Chapter Text
Vio stood at the maw of the cavern, an oil lamp clutched tightly in one hand. Despite being rather bright outside, the interior of the cave was pitch-black, as if it were actively blotting out light. He, his brothers and a newly-revived Shadow had been trekking through the forest for several days, clearing out monsters wherever they found them. They had found a place to set up camp in the forest, and both Blue and Vio were responsible for checking the perimeter before they spent the night.
Vio had wandered off after hearing an exotic bird call, resulting in him stumbling across this cavern. Now, Vio had been inside cave systems before, and in deadlier conditions. It was important he investigated this cave, there was good reason to believe something was potentially living inside. Blue was far off in the forest, and frankly Vio was not bothered to search for him before he entered the cave. He would be fine.
He was not afraid, he told himself, before marching inside alone.
The first thing he noticed was the stench. It was almost as if something had crawled inside and died, perhaps evidenced by the brittle bones occasionally crunching under Vio’s boots. Every noise within the cave seemed to reverberate infinitely on itself, creating an echoing cacophony of clacking rubble and churning earth.
Light from outside had long-since disappeared, and Vio was feeling deeply grateful for the oil lamp he had brought. Its glassbound flame painted the walls of the tunnel in a flickering, golden light, exposing its features. Squinting, Vio noted the ceiling was surprisingly high, lined with fang-like stalactites, dripping with melting permafrost like a salivating beast.
As he trekked, something caught his attention. He stopped, lowering his lamp to shine on the tunnel floor. Deep, long divots criss-crossed the stone on the floor and lower walls of the cave, hollow scrapes in the rock. They looked like claw marks, hurried and irregular in their pattern. Likely a predatory animal, Vio inferred, from their shape and size. The horrendous, rotting stench had grown stronger and the bones more abundant, further leading Vio to believe there was indeed something living inside. As his gaze slid towards the ink-black tunnel before him, he was proven right by an animalistic croak that rasped from deep within the cave.
A brief flare of panic rose up in him, but he quickly slammed it down. Vio had dealt with monsters before, he would be fine. Besides, he was armed.
An agonizing silence took over the cavern.
Something shuffled, a bird chirped distantly in the forest outside.
Vio turned at the sound, ears flattening.
Suddenly, something powerful slammed into him from behind, throwing him backwards. Vio whirled around only to come face-to-face with a scaly green snout, its sharp teeth bared in a harrowing snarl.
A lizalfos, very large and very, very angry.
Vio drew his sword to slice at the beast as it lunged at him, causing it to shriek and swing its claws in retaliation. He parried, changing trajectory to clip it sharply in the shoulder. The lizalfos shrieked in pain, swinging its tail and shoving Vio sharply backwards with an indignant yell.
Suddenly, there was a loud crack, followed by pitch-black darkness.
Vio’s heart sank through the ground as he heard glass shards clink to the ground, his lamp had shattered against the wall, extinguishing the flame.
His pulse pounded in his ears as he floundered to recuperate, the lizalfos’ screams far too loud in his ears. He swung his sword blindly in front of him, but it struck metal and rebounded, clattering to the ground. Vio froze in place, panic seizing him as he heard the lizalfos regain its footing in the darkness.
A deep hiss emanated in his ear. followed by a searing, white-hot pain across his face.
The world splintered.
Vio’s knees buckled, something ran warm and fast though his fingers, down his wrists, onto the floor.
The pain, it was too much.
It hurt so much, there was nothing else to feel at the moment.
There was a loud noise coming from somewhere, but he couldn't focus on it, it sounded far away, like the birds outside.
He thought about what would happen to him here, if anybody would find him, in time at least.
Hylia, he had only repaired the Dark Mirror a week ago, Shadow had only returned a week ago.
The timing was unspeakably cruel.
He would have been more afraid, angry or even upset, but it felt like his thoughts were fizzling out and vanishing into the air as if it never existed.
Vio let himself be overtaken by a powerful, suffocating dizziness, his senses sputtering out as he hit the wall, surrendering to the darkness of the cave.