"Midna, look, another portal!"
Midna looked up from her very important picture she was drawing into the dirt outside the palace, pushing back some of her hair that had escaped its pigtail when her elder cousin called to her. "Who cares, Zant?" she retorted, turning back to her work. "It's just another light worlder. They'll fade away like all the rest have."
"Maybe this one won't!" Zant said, hurrying up the hill. "Come on, don't be such a spoilsport."
Midna huffed in frustration, eyed her drawing, and decided it wasn't good enough anyway, so she rubbed it out, then got up and followed her cousin up the hill. "This is a waste of time, Zant. What's so fascinating about light worlders anyway?"
"Maybe this one will become like one of us, like our ancestors did!" Zant said excitedly, pausing to let Midna catch up. "Then I can have my very own personal servant, like I deserve! Being the king's son and all."
Midna tried really hard to resist the urge to roll her eyes. She didn't do so well. "You ihave/i a servant, you have lots of servants. All the royal family does."
"Not one that's just mine to order around!" Zant protested, walking with her now. "Me, future king, I should have my own servant!"
Midna grit her teeth. "Zant, shut up." Stupid, arrogant little brat! The Fused Shadow piece could choose to go to anyone in the next generation of the royal family, not necessarily him. And she knew nobody would let Zant have the crown unless someone managed to somehow beat some humility into his sorry, snakey behind.
Zant ignored her, continuing to prattle on about all the things he'd have his own personal servant do for him as they approached the body that had been tossed through the portal from the light world. As they got close enough to see the man, Zant grew quiet.
The man was tall, incredibly so, for a light worlder, and he had a shock of red hair in curls around his face. And his skin looked quite peculiar. Of course, all light worlders looked peculiar to Midna, pale, with white eyes and circles of colors of varying shades, where her people were a lovely shade of twilight and black, with red and gold eyes.
This one, however, seemed exceptionally peculiar, even for a light worlder.
Zant knelt beside the man, poking his shoulder. The man didn't react. Midna sighed. "See? He's like all the others. He'll fade away next. He hasn't become like us."
Zant scowled, then stood and kicked the body in a snit. "Damn you, light worlder!" he shrieked. "You were supposed to do what iI/i wanted!"
Just as Midna was about to roll her eyes again- something she did a lot of around her cousin- a mark on the man's hand began to glow brilliant gold. Three triangles proudly emblazoned on the back of his right hand glowed, then faded as the man's body disappeared from view.
"What was that?" Zant asked in a panic, looking around. "He didn't fade like the others, he just disappeared, Midna, what's going on, what was that on his hand? I demand you tell me!"
Midna didn't answer, staring where the body had been as a chill washed over her. She knew that mark from her history lessons. That was the Triforce. That cursed object her ancestors had sought that got them all banished here instead of the vast world of light they'd come from.
What in the name of the goddesses had the light worlder's done this time?
"The coronation is tomorrow."
Midna reluctantly opened an eye to the darkened room, looking around for the source of her cousin's annoying voice. "Zant? Go back to bed and leave me alone. I know the coronation is tomorrow. Everyone knows that."
Her bed creaked and she felt an uncomfortable weight settle on it as Zant got up onto the foot of it and crawled over her. She bared her teeth up at her cousin. "Get off me. Or I'll punch you." She'd probably zap him, actually, shove him off her like she ought right that second.
Zant smiled crazily down at her. "Tomorrow, I become king!" he exclaimed, voice only barely hushed so he didn't wake up anyone else in the royal chambers.
"Zant, how many times do I have to tell you?" She rolled her eyes. "The Fused Shadow chooses who will be next king or queen, it doesn't automatically go to the firstborn of the current ruler. You know this. I have as much chance as your cousin as you do."
Not that she wanted it, but she'd take it over Zant having it. The boy was crazy, power-hungry and she dearly prayed that the Fused Shadow would be wise enough to not pick him, or else they'd all be in trouble.
"You don't understand, Midna, I must have it!" Zant sat back, wide-eyed. "Our people have been too long oppressed here. We don't ifeel/i anymore! I can change that, I can bring back everything we lost when the Light Spirits chased us here!"
Midna sat up, shoving him off her bed angrily with a wave of energy. Her red hair flared with her temper. "And how will you do that?" she demanded. "Will you force open a portal to the Light World? We can't exist there anymore! And even with all the Fused Shadow pieces, we can't take on the Light Spirits! Do you really want to bring down the wrath of the goddesses on us again?"
Zant practically howled, hopping to his feet and stomping his foot. "We have to do something!" he cried. "We're wasting away here, Midna!"
Midna's temper softened with pity- what else could she feel for this madman she was related to? "Zant, we are happy here. We do feel. We feel contentment. Isn't that enough?" Of course it wasn't, not for Zant. Zant would never be satisfied by mere contentment. "Besides, no matter who the Fused Shadow chooses, we need our sleep. Back to bed with you, before I tie you there."
Zant got an odd gleam in his eye. "Yes, yes, I must look my best tomorrow," he said, then walked out of the room as if in a trance. Midna watched him go with a sense of dread. Who knew what he'd do if he didn't get the Fused Shadow tomorrow? Well, it wasn't as if he had much power to do anything with.
A flash of premonition made Midna tuck herself under her covers and shiver. Maybe they had more to worry about tomorrow than she thought.
Midna had never seen the king looking so old. He was ancient and withered, stooped over and relying on a cane to keep himself upright. Today he would die, passing on into the quiet twilight that blanketed their world. And with his death, the Fused Shadow that he possessed would choose a new ruler from the royal family, the family that still held vestiges of the power of their ancestors.
She stole a glance over at Zant, who seemed to be in a trance, head swaying side to side a little. "Father," he said. "It's time."
As if he were anxious to see the death of his remaining parent! Midna shuddered to think what would happen should Zant truly become the next ruler of their people.
The king smiled wearily. "It is, indeed, Zant." With that, the Fused Shadow appeared over the king's hand. "I go to join my queen," he announced in his feeble voice. "Our power that guides us will choose the next ruler."
With that, the old king faded away into vague shapes of black twilight that joined the rest floating around their peaceful kingdom. The Fused Shadow hovered, almost uncertainly, where the king had been.
Zant stepped forward. "My first decree as ruler," he started, quite arrogantly. The assemebled courtiers looked at him curiously, as did Midna, and she nearly missed it as the Fused Shadow moved.
It zipped forward, passing Zant completely and cutting him off, coming to rest in front of Midna. She blinked, her hands instinctively lifting her hands to let the ancient power rest on them. A warm, tingling sensation washed over her as the Fused Shadow gave its power to her, increasing her a hundredfold. Such power! It was like nothing she'd ever experienced before.
She looked up as the assembly bowed before her. All except Zant. Hatred burned in his eyes as he turned on her, ran at her, shoved right past her and out of the throne room. "Zant!" she called after him, but to no avail. He was gone.
She sighed, disappearing the Fused Shadow, as she turned back to the coutiers assembled. She was now their princess, and once she chose a consort, she'd be their queen. These people were hers to rule, they looked to her for fairness and justice now.
Midna now had more important things to worry about than her cousin's temper tantrum.
As time had gone on, Midna began to think that the Fused Shadow had chosen correctly. Zant, she knew, would never make a good king, and none of her other cousins were up for the task. She'd grown content in her work, even happy, as if it were natural, slipping into a comfortable and familiar dress that was made just for her.
She did wonder what became of Zant, though. He'd run away that day, and nobody had seen him since. She figured he tried to reach the light world and had disappeared. Well, perhaps it was just as well. He would always be trouble for her if he were around, and this was one headache she didn't have to deal with.
She leaned against the balcony railing as she took a moment to herself, enjoying the peace of her world's perpetual twilight. Her duties were demanding, so it was nice to take a moment to herself to relax. A shadow drifted by her; she reached out and lightly dabbled her fingers in it, and watched as it warped its shape, then disappeared.
A screech down on the ground below shattered the moment and she straightened, looking down. Citizens on the grown began to writhe, then changed before her eyes into some hideous monsters, tentacles falling like hairy appendages from behind ugly faceplates that seemed welded to their faces.
Behind her, she heard a scrabbling sound, and she whirled, horrified as her honor guards warped before her into creatures like the ones below. She quickly cast up an energy shield, blocking off the balcony from access to protect herself while she madly scrambled for something, anything that she could do to undo the horror unfolding before her eyes.
From beyond the shield, a tall figure approached. The honor guards fell into step behind him, and even with the giant helmet he wore that covered his entire head, Midna recognized him.
Zant.
Zant stepped through the energy barrier as if it weren't there. She took a step back, holding out a hand to summon the energy to push him away. But everything she summoned seemed weak in face of the force he was approaching with. Somewhere along the line, he'd found a new power, something dark and entirely unlike their tribe's shadow magic. Even with the piece of Fused Shadow she possessed, she didn't think she could defeat him without help.
"Will you bow to your king now, Princess?" Zant asked her. "Bow and I will spare you. I need you, Midna. Our powers combined will obliterate the light world that has held us in oppression for so many countless years!"
"Never!" she shouted in defiance, even as fear bubbled up within. She recognized the power from when she was a girl, and the image of that man that had been tossed through the portal of the Mirror of Twilight floated back to her. Somehow, Zant had gained possession of that power, he had to have. "You're no king of mine! Zant, you've gone mad! What are you doing to our people?"
"I am improving them," Zant said, taking another step towards her. She backed up from him. "If you will not join me, then you will be banished." He waved his hand, and the force of the energy he shot at her knocked her to the ground.
She felt something inside her break, even as her body screamed in protest before she'd even hit the ground. She pushed herself up onto her hands, trying to struggle back to her feet, only to notice how small her hand had become.
Horrified, she sat back and looked at herself. She was no longer the tall, graceful picture of feminine beauty that she'd prized. With the breaking of her power had come a banishment to the form of an ugly imp. She wouldn't even be recognized as her people's leader anymore. "Zant!"
"Be gone, traitor," Zant hissed, sending another blast of energy at her, knocking her off the balcony as her world crumbled around her.
It wasn't more than a few minutes before Midna came to. Around her, hideous creatures stood and mingled in pained confusion where her citizens had once gathered. Monstrous birds blocked the way into the castle as shadows cascaded down over the entrance.
She was cut off from her home, with nowhere near enough power to take back her world.
Stumbling, Midna made her way along the path away from the palace, trying to regain her bearings. Once she'd made it a safe distance from the palace, where no guards would come find her, she let herself fall to her knees- so close to the ground compared to what it used to be! She couldn't see a way out. Her homeland was robbed from her, and goddesses only knew what Zant had in mind for the light world now with this newfound power of his.
Wait. The light world. The other three Fused Shadow pieces were there. She summoned the piece that marked her as the true Twilight Princess, her teeth grinding together. She would go to the light world and find the rest of her tribe's magic. May the goddesses forgive her for it, she didn't care, she would make sure Zant paid for what he'd done to her homeland.
One way or another, Zant would pay.