A Note from the Author: At last, we can continue with the Shadow Apocalypse series! For those of you following the series, this is the sequel to Sovereign Swamped, where Link arrived in Termina and had his adventure in the Southern Swamp. This story will cover Link's three days in the mountains at Snowhead. If you are new to the series, the Shadow Apocalypse series is my novelization and improvisation of The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask, and is also a runner-up to my popular Ocarina of Time novelization, the Dark Mind series.

Speaking of the Dark Mind series, I would highly recommend reading the first entry, Phantom Destiny, before reading this story. This story contains many spoilers for Phantom Destiny, and refers to scenes in it often.

Anyway, though, I hope you enjoy Cold Heart as much as I'm enjoying writing it. Sovereign Swamped was a writer's nightmare, and certainly wasn't up to my typical standards, but here we have a heart-warming blast from the past. So enjoy part 1, and please write a review when you've finished.

EDIT: Apparently has removed my single-hyphen breaks between sections. Until I figure out why this is, I've replaced the breaks in this chapter with the long line breaks such as the one below. I'm not aware that this has been a long-going problem, but if it has been, please feel free to let me know.

The Legend of Zelda series (c) Nintendo

Part I ~ The Rumor

ANDREAS REPORTS:

The Giant Operational Heat Transmitter: GOHT. Said to be the greatest break-through in technology yet, it is a giant robot that can be used to change the weather at the flip of a switch. Still in the testing stages, this masterpiece of Termanian engineering is held in the mountains of Snowhead while minor alterations are being made on its Artificial Intelligence. The man behind the weather machine's name is as of yet unreleased, as a matter of security from competitors, but it is expected that GOHT will be a global phenomenon when it is released this upcoming November, though there will be a VIP-only sneak preview on Halloween night.

Invitees will be advised that no information about GOHT will be permitted to be leaked out to the press. Harsh measures will be taken upon anybody who decides their purpose is to cause trouble at this exclusive preview of the GOHT machine.

Scientists all over Termina are expressing great interest in the long-term effects GOHT could have for our planet, both good and bad. "Droughts and floods will never cause problems again," the lead scientist at GOHT's parent company, Gohdan, Inc., informed the Clock Town Tribune last Thursday. "The possibilities are endless! We could even stop a tornado, if one should attack during the Festival of Time, for example."

However, some analysts are not at all happy. "If the information got in the hands of the wrong people, entire climates could be changed in an instant," Igor Mosclosky, lead Ecology professor at Deku University and anti-biowar activist, warns. "We must be careful that the devil does not get his fingers around GOHT's controls; otherwise, our scientists in the North will have created the most powerful weapon of our time."

I laid against the cold windowsill, resting my head in my folded arms, staring outside into the dark blizzard. Nearly frozen teardrops inched slowly down my cheeks, until with a quiet patter they broke away and landed on the windowsill. I could hardly see outside through the great cloud of frost my breath inflicted on the window, but it didn't matter. I wasn't looking for something. I was only dying.

My breath was hard and heavy, trembling with every inhale. I couldn't breathe through my nose—it was too stuffy to do anything with but sniffle. I could feel my whole body trembling, though if it were from the cold or because of how I felt I couldn't tell. I just felt ready to explode, to let it all out, to just sob my way to sleep. But for some reason, I just couldn't. Maybe it's because I'm a boy.

I just couldn't stop wondering, why? How could this have happened? To have traveled so far, to have struggled and strained just to get to this very spot, all for nothing. Was it Majora's fault? She seemed to have it out to torment me, make my life in every which way horrible and miserable. "Oh Tatl," I sobbed quietly, quite sure by now my eyes were a painful red, "why did she have to... Why did she..."

I guess that was the key to the flood gate. Everything came out. It does help to talk, I suppose. I just wish it didn't have to be me. My face fell away from the window, my back lurched forward, and I broke down. My eyes became more powerful than Zora's Fountain, my heart more rapid than Bongo Bongo's drums, and my soul collapsed into its grave. "Saria," was all I could say.

My name is Link. I'm not even 15 years old, yet I've saved countless people, slayed hordes of monsters, and have gone through comas, disembodiment, and bloodshed. I guess you could say that makes me a hero? That's what all the gods call me: the Hero of Time. But I had the title Hero of Time before I even stepped out of Kokiri Forest. So do you have to be heroic to be a hero, or are you just born one? I've been wondering that lately.

That fact is, all I'm ever doing is killing things. Monsters, warlocks, thieves, I probably wouldn't be remembered at all if it weren't for the Master Sword. In my last adventure, I saved a monkey prince and helped him to rescue a princess. We saved a swamp kingdom from a vicious god, but our methods were vastly different. Everything I did involved slashing something, or spitting Deku Nuts. The monkey, who ironically shared my name (and, apparently, was named after me), hardly fought at all. He was hailed for being such a good person. He rescued the princess. I slayed the demon. He gave a life another chance, I ended one.

So, in the end, was I really a hero? Six years in the future, I would save Hyrule from the evil Ganondorf. I never talked about it before, but I cried when I killed him. He was almost just like me. He fought for what he believed in, destroyed those who stood in his way...and he wasn't even the bad guy. His twisted mother rose him into an evil wizard just so she could inherit his power.

So leaving the Southern Swamp through a white curtain, falling through the void of time with only the fingers of Nayru to slow me down, I couldn't help wondering if I was a hero, or just somebody who called himself one.

I've been in a psychological pickle ever since arriving in Termina. It is a mysterious, ethereal world, one that always seems detached as if it were a dream, while at the same time as real as the heart pumping my body. I always seem to get lost in thought here, like it was a sponge for attention. In Hyrule, I had Navi, my fairy, and Saria, my love, to guide me when I had questions. But Navi left me, and Saria was taken from me. All I had now was Tatl, who couldn't fulfill a fairy's role if her life depended on it.

Saria... Her name echoes through my very heart and soul. She has been the reason why I wander Termina, searching every nook and cranny, wishing with every vein in my body that there is at least a slight chance that she may be alive.

An orange, faded sky greeted us as the dawn of November 1st materialized. I took a deep breath of the crisp air and smiled. "Nice to see the sky again," I chirped. Despite it still being relatively early, the streets around us were crammed with carpenters, perfomers, and vehicles. Everybody was busy in Clock Town, just as they always were, but it was better than seeing them running for their lives.

"We can't just sit here and relax," Tatl nagged. "Don't forget, we have three giants left to go. We haven't succeeded in anything yet; this is just the beginning." She pulled one of my ears, until I was looking in the other direction at a tall, geometric tower with five gigantic clocks at its top. "Come on! Let's go see the Happy Mask Salesman!"

"So, you crossed paths with a demon, did you?" the Happy Mask Salesman remarked as soon as I stepped into the Clock Tower. I would have thought such a story would warrant at least a worried look, but the man's face was still painted with that frozen grin. "You've been busy."

"Well, it wasn't exactly a demon," I corrected, a little curious as to how he knew I'd fought Odolwa already. "It was a god, or at least a god gone wrong."

"Anything becomes a demon once it sells its soul to Majora. Never forget that." I felt a cool breeze behind me. Looking behind me at the shut doors to the tower, I saw that the breeze came from the cracks underneath them. "She's trying to get in, you know."

"There was a Deku wearing a mask," I mumbled nervously. "Before he turned into Odolwa, he said there wore more like him, and that Majora planned to ruin my life...or something." I looked back at the enigma in purple. "Should I be concerned?"

"You are a player in her game now," the Happy Mask Salesman answered. "History is repeating itself, and she knows it. You must watch your step from now on, Link. The game doesn't end until one of you is dead." I shivered. That wasn't very comforting...

"Well, Link doesn't have a chance as long as that moon is up!" Tatl chirped. "And neither do I! So we need to find more giants! You can't relax now, Link; things are just beginning."

"Ah yes," the Happy Mask Salesman grinned. "I would recommend the north. A giant lives somewhere in the vicinity of the Northern Mountains." A very sinister chuckle escaped out of his pearly teeth. I didn't know what to make of it. "Or at least, one used to."

"Th-Thank you...?" I quietly replied. Tatl and I turned back towards the door.

"I should warn you though, Link, that now that you've killed her warrior, Majora will be a lot less merciful. Be on your guard."

I nodded. "I think I can manage." Or at least, I hoped I'd be able to manage.

Soon enough, I found myself sitting alone with Tatl in an empty cabin on another train, this one northbound. Neither of us talked; we just observed the busy train station as we waited for things to get going. In my lap was a warm mug of hot chocolate. A dainty little spoon rested in my hand, swirling around in the cup as I busied myself with idle thoughts. I was so lost in my mind that I dropped the spoon after a while, though, and frowned at the brown drink. I couldn't figure out how to get the silvery utensil out of my hot chocolate, though, so with a sigh of dismay I left it on the side for a waiter to collect. I couldn't help but feel bad. It was a waste of a good drink, not to mention that nice spoon was probably sticky now.

Tatl and I didn't last very long after that. We hadn't had a wink of sleep since staying with the Business Scrub, and the next thing I knew, Clock Town was nowhere to be seen through the window. The great plains, the same plains that we passed through to reach the swamp, were all that we could see. "That's funny," I remarked with a deep yawn. "I wonder if the whole city is surrounded by this field. Nothing else ever seems to be here."

As I fiddled around, idly counting the hours as it sped farther and farther north, I thought about how I wasn't as frightened anymore. When I had first arrived in Termina—especially in my cursed state—I had been scared and overwhelmed by the bizarre world I now existed in. I was beginning to get used to the fact, though, that there was so much that I couldn't comprehend that I'd just to make the better of things and adjust. There was no telling how long it would be before I could be in Hyrule again; and Saria would need me to be brave, wherever she was. "Time to suck it up, Link," I said outloud.

"Quit talking to yourself," Tatl scolded before I could get any further in my pep talk. I just shrugged and looked out the cabin's inner window, observing Termina's strange clothing style. It actually didn't look all that bad; but I shuddered at the concept of wearing such loose clothing, and mentally noted not to try any of it on. I was representing Hyrule, in a way, so I should therefore exhibit my country's culture for the Termanians to gawk at.

"That's a good way to think about it; be positive, not negative. Remember, Farore's the Goddess of Courage, not Cowardice," I murmured in encouragement, too quiet for Tatl to hear this time.

The oranges and browns of the countryside eventually grew thicker and taller, and with a sudden "whoosh" trees started appearing in hordes, trees of every kind. The most common, though, were the evergreen trees. They towered high above the train, higher than any evergreen in all of Hyrule, ominous sentinels guarding the way to the North. Their dark needles blended into large cone shapes, and dozens of pinecones lay scattered underneath their trunks. As another hour trickled past I began seeing more and more pines and less and less oaks.

The windowpane was beginning to get colder, and fogged up when I breathed on it. The ground underneath the pine trees was a light brown, the sort of color the world turns just before the onset of winter. Even from inside the train, I felt goosebumps rising on the surface of my skin. Wherever we were going, it was getting colder.

At last, the train slowed to a gentle stop at what looked like a village of comparable size to Kakariko. A voice came out of the mesh box on the ceiling. "Attention all passengers: the train has arrived in Mountain Village. Exit here for hotels, condos, and the Biggorondola Base Station."

"This is where we get off," Tatl explained softly. "Come on." Her tone was more like Navi's than usual; calm, patient, and a bit distant. It was as if the new environment had struck something deep inside her heart, and for a brief moment she exhibited the closest thing she had to sentimentality. I was touched. My mood wasn't much different, though. There was something magical and mysterious about the village we had stepped into, to such a degree that it was intimidating.

Tatl huddled underneath my hat as we stepped off the train. It was cold. I could see my own breath and everything! My nose turned a bright red, and goosebumps erupted all over my uncovered arms and legs. Though it was just early November, it felt like December—all that was missing was the snow. Most of the trees had lost their leaves already. All that bore them were the evergreens, watching my every heartbeat high above.

As I left the train station, I couldn't help but notice how austere my new location was. Nobody spoke a word—it was as if all the joy and happiness had been sucked out of the land, replaced with sheer disregard for anything. Everybody went about minding their own business, hustling past others without a single word, and throwing blank frowns wherever they directed their faces. I felt quite alone outside the station, despite the bustling crowd.

All around were cabins made of logs stacked on top of each other, and I couldn't help but feel these buildings gave the place a well-suited rustic look. Thick grey clouds blocked any view of the sky, and looking to the north I saw that only the bottoms of the mountains were visible underneath. The mountains were covered with pines and firs just like the village, and in some small way I felt a little at home. These were the sort of plants the Lost Woods was full of.

"Well, what do we do now?" I asked. I quickly became conscious of myself when I realized I was the only person in sight who had a smile on his face. In a lower voice, I whispered, "Do you know where we should go, Tatl?"

The fairy peeked out from underneath my hat and nodded. "T-To the wi-winter sh-shop. F-Fast!" she trembled.

"Where is that?" Winter clothes didn't seem like a bad idea in a climate like this.

She nodded in the direction of a small store at the corner of a nearby street. "Put a st-step on it, kid!" she pleaded before darting back under.

As I was trying on different sweaters, looking for something green and comfortable, I overheard two villagers, two old ladies, whispering gossip to one another. At first I didn't pay attention, but then I heard them mention somebody: a young girl, dressed entirely in green. The women called her the spirit of the pines. I hid in a changing stall, and pressed my ear against the door to listen.

"...Agatha says it's a warning, Hazel," whispered one of the ladies. "It's a sign that things are going to take a turn for the worse. The pine trees never let go of their children."

"I wonder if we should have killed her? Maybe the mountain wouldn't have gotten so strange if we had."

"No no, Hazel, you mustn't kill a pine spirit. The devil will cut your throat if you do. We must leave it to the mountain. She won't survive more than a day up there."

"Tatl," I mouthed to my companion. "She's up in the mountains!"

"What are you going to do?" she mouthed back. "For all we know, the giant could be somewhere down here!"

I shook my head. "No. There's nothing down here." Taking a moment to hear if they were still there, I motioned towards the door handle. "Come on, let's get out of here," I suggested.

Dressed in my warm, green sweater, we left the store and started asking around about how to get up into the mountains. Our queries were met with mixed reactions. People were shocked that we wanted to go there. Apparently, with the exception of a small ski village at the top of a gondola lift, the Northern Mountains (as they were called) were off-limits to Termanians (I'm not a Termanian, but I was close enough).

I was determined that Saria would be beyond the dense layer of clouds surrounding the mountain base, though, so even a small ski village was enough. We located the gondola lift, and purchased three tickets: one for me, one for Tatl, and one for Saria when we found her.

As I stepped into the small red box, I sneaked a glance at the world above us. Nothing but the bases of the mountains were visible underneath the opaque clouds covering the sky. There was a mysterious character to these clouds, and as I sat down and the door to the car shut I felt they foreshadowed something to come. What was coming, though, I hadn't the slightest clue about.

The operator noticed my interest as he too seated himself in the cold, metal box. "Been there since sunrise. It was crystal clear last night; don't have the slightest clue where such a cloudy forecast came from. I guess this November is just going to be as grim and cold as ever."

"Do you think it's dangerous up there?" I asked, troubled by the unannounced weather, and all the warnings I got in the village below.

"Couldn't tell ya, kid," he shrugged. "We just started operating the gondola; you're one of the first people heading up today. We'll just have to find out when we get there, ya?"

I nodded, though I could only understand half of what he said under his heavy accent. With a gentle sway, the car began to rise off of the ground and into the air, suspended only by a metal cable hanging from towers running up the side of the mountain. The wind picked up as soon as we got above the roofs of the village, and the gondola rocked violently back and forth with such vigor that I thought we'd drop. I panicked momentarily, seizing the handles of the cable car and bracing for the vertigo of our drop. The operator, on the other hand, sat calmly looking out the window. "We always seem to hit some turbulence as we approach the cloud level," he explained. "That's why most people don't ride on cloudy days."

"I can understand that," I groaned. I wouldn't have been surprised if I'd thrown up.

We couldn't see anything through the clouds. The moment we entered the misty veil the rattling and shaking of the gondola doubled, and I was sure I'd lose the breakfast I'd had on the train at any moment. "Well," the operator admitted, "this is a bit stronger than normal. These must be some pretty dense clouds." The seamless whites and greys out the window, as it turned out, contained the cold November air and even made the car's interior colder. I rubbed my gloves together for warmth, though it didn't help much. Tatl's teeth chattered uncharacteristically, and for the first time she was virtually silent. A moment to savor, if I too wasn't shivering uncontrollably.

Suddenly something broke out of the white. It was a dark grey material like a balloon, and before we could react the enormous vessel slammed into our car, shattering one of the windows and making our car dip unnaturally low. The operator swore and jumped for a small box on the wall labeled "Emergency Controls" as the gondola shook like no tomorrow. "Don't panic, kid, we'll have things under control soon enough!" he assured me, though his voice didn't sound all that confident.

"What was that!" I demanded, quite shaken by the crash. The vessel, whatever it had been, had vanished somewhere below us in the clouds. The shattered window was just barely holding together, and the fierce wind outside seemed to make it its business to bring the glass pane down. Whatever had happened, the gondola had not been made for it.

"It was a zepplin!" the operator answered rather hastily, struggling to open the box while trying not to lose his balance and fall through the decimated window.

"A what?"

"A zepplin! You know, an airship! Dirigible! Like a big horizontal balloon with a skeleton inside!"

"Why did it hit us?"

"That's what I want to know, kid! We have a whole fleet of zepplins patrolling the mountain summit. They've got our best pilots; so that should not have happened!"

"Maybe they just got lost in the clouds?" I offered.

"I'm telling you, these guys fly better than anybody this side of the planet! This shouldn't have happened!"

Now I was the one who should be telling him not to panic. Neither of us were very collected by now; apparently, something horribly wrong had happened, and we hadn't the slightest clue why. The operator finally managed to get the box open and pulled the revealed lever as hard as he could. For a moment the gondola shook harder than ever before, and then with a painful screech it all stopped. The car continued to tremble in the violent air, but I could tell we weren't moving any more. The car fell into a nervous silence.

"What now?" Tatl whimpered.

"Now, we're going to have to evacuate. The sky is too dangerous now. I'm pretty sure we're close to Summit Station, so if we can manage to escape poor visibility on the ground, I should be able to get us there. We must be almost out of the cloud level by now." With a well-placed kick he broke the cracked window, slicing the air with the sharp sound of glass crumbling. From another box he pulled out a rope ladder and threw one end out the open area where the window used to be. Planting his boots on the first few rungs, he motioned to me to follow. "Hurry, before there's more trouble!" he ordered. "And brace yourself—it's a bit chilly!"

It felt like Zora's Canyon six years in the future, but worse. Hanging in the open, cloud-filled air while descending the ladder was like descending a cliff in a dense fog with your face pressed up against a wall of ice. My cheeks stung, and even with gloves on I was beginning to lose feeling in my fingers. The ladder swung and rattled in the bellowing gusts of wind, and I occasionally had to cling to the loose rungs and pray to the goddesses that I wouldn't lose my grip.

When we finally reached the ground, we were knee-deep in powdery snow no less white than the clouds. "Snow!" Tatl exclaimed as I yelped in shock, bits of snow falling through the cracks on the top of my boots and freezing my poor feet. "There shouldn't be this much snow up here until late December!"

"There wasn't any snow to speak of yesterday," the operator nodded. "I have a bad feeling about this. Zepplins aren't built to operate in the winter. That poor pilot must have been crashing." Tatl and I looked at each other and winced.

The visibility wasn't as bad until just a few feet above my head, so we were able to just barely make out the pine trees and boulders sticking up from the snow. The gondola operator led the way, quietly mumbling to himself words he must have used to memorize parts of the mountain landscape. We trudged through the snow at a sluggish pace, neither of us prepared in winter gear, and most of our energy was spent trying to keep as much warmth as we could while the piercing wind ripped at our faces.

We went this way and that, until I was certain we were going in circles, when suddenly the clouds broke off and we could finally see what was in front of us. We were scaling a narrow traverse along the side of the mountain, and though the sun was shining it did nothing to melt away the snow on the mountain's summit, which, looking up, was so thick that it could cause an avalanche.

"Welcome to Mt. Snowhead, fellas," the operator announced as we steadily ascended the mountain face, following the gondola cables as our guide. "In the winter we have a booming ski business; might come sooner this year, if this snow's here to stay."

"You aren't going to get anybody to come up here with those clouds," Tatl reminded him as she stared down at the flat surface of the clouds, which seemed to surround the mountain range for miles in every direction as if they were the flat land around the base themselves.

"This isn't good." The operator pointed up at a single grey oval high in the sky above us, slowly circling the highest pinnacle of the mountain. "There's only one zepplin left. Out of ten. The only reason it isn't gone yet is probably in case the others resurface."

I moaned. "This isn't a normal day, is it?"

He shook his head. "Not at all, kid. We need to get to the station pronto and get a ride out of here. With conditions like these, it isn't safe to have you two up here. We haven't even blocked off the avalanche areas yet."

I gulped. I had almost forgotten that Saria was somewhere up here. "How far are we from the station?"

"We're just about..." We came up over a clifftop and arrived in a sort of flat vale inbetween Mt. Snowhead's peaks. "...here."

"Please don't tell me this is Mountain Village," Tatl groaned.

"I'm afraid it is," the operator whispered, removing his hat. The village, virtually identical in style to a miniature version of the area at the base of the mountain, was completely deserted. There wasn't a living soul around; with the silence, I'd judge the entire vale was empty. "Where is everybody?"

"I don't think you want to know the answer," I uttered, nudging him and pointing at the many pawprints in the snow. I could recognize those anywhere—the Lost Woods had its own fair share of them. "White Wolfos. A whole pack, I'd guess."

"Well, that does it!" the operator announced with a start. "These mountains are too dangerous for tourists. Kid, you find something to do; I'm going to start trying to get the gondola up here. It could take a while." He pointed at a smoking red box near the closest tower. "Looks like the emergency control box is busted. Good thing I'm an engineer."

"Great," I sighed. "We're stuck."

"Psst," Tatl nudged. She pointed at something towards the other end of the village. I couldn't see it very well at first. Squinting, I was able to make out an ovular stone, similar in shape to a giant egg, with a strange design on it that looked like an eye. There were blotches of blood caked on its sides.

"Hey, that—" I began before Tatl shushed me, motioning towards the operator. In a lower voice, I continued, "That looks almost like a Gossip Stone." Gossip Stones were menhirs used by the Sheikah in Hyrule to keep an eye on the kingdom. Saria had told me about them when I showed her my Lens of Truth. "Wait a second..." I whispered.

With perfect timing, the operator left us to get something. As soon as he left, we got ourselves to a different location, trudging carefully through the snow with our eyes peeled for White Wolfos. When we were out of the way of the tower, I started rummaging through my things. "You know," I remarked, "I completely forgot about this thing."

Carefully, I pulled out a violet-framed looking glass, with lens as red as blood. The center of the lens was even more saturated than the rest, giving it the appearance of an eye. Engraved on the handle of the looking glass were the words "Lens of Truth."

I had found the Lens of Truth on my last adventure, just a year ago (it was my first time traveling back in time). They were at the bottom of a well in Kakariko Village. When I first looked through them, I had been met with the frightening sight of Bongo Bongo's eye, staring straight into mine. The looking glass allows whoever looks through it to see things normally invisible to the naked eye. I wondered what I might see if I looked through it now.

"Ah!" I yelped, almost dropping the Lens of Truth and accidentally alerting the operator. Through the looking glass I had seen a Goron, only it was see-through and quite scary-looking. Was it a ghost? Warily, I looked through the glass again. He was still there, a sad-looking man whose short legs didn't even touch the ground. Like most Gorons, he looked as if he was almost made of rock, with coarse, jagged skin, prominent muscles, and a chiseled shape that left him looking like a statue if it weren't for his expanding and contrasting lungs. This Goron had bristly hair all around his head, which only served to highlight his frowning face. Dark rings underneath his eyes told me he had very little sleep, if any at all.

I was about ready to get the heck out of there, but he rose a hand and softly cried out, "Wait, can you see me? Please don't go! I... I'm all alone!"

"Who are you?" I demanded, backing away cautiously, ready to grab my sword at any time. Gorons were generally docile creatures, but this wasn't an ordinary Goron.

"My name is Darmani," the Goron answered. "Please don't go! You're the first person to see me since I died. My friends, my family... I can't say good-bye to any of them!"

I slowed. "A-Are you a ghost?"

He nodded. "I should have explained. I'm the ghost of Darmani, the greatest Goron warrior in all history."

"If you're so great, how did you die?"

"I was killed, no sooner than yesterday."

"Y-Yesterday? By who, or what? An imp?"

Darmani shook his head. "There is far worse than an imp lurking about on the summit of Mt. Snowhead. I've never seen anything like it—it was like a goat, but made out of metal instead of fur. I was sent up there to find the source of this horrible weather—our primary temple, the Temple of Darunia at the mountain's summit, seems to be where it hails—but before I could discover anything, I was attacked by that strange creature. If you could call it a creature, anyway."

"Who are you talking to?" Tatl demanded of me. "Are you going crazy or something? Should I be concerned?"

"Shh!" I hushed. "You'll never believe it, but there's a ghost floating just a few feet from us. I'm talking to it."

"A ghost!" the fairy squealed. She darted underneath my hat. "I hate ghosts!"

"Anyway," I sighed, returning my attention to the Goron ghost, "don't you think that goat thing is the culprit then, if you've never seen it before?"

Darmani shook his transparent head. "Certainly not. I'd think a strange, pointy-eared Termanian such as you would understand that goats are not capable of bringing an early winter to the mountains at Snowhead."

"True..."

"I do not know what has caused this horror; all I know is that I failed my people. The last thing I thought about as I fell down the Volvus Ravine to my death was the poor Prince Ramblus, freezing in the cold, crying for all the Gorons we've lost already to the weather. It isn't just an early winter—it is the worst winter we've had in decades."

"I'm sorry to hear that." For a moment, both of us were silent. It was so quiet that I fancied I could even hear the shivering of Tatl under my hat. After a while, I decided to break the ice. "You know, this is my first time speaking to a dead person. Well, at least one who isn't trying to kill me," I added with a nervous chuckle.

"Oh?" Darmani remarked. "You are a man of adventure yourself? A scrawny kid like you?"

"Hey!" I snapped in defense. "I'll have you know that I've saved an entire kingdom before. How do you think I got this looking glass that lets me see you? I found it in the most wretched of wells, closer than I'd ever been to the Underworld, working my butt off to save a whole kingdom from an evil King of Thieves."

"Hey, there!" Darmani assured, raising his hands in a gesture of docility. "I know what you mean; sometimes people don't believe my own stories. I hear you loud and clear; I'm just surprised that somebody of your...musculature was able to do it. But I guess there are things that even the Great Darmani cannot conceive."

I liked this guy. He didn't seem to realize what an insult it was that he was saying, but otherwise I certainly liked him. "What's it like being a ghost?" I asked.

"I'm sure you'll find out one day," Darmani sighed, his somber face returning. His whole body seemed to droop towards the snow. "Hopefully later rather than sooner. It is a terrible feeling—if you could call it that. You can't actually feel anything, as if all the nerves in your body vanished. At the same time, all you feel in your head is a constant feeling of regret, knowing that you failed your people and they'll probably either forget about you or remember you in infamy. Nobody can see you, and you wander the world seeking a solution to your troubles. Not everybody becomes a ghost. Only the ones whose troubles don't have a solution. That is why I am cursed to wander the world of the living, watching as my own people die."

"The weather doesn't seem that bad," I admitted doubtingly.

"Not here; but that is merely because it hasn't hit yet. I warn you, there is a horrible blizzard coming this way, straight from Mt. Snowhead itself."

"Can't you see what's causing the trouble now that you're a ghost?"

Darmani shook his head. "Not a single peek. There's some sort of evil energy surrounding Mt. Snowhead; as a ghost, it is as if there is a great force-field blocking my passage. The only breakthrough I've had so far was last night, when for the first time in decades I saw the lights of the Great Chamber turn on inside the temple. All that managed to do, though, was tell me that whatever evil is causing this cold wave is coming from there."

At last, I thought, somebody who knows how to give me information. I didn't have to squeeze facts out of unsuspecting people as I did in the south; Darmani willingly just came out and told me the status of the situation, in the kind of language warriors used to get a point across. Unfortunately, though, Mt. Snowhead was not my concern. "It's been a pleasure talking to you, Darmani," I bowed. "I'm sorry, though, but I need to go now. There's a girl I'm looking for, and from what you've told me it is urgent that I find her before the weather does."

"What? You're leaving?" Darmani almost seemed to be on the verge of tears. "You can't just leave me! You're the first person I've talked to since I died! I have so much to say... None of the Gorons even know I'm dead yet!"

"I'll be sure to tell them." I started to turn, but Darmani blocked my path.

"I'm begging you! You have to help me! I may seem dead, but my soul is still very wounded. It's alright if you go to find your friend—just, please help me first! I just need to be healed! Then maybe I can leave this world."

"I'm sorry," I growled, "but I just don't know how to heal a ghost. I can't help the dead—that's something only the gods can do, and believe me, they can do it." Uncomfortable memories of Bongo Bongo ran through my head, and I shuddered at the memory of how he raised an entire army of Stalfos prior to the Battle of Kakariko (as I now called it; I missed it, of course, but from the stories Impa and Shiek told me it was certainly a battle for the history books).

"Link!" Tatl hissed into my ear. "You idiot! You have exactly what he needs! You know... A tool of the gods to heal a person's soul? To change a person?"

I blinked. "Hold up, Darmani," I gasped. "I think I can help you."

"Can you really?" the ghost asked meekly.

"Yeah," I nodded. "Just sit tight and listen to the song I play."

Darmani didn't seem to know what to think about me playing a song for him, but waited politely as I gently set the Lens of Truth down on the snow and pulled out Saria's ocarina. It had been a while since I had heard the song that brought me my body back, but its familiarity was enough for me to remember it. I played the Song of Healing on my ocarina, putting emphasis on every note, hoping that that would give it the full effect. Slowly as I played, Darmani's ghost began to materialize before my eyes, even with the Lens of Truth gone. Tatl squealed and hid herself again, but I kept playing.

Just as soon as he appeared, though, Darmani faded. "I... I feel better already!" he cheered. "Thank you so much, young hero! Good luck finding your friend!" With that, he vanished. I stopped playing the song and stood in awe for a moment, taking in what I had just done. Then my eyes fell to the snow to pick up my Lens of Truth, but in doing so I discovered something new.

A brown mask, identical in every way to Darmani's face, lay nestled in the snow directly beside my Lens of Truth. "Another mask?" I gasped, picking both items up. I put away my Lens of Truth and started investigating the mask, looking at it from all angles. "A...Goron Mask?" I held it in front of my face so that it looked as if Darmani was staring straight into my eyes. "...I wonder..." With a brief moment of hestitation, I turned the mask around and brought it over my face.

The moment its edges came into contact with the sides of my skull, a burning pain exploded in my body, and I screamed out in agony. As a reflex I dropped the sides of the mask, but it stuck to my face like glue—I was amazed I could even scream, until I realized my screams were going straight through the mask. Raising my hands to my mouth, I found it moving perfectly normal—however, the thick lips and square jaw, not to mention the rough texture of the skin around it, told me that they weren't my own. The mask around my mouth had vanished.

My arms and chest felt like they were about to explode, as if they were suddenly too small to contain all the organs inside of me. I clutched my arms in pain, crying out as I felt them double in size like a balloon inflating. I felt a great kickback, like my rib cage blowing up like a piece of paper blocking off the nozzle of a cannon, and realized my chest, too, had doubled in size. Feeling it, I felt new muscles I never had before, so firm and defined that it was as if I was the strongest person in the world. My legs expanded too, to an extent, but for the most part remained the same. I didn't notice it then, but my entire top half of my clothing had vanished.

The greatest pain of all, though, had yet to come. The many jagged spikes and bumps launching themselves from my back felt like I was being set on fire, and I collapsed into the snow in an effort to soothe the pain. I felt long, bristly hair sprout all around my face, replacing my own in the process, and Tatl gave a yelp of fright as her nest underneath my hat suddenly changed. I could hear my own cries deepening, until they were in a voice so low only a Goron could make them. When sight came to me, I felt myself over—I felt decades older, as if I were a middle-aged man, and I wasn't exactly sure what happened. As soon as I felt my back, though, I knew exactly what I was—a Goron. Rubbing my skin was like rubbing my hand against a rock (something which I actually became curious as to the taste of), and I winced as my finger passed over a sharp, pointy bump no different than a rugged layer of bedrock covering my back. From the looks of my hair, though, not to mention the prominent scar going across my chest, I was a carbon copy of Darmani.

"Tatl, I'm... I'm a Goron!" I cried. I sounded exactly like Darmani—only the way I talked was different.

"Yeah, I can tell," Tatl grumbled. "I guess any mask that song creates turns you into something."

"What's this? I thought I passed on!" For a moment, I thought I had said that. But then I realized that that time, Darmani's voice had come from inside my mind.

Darmani, is that you? I mentally asked.

"Is that you, young hero? Where are you?"

You'll never believe this... But I think I'm inside your body!

"Hmm... Well, I guess I'm not entirely free to join the afterlife yet. That was a magical song you played, wasn't it?"

Yeah. It was the Song of Healing.

"Was it, now? Well, whatever its name was, it seems like you and I are stuck together until Snowhead is saved."

I nodded. I was a lot taller now that I was a middle-aged Goron, and as I nodded I happened to see something I couldn't see before, on the other side of a boulder. To my excitement, it was a cabin—a cabin with its lights on. "Tatl!" I exclaimed, almost blowing her away with my hearty Goron cheer. "Somebody's here!"

"You planning on talking to these folks?" Darmani asked. "I'd better leave, then. We Gorons don't get along with these resort people very well."

Okay, let's see if I can help with that, I thought. Reaching around the sides of my face, I found thin grooves, just barely existent. Grasping the grooves and pulling away from my face, I suddenly felt a whole lot shorter, and in seconds the boulder blocked my view. In my hands were the edges of the Goron Mask, Darmani's face smiling quaintly.

"What are we waiting for?" Tatl called, already half way to the cabin. "Let's get inside, I'm freezing!"

"...and that's what happened, huh?" Zubora asked, raising a steaming cup of coffee to his calm lips. He grinned slightly. "Can't say I envy you, kid. Not one bit." He leaned back in his old canapé and took a sip. His legs were straddled out on top of his low tea table, his free arm resting casually along the top of the couch, covering up a small hole in its fabric. Zubora was dressed in a tight business suit bordering on the line of casual, with a white bandana wrapped around his forehead like a hat. His raggedy pants stretched halfway down his lower leg, which would have been bare to the end of his toes if it weren't for the sandals he wore. Despite his ragged appearance, the torn sleeves of his suit, or rather, the holes at the shoulders where sleeves should have began, revealed finely-toned muscles all the way down his arms. The sly grin, coupled with a slight squinting of his already squinted eyes, were complimented by a small, unshaven goatee.

"Gabora," Zubora suddenly commanded, snapping the fingers on his free hand. "Get our client a cup of Joe! I want him to feel comfortable after his long journey!"

A giant of a man, dwarving even the Gorons, grunted in the back of the office. He was all muscle, as if that was all he was made out of, and his large size was practically doubled by the enormity of his arms. He only wore a tight pair of pants, no shoes or shirt or anything else but a pair of grease-covered gloves. Gabora's enigmatic appearance was emphasized perhaps greatest at his head, which was completely covered in an iron mask. Only a single, diseased-looking eye peeked out from the otherwise-sealed helmet.

"Do you want caffinated or decaf, kid?" Zubora quickly asked aside to me.

I shook my head. "Thank you for the offer, but I don't drink coffee."

Zubora blinked in surprise. "Don't drink coffee? No wonder you're in such a pickle." He snapped his finger again. "Gabora! You heard the man! Let's bring him a hot chocolate, on the double!"

Before I had time to try and decipher the unintelligible grunts coming out of Gabora's helmet, I found myself staring at a hand almost as big as my entire body, trembling as it tried in vain to politely hand me a small cup of hot chocolate on a dish. "Th-Thank you," I managed, looking timidly up at Gabora's empty face.

"Listen to this! The kid's a gentleman!" Zubora exclaimed. He waved his hands at the giant. "Hear that, Gabora, he's thanking you! That means you can scram!" Gabora hung his head, grunted something, and left through a giant door to the side of the small door I had come in from.

Zubora and Gabora were the owners of the cabin I discovered. As soon as I was at their doorstep, Zubora had yanked me inside, and I was immediately sat down and pampered. Zubora had wasted little time with introductions, and had been eager to hear my story. Now, though, I felt like things were going in a direction I wasn't willing to take. I had to stay focused.

"Zubora," I inquired, "have you seen a girl up here during the past few days?"

Zubora gave me a very sly grin, like that on a fox. "Oh, I assure you, I've seen many girls up here lately. Are you...looking for someone?"

I nodded, oblivious to what he was hinting at. "Yes, I am. A girl about my age, dressed entirely in green, with green hair and a red fairy."

Zubora held a hand up. "Hold it, now, let's not get ahead of ourselves. You're talking like I'm a charity foundation, handing out money like a fountain gives out water. I'll have you know, I, uh, specialize in lost and found. I lose things, and I find them. You want the service too? It'll cost ya."

I was about to object when he hushed me. "Whoa there, don't get upset! I'm not gonna rip you off or anything. Just relax, get comfortable. See the chair you're sitting in?" I nodded. I was sitting in a bumpy armchair, colors so faded that it looked grey. "I'll have you know I purchased that from the finest furnisher in Clock Town. The salesman put up a red flag, he insisted, 'No, no, this is for the politicians! We don't serve blacksmiths here.' But I told him, 'I want the best thing you have for my customers, and this it it! I won't leave until I have what my clients want the most!' I drove a hard bargain, but he in the end offered to give me this state-of-the-art Zoran Floray. Because we here at Zubora and Gabora's understand that you—the client—are the most imporant thing on the whole mountain!"

"So," I asked nervously, "how much are you asking for?"

"Hmm, for a child like you? How about the kid's discount? Parents love it. You can have your information for 30 Rupees, how's that sound?"

Personally, I thought it was atrocious that I was paying anything at all. But every single Rupee I had was worth losing if they helped me get my Saria back. "Thank you very much," I said hollowly.

Zubora quickly pocketed the finances. "Oh, I assure you," he replied, "the pleasure is mine." He clapped his hands. "Now, then, who did you say you were looking for? A green girl, about your age?"

I nodded enthusiastically. "Yes, that's her! Her name is Saria and—"

"Never seen her," Zubora reported flatly. "A girl in green? Sheesh! Where do you think we are, Koholint Island?" There was a loud grunt from the other side of the big door. Zubora's eyes widened, as if he understood it. "What's that, Gabora?" he asked. "You've seen her? Where?" Another grunt. "By the Twin Lakes? Oh dear."

"What?" I demanded.

"Gabora says Saria was seen going in the direction of the Twin Lakes. That's Goron territory, and if there's one thing the Gorons hate, its tourists. Not to mention, the lakes are home to a large pack of White Wolfos. If she was heading to the Goron Village, she'll be in for trouble."

I burst out of my chair. "I have to save her, now!" I cried. "Please, tell me, which way is it to the Goron Village?"

"Whoa, whoa, settle down, kid!" Zubora shushed. "No need to get excited." There was a glint of light in his eye. "At least, as long as you're armed with the latest weaponry. Those White Wolfos won't stand a chance to your Razor Sword."

I blinked. "But... I... I don't have a Razor Sword..."

Zubora gawked. "You don't! By Farore's Book, you'll die if you go out there!"

"What am I going to do?"

Zubora rose a finger. "Here, how about this? Pay me some tiny amount...say, 100 Rupees...I'll have Gabora reforge your sword in less than an hour! No big deal. It's the only fun he ever has everyday. We'd better hurry, though. With every second we wait, that's one more second for the Wolfos to attack her. She could be needing you, right now!" He jumped from his seat and held out his hands. "Quick, give me the sword and 100 Rupees! I'm sure that'll be enough to persuade Gabora to lend us a hand."

I nodded and hurriedly seized my Kokiri Sword's sheath and a Silver Rupee from my wallet and thrust them both into Zubora's clutches. "Please, hurry!" I pleaded.

"Don't worry, kid," Zubora smiled. "We'll have you out of here in no time!"

I was off as soon as I had my hand around the hilt of the Razor Sword. I trudged through the snow, clutching my elbows trying to keep my heart warm. I didn't know which way to go, but every bit of instinct in my brain told me Saria was there, somewhere, in the mountains, and I had to find her. Tatl tried to convince me to turn back, but my mind was made up: I'd find my Saria, or I'd die trying.

The hours passed. We crossed traverses high above the ground, where one false step would send us tumbling to our doom. We slipped under rocky arches, and slid down icy slopes, I keeping every molecule of my eye on the search for my green angel. Tatl hid in my hat for warmth, a luxury I wasn't able to share. With every hour I grew colder and colder, and by the time it began to get dark I was still out in the middle of nowhere, hiking along the side of a mountain with no chance of ever finding my way back. A new thought crossed me. Even if I found Saria, unless I could find shelter we'd die anyway. Perhaps I had just sent myself to my death.

The weather got worse, and as the sun began to set a horrible blizzard came down upon us. Tatl recommended that I put on the Goron Mask, to at least make use of the Goron's hard skin, but I refused. If Saria didn't recognize me, I explained, she might not call out for me.

The snow became deeper and deeper, and it became harder and harder to see. "Saria!" I called in vain. "Saria, where are you?" There was no answer. I took another step forward, and suddenly found myself falling into snow that was waist-high. There was no way I'd manage getting anywhere in such high snow, and I could feel my feet already begin to approach hypothermia. But, I reminded myself, whatever the conditions were for me, they were surely worse for Saria. I'd have to keep going.

Finally the sun set, and the mountains turned into a giant freezer. Every last bit of warmth vanished, and Tatl and I were left in the darkness desperately trying to keep ourselves from freezing while trudging in snow now going up to my mid-chest. "Saria!" I screamed, my energy draining. "Please answer!" The mountain suddenly seemed to rumble. I struggled to wipe the snow off of my face and get a decent look of my surroundings, but it was no use. "What is that?" I cried.

Tatl peeked out of my hat. "Link!" she cried angrily. "You've caused an avalanche!"

"An avalanche? What's that?"

"You don't know what a...! Link, there's a wall of snow falling down towards us from the top of the mountain! You have to run!"

I tried to move quickly, but my boots were stuck underneath the heavy snow. "Tatl, I can't move!"

"You have to try! Hurry! Hurr—!"

With a crash that felt like being hit by a boulder, the thickest pile of snow I had ever felt slammed into my side, and everything went black. Tatl and I tumbled down the mountain, buried in snow and unable to scream or even breathe. An image of Saria flashed in my mind, weeping for my death. I had failed.

I woke up in a warm hospital bed. Many Gorons were crowding around me. Their rock-like bodies loomed over me like vultures, watching and waiting for me to die. Fortunately, though, my wake brought smiles to their trembling lips. The hospital, I realized, was almost as cold as the mountain—lucky me that the bed was warm. It seemed that, in case that weren't enough, there was a steaming mug of hot chocolate on the side of the bed.

"Where am I?" I groaned weakly. I tried to get up, but couldn't.

"Just relax, sir," one Goron hushed. "You are in the Weather Shelter a few ravines away from Mt. Snowhead."

"Weather... Weather Shelter...?"

"You're really lucky. That avalanche hit the side of our shelter; if we hadn't come to investigate, you probably would have froze and died. It's funny, though, you aren't the first person in such a strange outfit to wind up on our doorstep."

My heart skipped a beat. "What! You mean... There's another..." I struggled to get up, but couldn't even sit up. "Please, tell me, is there a girl with green hair here?"

"Calm down!" the Goron ordered. "You don't realize how close to frostbite you came. Your body has to heal!"

"To Majora with healing!" I snarled. "You have to tell me! Is she here? Is she safe? Is Saria safe?"

The Gorons whispered to each other. "Yes," the first one answered me. "The green-haired one is in good hands. We found her lying in front of our door just a day ago. She's in her quarters right now, I believe. Do you know her?"

I smiled and relaxed. Finally, I'd found her. "Yeah..." I answered with a deep, satisfying exhale. "She's my girlfriend."

The Gorons whispered to each other again. "If you'd like, I can take you to visit her. If you two are that close, we absolutely must witness the reunion."

The Gorons took me to a narrow hallway, lit only by lanterns on the ceiling. It was incredibly cozy, despite its tunnel-like appearance. I smiled the entire way. Eventually, I was brought to a small, wooden purple door. "Is this the place?" I whispered, almost intimidated by it all. It was that jump of anticipation one gets, whenever a task is just about to be completed.

The Goron on my right nodded. "Knock and see if she's there!"

I took a deep breath, tidied up my hair, straightened my back, and knocked firmly on the door. My heart was pounding as if it were about to burst out of my chest at any minute. Even though the tunnel was cold, I was sweating a little. I held my breath and waited for an answer. After seconds that felt like hours, my heart skipped a beat as I saw the doorknob twist.

The purple gate swung gracefully open, and then my heart really did burst out of my chest—and right into her's. The most beautiful young woman ever to grace the goddesses with her presence blossomed in the doorway, the entire world around us melting away as she did. For a moment, it was only us, all alone in the universe, just how we wanted it. I searched furiously for words. But my voice, that mischievous thing, came up with its own dialogue. "S-Saria," I stuttered, my eyes watering as at last I heard that magical name in peace. Without another word, I fell forward and swung my arms around her green fleece, embracing her tightly and swearing to the gods that I would never lose her again.

And then Saria flung me against the other wall of the tunnel, and it all came crashing down. With the fiercest, most vicious face I'd ever seen on her face, she screamed, "Who the heck are you, you creep!" and slammed the door.

A Note from the Author: It is so nice to be writing a romantic story again. It really gives me a chance to create vivid atmospheres and intricate symbolism, something I can't focus on in an adventure like Sovereign Swamped.

I love it when Link romances about Saria, it's so sweet. As I pointed out in Phantom Destiny, I really think Link loved Saria in Ocarina of Time, not Zelda or Malon. I should add that the idea for writing Phantom Destiny was thanks to ThatFanFicGuy, who after reading another one of my stories requested a story with LinkxSaria. Because Cold Heart is the spiritual sequel to Phantom Destiny, I think it makes sense that I should recognize him again.

Anyway, I really hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I would really appreciate it if you'd write a review before leaving. I read and respond to every review I get, so don't feel like your opinion doesn't matter!