Chapter Six: Life’s Mysterious Flame

The trek back to the Temple of Time was long and difficult. The paths Link and Kage had used as 
children were no longer safe for them to use and they were forced to travel other paths for days at 
a time. When they finally reached the temple, it was dusk and they were exhausted.

"So you did make it out all right, I am relieved to see." A voice said, as Link and Kage led the 
two horses up and into the temple keep.

"Hello Sheik." Link said, as the Sheikah emerged from the shadows to greet them.

"Hello, Hero of Time. You seem to have fared well in your journey back here." Sheik said, 
quietly.

"Yes, but we’re both exhausted. We need to rest before we go out to find the other amulets." Link 
said, as Kage started building a fire.

"Indeed you do. I will tell you what you need to know in the morning." Sheik said, about to 
disappear.

"Wait, Sheik." Kage said.

"Hn?" Sheik asked, pausing in mid-motion.

"Stay the night with us. It’s too dangerous to go anywhere at night alone, even if you are a 
Sheikah." Kage said, with concern for the Sheikah in his ruby eyes. Sheik blinked in surprise, 
then slowly nodded. The silence that followed was a comfortable one, as the three men and two 
fairies thought about what was going on in Hyrule and possibly in the countries beyond.

"Those two have no idea what’s in store for them. The greatest battle of their lives is about to 
begin and they have no idea how hard it is going to be. I can only hope that they will be strong 
enough to defeat Ganondorf when the time comes." Sheik thought, as he watched the two 
warriors slowly drift off to sleep, exhaustion taking over. 

"You’re not what you say you are, are you?" Navi asked, as she flitted over to where Sheik sat.

"I don’t know what you mean." Sheik said, slightly unnerved by Navi’s directness. 

"What I mean is this; this isn’t your true form, is it?" Navi asked, seemingly determined to get a 
straight answer out of him. Sheik looked away from the fairy, obviously not going to say anything 
to her about who he was.

"I don’t think he’s going to tell you, Navi. Besides, he’s not obligated to tell us anything about 
himself, since he’s risking his life to help us find the medallions and such. Let’s just leave him be. 
When he’s ready to tell us who he really is, then he’ll tell us. Until then, we leave him alone." 
Mizuu said, coming to the Sheikah’s defense.

"Thank you, Mizuu, I appreciate it." Sheik thought, as he continued to watch over the slumbering 
warriors and occasionally stood to tend the fire.

Link awoke to Navi pulling on his ear to wake him up and Kage’s snoring. 

"Okay, Navi, okay! I’m up! No need to pull on my ear!" Link said, as he came fully awake and 
threw his pillow (that of which was actually an extra tunic and a blanket rolled up and tucked 
under his head) at Kage to get him to stop snoring.

"Oof!" Kage said, then started muttering under his breath as he woke up.

"Morning sunshine!" Mizuu said, cheerfully, knowing that Kage hated when she did that. Kage 
merely gave her a dirty look before going off to find some water to splash on his face.

"Apparently you are not very well liked in the morning." Sheik said, as he stood up and stretched 
not unlike a cat in the motion. 

"I know, but he’s not exactly what you’d call a morning person." Mizuu commented, as she 
flitted over and sat on top of Kage’s pack.

"I’m surprised you stayed the whole night, Sheik. I halfway expected you to be long gone by 
now." Link said, when he’d realized that Sheik had remained with them.

"I haven’t told you what I needed to tell you yet. That is the main reason why I yet remain with 
you." Sheik said, giving Kage the infamous moron look as he stalked back into the room, looking 
genuinely miffed.

"I take it you didn’t find any water?" Mizuu asked.

"No, I didn’t. The internal well is dry." Kage complained, grumpily.

"What do you expect, Kage? It hasn’t rained in the entire time you and Link have been absent 
from Hyrule. Of course the well would be dry." Sheik said, getting a stunned statement from 
Kage and Link.

"You mean to say that it hasn’t rained once since we went missing seven years ago?!" Kage 
yelped, his voice echoing in the vast room. Sheik’s eyes turned grave and he nodded.

"This makes our mission even more urgent. Not only is Zelda’s life at stake, the entire well being 
of Hyrule is in jeopardy. We must master every skill necessary to defeat Ganondorf and restore 
Hyrule to the beautiful, peaceful place it once was." Link said, seriously, the determined glint 
returning to his crystalline blue eyes. Kage nodded, then turned to Sheik.

"What is it that you had to tell us, Sheik?" Kage asked, his previous bad mood quite gone.

"There is a way for you two to use the power of your swords to travel back and forth in time. The 
secret lies in the pedestals where you found the Master Sword and the Sword of Reflections. With 
this power that you now hold, you can move seven years into the past, take care of things that 
were left undone in your childhood then return to this present time." Sheik said, as he faced the 
two heroes.

"You mean to say that we can travel through time, but we can’t change what happened to us or to 
Hyrule? What good is a skill like that?" Kage asked, critically.

"It will matter, in the long run. Now, please get your ocarinas out, you have yet another tune to 
learn." Sheik said, as he pulled out his harp and started playing the tune he wanted them to learn. 
Finding that they had no choice, the two heroes did as they were told and got their ocarinas out, 
learning the tune with very little difficulty. 

"That tune is the Prelude of Light. You use that song to come back here when you need to. See 
you later." Sheik said, abruptly disappearing from view. 

"I hate it when he does that." Kage muttered, sneezing as some of the smoke tickled his nose.

"Maybe someday we’ll figure out what’s going on with him. C’mon, we’ve got a long trip ahead 
of us and we’d best be on our way." Link said, as he went about saddling Epona. Kage nodded 
and saddled Ryuuhi, while the two fairies watched from a distance. 

The trip back to Kakariko Village was just about as tough as the trip back to the Temple of Time. 
The entire time the two warriors were silent, the full weight of their mission beginning to appear 
on their countenances. 

"Where do we go next, Link? Where are we going?" Navi asked, as she settled down onto her 
charge’s head.

"We’re going to Death Mountain. I think that is where the next amulet is hidden." Link replied, as 
they went straight through the town and got onto the path leading to Goron City. Hours passed, 
and when they finally reached Goron City, they were shocked by what they saw. The entire city 
was empty!

"Hey! Where is everybody?!" Kage asked, his face paling when he saw the vacant streets and 
shops.

"I don’t know. Let’s find out." Link said, as he dismounted and led Epona to some shade. Kage 
did the same and they both followed the old red carpet to the entrance of the castle. Just as they 
were entering the castle, something rolled right at them. 

"Look out!" one of them shouted, before rolling past the two wary warriors and crashing into a 
wall.

"Told you not to roll at them." a voice said from behind the two warriors.

"Aw, shut up Link!" the first said, as he unrolled himself, revealing a young Goron.

"No!" the second voice argued.

"Did we miss something?" Kage asked, looking at his friend with a look of genuine confusion.

"Ne, sorry about that! We’re the twin sons of King Darunia, Link and Kage! We were named 
after some heroes that came here seven years ago and beat Dodongo." Goron Link said, 
introducing himself and his brother. Link and Kage exchanged a glance, then Link decided to ask 
the two youths about what had happened to their father and kin.

"What happened here? Where is everybody?" Link asked. The two Goron children looked at one 
another, then Goron Kage looked up at him, with a look of fear in his dark eyes.

"They were all kidnapped and taken to the Fire Temple. Link and I were the only ones who 
escaped. I wish the heroes were here! They’d be able to free everyone!" Goron Kage said, 
looking truly afraid. Kage and Link looked at one another, then they offered the two children 
some comforting smiles.

"We are those selfsame heroes. I am Link, Hero of Time, and this is my best friend and sharer of 
destiny, Kage, the Hero of Memories." Link said. Immediately the two youths’ faces lit up.

"You’re the heroes?! Wow!" Goron Kage shouted, awestruck by meeting the two heroes he and 
his brother had been named after.

"Can you help us? Can you get our father back?" Goron Link asked, with hope in his eyes.

"We’ll do what we can, I promise." Link replied, in all honesty.

"Thanks so much!" the two said, in unison.

"It’s no problem, really. This is part of our destiny, after all." Kage said, with a grin.

"You’ll need these if you’re going to go to the Fire Temple." Goron Link said, as he handed two 
red tunics to the heroes.

"Well, what do you know? We’ll actually have a wardrobe that doesn’t consist of all green 
tunics!" Kage joked, getting a scathing look from Link while he was at it.

"Those are Goron Tunics. They’ll prevent you from getting burned inside the Fire Temple. You 
can enter the through the Death Mountain Crater, but be careful, if you fall in the lava, the tunic 
will only last for a few minutes before burning off." Goron Link said, in warning.

"Okay. Thank you. Maybe someday you’ll grow up to be heroes." Link said, as he and Kage 
walked into the throne room. 

"Ne, Kage, Link! Get over here! There’s a lot of heat coming from behind this statue!" Navi said, 
as she motioned to the statue of a past Goron king.

"Good work, Navi! Now, let’s get down there and rescue the Gorons!" Link said, getting a 
unanimous agreement from Kage and Mizuu. Putting all their strength into pushing the statue 
aside, they succeeded in opening a path to the volcano’s crater. Goron Link and Goron Kage 
watched as their namesakes disappeared through the hole in the wall, hoping against hope that the 
two heroes would come out alive.

"Whew! It’s hot in here! Let’s get these new tunics on!" Kage said, as he put his pack down on a 
ledge far enough away from the lip of the volcano so it wouldn’t ignite into flames.

"I couldn’t agree with you more, Kage!" Link said, as he pulled on the red tunic and put the 
matching hat on in place of his Kokiri hat.

"I still can’t see how you can wear those awful hats, Link. They are probably the worst fashion 
statements I have ever seen!" Kage said, with a look of disgust on his face.

"Well, it seems that you have made it. Good to see you both again." Sheik said, appearing from 
nowhere in front of the two warriors.

"Sheik! What’re you doing here?!" Kage asked, surprised by the sudden reappearance of the 
Sheikah.

"I am here to teach you the tune you will need in order to get into the Temple of Fire. This tune is 
called the Bolero of Fire. I can only stay for a few minutes, since it’s so unbearably hot down 
here." Sheik said, showing discomfort in the intense heat.


"Couldn’t disagree with you there." Link said, as he and Kage pulled out their ocarinas. Sheik 
nodded, then pulled out his harp and started playing the tune he wanted to teach them. They 
quickly mastered the tune, and without a word, Sheik disappeared.

"The heat must have been too much for him. C’mon, we still have our mission to do." Link said, 
as he tucked his ocarina back into his tunic. Kage agreed and they both started looking for a way 
to get into the Fire Temple. After a few minutes, they finally found the closed off entrance.

"Let’s use that new song Sheik had just taught us." Kage suggested, as he pulled out his ocarina 
and started playing. Link nodded, this time playing accompaniment for his friend. With the sound 
of cracking stone, the way cleared itself, revealing the path to the interior of the temple.

"And in we go." Link said, as he started leading the way. The path was uneven and sometimes the 
two warriors had to stop themselves from tripping and falling. After about an hour of walking, the 
two heroes reached a staircase.

"Stairs, hooray." Kage said, sarcastically, as they started ascending the stairs.

"Kage, is it your goal in life to complain about everything?" Mizuu asked, as she flitted in front of 
the Hero of Memories’ face.

"Don’t start, you two. We don’t have any time for bickering amongst ourselves, people are 
counting on us." Link admonished, as they climbed. Kage gave Mizuu a dirty look before he 
resumed climbing.

"Link! Kage! Look over there!" Navi shouted, motioning to where a lone Goron sat.

"It’s King Darunia! Hey! King Darunia!" Link shouted to the grizzled Goron king and running 
over to him, with Kage at his heels.

"Link? Kage?! Is that you?!? And to think I’d thought you both long dead!" Darunia said, as he 
enveloped the two heroes in a bone crushing bear hug.

"Oof………….glad to see you too, your Highness!" Kage gasped, before the king released them.

"I’m so glad to see you! Did you see my boys? Are they all right?" Darunia asked, with concern 
for his sons in his eyes.

"Those two are fine. They were the ones who sent us to come in and find you and free the 
Gorons." Link said, as he got his breath back.

"What happened your Highness? Who kidnapped your people?" Kage asked. The Goron King’s 
face fell.

"A dragon named Volvagia was the one who rounded up my people and locked them away inside 
this temple. Please, I am begging you, please save my people and seal Volvagia away." Darunia 
said, with a beseeching look in his eyes.

"We’ll do our best, your Highness. We’ll have your people free before you can say Bolero of 
Fire!" Kage said, with a grin.

"I’m counting on you two. Good luck and keep safe." Darunia said, as the two heroes turned and 
left, heading towards the very innards of the temple.

After a little while, Kage stopped and listened. His sensitive ears were picking up on a faint 
moaning coming from somewhere.

"Hold up, Link, I think I can hear a Goron." Kage said, before Link could get too far ahead of 
him.

"Now that you mention it, Kage, so can I. It’s coming from that ledge up there." Link said, 
pointing up at the ledge high above them.

"How are we going to get up there? We can’t use the hookshot for this obstacle, the rocks above 
the ledge are too sheer for that." Kage said, assessing the situation carefully.

"Try using those platforms to get up there." Navi suggested, pointing out the slick looking 
platforms that led to the ledge.

"We could do that, but we are going to have to be careful. One wrong move and we could slip 
right off of those platforms and fall a good distance to the ground." Link said, as he approached 
one platform and hoisted himself onto it. Without much further ado, they started on their way 
across. Just as Link had said, the rocks were incredibly slippery and treacherous, and they both 
nearly lost their footing several times. Finally, they got across, none the worse for wear.

"Okay, now what?" Kage asked, panting from the exertion of crossing the platform ‘bridge’.

"Well, you could let me out of here, ya know." The Goron said, from his place inside a cell.

"We’re getting to that. Are you all right?" Link asked, as he caught his breath and walked over to 
the cell.

"I’m all right, but I am very concerned about my family. That switch over there will open the cell 
door and let me out." The Goron said, pointing at the switch to the two heroes.

"Gotcha covered." Kage said, as he pressed the switch and opened the cell door.

"Thank you so much, you two. Be careful on your way through this temple, some of the fissures 
of the volcano are right next to the walls and can become unstable. So watch yourselves as you 
are going through." The Goron warned, before turning and walking away.

"Thanks for the advice!" Kage said, as he and Link turned to go into another room that had 
opened up next to the cell. As they walked through, they were greeted by a blast of hot air, the 
heat of which nearly taking their breath away.

"It’s hotter in here than it was in the crater! I’m glad that we have these tunics now!" Kage said, 
now fully appreciating the ruby red tunics they had gotten from Goron Link and Goron Kage.

"Let’s try to spend as little time in here as we possibly can. Look, there’s another door over that 
way, let’s get to it and get out of here." Link wheezed, as the heat made breathing difficult. Kage 
nodded, wordlessly, knowing that if he talked too much in this room, he would probably pass out. 
When they finally reached the door and had gone through it, they sighed with relief as cooler air 
met them. But, to their dismay, the room was a dead end and only had a key sitting in the middle 
of it.

"I hate it when this kind of thing happens." Kage grumbled, as Link stooped to pick up the key 
and they both went back out into the blistering heat again. When they reached a blue block, they 
knew exactly what to do. They played the Song of Time and moved the heavy stone and used it as 
a stepping stone to get to the ledge above them. After they had freed the Goron and defeated the 
highly annoying creature called the Like-Like, they made their way to where another cell was. 
They quickly found that the door couldn’t be opened by conventional way.

"Great. More problems." Kage complained.

"Stop complaining, Kage. It could have been worse, you know." Link said, tired of listening to 
his comrade complain.

"Yeah, we could still be in the Kokiri Forest, enduring more abuse from Mido!" Mizuu said, 
getting a look of disgust from Kage, and a chuckle from Link and Navi. Upon the direction of the 
two fairies, the two heroes found a way to open the cell door and they freed the Goron with 
relatively little trouble (with the exception of Kage nearly getting his butt burned when he didn’t 
move fast enough). 

"Ah, I see you have managed to free all of the Gorons from this area! Well, it will be even harder 
for you to escape from this place! I am Flare Dancer, and my specialty is serving fried heroes, 
extra crispy!" a feminine voice cackled, evilly, as its owner appeared before the two startled 
heroes. With a yell, the two heroes dodged a volley of flames from the Flare Dancer, narrowly 
avoiding getting burned.

"Navi! What do we do with this one?" Link asked, as he and Kage split up in an attempt to 
confuse the Dancer.

"Try using your Hookshots! They should knock her around a bit!" Navi suggested, ducking low 
when another blast of flames roared past.

"It’s worth a try. Kage! Use your Hookshot on her!" Link shouted. Kage nodded and pulled out 
the mentioned piece of equipment. With desperation ruling them, the two fired their Hookshots at 
the Flare Dancer, knocking her to the ground.

"How dare you!" the Flare Dancer snarled, as she turned blue from the hits she had taken.

"She’s halfway defeated! Hit her again!" Mizuu shouted, enthusiastically.

"Right!" Kage and Link said, in unison, sending their Hookshots whizzing at the Flare Dancer. 

"Watch out, Link, I’m gonna see if I can take her out with this bomb!" Kage shouted, before 
throwing the bomb at the Flare Dancer.

"Hit the deck!" Navi yelped, just a split second before the bomb hit its mark. All of them did just 
that, taking shelter behind some boulders. With a shriek the Flare Dancer exploded, leaving only 
smoldering ashes and a black mark on the floor to tell that there had been a Flare Dancer there 
only moments before.

"Good work, you two! Maybe Kage’s not as dense as I thought he was!" Navi joked, getting a 
dirty look from Kage for her troubles. Link only rolled his eyes as Navi and Kage started arguing 
about who was dense and who wasn’t. After Navi and Kage had finished yelling at one another, 
they continued pushing through the Fire Temple. As they reached the top of yet another flight of 
stairs, they found two chests.

"I wonder what’s in these? Something more to carry, perhaps?" Kage asked, his voice laced with 
sarcasm. Link merely gave him a long-suffering look before turning his attention to unlocking the 
chests. 

"Can’t you do anything other than complain, Kage?" Link asked, as he reached into his chest. 

"Yes!" Kage retorted.

"Sure doesn’t sound like it." Link muttered, his voice slightly muffled as he reached deeper into 
the chest.

"What did you find, Link?" Navi asked, as she peeked over her charge’s shoulder.

"It looks like some kind of hammer." Link said, as he stood back up, holding a silver hammer in 
his gloved hands.

"That’s one of two Megaton Hammers! Any swing with that hammer spells certain doom for the 
enemy that attacks the owner of that hammer. That is a really lucky find!" Navi said, genuinely 
pleased with finding the weapon.

"That’s all well and good, but that doesn’t help us with our current situation." Kage said, 
motioning to a door that was blocked.

"Stand back, I intend to try this thing out." Link said, as he hoisted the hammer over his head. 
Kage did what he was told and watched as Link brought down the hammer onto the block. The 
rock exploded when the hammer impacted on it, spraying the two warriors and their fairies with a 
fine amount of dust.

"Whoa……….." Link said, dumbstruck.

"Good going, Link." Kage muttered, spitting dust out of his mouth as he said so. Link put a hand 
behind his head and grinned in embarrassment.

"I told ya’ll to move." Link said, with a chuckle.

"But you didn’t say how FAR to move back. By Din! That rock exploded like a bomb had hit it!" 
Kage swore, as he went through the door first. Link sheepishly looked at Navi and Mizuu, then 
followed Kage through the opening. Another opening and several Gorons later, they met with 
another Flare Dancer. This time they knew what to do, and they dispatched this one fairly 
quickly. As they went into another chamber, they found yet another Goron.

"Here’s the switch, but it’s rusted solid! We’re both going to have to hit this thing with those 
hammers!" Kage said, after examining the switch that would open the cell door.

"Then let’s try it, then. Navi, Mizuu, get back as far as you can." Link said, as he and Kage both 
raised their hammers above their heads. The two fairies did as they were told and got as far back 
as they could, so they could avoid an incident like the one that had happened just a short time 
before. With a loud, resounding ‘clang’ the two hammers struck the switch and the cell door 
squeaked open, allowing the Goron inside to go free.

"Now to find that dragon." Link said, grimly. Kage nodded in agreement. 

"The real fun’s only getting started." Kage said, as he unsheathed his sword and the two of them 
went into the next chamber to face the dragon.

When they had entered the area where the dragon resided, a deep, rumbling voice caught their 
attention almost immediately.

"So, you have made it to my domain. You are to be commended. Not even the finest Goron 
warriors could get this far. Whom will I have the pleasure of killing this day?" the voice asked, as 
its monstrous owner appeared from out of the gloom.

"I am Link, the Hero of Time." Link replied, bravely.

"And I am Kage, the Hero of Memories. We’re not the ones who are going to die, dragon, you 
are!" Kage stated, as the dragon’s golden eyes analyzed them both.

"We shall see. Let’s see how you fare against my flames!" the dragon snarled, spewing flames 
from its mouth at the two warriors. With yelps, the two warriors dodged the attack and looked to 
their fairies for advice.

"What should we do? What is the dragon’s weakness?" Link asked, as he moved to avoid another 
attack.

"Try using your Megaton Hammers! That should stun the dragon long enough for you to hit it!" 
Navi shouted, flying quickly to avoid getting burned. Link nodded and pulled out his hammer. 
Kage followed suit. With battle cries, the two warriors leaped into the fray and brought the 
hammers down on the dragon’s nose. Surprisingly, the dragon fell to the ground, stunned.

"Now! Hit it as many times as you can before it regains its senses!" Mizuu shouted, from the 
safety of an alcove. As quickly as they could, the two heroes hit the dragon, inflicting serious 
damage. Before they knew it, the dragon was dead.

"Good going, you two! You defeated Volvagia!" Navi cheered, as Link and Kage walked over to 
them. Then, suddenly, they were surrounded by red light and transported away. When they 
looked around again, they could tell that they were in another part of the temple.

"Well done, young heroes! You have done well!" Darunia said, surprising the two heroes.

"King Darunia!" Kage and Link said in unison. The Goron king smiled broadly at them. The two 
Hylians had come a long way since the days that they had first traveled to Goron City on foot. 

"Your Highness, are you the Sage of Fire?" Link asked.

"Yes, I am. You two have earned the right to carry this." Darunia said, as he handed them a ruby 
medallion.

"The Fire Medallion! Now we have Light, Forest, and Fire; that leaves Water, Spirit, and Shadow 
to retrieve!" Navi said, as the new Sage of Fire nodded, still smiling.

"We’ll be watching your progress from afar, Hero of Time and Hero of Memories. Till we meet 
again, stay alive." Darunia said, before vanishing from sight.

"Three down, three to go. Where do we go next, Link?" Kage asked.

"The last place we were before returning to Hyrule Castle seven years ago; Zora’s Domain." Link 
replied, as they made their way out of the Fire Temple, knowing that another part of their destiny 
was halfway lived out