Disclaimer: Part Two and still I don't own Legend of Zelda... However I do own this trilogy thing, so that's something, I guess.
Prologue: Darkness Calls
Midna ran. The monster followed. She dodged through, around, and between the shadowy distortions that filled the landscape- so like the Twilight and so very different- yet the creature kept pace.
After what felt like eternity, when she could run no longer and take no more, Midna stopped and fired a volley of magic missiles. The attack missed, the missiles hitting either the warped land or continuing on into the pitch-black horizon. The monster was nowhere to be seen.
A beam of Dark Magic shot from the shadows, striking Midna head on. She flew back with a cry, landing heavily upon her side, the breath leaving her body on impact.
As Midna struggled to breathe and to regain her feet, a figure approached, its armor clinking with each step. Midna looked up, only to find herself unable to breathe once more.
Zant, clad in his ceremonial shadow armor, looked down upon her through the slits in his helmet. In his hands he carried the Twilit Grimoire.
Midna froze; he couldn't be here, couldn't be real, couldn't be alive.
"Darkness is calling, princess," he told her quietly, stroking the Grimoire's spine. "It's calling out for you."
Zant walked to her side and knelt down. Midna raised her hand to strike him. He grabbed her wrist, the metal of his gauntlet bitingly cold. The silver plates that made up his helm began to click back as it disassembled itself to reveal its owner's face. Her face.
"Darkness is calling, princess," Midna's double repeated. "And it's past time you answered." So saying, the doppelganger thrust the Grimoire into Midna's hands. Its touched burned like fire, even as the gauntlet's burned as ice.
Midna gasped but bit back a scream as the pain consumed her.
Midna awoke drenched in cold sweat within the Palace of Twilight. She was not, however, in her rooms. She was in a hall with one hand on the rune that would open the door leading to the Twilit Grimoire- she'd moved it from her chambers once the dreams started. Her other hand gripped the formers wrist, tight enough to draw rivulets of blood. This wasn't the first time this had happened. The Grimoire was rather unhappy with the recent turn of events in the Twilight and with its continuing confinement.
It called out. It cried and screamed. It howled and yelled. It commanded and begged. It whispered suggestions and murmured ideas. All without cease, for the Twilit Grimoire was not made to assist the Light, but to rage on in the Dark. As it had always done, when in the hands of a mortal. Until now. The Grimoire's previous 'masters' had all been so easy to manipulate, their wills crushed within seconds, but this one, this Twilight Princess, refused to be broken, no matter what tactics it employed.
But even the most steadfast cannot hold out forever. The princess would fall to pieces soon enough and the Twilit Grimoire would take its pleasure, wreaking havoc and bloodshed.
It was only a matter of time.
Midna knew that all too well. She would break eventually. She only hoped that before that happened she, Link, and Zelda returned the Relics to the Temple of Time. But that was still a long way off; she could not yet afford to leave the Twilight, no matter how brief the absence, not only for the chance of an emergency arising while she was away, but to show her people that she would not run, not again.
With a resigned sigh, the Twilight Princess whispered a healing spell for her wrist, grateful Zelda had taught her the rudiments of curative magic before she left, and began the walk back to her rooms.
Deep within the roiling depths of the Dark Realm a shadow watched growing more impatient with each passing moment. It wanted release and Midna's stubborn will was all that stood in its way. Centuries of careful planning and waiting were finally paying off. It would not allow Midna to muck it up. She would be dealt with as soon as possible.
Author's Note: Here it is. Ta-da. Yeah... Anywho, I hope you like the Prologue- sorry it's short, but hey, it's a prologue- and... uh... welcome back those of you who choose to continue reading this trilogy. ... I feel like I should say something profound, but I can't think of anything... Oh well. Read and Review. Or Flame. I don't mind.
Hey, anyone know if 'prologue' can be spelled 'prolouge'? I always thought it was, but spell check says no. Could it be the British version or something? Like 'theater' versus 'theatre' or 'color' and 'colour'.
-TG