Author's Note

Thank you everyone for bearing with me. This chapter would not have been possible without the help of Men10doh_Mike. Big thanks to them for help with the Dungeon layout and enemies.

The Temple Of Din

We decided to spend a day in the Goron village to regain our strength as well as resupply before making the climb up to the caldera. Lucky enough for me, I managed to find a pair of Goron Tunics from a shop that immediately brought the heat down to a bearable level. Dash kept complaining about how itchy it felt and how it impacted her flying abilities. I simply reminded her that the alternative would be being burned by the heat, to which she sighed and conceded the point. As we hiked higher up the mountainside we had one of the most beautiful views of Hyrule I had ever seen, the land stretching on and on for miles.

“Absolutely breathtaking…” I murmured to myself with a smile.

“Yea… it’s why I like flying. I see stuff like this all the time, but it’s nicer to see it from the ground.” Dash sighed as she stood beside me.

“Maybe one day I can see things how you do.” I chuckled, giving her a side hug before we continued to the rim of the volcano. Standing on the edge of the caldera, we both were amazed at what we saw. Sat amidst roiling lava sat a temple on an island smackdown in the middle of the crater.
“Jeez… how do we get to it? No bridges, and only you can fly…” I wondered aloud as I rubbed my chin.

“I mean… I could get us down there, but once we’re airborne I can’t climb at all. It’ll be more gliding down than anything.” Dash offered nervously. “But I won’t even be able to get myself out if there, much less both of us.”

“That should be fine. At the end of this temple there should be a portal that will take us out of there.” I reassured us both, hoping both my game knowledge and experience in Farore’s temple held up here.
“Let’s get to higher ground,” I said as I pointed to a higher peak on the rim, “it should give us more glide time and better visibility.”

“Yeah, that sounds good.” She replied and we hiked to the higher edge and took a lay of the land.
“Should be fairly easy, so long as everything is working for us.” She said as she knelt down, taking a breath and flexing her wings.
“Ok, I’m ready.” She stood up and stretched before turning to me. “I’m going to hold you under your arms, so try not to squirm ok?”

I nodded and she got behind me, grabbing me under my arms and lacing her fingers on my chest.

“Ready?” She asked.

“Ready.” I nodded, my confidence dropping by the second. And with a leap, we were airborne, gliding down towards the temple. Things were going well until a sudden updraft hit us and was immediately followed by a downdraft vacuum, dragging us far lower than we needed to be.

“Cripes this isn’t good!” Dash yelled nervously as we continued gliding down, the temple and its island still a ways away. As we were nearing the lava below, a bubble popped and shot us up higher, putting us almost back where we needed to be.

“Now watch out for that vacuum!” I warned her as I felt the air cool down again. We managed to dodge it and land on the island, swearing to each other that we would never do that again.

“Man, that was some crazy flying! Promise me we won’t ever do that again though.” Dash sighed in exasperation.

“I promise Dashie, I promise.” I nodded as I turned to face the Temple.
“And now, in we go…” I mumbled to myself as I walked to the entrance. Dash stepped up beside me and smiled.

“Don’t worry man, we got this in the bag!” She laughed as we entered together.

The inside of the temple betrayed the inferno raging around it. Inside it was cool, with high vaulted ceilings supported by polished marble columns adorned in gold and turquoise. The room’s layout felt awfully familiar, but I couldn’t quite place it. Moving through the entrance hall, we entered the main chamber. Looking up we saw that this room also had high vaulted ceilings, the columns in this room pressed against the walls and supporting what was left of a second story walkway. At the far end of the room stood a large stone face, of which I would assume was Din, in front of a raised center platform surrounded by steaming water.

“A hot spring? This temple in the middle of all this craziness, is a freaking hot spring?!” Dash yelled as I continued to look around the room.

“Considering how old this temple is, Dash, I’d say people probably came here to be healed in ancient times. Hot springs were often linked to gods, goddesses, and other minor deities. Like the Great Fairies.” I told her as I stepped up to the water’s edge.

“Great Fairies? Like in those books Twilight has in her library?” She asked as she walked up beside me.

“I think so. The Great Fairies I know are probably different to those in this land…” I answered as I dipped my finger in the water.
“Hmm… not too hot. Very nice.”

“You know, I keep forgetting you’re not from our world. You just seem to fit in so perfectly it’s nuts.” She smiled as I stood. I returned the smile and looked around once more before it hit me.

“Oh right! Now I know why this place looked so familiar! It has the same layout as Dodongos Cavern!” I chuckled as Dash looked at me confused.

“Doh-who-da-what now?” She asked with a raised eyebrow. I just chuckled and waved it off.

“It’s nothing, just a place I’ve been to. Nothing special.” I said as I looked around, spotting a door to my right, exactly where it should be.
“Come on Dash, this way.” I smiled as I pushed ahead, Dash following close behind.

“So, you’ve been in a place like this?” Dashie asked as we went through the door into a side hall. I nodded and drew my sword.

“Yeah, a long time ago. It was really dangerous, so stay close to me.” I cautioned her as we moved forward. She nodded and hung just behind me, keeping her head on a swivel so she wasn’t surprised by any monsters. We managed to make it to the middle of the hall before I felt the ground shake a bit and looked down. Crawling its way out of the earth was a Dodongo Hatchling, a green scaled creature that resembled something like a slug with a lizard’s head. It slithered its way towards us and I instinctively kicked it away, causing its scales to flash red before it exploded.

“What the Hay? They blow up?” She yelled as two more crawled their way out of the ground. I led us around them, drawing them towards a cracked wall at the far end of the hallway before answering.

“They do indeed!” I yelled back as I slashed them both, jumping back as they detonated. With a rumble, the cracked wall fell apart to reveal a large door to another chamber.
“Come on!” I called as I ran and opened the door.

“Hey wait up!” She cried and quickly followed behind me. I lifted the door and we entered the next room, only to find a torch and a chest in the center of it.

“Wait a minute…” I paused and looked around cautiously.

“What? Something wrong in here too?” She looked around as well. I couldn’t see anything, but I knew something was off.

“This room never had a chest in it before…” I said slowly as I looked around again.

“Well… you said this place was like the Dodongo… thing. But what if it’s not exactly the same? I mean come on, what are the odds?” She said thoughtfully as I approached the chest.

“You do have a good point…” I nodded as I reached down and opened the chest, lifting the item above my head as I lost control over my body.

You got the Audivox Orb! This handy ball of fun can play tunes to fit where you are, or project places you’ve been! You can only access it when not in combat in the menu

I shook my head and silently cursed as I regained control over my limbs.

“Does that happen every time you open one of those…?” Dash asked, her voice a bit worried. I just nodded a little and chuckled.

“It’s alright Dashie, it doesn’t bother me much anymore.” I stretched a bit before I heard the familiar squeak. My eyes darted up and spotted them easily. Three keese were now fluttering down toward us, screeching angrily as they began swooping down. I drew my sword and slashed one in half before jumping out of the way. Dash backed up against the door and watched as I drew my bow and sniped a second one out of the air before cleaving the third with a yell. I huffed a bit as I sheathed my blade.

“That was awesome…” Dash breathed as I walked up to her. I smiled and patted her shoulder.

“You haven’t seen anything yet.” I said with a wink, opening the door and leading us back to the hall. I was instantly hit with very creepy music and almost jumped. Dash just looked at me confused as I tried to brush it off and walked to the end of the hall, helping Dash up the short ledge as I went. Ahead I saw a raised platform and barred door with a pair of armos statues flanking a faded blue button. I followed my gamer intuition and solved the button puzzle quickly, opening the door ahead. We climbed up and moved forward, entering a short hall leading to yet another door. This time I spotted two keese hanging from the ceiling, and sniped them with my bow.

“How.. I could barely see them! How did you hit those?” She asked as I walked forward. I turned and grinned.

“I’m not in the army for nothing Dashie.” I chuckled as I picked up two pots I found halfway down the hall. Smashing them together I found a blue rupee and a bundle of arrows. I collected them and turned to the door.
“Let’s keep moving. And be careful. I have a feeling this next enemy will be tricky.” She nodded and I opened the door.

“Wow, there’s a lot of steam in here…” Dashie muttered as we entered. I had to agree, this room felt different. And as the steam rose I saw why. Where there were normally platforms surrounded by lava, I found pools of hot spring water connected by brick pathways. In the center of the room, where normally a rocky pillar would be, sat a beautiful fountain. I was taken aback by the beauty of the room, only getting serious as I saw a lizalfos lazing in one of the pools on the far side of the room.

“Dash, stay here…” I said coldly as I drew my blade and walked forward cautiously.

“Ahhh… Relaxing…” The giant lizard said in a raspy voice as it used its four-fingered hands to run water over its scales. The Lizalfos opened his eyes and spotted me, jumping up and screeching. “AHHH! Smooth skins!” It quickly drew its straight sword and readied itself for battle.

“Little racist, but ok…” I muttered as I charged forward, engaging its blade with a sharp CLANG!

“What the Hay is a Smooth Skin?!” Dash yelled in confusion. The Lizalfos jumps back and hisses.

“Die Smoothy!” It cried as it leapt over me and slashed at my back, barely managing to block the attack as I swung my shield between us.

“No you don’t!” I yelled back as I kept my momentum going and made my own slash at the monster. My blade caught it in the gut and sent it flying back as it roared in pain.

“AHH! My magnificent scales!” It cried as its side began bleeding lightly. “I won’t let that happen again, Smoothy!”

“We’ll just see about that!” I grinned as I ran at the beast, swinging my blade upwards.

“Too slow, Smoothy,” It taunted as it jumped over me again. “Yah!” It shouted as it quickly stabbed my back, but only managed to get my rear end.

“Oh! You damned lizard!” I roared as I rubbed the spot it got me. Looking up at my enemy I saw they were openly mocking me, wagging their tongue at me like some sort of child. With an angry yell I charged once again and slashed at their throat.

“Yipe!” It tries to lean away from the slash but doesn’t move fast enough. With its neck sliced it tries to speak but only a faint wheeze is heard. Enraged, the Lizalfos tried to screech and slash at my chest as I backflipped out of range. With a yell I thrust my blade forward, stabbing the beast in its chest. It grabs at its chest wound, gurgles something, then falls on its back with a heavy thud before exploding into purple smoke. With a flourish, I sheathed my sword as Dash walked up beside me.

“What was that thing?” She asked as I picked up the red rupee it dropped. Putting it away I sighed.

“A Lizalfos. Lizard men that are skilled with a blade. And very over confident…” I frowned as I looked to the next door.
“But it wasn’t the thing I was worried about.” I said cooly as we walked up to the door and went through. Entering a curved hall on the other side, we moved forward cautiously as I peeked into the next room. I heard them before I saw them, and gritted my teeth.

“Man, those things look so ugly!” Dash whispered in my ear, almost making me smile.

“These are adolescent Dodongos, and they breathe fire.” I told her quietly, her face dropping all traces of a smile.

“Like… fire?” She asked and I just raised an eyebrow, answering her question silently.
“So… how do we get through?”

“Well, there should be a torch puzzle in this room. If you stay close I can solve it fast and we won’t have to fight them.” I said as I walked slowly towards the only lit torch in the room. Sitting beside it was a long stick with a burnt end. I picked it up and lit the end of it, nodding to Dash as we moved through the room, avoiding enemies and managing to light all the torches. As soon as the last one was lit, the bars on the next door lifted and we pushed on to the next room, a short hallway returning us to the main hall. Before we hopped down I made sure to press the button and opened the door across from us.

We hopped down to the walkway below us as several statues rose from the floor. I counted three in all, one on our walkway, one on the center platform and one on the opposing walkway. All seemed dormant for the moment, but I had a feeling these statues were Beamos, stone beings that shot lasers from their lone eye. Or eyes, in this case, as they looked more like actual statues.

“Ok, we gotta be careful. These things are very dangerous and will hurt you. We just gotta stay outside their territory.” I warned Dash as we hopped across a stone to the center platform. We managed to sneak past the enemy and hop to the opposite walkway, a noticeable crack showing in the wall to our left.
“Right where you should be..” I grinned as Rainbow Dash looked at me in confusion.

“Whaddaya mean? It’s just a wall.” She said as she rolled her eyes. I just chuckled and looked down, picking the bomb flower I knew was there and holding it for a second.

“Just watch Dashie.” I smiled as I threw the explosive at the cracked wall. It Thunder against the stone and exploded, revealing a small side room with a solitary chest. I climbed into the room and opened the chest as I once again felt my body move on its own, holding up the map for the dungeon as fanfare played in the background.

You found the Dungeon Map! Now you can see where you are! Rooms you have been to already will be highlighted in green.

“Still gets annoying…” I muttered to myself as I stowed the map and turned to Dashie.
“Come on, let’s keep moving.” I told her as I walked to the door we unlocked. She looked like she wanted to say something, but held back for now as we entered the next room.

“What is this? Looks like a staircase… but it’s too tall…” Dash asked as she looked up at the elevated steps.

“It’s a defense mechanism of the dungeon to keep intruders out. Luckily I know how to get it down.” I chuckled as I walked up to another bomb flower plant. Picking one up, I walked over in front of the steps and set it down between several more explosive plants and quickly backed away. They detonated in sequence and the steps began to slowly sink down before settling.
“This way up.” I grinned and began to climb.

“You dork.” Dashie giggled and flew to the top. I eventually made it and we continued forward, finding our next alteration to the dungeon. Instead of the room with Armos guarding a switch, we were faced with a curved hall that led back to the main chamber, this time on the second floor.
“Woah, it looks so different from up here…”

“Yea, just keep a lookout for monsters. There are usually some Keese flying about up here.” I cautioned her as we began walking across a worn out looking wood and rope bridge to the other side of the room. We were about halfway across when we heard the familiar screech and looked up.
“Crap, they’re on fire…” I sighed and grabbed Dashies hand.
“Run!” I yelled and began to run to the other side, dragging her slightly behind me as we made it to the other side. We ran down the tunnel on the other side into a long hallway with a raised platform on the opposite end, a chest sitting plainly beside another tunnel leading back to the main room.

“All that for another chest?” Dash asked as she looked at me. I shrugged and walked over to its raised platform, climbing up and opening the chest. Like before my control was taken as I held up a brown reptilian leather bag.

You found a Bomb bag! It’s made from the tough hide of a Dodongo. You found twenty bombs inside! Lucky you!

I shook my head as control returned to me, looking at Dash with a smirk.

“What?” She asked with a raised eyebrow as I hopped down.

“Now we move forward.” I grinned as I walked down the next tunnel. We emerged back into the main chamber on another walkway. We followed it to the right, leading to another decrepit bridge that crossed over the main chamber. I looked at Dash and nodded.
“Wait here. I’ll be right back.” She nodded back at me and I walked out onto the bridge, pulling out my bombs as I approached a hole in the planks. Looking down I saw the empty eye socket of the Goddesses’ carved face.
“Here goes nothing…” I muttered as I pulled out a bomb. Immediately it lit its fuse and I dropped it down into the empty socket. With a loud boom, the hole glowed bright red.
“One down, one to go…” I sighed as I hopped over the gap and approached the next gap and repeated the process. As soon as both eyes were lit the face’s mouth opened, revealing a door to the next part of the dungeon. I ran back over to Dash and smiled.

“What?” She asked as I took her hand, making her blush a little.

“We need to go down, think you can give me a ride?” I chuckled with a wink. She smirked and rolled her eyes before grabbing me under my arms and gliding down in front of the giant mouth. I gave her a good peck on the cheek and moved forward, opening the door and progressing to the next room. It was a simple square room with a hole in the center of the floor.

“Is this it? The end of the dungeon?” Dash asked as she looked around. I shook my head and pointed at the floor.

“I have to defeat the boss. And it’s down there.” I said with a frown before looking at her.
“Dash, I need you to do me a favor. Please stay up here until I call you. I don’t want you getting hurt.” She could see how serious I was in my eyes and nodded, despite not being happy about being left out.

“Fine. Just come back in one piece ok?” She smiled weakly. I nodded and hopped down, instantly hearing the boss’ music start up as I hit the ground. The room was round, with a wide pathway circling a pool of lava in its center. Behind me I heard a low rumble of a growl and I smilled.

“Hello beasty.” I chuckled as I turned and faced the boss of the dungeon, King Dodongo. A mass of muscle and scales, this was one beast you couldn’t handle without some explosive assistance. It roared at me as I backed up a bit and drew my sword. The beast curled up and rolled at me, barely missing as I dodged to the side and it slammed into the wall. Turning around it began inhaling so it could launch fireballs at me. Being quick, I pulled out a bomb and threw it down the enemies throat and it exploded, incapacitating the beast temporarily and I managed to slice it once before it got back up.

“This is a lot more intense than in the games…” I muttered as I repeated the same move two more times. The monster looked worn down and angry as it roared at me and charged, rolling at me as I once again dodged its attack. It slammed into the wall and roared in pain before turning to me and taking in a deep breath. I took out one last bomb and sank it deep in its throat. With a muffled BOOM, the beast roared in agony as it thrashed and rolled around before getting itself trapped in the lava that filled the middle of the room. I watched as it slowly stopped moving, and the lava began to harden. It exploded into purple smoke, leaving behind a heart container as a blue ring of light appeared on the ground beside it. With a firm nod I looked up at the ceiling and called out to Dash.

“All clear Dash. It’s safe to come down now.” I yelled up at her. After a few seconds, I saw her glide down and land beside me, looking around excitedly.

“Where’s the thing you fought?” She asked, looking slightly lost as there was no obvious monster in sight.

“Gone. Returned to Tartarus. Like all monsters once they are defeated.” I sighed as I walked forward and collected the heart.

You got a Heart Container! This brings your total hearts to Five!

I sighed as I felt all my fatigue fade away and looked up to see a fiery red headed woman staring at us.

“Din.” I said as I bowed slightly. Rainbow Dash looked up at her and went pale as she heard the name I said.

“Wait, the Din? As in the Goddess?” She asked as Din rolled her eyes.

“No, I’m Din, the pizza delivery girl. Of course I’m the Goddess!” She smirked as she put her hands on her hips. I chuckled as I looked back up.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Goddess.” I said as I stood up straight. She just waved her hand dismissively.

“None of that please. It works for Farore and Nayru, but not me. I don’t do the whole ‘Goddess’ stuff when I’m talking to mortals anymore.” She said as she frowned. “Just gets a bit too awkward. Anyways kid, you passed my trial. I hereby bestow to you the blessing of me. Congrats.” She waved her hand towards me as a ball of pulsating red light appeared and flew towards me. I held it up and admired it as some text appeared in my vision.

You have received the Blessing of Din! This means that the Goddess recognizes you as a true Hero!

The ball vanished from my hands, appearing in my inventory as I looked back at the Goddess of Power.

“Din, I won’t let you down.” I grinned as she put her hands behind her head.

“I know, kid. Now go home. You got a long way to go before you’re ready to face him.” Din said with a smile before vanishing into thin air.

“Wow…” Dash murmured before I pat her on the shoulder.

“Come on, let’s go home.” I smiled at her as we walked into the circle of light and vanished, reappearing outside Applejack’s house and startling her and Big Mac.

“What in tarnation? Where the hay did you two come from?” AJ asked as she rushed over to us.

“Oh, well that’s a bit of a long story…” I chuckled as we walked back to her porch.