I love Legend of Zelda more than any other video game in the world. However, there was one incident with my Zelda game, Twilight Princess, that traumatized me. I will never forget what I experienced with that game.
I had just turned 13 and was celebrating my birthday with my family and my friend Angie. We had my party at the local bowling alley and were just finishing up my cake. My mom announced it was time for me open my presents. After I finished unwrapping some new books and a few video games I noticed one present sitting under the table. It was wrapped up in colorful paper like the other presents, but its tag said it was from "Princess Zelda". I asked my family if the tag was a joke, but my parents said that they didn't write anything like that on the tag, but they recognized the gift and told me to open it anyway.
It was a copy of Twilight Princess, a Zelda game I had wanted for a long time. I thanked my parents, and after another hour we went home. I dug out my Wii and opened the game. The first thing I noticed was that the game was used, due to its multiple scratches. But they were…odd… like cat scratches. I ignored that and began to play the game. It started off normal, with the epic opening and all, but then, it got weird. There wasn't the cut scene with Link and Russell. Instead, it was the palace of Twilight. I was confused and thought this might have been a hacked game. I immediately ran to take the game out of the system, but as I did, Zant appeared on the screen. And that's when things got really weird.
A text box appeared, saying "What do you think you're doing?" Terrified, I pressed the button on the Wii to eject the game, but it failed to work. I pressed it again. Nothing happened. I madly hit the button hundreds of times, desperate to get rid of the evil game. It didn't work.
Another text box appeared on the screen. "It's no use", it read. Zant was still on the screen, without his helmet, his glowing eyes staring at me. It seemed as if Zant was talking to me. I swallowed and spoke. "What do you want from me?"
Zant smiled eerily, dead silence filling the room. I was petrified by what happened next.
A hand of a shadow beast shot out of the TV and grabbed my ankle. I screamed and attempted to run away. Of course, that was no help. I tripped and fell flat on my face. The shadow beast pulled me into the TV as I screamed for help. No one came, of course. As I was pulled through the screen, it felt like I was going under water. Soon, I was in the palace of Twilight, still in the hand of the terrifying shadow beast. It carried me into the throne room, up to Zant, who was still smiling eerily. I demanded to be let go, but he just laughed. The shadow beast threw my onto the hard stone floor, causing me cough up blood. Zant walked down to me and picked me up by the collar of my t-shirt. His demonic yellow eyes locked with my terrified brown ones. He dropped me back on the floor, causing me to hit my head on the floor again. I let out a pained cry and weakly sat up. I begged him to let me go home, or at least tell me what was going on. Zant laughed like a maniac and waved his hand, and then I lost conciseness.
When I woke up I felt sore and broken down. I looked around and saw I was on the ceiling of the forest temple, trapped in a giant spider web. Zant was on the ground laughing, throwing knives at me. He kept missing on purpose, as if he was teasing me. I screamed and asked why he was torturing me. Zant just laughed and said that he never has any friends to play with and that I was the only person who ever played his game. I shouted at what he ment by me being the only person who played his game, but at that moment a knife hit my shoulder. I screamed in pain, causing Zant to burst out laughing. I began screaming for help, but Zant flew up extremely fast to me and was just inches away from my face. He yanked me out of the web and sent me flying into a pit full of Twilit parasites. I screamed in terror as they devoured me slowly. I began to cry for help, but the world went black.
I woke up on the floor of my basement, right in front of the TV. The game was still on. It was at the loading screen and said to choose a file. It had all been a dream. I turned off the Wii and ejected the game. I stared at it for a long time, and then put it back in the box. I walked outside. Everything was cheerful and sunny. I calmly opened the garbage can and tossed the game inside. Before I closed the lid, I studied the game. Instead of saying "Twilight Princess", is said "Zant's Game". I slammed the lid hard on the garbage can and ran into the house. From then on, I never bought a used games ever again.