Chapter 1

Despair

I looked out the long, narrow, open window in my sitting room. The sky outside the palace was an ethereal, hazy gold interlaced in a network of soft, black clouds. It was accented by the small rectangles of loose matter that forever fell here in my realm like rain. I miss the rain, I thought, sighing. Below my high window in the stone streets, my people, the Twili people, strolled aimlessly. One, however, was carrying a Sol, the source of light in my realm, probably relocating it to light another section of the palace. The ball of light lit the surrounding stone, and the faces of the passing Twilis all turned to gaze at it for a moment before turning back to their paths. I glimpsed a Shadow Kargarok, a black bird-like creature, land at the edge of the street, and a Twili official dismounted.

I found myself recalling memories of capturing and riding a Shadow Kargarok in Hyrule, going upriver from Lake Hylia through caves and valleys, dodging enemy fire while avoiding stalagmites and stalactites. I smiled to myself. But then I remembered the other passenger. Link. In wolf form, like when I found him in the cell in Hyrule Castle, a manacle and length of chain still attached to his forepaw. The smile disappeared. Link. I looked away from the window, from the memories.

I stood up abruptly, not remembering I had been sitting. My lady-in-waiting (I had a lady-in-waiting?) looked up, startled, her red eyes full of surprise and apprehension. Krili, her name was Krili, a distant cousin of mine, from another part of Twilight. I walked slowly to my full-length mirror. Why did I have a mirror put in my sitting room, anyway? I wondered, looking critically at my reflection. Despair overwhelmed me, shriveling my heart in my chest. How I missed… no, I must not think of that. But my hands still reached up, pulling the firm flesh under my eyes down. No wrinkles. Ten years. Ten years and I still look the same. I wonder what he… No. I pushed those thoughts away, again. I should at least have wrinkles, just like the humans in Hyrule. Of course, Link wouldn't have wrinkles yet. He had been younger than I had by decades. I am old, I thought suddenly.

"Have you ever seen a human, Krili?" the question came out before I could stop it, scaring Krili and myself with the enquiry.

"My lady?" she asked, confused.

"Nothing," I said absently. I wondered what she thought of my random questions. I sometimes wondered if she could think at all. Hesitantly, I wondered, "Krili, how old do you think I am?"

"Oh, my lady, I couldn't say—"

"How old do you think I am?" I demanded. Ladies. They never give you a straight answer.

She paused, considering. I waited, arms crossed against my chest. "By your appearance, my lady," Krili began. "I'd say you were only twenty years of age. But, everyone in the kingdom knows you are much older than that. My lady."

I closed my eyes and nodded. "I am much older than twenty, Krili. I am so old I have lost track of the years." What I didn't mention was that I had stopped counting after twenty. Time passed slowly in Twilight. It seemed only days since I was crowned Princess, but it really had been… fifteen? Maybe fifteen years, that's how long I had been a princess. I knew that Princess Zelda, ruler of Hyrule, was even older than I was. She was so old that her mentors from her childhood were ghosts.

I scanned the chamber. The dark gray stone of the wall was unadorned except for the patterns of lines that carried power from area to area. They were beautiful in a strange, eerie way, but after years of living inside them, they were nothing to me except lines. There were stone chairs, draped in black fabric with the line patterns embroidered on them in a bright bluish green. I suddenly found myself weary of this room.

"I am going out on my balcony, Krili," I again broke the silence.

"But, my lady, it is so late—"

"Krili, I am going out on my balcony."

"Yes, Princess Midna. Of course."

I hated being forceful with my ladies, but they were so different from me. I knew that, behind my back, they whispered to each other about how strange I was. I did not punish them, for what they said was true. They were simple folk, the typical Twili people. They led drab lives, living long and doing nothing. Most had no ambition, and were content to wait for life to come to them. Of course, there were always exceptions, like Zant, who had been a member of the court in my parents' time as well as a relative. He had usurped me ten years ago with the help of the evil, manipulative Ganondorf. My temple pounded in pain. I had not wished to recall those memories.

I walked through the sitting room to an antechamber, and then through a set of double doors made of glass out onto the balcony. The same balcony, I recalled bitterly, where Zant had transformed me into an imp, and my adventure to Hyrule began. Today, however, all was quiet and serene. I walked to the railing and peered into the husky sky beyond. Far away, other cities were suspended in the sky, like my palace, carrying on in their slow, dream-like state. No one in Twilight had the longing, or the boredom, that I felt constantly. It had all been Ganondorf's fault, but he was dead. Then I remembered that Link had been the one who had made me like this. He had sacrificed himself time after time. It made made me angry and sad at the same time. He had saved me. Several times, in fact. But still, he had thought me no more than a friend, instead choosing Ilia, that wench. He had loved her since before he had become a wolf, before all of this happened. And he had saved her.

I had been his shadow at the time. They had looked at each other with that deep passion and love that only lovers can share. I felt my heart clench in hate. I had loved Link, I still did, in fact, but he had chosen Ilia over me. Not that I blamed him. I had never told him my feelings. I was about to, before I left Hyrule…

We were standing in the Mirror Chamber, the Mirror of Twilight beckoning me home. I turned to Link and Zelda.

"Well… I guess this is farewell, huh?" I asked. "Light and shadow can't mix, as we all know. But… Never forget there's another world bound to this one," I said sadly.

Zelda looked me straight in the face. "Shadow and light are two sides of the same coin…," she said. "One cannot exist without the other." She paused, "I know now the reasons the Goddesses left the Mirror of Twilight in this world… They left it because it was their design that we should meet. Yes… That is what I believe."

I stood, contemplating her words, and then turned to them again. "Zelda… Your words are kind, and your heart is true. If all in Hyrule are like you… Then maybe you'll do alright." I kept my eyes downcast, the sudden sadness of leaving friends pressed close in my chest. I walked to the platform, and the stairs leading up to the portal appeared with a magical chime. "Thank you…," I said sincerely, speaking more to Link than Zelda.

"Well, the princess spoke truly: as long as that mirror's around, we could meet again…" I closed my eyes, steeling my nerves. "Link…," I began. I shed a tear of light, and reached up to stop its path in the air. "I…" I pushed the tear towards the mirror. But, as usual, I lost my nerve, not telling him what I truly felt. "See you later…" The Mirror of Twilight cracked; both Link and Zelda turned to wonder at it. Link turned back to me, gasping, grasping what I was doing. I sprinted up the stairs, but paused on the threshold of the portal, turning back bravely. Light beamed at me from the mirror, carrying me into the portal. I held Link's eyes for as long as I could, until I had turned completely into tiny particles of light, and was sucked into the portal to Twilight. I faintly heard the Mirror of Twilight break as my scattered particles rearranged themselves in my realm. I knew I would never meet Link again.

I found myself crying as I pulled away from the last memory of Hyrule, of Link. I brushed the tears away, ashamed and embarrassed. A light in the corner of my vision caught my eye. I turned, to find the light intensify, almost blinding me. I shielded my eyes with my robed arm. I could dimly make out three feminine figures, gracefully spinning in a circle in a majestic, divine way in the dim sky in front of me. They didn't get closer, but somehow grew larger, their light radiating painfully, yet beautifully. Their faces were perfectly formed, looking almost as if they were chiseled out of stone. It didn't look like they had pupils in their bright eyes, but then again, it was hard to tell. They wore form-fitting dresses, with skirts that fanned out like flower petals. Their hair was ornately done, and yet looked so simple, too. They had no color to them; only that blinding, bright light.

They spoke, three awesome, terrible, beautiful voices combining in to one chorus of harmony and raw beauty, but their mouths didn't move. I could feel the air vibrate with their power, their unity. "Princess Midna, we have come to save you, and our people." I stood dumbly, mouth agape. The Goddesses of Hyrule! I thought to myself. But what are they doing here? However, before I could figure it out, I found myself on the hard, cold stone of the balcony, writhing in a pain I had never thought existed. My skin felt like it was peeling off to reveal my flesh. Everywhere. My muscles tightened, stretched, pulled, tore, and reformed. All my bones felt like they were being melted. Dimly I recalled being bathed in a bright white light, but soon darkness enveloped me.

I knew my mind had separated me from my body to save myself from the pain, but I wondered if the Goddesses had put me in this nothingness. It wasn't really darkness; it was a peaceful nothing. It was neither hot, nor cold, nor dark, nor light. It simply was. I rested comfortably there, forgetting my troubles, my memories, and myself. A Goddess came to me there, radiating a soft red within the white light of divinity. She reached for me, gently brushing my consciousness. I felt something imprint onto me, but I could not draw my focus from the Goddess. Her eyes looked into me, and she handed me a red velvet pouch. "To bring life to the dead," she explained to me. I conveyed to her a sense of vague understanding, and she smiled. It was a terrible smile, one that chilled me and warmed me. It wasn't that it was evil; it was life, it was power. It was the smile of one who can do anything, whose job it was to keep the balance in the world.

I did not know how long I stayed there, in nothingness. It could have been years, or minutes. But I knew I didn't want to ever wake up. I wanted to stay there, forever. But all good things come to an end. I just never realized how quickly they do.