Chapter 6: The Dream Nail

Link woke as if from a dream.

He was lying on a pile of pillows under the soft light of a few lumafly lanterns. He was inside a tent, which was itself situated in a cramped cave with a narrow exit. He saw the face of a moth—furry and with large eyes—looking down at him.

"Ahhhh, you've returned. Welcome back to the waking world," said the moth, her voice old and frail. She was wearing a dark fur cloak that concealed all but her head, and she resembled the statue from the place with the endless sky, though much smaller and thinner. "Those figures, those Dreamers... they reached out with what little power they still have and dragged you into that hidden place. You startled me quite a bit when you suddenly reappeared here."

Link sat up and looked at his hand. The cut was gone without so much as a scar, as if it had never been there. He turned his head to the moth. "Are you—"

"The one you saw in the dream?" the moth interrupted. "Indeed. I am but an old Seer. I apologize for stranding you in the World of Dreams, but until now there has only been one Dream Nail, and my tribe has dreamed of its Wielder for a long time."
Link got out the Lens of Truth and took a closer look at it. As he had seen before, there was now a mosaic, dream catcher pattern instead of an eye design, but there was also a vague, shimmering light inside. "This is a Dream Nail?" he asked.

"Yes... It is a talisman that can cut through the veil separating the waking world from our dreams. Not only that, but it's just as sharp as it ever should be. I don't know how you found it, but I am glad you escaped that hidden place."

"Thanks for the concern," Link said, standing up. He started toward the small cave's exit, then stopped and turned around. "Are you one of the ones who takes care of the burial ground?"

"I am the only one now."

"Oh. I'm sorry."

"Do not worry about me. All penitence for old crimes. Why is it you ask?"

"I was told you would know about Hallownest's history. Have you heard about a place called Hyrule? At this point I'm pretty much convinced I can't get back physically, but it's worth a shot."

"This is the first I'm hearing of it," said the Seer. "But if you seek to cross vast distances and reach other worlds, you are lucky to have found a Dream Nail... The Dream World is vast, connecting the minds of all who dream. A path may exist which can bring you where you seek to go, but I doubt it is accessible to you now."

"What do you mean?"

"Do you know of the infection that ravages this kingdom? It is no thoughtless curse. It is the will of a forgotten light, similar to that powerful blade, but much brighter still... the light from which my tribe was born, the essence of dreams. My ancestors forsook that light in favor of the king, and in so doing, invited its vengeance on this land. That light now dominates this kingdom's dreams, and would not allow such a path to persist. To vanquish the Radiance is the power of the Wielder."

Link chuckled to himself. Well, what did I expect? he thought. "Alright, then. What do I need to do?"

Seer shook her head. "I know that the Dreamers maintain a lock meant to keep the light contained. It was desperate, but very clever. Only by finding them can you open the way, but that will not be enough. You do not have the power needed to defeat the Radiance, and I know of nothing which can provide it to one such as you. Perhaps you should leave the work to the other Wielder?"

"As if," Link said.

"Then I can offer you only this: far above here, at the very top of the kingdom, lies the knowledge of my ancestors... I have not seen it myself, but perhaps something there can be of use to you."

Link nodded and ducked out of the cave.

He emerged into the top of a deep, cylindrical chamber, with the same masks on the walls as in the graveyard. A walkway spiraled around the side of the chamber, with doorways and alcoves placed sporadically along it. One of the doorways bore a sign for a stag station, so Link made his way there. As he did, he noticed that he felt remarkably light on his feet. How long did I go without sleeping? he wondered.

When he reached the stag station, he found that it had already been opened. He rang the bell and waited for the stag to arrive.

"Ah, Link. I see you found your way to the Resting Grounds. Did you find what you were looking for?" said the Stag.

"No, and yes," Link answered. "Can you take me to Dirtmouth?"

A few minutes later, he emerged into the little town, which was quieter now with both Zote and Tiso gone.

"You're back again," said Elderbug. "You were down there for a long time. I was starting to think something had gotten you."

"Not yet," Link replied.

"Hm. Where are you headed now?"

Link pointed up at the mountain that loomed over the horizon. "There."

"Ahh. That mountain. There's mines and machinery and all sorts of valuable rock forms inside. Many a traveller through Dirtmouth headed straight for it, but if you aren't looking for treasure, what would bring you there?"

"Supposedly there's some ancient knowledge all the way at the top."

"Hm. There's a lift on the side of the cliff beyond the town's graveyard. It would take you right into the mountain, but it hasn't worked in ages."

"I'll bet I can make use of it. Thanks," Link said.

He left the town, walked past the well that opened into Hallownest, and stepped into the graveyard. Compared to the one in the resting grounds, Dirtmouth's graveyard was quite sparse. Most of the tombstones were small and simple, and there weren't many of them. As he made his way through, however, one of them started to softly glow, and a ghostly figure appeared above it. It was a simple round bug, but with a face and head covered in white fur.

"Ehh... Another wielding a weapon. I suppose you'll be leaving many a corpse in your wake?" said the ghost.

I guess I don't even need to look through the lens to see ghosts now, Link thought. Or I'm just going crazy. "Why do you care?" he asked.

"I'm a gravedigger. If you won't spare thought for the dead at least consider all the extra work you force upon those in my profession."

Link squinted. "You do realize you're-"

The gravedigger sighed. "Do as you will, wanderer. Cut a path toward your goal. I shouldn't complain. It's your kind that keeps folks like me in business."

Link shook his head, then sat down. "Let me play you a song," he said, retrieving his ocarina. He brought it to his lips and began the slow, soothing melody of the Song of Healing, a song meant to ease sorrows and regrets.

When he finished, the gravedigger let out a sigh of relief, as if a weight had been lifted from his shoulders. "I remember now," he said. "I fell into an open grave, and I couldn't get back out. Ironic, isn't it? Thank you, wanderer..." With that, the light faded, as did the gravedigger's image.

Link briefly tilted his head in respect, then put the ocarina away.

Continuing forward, he soon reached the side of the cliff. As Elderbug had said, near the top the mechanism for a lift jutted out, but there was nothing on the ground that allowed the carriage to be brought down. Luckily, like most of the metal structures in Hallownest, the lift had an intricate design in the metalwork, and there were plenty of nooks and catches in the gaps between bars. Link fired his hookshot toward it, and, as he'd hoped, it snagged and pulled him up. He climbed around the lift and onto the ledge, where a tunnel opened up. An old rail, accompanied by minecarts, led inside. Pale pink crystals, ranging in size from a finger's length to larger than Link, were growing nearby, and light of the same color filtered out of the tunnel.

He pulled a lever on the lift mechanism, which opened the door to the carriage and unlocked the gears' motion, then went inside the tunnel. It soon opened into a much larger cavern, where crystals were growing in clusters on the walls and ceiling, and even bursting up through the floor. The path was broken up by the crystals, leaving the end of the rail hanging bent and broken over the edge. Ahead, the path reappeared, but it was soon interrupted again. Wooden support beams were frequent, however, allowing Link to use the hookshot to proceed.

The further ahead he went, the larger and more frequent the crystals became, until the surviving pieces of the path jutted out like islands of stone in a sea of sharp crystal. Soon enough, the crystal growth took over completely, covering the entire vast cavern, some of them as large as buildings. In the very distance, almost totally obscured by the light from the crystals, was the end of the path.

"Wow," Link said, taking in the sight.

One of those flying carpets from Gerudo Desert would be nice right now, he thought. He looked around for a way across, but all he could find were some old mining tools. Well, this ceiling seems to be holding just fine everywhere else. He cut down a support beam and laid it out into the pit, placing the end in a nook between two crystals. He tested its stability, and, finding it acceptable, cut down a second beam, walked across the first, and set it down where the first one ended.

He repeated the process again, then again, nearly falling more than once. With the fifth beam he had made it roughly halfway across, and he could more clearly see the end of the cavern. He noticed Cornifer sitting at the edge of the platform, watching him intently. Three more beams brought him close enough to use the hookshot on the beams across from him, bringing him to the end of the path.

"My!" Cornifer said. "You must be rather confident in your abilities. If I tried that I would surely fall and skewer myself on those crystals!"

"I've done worse," Link replied.

"I hope for your sake you don't make a habit of it."

"I don't do it because I want to, trust me."

"I see. Well, have you come to scale the mountain? I've heard tale of a summit way up there. Too far for me though and I'm not really one for heights."

"That's where I'm going," Link said. "Got a map for me?"

"Of course," said Cornifer. Link bought it and headed further into the mountain.

While the previous cavern seemed to have mostly served as a route to transport material along the rails, the tunnels soon branched into a sprawling system of mines. The abundance of wood for support allowed Link to freely use the hookshot, which was good for him because otherwise the mines would be nearly impossible to navigate. While a few places had collapsed, the main problem was that the miners had sometimes returned to an area they'd already been to and dug it out further, causing many of the tunnels to end high up in the sides of walls.

The machinery was still active, and by all accounts the mountain was more alive than anywhere else in Hallownest, with the exception of Greenpath. Husks of dead miners attacked with surprising viciousness, throwing their picks and punching wildly. Round-shelled beasts—both large and small—with crystals on their backs crawled along the walls and ceilings. Flying bugs with crystals growing from their abdomens would shoot them at him, where they grew explosively on contact with a surface. Some of the bugs had been nearly completely encased in the crystals, making them effectively immune to physical strikes, but they discharged beams of searing light which Link could redirect at them with the mirror shield.

When he got high enough, though, the mines stopped. He came into a natural cavern that was even larger than the broken minecart path. Huge, 20-foot thick pillars of stone supported the cavern's ceiling, with stone and crystals visible far into the distance. More husks wandered through here, like the miners but with crystals on their backs and hands. One nearby extended its arm and shot a beam of light at him, which he quickly reflected.

Luckily, this cavern wasn't completely covered with crystals as the other had been; there was enough bare stone for him to find a path through, however meandering. Eventually he found an exit, though it was high up on a ledge in the chamber's wall and he had to climb a narrow footpath to reach it.

It led into a smaller tunnel that wound up and around the cavern, with occasional breaks in the wall bringing them back together and allowing Link to see how high he was getting. As he went higher, the crystals became more sporadic and the tunnel grew steeper until it forced him to briefly scramble up a nearly-vertical incline. He emerged into open air, with the wind blowing and the black, starless sky above him. He was standing on the mountain's peak

Dozens of huge stones surrounded him, flat on one side and round on the other. Glowing white glyphs began appearing on the ones close to him, but unlike the similar stone he'd seen on the cliffs when entering the kingdom, they bore no words, only strange, esoteric symbols. He tried to puzzle out their meaning but had no luck.

The stones traced out a path, which was also lined by crumbling stone archways topped with spikes. It led a short distance to the very highest point on the mountain, where a towering figure loomed. Link approached, and saw that it was a statue. It was worn, cracked, and broken in places, but still striking. It looked something like a moth, but with feathery wings and three long, thin horns on its head resembling a crown, though the third horn was broken off. Just by looking, he could tell the statue was impossibly ancient.

Is this what the moths worshiped? Link wondered. He followed the statue's gaze, off the top of the mountain and into the valley below. From such a height, the light from Dirtmouth looked like a dim and hazy speck. He looked back at the statue. It was a sad sight now, but must have been glorious when it was built. They built all this for you, then they abandoned you and forgot. I guess I can see why you're upset.

He reached out to touch the base of the statue. As soon as his fingers made contact, he saw a blinding flash of light and heard a deafening roar. He stumbled back and fell onto the ground, then noticed a burning sensation at his side. He grabbed blindly at the cause and retrieved the Fierce Deity's mask. Its normally dark eyes were blazing with light, but it quickly faded. You two don't like each other, huh? he realized. Well, it's a start.

As he descended back down the mountain, he passed an observation deck looking out from the side of the cliffs, and decided to have a look. It was built from stone and metal, resembling the architecture of the capital instead of the rest of the mines. There was a raised platform against the windows, and barrels of crystal were stored beneath it. Link stepped up the stairs onto the platform and saw Quirrel standing at the glass and staring out.

"Ahh, quite a view, no?" he said as Link neared him, barely turning his head. "I'm not surprised you survived the trek through these shimmering caverns. Did it sadden you to see those miners below, still labouring at their endless task?"

"Now that you mention it, that is pretty sad," Link answered.

"Even overcome, strong purpose has been imprinted upon their husks," Quirrel said, nodding. "The crystal ore is said to contain a sort of energy, not as powerful as the soul the city dwellers harnessed but far less lethal.

"...Strange to know such ancient facts. I wonder from where my knowledge comes?"

"You know, I've been wanting to ask. What's with that mask you wear on top of your head?" said Link. He recognized as one of the Dreamers'.

Quirrel took the mask off and held it in front of him. "I can't remember a time when I didn't have it. For some reason, the idea of parting with it always seemed unpleasant to me. It was only when I entered this kingdom that I discovered it holds considerable power. Are you suggesting the mask is the reason I know these things?"

"It's possible. Do you recognize the names Monomon, Lurien, or Herrah?"

"Monomon... Yes, that name sounds familiar. Something is stirring in my mind, though I can't tell what... Excuse me, Link. I feel I must go," said Quirrel. He turned around and started walking back into the mines.

"I bet I know where," Link said, following after him, "and I'm coming with you."

It was a lot easier to make it through the mines going down than going up, especially since the two of them had collectively defeated most of the hostile bugs on their way up. Eventually the branching tunnels of the mines ended with a lift down into a singular passageway. A monotone, droning voice echoed toward them:

"...Bury my body... c-cover my shell,

"What meaning in darkness? Yet here I remain...

"I'll wait here forever...till light blooms again..."

"That's not right," Link said. He rushed into the small cave the voice was coming from. A round bug with a headlamp was robotically swinging a pick at a large mass of glowing crystal embedded in the rock.

"...Bury... body... cover... shell... Darkness. No meaning... DANGEROUS... Still, remain... LIGHT... again..." she continued, not even noticing Link was there.

"Hey, snap out of it," Link said, waving his hand in front of her face. He noticed a faint orange glow in her eyes.

"What's this?" Quirrel said, entering the cave.

"Her name's Myla, I met her a while ago. She said she came to get rich from mining these crystals. I guess that was enough to get her infected."

"How unfortunate."

"She's not all the way there yet. Hold on, I've got an idea," Link said. He got out his ocarina and waited until Myla's singing came back to the beginning of the verse, then he began playing. It took some time to adjust to the slower pace of her singing, but he eventually managed to stay in time with her, playing in harmony as he'd done before.

At first, nothing happened, but after a few verses Myla began to speed back up again. A few more verses, and she had stopped leaving out words. After that, she started to vary her tone again, and sang an entire verse as she had before. Link stopped playing, and Myla's head jerked up.

"L-Link! Hello again!" she said. "Are you still running about? I'm sorry I didn't notice you. I was having the strangest d-dream."

"I know," Link replied. Myla tilted her head in confusion. "Listen, you have to stop mining and get out of here."

"Stop mining? But w-why?"

"Because if you don't, you'll catch the infection again and end up as one of those mindless husks," Quirrel interjected. "That was more than just an ordinary dream you were having, lass."

Myla looked at the crystal in the wall, and Link suddenly realized that the light inside was a noticeably warmer color than the light in the rest of the crystals. "B-but-"

"If the corpses stop moving, you can come back," said Link. "But you might not even want to by then."

Myla didn't say anything. She just stared into the crystal's light as if in a trance.

"I'm serious," Link added.

Myla turned to him with a jerk. "A-alright," she said, tilting her head down. She left the tunnel, walking toward the crossroads and occasionally looking back. Link watched until she was well out of sight, then found a weak point in the rock and used a bomb to collapse the cave entrance.

"She'll be able to dig through that," Quirrel said.

"I know, but if she gets attracted by that light again, this might be enough to make her reconsider," Link responded.

They continued into the Crossroads, following Quirrel's vague intuition. He led them onto a path cutting through the middle, where a large but lightly armored husk carrying a club was standing guard. It was trivial for the two of them to defeat it; they split up, it swung at Link, and Quirrel slashed it from behind.

The road ended in a large chamber with stairs in the side leading up to higher levels. A huge suit of armor, far too big for any of the bugs Link had seen, was sitting empty in the middle of the road. The ceiling above them was collapsed, leaving rubble scattered around the armor and letting them look up at the room above, but Link could also barely hear another sound, which he couldn't quite make out, coming from a room even higher.

"I'm going to see what that is," Link said, his curiosity getting the better of him. "You go on ahead. I can meet up with you later."

"Very well," Quirrel said.

Link headed up, crossing the broken floor on the second level, and entered the third level, where there were several rooms containing shelves full of old supplies. The whole structure evidently served as a warehouse of some kind. Here, he could clearly hear the sound of crying coming from one of the rooms, along with soft firelight.

Rounding the corner, he saw two small, white, fleshy creatures with large round heads and six short, stubby legs standing around a third, dead one. The firelight was coming from numerous candles throughout the room. Link could also see the light of the Dream World around the corpse of the dead creature. When the creatures noticed him, they immediately started wailing and ran away from him, bouncing off the opposite wall, then continuing to run into it.

Link ignored the two living creatures for the moment and approached the dead one. Unlike the tombstone in Dirtmouth's graveyard, which glowed with the same light, no ghost appeared when he got near it. Perplexed, he grabbed the Dream Nail and noticed that it was slightly shimmering, seemingly reacting to the body. He concentrated and manifested the Nail's blade, then struck the corpse. His vision briefly turned white, then he fell a short distance and landed on a stone surface.

He found himself standing on a floating platform, and while the sky was a dark blue rather than orange, it was obvious that he was back in the Dream World. Steps formed at the end of the platform, and as he started to follow them, they descended to a large building floating in the sky. When he stepped inside, he found it empty, but moments later the ceiling broke and a figure wearing the same huge set of armor he'd seen in the Crossroads fell upon him. Its face was hidden by a horned helmet, and it wielded a large mace.

The huge knight landed with a thump and almost immediately leapt toward Link, swinging its mace. Despite its size, it was quite fast, and Link hopped out of the way just in time. Weaving around falling rubble, he quickly drew his sword and shield and struck at the knight, but his sword merely bounced off its armor. That wasn't surprising, and Link was ready to jump out of the way of the knight's next attack, holding his shield above his head to deflect more rubble.

The only gap is the eyeholes, he noted, as the knight jumped over his head to the other side of the room. He gave up on his sword and retrieved his bow instead.

The knight charged, swinging horizontally. Link jumped over its strike, and it continued past him. Turning around, it brought its mace over its head and back down. Link jumped aside, then again as the knight repeated the same attack, and he realized that his opponent was a total novice. After the mace hit the ground, Link rushed at the knight and slammed his shield down on its hands, not doing any damage but opening the knight's grip and causing it to drop its weapon. It was a tactic that would only work on someone who'd never been disarmed before.

As the knight scrambled to grab its weapon, Link tossed his shield aside and readied a shot from his bow. Just as he fired, though, the knight jerked its head in an unexpected direction and the shot bounced off its helmet. The knight yanked its mace in Link's direction, hitting him square in the torso and sending him flying, dropping his bow on the way.

Gasping for breath, Link struggled to his feet. The knight had begun swinging its mace back and forth, intentionally striking the ground. This seemed to damage the chamber's floor significantly, but more importantly it brought large amounts of rubble down on Link when he didn't have his shield. It was painful to move at all, let alone quickly, but he managed to avoid the crumbling rocks until he could breathe again. Then, he drew his sword and made a sudden dash toward the knight, weaving around the rubble and shocking his opponent into abandoning its current tactic and swinging down at him again. He dodged the attack as closely as he could, and as the knight pulled the mace back up, he grabbed on, jumping off toward its head and preparing to thrust at its eye.

Panicked, the knight leaned so far back that it fell over, and when its mace struck the ground beside it, the floor finally gave way. Both Link and the knight fell until they landed on another large platform beneath them. Link landed with a roll and was largely unharmed by the fall, but the knight landed straight on its chest. It dropped its mace and its helmet was knocked off, revealing the face of the fleshy white creature whose corpse Link had struck with the Dream Nail. It groaned in pain and exhaustion.

"So this is your dream, then?" Link asked. The creature said nothing, so Link prepared to stab into its head, but he stopped short, unable to do it. He lowered his sword and knelt before the now-pathetic figure. "You're the same as the gravedigger, I bet," he said, grabbing his ocarina. He played the Song of Healing, and the creature's expression changed from one of pain and fear to one of peace.

Link's vision went white, and he found himself lying beside the creature's body in the real world, only now there was a ghostly image of it floating above its corpse. It spoke in a weak, pitiful voice: "I wanted it... the strength to protect the others... When I saw that Knight... sleeping... safe in his big armoured shell... It wasn't madness that drove me to it... I just wanted it... But... in the end? If strength cannot save you, then what can...?"

When it stopped talking, all went quiet, and Link realized that the other two had fled while he was asleep. He bowed his head slightly to the creature, but offered no answer to its question. Moments later, it faded from view, along with the light around its corpse.

When he went back downstairs, Quirrel was unsurprisingly gone. While the road ended in that room, there was a short tunnel exiting in the same direction. It was dark, but navigable. In the middle, one of the walls was collapsed, revealing a second tunnel branching off from it. A brazier full of glowing coals and a stick with a bug's head on it were standing in the second tunnel, with the head looking somewhat like that of the silent little Knight, only with different horns.

Indulging his curiosity again, Link headed down this second tunnel. It turned several times, with the way marked by more braziers and sticks with other bugs' heads on them. More heads, or perhaps just masks, were packed into parts of the floor. The tunnel ended at a doorway surrounded by more braziers and mounted heads.

On the other side, Link found himself in a structure supported by wood and covered on every surface by masks. There was a small hut made from what looked like a large ribcage, and beside it stood a strange-looking creature. Its totally black body was humanoid in shape, it wore a necklace of small masks, and had a large snail shell on top of its head. It was holding a staff with another bug's head on the top.

"Oho! Who is that stepping out of the darkness?" he said in a deep but cheery voice.

"Link. Who are you?" Link replied.

"I am a snail shaman. I watch over this temple," said the creature. "Those are some nasty looking weapons you carry. Something important has drawn you into Hallownest's corpse, but I won't ask what. Have you found me because you need my help? I'm afraid I can't offer you anything, but then you already possess such tremendous power."

Link gave him an inquisitive look.

"That mask," said the snail shaman, motioning to the Fierce Deity's mask. "I can sense a terrible strength about it, much stronger than the spells of my people."

"Can you tell me anything else about it?"

The snail shaman shook his head. "Wherever that mask comes from, it's not a place us snails have ever been. Ooohh, but I do sense something more beyond that power. Something hidden. Perhaps you could find a way to access it? Masks are not my field of expertise, but there are others who may be able to help you."

"Where?"

"Ohohoho! No need to be so eager," the snail shaman chuckled. "Whatever you're seeking... it will find you!"