The Legend of Zelda: Restoration Age

Dungeon Chapter 3 - Plants With Faces

 ...into the room. As Link peered through the doorway, his eyes widened. He dropped to the ground in the entrance as a hard nut sailed over his head. It went careening out over the pit until it hit the wall with a loud snap.

The echo of the impact floated back up to Link. He swallowed hard as he inched his way into the room, still on his stomach. Dirt pooled into the front pocket of his sweatshirt and under his shirt until Link pulled himself to his feet out of irritation, quickly brushing himself off.

As Link righted himself, he heard a rustling from the bushes. Link reached for his sword, slowly drawing out the cold, steel blade from its sheath as he watched the bush intently. It would stir, and then rest, and stir again, with no real consistency. As he continued to wait, Link started to wonder if it was just an odd air current in the building shifting the bush. Then he remembered the shell that had been lobbed at him and wondered where the projectile had even come from.

A head popped out of the bush. Its solid, wood face rocked back and then rapidly forward as another nut launched itself from a cylindrical protrusion from the thing's face. Link raised his sword, the blade cutting through the nut with ease. Instead of just cracking though, now there were two halves of a nut traveling right at him.

While the swipe had perhaps been enough to make the blow less lethal, it still sent Link staggering back a few steps. One half had hit his shoulder and the other his rib. Link winced from the blow, his free hand reaching for his shoulder, though the twist caused his side to sting. He grabbed at the shield strapped to his back, pulling it over his shoulder as the shrub with a face disappeared back into the ground.

Shield raised, Link skirted around the bush until he passed it further into the room. He felt the ground begin to descend beneath his feet as the floor sloped down and away from the room with the bush. Part of him wanted to ask what that thing was, but the majority of him wanted to avoid talking to the Restoration at all costs.

The slope continued down until Link found himself in another room. From the entrance had had walked through, Link stared across a long, wide pit. It was only a few feet drop, but Link wasn't keen to fall into the murky bog water that pooled below. A platform floated back and forth across the water, on a current Link couldn't see. As Link continued to study the space, he returned his weapons to their holders on his back.

Towards the middle of the room was a switch. It hung upside down from a beam higher up than Link could have reached from the floating platform, but it looked important. As it stood right now though, Link could only go forward across the pit. He would have to figure out some way to get to that switch.

Dropping down on the platform, Link stared up at the lever above him. He was so concentrated on figuring out how to get to it he almost missed the ledge to his right. The platform he was on rocked as Link turned towards the ledge. While he balanced himself on the ever drifting raft, he noticed a chest on the ledge.

Link looked down at the space between the raft ledge. It wasn't very far, but he wasn't sure his horizontal jump was that long. He stuck a hand into the water as he drifted back and forth. It was cold and heavy with dirt, but it wasn't like Link wasn't already in the thick of it being trapped down here. His clothes were already looking like he had been working with animals all day, and his body was sore from swinging his sword around at giant spiders. It was better than landing in spikes or falling down that massive pit.

He jumped as the platform passed by. One hand clapped the top of the ledge while the rest of his weight swung full force into the wall beneath it. Link managed to turn his head before he hit the wall, but his cheek still stung as it hit, as did his shoulder and side. Still holding on, Link ignored the sting and gripped the ledge with his other hand, pulling himself up over the top. As he swung one leg up, he growled at the chest, "You better be worth it."