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The sounds of leather boots stomping against the ground echoed through the cold, dark hallway. Large gray bricks of stone lined the walls, and the sound of water dripping on stone echoed through the damp dungeon. One traveler held a candle in their hand as the other drawed out a crude map of their path. The two seemed to be arguing.
“No, ‘Rule, we took a left turn first,” said Wild. He poked a finger at the bottom of their map. “I remember that, at least, because you talked about how you always start off going left ‘cause it’s your writing hand.” He gestured towards the faint Triforce marking on the back of Hyrule’s hand.
Hyrule scoffed. “Sorry I don’t remember one of the hundreds of left turns we’ve taken in this damned dungeon,” he snarked. He erased a few lines on their makeshift map, then roughly scratched a couple of new lines on the paper, nearly ripping it.
Wild widened his eyes at Hyrule’s handiwork before putting a hand on his shoulder, stopping the duo. “I can’t believe I’m the one to say this, but you need to calm down, man. We’ll get out of this.”
Hyrule slumped against the wall, hands flopping to his sides. He sighed. “I know. If it was just us we had to worry about, I likely wouldn’t be this…” He put his hands up and shook them around. “This anxious. But we’ve got seven other adventurers who are probably worrying their hair away about where we’ve been for so long, and so I’m just-”
A metal mace crashed into Wild’s arm, knocking him a few yards down the length of the hall. He dropped the candle, plunging the hall into darkness. Hyrule heard metal clink against the ground as the mace was dragged back to their attacker. Hyrule dropped the map and went to draw his sword, before hesitating. Thoughts flashing through his mind, Hyrule cupped his hands together and uttered an incantation. The sounds of metal stopped as their attacker roared in anger. Hyrule ran to the spot he had seen Wild drop the candle, grabbing and lighting it as he then drew his sword. He waved the candle in the direction of the monster.
Hyrule recognized the monster as a Guma, a red-furred beast whose head took up half of its body. Unlike a normal Guma, this one appeared to be melting. Its body was turning to blue slime, starting from the top of its head and the tips of its fingers. The monster's roars began to sound strangled as they tried and failed to pick their flail back up, the handle beginning to slip through its fingers. The blue goo dripped down its red fur, causing more of its flesh to melt and bubbles of air to pop. The Guma tried to step towards Hyrule, legs consumed by its own melted hide. It fell forward with a sick splat, roars becoming the sounds of choking.
Even with as many times as Hyrule had done this before, he still felt sick seeing it. When he was first given the Spell by the Wise Man of Kasuto, he had never guessed the awful properties it possessed. Unfortunately, he found himself time and time again in situations where the Spell was needed. He had walked away from battles covered in blood and blue slime more than he liked. He’d hoped not to have to use Spell now that he had eight other heroes by his side, but unluckily, his dream was cut short.
The Guma finished their transformation. Every part of their body was gone, save for three beady yellow eyes that now stared Hyrule down. The candle in his hand shined upon its squishy, blue form. The melted Guma - now technically a Bot - gathered its body together, tensed, and jumped. Hyrule shielded his candle behind him and simply held his sword up. As he expected, the Bot landed right onto the tip of the blade, sliding down the length of it, before splitting and splashing blue goo all over him. Hyrule was glad he held his breath. He spit a bit of goo from his lips, sheathed his sword and turned back around towards Wild.
His friend was standing at the ready, sword out and shield up. His eyes were as wide as before he was knocked away. His posture relaxed as he strutted up to Hyrule.
“Remind me to never piss you off,” remarked Wild. “That was you, right? The melting?” He pointed towards where the Guma had been, its only remains a few globs of goo and the flail it used to hit Wild.
Hyrule nodded. “Yeah. I don’t like using Spell, but I didn’t think I could hit him with a Fire spell without seeing him.” He pointed at Wild’s arm, noticing it looked fine. “What about your arm?”
Wild sheathed his sword and threw his shield over his back. He stuck his arm out and twisted it for Hyrule to see. “I’m good, I have a few fairies in my slate. Need one?” Hyrule shook his head, and Wild continued. “You definitely seem the type to use magic. Know any other spells?”
“Well, Spell and Fire, along with-”
Hyrule stopped all of a sudden, drawing his sword once again. Wild copied him as Hyrule waved the candle down the hallway.
“What’s the matter?” Wild queried.
“Shh, listen.”
Wild obeyed, and the two heard something. Wild relaxed, but kept his sword out.
“I think it’s Wolfie. Dear Hylia, I hope so, maybe we can finally get outta here.”
The wolf stepped out of the shadows as Wild finished. The two put their swords away. Hyrule heaved a grand sigh as Wild went in to pet the beast.
“Hey, bud, come to save us?” said Wild.
In response, Wolfie turned and, making sure Wild and Hyrule watched him, began going the way he came. The duo trudged after him.
Hyrule turned to Wild. “I’m glad your wolf friend found us, now I just wonder how mad they are.”
“Oh, they aren’t mad,” replied Wild, “They’re furious.” Wild turned his face away as Wolfie looked back at him. “Trust me, I can tell.”