Chapter 7: Down to the Depths
The walls of the Chasm were splattered with Gloom that only thickened as Link descended, until it seemed that he passed through a thick cloud of blackness. At that point the walls were entirely coated with the evil substance, black and red and glowing eerily as he descended. He couldn't hold back a gasp as he continued to dive, through darkness and Gloom with odd, pale particulates whizzing past him like little shooting stars. Then all at once the darkness consumed him entirely, no sign even of the wicked red of the Gloom, and he spotted a speck of light beneath him, steadily growing closer.
That's the bottom! he realized with a jolt as he made out the shape of a tent, Robbie's balloon, and someone's shadow. Quickly he whipped the paraglider free and with the snapping of canvas it caught on the cold, damp air and allowed him a safe descent the rest of the way to the ground.
He shivered as he packed it away, looking around uneasily. A small glowing plant on the ground illuminated the immediate area – a tent bearing the crest of the Zonai Survey Team, a chunk of stone that could have been from a ruin of sorts, and the hot air balloon Robbie had descended in. The ground itself was oddly springy, formed of pale blue and violet lichen and very soft sediment, with lavender-colored grass that seemed almost translucent and odd teal curling ferns reaching up from the soil. The air was very cold, cold enough that Link felt goosebumps breaking out at once on his chest, arms, and legs; he pulled Purah's cloak closed over his shoulders with a shudder. The scent of mildew permeated the air, just as thick as the pale, drifting particles he'd seen on his way down; it stung his nose and throat.
He looked upwards. Impossibly high above him he could see a Gloom-drenched hole at the top of the cavern – the way out. He swallowed thickly, shivering again and rubbing his arms.
Josha hadn't gone into nearly enough detail when she said the Depths were dark. Beyond the circle of light illuminated by the little plant, there was nothing but feeble pinpricks of light from campfires, and some strange bulbous amber-colored mass nearby. The darkness was thick, heavy; he could almost feel it even now, pressing at the boundaries held firm by the brave little glowing plant.
"Hey, are you Link?"
He jumped, whirling around as his blood surged within him. The researcher behind him looked nearly as startled.
"Sorry," Link swallowed. "Yes. I am."
"Whew!" the man said with a strained chuckle, adjusting his goggles. "Well, pleasure meeting you. I'm Ponnick, from the Zonai Survey Team. First time in the Depths, eh?"
Link nodded, shivering again. Purah's cloak really didn't seem to be doing anything down here.
"Well, you didn't make the mistake I did, right?" Ponnick cringed. "Did you bring brightbloom seeds?" He gestured to the little plant on the ground.
Link frowned, unbuckling the satchel Josha had given him and pulling out one of the glowing bulbs she had packed it with. "Is that what this is?"
Ponnick grinned. "Yep, that's a brightbloom seed! They're, uh, kind of essential to traversing the Depths. You chuck it at the ground, and it blooms as soon as it hits, giving light to everything around it. Robbie left so fast from Lookout Landing that I… I only brought one." He jerked his thumb to the plant on the ground. "And then of course while I was setting up a little station here, he ran off again! Something's put a fire under that old codger's behind, that's for sure."
Link pressed his lips together in frustration, glancing out at the darkness. Of course he ran off. "And… what exactly was his plan, running off without brightbloom seeds?"
"I thought he was just going to look at that glowing area over there," Ponnick sighed, pointing towards the bulbous amber thing close by. Link noticed a small campfire on the ground near it. "It's a short enough distance away; I figured it would be fine. But then he just kept going, and going, and…"
"And you didn't follow? You didn't try to stop him?" Link asked irritably, running a hand through his hair and wincing at the persistent ache in his right arm.
"I'm not a warrior!" Ponnick protested with a yelp. "There's – there's things down here, and we don't know yet what they all are!"
Link bit back a sigh, pinching the bridge of his nose. Robbie's going to get an earful about this when I catch up to him, he thought angrily. "Did you at least see what direction he went?"
"West, I think – I'm pretty sure," the researcher said, pulling a compass from a satchel at his belt and double checking, squinting off into the distance. "Yep – that lines up with the last fire he built."
Link swallowed thickly, looking at the distant orange flickering glow. Well… so he built fires to mark his trail. At least until he runs out of supplies. It's a place to start, at least – follow the fires.
"Hopefully we'll be back soon," he said to Ponnick, setting out towards the closest fire.
"Good luck," Ponnick gulped. "I'll… wait here."
Link reached the edge of the brightbloom's glow, and cautiously stepped into the darkness. A jolt of pain lanced through his right arm and he gasped, grabbing at it at once with his left hand, breathing hard as slowly it faded. It didn't vanish entirely – cold sweat broke out upon his brow, and he exhaled shakily. I should've spent last night in a Shrine of Light – the corruption's already flaring up again. And the darkness down here… just as light, even sunlight, helps me heal to a degree, darkness seems to be harmful.
He drew in a deep, steadying breath. It's not incapacitating, he thought, releasing his arm and rolling his shoulders back. I can continue.
The amber thing near Robbie's first fire was contained within a rootlike structure, he realized as he drew near. There was a beam of golden light reaching down from its center, tinged green at the ends like the signal spiraling up from the Shrines of Light. Trudging nearer, Link remembered something Rauru had mentioned.
"Think of them as seeds," he had said, talking about the shrines, "with roots that stretch deep into the earth to strengthen them."
Roots to strengthen the shrines… Intrigued, Link approached the strands of light reaching downward. From directly below, they formed a shape that was almost a dragon ring like the ones he had seen on the Great Sky Island – it had the hand in the center, at least. It was too high above his head for him to reach properly, but he tried anyway, lining up his right hand with the hand of light. With a soft sound like chimes, the light burst into spiraling sparks and streaked upwards, disappearing into the bulbous amber mass. A moment passed, and then the amber burst into pure, white light, almost blinding. The light drifted down the roots into the ground, radiating outwards, and soft green ferns grew up impossibly fast where it touched, forming a verdant ring around the roots.
Bathed in the bright light from the root, Link felt the worst of the pain in his arm ease – the effect of walking through the darkness. The soreness and fatigue he'd felt in the morning remained, but he felt much better overall. Fascinating – so these aren't enough to really heal me, the way the shrines can, but… it has almost the same effect as sunlight.
It was a comfort, in such a dark and dreary place, to have such a strong source of light. It hadn't illuminated much, but it was something. Link jogged over to the campfire Robbie had built, finding a small note staked into the ground. Frowning, he picked it up.
"As one of the few sources of light, the glowing root growing down from above has piqued my curiosity. I'm not sure what it is, but it looks harmless enough. This place is roughly beneath a shrine on the surface, I think. Anyway, I'm off to the glowing root I see shining west of here, so you better hurry up and get moving!"
Link grit his teeth, angrily shoving the note into the satchel from Josha. Hurry up and get moving? Are you serious? You just up and left without giving anyone a chance to prepare! Slow down, old man!
He scanned the darkness beyond the lightroot's reach. He could see another campfire, and much further out he could see another amber blob – another lightroot, just as Robbie said. Rolling his eyes at the old man's foolishness, keeping his gaze on the fire, he kept walking, his feet crunching softly on the strange soil of the Depths.
There seemed to be some sort of liquid on the ground up ahead, between him and the fire; it was reflecting the light from the shimmering flames. Another jolt of pain raced through his arm, this time nearly enough to bring him to his knees. Link grit his teeth tightly, cradling the limb against his chest, taking another step forward. A few more and he could see just what the liquid on the ground was – Gloom. A lot of it – far more than he'd seen in one place until now, except of course the Gloom coating the sides of the Chasm.
His arm spasmed violently, out of his control. Link crumpled to his knees with a thud and grabbed it with his left, breathing hard, fighting groans of pain as it twitched and seized. He could feel the Gloom within it surging, twisting its way through his veins like a snake, gradually spreading up from his fingers, up through his arm, towards his shoulder. It – it's reacting to the Gloom down here – it's getting stronger!
With a pained grunt he staggered to his feet and stumbled around the perimeter of the pool, his right arm fighting him every step. Sweat frozen by the temperature of the Depths dripped down his brow as he struggled, one swaying foot in front of the other as the poison writhed within him, forcing its way deeper into his body.
Link fell again mere feet from Robbie's next fire, grinding his teeth at the burn of Gloom inside him. Heaving for breath he pushed back to his feet, not even looking for a note this time, desperate to get as far away from the pool as he could. He dragged himself a few yards further, to the edge of the lightroot's reach, and sagged against the slanted pillar of some ruin, gripping his right arm in a vice at the wrist. He shivered violently, his sweat turning to ice in the chill of the Depths.
He forced his shaking breaths deeper and longer, trying to slow his racing pulse and see if the pain and the spasms in his arm would cease. Surely… surely I'm far enough away from that Gloom, he thought dizzily, closing his eyes wearily. I was this far away before… and it wasn't hurting me like this… unless there's another big pool of it nearby…
He waited, breathing deeply, and slowly his panicked heart calmed, and the anger in his arm receded. It still hurt, worse than before, but not so much so that he couldn't go on. I could go back to the Lightroot, he considered, opening his eyes again. But… I'd have to go around the pool of Gloom again to get there. He shuddered at the thought, turning his gaze to the next closest lightroot – Robbie's destination. He could already see the next fire, although it seemed higher up than the first few had been; perhaps there was a little hill.
No – I'll keep going. Ponnick said there were dangerous things down here, and I can still fight. Robbie might be fast, but he's never been a warrior. I'll keep going.
He pushed himself back to his feet, eyeing the oncoming darkness warily. A deep chill dripped down his spine – this place was unsettling and frightening in all the worst ways – the darkness, the unexpected pain, down to the very smell and unsettling feel of the ground beneath his feet.
Link swallowed, mustering his courage, and walked once more into the darkness. This time he reached into Josha's satchel, pulled out a brightbloom seed, and hurled it at the ground nearby. There was a surprisingly deep thud as it landed, and at once a circle of light appeared around it. Link walked gratefully into the light and threw another brightbloom further away. He walked into its boundaries and then winced, his arm throbbing forcefully. Anxiously he looked around, squinting into the darkness, and realized with a jolt that, comforting though it was, it was harder to parse the darkness from within the blightbloom's glow. My eyes aren't given a chance to adjust. I could walk right into a pool of Gloom like this!
His chest tight, he stepped into the darkness and closed his eyes, shuddering. He forced himself to wait, one breath, two, five – and then he opened them again.
Visible now were spatters of deep bloodred where they hadn't been before, proving his suspicions. They were faint, not nearly as bright as the brightblooms or even Robbie's fires, which was why stronger light blocked them from his view. And I can't risk wandering too close to Gloom – not with how my arm reacts to it, he thought, shivering again. I'll have to go on in complete darkness.
At least the lightroot up ahead had its own strong light, even without being activated. And the ground was relatively flat, free from most debris. He tripped slightly at a few sudden dips and rises and ran into trees a couple of times, but as his eyes continued to adjust he began to discern the deeper, darker silhouettes of objects around him – something that was perhaps more terrifying than it was useful, as sometimes massive hulking forms that he didn't recognize rose up before him, and he couldn't shake the feeling that it was some great monster ready and waiting to swallow him whole.
As he neared Robbie's next flame he could see that it was in fact more of a torch, set high above the ground. Link carefully avoided a large pool of Gloom and headed towards it, shaking his head slightly. How did he find time to build all these campfires and set up a torch in the time it's taken me to get out here? Crazy old man!
He could hear the sound of a pickaxe striking stone – something he had grown familiar with while working with Hudson, and on several trips to Death Mountain. His exasperation grew. "Robbie?" he called, jogging nearer with mounting frustration. "I thought you wanted to see the lightroot, not go mining! There are better places for that!"
A curious grunt was his response, and Link stopped in his tracks. Not Robbie, he realized. Bokoblins!
There was a sudden screech of an alarm, and the sound of a horn being blown. Glowing blue eyes snapped in his direction. Link drew his sword at once, flinging his left hand into Josha's satchel and hurling a brightlboom in the direction of the sound. It sprang into full bloom on an ore deposit and Link took a step back in shock as it revealed the horrors coming towards him.
Two bokoblins and a moblin. But they were far from ordinary monsters. Gloom formed cracks across their skin, seeping the vile substance in wispy bloodred strands of mist just like the Chasms themselves, but on a much smaller scale. Link grimaced in revulsion, holding his sword ready. Lizalfos horn versus bokoblin. Let's see how it goes.
The blade tore cleanly through the first bokoblin's gut as it raised its arm to attack, and it recoiled with a distorted howl, clutching its Gloom-soaked innards in a bloody pile as it flopped to the ground. Link leapt easily out of the way as the moblin slammed its club to the ground and lifted his sword to deflect the remaining bokoblin's thrust. The sudden twang of a bowstring sent fresh adrenaline shooting through his blood and he dropped himself to the ground as it whizzed overhead. He glanced around in shock –
Just beyond the ring of light illuminated by the brightbloom he could see, perched on a short tower, a conglomeration of Gloom forming the rough shape of a bokoblin. He shuddered – so these monsters were so infested that they glowed faintly in the dark, just like Gloom itself did.
The monsters took advantage of his distraction. Link barely managed to raise his sword in time to block the bokoblin's next attack and hissed as the tip of its spear skimmed across his shoulder. A tiny wound, barely a scratch, and yet it hurt more than it should, a fierce throbbing sensation quickly radiating from it through the rest of his body. Cause for concern – but not now.
Link returned his full attention to the fight at hand, determined not to let himself be distracted by anything else that might be unsettling here. With a twirl of his blade he disarmed the bokoblin and stabbed it through the heart; he skirted around the moblin as it swung its massive club at him again. Big and slow as it was, it couldn't follow Link fast enough to escape his sword through its back. Yanking it back out, Link dived sideways to avoid the next arrow from the bokoblin from the tower, and then as it readied its next shot he raced towards it, grabbing the spear from one of the other bokoblins in his left hand and hurling it up at the tower. It knocked the bokoblin off of the tower, where Link slit its throat.
He stepped back, slightly out of breath. The throbbing in his shoulder – of course it was his right shoulder, he thought bitterly – intensified as the rush of battle faded, and he walked closer to the brightbloom he'd thrown, craning his neck to assess the damage. It was a tiny wound – the bokoblin's spear had barely scratched him. Already the bleeding had stopped, but the edges were swollen, enflamed. He sucked down a sharp gasp as a thin plume of blood red mist drifted lazily up from the wound, feeling as though he'd swallowed a block of ice.
Is that… Gloom from the original injury to my arm? Or… is it because the bokoblin who dealt it was infested with Gloom?
He swallowed, his mouth dry as he looked around, shivering at the darkness surrounding him, wondering what unknown, unseen horrors lurked there. I need to find Robbie and get out of here. This place is dangerous – it might even be more dangerous for me, because of my arm, than anyone else.
An awful thought occurred to him as he jogged back to the torch he'd mistaken for something Robbie had built. Did he even make it this far? Did he just run past the monsters? He outruns everyone else easy enough…
Grimacing, he grabbed several more brightblooms and threw them around the little monster mine, illuminating the area directly around it and searching nervously for any other signs of a fight. But other than the blood from the monsters he had slain, there didn't seem to be anything amiss. Most importantly, he didn't see Robbie's body. Goddesses willing, he's still alive, he prayed fervently, turning his gaze back to the lightroot now much closer. He could see the orange flicker of flame from another fire, one that appeared close to the ground, and hoped it was one of Robbie's this time as he set out towards it, much more cautiously this time.
Usually bokoblins are pretty loud when they move around. Moblins even more so. And yet I only heard the pickaxe. There's something… off… about these monsters, probably because of the Gloom. He tried to shrug the worries away. At least I know how to look for them now.
Gloom that was moving and shaped like a bokoblin – it shouldn't be difficult to spot, he reasoned.
He slowed his pace as he neared the next fire. It was another torch, but it wasn't as high as the first. It was a much more Robbie-sized height, he thought hopefully. He didn't call out for the scientist this time, instead carefully observing as much as he could in the darkness. There were hulking dark shapes that remained motionless as he watched them, directly behind the torch. Stone, he thought, his shoulders relaxing slightly in some relief. Pillars, or ruins, or boulders – whatever.
He could hear breathing near this one. Monsters or Robbie, he couldn't tell. Uncertainly he walked quietly closer, until he could reach a hand out and touch the stone next to the torch. He grimaced at the powdery coating on the rough stone, wondering what sort of ancient mold or mildew he'd just touched and hoping it wasn't poisonous.
A bokoblin's grunt of surprise sounded, much too close on the other side of the stone, and Link cursed his luck, his heart suddenly racing. Not Robbie – another monster camp!
He hesitated a moment – remain quiet, try to pass by undetected in the dark, or instantly betray his position by throwing a brightbloom seed, but at least then he would have eyes on the enemy –
The growl of a moblin, directly behind him. Link whirled around, his eyes widening in horror as he caught a glimpse of a red-infested club rushing towards him before it slammed against his side, driving the breath from his lungs as red and distant blue and gold spun through his vision until he crashed into the ground.
Into slimy, red-coated ground.
The howl of anguish that tore from his lips was enough to startle even the monsters coming towards him, buying him a precious second that he was in no position to use.
His right arm was spasming again, entirely out of his control. Gloom rocketed through his veins, forcing its way into his blood through the tiny wound on his shoulder, filling it with piping hot magma. Link writhed, the violent spasms spreading from his arms and taking his whole body, breathless strained cries wheezing from his throat. It was suddenly impossible to think at all, to retain a grasp of rational thought – not when there was Gloom surging freely through his veins, coursing through is body, all the way to his heart, where it burned and – and drained, stealing something steadily away, taking everything he had to give.
Dimly he remembered Rauru saying something about Gloom trying to reach his heart – about how that was a really bad thing. The thought was just enough to center him, to focus his willpower. Screaming through gritted teeth he pushed himself on trembling limbs to his knees, and dragged his stiff, shuddering arms and legs onward, inch by painstaking inch, until his rigid hands no longer sank into hot, putrid bloodred Gloom and he was free.
He collapsed where he was, shaking like a leaf in a storm, his vision smeared and blurry from sweat and tears. His breaths came short and sharp and ragged, grating in his ears. He realized somewhere that the monsters had lost interest in him, through some miracle – perhaps the moblin's blow had thrown him far enough that they hadn't seen where he landed. The agony tearing him apart from the inside out was great enough that he couldn't tell how badly that strike had actually hurt him.
He could see the lightroot, closer than ever yet impossibly distant. Light… light fixes me, he thought numbly, desperation giving him resolve. He forced his arms and legs to move again, shouting out as the searing pain somehow intensified. Worse – worse than when I woke up, he realized, unable to hold back a whimper as he scraped his hands forward along the ground, pulling himself shakily, slowly, onward. Th-the darkness… and the Gloom… makes it all worse!
Sweat dripped down his nose in a steady stream as he crawled forward. His gaze was fixed steadily on the lightroot – he couldn't bring himself to look at anything else. It was his only hope, his only chance for salvation, in this hellish underworld. His strength gave out twice more, the pain seeming too much to bear; it did not get any easier to deal with while he lay still. It was a battle unlike any he'd fought before, his mind against his body, struggling to press through this constant torture.
It eased incrementally when he at last dragged himself between the thick tendrils at the base of the lightroot. Trembling, he pushed himself onto his back, and tightly gripping his right arm in his left, he managed to line up his convulsing fingers with the hand of green magic above him. He recoiled at the flash that followed the lightroot's awakening, but then the pain ebbed enough to allow his muscles to relax, his eyes to slip closed in exhaustion, his breaths to come a little easier.
"Whoa, that thing got bright!"
Robbie. Link felt a flutter of what might have been anger. He was too worn, too drained by now to do anything but lie still, basking in what limited comfort the Depths' feeble equivalent of the sun could give him.
"That light down in this dark is downright refreshing… must make a note of that somewhere." The sound of a paper and pencil. "So… luminous… it's like being… on the… Surface! There. Now, the question is, what caused it to –"
The Sheikah scientist gave a horrified gasp, and Link heard rapid footsteps drawing nearer. A moment later Robbie's face drifted hazily into view, his expression difficult to discern beneath the massive goggles.
"Link?" he gulped. "I – Goddesses, what happened? Holy Hylia, your arm –!"
Link didn't want to guess what he looked like. The memory of seeing his arm dripping with his own blood, charred black and gray up to his shoulder, returned unwelcome to his mind. Surely… surely it's not… as bad…
He didn't feel particularly confident in that. He had never felt so much sheer pain.
Robbie rummaged around in Link's pouch and pulled something out – the Purah Pad, Link realized blearily as the ancient Sheikah man held it above him. There was a series of soft clicks as he took several pictures, and then he waddled some distance away and Link heard him take another picture.
"Just so this wasn't completely for nothing," Robbie muttered. "Okay, er, hold on, Link! I'll… I'll figure out something! You're… you're not going to die immediately, are you?"
Link struggled to make his mouth work again. "Donn… thinkssss… ssso," he managed, his voice a hoarse croak. The lightroot was like the sun, after all, albeit weaker – enough time spent beneath its glow, and he would feel better.
…Right?
What I… really need… is a shrine…
Which would require returning to the surface. Something that was impossible from right here.
He could hear Robbie cursing quietly nearby. "Okay… okay, Link, we have to get you back to the hot air balloon so we can get you out of here. Can you… can you stand?"
Link closed his eyes wearily, exhaling softly. No, he feared was the answer.
But… the other option… probably wait here for… who knows how long… for soldiers to… get down here and… carry me out. The Zonai Survey Team research member, Ponnick, certainly wouldn't be of any help – Link was small, but not particularly light, and these scholars weren't exactly the muscley type. The fastest way out, Link noted, would be for him to get himself out.
He drew in as deep a breath as he could manage – now that the Gloom had receded, at least a bit, he could feel heavy bruising on his side where the moblin had hit him. He swallowed thickly, gathering himself, and as quickly as he could manage surged to his feet, Gloom pulsing painfully within him. His vision went black and he staggered blindly, smacking into one of the lightroot's thick tendrils and managing to catch himself on it, breathing hard. When his vision cleared, Robbie was watching him intently through his goggles.
"Alright," the scientist gulped. "Well… that's good then. Alright, how far did I go? The balloon's over by that first glowing root thing – oh."
Oh, indeed, Link thought bitterly. The first lightroot was at least a mile away. "Get me… a s-staff," he mumbled. "Something I… can lean on."
Robbie found for him a long, branch-like thing that seemed sturdy enough. Link gripped it in both hands and used it to drag his aching body forward one step at a time, back the way he had come. With both of the lightroots awakened, it was easier by far to avoid the pools of Gloom and the group of monsters Link hadn't managed to kill.
But distance was distance, and once Link emerged from directly beneath the lightroot, it didn't seem to be doing anything to help him. It wasn't actually the sun, after all, he thought glumly. And so the Gloom continued spreading further through his body with each stiff, jarring movement, rejuvenating itself, drawing strength with each circulation through his veins, in turn making it harder and harder for him to force himself onward. If Robbie spoke during the trek, Link didn't notice – forcing himself to move despite the surging searing of his blood soon became the only thing he was capable of focusing on.
At some point it became simply too much to bear. Link stopped moving, hot and cold all over, sweat coursing across his body. It felt as though his entire body was spasming, violently rejecting the poison coiling tighter around his heart. With blurred vision he caught sight of Robbie, of the scholar Ponnick, of the hot air balloon. A flash of flame. Streaks of red Gloom.
Then finally he could feel the sun – he could feel it warming his skin, its strong glow soothing the damage wrought by the Depths. Link began to comprehend more of what was actually going on around him. He realized first that though he could feel the sun, the sky was darkening. Evening was almost upon them.
"What – what happened?" Purah's voice, a horrified screech. "Josha, go – go get – er, someone from the shrines division!"
Scurrying footsteps. Link kept his gaze fixed on the sky, faintly aware that he was lying down on something – a stretcher, the ground, it didn't really make a difference. He couldn't see the sun itself, but he could see the vibrant gold it painted the heavens and it granted him some small comfort.
"I – I don't know, don't blame me!" Robbie babbled. "He was like this when he caught up to me!"
A deadly silence that could have made even the most sociable Goron uncomfortable. "When he caught up to you," Purah repeated. "And I don't suppose he was just a few steps behind you and suddenly… this."
Robbie gulped audibly. "Well… I may have… run off… ahead."
"Rrrrrgh! Just like you always – I've told you, Robbie, I've told you to stop doing that! And now look what's happened because of that! I can't believe you! You are grounded! No more fieldwork for you; this is it!" She sounded absolutely livid. Her tirade went on; Link felt certain that if he had the strength he would be chewing Robbie out just as much if not more. His anger and frustration with the Sheikah man who had put him in this situation simmered just far enough below the surface of the excruciating pain seizing up his body that he couldn't fully dwell on it. Purah stopped only with the arrival of one of the shrine specialists.
"Where's the nearest shrine?" she demanded at once, stopping mid-curse.
"Th-there's one just outside Lookout Landing, in the ruins of Castle Town," the unfamiliar voice of the newcomer came, hesitant in the face of Purah's fury.
"Okay, you're leading the way. You, soldiers, get over here and pick him up! Get him to that shrine yesterday, you hear me?"
"We've already sent for our best field medic, Miss Purah," Scorpis answered curtly. "What will a rock do for him now? He needs a thorough examination so we can try and figure out –"
"He already told me what helps!" Purah snapped. "He told me the shrines mitigate the effects of the corruption in his arm, so we're getting him to a shrine! Bring your medic there if you must."
"Scorpis," Link managed, and at once the man's face and Purah's popped into view above him, blocking out his view of the sunset. "Sh-she's – right. I need – the shrine."
Scorpis swallowed and pulled away. "Alright, men. Follow the scholar. Do as he and Purah say."
Footsteps. Link felt himself getting lifted up – so it was a stretcher he was lying on, then. He focused on remaining as still as he could over the course of the walk through Lookout Landing, and then through the ruins of Castle Town. They stopped and set him down when a shadow blotted out the sun.
"Alright, Link – we've brought you to a shrine," Purah said, her voice gentle with worry in stark contrast to her rage earlier. "What now? How do we get inside?"
With a grunt, fighting back a scream, Link lurched to his feet. His vision went black and the ground twisted beneath his feet; at once there were arms around him, hands grabbing at him, keeping him on his feet. He exhaled heavily, his eyesight blearily returning to him in grainy smudges.
"Sheesh, you can ask for help, you know!" Purah chided him, her brow deeply creased. "What do we do, Link? How do we help you?"
Link lifted his gaze to the shrine. A dragon ring seal was there, glowing green and inviting around the hand icon. He struggled to lift his hand towards it; when they caught on to what he was trying to do the soldiers around him helped him raise his spasming arm all the way. His palm met the green dragon ring and the light raced away in its familiar dancing sparks. A green flame flickered up from the base of the shrine and spread upwards and outwards, forming an archway around a watery-looking veil leading into the shrine itself.
"Through there," Link gritted out, his back stiffening with pain as he shuffled one foot forward.
"We'll help you, Link – don't worry about it," one of the soldiers supporting him said reassuringly, and too worn at this point to protest, he allowed himself to be carried into the shrine.
As soon as they passed through the veil, into the gentle green light and the floor of soft, smooth sediment, Link felt as though a load of a thousand bricks had lifted from his shoulders. He could feel the sacred light seeping into his body, gentle and soothing, working already to clear away the pain. And in its place, he felt a fatigue so strong that he knew he wouldn't be able to stay conscious for much longer.
Stiffly he flapped a hand in Purah's direction. "Just… leave me in here all night," he mumbled, and then the shrine was tilting, smearing, and his exhausted senses blinked out to nothing.