the free-flowing ember crackling through the dark, the lightroot remained somewhat present even when the threats of the gloom hands has disappeared. the plant was by far not as large or vastly sprawling as the other ones growing beneath the earth, but the depths have been infected by demise's wake so harrowing that any surviving ecosystem, no matter how small, had to be cherished. back in times long gone the depths were used for mining purposes, as well as for the spirits of the wild to foster themselves into the shape they are now - the depths used to be its very own home, its very own land beneath hyrule, and with the passage of aeons it has become a quiet respite. until the dark of a different kind descended and ransacked any inch of peace, leaving it to the people on the surface to find out what has transpired in the screaming silence.
it is a challenge they do not even try to impose on not to see the direct parallel between the fate of the depths and the return of the wayward prince. even if no one would understand the connection, the scholastic archiver of hyrule's story has seen his face long ago in a haze of an old kingdom and would know him by the essence of this very haze as if it has been a sharpened vision from the beginning. the world broke open and the past had to be amended, the land tore apart by demise's return and the golden light had to return as well - a circle made complete just how the hero and the princess have made their own journeys to the past, connecting with the very essence of the land becoming what it is now. hylia has a watchful eye, but no one is more prone to keep a steady gaze than the silent shadow. they could not turn for the truth for it would follow them in dreams, it would merge into several fractures of reality before becoming a fact at one point anyway.
as if the abyss begged for him, as if the powers compelled by the endless fight against the returning horrors had found one key to one of its numerous locks. where once there was an empty drop made real by the chasm's, there is now a place of possibility. even if the gloom has yet to be gone ( it would take more than just their work, it would take the hero to cure what they could not simply cure as it wasn't their place ) there is a chance to rid the depths of some of the sickness. they can feel it inside of them, a clear view pressing against their eyes, and know he can feel it too - if there is agony pulsing through them, it is mirrored in him, like the other half of a painful pact made the moment they met again. " i don't think you are only imagining things . i think what you are seeing, what you are feeling, is as real as anything else that happened since the upheaval, " they tell him in the dark, turning their head to look at him where he has begun to hold onto them, navigating easily out of the dim light of the bigger lightroot into the expanse of underground.
many of the lighroots seemed to function in similar manner as the sky towers the sheikah built, wayward points for orientation anyone needed in the depths. back when they were frequently visited, they must have been markers for travellers or spaces of rest for miners and others beneath the surface. now they see one torn asunder, infected and broken apart just like they have learnt the deku tree to be - it seems the gloom festers strongest in hyrule's most natural inhabitants, eating away at its oldest and most loyal beings. " i heard of something like this happening to the deku tree. you can't even travel the forest on the surface - now this. " the dim shine of the infected lightroot was more red than gleaming teal, a clear sign of its pain. sheik lowered onto their knees, taking kenneth with them, and touching their palm over his before putting both onto the ground. " it is weak, but it hasn't died yet. we have to free it off the gloom. the light inside of you is like a lightroot, only stronger. we need that light. "