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It was normal for Hyrule to go missing on the heroes’ recovery days, but it was not as normal for Wild . The champion breaking curfew was nothing short of an immediate alarm. Wild did not get lost easily, especially not when he had Wind with him. Wild could use maps on his slate if they were available, and the handy thing showed him exactly where he was and further, where he needed to be. Wind could just as easily navigate by the stars, a marvel considering the slight though significant differences in the night sky between their eras. If any of them had very little reason to get lost, it was those two specifically.
Despite his worry, Time stayed back with the others in case Wild and Wind had simply let the hours get away from them. While the eldest here paced camp worriedly, Warriors and Twilight went out for a hero hunt. Wolfie was the search, Warriors the rescue in case the boys were hurt.
Warriors did his best not to fret, hiding his concern behind a thick veneer of detached professionalism. He was used to search and rescue becoming search and recovery , though he refused to dwell on that thought lest it manifest itself. The captain tugged at his scarf, boring his eyes straight ahead with one hand loosely around the hilt of his sword should they find trouble.
At his feet, Wolfie led the way with his snout on the ground. The wolf’s tail swished back and forth slowly, as if measuring careful thoughts. Every so often, he would pause to raise his noise into the air with a few sniffsniffsniffs before starting the hunt again.
Warriors was drawn from his anxious thoughts when he found his path blocked. Wolfie was against the captain’s knees, barring him from walking further. The wolf’s scruff raised with a warning growl.
“What is it?” Warriors asked.
Only Wild was really able to read Wolfie’s body language as if the beast spoke plain Hylian.
The shadows shed from Twilight’s shoulders, the man coming up on two feet. He still guarded the way with an arm against the captain’s chest to warn him back.
“A ditch,” the rancher said, crouching in the leaves.
Warriors watched as Twilight picked up a pinecone, rolling forwards. The half rotten thing tumbled over the leaves before it vanished.
“Where’d it go?” Warriors balked.
Twilight raised a hand in caution. He crept forward on his heels, stopping briefly. “There’s a crevice here,” he reported. Twilight peered down into the inky black. He spied a little smudge of light. “Someone’s down there.”
Warriors’ eyes widened. The captain threw himself at Twilight’s side. His hands found the soft lip of the abyss, the soft ground dipping beneath his weight. Warriors’ eyes widened as he felt the leaves and dirt beneath him begin to slide, a thin web of old roots and grass straining to support him.
Twilight just as quickly grabbed the captain by the back of his tunic, wrenching him from the very edge of the gorge. The two watched a handful of leaves flutter into the deep, lost in the pitch black only a few lengths down.
The chasm was nearly invisible until they were right up on it. The gap was narrow, but plenty wide enough for an unsuspecting person—or two —to slip right into it. Warriors only prayed that the ground at the bottom was soft. He hoped Wild had made quick use of his cloth and Wind his grappling hook, though the captain knew that a sudden fall would be so abrupt they might hit the bottom before realizing it was happening at all.
“A flare,” Warriors said, pointing that same smear of light.
Twilight nodded, tugging out his clawshots. “We bes’ get down there.”
Without argument, Warriors climbed onto the rancher’s back. He wrapped his legs around Twilight’s waist and his arms around the rancher’s neck. Once he was securely in place, Twilight began to propel the two of them into the pit.
The air cooled as they descended. It lost its freshness, instead choked with the odor of moss and mushrooms. Even further down, it became something fetid, heavy with the scent of rot and sulfur. They lost light, Warriors all but blind in the dark. Twilight was able to see better in lowlight rather than daylight, and so the rancher had little issue navigating safely to the bottom.
His boots landed with a squelch , his weight sinking into a ribbon of wet mud. The canyon was wide enough for the two of them to walk side-by-side, although Warriors followed a step behind to let Twilight lead the way.
Twilight stored his clawshots, retrieving his lantern instead. The wick sparked twice before the light finally took, the little flashes illuminated the wall of soil and roots and rock behind him. Finally, the lantern came to life, throwing a dim glow over the two heroes and lighting only as far as a few paces ahead of them. The darkness was so intense it simply ate the light from the lantern. A chill prickled the captain’s skin.
Twilight raised the lantern, eyeing the gorge carefully. Decaying ooze seeped from the walls, tangles of leaves caught up in old webs choked with slime and mud. The two stood in a very shallow stream snaking the bottom of the gully which was more or less one long mud puddle. Scattering the wet ground at their feet were bones of things which had likely fallen in. Deer, mostly, but Warriors picked out foxes and rabbits among the graves.
Twilight reached back, patting Warriors’ shoulder. “They’s alright, cap’n,” Twilight assured him.
Warriors nodded stiffly, something in him uncomfortable at how easily Twilight read his anxiety. Still, he appreciated the comfort even as he objectively knew Twilight had no way of knowing that.
The two started forward through the muck, the mud threatening to drag them down deeper with each step. Warriors tried not to dwell on the gouges in the walls on either side of them. Clearly, they were the final attempts of some poor souls trying to escape the sinkhole before it sapped the life from them. It made Warriors’ stomach turn to think of how horrible it must be to die in a place like this. Dark, alone, uncaring. It was only nature , but there was no escaping the cruelty of its unfeeling indifference. The captain found it more reassuring to give the chasm some personality, like it was a hungry monster or trapdoor spider, laying in wait for its next meal.
The flare began to dim as the heroes reached it. Its last licks of light flickered out of existence, leaving behind a bit of ash and a sturdy husk. The air was warm where it burned, clear of leaves shoved aside on the draft it made. Twilight raised his lantern over the flare, peering into the dark. There was a small pocket in the wall there, a narrow tunnel.
“Can you scent them out?” Warriors asked, his voice quiet. He was afraid to speak louder, as if it would wake some slumbering giant.
Twilight shook his head. “Mud’s too stinky,” he replied, “but look.”
The rancher crouched, caring not how his tunic dipped in the mud beneath him. Holding out his lantern, he illuminated shallow tracks leading into the tunnel. The footsteps became small dents—the marks of hands and knees.
“Wild!” Twilight called into the tunnel.
Warriors flinched at the sharp sound. It refused to echo, simply absorbed by the wet ground around it.
“...ligh…!” came a faint reply.
Warriors gasped softly. “It’s them,” he uttered.
Twilight nodded, cupping his hand around his mouth to project his voice further. “Can you come to us?” he yelled.
“...no…!”
Twilight sighed. “A’ight, cap’n. We gone hafta crawl.”
Warriors tensed, his body rejecting the thought. “Crawl through there ? It could collapse—”
“I know,” Twilight said sternly, “but we ain’t got a choice.”
Warriors nodded, swallowing down his instinctual fear. The tunnel was just as soggy as the rest of the chasm, just as prone to collapse as the ground had been to split open in the first place. Twilight wrestled out of his bulkier layers to make the shimmy easier. Warriors left behind his scarf so it didn’t snag or get caught under his knees. Twilight set the lantern at the opening, unable to take it with.
“Stay close,” he warned.
Warriors nodded, ignoring the sickly sweat washing over his back. Somehow, he managed to push past any of the feral fear thrashing around his gut. On his elbows and stomach, he followed Twilight into the little corridor.
It was hard work crawling through the muck. It soaked through the heroes’ clothes, chilling them both and weighing them down. More than once, Warriors took Twilight’s foot to the face from following too closely, but more than once, he fell behind and nearly panicked. The dark only grew more intense until suddenly, a faint red glow gnawed at the tunnel.
It was beginning to widen, opening into a slouching room. Warriors nearly cried in relief, glad to find both Wind and Wild alive albeit terrified. They were covered in mud as well, looking exhausted and distressed. Wild was half buried under a pile of collapsed mud spilling from a gap in the wall.
“What happened?” Twilight demanded.
Wild shook his head. “Thought we had a way out, but it gave in. It’s too heavy to get out of. Wind tried to dig me out, but it didn’t do any good.”
“Sailor,” Warriors pressed, grabbing Wind’s face between his hands. “Are you hurt at all?”
Wind shook his head quickly, although it was clear he’d cried at least a little. “I’m fine,” the boy answered. “Wild caught me with his sailcloth.”
“Until it got caught,” Wild supplied.
Wind nodded. “And then I used my grappling hook to get us down. I tried to get us back up, but the ground was too soft ‘n Wild’s too heavy ‘n we were both real tired—”
“It’s alright,” Warriors breathed, squeezing Wind in a hug. “Goddesses, I was worried.”
“Gimme your hands,” Twilight said, holding his own out to Wild.
Wild nodded, lathing on. The wet mud on their fingers made it difficult to keep a grip, but as Wild wiggled and Twilight pulled, the champion came loose and then free. The pile of dirt only spilled further, quick to take up the space Wild had left. Above them, the ceiling of the pocket began to fold inwards.
“Quickly!” Warriors cried, herding the younger heroes back into the tunnel.
Twilight took up the tail, the heroes throwing themselves onto their bellies just as the room behind them collapsed. Without further motivation, Wind quickly led the charge back out to the chasm. Around them, the tunnel began to grow narrow as it collapsed in from the end.
Wind came out first, Wild behind him. The two grabbed Warriors and pulled the captain to safety. Twilight hurled himself forward just as the tunnel gave, trapping his lower leg beneath its weight. With some wrestling, Twilight managed to pry his foot free and then, he went back for his boot.
“You should have stayed where you were,” Warriors scolded the two.
Wild and Wind both looked down in shame, nodding dolefully.
“If that room had collapsed any sooner,” the captain started, “and we would have no idea what became of you—”
“Cap’n,” Twilight quieted. “I’m sure they’s well aware.”
“We tried to get out ourselves,” Wild said. “We didn’t know how long it’d take.”
“How long have you been down here?” Warriors asked.
Wild shrugged. Wind refused to answer. The captain let out a tired huff, feeling headache build up behind his eyes.
“Later, then,” Warriors agreed. He thrust his waterskin to the two of them. “Hydrate,” he said sternly.
Wild and Wind took the water without argument. Twilight supplied his own as well. Once Warriors was certain they were at least well enough to make the trip back to camp, Twilight got out his clawshots to take them up and out of the pit one at a time.
Wind was so thankful to be back on surface level that he threw himself face first into the grass. Wild basked in the dying daylight as if he’d never felt it before in his life. Twilight rubbed his eyes against the light, far too comfortable in the dark pit. Warriors made a sharp note on his own map of the chasm in the earth. Together, the heroes made for camp.