Wow. So, I have a lot to answer for, don't I? Yeah, that 'Regular updating schedule' ended up not happening… Because I once again kept putting it off for months on end. I'm really sorry about this.

So! I've come up with a plan. Since live updates are in no way working anymore, I am going to stop doing them. I'm going to be writing the rest of LoS before publishing any more chapters, and any future projects will not be live updates. The closest I might get to live updates is posting the first chapter or two of a new project to gauge reactions before I start working on it as a whole.

Unless it's a one-shot, which I typically don't do, but it's possible at least one might happen in the future. Who knows, maybe I'll start taking suggestions from you guys. Hmm… Would that work? Maybe suggestions sent via PM? Just to fill time while I work on bigger stuff?

That might work… What do you guys think?

I was originally going to hold back on posting this chapter until after I'd finish the rest of the story, but… That's dumb XD You guys deserve to know what I'm planning. Once I finish writing the rest of the story, my plan is to upload the next chapter every week. I can't possibly screw that up more than I have this, after all.

I'm sorry that this happened, and that it took me so long to reach this conclusion. And especially for making you wait even longer to see this story.

In any case, this'll be the last live update I'll be making, aside from oneshots if I decide to do them. See you guys once the rest of it's finished! ^.^

(Holy crap this thing was long XD)

"What is this place, anyway?" Saria asked, as she and Sheik made their way through the Shadow Temple. Just like the well, before, the Shadow Temple had several rooms with torture devices and filled with ReDeads. Except this time it was even worse, as they passed by rows of guillotines with blood stains on them, nooses which occasionally held a corpse, and other execution devices.

"I'm… Not sure…" Sheik replied, seeming to be just as shocked as Saria was "The Sheikah served the Royal Family and protected this Temple, but… It looks like this place was used to torture and execute people… Was the Royal Family really hiding such a dark secret?"

"I don't think I want to find out what else there might be…" Saria said, trying not to look at anything around them "Let's just find the Shadow Spirit and get rid of it so we can get out of here."

"Agreed…Perhaps over here?" Sheik suggested, pointing to a room they hadn't explored yet. The two quickly headed over to the door and opened it, only to find a massive pit in front of them.

"Well. It doesn't look like we're going this way." Sheik commented.

"Yeah… How much do you want to bet that over there is where the Shadow Spirit is?" Saria asked as she pointed to a door on the other side of the room.

"You've got to be kidding me…"

"Hang on, maybe we can cross this gap somehow." Saria assured him, holding the Lens of Truth up to her eye, which revealed a network of platforms across the whole gap "Aha, here we are! Come on, follow me." She said, leading Sheik across the chasm.

"So, you never knew what was actually in the Shadow Temple?" Saria asked, while they crossed.

Sheik shook his head in response "No, I didn't. I just knew that the Sheikah hid it away like they did the other important locations."

"If they were hiding something like this, what else could there have been…?"

"You said you didn't want to find out."

"R-right, sorry…"

"Frankly, I don't want to find out either." Sheik admitted "Though… I suppose, for my own personal reasons… I might have to. To know what my people hid from the world…"

"How could you stand to search for more things like this? I know I couldn't bear the thought of knowing if any of the Kokiri did anything horrible..."

"...Because, like it or not, I have to know..." Was Sheik's only response. He couldn't explain to her why it was so important, just that it was.

Saria didn't really understand what Sheik was saying, and she wanted to convince him not to pursue this matter any further, but it sounded like his mind was set, and there was likely no changing it. So with that in mind, she kept silent, until they reached the door at the end of the pit. On the other side, they found… A really odd-looking room. They ended up standing on what looked like a giant drum, in an otherwise dark and empty area.

"What… Is this place?" Saria asked, looking around.

"I would stay alert if I were you." Sheik advised "See if you can find anything with the lens you have."

Saria nodded "Right…" She replied, looking around the room again, this time with the Lens of Truth. In the darkness, she could see something "Over there!" She called to Sheik, pointing to what she saw "What's that?"

The thing she saw approached them, revealing itself to be… Well, Saria couldn't really describe the main body. It looked like it was constantly leaning backwards, with a red eye on the bottom staring at them. Or was it just leaning so far forwards it was almost upside down? It really was impossible to tell. Its arms were nonexistent - Its hands were simply floating on either side of the body.

On top of all of that, it was coming towards them at an increasing speed. That, right now, was the most important "Duck!" Saria told Sheik, and the two quickly fell prone as the monster sailed overhead.

"The Shadow Spirit?" Sheik suggested, as the two stood up once they were all clear.

"Only one way to find out." Saria replied. Only problem was, they didn't exactly know what its weaknesses were. No Alta to help them out here, Saria only had Sheik. Which was fine, she's been in a situation like this before. Back in Jabu-Jabu's belly.

She just had to think like Zelda did… What would she do? Analyze the situation and find a way to work it to your advantage…

Thinking took too long. By the time she could come up with a solution, the Shadow Spirit had come back around and was next to the drum platform. And started… Drumming?

Each time the Shadow Spirit banged on the drum, lightly at first, the whole platform shook. As a result, their footing was unsteady - As if it was steady in the first place, standing on a giant drum.

"I suppose that means we should stop standing around." Sheik said, as he made his way towards the Shadow Spirit, using the vibrations of the drum as a guide to where it was, as well as trying to use them to keep his footing rather than lose it. That last part was a bit difficult, but it wasn't too hard for him.

Saria, on the other hand, was having a lot of trouble as the Shadow Spirit drummed harder. So, she came up with a solution. She created a barrier at her feet, horizontally. Then she jumped onto it. Problem solved! From where she was standing, she fired sword beams at the Shadow Spirit to help Sheik out in fighting it.

The Shadow Spirit blocked the beams with one of its hands, while continuing to drum with the other and focused on avoiding Sheik's attacks, trying to catch him under the hand he was drumming with. Sheik kept avoiding him, though, predicting where his hand would go next and moving accordingly.

Of course, he couldn't keep this up for long. Sheik was soon caught by the Shadow Spirit, held up in the air by its free hand. It tried to reach for Saria as well, but she jumped down off of the platform she had made (And had been moving to try and get a good angle on the spirit) and landed on the drum.

"Sheik!"

The Shadow Spirit, expecting Saria to run forward, started drumming again to try and get her to lose her footing. That wasn't what she did, however. Instead, she used the drumming to her advantage, the springing from the drum giving her the momentum she needed to bound across the platform, straight onto the spirit. Recalling previous battles with monsters with huge eyeballs, particularly with the Gohma in the Deku Tree, she jumped down off of its back and, on the way down, slashed her sword straight down the creature's eye, infusing it with her magic as she did so.

The Shadow Spirit screamed and flailed around, tossing Sheik to the side before falling to the ground itself, clutching its eyeball. It looked like it was having a tantrum on the ground for several moments before it slowly stopped, and faded away into nothingness.

Saria ran over to Sheik "Are you alright?" She asked, helping him stand.

"Yeah, I'm okay." Sheik assured her "Thanks. Not being able to see your target makes fighting it difficult."

"I'm sure." Saria said, smiling a bit before looking at where the Shadow Spirit was. In its place was the Shadow Medallion, which the two walked off the drum platform to pick up. Saria turned around as they heard clapping, seeing Dark Saria behind them and applauding them.

"Well done. Well done, indeed." Dark Saria praised, as she walked towards them "That was quite the spectacle, I must say."

"What are you doing here?" Sheik asked her, stepping between her and Saria.

"I've just been enjoying the show, for the most part." Dark Saria replied, waving him away "Have been ever since you arrived. You'd do good to hold onto that magnifying glass, might help you along a bit. That and you certainly aren't going to reach the next Temple without it."

"Why are you helping us? There must be a reason."

"Purely for my own benefit. Ganondorf doesn't seem to have realized the true power of the Shadow Spirit. If it was allowed to reach full strength, it probably would have leveled the temple that he was intending to protect."

"And Kakariko Village as well."

"Yeah, but that's not as important. What is important is that the Shadow Spirit is gone, and we're-" Dark Saria said, pointing to Saria "-going to have our duel soon. Let's say, outside the village's gates. In the morning, so fatigue doesn't spoil the fight?"

"Why are you giving her a chance like that?" Sheik asked, looking at Saria for a moment before turning his attention back to Dark Saria.

"If there's one thing I'm definitely not, it's a cheater. I want to have this battle fair and square, I wouldn't have it any other way. That's why I spared her in the Water Temple; It just wasn't any fun."

"I see… Most would rather take advantage of things like that."

"I like to call those people 'Weak'."

"You have that much confidence in your abilities?"

"'Course. I'm a copy of her, after all, I know how to counter everything she can do." Dark Saria replied "Anyway, I'll go ahead and let you guys finish up here. I'll see you outside the village, miss Sage. Make sure not to cheat and get help from your friends. Just you and me, one on one, understand?" She asked, before waving to them and backing away "See ya!" She concluded, as she turned around and walked out of the room.