As expected, Linkle had ended up sleeping like a log as soon as the siblings got back to the inn, despite her claims of being too eager to sleep. However, true to her word, she was up at the crack of dawn, dressed and ready for battle, practically dragging Link out of bed to join her. She remained impatient when Link insisted they stop by the market to load up on a few necessities before proceeding with their excursion, but she went along with it, yammering excitedly the whole way.

It was still early in the morning when they approached the walled off area near the center of town. When they got too close, the guards posted in front of the entrance stopped them.

"Halt," one of the guards ordered, gripping his curved spear and holding out an open hand. "The Well of Three Features is presently dangerous to enter. State your business."

"Yeah, about that. That's actually why we're here," Link replied.

"Fear not," Linkle added. "We know what we're getting into, and we're prepared to face whatever dangers we may find down there."

The guard examined them briefly. Even though Link and his sister were clearly armed, they were still mere teenagers. Perhaps the gatekeeper was genuinely concerned for their safety.

"We were sent here by the Sage of Shadow," Link informed the man. "No need to worry about us. We do this for a living."

As of a few days ago, anyway.

"Very well," the guard relented. Stepping out of their way, he knocked on the gate and shouted something in the Sheikah tongue. A moment later, the gate swung open, allowing the siblings to enter.

There were more guards inside the partitioned area, milling about without much apparent urgency. Link found that odd, but perhaps they had been on guard duty long enough to know there was no real threat to them so long as they weren't the ones going down into the well.

"Is that it?" Link asked when he spotted the well in question. Given that it was somehow connected to ancient Sheikah catacombs beneath the city, he'd been expecting something grander. Instead, it looked like an ordinary stone well; the kind you'd see in even the simplest of villages.

Linkle flashed a confident smile. "Let's jump right in," she suggested.

"But not literally," Link reminded her, just in case she was being serious. Peering down into the well, he could see a series of metal bars drilled into the walls forming a makeshift ladder. It was too deep to see the bottom, but he assumed the ladder went all the way down. "Well, here goes nothing…" Climbing over the edge and swinging his body around, Link gripped onto the bars and began his descent.

It felt like they'd been climbing forever when the siblings finally planted their boots on the ground again. Before them was a dark tunnel. It was difficult to see, but thankfully, torches were one of the things Link had decided to stock up on at the market that morning. So, Link lit one of his torches and led the way. The tunnel got wider as they went, and they soon came to a wall that had been partially torn down.

"So somebody dug down into here on purpose?" Link asked as he and his sister stepped through the rubble.

"I think that's what the shogun said," Linkle replied.

"Then why don't they just seal up that wall again? Or seal off the well itself and be done with it?" That seemed like a much simpler solution to him, and it would avoid the risk of needlessly sending adventurers to their deaths.

"Dunno," Linkle shrugged. "Maybe they wouldn't feel right leaving their dead to wander around in the dark as undead monsters for eternity."

"Hmm." Link hadn't thought of it like that. His sister didn't sound particularly interested in the 'why' of the situation so long as it gave her a chance at heroics, but she did have a point.

Just past the wall, they came to a steep drop that led to a lower level. There was a wooden ladder this time, and the climb was only about ten feet. However, whereas the ground had been the same paved stone as the walls of the well up until that point, the ground on the lower level was just dirt. Additionally, they could see broken pieces of metal gates and chains hanging from the walls and ceiling of the next corridor.

"Jeez. This place is a dump," Link remarked.

"This is so cool," Linkle said, drawing her shortsword as if anticipating enemies at any moment. "I bet this is how the Hero of Twilight felt when he journeyed through the Arbiter's Grounds."

"You mean he felt like he was walking into a pointless deathtrap?"

"Hell no! It wasn't pointless. That's where the Mirror of Twilight was-"

"Oh fuck!" Link leapt back in panic, dropping his torch. Further down the tunnel, a creature had suddenly fallen from an opening in the ceiling. It looked like a skull with many spindly legs sprouting from it. Its body was about eight feet long, and its legs spanned the entire width of the tunnel. "Elle, get back!"

Linkle seemed unconcerned, and sheathed her sword in favor of drawing her crossbow. "Calm yourself, Brother," she said, loading a bolt. "It's nothing to be afraid of."

"It's a goddamn giant Stalspider!" he argued, still backing up.

His sister laughed. "It's not even a real stalcreature. That skull is just the pattern on its back," she explained.

Why are monsters and heroes the only things she's ever bothered to study?

Looking closer, Link saw that she was right. What had looked like a skull at first was actually the body of a giant white spider with black markings in a pattern that resembled eye and nose sockets. However, that didn't change the fact that it was still a giant spider.

Curse the gods for these horrible creations...

Linkle let loose a bolt. She hit her target, but the bolt bounced harmlessly off of the monster's bony exterior. "Ah, that's right," she said as she loaded the next bolt. "Larger Skulltulas have tough exoskeletons. We gotta flip it over and strike its soft underside."

"And how do we do that?" Link asked, drawing his sword and shield.

As they spoke, the Skulltula's many eyes glowed red as it seemed to spot them. It moved toward them slowly, crawling across the ground at first, but then it turned to climb up the wall. Once it reached the ceiling, it continued moving towards them, its eight creepy legs wiggling rhythmically.

"Oh hell no…" Link took a few more steps back, holding up his shield and never taking his eyes off the Skulltula.

"No, this is perfect!" Linkle proclaimed. "I'll shoot it down, then you stab it in the belly."

"Oh, sure. That sounds easy," her brother said with unenthusiastic sarcasm. Nevertheless, he prepared to do as she'd told him, hoping she actually knew what she was talking about.

Linkle's next shot hit the giant spider in one of its legs. It made no noise in response, continuing to creep forward silently, but it clearly reacted. The injured leg spasmed, and the Skulltula stopped using it to grip the ceiling, which threw off the motion of its gait.

"Huh. That looks like it worked," Link said, only half-surprised.

"Naturally," his sister said smugly, reloading her crossbow. "My plans always work."

"Like with the Hinox?"

"Shut the fuck up, Brother." She let loose another bolt, hitting the creature in another one of its legs, this time on the other side of its body. That seemed to be enough. The monster slipped and fell, dangling by a single leg for a moment before falling completely. It landed on its back, struggling uselessly like a flipped-over turtle, all eight of its legs flailing wildly. As Linkle had stated earlier, the Skulltula's underside looked much weaker. As opposed to its tough, bony top side, its belly was sinewy and yellowish-gold in color, like its legs. "Now! Hit it!" Linkle shouted to her brother.

The last thing Link wanted to do at that moment was get any closer to the hideous giant spider writhing on the ground. However, if he did nothing, the Skulltula would eventually manage to flip over, and that would be even worse.

Here goes nothing.

Link sprung forward, letting out a warcry as he thrust his sword downward. The Skulltula still made no noise, but its legs thrashed even more wildly. One of them touched Link, and it freaked him out enough to stab it six additional times in rapid succession. "Die, you creepy little bastard!" he shouted.

Eventually, the monster stopped moving, and Link stepped back, panting.

"Nice work, Brother," Linkle said happily, clapping him on the back.

"Yeah," Link said, retrieving his dropped torch. "You can have the next one."


Stepping over the giant spider's corpse, the siblings continued on down the corridor. At the end of it was the remains of another torn down wall that they were able to step through. Then, finally, they came to a more open area. The floor was once again paved with brick, and more chain links and construction beams were haphazardly scattered about. Directly in front of them was a rectangular pool of water which connected to some sort of man-made waterway running through the tunnels to the left and right.

"What kind of well is this?" Link asked in bewilderment. "Or are we in the catacombs part now? I can't tell."

"Dunno," Linkle said, her eyes wandering. "See any undead yet?"

"No. Maybe that's all further in," Link speculated. "Come on. Let's try this way." The two of them walked around the right side of the pool of water, but as they did, a great ball of green fire appeared from the left tunnel. "Whoa!" Link shouted. "Get back!"

"Ahh!" Linkle cried, stumbling as Link shoved her backwards along with him. They stood there and watched as the ball of fire passed by, but when he got a good look at it, Link saw it was more than just fire. Within the green fireball, there was a gigantic skull, floating above the waterway with a pair of bat wings sprouting from its temples. Luckily, it took no notice of them, and it continued on down the tunnel at the same steady pace.

"Okay, what the hell is going on here?" Link asked, more confused than scared. "I thought we were just here to put undead Sheikah to rest. No one said anything about giant, floating, flaming skulls."

"It's a Bubble!" Linkle exclaimed, even more excited than she'd been about the Skulltula. "Spirits of the decapitated. Maybe it's the ghost of a dead criminal who was executed by guillotine, or someone who got their head cut off in battle!"

"Okay, sure, but why is it giant?" Link didn't know many creatures with ten-foot tall skulls, and regardless of what creature might have a head that size, this was supposedly a burial ground for humans.

Linkle shrugged. "Spirits come in all shapes and sizes. It's not like skulls have wings like that either."

Link sighed, pressing his hand to his face. "When I die, make sure I don't come back."

"I shall burn your corpse with the utmost care, Brother." His sister saluted him, smiling mockingly. "Now, shall we follow the Bubble?"

"Hmm…" Stepping closer to the waterway, Link peered around the corner, looking down the tunnel the spirit had gone through. "I can't see it anymore, but we might as well see where it's going, I guess. Maybe that's where the rest of the undead are."

"Alrighty." Linkle agreed, so they set off down the tiled path that ran alongside the waterway.

"We were told there were ReDeads down here, right?" Link asked.

"Uh-huh," his sister confirmed with a nod.

"Okay. Before we run into them, we should come up with a new way to kill them," he suggested. The last time they had fought ReDeads, they'd managed to kill a couple of them. However, the effects of hearing a ReDead scream were not something Link ever wanted to experience again.

"Good idea," Linkle agreed. "And, uh, sorry about last time," she said after a moment, scratching her head guiltily.

"Hm," Link grunted. "Don't worry about it."

At least she learns, sometimes.

"I'm thinking, maybe we can trick them into screaming prematurely," he went on, brainstorming ideas. "Like, toss a rock around the corner or something and cover our ears. Maybe that'll startle them into wasting their scream."

"Hey, yeah!" Linkle said. "That might work. Ooh, I know! What if I use our torches to light my bolts so I can shoot them and set them on fire?"

"Oh, right. Forgot we had fire this time," Link said, holding his torch out in front of him to examine it. "That'll make this a hell of a lot easier."

When they reached the end of the tunnel, they had to leap across the waterway to turn the corner. So far, they hadn't encountered the Bubble again, nor anything else dangerous. The next corridor was not any more eventful, as the only other pathway they came across was barred and they had no means to open it.

About halfway down the next tunnel, after rounding the corner again, the siblings came across a peculiar sight. "Ooh, what's that?" Linkle asked. On the wall was a statue of a big head with water pouring from its large, open mouth. It seemed to be looking down at them with wicked eyes that lacked pupils. Hands protruded from the wall on either side of it, giving off the impression that it was a monster trapped inside the wall.

"No idea. Doesn't look like Karasu to me," Link replied, referring to the Patron goddess of the Sheikah who took the form of a raven.

"Hmm. What's this do?" Linkle asked curiously, stepping towards a large wooden lever next to the wall across from the water-spouting statue.

"I don't know, but you shouldn't pull-"

Linkle pulled the lever, grunting with effort. The statue's mouth closed shut, and no more water spilled from it.

"What the fuck is the matter with you?" Link asked. "You don't just pull strange levers you find in a dungeon! You had no idea what that thing would do!"

"Yeah, but look!" Linkle pointed down into the pool of water beneath the statue. Link could see a small, rectangular, barred opening in the wall at the bottom of the pool. "Maybe the water will drain now and we can get through there."

"So? What good is-?" Link stopped talking when he heard a noise behind him. It sounded like the flapping of large, leathery wings. Turning around, he saw the gigantic floating skull wreathed in ghostly green flame barreling down the tunnel towards them. "Get out of the way!" he shouted, grabbing his sister. But in doing so, the two of them lost their balance, stumbling and falling into the wall beside them.

"Whoa- Ahh! Oof," Linkle shouted. They landed side by side on the ground, but when they sat up, they were both confused. "Where the hell are we?" Linkle asked, her head darting around. They were in a room with what looked like prison cells further in, and there was a blank brick wall the way they'd just come in. It was as if they'd fallen through a door that didn't exist.

"I don't know." Link climbed to his feet and helped his sister up. Stepping closer to the wall, he reached out to touch it. However, when he did, his hand passed right through it. "What in the…"

"What is it?" Linkle asked, sounding insanely curious. "Some sort of portal?" Stepping up next to him, they both stuck their heads through the wall. On the other side was the water tunnel with the statue on the wall. They could even see the Bubble rounding the corner at the end of the corridor.

"It's not a portal," Link said, realizing what was going on. "There's just nothing here." To demonstrate, he stood in the middle of the wall with half his body on either side of it.

"Oooohhh…" Linkle said, swiping her hand through the nonexistent wall in amusement. "An illusion! I've heard the Sheikah are good at this sort of magic. That's so cool!"

"Hmm." Link stepped out of the wall and went to explore further in. The hidden room they'd stumbled upon was rectangular, and in each corner was a jail cell, although the iron bars were too broken down to be able to hold anything anymore. Two of the cells contained bones scattered about on the ground. In the middle of the room stood two crossed beams of wood with chains hanging from them. Link wasn't sure what it was, but it looked like some sort of broken down restraining or torture device. "Seriously, what the hell is this place?" Link asked.

"What do you mean?" Linkle replied, stepping beside him.

"Are you seeing this?" Link gestured to the jail cells and the strange device. "This is supposed to be a well. Or a burial site or something, right? What do they need this stuff for? This looks like a freaking dungeon!"

"Good point." Linkle glanced around the room, then gasped when she spotted something. "A treasure chest!" she exclaimed.

"A what?" Link followed her gaze, and sure enough, there was a small wooden chest sitting in one of the cells next to a pile of bones.

"Sage Impa said we could keep any treasure we found, right?" She was almost skipping as she made her way over to the cell. "I'll let you keep it if it's rupees."

"Alright. Be careful, those bars look rusty," Link warned, following behind her.

Linkle lifted her leg and banged against the cell door several times. Something broke, and her next kick nudged it open enough to slip through. "Da-na-na-na, da-na-na-na…" She provided her own dramatic drum roll as she approached the chest and knelt down. She touched something with her hand, and Link heard a click. "Da-da-da-daaa!" Linkle cried as she flung the lid open. She paused for a moment, then reached her hand into the chest, feeling around for something.

"What is it?" Link asked curiously from the other side of the bars.

"There's nothin' in here," Linkle replied with clear disappointment. "What a ripoff."

"Damn," Link swore in agreement. "Guess another adventurer got here before us, huh?"

"Yeah, guess so." The young girl slammed the chest closed. As she began to stand up straight, she suddenly yelped in terror, leaping backwards. "Ah!"

"Elle! What's wrong?" Link drew his sword, ready for whatever it was that had freaked her out.

"Something's grabbing me!" Lifting up her leg, there was a bony arm hanging off of her, its skeletal hand firmly grasping her ankle.

"What the-" Link turned to the pile of bones in the cell with his sister. For a moment, they were only vibrating, but then the other arm bone suddenly flew a few inches through the air to reattach itself to the ribcage. "Stalfos!" Link shouted. "Get out of there, Elle!"

Hopping on one foot, Linkle made her way back to the cell door and slipped through. "Get this freakin' thing off me!" she shouted, practically kicking her brother as she thrust her leg out to him.

"Alright, alright! Hold still!" Link knelt down and grabbed the bony arm with both hands. It struggled against him, as if it were still attached to a body. "Son of a-" With one hand, he reached over and grabbed the skeletal fingers, pulling against them. After a moment, they snapped back, a few of them breaking. The grip came loose, and Link quickly hurled the arm across the room.

"Ow," Linkle complained, rubbing her sore ankle. "Thanks, Brother."

"Don't mention it." Turning back to the cell, he saw a one-armed Stalfos just finishing reassembling itself, placing its skull atop its neck. Its eye sockets were lit up with a glowing red light, staring at them with murderous intent. "Ah, fuck." Arming himself with his sword and shield, Link took a step away from the bars.

"Die!" Linkle shouted, aiming her crossbow and firing off a bolt. It sailed right through the Stalfos's ribcage, bouncing harmlessly off of the wall behind it. "...I don't know why I thought that would work."

The Stalfos let its jaw hang open and rattled its bones, apparently angry. It stepped forward and grabbed the door, yanking it open. The rusty bar in its grip broke off from the door, and the skeletal monster stepped out of the jail cell wielding the metal bar like a club.

Link stepped between the Stalfos and his sister. It swung at him, and he blocked the blow with his shield. "We gotta crush its skull, right?" he asked his sister. That was common knowledge about Stalfos as far as he knew, but his sister was the expert, so he wanted to check and make sure it wasn't just a myth.

"Yeah!" Linkle confirmed. "Chop its head off, then I'll smash it."

"Gladly." Link swung his sword, aiming for the monster's neck bone, but the Stalfos blocked it with the rusty metal bar. Annoyed at the creature's persistence, Link bashed it with his shield. This caused the monster to stumble back, and Link took the opportunity to try again. This time, his blow struck its target, slicing the monster's skull right off its bony shoulders. The skull went flying, landing on the ground and rolling across the floor.

"I got it!" Linkle shouted, chasing after it. However, someone else beat her to it. Another Stalfos had appeared on the other side of the room, carrying a bent, rusty sword. The skull rolled to its feet, and it bent down to scoop it up with its free hand. Linkle gasped and drew her sword, managing to duck just in time when the monster swung at her. On her way back up, she sliced upwards, cutting the monster's sword hand off.

Link hurried to join the fight, but the second Stalfos tossed the first one's skull over his head. The one-armed Stalfos dropped the metal bar and caught its skull, reattaching its head upon its shoulders. "Oh, you gotta be kidding me…" Link muttered, turning to re-engage the monster.

Meanwhile, the Stalfos fighting with Linkle reached out and grabbed her by the throat with its remaining hand, then began jabbing her in the face with the bony stub of its other arm. It did not take her long to slice off its other hand as well. Once she'd done so, she kicked the Stalfos in the chest, knocking it back and shattering several of its ribs. However, the skeletal hand maintained its grip around her neck, its fingers digging into her skin. "What is it with these things?!" she shouted, clearly unhappy about being grabbed by two separate severed hands in such a short timespan.

This time, Link took no chances. He managed to back the Stalfos into a corner, then charged it, ramming the skeleton up against the wall. With an angry battlecry, he gripped the creature's skull with both hands and began ramming it repeatedly against the solid stone wall. In a few hits, the skull crumbled, and the lights in its eyes went out. The rest of the bones fell to the floor in a pile at his feet. "And stay dead."

Turning around, he checked on his sister. She had managed to free herself from her opponent's death grip, and as it no longer had any hands, the Stalfos couldn't put up much of a fight anymore. Raising her boot, Linkle kicked the monster in the knee. The bones cracked and its leg buckled, letting her easily knock it to the floor. "EE-YAH!" she shouted, bringing her heel down on its skull with an axe kick. The skull shattered, and like the first Stalfos, it returned to its previous state as a useless pile of bones. After panting for a moment, she wiped the sweat from her brow and smiled. "Phew. That was awesome."

Link rolled his eyes. "Yeah, we could've died and we didn't even get anything from that treasure chest, but apart from that, it was great."

"Well, look on the bright side," Linkle began. As she spoke, she walked towards him. But, when she took a step underneath the crossed wooden beams of the device in the center of the room, she suddenly fell through the floor.

"AAAaaahhhh…!"


"Elle?! Elle!" Link's first instinct was to run over to the wooden beams, but he managed to stop himself before he reached them. The floor hadn't crumbled beneath Linkle; she had simply fallen through it.

Another illusion.

Getting down on his hands and knees, Link slowly crept forward, running his hand across the ground. Eventually, his hand went through the floor, a little bit in front of the wooden device. He put his head through the floor next, peering through the illusion.

On the other side, it looked as if a shaft had been carved into the stone floor, opening up into a larger area below. He could see his sister staying afloat in a pool of strangely green-tinted water. "Elle!" Link called down to her. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah!" she called back up. "I think so!" A few feet away from her was a wooden plank floating on the surface of the water. She swam over to it and grabbed on. Free from having to keep kicking to stay afloat, she took a moment to get her bearings. Link couldn't see the room she was in from where he was, but from the way she flinched, he could tell she saw something that scared her. "...Brother," she said, her voice quivering, almost too quiet to hear from so far away. "Help."

Oh fuck.

"Okay. I'm coming down." He had no interest in confronting whatever was down there, but his sister was apparently in danger, so that was going to have to be enough for him. Sitting down on the edge of the hole, he put his legs through the illusory floor, took a deep breath, and let himself drop. He felt his stomach turn as he plummeted what felt like thirty feet, landing in the water with a splash.

When he surfaced, he gasped for air. Whatever the green water was, it stung his eyes. "Aghh," he groaned, rubbing his hands over his face. With his vision a bit clearer, he spotted his sister. Her face was pale, and she was trembling.

"Brother…"

"It's okay," Link assured her, swimming over to the piece of wood she was gripping. When he reached it, he lifted himself partially out of the water as she had done. His heart sank as he took in the sight.

Whereas the upper level they were on before had paved floors and tiled walls, this lower level was clearly just a partially excavated cave. It was massive, too, likely running underneath the entirety of the upper floor. The small lake of green water they had landed in was surrounded by dirt and rock on all sides. Although the large, dark cavern was creepy, that was not what scared him. On the land surrounding the lake, Link saw ReDeads. Dozens of them. Most were standing or crouching as still as statues, while a few milled about slowly and aimlessly. Periodically, they let out those creepy, tired groans Link hated so much.

So this is where they all were.

Before falling through the floor, all they'd seen since entering the well was a Skulltula, a Bubble, and two Stalfos. They'd been told to expect ReDeads, but Link never imagined they'd encounter this many at once. Fearfully, his hand found his sister's and clutched it tight.

"What are we going to do?" she whispered.

"I don't know," he replied. Given his sister's ordinary methods of charging blindly into the enemy, he should've been more grateful for her caution, but he was too scared to think about that at the moment. None of the ReDeads seemed to have noticed them yet, or at least they had not considered the siblings enough of a threat to scream at. Link knew they had to get out of the water soon, however. If they were incapacitated by a ReDead's scream while swimming, they would likely end up drowning after losing control of their bodies.

"Look!" Linkle said, reaching out with her arm and pointing to something in the distance. On the far side of the tunnel, one of the visible passageways led to a ladder. Unfortunately, there were several undead monsters directly in their path. Link wanted to go that way, but if they were going to swim to shore, the smart thing to do would be to go where the least ReDeads were first.

"This way," he said, taking the lead. Slightly to the right of the path to the ladder, there was a piece of broken wall by the shore. They could get on land and hide behind it for a moment while they planned their next move.

"Got it." His sister let go of his hand and swam behind him.

When they pulled themselves out of the water, they crouched and sidled up against the ruined wall. "Gods, what the hell is this stuff?" Linkle asked, wiping some of the green water off of her arms. "It burns my skin."

"Maybe it's poisonous or something," Link guessed. "With everything we've seen so far in this accursed place, nothing would surprise me." Moving silently, he chanced a look over the wall. Luckily, the ReDeads didn't seem any more active than they were before. "Okay," he said, crouching back down. "We need to get to that ladder. There's a dozen monsters in our way. How do we get there?"

His sister furrowed her brow, tapping her fingers against her forehead like she was thinking really hard. Link tried to come up with something as well, but all he could think of was how nice it would be to have a bomb or two right about now.

After a few moments, Linkle began tapping her head more rapidly, and then a spark of realization twinkled in her eye. "I have an idea!"

"Shh!" Link shushed her, placing his hand over her mouth. He saw one or two ReDeads on the other side of the pool of green water tilt their heads in their direction, but none made any move to approach them. "What is it?" he asked quietly.

"Most monsters can be distracted if you just throw some food on the ground for them," she said. "Like tossing a steak to a hungry dog."

"Okay. Well, ReDeads eat people. So unless you wanna be the steak…"

"But ReDeads are people," she went on.

It took him a second, but Link could tell what she was saying. "You think if we killed one or two of them, the others would cannibalize them?" He supposed it made sense. Undead monsters like the ReDeads seemed to have lost all reason along with their sense of humanity. They probably couldn't even differentiate between dead animals, dead humans, and their own dead.

"It's worth a shot."

Link nodded. "Okay. But we still have to kill them. And that'll be hard to do without getting screamed at."

"I've got this," Linkle said, unholstering her crossbow and holding it out to him.

"You tried that before. Didn't work," Link pointed out, shaking his head. "Oh, wait. Earlier you had that idea about lighting your bolts on fire, right?"

His sister smiled and nodded enthusiastically, apparently glad to see they were on the same page.

Reaching behind himself, Link pulled out the leather carrying bag that he was using to store his torches. "Please don't be wet, please don't be wet…" While praying for some dry torches, he opened the bag and pulled one out. "It's a little damp," he said, feeling it with his hand. "Let's hope it still works."

While Link held the torch, his sister took a piece of flint and struck it with her weapon. The first few tries, the sparks landed on the damp wood and fizzled out. "Come on, come on…" Linkle muttered, trying again and again. "Yes!" she cried when the fire eventually ignited.

"Shh," Link reminded her, worried that her excitement would attract unwanted attention.

Well, at least neither of us is paralyzed with fear anymore…

"Okay, good. Now…" Link surveyed the area, trying to pick out some strategically placed victims. "Shoot that one over there," he commanded, pointing to one far to the left of the ladder. "And then that one over there," he continued, pointing to one far in the other direction.

Linkle nodded, loading a bolt into her crossbow. Once it was prepared, she dipped the end of the loaded bolt in the flame of Link's torch. After a moment, it caught fire. "Yes! I'm a genius!" she proclaimed. However, as she moved to aim at her target, the fire spread too quickly up the shaft of the bolt. "Oh no!" Reacting quickly, she aimed into the pool of water and loosed the bolt.

"Well that didn't work," Link noted. "Maybe if you wrap some cloth around the end of it or something?"

"Good idea." Linkle immediately reached for the hem of her skirt and began to tear a piece off.

"No, you moron!" Link chided her. "If you're gonna do that, for Hylia's sake, do it to your tunic or something."

"Hey! This is a Hero's tunic," she proclaimed, grabbing her green outer clothing and tugging on it for emphasis. "It is a sacred garment and I will not defile it." The strip of fabric she ripped off was still quite damp from being in the water, so she first had to hold it near the torch and wait for it to dry off. When she was finished, she wrapped the strip of fabric around the end of one of her bolts, loaded it into her crossbow, and set it ablaze. "There! This'll work much better," she said optimistically, smiling at her handiwork.

Please stay serious, Elle.

"Okay," Link whispered. "Aim for the head. I'll prepare your next fire arrow." As he spoke, he grabbed the hem of his shirt and began tearing off a strip to wrap around another of her bolts.

"Alright. I won't miss," his sister promised.

Link held his breath while she aimed. He wasn't worried about her missing. What scared him was the possibility that the crossbow firing would make enough noise to attract more attention to them than to the ReDead she shot.

If they spot us, it's all over…

Linkle loosed the bolt. It sailed through the air and hit its target perfectly, piercing the distant crouching ReDead in the head. The balled up piece of flaming fabric got pushed further back along the bolt, but it remained attached. The ReDead that was shot had no reaction at first, and neither did any of the others. However, as the flame continued to burn, the creature itself was set ablaze, and it began to groan. It was difficult to tell with the undead, but it definitely sounded like it was in pain.

I guess fire really does hurt them.

"Nice shot," Link complimented her. "Now the next one. Quickly." He handed her the bolt he'd prepared, which she loaded up and set alight just as she'd done with the last one.

As his sister worked, Link kept an eye on the burning ReDead. It was beginning to react more strongly now. Slowly, it stood up straight, turned in place, and walked towards the water. Link was surprised it had enough sense to know to do that, but he was more worried about what it might do if it succeeded in putting the fire out.

Will it come straight for us? Will it alert the others somehow?

Link glanced over his shoulder when he heard Linkle's crossbow fire another shot. She hit her second target through the chest, and it reacted just as slowly as the first one.

Turning his attention back to the other ReDead, Link saw it was now entirely engulfed in flame. Before it made it to the water, it slowed down and fell to its knees, eventually falling flat onto the ground. Its groaning increased in volume, then slowly began to fade.

Take the bait, take the bait, take the bait…

Praying for their plan's success, Link stared intently at the body as it burned. The other ReDeads still weren't moving. It was possible a fresh body wouldn't draw their attention like they'd hoped it would. For a brief moment, he considered just staying where they were and letting his sister pick them off one by one instead, but he realized she didn't have enough bolts for all of them.

It wouldn't have to be all of them, though. Hit as many as we can near the ladder, then slice through whatever's left on the way out…

The fire that had engulfed the ReDead slowly died out. The body lay there, charred and disfigured. For a moment, Link was sure none of the others would touch it. But then, the hairs stood up on the back of his neck. All around them, he could hear the undead monsters beginning to moan and groan more loudly and more frequently. It echoed throughout the cavern, making it impossible to tell which ones were reacting, or how many.

"Shit, shit, shit, shit…" Linkle slid up next to Link against the wall, and they huddled together in fear. This was the moment that would decide whether they made it out alive or ended up a meal for the ReDeads.

However, the gods seemed to be smiling on them. The ReDeads closest to the burnt ones began slowly walking over to them. Link watched in disgust as they knelt down and began lazily tearing pieces of flesh from the corpses of their dead friends.

"Look, Brother." Linkle pointed towards the ladder. There were still a couple of monsters in their way, but most had joined the slow-moving feeding frenzy. "We can get out!"

"You're right." A wave of relief washed over him for a second, but he reminded himself that they weren't out of the woods just yet. "I don't think we have enough time to make another fire arrow, but that one's close enough for me to chuck a torch at," he said, gesturing to the closest ReDead while brandishing his lit torch. "That other one's staring at the wall like an idiot. Think you can chop its head off as we run by?"

"And here I thought you weren't gonna let me have any fun," his sister said playfully.

For the love of Nayru, please stay serious.

Some of the ReDeads that hadn't gotten to the corpses fast enough were still milling about while the others ate, and some were beginning to wander off again. The siblings didn't have much time. "Alright. Let's go." Standing up fully so he could see over the ruined wall, Link tossed his torch at the closest ReDead. It hit the monster's head, then fell to its feet. Like the other two that Linkle had shot, it moaned for a moment while the fire spread, then it fell over as it tried to walk towards the water. "Now!"

The siblings ran around the corner and sprinted for the tunnel that led to the ladder. Linkle went a little further to the left towards the only ReDead remaining in their way. It turned its head when she got close, but she struck before it managed to scream, decapitating it cleanly in one blow. She did not stop running, and she caught up with her brother just as he began climbing the ladder.

"Nice work, Elle," Link said.

Now let's hope this ladder leads somewhere good.

When he reached the top, Link found himself in a small, square room with stone walls on all sides. However, he saw no door. It looked like a dead end. "What?" he said aloud, panicking.

"What?" his sister repeated, coming up the ladder behind him.

"No, no, no…" Knowing the tricks this place had played on them so far, he stepped over to the wall and put his hands on the flat stone bricks. The wall was solid. Quickly moving to the next wall, he tried the same thing, and his hands went through like it wasn't even there. "Oh, thank the gods." Sticking his head through the illusory wall, he could see the tunnels with the waterway on the other side.

Relieved, Link pulled his head back, then slumped down against the solid wall, sitting on the floor and letting out a sigh. Navigating that cavern filled with ReDeads had been a stressful ordeal, and he was not feeling up to any further adventuring.

His sister sat down beside him. She looked similarly drained, but she wore a proud smile. "Nice shots down there, Elle," he complimented her again. "Sorry it turned into another Hinox situation."

"Thanks, Brother." As she spoke, she cleaned the ReDead blood from her sword. "We managed to take out four of them. It's better than nothing. But, you know, if we find a way to collapse this upper floor, maybe we can kill all of them."

"Don't even think about it," Link said, unsure of whether or not she was joking.

Linkle laughed, then spotted something. "Ooh! Another treasure chest!" In the corner on the opposite side of the small room they were in, there was a small chest that looked similar to the previous one she'd found. Linkle stood up and skipped over to it, bending over to open it.

"What's in it?" Link asked, hoping they could at least get some small bonus reward out of this.

"Ah, dammit," Linkle said with disappointment, slapping the chest over onto its side. "There's nothin' in here. Again."

"Really?" Link was surprised, but then again, they'd never had the best luck. However, it raised some questions. "A lot of people have been here before, right?"

"Yeah. Must've been taken by another adventurer. Same as the last one, I guess," Linkle confirmed.

"Strange that there'd still be that many ReDeads down there if others have been here already," Link pointed out, feeling like something wasn't adding up. "And where'd they all come from, anyway? That looked like some sort of mining tunnel or something. I didn't see any actual crypts or anything."

Linkle shrugged, sitting down against the wall near the empty chest. "Well, Impa Sadashi said this all started when an archaeological dig or something accidentally dug into some crypts. Maybe they spilled in from one of the other tunnels down there."

"Hmm." That made sense, but something still didn't feel quite right. "Well, what about that other chest? The one in the jail cell? How come nobody killed the Stalfos that were guarding it?"

Linkle seemed to think that was a good question. "I dunno. Must've taken it and ran. The cowards. Every adventurer knows you're supposed to slay the monsters and then take the treasure. Taking the treasure without slaying the monster is just cheating!"

"And then there's that giant Bubble we saw. I know we haven't killed it, but surely someone would have tried, seeing as it's flying around where we first came in." Link stood up and began pacing. "What if the monsters are rising from the dead after they're killed?"

"Well, duh. They're undead. That's what they do."

"Right, but I mean rising again. That's not normal, is it? Even for the undead?"

"Well, it is for Stalfos if you don't destroy their skull," Linkle explained. "And for Poes if you don't put out their soul flame. Oh, and some Floormasters split into little ones that can reform into a big one. But ReDeads? And most other undead? No, not really. Not without a Blood Moon."

"But the next Blood Moon is coming up soon, so the last one was a very long time ago at this point," Link said, remembering what he'd been told the other day. "What if a person is raising them. With necromancy." He knew the ones they'd killed wouldn't be coming back, but not all corpses would get eaten. Surely there had been others that lasted long enough to be raised again.

"That's illegal."

"Oh, because people never break the law, right?" The more he thought about it, the more it started to make sense. "Look, necromancy is pretty high-level shadow magic, right? Well, this is one of the Sheikah capitals of Hyrule. There could be any number of shadow mages here in the city who are capable of something like that."

Linkle considered it for a moment, then her eyes lit up. "Ooh, are we gonna get to fight a necromancer?" she asked, jumping to her feet excitedly. "That's amazing. Where do you think they are? And what are they trying to do? Are they serving a demon master? Or trying to destroy Hyrule with an army of the dead?"

"No idea," Link said, shaking his head. "But I doubt it's anything that cliché. Could just be a sorcerer trying to practice their craft. Or maybe this is all just a trap to lure in adventurers so they can kill us and take our stuff."

"Oh, don't be so negative," his sister said, as if there was a positive side to this that he wasn't seeing. "This could be our Zant, our Black Knight, our Ghirahim - an evil rival we clash with throughout our heroic journey!"

She became really easy to convince once she was able to make it a part of her fantasies.

"Come on, let's go find this vile sorcerer," Linkle proclaimed, already back to full energy.

"I think I'm a little adventured out, Sister," Link declined, not wanting to charge into more potential danger by investigating crazed necromancers so soon after their most recent brush with death. "Let's go back to the sage and share our suspicions with her. Maybe she'll hire us to investigate it further."

Now let's get the hell out of this accursed place.


When they returned to the surface, Link was glad to see sunlight again. A few hours with nothing but torchlight was suffocating, not that his sister minded. She seemed to be right at home in a dark dungeon filled with monsters. Nevertheless, it wasn't hard to convince her to leave as long as they were still ostensibly hunting evildoers.

"Congratulations on coming back alive," one of the guards on duty greeted them when they climbed out of the well.

"It's feeling more like an accomplishment every day," Link replied, unenthused. He considered sharing his theory about the necromancer with the guards, but he decided not to waste his time since he already planned to explain it to someone higher up.

"Did you manage to lay to rest any of the poor souls trapped down there?" the guard asked.

"We did indeed," Linkle said with no shortage of pride. "Four ReDeads and two Stalfos. Plus a Skulltula."

"You'll be able to collect the bones of the Stalfos, but I doubt there'll be anything left of the ReDeads. The area isn't exactly safe for retrieving bodies anyway," Link explained.

There's hardly any proof of our accomplishments that can be used to determine our reward. This whole thing was a scam from the start!

However, the guard nodded understandingly. "I see. You may return to the sage and collect your reward. I am certain she will take you at your word."

I sure hope so.

As they exited the gate, Link briefly considered whether or not they should stop by the inn to clean up before heading to the sage, thinking it might do them some good to make themselves more presentable. However, he decided that Sage Impa might be more generous with their reward if they appeared battle-weary and scuffed up a bit. He probably wouldn't have been able to convince Linkle to be so patient again anyway. She was practically sprinting for the graveyard so she could brag about her 'heroic deeds' to the sage, who she believed could make them into famous heroes.

"I still say we should've killed that giant Bubble," Linkle said, kicking a pebble between the Kakariko gravestones beside the pathway.

"Oh, don't start with that again." Link had spent five minutes arguing with her about that topic while they made their way out of the well.

"But just think of how impressive that would be!" his sister insisted. "All the best adventurers have their 'biggest thing I ever killed' story. What's that gonna be for us? A Durpyblin?"

"You wanna run all the way back to Rebonae and kill that Hinox, be my guest," Link argued, knowing she must still be bitter about that. Linkle pouted, but said nothing else in return.

When they reached the stairs that led up to the Shadow Temple's entrance, they stopped before climbing them. "Come on out. We know you're there," Link said aloud.

As he'd expected, two cloaked shadow priestesses appeared as if from nowhere, causing Linkle to flinch even though she must've known it was coming.

"You have returned," one of them spoke.

"We have," Link replied plainly.

"Did you find success in your endeavor?" the other asked.

"We did," Linkle answered. "And we have something very important to tell the sage. We think there's-" Link elbowed her before she said too much. "Ow."

"We would very much like to speak with the sage," Link explained.

The priestesses shared a glance, but raised no objections. "Very well. You may enter the shadows."

"Thank you." Link proceeded forward and climbed the stairs, joined by his sister. He didn't bother looking back this time, not wanting to give the priestesses the satisfaction of impressing him with their little vanishing act again.

Link lit a torch in preparation for the descent into the temple. He knew the braziers at the bottom would light automatically, but he preferred to be able to see clearly the whole way down.

"So what do we tell Sage Impa?" Linkle asked in a hushed voice.

"Just that we suspect a necromancer is behind what's happening in the well," Link replied.

"But that's what I was gonna say," Linkle said, sounding peeved. "Why'd you hit me back there?"

"No use telling them. They don't handle the money."

Linkle scoffed.

"I know, I know. But trust me. It's the smart thing to do."

At the bottom of the steps, the torches lit themselves once again, earning more impressed noises from Linkle. The siblings waited for a few minutes, and eventually, the heavy stone door slid open, revealing the sage's palanquin and its phantom pallbearers. Just as before, they set her down on the dais and then melted away.

"Hello again, young ones," Sage Impa greeted them, smiling warmly. "I am relieved to see you have returned in good health."

"Good enough," Link said.

"Do not be so modest, young adventurer," the old woman replied. "There are many stronger men in this city, but few brave enough to venture down into the shadows of that old well."

"We do not fear the shadows," Linkle said proudly.

Sage Impa smiled at her. "Good. Tell me, children, did you succeed in liberating the lost souls beneath the well?"

"Yes. Well, some of them. Six, at least," Linkle said, clearly wishing she could brag more. As she'd done for the guard earlier, she recounted for the sage exactly what they had managed to kill down in the well.

"I see," the sage said thoughtfully. "It is a shame that the curse of undeath persists, but this is no small feat on your part, young adventurers. Your efforts are greatly appreciated by Hylia and Karasu."

"And Farore!" Linkle added, unable to help herself from bringing up the Goddess of Courage.

"There is something else, Sage Impa," Link said. "From what we saw down there, I do not think these undead are occuring naturally. I suspect someone is raising them intentionally."

The look Impa Ichika gave him was unreadable, but she was definitely having some sort of reaction to Link's speculation. "And what makes you say that, my child?"

"The timing doesn't fit," Link explained. "There hasn't been a Blood Moon in years. And given all the other adventurers who have gone down there at this point, there are just too many monsters left. Someone could be re-raising them, which would explain why they keep coming no matter how many of them are killed."

The sage regarded them strangely again, then appeared deep in thought for a moment. "Most interesting. I had not considered this possibility."

"Fear not, sage," Linkle declared. "If there's a necromancer out there, we'll hunt them down and bring them to justice in the name of Nayru!"

"Oh, that will not be necessary, child," the sage replied, waving her hand dismissively.

Link and Linkle both furrowed their brows. "What?" they asked in unison.

"If there is a necromancer in New Kakariko, then they are most likely among the ranks of my shadow priests," Impa explained. "Due to the discrete nature of our order, we must be allowed to investigate this matter internally."

"Oh. I see," Link said.

"Aw, man…" Linkle whined.

"Now then, I suppose you've earned your reward," the sage went on. "And I believe a bonus is in order for bringing this unfortunate possibility to our attention." Reaching off to the side, she grabbed a jangling bag of rupees from within her palanquin.

Link smiled. "Thank you, Sage Impa." Taking a step forward, he reached for the bag. However, as the money was changing hands, the sage did something odd. She gripped his hand softly and turned it palm-down. She held it there for a moment, as if studying it. "Is something wrong?" Link asked in confusion.

"Not at all, child," the sage replied, letting go. Link hefted the bag of rupees and stepped back.

Why was she looking at…

Link froze as he realized how familiar the situation felt. The sage's granddaughter, that strange woman in the mask, had done the same thing back in Old Kakariko. And she had done so just before the sage's daughter sent them to this city.

...Are they the ones behind all this?!

Link wasn't quite sure why he thought that, but it just made sense somehow. The Impas in Old Kakariko had been looking for someone who could apparently be identified by the back of their hand. Link suspected the monsters in the well could be a trap to lure in adventurers, but what if it was a trap to lure in a specific adventurer - the one with the marked hand? What if the Impa in New Kakariko had helped her relatives set it up?

But why?

"Is something wrong, my child?" the sage asked.

"Uh, no! No, not at all, sage. I was, um, I was merely amazed by your generosity," he said, holding up the bag of rupees.

"You have earned it, brave heroes," Impa Ichika assured them. "Spend it wisely."

"We will," Link said. "And thank you. We shall be on our way now."

Linkle turned to him. "But what about-?"

"It's fine," Link interrupted, knowing she was going to ask about going back down into the well again for further adventuring. "Come along now, Sister." He gave the sage a hurried bow, then turned to leave, walking quickly in order to force Linkle to follow him.

There were many things Link still did not understand about the situation, even if all his other suspicions were true. He did not know who the Impas were looking for, or why, or what it had to do with him and his sister. But if he was right in his suspicions, then these were people who were willing to set up deathtraps and let innocent adventurers die for the sake of their bizarre manhunt, and that meant they'd be willing to kill someone who suspected them of their plans. He and Linkle did not need enemies like that, especially when those enemies were made up of one of the most powerful families in Hyrule, an avatar of the gods, and a clandestine organization known to be masters of espionage and assassination.

We need to get the fuck out of here. Now.

"So, can we go back down into the well tomorrow?" Linkle asked as they climbed the steps, completely oblivious to the potential danger they were in.

"There's no point," Link replied. "The necromancer will just raise anything we kill." He chose not to mention he suspected the sage or her priests might be the necromancers themselves. She would probably insist that it was their job to bring down the Impa family.

The less she knows, the safer she'll be.

"Not all of them," Linkle argued. "The ReDeads that got eaten ain't coming back, that's for sure."

"Tell you what," Link said. "Let's go spend some of our quest reward on a real nice dinner at the tavern, and then after that, we'll find a new quest. Maybe there's a monster much bigger than ReDeads that we can kill, eh?"

Linkle gasped excitedly. "Well, we are at the foot of the Eldin Mountains. There are probably Igneo Taluses just past the Maw of Death Mountain. And maybe even a dragon!"

Link laughed nervously. "Sure, Sister. Whatever you say."

Just as long as it gets us out of this city...