Born a Weapon: Twilight Princess

Blue Abyss

That day was Link's last day recovering, and he decided to test his new armor. To his surprise, the black cloth over his face stopped water from passing and allowed him to breathe. Intrigued, Link decided to push the limits of his new gear, discovering that as long as he wore half or more of the armor, he could breathe fine. Less than half strained his oxygen but still blocked water from passing his mask. Less than a fourth, and it stopped working entirely.

For the rest of the day, he helped Captain Bryon with some tasks and provided any information he could about the bulbins, monsters, and masked men. After they started discussing combat moves, Bryon offered to spar with Link.

The battle started slow, with both warriors attempting to gauge each other's strengths. Armed with a large tower shield and a spear, Captain Bryon had the advantage of reach over Link. However, Link was more agile than him. He blocked and dodged the Captain's attacks before smacking the spear away with his wooden sword and counterattacking with a shield bash. The Captain responded with the same move, causing their wooden shields to clash. Link struck again, bashing Bryon's shield with a much harder hit, destabilizing the captain. Despite his quick recovery, Link managed to slip past his defenses and held his wooden sword to his throat.

The rest of their matches ended in similar ways. Bryon knew how to use his tower shield and spear to keep his enemies at a distance and protect himself, but Link was fast and skilled, always managing to break or outmaneuver his defenses.

"You might be better than Sean," the captain said, his voice filled with a mix of admiration and surprise, "and I haven't seen anyone beat him in years."

"You've known him for a while?" Link asked.

"I've known him his whole life. He's my younger brother."

"I see. Are you worried about how he's doing?"

"From what I heard, he's doing okay. For some reason, after we left, the siege lightened a bit, and we can slip a few people past them now. I was able to get a letter from him."

When they finally parted ways, Byron gave Link a large number of bombs he claimed Barnes had recently created to function underwater, saying someone like him would be the most likely to need them. The timing surprised Link, but he took them before heading to bed and hoping to finally end the day.

Now, a dark, blue abyss lay before Link. The lake contained much more water than it had when zora's domain was frozen, and even then, Link couldn't see the bottom. With his gear secured and his surprisingly impatient companion nagging him, Link slipped the magical black fabric over his face and jumped into the water. Taking a deep breath, Link began swimming down. As he went deeper, the amount of light from the surface began to dim, but he kept going. Eventually, Link could make out several turquoise lights in the distance that seemed attached to a large structure. When the hero finally reached them, he noticed he was now at the bottom of the lake.

"Finally," grumbled his shadowy companion, who he could barely make out in the darkness. "I thought you'd be swimming forever. Silently, Link examined his surroundings. Several dark blue stone pillars had artistic designs carved into them and were infused with a glowing turquoise stone similar to that in the zora king's tomb. The pillars led to a wall of the same stone with an opening a few feet off the ground. The massive structure, faintly illuminated in an eerie blue glow in the middle of a dark abyss, sent a shiver down Link's spine, but he did not hesitate.

Link cautiously swam through the opening, ready to draw his weapon at a moment's notice. The sudden change from a massive space so large that Link couldn't see the edges to a small tunnel about the size of a house was startling. He felt uneasy being in the water with potential threats since he could not move as fast as he could on land. The eerie silence was deafening as he swam, eyes darting around the tunnel.