Copyright disclaimer: Did you miss me? Don't answer that. I know you did. But guess what I can't miss. That's right. The Legend of Zelda. Because I never owned the Legend of Zelda in the first place.

CHAPTER 20: Underground

The day had finally come for our journey through Lanayru. In the nights before, I packed solemnly using the list that Fi had emailed me, outlining in detail what to bring for desert expeditions. None of us had any idea what to expect, and the prospect of such a colossal unknown was enough to silence me, to knit rigidity into my spine.

In my hall closet, I came across a long, straight form, covered in white cloth. It was the sword that Fi had given me when we met. I unwrapped the cloth and ran my fingers over the greenish-blue hilt that was embedded with a large diamond-shaped sapphire and the laminated steel blade with a mysteriously shaped engraving running down it. Seeing it brought Horwell to my mind, the day that I'd asked him what to do with it.

It might be the key to something good, he said with a keen look in his eye. Keep it.

I couldn't stop thinking about Horwell. I wanted to see if he was doing any better, to visit him at the hospital, but he'd told me to stay away. Maybe it was for the best; I was truly acting as if nothing had happened. Outwardly, I was excited to investigate outside of the city even though the operation planned in a rush.

We hadn't heard anything from Pipit or Karane since the day that they'd arrived there. They sent us a short message giving the coordinates of the base camp and said that they were well stocked, alive, and healthy. I hoped it really was true, because I knew them. They were the kind of people to lie about their wellbeing so others wouldn't worry.
Of course, it takes one to know one.

When the time turned to 3:30 AM, I left and didn't look back, bringing the sword with me. We had to leave early so as not to raise too many questions. We'd rented three black SUVs, and such a thing did look suspicious. We also wanted to get to the base camp as soon as possible, maybe avoid some of the heat while the sun hadn't risen.

The team was to meet at 3:45 outside of West Station, where we would load the SUVs and depart for the desert. I made the trek, stomping through the snow with a large pack on my back. I couldn't wait to be away from the cold, mucky city, even if it was only for five days.

"Mornin', Link," I heard Keet say. He looked a lot like me, wearing winter gear with a big kit full of desert wear on his back. He gestured to the sword that I'd slung to my back, under my kit.
"Are you hoping to decapitate someone on this fine morn?"

"Something like that," I replied, trying to crack a smile. We continued walking for the few minutes it took to get to the station. The three monstrous vehicles were parked in a line. The second one was being filled with luggage. Fledge was standing on his top toes, trying to push his pack onto the roof. Owlan was bent over in the driver's side, fiddling with something. Groose was leaning against the passenger door and yawning. When he saw us, he slouched over and put a heavy hand on my shoulder.

"This is heinous," he complained sleepily. "Do ya need help with your bag?" He began to pull my kit off of my back and sighed. "You're strong enough," he said, letting go and walking away. Keet snorted and walked to the second car, and I followed suit.

"That makes everyone," Impa said from behind us. She was already dressed in her desert attire and did not look one bit cold, though the temperature was pushing -15 degrees Celsius. She pulled out six old maps and handed them to us, and opened hers, pointing to a small dark spot.

"We will be traveling here, to Lanayru Land Mine. Our camp is located outside of the mine, but we've made contact with someone there that will help us restock. We will leave one vehicle there and you will continue on to meet Pipit and Karane."

"How far is the investigation site from the mine?" Keet asked, cracking his knuckles.

"The sea itself is about 10 kilometers from camp."

"And we'll be walking?"

"Yes. It isn't just sand, there are cliffs and solid ground in some places. At most, it will take two hours."
No one sighed outwardly, but I'm sure that everyone's internal reactions were about the same.

After briefing us further, Impa split us up. We'd call each SUV a "caravan", and I was in the first caravan with Impa. Owlan drove the second, Keet and Fledge were in the third.

"See you on the other side," Keet said with a tired grin.

Buckling into the passenger side of the first caravan, I rested my elbow next to the window and watched as the sleeping city slowly awakened.

In the car with Impa, an uncomfortable silence sat stagnant while we sped through the city, deeper and deeper southwest. I felt that it was almost my duty to say something, but I couldn't find any reason to. If anything, I would have asked her why she wasn't with Zelda, but she had told us earlier that after we got to the base camp she would be driving back to Skyloft. I'd assumed that someone she'd cleared to protect Zelda was there in her stead.

Through the windshield, I saw the twin peaks that Pipit had spoken of earlier. It was possible to see the mountains surrounding Skyloft from virtually any angle, but I'd never been so close. The split seemed to be very narrow, and our huge, earth murdering vehicles did not look like they'd be able to squeeze through. We slowed as we approached it, stopping at the parking lot outside of the large metal gate, topped with barbed wire. Impa took a manila folder and told me to stay in the car as she stepped out. She walked with a purpose to the security booth and flashed her ID just as she handed the folder to the guard.
She turned on her heel and walked back to the car just as the gate creaked and rattled open loudly. We and the two other trucks drove through the gate and crawled slowly up to the small passageway between the mountains.

"I hadn't imagined that leaving the city was so easy," I said to stir the silence.

"It isn't," Impa replied. She slowed the car even more, and the sound of sand crunching under our wheels punctuated her very short sentence.
It was almost as if we were in a tunnel. I couldn't see where it let out, and the mountain itself stretched high enough on both sides that I couldn't see the already dim sky. The feeling was almost suffocating, I found myself anxious to get to the other side.

And then it all opened up.

The sand was not a blinding yellow as I'd believed it'd be. It was a reddish gold, but in the light of dawn, it looked like an endless expanse of pink and orange. In contrast with the sky, which almost doubled its already imperceptible size, it almost seemed as if the desert was rising up and the sky was crushing it down. I felt minuscule.

We drove for ten minutes or so, with nothing but sand in sight. Soon enough, we came upon singed, leafless trees and old sand-covered walkways. The redstone sidewalk was almost submerged completely by the sand in some places. A large, ancient looking structure was approaching.

"This is the mine," Impa said, and stopped the car on a platform. She turned off the ignition and exited the car, slamming the door closed just as the other caravans rolled up.

"Where's the camp?" Keet asked, walking up and looking over his map.

"We won't come across it for awhile. We just need to check ahead to make sure everything is fine for driving. The camp is approximately half an hour's drive from here."

"Can we drive through this pit?" Owlan asked, gesturing at the large gap ahead. It was a near-perfectly shaped circle with a few surprisingly green blades of grass poking out of the sand. The walls of the pit rose rather high, and looking down, I saw two openings in the walls that looked like doorways.

"I don't think we can drive through the mine, we'd have to go around it," I said.

"The camp is underground and it lets out down in that direction," Impa pointed into the distance. "But you can't get in that way."

"So we'll have to leave the trucks here and go in ourselves."

"Yes, let's not waste time." We agreed that we'd all go through the mine with a quick pace.

We slid down the hill of sand to get to the stone platform below. The walls of the trench were lined with old, rusted mechanical things. They seemed to be some archaic kind of technology that had been out of use for ages. Fledge stopped to take pictures of them as the rest of us advanced to the too doorways.

"Let's go left," Owlan said, just as Keet suggested going right. Impa pulled out another, smaller map.

"We're supposed to go left," she said. The group continued on, trying to stay together. However, we had different paces and after some time I found that the sound of crunching footsteps behind me had completely disappeared.

"...Hello?" I called unsurely. There was no answer. I stood in place for about ten minutes, waiting for them to catch up, but I became impatient. I decided that I'd keep walking and try to find the camp, then go back. The path to where I was only had a few turns, but didn't open up to other paths. They couldn't have been too far away.

The mine was surprisingly very interesting. It had patterns engraved into the walls, ones that I remembered seeing in history books. Much of the mine was exposed to outside light, so the parts that were underground were well-lit and easy to maneuver. I wasn't scared that I was lost, rather, I felt at ease because of a vague familiarity I had with the place. In exploring new places, one could find themselves walking with uncertainty, but I trusted my gut.

I came upon an open, circular room without a roof. The sun was finally up in the sky, and it shone imposingly on a considerably-sized bluish purple stone in the center of the place. The Eye of the Sheikah was across the front of it in a bold, clashing white. The rest of the room was lined with old, broken looking conveyor belts sticking out of the walls. The dried-out soil on the ground was packed together tightly, but there was a bright flower sticking out of the ground. I crouched down and admired its strength in desert temperatures—the sun had only just risen and I was already hot. I decided to pick the flower and ask Owlan about it later. Though he worked with the intelligence division, he had majored in biology and minored in forensic anthropology in university.

The stone in the middle of the room beckoned. I stepped up to the raised platform it was situated on and rubbed my palm over it. It was cold and felt like it was vibrating. When I took my hand off of the stone, a fading white hand mark had been left on the stone. I wondered if the stone was the key to something.

There were a number of marks on the side of it, as if someone had tried to cut it. I put my hand on it again, but the imprint was not as bright as the previous one. I raised my palms to the sky and let the sun warm them up, then put my hands around the stone. The imprint of my hands spread across the stone until the entire thing was lit up. A blinding blue light flashed and engulfed the room. The rusty conveyor belts burst to life and all began to run at once. The sand and dust on them blew away in the wind.
I took a step, but stopped: the ground felt different. Looking down, I saw that my boot was atop lush brown soil with dark green grass growing out of it.
Maybe I was hallucinating? But didn't mirages only occur when you were actually in the desert? I ignored my suspicions.

It seemed that the stone was a heat-activated switch for electricity. Ancient technology was rather advanced.

I checked my watch and gasped. It was 7:30, so I'd been walking alone for an hour and a half. The camp couldn't have been too far from where I was. There were two doorways again, one that had opened when I activated the stone, and one that was already there. I decided to check the one that had already been open, and then go back to look at the other one. This walkway seemed dark, so I pulled out my flashlight and flipped it on. I walked for about twenty minutes in the dark with no problems, but when I turned a corner, I held in a scream. My flashlight had shone on a desert beetle the size of my head. I wasn't necessarily scared of bugs, I just wasn't very fond of them. It had given me a scare, that was all. I ignored the pit that had formed in my stomach and kept walking through the dark with a quicker stride.

As I was walking, I realized that there was a track in the middle of the path. It seemed to be for a coal car, but I couldn't find it. I walked along the track until I came upon another room with a stone in the center. It felt good to see the sun again. The track circled around the stone and near the doorway opposite to me sat a coal car. I activated this stone like I had the last one and, once again, my surroundings changed. I looked around. There was no logical explanation for it. I'd ask Keet about it later, he was really into Skyloft's history.

Right when I jumped into the coal car, it started moving. It went through the doorway, which was now lit well. I went along with it, allowing it to take me down the trail. As I rolled downhill, deeper underground, I checked my watch. It was now 7:50.

The car slowed as I approached the end of the track, so I hopped out and walked. The path was more lit, there had to be another roofless room coming up. The light increased, and as I came closer to the source I heard voices from up ahead. Maybe the group had made it to the base camp before me, and they were discussing their next plan. There was also a possibility that the people there were my enemies, so I approached with caution. Right before I got to the opening, I heard Karane.

"Pipit, they're going to come back soon," she said. It sounded like she was panting.

"Then let's finish this round," Pipit replied. I turned to announce myself and saw Karane, spread half-naked across a rock with Pipit between her legs. He was in a similar state. I gasped and turned away, my face already heating up. I tried to hide, but Karane had seen me.

"Link is there," Karane whispered with urgency.

"Shit," Pipit muttered. A few moments passed with the sound of clothes ruffling and zippers being zipped.
"You can turn around, dude," Pipit called. I turned slowly and caught sight of both of them fully clothed, then turned completely.

"Sorry," Karane said with a giggle with a strain of self-abasement. "You don't have to look so embarrassed."

"I'm trying. I was startled, sorry."

"Anyway, where have you been? Everyone else got here an hour ago." Pipit sat down on the rock that Karane had been laid across moments before.

"An hour ago? I walked through the mine, I thought they were behind me," I said. What the heck? Did they teleport or something?

"They said they turned around because Impa found a trail on the map that led here."

"So they came in where it lets out?"

"Yeah, they drove down and there was a short path on the other side of the cliff. They totally screwed you over, though. You've probably been going for awhile."

"Mmhm," I agreed, sighing. "Where are they now?"

"Restocking. You can rest, I'll tell them that you're here," he said.

I removed the sword from my back and kneaded my shoulder as I lowered myself to the ground. I was beginning to regret bringing the bulky thing. Pipit disappeared through one of the three passageways in the room. Looking around, this chamber was much bigger than the others. It wasn't circular, it was some kind of compound polygon. There was a staircase of packed-together soil that led up to the surface.

"So, Link," Karane began nervously. "Could you keep what you saw just now a secret?"

"I will," I promised. "But we were all expecting you two to start dating anyway," I said a bit quieter.

"That obvious, huh?" she sighed. I opened my mouth to answer as the sound of a pained scream sounded from the surface. It sounded like Fledge. My eyes met Karane's and we ran for the stairs.

The glaring sun bounced off the sand and straight into my eyes. Shielding my face with my arm, I followed the sandy footsteps to see Fledge on the ground in tears, the rest of the group surrounding him. Karane and I dashed over.

"What happened?" We asked at the same time.

"Scorpion sting," Keet said.

"Clear the way," I said. "Get me the first aid kit." I crouched down and took Fledge's hand. He was hyperventilating, and his pulse was out of control. Taking his hand, I tried to stop his erratic eye movements by getting him to look at me.
"You're going to have to calm down," I said to him. "The venom will spread if you keep freaking out. I'll take care of you, okay?" His hand was hot and slicked with sweat.

"Here's the kit," Keet said. "The bites are on his leg."

"Keep him calm," I said to Karane. She sat in the sand next to him and took his hand.

I shifted down to his leg and rolled his pants up to his calf. There were two raised red pricks in close vicinity, a clear film over them. I opened the first aid kit and pulled out a roll of bandages.

"I'm going to try to cut the circulation off of your leg so the venom doesn't spread," I told him as I wrapped it tightly around his upper calf. I took the powdered soap from the kit, sprinkled it to my hand, and poured water from my canteen over it. I washed the stings and poured the cool water over his leg. It was a tad wasteful, but I wanted to make sure I could clean the cut so that the next step would hurt less.

"Hold Karane's hand really tight for this one, okay?" I poured rubbing alcohol over a cloth and pressed it to his leg. He kicked out and muffled a screech, but the worst of it was over.

"You need to stay still or the venom will spread faster," I told him. "Keep your leg below your heart. We need to put something cold over the stings so the swelling goes douwn. You also need to get out of the sun, do you think you can walk very slowly down the stairs?"

"Yeah," he gulped. "Thanks, Link." He rose with the help of Keet and Pipit, and they accompanied him down the stairs. I turned to Owlan. Horwell knew more about animals than he did, but I was hoping he'd at least seen the scorpion that had stung Fledge.

"What did it look like?"

"It was the same color of the sand," he said, tapping his chin. "Maybe a sand scorpion?"

"It's possible, but those are nocturnal." I had learned more than I thought I would when watching science documentaries, and now the knowledge was going to help someone. Knowing the name of the species of scorpion that stung him would assist in telling us how serious it was.

"Maybe a deathstalker?" Keet interjected from the top of the staircase.

"If that's the case, we need to get him to a hospital. We shouldn't risk it, and we need to make sure that everyone has their pants tucked into their boots. No one's skin should be exposed to the sun." I checked my watch. An hour had passed and the sun was shining annoyingly bright in the sky.
"If you start driving now, it will probably take two hours to get back, tops. I think Impa said she was going back anyway—have we finished restocking?" I looked around to find Impa, and saw her speaking with a small, frail-looking old man a few paces away. She turned to look at me.

"Come this way," she mouthed. I hurried towards them. "This will be a quick introduction as you will have more time to get acquainted in a day or two. Link, this is Skipper, who will be guiding you through the Sand Sea when the time comes."

"Hello, sir," I said, bowing my head in respect. "I look forward to working with you."

"No need for the formalities," he said with a congenial smile. "Hope I can help when the time comes." He tipped his hat to us and walked away through the sand.

"Fledge's sting might be fatal. If possible, could you drive him to the ER immediately?" She had already started walking to the chamber below.

"Fledge, we're going now. Someone carry him to the car." Pipit hooked his arms under Fledge's shoulders and Keet took his ankles, slowly bringing him backup the stairs. They walked, or slid, rather, down a slight hill to where the three SUVs were and a smaller truck. I rushed down to open the door to the back seat.

"Lay him across and prop him against the door," I said. I don't know why, but I was taking the role of a leader. I was scared out of my wits for Fledge. He was burning to the touch and was shaking uncontrollably. I was scared for him, but calm and clear-headed at the same time.

We secured him in the car and Impa sped away, saying she'd keep contact. The remainder of the group gathered in the mine and tried to re-assess our priorities.

"If we go out now, we'll probably get to the water by twelve. That's prime shining time for the sun, though. I don't want anyone to get heatstroke," Pipit speculated.

"Then, should we review all of our gathered information and try to get a sense of the layout of the desert by studying the maps?" Karane asked. "And maybe head out when the sun is lower?"

"I think that's fine," Keet started, "but if we act like wimps the whole trip we are going to waste valuable time. Tomorrow we need to start early. And if we happen to be in the middle of nowhere at noon, we're going to keep going until we get where we need to be."
Owlan and I agreed and suggested paying extra attention to staying hydrated.

We spent the rest of the day planning out our food and water consumption, reading maps and planning our routes. Impa was right, the desert wasn't only sand, there were also mountainous hills and cliffs, a few oasis and numerous underground caves. I was anxious to begin investigating but I couldn't help but think that Fledge's being stung was an ill omen for the rest of the trip.

A/N: I know. I know I know I know. How dare I make you wait an entire month, then update with a badly-written and rushed chapter in which the only mildly interesting thing that happens is Fledge getting stung by a scorpion? I'm ashamed. I didn't anticipate catching a virus from my roommate, having to write a research paper on American nationalism in the Revolutionary war (which I couldn't give two shits about—or even one for that matter), or the theater essay that I'm currently writing on Russian realism. Once my papers are done, meaning within a week, I will be able to update a quality chapter 21. I'm so, so sorry for this chapter. It's basically a filler because I didn't want Fledge to be there anymore. In other news, I think we can all agree that Horwell should just die.

Next week I'll have a game/contest thing again. If it's a game it will be based on a majority vote for the plot and if it's a contest it will be one winner and one plot line.
I have to go write about a Loyalist having ox innards thrown at him and shoved down his throat by Patriots. Cheers!