Link's Curse 5

   chapter 5

      Link ran as far as he could from the tavern. He didn't care which way he was running, he just knew he needed to get away from there. After running for what
   seemed like forever, he stopped in a clearing. His heart was beating so fast. He had to catch his breath. He hadn't even noticed the cold. It was freezing cold!
   Then he looked up at a nearby tree and saw...it couldn't be. It was impossible. Snow?! Link looked at, and sure enough, snow was falling all around him. What in
   the world was going on in Hyrule? He realized his teeth were chattering, and he was shivering from head to foot. The weather pattern was awry in the land. Link
   had only seen it's effects since leaving Robs house to start his journey. Something must have been causing the weather enomoly. But what?! Link was not dressed
   to be out in snow, and he knew he had to find shelter quick to avoid frostbite setting in. He looked at his surroundings. Nothing looked familiar. He realized he
   was no longer in Kakariko village, but somewhere much farther. In what direction, he knew not.
  
      Then, Link noticed an opening in the trees at the edge of the clearing. He took a step closer to it, then stopped. A dark feeling came over him. He wondered
   if he should take a chance and go into the opening in the trees. "It might be warmer in there, among the trees." he thought. "But there also might be more monsters
   like the one I fought outside the shop." He thought for a moment, then moved forward. Slipping between two large oak trees, he realized there was a dirt path
   leading into the forest. "If only I had my lantern," he thought, sadly. "I'll never see an inch ahead of me in this darkness." He stopped to catch his breath.
   The air was crisp, as if it was mid winter. But Link knew that Summer had just begun. Was it some strange magic that was causing these weather changes, perhaps
   from a mad wizard from a distant part of Hyrule, or maybe it was the creators playing tricks on the people for not proper worship. Perhaps even a punishment? Or,
   worst of all, had the dark one himself truly returned? Ganandorf, the wicked? Link shuttered at such a thought. He tried to put all these possibilities to rest
   and out of his mind, but found it hard to ignore the notions.

      Link was getting colder by the minute. The shelter of the trees had not warmed him one bit. Perhaps if he began to walk the dark trail, he would warm up. So he
   began to move forward, into the unknown. Sword and shield held out, he went cautiously, steadily, onward. The further he went, the darker it got. Soon, he could
   barely see a thing in front of him. Only the fire flies shed light. Those fire flies were just as confused as Link felt, he was sure of that. "Anyway, how can fire
   flies survive the snow and cold?" link thought to himself. Things were out of balance alright. Just then, in the dim light, Link saw a small shape low on the
   side of the path. He could not tell what it was at first, so he positioned his sword and shield for an attack, just in case. The shape sat perfectly still. Then
   Link shouted as loud as he could, "Beware! I am a powerful wizard and will strike you down with my magic!" Still no movement or sound. Link squinted in the darkness
   and edges toward the shape. As he closed in on it, he finally realized what it was. No threat at all. Just a wooden box. He sighed, relieved. Then he thought to
   himself that perhaps he shouldn't have shouted so loudly, or at all. "I might attract unwanted attention my way."

      It was then that Link realized that he might be able to open the wooden box and find something useful inside. He set down his sword and shield for a moment and
   dropped to his knees. Reaching out his hands, he touched the box. He felt no lock on it. He tried to pry it open, thinking it would be difficult to do so. To his
   amazement, it opened quite easily. As if by some strange magic, the fire flies began to hover just above the open box. Now there was enough light to see what was
   inside the box. It was a medium sized glass jar. Link picked it up and looked at it. There was a cork in the top of it. The jar might be able to hold something
   useful, like a fairy or a potion. So Link took the jar and stood up. He opened the cork lid, and as soon as he did, an amazing thing happened. A few of the fire
   flies began to float down into the jar. They were letting him take them with him on his journey as far as he needed to go. Link opened his back pack took out a bit
   of cheese to put into the jar so the fire flies had something to eat on the journey. Then, Link put the cork into the top of the jar and packed up his belongings,
   including his shield and sword.
     
      Every now and then, Link would let the fire flies go free, and collect a new set of fire flies. He was always careful to feed and water them, and because it was
   a magic jar, the fire flies didn't need air to breath when inside. Link carried on in this fashion for a day or two, freeing and collecting fire flies, until he
   came to another clearing, bigger than the last. It had stopped snowing and the sun was out. Link opened the jar for the last time and released the rest of the
   fire flies. They flew off into the sunlight. There was only one small patch of snow here in the clearing, and the grass was wet with dew. But Link noticed two
   other more interesting things. Much more interesting than any patch of snow or grass. First he saw a large tree stump about eight feet high and pretty big around.
   There was a doorway in the tree stump. Link stepped closer to peer inside. He saw a wooden staircase going down into the ground from the doorway. The entire tree
   stump looked menacing. The other interesting thing Link noticed was a large wooden box sitting on the ground on the left side of the stump. It looked like a bigger
   version of the box he had found in the forest. The only other difference was this box had a lock on it. He was unable to break the lock, so he decided to venture
   down into the stump. Perhaps there was a key inside the stump. Or, more monsters...

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