Eyes Dongo Cavern 3 & Pooky

Eve looked up from her map. It seemed Julius was taking much better care of things than she was. Becoming responsible like him was an upward struggle. She hopped across the stone platforms and watched him smash open the barricaded door. This gave her a good chance to catch up with him. She watched her steps, mindful of her balance. The dizziness from that chamber would hopefully wear off in time for her to keep up with that man, she thought.

She hoped and hoped, as it seemed there was a high bridge or two to cross very soon. Something caught her eye, a large block-like shape across the first bridge. Keeping up with Julius the best she could, they inched across the seemingly peaceful higher area unopposed. Eve inched slowly over to the block-like shape, which sat emblazoned with a familiar Crest. It seemed to be a common Gerudo Clan's crest, but that was no matter. What it was upon was a sort of switch. Eve had been looking forward to the switch for quite a while, as it made many common challenges much easier and more fluid. Yes, she had no choice but to choose the switch for the sake of the future. Evelyn lugged her heavy battle hammer out of her adventure pouch and onto the switch as if it were a heavy block.

The switch snapped down easily under the mass of the hammer head. As Eve had hoped, the many platforms below in the hub of the room began to move freely. One such platform began to climb steadily up to the top floor, which would make the return trip to leave far less deadly. Eve sighed in relief. The two soon came to the second bridge, which notably was missing a few boards in places.

"I don't like the look of that." she mentioned to Julius, pointing above the bridge.

There were a pair of Keese hanging above the structure, a third Keese flying freely and menacingly above the great Dodongo skull. The group of monsters was simply waiting for a better chance to strike, on their own turf! Eve dug through her belt to retrieve a weapon. She brandished her chain dagger, "Kingfisher." She began to spin the chain up in a defensive stance.

"I'm not letting those things near me, not this high up!" she added, preparing for the one flying toward her.

Eve lured in the first Keese and made to swat it away before she would commit to stepping on that precarious bridge. Julius would have to lure them out if Eve wouldn't even touch the bridge. . .

"Fine, then." He set foot on the bridge. It groaned with the sudden weight placed on it, but it held on for dear life. Julius took one step. Two. Two turned into three; yes, by now it was plain to see that if they crossed carefully, they wouldn't have even have to acknowledge the Keese.

It was already too late though. They had taken notice of him, and whether he liked it or not, were promptly hot on his tail. He guessed they were asleep when he leapt up here the first time, not that they were anything to really worry about. He vanquished them both with a Spin Attack and an icy blade. With those slain, Julius motioned over to Eve. "Come on, don't let the creaks scare you."

He waited for her to come along, just standing there. Which is to say, he hopped down rendering the bridge completely free of any weight. For better or for worse, they were right back where they had started-- which, in Julius' mind, was simply boring and repetitive. Maybe they had missed something?

...

They were in the Dodongo room right now, which Eve had lovingly come up with. Satisfied with what he hadn't seen before, he set a bomb near the cracked wall, and waited for it to explode. Kaboom! That was the noise of a bomb exploding, Julius idly thought. It was more like a sudden burst, followed by a blast wave. Blast waves, he thought. It sounded kind of like the name for a music group, now that he actually thought of it. Oh well. Maybe when he retired from the Guard, that was something he could do.

But there were still more pressing matters on hand. Like this gigantic hole they had just blown into the wall. There was light in there, too. Maybe these tunnels had once been used by the Gerudo? It was questionable to say the least, but stranger things had happened. Kind of like the Great Freeze which took over Hyrule... four? years ago now. He wasn't sure if Eve had been around for that, but the thoughts of everyone going practically ballistic over a box of matches made him sigh internally.

"Well, let's get going."

The light made itself known. Evelyn tilted her head to see something of a scaffold--a high platform with a fixed flowing flame erupting in a ring at the top. Eve recognized this as a common trap in strongholds like this. A mechanism somewhere in the cave probably could turn it off. But that was no matter now, there was nothing resembling a switch anywhere. She looked around the corners and a glint caught her eye.

Eve stepped forward without much caution. "Who's there?" she asked.

An inch further and a rocketing blade nearly made Eve's legs much shorter. Clattering loudly against the wall was the star-like Blade Trap. A chill went up her spine and she sheepishly turned to look at Julius. There was no doubt the place was filled with more of these.

"Oops." she sought to excuse herself.

The Blade Trap began to cock back into position. Eve hurried along to an open door frame ahead while the thing reconfigured itself. What a hassle she thought. Careful enough and they wouldn't spring more of those damnable things. A much brighter glitter came from the new doorway. There was something pleasantly colorful coming from this new area.

The most prominent thing about the chamber was the source of the many colors. Crystalline formations came out of the stone walls in every direction, and nearly every color imaginable. It was just like what the two had started their journey searching for in the Ice Cavern. The now weary Eve seemed indifferent to her surroundings. Was the sparkling greed in her eyes really fading? It was certainly almost unreal. Maybe the heroics and mystery of her travels with this man was starting to change her. But the strange situation was quite soon derailed by the elephant in the room.

A much larger structure like a Beamos sat in the center of the hall, probing in a circular pattern as expected. Something of course was off about the huge structure. Many more articulated stones came off of its sides, forming a sort of support arch on each side. What was of interest was that the stone arches seemed to resemble. . . arms. The large eye of the device locked onto the dull flicker of Eve's face. The large eye changed color and focused. They both knew this was a readying attack. But what happened next was almost expected of the terrible thing.

The large arms on each side of the ominous thing pushed and rumbled, squeezing a lower body out of the stone earth. Oh yes, did it seem to have a full torso, hips, and legs. Up stood the construct, now painfully clear what it actually was: an Eyegore. The brightly lit automaton hurled a stone in warning. Eve dove back, startled.

"It's surely going to try to shoot me! You have a shield we have to get down!" she panicked at the Captain.

The large eye flared up. A terrible beam began to form.

While Julius heard her pleas for help, didn't she realize he literally had a sword that could deflect pretty much anything, whether it be a magical projectile, or light? And lasers, he'd guessed, were most certainly a form of light, since it deflected those, too.

Either way, he stuck it out and deflected it. What happened, though, was... odd, to say the least. It stood there, quaking. "Eve, don't go near that Eyegore," Julius commanded, still unsure of what to make of it. He headed closer, anticipating it to explode or something in short order.

He was well within striking range, now. All he needed to do was... place his blade back within its scabbard, and focus his power into it. Well. Best to start that now.

...

It suddenly erupted into a frenzy-- of course, Julius couldn't feel that because all of his senses were sealed off. One massive arm collided into him, promptly breaking him from his trance. His wound -- almost closed -- tore open. He coughed blood. Goddesses. why did this hurt so much?

Probably from the Mortal Draw I took not even a half hour ago, he thought. Thrown aside by the gargantuan construct, he gasped in pain. Goddesses, give me strength! He slowly stood up as it loomed over him. He could hardly move-- now, it seemed to be preparing for the final blow. With what seemed like a roar, he drew his sword, getting into a fighting position. With one arm stretched behind him, wielding his blade, and the other stretched forward, wielding his shield, he struck several times-- Spin Attack, after Spin Attack, after Spin Attack. But he doubted that would be enough-- he had barely damaged it!

Thinking quickly, he rolled around to the direction it was facing away from him... only to have the head follow him! Think, think, think... His thoughts were racing. That was it! Maybe if he could get Eve to help... Actually, why hadn't she been doing that this whole time? "Eve! I need your help!"

Eve thought quickly, searching the area. Some sort of rope hung from above. It was tied to one of the many hooked crystals on the ceiling, probably left over from a mining operation. She stretched for the thing but it was no use. In a sudden fit of rage and desperation, her eye stretched into a beefy arm and grabbed the rope in a choke hold. That was her cue! She swung from the rope and was able to cling to the top of the Eyegore. It wasn't certain being on top of it would even help. The stony exterior of the monstrosity prevented her from doing an assortment of things.

Something occurred to her in this continuing moment of panic. Her Fist Eyes slammed into the stony head of the Eyegore like feeble oranges on solid concrete. Then, as the eye made to keep following Julius, the accursed meaty hands pried the wandering eye by the stone lids. Eve's other limbs clung desperately to the head as she wasn't even entirely sure what she was attempting. As if through a mind of their own, the furious arms kept the eye from locking onto Julius. Hope for the future and for justice was occurring before the Captain's keen eyes.

"I'm helping!" cheered the normally surly girl.

The Eyegore made to remove her at once, failing its clumsy stone arms all about. The unfortunate truth of the matter was the arms weren't actually articulate enough to reach around its back, a feature it shared with many disgruntled humans with itchy backs.

Julius spun and spun and spun, seeming to make no progress. Then, he pulled back his sword, pushing it into the monster's eye. Had they done it?

Noises were made as the Eyegore shut down. Julius withdrew his sword, and fell to the floor. Coughing up blood, he spoke, "Eve I'm really going to need to warn against such things in the future. I mean, yeah sure, one Mortal Draw I can handle, but to throw an Eyegore on top of that? You're throwing me through a wrench," He sat still for another moment, digging through his Adventure Pouch. Eventually, he came out with a bottle of red fluid-- indeed, it looked like what he was holding was a Red Potion.

"I'm gonna just sit here, on the verge of death, thinking about where all my opportunities in life went. Why did they lead me here? Why?" He spoke to himself, not really looking at anyone or anything. "Well, I guess I can say that I've... enjoyed my life, have I not? Hahaha. Ha." He hadn't really enjoyed any of his life-- sure, there were a couple moments about him leaving the known world and traveling to Starsend, but he had almost faced his death there. What was so different now?

Well, bottoms-up, he thought to himself, chugging down what was essentially the boiled-over essence of several Red Chuchus. With that finished, he knew he would need to rest about an hour to have its full effects flourish. "Well, I think I'm going to need to take a break. Care to join me?"

"I don't mind." Eve replied, recoiling off the floor from the busted Eyegore's back.

"What's got me now is. . ." she began, lifting a searing finger toward her mouth ". . .these crystals. They're actually more beautiful out here where they belong. Where they grew. It's sudden for me to say but I think for once I don't want to make money off them all."

Eve sat back on a rigid seat of busted Eyegore. There was a neat hush in the chamber, followed by a far-off whistling of air through the cavern. A hunger like a poor spider crept silently through the Kokiri's torso. She reached her single hand up to the ceiling and peered through it. The crisp outline of her bones struck a note of contrast to the crystals behind it. The cacophony of screaming scars wormed their roots deep into Eve's consciousness. Thoughts melted and mangled in her secret world, far away from others' understanding. She could almost never touch another person again with the skin of these hands. The hopelessness of only being able to hurt, to inflict pain. Eve's stubborn heart wanted to fight anything that restricted her, and this curse of hers was the new obstacle. Could she really challenge herself to not hurt the innocent? Stranger sentences had been considered, after all. A new chapter had begun, challenging a hard-fought struggle to be alive in a hostile world.

"Yeah I can't think of much to say. How about you? Is the potion working?" she uttered, voice cracking like a dry log in the hearth.

"Yeah, but I'm still probably going to need to collect these crystals. They're for more of my work, after all. But, I imagine we can leave most of them in tact. After all, with their uses in Weaponsmithing, only a small portion is going to actually be needed. Besides, who knows what's under there?" Already feeling rejuvenated, he stood. "Besides, obviously the Gerudo... or whoever they were, if not Gerudo. were already well on their way to mining this all out." He stretched. His one wound from the Splinter Crystal war machete had already closed, so he was well on his way to healing.

"Hmm... Well, from what I can see, their methods were pretty primitive... Hang on," he said, as he fished around in his Adventure Pouch for a pickax. He grasped it, and pulled it out. "Now, whether there's Mirror Silver or even a few Elemental Gems under there, this pick should do the trick." Now... Where was the path that was closest to the ground?

...

Well, he had done it, and come across something else-- Mirror Silver! Perhaps this had been something they were originally mining? But then, where did all this Splinter Crystal come from... Well, regardless, it seemed he had now had two sources of ore, both metallic and not, as well as a possible source for where that Lizalfos' war machete had come from. Still, he wasn't certain about anything.

"I think that about does it. It's been about an hour, I think, since I consumed that Red Potion, but we've yet to see. Regardless, I feel as though I'm at about one hundred percent," he said, twisting and turning to where he saw what looked like... an Armos? Knowing that something was likely that way, he geared up, placing his Backshift Cape back on over his armor.

"Eve, heads up. We've got Armos."

The blue stone of the stationary Armos contained a statue frame all too familiar. It was no surprise the seasoned captain recognized it immediately. Eve squinted, she hadn't actually seen an Armos in far too long. Her major stint in the woods displaced her mountain adventures by a wide margin. She rubbed her withered hands together. If nothing else, she could still enjoy smashing one of these things.

Aware that they had been found out already, the Armos shook out of their stationary slumber. Their low grunts attempted to intimidate the two who had been through so much. By all stretches of the imagination, these Armos were not any different or enhanced in any way. Hot smoke sizzled as Eve retrieved her battle hammer from her pouch. The dimly glowing heat curled the grips of her weapon, something she would have to get used to. The leftmost Armos bounced gradually toward her, and she gave it a tender underhanded drub with her hammer. The clay soldier thudded backward by a bit but seemed largely unharmed. Eve was ready to get her full enjoyment out of hitting it over and over.

"You might as well bomb that one, Chief. I want to keep hitting this one." she communicated to the officer.

So she made good on her promise and kept slugging the Armos back about three feet every time it bounced forward. It was hypnotic, soothing and cathartic. Thud, whack, thump. It had a charming sort of nostalgia like watching a child practice stick-ball in the field. Julius probably noticed how tired this exercise would become in regards to their mission. Eve was fully aware that she couldn't hit it all day. With the facts on the table, she decided after Julius had destroyed his Armos, she would just pick this one up and bring it with her. With a gleam of her power bracelets, she took hold of the Armos in 'tween four cursed arms and lifted it over her head.

Hearing her words, he pulled a bomb out of his Bomb Bag and threw it at the Armos. It was already over, before it really even began.

Questioning the tactics used by her was of almost no use. After all, coming even close to him in terms of ability was pretty much not even questionable at this point. Waiting to see what she would do next, he stood back and watched.

Not much happened as he watched. The Kokiri had continued trying to balance the Armos perfectly over her head. It was no surprise what she did next, as she wormed her way down the abandoned mining tunnel. It became pretty clear why it was abandoned worryingly soon as green shapes began to climb out of the earth. The scaled reptilian bodies were telling--they were Dodongo Larvae. Knowing full well the things would explode as they swarmed and welcomed attacks, Eve hurled the Armos directly into the crowd. As the statue rolled over the young, they were smashed and hurled in different directions.

Then, all at once, a chain reaction of emergency self-destructs echoed a great painful noise throughout the cavern and the mountain. The Dodongo Larvae went off in a fiery torrent as the Armos detonated and sent shrapnel and flak all throughout the increasing crowd of green worms. As the circle of Larvae got larger and more fell out of the earth, the circle of flames widened to boot. A puzzle that wasn't meant to be solved was conquered and ruined by an angry idiot. The shockwaves threw Eve to the floor as she tried to flee in reflex.

Smoke and light poured from the hallway and blew past Julius like the aftermath of a kitchen disaster. But this was no domicile. Eve slowly came back around as the grey fog gradually dissipated. The hallway was totally blackened and empty now, rubble and chunks of earth indeterminate from the Armos pieces that had caused the blast.

At the end of the path was the new focal point of the empty area, a lone chest. The decorated chest at the end of the disaster zone seemed to imply it contained something important. Eve stumbled to her feet, now dizzy. Her head tumbled around on her neck and she began to fall over and choke something up.

"Hurk! Give me a minute mister. An- and watch out for more of those. . . if there's any left."

"Normally, I would have said that, but I don't think there's, uh... well, anything even remotely alive in here after that." He stepped over all the different kinds of smushed-up shapes, ranging for black to just a slight tint on the crust of the things. You could tell where some had been that just weren't there anymore. Such was the scale of those things.

Which, really, if you thought about it, wasn't really that big of an impact individually. But the number of this things was probably equivalent to at least about a Powder Keg, if not two Powder Kegs.

That pretty much insured that there wouldn't -- shouldn't -- be any more Dodongo Larvae around. He reached the chest with a feeling of ease, at not having to fight off any of the things. They would be hell -- and unless you were really good, you couldn't evade their attacks, since they basically exploded whenever they felt like it. Until he turned around, he hadn't noticed any -- but he would have felt if any emerged, and he hadn't felt anything as of late. But maybe he was so used to fighting really big threats that these smaller things weren't on his radar any more?

And then he realized that even if his finer Senses could penetrate the ground, how would it distinguish every little thing from what was unintentionally burrowing towards him? He thought about it, as a teeny-tiny Dodongo Larvae dug up to him, and exploded.

"AUGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" He yelled, being impacted by what felt like the force of two bombs packed into the little creature. He nearly front-flipped at the sound of it, the sudden impact buckling his legs, while also throwing him forward. "Aughhh! Goddesses damn it all to the Dark World and back!" He yelled, his legs obviously burned from the explosion. Funny-- you would have thought that he would be used to it, by now. "Eve-- let's get out of here!" He dug through the chest and found what looked like the key to some big, ominous door. Oh well, he guessed they could figure it out later.

Explosion after explosion it seemed. Eve got hold of herself. It looked like the point-blank attack had put Julius in a much worse place. After the man had taken his Red Potion, he wouldn't be able to re-heal for the rest of their time in the place. The Kokiri began to appreciate the man's sacrifice. She would have lacked respect for authority for any other but the Captain's every action was not only for the people living out here but also in ways for herself. What tragedies had he witnessed? Eve's own pathological horror didn't stand up to the man's grief and conviction. He walked with his burns, he held back his pain with the large key in his arms.

In all reality, Eve didn't actually notice that much depth of the situation, but she could empathize very easily with the burns. The crusty skin on her arms always there to remind her of her mistakes, and if she put on some gloves they often burned off. Her introspection was lacking in importance, even she knew. There were lives at stake once the creature in these caverns awoke to roam wild. Though admittedly Eve could imagine there were some free-roaming Argoroks out there somewhere presenting the same amount of danger, they should still be defeating these threats one large step at a time. On the note of why they were here, she even considered that there could be trapped survivors down here somewhere like there had been in the Ice Cavern.

Eve walked out with the man, hopefully to an alternative route. They passed through the Eyegore room and into another bare-bones mining chamber. Much larger ores and scaffolds seemed to be in this area, as well as a pair of Keese. The metals; red, blue, and green stood out from the other metals they had seen. But in the heroes' condition and haste it seemed better to skip over these heavy and sturdy looking objects. Besides, if they needed some rare earth metals to craft something with, they could always come back here in the future. Eve swatted down the Keese with the lovingly crafted dagger the Captain had forged her. It was quite an exemplary weapon.

It was in the room empty of foes that she finally spotted something. A much greater length of rope was hanging freely and easy to take from one of the scaffolds. Eve just couldn't help herself and took hold of the rope. The rope's quality was notable, it was nearly lacking in damage completely. The heavy duty rope was all over these mining areas most likely expressly for its quality to lift great loads and not be damaged by moisture or magma. While she felt like it was just above-average rope, she didn't know the true nature and origin of the tool. She made a mental note to show it to Julius when they had more time to appraise it.

The next door had begun to open up, presumably because the enemies had been defeated. Eve wondered if that was a security measure or an intended obstacle. In any case they were still short for time so she proceeded without giving much more thought. This next room had the familiar scaffolding, as well as another flaming ring above one of the two. Much worse was the now-obvious presence of more Blade Traps in the corners. Avoiding whatever puzzley-treasurey thing the room may have hidden, she made care to continue with the Captain carefully with his wounds in mind. Once again, whatever the room hid was probably just more ores. The two stepped carefully through the blade traps, to the true next great challenge in the larger room through the door.

This was it, the big challenge. A tall staircase rocketed up to the ceiling, the bottom-most stairs far to high for either of them to reach. On top of this was a vast field of Bomb Flowers dotting the room and surrounding the staircase. Eve nervously laughed in worry as the enemies in the room made themselves clear. She looked a bit higher and spotted two Flame Keese dancing capriciously in the dark air and lighting the room brighter than normally possible. The floating light of their bright flame made it clear that they would notice and attack ever so soon.

"Crap! We can't let those Flaming Keese near the Bomb Flowers while we're standing right next to them!" she shouted, aware that the Keese had noticed them already.

"As much as I hate to admit it, you're right," Julius nodded dully. He took out his Mirror Silver sword, and abruptly leapt up to them-- using a Spin Attack to finish the job once and for all. Now was the tricky part.

He held on for dear life as he plummeted back towards the earth. It didn't matter what he held onto-- other than the Roc's Feather, nothing would lighten him up, so he did just that. Actually wait no-- he could always remove his armor! But by the time he was considering this idea, he was nearly down to the floor.

He landed with a metallic clank. That really was the sound his armor made, out of every possible time. He sort of laughed, nearly in a 'holy shit I almost died.' Well, he thought, it could be worse. I could actually die, one of these days. He reminisced about his youth and those long days spent inside libraries, or out smithing blades, or even techniques. He wanted to do all of that again. He smiled behind his helmet at the thought.

"I'm fine," he said nonchalantly. What had turned out to nearly be a death wish, then thinking he could possibly counter that death wish with a Red Potion, the being literally blown up by two Dodongo babies. What a day. "So, what do you see?" He had already told Eve to go around to the other side and examine it. He listened to her very carefully.

"I think I know what to do here," he told her, pulling out a bomb from his Bomb Bag. He waited one second, and in the two that it managed to sail through the air, it burst, causing many of the other Bomb Flowers to do so as well. Eventually, the blast reached all the way to the stairs-- causing the lower platforms to extend, finally completing their task. "I'm gonna rest here, for a bit. Care to join me?"

Eve stayed back, sure not to get too close to the plethora of bomb flowers threatening her life. The Captain's assurance that he knew what he was doing calmed her just a bit, and the completion of the puzzle gave her confidence that they didn't have to hurry quite as much as she thought. So she agreed in her head to take another rest, and sat on the bottom stair.

"I half-lied before." she finally admitted. "I'm in panic on the inside. I was given riddles on how to solve these bodily curses I got, right? But not only do I not really understand the riddles, but I kept walking along as if the added power was necessary. I think if someone like you can guide me. . . Hyrule's Guard even. . . I might be able to put it to use without getting hurt. Who cares if I can hurt any monster I see if it just puts me in more danger? These missions are making everything right again." she continued, rambling slightly. But it was with good reason.

Eve raised a flaming arm to the air and flexed it a little, a smoke-twirl bicep appearing. Her arm quickly flopped back down to her side, as her confidence was but a fleeting spark in the ocean of life.

"Hah," he said in a happy tone. "She thought I could do that for her, too... Or at least, that's what I always tell myself. There was a girl once-- happened to be Kokiri, just like yourself. Then, when we cleansed the forest... Well, she died. No final last words or anything-- aside from "Save yourself, Julius," that is. Sometimes I doubt that's even what she actually said." It all came pouring out of him at once-- how he, dressed in silver armor still and a girl named Lucia had taken down a real mean, villainous bunch of crooks.

"So, we go up a floor from Kalle Demos-- took one look around expecting an enemy, but for whatever reason, didn't find any. Then, we find out that a Great Fairy was in the chamber-- but it wasn't like you'd expect. No, it was very obvious that whatever seed of corruption had been planted, had affected her physical form. So, I guess you could call her ugly," he sat there in silence for moment, tears streaming down his visible face. "They killed her, I guess after we went up a few floors. There was one where Lucia went missing-- but that didn't matter, since she died facing what I'd describe as... a huge clump of moss, I guess, with like a bunch of mouths. Or maws, maybe. Either way, I'm still not one hundred percent certain as to what I would call it now. Anyways. So, we were fighting like a Gohma, right? Only it wasn't really a Gohma at all. For whatever reason it... sort of had like solid blood, I guess. Turns out this was what had been comprising the other creatures as we went forward, and only after it had all been done did I really find out about it. But anyways. So, we were fighting the huge clump of moss, and Lucia died. I was crushed. Not literally, but emotionally, I guess. That's why I have a whole wad of her stuff now, including her Pirate's Charm and Spectacles of Agony. Those were most of her things. Another thing I have is her boomerang, which I used a whole hell of a lot when we were in the fish. It's really the only thing I don't want to lose, you know?"

He told her all about how it went down, according to his memory. While it may have seemed a bit out of order, most of it was really accurate.

Eve contemplated his words, looking back and forth to him and to the extensive length of rope in her arms which she had briefly forgotten about. She swallowed his words carefully before commenting in the best way she thought she could.

"Hyrule these days. . . it's a horrible place for the good. This Kokiri sounds better than me in every way. I think she's free now, from the disaster this world is facing." her expression became cold, longing "Had I stayed in Kokiri Forest, things might have been different. Maybe I would have been her friend? No. I was selfish but so were the other Kokiri. I give you my word she was better off leaving them behind as well. What do you think the Kokiri accomplish, walled in by trees, and reliving the same dream over and over? A glimpse of the outside world is worth everything compared to that. I think that's what the Great Deku Tree was trying to tell all of us all along. But maybe it should have been me instead of her. . . Now I'm rambling again." she lectured, unsure of whether what she was saying meant anything to him or even herself.

"Regardless of whether she's better than me, and she is, I think it would beguile you for me to change the subject. I found this length of rope just before, and it seems better than normal rope somehow. Do you recognize it?" she asked.

Eve held out the rope to Julius, careful not to shove it on him before his tears dried. The sturdy length would no doubt be familiar to him, as something many professionals made use of in dangerous situations and creations.

His tears eventually dried, and he took a long, hard look at the rope in question He decided to draw a knife of his and try to slice it, to no avail. "That's Cheval Rope, my friend. Probably a remnant of whatever mining operations had been done here before," he said, twisting and untwisting the rope in his hands. He gave it back to Eve, before picking his helmet up off the floor, and looking solemnly towards the stairs. "I think we're ready," he said, placing his helmet on his head. He shuffled a little, before drawing his shield and leaving his blade in its sheath for now.

The climb on the actual stairs was almost painful-- not literally, but figuratively. It was just so long. Why had they made the staircase so long? Well, I guess to keep intruders out, but... That train of thought was coming to an end as he saw the exit point in sight. Within, everything-- which is to say, most things-- were made out of magma. Or lava. Could there really even be a difference if you were inside a cave?

Then, when they entered, a door (which Julius hadn't even noticed!) slammed down behind them, and bars came over it. Looking back, Julius could see that there was no way escaping... other than, he assumed, to defeat whatever was in here. Which, let's face it, was a lot. I mean, sure, he's had experience fighting lots of things before, but having already taken the equivalent of two bomb blasts to the legs, he wasn't prepared for... well, this.

As they advanced, they came to see just what exactly they were up against...

Eve hissed, her senses going ballistic at the appearance of a new enemy. The intelligent foe was a candid distance away, which caused a strong urge in the cursed child to punch it in the face with one of her four arms. Her natural arms were now a shriveled crisp so it was inadvisable to make a contact blow with the armored creature. The lava was fast and bright in this room, the speedy flow indicative of incredible internal temperatures. After all, to get stone and metal to flow as a liquid required it so. The heat was almost unbearable but so too was the light which obfuscated the well-geared enemies standing tall on the many square raised platforms littering the furnace of a chamber.

Before any other action, Eve twisted her head to see what dastardly heights they were hoisted up. The falling lava off the edge to her right side was familiar. It looked like the tunnels had led them to the place above the Lizalfos chamber, the source of the lava-fall. Looking back at the enemy, it occurred to her. Lizalfos. . . She pored her eyes into the light. While it was getting difficult to strain her transforming eyes on the foe, on of two finally spotted them and began to leap each platform closer. At that point Eve had wished she hadn't seen it.

Towering taller than even Julius was a scaly bipedal monstrosity. It brandished proudly with a terrifying weapon that seemed crafted by someone as skilled as Julius on the forge. Eve took a short moment to think of maybe some ways to stop comparing things to the Captain. It was upon them already, however. The Greataxe he brutishly swung seemed to be a mixture of the Splinter Crystal from deep in the mine. . . Masterfully combined with Ore to combine it seamlessly with the notorious Goron Iron as its core. Only a master smith like the fabled giant Gorons who lived centuries could pound out a weapon like this as if it was nothing. Likely so, as the shape was crude and it had been left here for monsters. The helmeted creature spun with the weapon--which was not decorated like gifts to royalty would be--seeming to intimidate the two into falling off the sides.

"By gods! That thing doesn't even hit his enemies! He just makes them jump into the lava!" Eve commented, a playful and angry fist sprouting from her eye.

It was soon clear what terror they were facing. Strapped up with leather belts, animal hides, fancy bucklers, and metal pads galore was a Dinolfos. The dark spawn of devils and lizards, hand-crafted by Demise for evil and violent deeds. But poetry aside, the telling features of a Dinolfos were not its impressive size or its above-average skill. As it was so well-clad the only way to define it was not with its improved biology but with what it did next. The feared monstrosity began to inhale as the Dodongos did, certainly ready to do that. Eve's beswollen eye swung out just as she dove for another platform. A Dinolfos, it was certain, could breathe out a stream of flame not rivalling, but surpassing the intensity a Dodongo could. With that in mind, she noticed it also had the meaty and imposing jawline underneath its ill-fitting helm. It would have been embarrassing for either of them to mistake its species given the circumstances. A clubbed tail with axe blades beset into it appeared as she kited the creature. Not only was this a feature of elite ranks but it gave them a challenge attacking even from the back.

"Get back!" she shouted to Julius. She didn't need to tell him twice.

Eve was telling him to evade the flame, but also with the intention of keeping him away as she made to rush the reptilian. Without any control left in the waning seconds, her idiot bravery akin to Farore getting sick after bad seafood was fueled by the undeniable urge of her Fist Eyes to slug this dinosaur in the face. As he blew white-hot sick all over the platform she had been on, she skirted around him and leaped for his head. An ear-sickening cry of rage let out as Julius beheld to her true form. The tight-muscled ghostly arm slammed unceremoniously into the dense helmet. Over and over her fists went presumably uselessly into the slitted helmet, the Dinolfos still spewing flame in the other direction. The flurry was almost done with and it was too late for the Dinolfos to notice. She wasn't just fuming rage on his head but the helm began to slide and crack off, his skull already providing the armor piece the wrong amount of contents. Without being strapped properly the helm popped off and bounced down below into the inferno. He turned, smoke fuming from his nose. His exotic colored and spiked head emerged to see Eve already fleeing, curious bulges receding into her face. The monster angrily smoked. Was this the Kokiris' vengeance incarnate? The creature was superstitious enough to believe so, especially with his species proud of how much Kokiri blood they could get to spill between their claws. Eve's boots braked on a platform- another was coming, ziplining from above.

Here, he was facing off with a Dinolfos-- a creature which he knew some of how to tackle, but could be advised in many ways as to further his strategies against. But Julius was no fool-- he knew that, as a Dinolfos was wont to do, that it could in fact breathe fire. It was a curious if, but if Julius was right, that weapon was likely made by combining Goron Iron and Splinter Crystal, using Master Ore. He narrowed his eyes. A vigor swallowed him whole.

It wasn't decorated like something to the royals would usually be-- no, it was a shoddy mess that looked like it had been heaped together and then forgotten... Probably how it got here, he guessed, as he jumped back. Something flew overhead-- another one?! He ducked further than he already was, and prepared for the fight for his life.

He swung once, testing the creature's reaction time. Knowing that Goron Iron was thrice the weight of steel, but not knowing how utterly ripped his opponent was, he was met faster than he would have expected-- this foe was unusually strong! But having only fought a few Dinolfos before this one, he hadn't garnered just how strong they really, truly could be. Which, given the environment that they lived in-- was quite strong!

He then noticed that it was not the shaft that e had blocked with-- rather, the blade itself had been used for blocking. An ingenious move on his opponent's part, but quickly became overwhelming for him as he quickly got forced back, almost jumping into the lava. It seemed his opponent wasn't just a brainless lizard after all, for whatever it was worth. It almost made him stop to consider having a conversation-- but then, in an instant, remembered that this creature was attempting to kill him.

So, naturally, he did a Helm Splitter over his foe, hoping to catch it off guard. However, it seemed to be for naught-- as he was quickly pulled from the air by the titan's grip, seeming to be pulled down-- no, thrown down by the sheer force. "Hylian!" It spoke in a deep, groggy voice. "Why have you invaded these caverns?!"