The second I stepped into the next room, I sank like a rock to the bottom of a giant pool of water. Panic surged through me as I plummeted, flailing for a good ten seconds before I realized what was happening—my new boots. The weight of the metal pulled me straight to the bottom like an anchor.
I dared to open my eyes despite the stinging sensation. The murky water burned, but eventually, my vision adjusted enough to make out the surroundings. The underwater room was vast, its walls lined with strange mechanisms. But what stood out the most were the switches. There had to be at least 25 of them scattered across the floor and walls, each one positioned in a different section. I had no idea why there were so many or what purpose they served, but the sheer number of switches felt ominous.
It didn’t take long for me to sense there was some kind of trick at play. There was no way the solution could be as simple as pressing a few buttons. Still, I trudged forward to the first switch, boots making dull thunks as I moved across the stone floor beneath the water.
Just as I reached out to hit the first switch, a sharp realization hit me—I needed to breathe. In my distraction, I had completely forgotten about the most basic human need. I quickly fumbled to unequip the boots, my lungs screaming for air as I pushed off the bottom and kicked my way toward the surface.
Breaking through the water, I gasped loudly, filling my chest with much-needed oxygen. My heart pounded in my ears as I greedily inhaled, my body trembling from the sudden reminder of mortality.
That’s when Crystal decided to chime in with her usual cryptic nonsense.
[A broken right hand is a clock twice a day.]
"Don’t engage, don’t engage…" I muttered under my breath. But, of course, I couldn’t help myself. “What?”
Crystal remained infuriatingly silent, and I shook my head in frustration. No time for cryptic puzzles. I sunk back to the bottom of the room, this time prepared with my boots equipped. My feet hit the ground with a soft thud, and I pressed the first switch beneath me.
Instantly, a loud clanking noise echoed through the chamber. I froze, watching as bubbles rose toward the surface. Something had happened. Something big.
The water around me began to swirl. It was subtle at first, but soon, the water started draining from the room. At first, I wasn’t entirely sure what was going on, but then I felt it—the pull.
A trapdoor beneath the water had opened, and the current was dragging everything down with it. My boots kept me grounded, preventing me from being sucked into the abyss below, but it was still a struggle to hold on. I braced myself, gritting my teeth as I fought the pull of the water and the suffocating urge to breathe. My chest burned, and the pressure in my lungs built to an almost unbearable level.
"Come on… just hold it for ten more seconds," I told myself, my mind frantically counting down. "You can do it."
I could feel the air bubbling up in my chest, desperate to escape, but I held on, slamming my hands in front of my mouth to keep it inside. The water drained slowly—too slowly. My vision blurred as the seconds ticked by, my chest ready to explode.
The water had almost cleared when my body gave up. Air burst from my lungs, and I bit down hard on my hand to stifle the gasp, fighting for a few more precious seconds. Just when I thought I couldn’t take it any longer, my head burst through the surface, and I inhaled deeply, the sweet rush of oxygen flooding my lungs.
I dropped to my knees, gasping and panting, my entire body trembling from the ordeal. It took what felt like forever to get my breathing back under control, the adrenaline still coursing through my veins.
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I quickly unequipped the boots and took a moment to assess the room.
The chamber had fully drained now, and I could see it clearly. In addition to the 25 switches scattered around, there were five sturdy crates placed near the corners, almost like platforms, and several sheer, slippery walls leading to elevated sections. At the far end of the room, three chests glistened in the faint light. Two of them were behind metal grates, their barriers filled with holes at different heights, clearly part of another mechanism I’d have to figure out.
"Of course," I groaned, rubbing my temples. "More puzzles."
It was obvious I’d need to raise the water level again if I had any chance of reaching those chests. The problem was, there were too many switches, and I had no idea which ones controlled the water, the crates, or those blasted grates. Just looking at the room gave me a headache.
But there was no point in sitting around feeling sorry for myself. I had to face it head-on. I shook off my frustration and marched over to the first switch.
“Alright, Crystal,” I muttered, “bring up the map. Let’s make it bigger.”
I stepped onto the next switch, hearing the familiar mechanical click and the distant clanking of gears shifting… but nothing happened. I frowned, marking the switch on the map with a question mark, already feeling the frustration creeping in. I trudged on to the next switch. And then the next. It took about five switches to find one that actually did something. All it did, though, was open the trap door from earlier, the one I’d nearly been sucked into before. Great.
I sighed, rubbing the back of my neck. "This place is really trying to break me," I muttered.
Still, I wasn’t giving up. Maybe the hookshot could help me bypass this whole puzzle. I pulled it out, aimed at the metal fence surrounding one of the chests, and fired. The hook clanged off the bars, the metal refusing to give. Dead end.
"Figures," I grumbled, tucking the hookshot away and moving on.
I continued my maddening process of jumping from switch to switch, each time holding my breath and hoping for something useful to happen. The room was silent, save for the occasional clank and whirr of unseen mechanisms resetting themselves. It felt like I was going in circles, and my patience was wearing thin.
Finally, after what felt like an eternity of false starts, the 12th switch did something. When I landed on it, I heard a loud, distinct gurgling sound. A moment later, water began to fill the room.
At first, I cheered, jumping up and down as the water began to rise. "Yes! Finally, some progress!"
But then the cheering stopped as I realized a big problem—the water wasn’t stopping. It filled the lower part of the room, quickly passing through the empty grates, and continued to rise. Faster than I expected. My heart raced as I scrambled for a plan. If the water kept going like this, I’d be out of air in minutes.
Panic surged through me. I swam up to the top of the room, my head just barely above the waterline. My lungs burned as I inhaled the biggest lungfuls of air I could manage, the sound of rushing water filling my ears. Desperately, I swam back down, kicking hard against the current to reach the switch that had opened the trapdoor.
I slammed onto the switch with both feet, hoping it would stop the water.
It worked. Kind of.
The water continued to pour into the room, but now it was draining at the same time. Slowly. I felt the pull of the draining water against my legs, tugging me toward the trapdoor, but it wasn’t strong enough to be dangerous. More importantly, the water level wasn’t rising nearly as fast. I let out a shaky breath, my body still tense from the close call.
"This is on purpose," I realized, gasping for air. The uneven filling and draining would allow me to swim through to the chests on the other side of the grates. I hadn’t drowned, and I wasn’t going to if I kept my wits about me. This was a balancing act.
The bracers hummed softly on my arms, a constant reminder of the power I’d just claimed. But there was still more loot to gather and—knowing this place—more tricks waiting to spring on me. I wasn’t done yet.
I swam back to the center of the room, where the familiar set of switches awaited me. The water level had fallen to its lowest point again, so I jumped on the switch that had triggered the earlier flood. Once again, the room began to fill with water, the cold liquid rushing in from unseen vents. I stayed calm this time, watching the water rise slowly, letting it bring me up toward the second set of chests.
When the water reached just below the second grate, I took a deep breath and made my move. I swam forward, timing my approach carefully so I could squeeze through the gap in the bars as the water reached its peak. I barely made it, the tips of my boots scraping the metal as I slipped inside.
Landing with a satisfying thud on the stone floor, I saw two more chests waiting for me. "Alright, let’s see what you’ve got for me."