*I don't own LoZ, it would be awesome if I did, but I don't.*
Chapter One
I woke up to the sound of birds chirping. I could feel grass on my back, and when I sat up, I could see I was near a goat ranch. I got up and wiped the dirt off my back. I could feel the cloth shift around me as I stood. Someone yelled; I turned to look in that direction as a man ran toward me. He soon stopped in front of me, panting as if he had run a thousand miles. "Hey! Want to herd the goats one last time before you head off?" I looked at the sky. It was twilight, and getting dark fast. I wouldn't be able to see the goats if it got too dark. "Sure, Fado, I'll get Epona." I noticed the horseshoe-shaped reeds a few feet away from me, and I immediately remembered what to do with them. I plucked one off of the stem and blew into it. The reed made a loud whistling sound, almost like a song, and I could hear a horse galloping in the distance, getting closer every second. I turned around to see my beautiful mare, Epona, speeding toward me. She slowed to a stop as she neared me, and turned her side to me, knowing exactly what I wanted. I hopped onto her saddle, and she cantered off. I spoke to Fado as I waited for Epona to stretch her legs for the chase. "So, how long was it last time?" "Two minutes and thirteen seconds." "Let's see if I can beat that, Fado. You ready, Epona?" I patted the horse's neck, and she whinnied in response. "Giddy up!" Epona sped off toward a large grouping of goats, and they immediately turned and ran away. They almost hit the wall, but turned off to the side and went that way instead. Epona kept chasing them, and they eventually sped off into the barn. Epona raced toward another group, and after a minute and a half, all of the goats were in the barn. "How good was I?" "A minute and a half, Link. Nice job." "Oh, yeah!" I yelled into the sky, and flexed my muscles in a braggy way at Fado. He laughed so hard that he fell over. "Ahahahahahahahahahahahahahah a!" "Hey, maybe I should go as a clown to the Princess, I would totally amuse her!" "Nah, I bet the guards would kill you at first sight, Link," he said with tears still in his eyes. "Want me to set up the posts for you, bud?" "Nah, Epona's looking a little more tired than usual. I'm just going to go home tonight. See you tomorrow, Fado." "Okay. Night." Once I got near my house, I could hear the soft music of Epona's little home by my tree house. It seemed as though it came out of nowhere. It was kind of cute, actually. Forget the music, I got to get some sleep, I thought. I slid off of Epona's back and walked casually over to my house. I saw a small Skulltula on the wall. Great, another one. I took out my recently bought slingshot and in a few seconds, the dark spider was gone in a poof of smoke. I climbed the ladder up to my house and entered the dark room. Once I lit the fire, everything in the room glowed as if they were happy. I went over to the ladder to the basement and looked down into it. It was pitch-black, as usual, meaning I couldn't see a giant spider if it was looking me in the face. I walked back over to the fireplace and climbed up the ladder to my bed. As soon as my head hit the pillow, I was dreaming of what might possibly happen to me on my journey to meet the Princess with the Gift for the Royal Family.
I woke up the next morning with the worst headache I've ever had. "Link, what in the name of the Goddesses did you do to yourself…?" I said to myself. Then I remembered. The dream. The man surrounded by the twilight. The imp… and… someone else… Ugh, I can't think of this now… Dang. Maybe if I got a little more rest… I fell back asleep. The screeching of the hawk woke me again. Children were laughing and playing outside my house. I could hear them using sticks against my training dummy. An image flashed through my mind. The man in darkness… with a purple-hilted sword in his chest… I erased the image from my mind. I jumped out of bed and raced out of the door. I forgot that I was in a tree and fell off of the side of the platform. As I landed, I could hear Beth, Talo, and Malo race over and ask me if I was alright. I groaned and nodded, and sat up. I had hit my head on a rock and my eyes were still clearing up, so I just sat there for a couple of minutes. Once I could focus my eyes again, I got up just in time to see Rusl drag something – looked like a large chest – over to my house. He looked up and I wondered how the hell he was going to get that thing up there. He didn't, he just left it at the bottom of the ladder and walked off. I got up and walked over to the chest, wondering what was in it. I pried the top open, finding my old wooden sword, polished and sharpened. I had wondered where that had gone. I took my sword out of the chest and swiped at the dummy a few times. When sword struck wood, it didn't do much damage, as usual, but it still took a nice-sized chunk out of the wooden armor encased around the straw body. The bucket helmet on the pumpkin-headed dummy rattled as the sword struck. Maybe I should try something I haven't done in a while… I thought to myself. I back-flipped away from the dummy and jumped straight at it. As I leapt, I brought my sword down onto the dummy's head. The helmet and the pumpkin shattered, landing in small pieces around the dummy. I stared triumphantly at the dummy, but winced as I realized I would have to buy another bucket and pumpkin. I laughed at myself, and remembered the children behind me. They were staring at me in complete awe. One of them, Talo, had his jaw open as far as it was possible. The girl, Beth, had fainted in what looked like complete admiration. I grinned at the still, yet breathing, girl on the ground. Then I realized I couldn't find Malo, and I knew he'd been there. I looked around, but found no sign of him. "Huh. Must've ran off after I started swiping." Talo finally re-hinged his jaw and spoke again. "No, he ran off just before you turned around. He saw Ilia sneak off to the spring with Epona again. Look!" Talo pointed at Epona's usual resting place. She was gone. "Mother of all things Light, she's taken Epona again!" Talo laughed. As I started running, I could feel a strange darkness coming toward me… fast. I shook away the feeling and kept running to the spring. Once I got there, I could see Malo standing outside the spring, with the gate closed. Damn it, Ilia… I remembered my secret passageway into the spring. I sped toward it at what felt like Light speed. I fell onto my back and slid just in time to enter a small tunnel. Once I hit the end, I turned myself (still on my back) and pushed off the wall in a different direction, eventually feeling the soft sand of the spring slide up my shirt. I got up, brushed myself off, and opened the back of my shirt so that the sand could fall out. I heard a light laugh, and turned to see Ilia holding Epona's reins while standing in the shallow spring. "Well, hello, Link. How nice to see you here." "Ha-ha! I thought I'd find you here, horse-stealer." "Hey! I just took Epona for a wash… and locked the gate." "You still stole my horse." "Mmph! You arrogant little sword waver!" As we had this conversation, I could tell she knew I was teasing and she could tell I knew she was teasing. I heard a loud conch horn blow and turned toward the gate blocking the spring from the rest of the forest. Malo was gone; he had probably gone to find out how I had gotten in. Epona whined in pure fear. I could tell that if anyone got through those gates she would bolt like a madman. Madwoman. Mad mare. There, she would bolt like a mad mare. Once the horn-blowing monsters crashed through the gate, Ilia tried running for the tunnel, where she knew she couldn't get hurt. I knew I couldn't get hurt there, too, but I stood where I was, bracing myself to get killed. One of the boar-riding things brought out a bow and arrows. He aimed right at me. I got ready to be shot, but instead it rode straight past me and shot Ilia. "No! Ilia!" As soon as I finished saying this, I got clubbed over the head. I woke several minutes later to find no one at the spring, not even Epona. I looked around, just to make sure no one was hiding, got to my feet once I was sure, and bolted as fast as I could toward Faron Woods. After I crossed the bridge, I got to a strange glowing barrier. It was black and brown, with strange symbols all over it. I stared in shock at it; it pulsed with a strange fury that I'd never seen before. A large, pitch-black hand reached out and grabbed me. I could feel the fury pulsing in this creature's veins as well. The hand pulled me through the barrier, and I shrieked in pain. The Twilight burned me; it felt as if I were being roasted over a fire. I shrieked again when a blinding light shook the world. The thing dropped me and staggered off. I still couldn't see what it was, but then again, I couldn't see anything because my head was throbbing. Something in my stomach burned, then in my back. I felt something around my butt, something… furry? I shrieked one last time and fainted with the notion that I was some sort of dog-human thing.
I woke up after what seemed like a million years. I could still feel the fur on my back. I looked down; what I saw shocked me out of my skin. I had paws, and I was chained to something in the ground. I turned in a circle and tried to look at my butt. I succeeded, and (to my dismay) found furry back with a tail attached to the end. I groaned. I heard a small giggle behind me, and turned, expecting to see Ilia. What I saw instead was a small floating imp with green and black markings on her skin. She had a rocky helmet on her head, and her orange hair flowed perfectly behind her. I instantly knew her name, for some reason. I hadn't ever met her before, but I knew her. It must be some weird power of hers or something. I opened my mouth and a bark came out. I closed my mouth hurriedly and tried to think of why I couldn't talk. Then it dawned on me: I was a dog. Duh. But the little imp seemed to understand me just fine. "Hiya! I'm… well you probably already know my name, don't you, little doggy? Hee-hee!" She bounced off to one side of the cage after knocking my jaw upward gently. "Woof woof wI here?" I suddenly realized I could understand myself. "…What did I just say, Midna?" "Oh, good, the little puppy can speak. Well, you just asked me why you were here, so I probably should explain. But after you meet a friend of mine!" I groaned at her, to which she replied, "Oh, you'll love her! …Honestly. She's a dog lover." "Oh, great. Now I have not only the mayor's daughter after me, but also a dog lover." "She's also a princess, you know." My jaw dropped. "Wait… do you mean the legendary Princess Zelda?!" "I wouldn't say legendary, puppy. She's the one who got your world into the Twilight! I actually love it, but then again, I'm talking to a Light-worlder." "And just what is that supposed to mean, impy?" "Hey, don't you – I need to take you to my friend. Get to the other side of that gat P." "Ha! I could get under there easily. With a little help, of course." I gestured with the chained paw. Midna apparently understood immediately and formed a small, sparking sphere between her hands. She split the sphere in two and immediately the chains shattered, startling me. She giggled and exploded into a cloud of bubbles, then rematerialized on the other side of the gate. "How did you – but how do I – but – but – butt – butt…" I realized I had started chasing my butt after I started saying that. I skidded to a halt and accidentally bashed a box with my brain. The crate shattered, opening a small hole where I could dig under and fit through, if I tried real hard. Midna, meanwhile, was laughing her little green butt off. "What's so funny?" "Oh, nothing, you just whacked your furry head against a crate." "Shut up, imp." There was a small silence after that where everything was frozen, time, anything that was moving, even the little floating Twili magic-formed cubes, which never seemed to harm me, just pass through me. Midna glowed with the fury of the Twilight Wall, as I now called it. I struggled to find a small tidbit of info that might calm her nerves. "Wait! Wait! I'm sorry! I'm a bad dog, okay? Whack me on the head, if it makes you feel better. Just don't go all Twilight Butt-kick on me!" "… O-kay then…" I sighed with relief; she had calmed down. I dug my way through the small opening underneath the gate. As I wiggled out, she jumped up and landed on my back. I didn't know this at the time, so I struggled to see who was attacking me. "Oh, stop it; you're tickling me with your fur!" I recognized that little impish laugh and calmed down. "Alright. Tell me where to go." "I don't know. I just found your location from one of the Twilight Guardians and teleported here." I sighed. This would be a long journey.