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When the metal gates behind them slide up from the floor, barring their escape, Twilight knows they’re in trouble. While he thoroughly worked through the Arbiter’s Grounds on his first journey, it seems like not everything had stayed as dead as it ought. He knew he should have gathered all those remaining dragon bones and burned them.
The portal had dropped them off at the entrance of the dungeon, and while initially hesitant to go inside, the stifling heat of the day and numbing cold of the night in the Gerudo desert quickly pushed them through its cavernous entrance. Their adventure from that point had been standard if a bit dull. Some of them didn’t know what quicksand was, so it was a nerve-wracking experience when Wind stepped into his first pit, but the poes were gone, and the keys were left in the locks that Twilight stuck them in. Frozen in time. All they had to confront were different sizes of stalfos. Easy.
That is until the metal gates slide up right on Wild’s heels. It looks like someone set the cylindrical room back to the way it was when Twilight first entered it. The sea of quicksand churns only a few centimeters off the narrow platform where they stand. Ominously, a pile of bones rests atop the agitating sand. It is a massive skull with a long snout and a gaping maw full of crowded sharp teeth. The skull attaches to a long column of spine made of aged, yellowing bone. While swords had previously been stuck in its head and lithe body, they now lay scattered around the room.
They stand by the door, on an outer rim of solid ground. Platforms of crowded, uneven brick break occasionally through the sand. For a moment, all of them merely breathe, taking in the massive skeleton laying dormant in the center of the room.
Then the ground shudders, the dark sockets in the dragon’s skull are illuminated by two red orbs. The bones shake as the head lifts from the ground, training its unearthly, piercing gaze on them.
“Is that a bone dragon?!” Wind exclaims.
Twilight draws his sword, pulling his spinner from the confines of his bag. “Yeah,” he says. They all watch silently as the dragon lifts its body halfway out of the sand, a long pole of bone with its big head attached at the top, two arms, and a skeletal grin. Twilight grins back. It is the exact same pattern as last time, this he can work with. “Wait here. I’ve beat this thing before,” he says.
With that, he launches himself off the solid platform to the chorus of awe and scolding, his spinner gliding gracefully over the sand. The voices of his companions are lost in the mechanical whirring and the sound of shifting sand. Just like the last time, an army of stalfos equipped with metal armor rises from the sand, attempting to block his aim for the dragon’s spine.
He manages to dodge them as they trudge mindlessly through the sand, skirting underneath one of the dragon’s flailing arms and smashing the edge of his spinner into the fragile bones of the dragon’s spine. However, where before it gave way and cracked, this time he ricochets off of it with a jarring metal clang. Squinting, he can just make out the glint of something underneath the off-white bone, metallic and new.
“It’s reinforced!” he shouts, to his companions or himself, he isn’t sure. He glides up back to the wall and attaches to the winding, toothy channel there, barely missing a spinning ball of spikes. Out of the corner of his eye, he can see the armored stalfos reach his companions near the door, shambling slowly up onto the brick they all stand on. The sounds of fighting soon follow.
While the other heroes busy themselves with cutting down the armored stalfos, he glides in for another hit, revving the mechanical motor on his spinner to build speed. Though it does not budge when he crashes into it, not even a shudder in response to his considerable strength. White bone chips away piece by piece to reveal a metal rod underneath. Twilight grits his teeth, barely avoiding another strike from the dragon’s claws. He can’t break that on his own.
“Twi!” Wild calls from the platform as Twilight passes him on the spinner. Twilight watches him bring a great sword crashing down on one of the skeletal warrior’s heads, smashing it to pieces. Then he pulls his bow from his back, nocking an arrow that sizzles at the end.
“Aim for the bottom of the spine!” Twilight shouts above the grinding of his spinner. Wild does just that, pulling his arm all the way back and letting it fly in between the dragon’s ribs with impeccable. It hits with a resounding boom, a bloom of fire and a cloud of smoke snaking out from the dragon’s ribcage and up through its skull. Twilight cuts through the smoke and rams into the metal rod. Now softened by the heat, it shreds under the teeth of the spinner’s gears. He breaks away as the dragon lets loose a roar, gliding back up to his partners still slicing through hordes of undead.
He hears a mighty intake of breath and he cringes. “It’s going to breathe fire!” he shouts at them over the rush of wind in his ears. Everyone freezes for a split second before Time, Sky and Warriors form a wall in front of the others, bracing themselves behind their shields. Twilight has no idea if it will be enough, and he has no time to make sure as his spinner attaches to the platform and rockets him away. Luckily it seems the dragon is only interested in him, as it turns its monstrous head in his direction before spewing flames and smoke. He catches a glowing barrier just as he slides out of sight, Hyrule standing before his companions with his hand outstretched. The smoke and waves of heat curl around it, leaving those inside unscathed.
As he makes another rotation, passing his companions to check on them, Legend throws him the fire rod. “We need Wild on crowd control,” he shouts, as Twilight catches the rod. He grimaces at the feel of magic thrumming under his hands, just barely contained in the rod's handle.
Still, he steals himself, brandishing the rod as he slides in for another hit. Walls of undead soldiers rise from the sand and try to block him, only to crumble as a barrage of arrows takes off their heads. Twilight glances over his shoulder to see Wind and Four with their bows at the ready, another arrow cocked. Behind them, Wild and Time mow down swaths of enemies with great sweeps of their oversized swords.
Fire rod at the ready, he swipes once, sending a fireball directly into the base of the dragon’s new metal spine, following it almost immediately with a swipe from his spinner. Again, metal yields under the spinner’s teeth like warm candle wax. The dragon drops another half-meter or so with a rageful roar, dragging its claws through the sand to try and scoop Twilight from his spinner. It barely misses, and Twilight takes the opportunity to knock the knees out of some of the stalfos still marching determinedly to his companions. When he attaches himself back to the platform, he shouts another warning, “Be ready for more fire!”
Hyrule nods grimly, one hand glowing softly with a prepared spell as he thrusts his sword through the chest plate of an approaching stalfos. As predicted, the dragon takes another noisy inhale, pulling the smoke still wafting through the air towards itself.
Twilight does his best to draw it away, pushing his spinner as fast as it will go along the wall. This time, the flames barely glance off of Hyrule’s glowing barrier. As Twilight glides past them, he sees Hyrule collapse to his knees, immediately covered by Time as Legend runs to his aid. “Hurry it up, Twi!” Legend shouts as he helps Hyrule back to his feet.
Twilight wrenches his attention away, barely ducking in time to avoid a swipe from the dragon’s massive claws. He slides under its arm and sends another wave of fire at the dragon’s middle, singing time-damaged ribs and shimmering metal alike. Before the fire has fully dissipated, he charges in, feeling embers lick at his cheeks and exposed fingers, before he rams the spinner into the column of metal, slicing clean through it with the force of his momentum. He emerges on the other side of the dragon, barely avoiding it as it collapses to the sand with another roar.
He doesn’t wait for it to settle, already rushing over his companions. “You did it!” Wind cheers as he hops onto the platform and puts his spinner away.
“Not quite,” Twilight says. He can already hear the sound of sand draining. Without spinners of their own, the group of them will be useless, sitting ducks up here, leaving Twilight to deal with whatever new iteration the dragon has next on his own. “Come on, we gotta ride that sand down.”
He herds them toward the retreating sand. Most of the group lose their footing as soon as they touch it. Warriors lets out an ungraceful yelp as he collapses onto his ass in the sand and slides towards the swirling center. It is quick, but it doesn’t pull him under, leaving him to sit and spin. The rest of them slide knee-deep into the sand as it retreats. In the small reprieve, Twilight quickly briefs them.
“This isn’t over yet,” he says, “Though this next part should be easy. We just need to take down the head.”
“Should be easy,” Legend spits, though the uneasiness in his tone is clear.
“We don’t have much of a choice,” Time says with authority, “Be ready, everyone.”
As they descend down on a platform of shifting sands, Wild quickly feeds Hyrule a stamina potion and prepares more bomb arrows. The rest of them ready their swords and shields. “If it’s the same as last time, it will be airborne,” Twilight tells them, “But the head was fragile, just a few good knocks and we should be able to bring it down.”
“You were surprised by it,” Warriors points out, “What changed?”
Twilight bites his cheek, a flush of anxiety causing a freezing shiver to crawl down his spine. “The spinal column wasn’t made of metal last time... and it's more aggressive,” he says. He racks his brain, thinking about the fight. “That seems to be the only thing that has changed, though.”
“Fire softened the metal,” Wild reports, brandishing one of his bomb arrows in one fist.
Time surveys them all. “Right,” he says, “So be ready for anything, but have fire weapons at the ready.”
Just as the sand begins to reach the bottom of the pit they are in, it gives a great shudder. Those of them still standing are forced to sit as the pit shakes. From the sand emerges the dragon. Its massive, horned head stares down at them with deep red eyes, sand pouring from its eye sockets, and grinning, teeth cluttered maw. Though it is not just the head, Twilight realizes with horror. The head leads into a long spine, bits of dark metal poking out between the remaining vertebrae. Wings branch from the column of its spine, fanning out in two massive, cobalt tapestries. Its ribs curve down from the wings to form a cage around a strange, pulsing jewel where its heart ought to be. Though it has no legs or tail, its spine continues past its ribs, horribly melted and twisted, still dribbling molten metal onto the brick floor revealed by the rapidly retreating sand.
It does not wait for them to get to their feet, flaring its wings wide and letting loose a bone-shaking roar. It swoops down to try to catch them in its cluttered jaws.
As a group, they scatter before they can be caught up in the dragon’s bite. Those with bows immediately ready them, while Sky prepares his whip. Twilight digs his clawshot out of his bag, taking aim at the pulsing red mass hidden between the dragon’s ribs. With a heavy beat of its wings, it swoops out of the way of the pointed end of the shot, arms folding in front of its chest.
“That’s what we’re aiming for!” Twilight declares.
“No duh,” Legend quips, nocking an arrow into his bow and taking aim. “Do something useful, like get it to open its arms!” he shouts.
The dragon breathes in again, resounding through the pit and rattling their bones. They all try to decide a direction to run to, scattering like bugs when a rock is overturned. The resulting blast of flame is dark, almost purple, cutting a swath through the middle of their group. It seems to linger on the bricks, shooting noxious smoke into the air. Twilight covers his nose with a grimace as the stench reaches his nostrils, something sour, rotten, and corrupted. Wind readies his deku leaf, blowing the smoke away and snuffing the flames with a powerful gust.
Sky shoots between them, reeling back his whip and swinging it. It latches around the ravaged end of the dragon’s spine, and he slides to a stop, using both hands to yank the rope with all his might. The dragon continues to fly through the room, dragging Sky along the ground behind it. Both Twilight and Legend chase after him, first Legend snatches the whip, his hands covered by two sturdy, vaguely magical gloves. It yanks both himself and Sky to a stop, before the dragon flies even higher, threatening to lift both Sky and Legend’s slight weight off the ground. Twilight quickly equips his iron boots and snatches Legend around the waist before he can be pulled too high.
The dragon turns its attention on them, glowing red eyes pin them down. Its arms protect its pulsing red heart. It begins to inhale again. “Yank on three!” Legend shouts, eyes just a tad bit wide and wild.
“What?!” Twilight demands, fighting every ounce of his self-preservation to keep his grip on Legend as the dragon ruffles their hair with the force of its breath.
“On three!” Legend yells again. He tightens his grip on the whip. “One,” he says, gritting his teeth. Twilight and Sky brace by bending their knees.
“Two…” The three watch as the dragon clenches its maw shut, deadly purple smoke wafting from its hollow nostrils and between its sharp grin.
“Three!” Legend shouts, then he pulls back as hard as he can. Twilight does the same, lifting Legend abruptly like tossing a bale of hay over his shoulder. Sky throws his arms around Twilight's middle, holding him steady.
This results in the whip snapping tight, yanking the piece of metal back towards them, and sending the dragon crashing on its back towards the ground. When it lands, the bricks under their feet tremble, and sand launches into the air in a beige cloud. The dragon lets loose a billow of dark flames uselessly into the air.
The other members of the team are upon it in seconds, swords drawn. Four uses a sky blue cape to help him jump the distance from the ground to the peak of its ribcage. He balances on the thin bone with his small feet, four sword poised over the red mass of its heart. When the dragon tries to lift a hand to swipe at him, it is smashed at the joint by Wind brandishing a giant hammer. The bones shatter, luckily not reinforced by metal. Four plunges his sword deep into the mass with a shout, echoed by the dragon’s yowl of pain.
He withdraws his sword and manages another stab before the dragon beats its wings. It sends him flying, and Warriors runs to catch him. The dragon, now down an arm and dripping viscous black liquid from its chest, takes to the sky again, barely missing a swipe from Time’s sword and a wave of flames from Hyrule’s. It wavers in the air, wing beats weak.
“We can beat it!” Time cries, rallying them. He lifts his sword, pointing at the heart.
Answering his unspoken direction, Wild fires three arrows with flaming tips the dragon. They miss as it drops abruptly to avoid them, but they hit another vital spot. They tear through the tattered, leathery membrane of the dragon’s wings. Flames lick hungrily across the material stretched between grotesque bones. The dragon howls once more. Wings destroyed, it drops to the ground in a smoking, flaming heap. This time, it is Wild who beats them all to the dragon, nimbly climbing the ribcage before standing tall over the heart. He aims his bow and fires arrow after arrow point-blank into it.
The dragon writhes until the seventh or eighth arrow. With one final roar, it stills for a moment, then begins to crumble under Wild’s feet, reduced to dust and coagulating black blood. Wild pulls his arrows from under a layer of sand, returning them to his quiver with a stormy expression.
“That was…” Hyrule says, breaking the fragile silence that had fallen.
“Intense,” Legend fills in for him, returning his power gloves to his pack. He glares at Twilight. “You said that part would be easy,” he spits.
“It was easy the first time I did it,” Twilight defends, casting a wary glance at the spot where the dragon once lay, “It was just a head, then, and I took it out easily with nothing but my spinner. This time, though…”
They all share a moment to ponder the implications, grimacing.
“If that’s what one of the big monsters is like in your Hyrule… are they like that everywhere now?” Wild asks, “I mean, it was kinda easy once we knew what to do, but it took all of us to beat it.”
“It makes sense that if smaller monsters are getting enhanced, then the big ones would be too,” Warriors reasons.
“But to this extent?” Sky questions, “The little ones just have enhanced strength. This was…”
“It’s different from the one I first fought,” Twilight agrees, “Not just stronger… Different. Like someone messed with it.”
As if answering his queries, he feels the zing of eyes on the back of his neck. Jerking his head up to the top ledge of the pit, he catches a pair of red eyes set into a reptilian face, staring down at them. The others follow his gaze, pulling their swords from their sheathes with cries of alarm.
The creature lingers for a moment longer, its eerie red stare unwavering. Then an arrow whizzes past its snout and it jerks its head away. Disappearing beyond the ledge. Wild curses, lowering his bow.
Legend is quick to aim his clawshot at the ledge, but Time grabs his shoulder, shaking his head. “Let it go,” he says, "We know we’ll be seeing it again.”
“That going to be before or after it's revived and enhanced every monster under the sun?” Legend grumbles, but lowers his clawshot, “What if it… What if Ganon-”
“We took care of this,” Time says firmly, “We’ll take care of the rest.”
He says it with a firm finality, but it doesn’t grant the peace of mind that it was meant to. Time doesn’t allow them to linger, already turning his resolute gaze on Twilight. “How do we get out of here?” he asks.
Twilight uses his spinner to lift the large platform in the center of the room. They use a clawshot-rope bridge anchored by both Time and Twilight on either end to cross the gap, and soon they are emerging into the inner Arbiter's Grounds. Before they can make their way to where the Mirror of Twilight lay shattered, though, a portal opens up before them, showcasing another Hyrule’s lush field of grass and golden sun peeking over the horizon.
Twilight accepts it gratefully, eager to leave behind this place, everything it meant, and all the anxiety it now meant for their journey.