The air was thick down in the caverns that stretched below Hyrule. It was musky and damp, and Link could almost feel it pushing down on his body. Filled with gloom and monsters and deadly traps, The Depths were not a place he favoured; but it was a place he knew that he must face. There were rumors of a powerful artifact hidden somewhere in the labyrinth - and he was determined to find it. Though his strength was not yet recovered from his run in with Ganondorf, his skills and resolve were unblemished. He had a sturdy sword, shield, and bow, as well as some bombs and arrows. He felt confident that he could handle any challenge that the Depths threw at him.

He was wrong.

The hours passed as he ventured deeper and deeper into the maze. The monsters he encountered were stronger than those of the surface, but were still of little consequence. Climbing across the strange roots and shrooms, he watched the strange red liquid that covered some of the walls and floors as he picked his way through the darkness. Gloom was aptly named, for it the embodiment of evil itself. In the dim light it looked like blood, and had a sickly sweet smell that made him nauseous. Link knew to avoid touching it, but the gloom was everywhere. It seemed to go on for an eternity.

As he readied to throw his next bright bloom across the valley floor, something changed. Link froze. The air - it was different. It was infinitely darker, thicker. There was a bitter taste that burned his throat. His eyes we stinging. The hairs on the back his neck - across his arms and body - began stand on end. Something was out there... in the darkness. Something toxic. Something vile. Grabbing his sword Link pointed it forward, circling round slowly. From the corner of his eye he swore he saw the gloom begin to move. His head shot sideways, and he squinted hard

A dark, almost black pool seemed to float across the sea of gloom. It would shift purposefully from one side to another, as though it were scouring, or searching even. Link gasped in horror as long, creeping red arms and fleshless hands rose up from the darkness, each with a blazing yellow eye hunting for it's prey. Shrinking back into the shadows, Link began to realise that the gloom was not just a thing that lingered in the darkness. It was alive. And it was hungry.

Suddenly the eyes all shot round and locked onto him.

Link backed away as the sinister pool hissed and started to move ominously towards him, slowly at first, then faster and faster. Even in pitch blackness it seemed to sense his presence, and it wanted to consume him. Link could do nothing to escape it's glare.

Clutching his bow Link pulled it round fired bomb arrow after bomb arrow. The the glowing red eyes seemed to dodge his every move. Even when they hit it barely made a mark. The air around him turned crimson red and before Link knew it the beast was upon him, clutching it's vice like fingers around his chest and squeezing the life force from his veins. It lifted and thrashed him against the floor. Link winced as heard the bones in his shoulder crack.

Wrenching himself free he instinctively fought back, slashing at the red madness with his sword and hammering with his shield. Crimson clouds pushed him downward, slowing his every move, but he would not surrender. He shot arrows at it, threw bombs at it. Nothing seemed to hurt it. It just smiled and kept coming, like a relentless tide. For every hand he destroyed another would respawn.

The fight intensified, and for the first time in his life, Link was frightened. The air was now so foul that every breath caused his lungs to burn. His skin was starting to blister. And still the hands raged, with new vigour and new rage. Link realised this was a fight he could not win. His weapons were broken, his body was failing, and he needed to find rest.

Hurling his last spear Link turned and ran for his life. It felt so wrong to quit, but what choice did he have? He pulled out the Purah Pad ready to make his escape. But the Gloom was faster than him and choked off his exit. Link cried in pain as the hands snatched its blood red fingers around his torso, scalding his lungs and pulling him back. He screamed as he felt the wretched fingers melt through his clothing and touch his skin, burning him like boiling acid. Pain roared through his arm as another red menace sunk its claws in. His shoulder and fingers twisted and spasmed violently, and time slowed as he watched the Purah Pad fall from his grasp. He was trapped.

This can't be happening, he thought. No, this can't be happening! He was supposed to defeat the darkness. He was supposed to stop the blight that ruined the land. What would become of Zelda. And Impa. And everyone? He couldn't let it happen.

The caverns echoed with agonised screams as the gloom began to dissolve his skin and seep into his veins. He struggled and writhed, desperate to break free. But it was to no avail. Their grip was too strong, and his body too weak. Another foul hand rose up from the darkness, climbing higher than all others. It's eye fixated on Link's tortured body, and then it paused for a long moment, as though revelling in his agony. Then, as he let out one final, desperate scream, it reached down and smothered it's palm across his face, suffocating his airway and cutting his scream short. Link was now alone, writhing in the dark, with no hope of escape.

Consumed by pain, Link felt the Gloom enter his body, filling his veins with poison and slowly spreading through his blood. He felt it burn his muscles and dissolve his bones. Within seconds he felt his heart stop beating, his lungs stop breathing, his mind stop thinking. Then he felt nothing at all

He was gone.

The Gloom had claimed another victim.