AN: Sorry for taking so long to update this story! Also, I updated Aquila's dream in chapter 3, so check that out!

Aquila…

Aquila…

Aquila!

The owl Rito opened his eyes to see an icy roof over his head, snow lightly covering his form. Aquila groaned and jumped onto his feet, observing the area he had found himself in. It appeared to be a temple of some kind embedded into an ice cavern, with the symbol of the Rito perched above the door. Aquila adjusted his scarf then entered into the temple to get out of the cold, his arm becoming covered in shadow once again just in case any monstered tried to attack them.

The first room was like that of a tower, with a giant chute going upwards that had a spiraling staircase and the occasional alcove that led into a room. "What is this place?" Aquila asked himself.

"It appears to be a temple, obviously," Revali said, appearing and leaning on his brother's shoulder.

Aquila jumped and held out his wing coated in shadow, before quickly holding it down in recognition. "Oh, it's just you. Thank the Goddess." He raised an eyebrow in confusion. "Wait, why are you all glowy now?"

Revali looked down at himself, seeing that he was now a transparent green ghost. "Huh. That's new."

"How are you not more freaked out about this?" Aquila asked.

"Because that won't help us solve anything," the Champion replied. He held up a wing and phased it through Aquila's chest. "Hm… It looks like I'm not able to actually touch anything while I'm like this."

"Let's get going through here and see if we can solve this," Aquila said. He flew up the center of the tower, with Revali's spirit following close behind. The two landed at the first entrance on the staircase. "We can start by looking in here."

The brothers found within the room a simple chest sitting in the center. Aquila opened it, revealing its contents to be a bow of some kind. It was gold in color with the arches of the bow resembling the wings of the Hyrule crest.

"Well, that's certainly a bow," Revali said. "Not as great as my Great Eagle Bow, but it does have its own flare."

"Aid of the Champions," came a mysterious voice from nowhere yet everywhere.

"Who or what was that!?" Revali squawked.

"I am a messenger of the Goddess," the voice said. "You must use the Spirit Bow to ascend the tower and defeat the scourge of the winds. The Rito Champion will help you on your quest, though you must first learn how to work together while he is in this incorporeal form."

"Well, at least we know what we've got to do," Aquila said. "My guess is that we'll have to find something in the other four floors before we can reach the top of the tower."

"We could start with that switch right in front of you," Revali huffed, crossing his arms.

Aquila titled his head. "What switch?"

"You don't see the obvious switch that's sitting right over there?" Revali said, pointing to a spot on the floor.

Aquila shook his head, but then brought a wing up to his beak. "Wait, maybe there's a reason you can see the switch and I can't. If you're in a ghost-like state right now, then you should be able to interact with invisible things, while I interact with things in the physical world."

"Yes, that would make sense, wouldn't it," Revali said. He walked over to the invisible switch and stepped on it, a secret door opening on the opposite wall, revealing a staircase up to the next floor. "Hah, that was a simple puzzle! I hope you have something of a higher caliber for a Champion such as myself, Goddess!"

Immediately, a ring of fire went around the room and several enemies appeared out of dark portals. Aquila narrowed his eyes at his brother, whom looked sheepish and shrugged his shoulders. The two drew their weapon and engaged the bokoblins and keese, firing arrows into them. Despite only being a ghost, Revali was able to cause the enemies to flinch with spectral arrows, letting Aquila have time to deliver fatal blows to their skulls.

"How about we don't antagonize the Goddess next time," Aquila said, sheathing his weapon after the battle.

"Right. I'll keep that in mind," Revali said. "I was just hoping for more of a challenge."

"We've still got four floors to go," Aquila replied. "I think it'll get harder from here."

The two brothers ascended the staircase in front of them quickly, not wanting to wait around for more enemies to show up. Once they got to the second floor, they arrived in a large room that had a strong gust blowing in from the ceiling, with the staircase to the next floor being on the other side of the room.

"Looks like a puzzle of some kind," Aquila said. "The wind is blowing right over a giant hole, so I'll surely fall to my death if I try to fly over. Look around: there might be a switch of some kind that will let me get across."

Revali nodded and floated around the room, his incorporeal body unaffected by the strong winds. "Hey, I believe that this could be of use," the Champion said.

Aquila looked at where his brother was and saw a crystal sticking out of the wall. "Looks like a lamp of some kind," he said. The owl Rito pulled out his bow at stared at it. "That voice called this the 'Spirit Bow,' right? It must have something special about it to be named as such…"

Aquila notched an arrow and pulled back the bowstring, aiming at the crystal. Suddenly the arrow became coated in light, which once it struck the crystal made the device light up, causing a few platforms to rise out of the pit and make a path across half of the chasm.

"Was that… a Light Arrow?" Revali asked in astonishment. "I thought those could only be wielded by the Hyrule royal family. Or the legendary hero."

"Maybe this is the 'Spirit' part of the Spirit Bow: it uses pure energy," Aquila said. "That's so awesome! Plus, it looks like that switch turned off the wind."

Indeed, the wind died down, allowing the brothers to cross the room and ascend to the next level. As they climbed the tower, it became clear that the purpose of this tower was to test how the brothers worked together, as well as train Aquila in how the Sprit Bow worked. There were many more encounters with both enemies and puzzles that required proper Light Arrow placement to advance. Revali also had to press more spectral switches, sometimes in tandem with Aquila shooting light switches, and using his incorporeal arrows to stun enemies for his brother to finish off.

Finally, after many rooms of puzzles and battles, the two reached the top of the tower, which opened up to a massive rooftop. The wind was blowing snow everywhere, making Aquila silently thank the goddesses that he was born with very warm feathers. "You have done well mastering the Spirit Bow," the voice from before said. "Now, show your strength in this final test and defeat the guardian of this temple."

"Wait, did she say Guardian? As in the giant robots littered around Hyrule?" Aquila asked.

"She didn't emphasize the word, so it's probably more of a temple guardian than one of those machines," Revali pointed out. "Remember how the heroes of legend had to fight giant monsters in these kinds of temples? Something like that."

Suddenly the wind picked up and swirled around the center of the arena, the snow forming into a giant, ghostly bird with an icy helmet over its head. The bird screeched and flew upwards, circling the arena as Aquila and Revali prepared their weapons. "I recognize this monster: it's the Helmaroc King from the Legend of the Wind Waker!" Aquila said.

"Ah, I remember that story as well," Revali said. "If I remember correctly, we'll need to break its mask first, so prepare some Bomb Arrows for when it's vulnerable."

The two brothers stayed on the ground to combat the Scourge of the Wind: Blizzard Helmaroc. The giant bird swooped down and tried to claw and peck the heroes, but Aquila and Revali were able to easily outmaneuver the beast and trick it into getting its beak stuck in the ground. The brothers then unloaded bomb arrows into the beast, causing the mask to break and enrage the Blizzard Helmaroc.

"Hey, I just realized that your arrows are actually doing damage to him," Aquila noted.

"Huh, so they do. It might be because our enemy is also a spirit of some kind," Revali speculated.

The two focused back on the fight, flying up to attack the Blizzard Helmaroc directly now that its head is exposed. The beast kept trying to swipe and peck the heroes, but their small frames made it easy to dodge the attacks. As they kept attacking, the giant bird started to whip up a freezing blizzard, forcing the two to land and shield themselves from the wind.

"We need to defeat this thing, now!" Revali shouted, buffeted by the frigid gusts of air.

"I have an idea," Aquila shouted. He went back-to-back with his brother and charged up a Light Arrow. Revali realized what Aquila was trying to do and aimed his own Bomb Arrow. "Ready… Aim… and FIRE!"

The brothers shot their arrows through the snow and wind, their arrows twirling around each other until they pierced the forehead of the Blizzard Helmaroc, exploding in light and making the monster disappear. The brothers gave each other a high five in victory, the snow finally calming down around them. Where the Blizzard Helmaroc died formed a circle of blue light, pulsing calmly.

"I think that is our way home," Aquila said. He walked over to the light but noticed that Revali wasn't following him. "Aren't you coming, brother?"

"I can't follow you back there, to the real world," Revali said. His ghostly form glowed and shifted, falling to the floor and merging with Aquila's shadow. "I was only the memory of Revali created from your mind to assist you on your journey through this temple. I will reappear once you find the next temple, but I cannot follow you back to the real world."

Aquila nodded in understanding. "Even if you're not really my brother, you still acted just as he did. What is your real name then?"

The shadow gave a hum, then answered as Aquila was consumed by the portal's light. "I'll give you a hint: you're not the first hero I've worked with..."

[***]

Aquila awoke back on Vah Medoh, standing in front of the control console for the Divine Beast. He still had the Spirit Bow on his back, but what was more important was that the control console was glowing a mysterious green color instead.

"How did you get it to do that?" Revali asked.

"Do what?" Aquila replied, noticing that Revali and Link were standing behind him.

"After I saved you from falling off in the freak blizzard, you walked over here in a trance and made that bow appear," the Rito Champion explained. Link nodded in agreement.

"I think… I think it wants me to play a song," Aquila said. He pulled out the Harp of Ages and strummed a few notes before singing a short verse.

[The music here is "Earth God's Lyric" from Wind Waker]

Oh Champion of Wind, have no fear

For I grant you this ancient song

If you heed my words, then you

Will finally fulfill your destiny

With his song finished, the control console gave a ring of confirmation before returning to its blue state. On the pedestal where the controls were appeared a charm of some kind in the shape of the Divine Beast itself. Aquila picked up the charm and tossed it to Revali.

"I think this is supposed to be yours," he said to his brother.

Revali peered down at he odd charm before fastening it to his Great Eagle Bow, hanging off of it next to the piece of cloth on the weapon. "I don't know why the Divine Beast did that, but if it trusts you then I won't complain," Revali said. "Now then, why don't we get back down to the village before the princess has a fit over her precious knight going missing?"

"Somehow I doubt that she would be throwing a fit over Link being missing," Aquila said.

As the group left back to the village (with Link donning the Rito mask once again), life returned back to normal for everyone. Link and Zelda went back to meeting the other Champions, and Revali and Aquila went back to protecting the village and music playing, respectively. Aquila did make sure that his Spirit Bow did still shoot Light Arrows when charged (it did), and wondered when and where he would find the next hidden temple that his mission had tasked him to find. It wouldn't be until an invitation by the Goron Champion Daruk that the answer to that question would be found.

Author's Note

Next time will be a bit of a more light-hearted chapter with more sibling bonding, but I hope you enjoyed Aquila's first temple, the Tower of Ice. But the mystery of the shadow and the charm still remain, so the questions as to why Aquila has to go through these temples is up in the air at the moment. Gotta save some reveals for later!