword arm becoming weak. He was sweating more intensely as the creature oozed steaming puddles of lava onto the floor.

This was going nowhere. It was like he was trying to chop down a tree, and he hadn't even gotten through the bark.

As he hid in the shadows of the cavern, resting for a moment, he remembered Valoo's tail, hanging down through the crack in the ceiling.

Valoo had several long, thick, curved spikes sticking out from the end of his tail.

Perhaps, if he could not topple the tree, he could take it out by dropping a boulder on it... Link returned his shield to his back.

He was doing something stupid - again. But it was no more stupid than continuing to fight this monster and only risking getting scalded alive.

He jumped out from his hiding place, rolling on the stone to avoid another strike from the monster, and dashed towards where he'd entered this part of the cavern.

He chucked a rock across to the other side of the chamber to decoy it. The monster was distracted for a moment.

Meanwhile, he hid in the cleft of the rock.

He pulled the hooked rope from where he'd tightened it around his shoulder, and after spinning it around in a circle, tossed it towards Valoo's tail.

The rope became tangled on Valoo's spiked tail, and he yanked hard on it with all his might.

Sorry Valoo...

He heard a loud bellowing from above. He'd made Valoo angry. Very angry. The whole volcano shook, and even the lava creature hesitated.

Link pushed his luck and pulled harder.

He heard the noise of quaking through the confines of the cavern, and a large crack split the roof above him.

Oops.

Link whipped the rope, and yanked his hook back. The crack in the cavern's roof widened, and the creature went frantic.

Link grabbed up all the rope, and throwing it over his shoulder, pushed his way through the tight, claustrophobic path he'd come in through. He heard another loud quaking sound, which was followed by the sound of falling rock crunching against the creature's body.

The monster screeched loudly in its final moments.

Link would've rested, but he continued to scramble up the rock as the cavern fell apart. He wasn't fond of getting buried by the top of mountain falling on top of him. And a dragon.

He may have just incurred Valoo's wrath. If the dragon was friendly before, he sure as gerudo wasn't now.

Link nearly slipped as he ran upward, but he couldn't afford to slip. If he slipped he could get buried.

He sqwoze out of the deathtrap that was the cavern, and found gratefully that the wind wasn't as strong as it had been before. It seemed the storm had changed direction.

He heard thunder ring through the air. It wasn't from the passing storm. A cloud of dust exploded into the air, and Link covered his face with his cap. He quickly pulled his shield off his back, and covered himself the best he could with it.

He closed his eyes tight as he heard the mountain peak finally collapse.

After a minute or so, he opened his eyes, and coughed from the thick dustfall. He felt relief though that he wasn't dead yet.

He clambered up the rubble behind

him. The top of the mountain had flattened, becoming a pile of broken boulders.

As Link cautiously walked into the wreckage, he saw the dragon.

Valoo was a large, scaled creature, with scales the color of a red rupee.

He was long and slender, his body slunk around the fallen boulders.

The dragon puffed out tendrils of hot smoke, the air appearing to boil in front of him.

Link shuddered in fear as he stood before the gigantic beast. Link nearly lost his balance on the loose stones.

He thought of the ancient hero's legendary battle with the dragon Volvagia.

Despite his fear however, Valoo did not rush forward to kill him. Maybe he was sizing up his prey.

Link dared to get a bit closer.

As he did so, he saw something beneath one of the dragon's feet.

It was the monster, quivering under Valoo's weight.

He timidly walked a bit closer.

Valoo did not attack him. Link looked up at the dragon's face. The dragon's breath was hot, but still, it did not attack.

Link strode up to the dying creature and its jerky, erratic shaking. The large, grotesque eye stared towards him, twitching sporadically.

Link lifted his sword, and thrust down hard into the eye. It barely made a sound.

Trying his best to avoid thinking about what he was feeling through the sword, he slid it out and averted his eyes from the dying monster.

Valoo thankfully, stomped on the monster's body one more time, and its movement ceased.

Link looked down at his sword. It was covered in a film of disgusting ooze. That was... disgusting.

"Who are you?"

Link turned around. There were several Rito staring back at him. Among them, Prince Komali and Medli.

Komali was the one who'd spoken.

"Who are you?" he repeated again, completely astounded.

"I...," Link said, taking a heavy breath, "I am someone, who has had a very long day, and needs to lie down."

"You just toppled the top of the mountain!" one of the other Rito, an adult exclaimed.

"And in the process he destroyed a monster that was plaguing Valoo," one of them said, a degree of awe in his voice.

It was a tall adult Rito, wearing bright red robes. He stood next to Komali.

"How, and importantly, why have you done this?" the Rito asked. "You traveled up here on foot - there have been so many rock-slides that only the most dangerous paths have been accessible - and then you survived to put an end to this creature. And you are no older than my son Komali."

"He wants my most prized possession," Komali quietly accused, "this is why he did this."

"I did this," Link defended himself, "because, one: I saw that there was a problem and there was something I could do about it. Second, I do need Din's Pearl, but just to rescue my sister. Then I would bring it back."

There was silence for a moment, the wind shouting in Link's ears.

"Komali tells me," the king said, his voice piercing the air, "that you claim that your sister is being held by the ancient thief Ganondorf."

"Yes," Link answered, afraid to say anything more.

The king walked over to the carcass of the fallen monster.

"This...," he said, "is a dark creature. Not the kind that would occur naturally."

The king turned to Link.

"If what you say is true," the king said, "then this monster may be only the beginning of our worries."

Link took a deep breath. "It is true," he affirmed. "I love my sister. There are few other reasons why I would travel so far and put myself in so much danger."

"Link is your name, is it not?" the king inquired.

He nodded.

"Link," he said, "if Ganondorf has begun once again to stretch his ambition across the great sea, there are far more people in danger than just your sister. All of us, Hylian, Rito, and others, will be at risk."

"What proof do you have that Ganondorf has done this?" Komali questioned.

"I just...," Link pointed with his sword at the giant dead insect, continuing to breath heavy" I just killed that thing. If I only wanted Din's Pearl for the tinkling of rupees in my pocket, I would've just stolen the pearl."

Komali's expression changed to one of confused curiosity. "I guess," he said.

"Imagine if someone you loved was being held captive," Link said, "wouldn't you try to save them?"

"I would," Medli said, glancing at Komali.

Komali met her gaze.

He let out a long exhale.

"Link," he stammered, "you... you promise you'll bring it back?"

"I promise."

"It's in my room," Komali said. "Hidden behind the pillow."

"Thank you," Link said.

A slight smile appeared on Komali's face. "No," he said, "thank you. Because of you, Valoo has been freed from the pain of this monster, and I can now receive my wings."

Komali walked up to Link and embraced him. Link smiled as Komali looked over at Valoo.

"Link," the king said, "one of my guards will carry you back down the mountain. Only Medli and I can remain here while he receives his wings."

"Alright," Link answered.

One of the Rito hopped off the ground, and beginning to fly, grabbed Link's shoulders with his clawed feet.

"Ouch!" Link exclaimed.

"Sorry," the Rito said, "I'm used to carrying the fledglings who have a soft cushion of feathers to protect them."

They rose in the air, and Link kept his eyes closed for a good majority of their journey down the mountain.

Feeling the Rito's talons clamping onto his shoulders, he felt he had a slight taste of Aryll's pain. She however had rode in the claws of the Helmaroc from Outset all the way to the fortress.

He was one step closer to her. He'd made one step. A step he hadn't thought he'd be able to make.