[EDITING] The Legend of Zelda: Goddess of Secrecy

Dungeon Chapter 62 - Currents Below the Earth

...and deeper into the underground. The roof was lower in this passage, just enough for Link to need to stoop an inch. It retained the same clean-cut stone as the rest of the chambers before them had.

It was a short while before Link and Hack emerged into a much larger cavern, reaching high enough to rival the main body of the Clever Grove. Above, the bright blue bioluminescent lichen covered the walls. The rot root hadn't managed to strangle much of the upper portions of this cave. Link began to wonder why, until he heard the rushing of a river further into the cavern.

The path branched not far from the tunnel exit. One branch led to a small vista point overlooking the valley, the other further down towards the sound of the river. Link leaned towards the higher path, Hack close behind. As they reached the end, Link tapped the mirror and gazed out below.

He had wondered how so much of the lichen had remained alive when the main cavern was so choked. But the first thing Link saw was the strong current of one of the subterranean rivers. It was full already, which didn't make sense for the clots running back into the chamber behind them.

"Up there!" Hack said, tugging at Link's sleeve. Link turned to follow where she was pointing to see a red mass clinging to the wall above and behind them. It dropped the awful clots into the channels of the aqueducts cut into the side of the building, before falling down into the channel back where they'd come from.

"How are we supposed to get up there?" Hack asked with a deep scowl. Her big ears perked up before turning to Link. "You's got to have some kinds of magic items to get up there."

"I don't see a platform though," Link answered, still scanning. He tried to follow the channels back to where the water came from. Eventually the aqueducts cut back towards the river, where a great stone screw reached into the river. Except right now it was still.

"If we could get water moving through there again," Link said, motioning towards the spiral, "it would probably kill the cluster. They don't seem to like running water."

"What's about the one you killed underwater?" Hack asked. "Wasn't that water running?"

"It was moving, but I don't know if it was moving fast enough. Guess we'll have to find out," Link replied, turning to look at the lower path. It would get him close enough to that water spiral to get it moving again most likely, but the aqueduct didn't seem to be the only place that the clots had fallen off too. There were a number of them along the route down.

"That looks like a whole lot of fun."

Link pivoted to see a familiar fox-like figure on a boulder above the overlook. Hack jumped, pulling out her daggers but Link extended a hand to block her path. "It's alright."

"How's the Hero know a Keaton?" Hack asked, keeping an eye on Echo as she sat up on the boulder.

"Ah, that was my little secret you know," Echo replied with a closed smile. "You shouldn't go sharing those kinds of things for other people."

"How's a Keaton get into here without bein' noticed?"

Echo shrugged. "I have my own tricks."

Hack gave Link a sideways glance, her hands still on her daggers. Link put a hand up between the two of them. "We're just trying to get through here. It isn't safe, you know."

"Neither were half a dozen of our other meetings, but here we are," Echo replied, uninterested. She stood up on top of the boulder with a hand resting over her brow. This was the first time Link noticed her tail hadn't disappeared. "You know, you could probably glide the whole way from here."