CRASH!
The door to my tree house slammed shut as I practically flew outside and onto my beautiful horse, Epona. The second I was on her, she dashed toward Ordon Village, knowing exactly where we were going. I swear that horse can read my mind, sometimes, and it comes in handy almost always. My eyes are wide in shock as I realize the town alight with fire. What in the name of Nayru happened?! As Epona and I turn around, all the villages are staring at us. Just standing there. Like nothing's going on.
As I turn around once more, the fire is gone. OK, what the heck?! Something is seriously screwy here... In case no one noticed... If I didn't know better, I'd say someone wants to kill what little sanity I may have had left before they go for the rest of me. I swear, it feels like if nothing ever went wrong, the world wold implode in on it's self... Which brings my next question, why me?
Staring, completely and utterly perplexed, at the once burning village, something over by the entrance to the ranch caught my eye. No, not something, scratch that. Someone. Someone I know very well, and apparently Epona recognizes them, as well. As we move to face my childhood friend, a hooded figure with a sword looking somewhat akin to the Master Sword saunters up behind her, raising his (her/it's?) hand.
"Ilia! Ilia, run!" I practically scream as Epona makes a mad dash for our friend, no our best friend. Suddenly, we stop short as Ilia raises her hand and a gigantic ball of yellow energy flies into the sky.
In an instant, everything goes white, and suddenly I'm no longer on Epona. Surprised by this fact, Master Sword in hand, I scan the area around me for any sign at all and stop to look straight ahead of me.
For gosh sakes. I wonder sometimes if I've ever even had any sanity to begin with, let alone understood the meaning of the word. Sigh.
Right ahead and about my size is a black cauldron. With a person looking (not so strangely, surprisingly enough) like me. Again, Sigh. I wonder if any other Heroes before me went through things like this. My irritation suddenly shatters and shifts to anger and fear, but I just manage to keep it under control as my grip on the Master Sword tightens. I find in these situations it helps to focus anger by distracting myself.
"Link. I'm hungry, Link. You know what I want, Link, Hero of Light." I jump forward, twisting around to face my (I'm pretty sure, at least) host. As soon as I see, though, I wish I hadn't.
That... That thing was in a vision given to me by the spirit of light protecting Lanayru Province. That's one of the 'dark interlopers' from the vision. It looks just like me... For Din's sake, where is Midna when you need her? I could use with a description of this thing... Times like these I really miss her.
Fear aside, it looks like there is nothing for it but to press on. I dash for it, ready to take on whatever it supposedly has to dish out. However, if I'm correct in my assumptions and it is, in fact, a dark interloper, then I need to be absolutely sure of what it can do. But how do I assess it without gaining too much damage, not to mention let it on to what I'm doing? Because if this is what I fear, it should be either one of two things: capable of all of my abilities and dark magic (in other words a carbon copy of me but worse), or just a dark magician copying my form for a short while in order to distract me, but that doesn't necessarily make it better. So, in essence, I should be able to pick it out by forcing it to use one of my own abilities. This'll be harder than I thought. Just hope I get the chance.
As if in answer to my own hope, everything goes dark for a while, once again, and I can't see a darned thing. Well, so much for that plan. So, if nothing for it, I should at least go for my lantern, right? That's what any sane person would think, at least I would think so, since I no longer know what sane is. However, it seems that the goddesses or fate or whatever the heck is going on here are proving me wrong, yet again, because suddenly, it's too bright for me to see; momentarily blinding me. Sweet.
Once my vision adjusts, once again enabling me to see, I'm aware of Ilia once again (I wonder how many times I can use that in one sentence. Sigh). This time she stands right in front of me, just smiling, whispering something I can't quite make out. I'm seriously struggling to make out what it is, when my eyes go as wide as dinner plates.
"You're so dead for keeping me waiting." Holy crud. Well, Mr. Dark-Me/ Crazy-Interloper-Psychopath Person just popped up behind me and I'm pretty sure I've got absolutely zippo time to react. Something catches me completely by surprise, just as I lunge forward to try and gain distance, though.
"Come on, Link, Hero of Light. Feed me. Feed me memories. I want your memories!" it hisses in my ear as I continue to pull away. You know, just in case I haven't said this before, I'm saying it now... I have no idea what in the heck is going on.
Before I have time to react, however, I'm falling down the loft where my bed is and all the way to the floor. Completely shocked, I scramble to my feet and reach for the Master Sword. But it's not there. In an overwhelming rush of disappointment, I realize I don't have it. After Princess Zelda and I defeated the Evil King Ganondorf, I returned it to its pedestal. I haven't seen it since Midna left us to return to the Twilight Realm to regain her throne. That was five years ago. To tell the truth, I still haven't gotten over her, but I suppose I just have to get back to my life. It's not like there's anything else to do, right?
"Well? Come on, sleepyhead! It's time to take care of Epona. You promised me we would go to the spring like we used to. And it is our anniversary, remember? You sounded pretty hungry when you were asleep, you know." Ilia turns me around with my shoulder and plants a kiss on my cheek. As if by magic, my worries dissipate.
"Hey, it's not like I could forget something like this in only four years, you know. I deserve at least ten before you start calling me old!" We chuckle and head over to grab Epona. However, something stops me cold just before I shut the door.
"Don't forget to feed me, Link, Hero of Light." and suddenly, a barrage of laughter and hissing goes loose in my head.
FIN
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXX
AUTHOR'S NOTE
Well, guys, This officially marks my first completed fan fiction, ever! Hope you guys liked it, and definitely don't hold back with the reviews. I would love to hear everything from what you loved to what you didn't love, and especially what I need to improve upon. Thanks so much for taking the time to read this, and hopefully you enjoyed it!