Disclaimer: I own nothing you recognize, and maybe somethings that you don't recognize.

Hey guys! So, even though I should be updating my other story, I just had to get this one up. A warning, though. Impa and Granny are separate characters and I don't have this completely written yet, so it might take a while between updates. But I promise they will be worth waiting for. Oh, and Sheik is a girl and her own character.


The Shadow Guide

Chapter One


He was a god as far as she was concerned. His red eyes were fixated on her as she fumbled with the braided band of leather clasped around her bony wrist. He was wearing one like hers, though his band was sloppier, the craftsmanship shoddier. She had made it for him in the weeks leading up to their hand-fasting, and he had made the one that she wore, its twists tighter and stronger than anything she could ever make. But Sheik wasn't a creator, she was a warrior. Or at least that was what he had told her when she presented to gift to him.

"What is going on in that pretty little head of yours?" He asked, slipping his hand under her chin, gently forcing her to look at him.

"Just nervous I guess," Sheik told him. And she was. The ceremony was being held the next day, and it simultaneously couldn't get there any faster and was approaching much too quickly. "In an excited way."

He smiled at her, planting a gentle kiss on her rosy lips. This wasn't the first kiss they had shared; the two had grown up together, playing together around the volcano that their clan lived near when they were children, and then stealing kisses from each other when they had grown a little more. The lava pits nearby illuminated the night with a fiery red glow.

"Sajeere," she sighed as they parted, loving the way his name felt on her lips.

"My Sheik," he whispered in response before coming in for another kiss. But this one last longer than the last and was full of just as much heat and passion as the volcano they were camped on. She wrapped her arms around his neck and drew him in closer, but something felt off. His skin felt to leathery, the hair in her fist to brittle. A cloying scent hit her and she pulled back to see what it was.

No longer was her beloved Sajeere in her arms; he had been replaced with a decaying monstrosity. Sheik retracted, swallowing down the bile and the scream that threatened to bubble out.

"What's wrong?" The monstrosity asked, its tongue black. A few flies came out of its mouth. "Don't you still love me?"

She awoke with a start, bolting up in her bedroll, a scream on her tongue. A dream. It had only been a dream. Sheik struggled to catch her breath, her heart beating in her ribcage like a war drum. Across from her there was a flash of light and she looked up to find her mother's stern, yet beautiful, face scowling at her. A ball of purple-ish light floated in her hand as she sat up in her own bedroll.

"Daughter," she said, her voice thick with irritation and sleep, "what is wrong with you?"

"Nothing," Sheik said, struggling to keep her voice steady. "Just a bad dream."

Her mother's frown deepened. "It must have been very bad if you woke half the village from it."

Sheik blushed, glad that the soft light only barely illuminated the small room. "I dreamt of him," she told her mother, unable to voice his name. It had been almost a month since she had lost her Sajeere to the bokoblins and the pain felt as rough and jagged as it had in the first few moments after his death. "He is haunting me."

Her mother let out a soft sigh. The older woman knew her pain, having lost Sheik's father only a few years after her birth. But her mother was stronger than Sheik could ever hope to be. "No," she said, the hard edge never leaving her voice, even when she was trying to be comforting, "you are only still mourning him."

Sheik had been officially in mourning since she had returned to the Sheikah's unofficial settlement at the base of the Eldin volcano. As soon as she had returned, she had hacked off her hair, leaving only a few tendrils at the front to weave the mourning beads, white and made from the carapace of a pylup. Soon she would have to take the beads out and let her hair regrow; it was only acceptable to mourn someone for so long. She ran a shaky hand over her short hair; she could pass off as a boy like this, she thought absent-mindedly.

"I miss him." She said, curling up into herself. It was her fault that he was dead. The bokoblin that killed him had been going for her and he foolishly jumped in the way. She should have stopped him. She should have moved faster and taken out the little green demon.

"Sheik." Her mother said, leaving no room for the younger woman to ignore her. "I know what you are thinking. And it is not your fault. He chose his path, and now you must remember him for the brave way he went."

Sheik nodded, struggling to regain some control over her emotions. "Yes, mother."

"Good," the woman extinguished the light in her hand, "now get some sleep. We have a long journey ahead of us tomorrow."

Sheik nodded again and lay back down. To say it was a long journey was an understatement. Her mother and she had been summoned by the Elder in the Sealed Grounds, all the way across the land in the Faron Woods. She sighed and closed her eyes, but all that she could see was her decaying lover. That journey certainly was going to suck.

The sun was bright overhead, hotter and deadlier than the lava pits that they had left behind hours before. They had left at dawn, leaving the sleepy village with lightly packed bags and their bedrolls. Her mother was talented enough in the fields of magic to portal them if it came down to that, but had insisted that they travel by foot to the forested area of the Hyrule. Sheik thought it was a waste of energy and time, but her mother insisted that it built character. Sure, dying of dehydration while the village was wiped out by little green demons was character building. But it wasn't long until the ground underfoot turned from hard cracked dirt and rock to sandy grass, and then luscious green underbrush. There were a few trees on the perimeter of the region, but behind those was a thick wall of trees, as if guarding the sacred woods from the rest of the world. A spring could be heard nearby, bubbling softly in the not-so-far distance.

The air was different, crisper and cleaner than anything Sheik had ever experienced anywhere else. She always loved to go see the Elder, loved the noises and smells of the forest area. She smiled softly for the first time in a month.

"Good," she heard her mother say. Sheik turned to see her mother smiling back at her, clearly relieved. "I was afraid that you would never smile again."

Sheik instantly felt guilty at that. She looked ahead and trudged on with a new determination.

"Did the Elder say what she wanted from us?" She asked over her shoulder.

Her mother moved easily and quietly through the area. "No," she replied. "Just that it was urgent and to come prepared."

Sheik refrained from commenting on how their lack of supplies was hardly very prepared. They had entered the dense forest now. It was loud with the various bird calls and the buzzing insects. They made their way quickly through the growth before finally approaching the Sealed Grounds. They could feel the Elder's magic permeating the air, but there was something else, something more sinister that interrupted the peace. They reached the gate that kept intruders from getting near the Seal. Sheik didn't think that it was really that great of a defense mechanism, but who was she to question the Elder? There was something odd about the area though.

"Someone has been here," her mother stated, standing straight and tall next to Sheik.

Sheik wrapped her hands around the fence, squinting down. Someone had been there. The air geysers were no longer blowing like they were supposed to, and dark vapor was curling out from the Seal. No, Sheik thought, her eyes going wide. There was no way the Imprisoned could get free; the Elder had seen to that many many years ago.

"Mother," she whispered, trying not to sound too afraid. Sheikah never showed fear, after all.

"I know." That was all she said before leading the way to the temple. Sheik watched her mother go, trying not to feel the twinge of jealousy that she felt whenever she actually looked at the woman. Tall and graceful, she had just the right amount of curves to not be burdensome. Sheik, on the other hand, got her height from her father. While she wasn't short, she wasn't nearly as tall as her mother, or most other Sheikah. And her body was stick-straight. If she ever left her people, she really could pull off being a boy. After another wistful moment, Sheik pushed off the gate to follow her mother. That was about when everything went wonky.

There was a sound like the wind crashing all around her that came from the Sealed Grounds. Sheik watched as a blurred white form rushed her mother. The woman was prepared for it, though, and swiftly dodged the assault. Sheik didn't have time to ready her own weapons, though, and the white form fell on her in an instant, knocking her unconscious in a way that was sure to be disgraceful to her people.