Ch 1: Formation
It felt like every thing he had done had been for naught. He had lost track of how long it had been since he had left Ordon. Weeks? Months? And now all he had toiled for, all he had bled for and accomplished was tossed aside like so much scrap. Even worse, Zelda's sacrifice to save Midna…
Link tried to cast a covert glance at her over his shoulders, however it was very difficult with the long wolf snout. He was happy that Midna was still alive. He would have been devastated had she actually died; lost without her insight to the twilight. Yet after Zelda vanished it seemed Link's only hopes had gone too. Now they only had one chance. The sword. He padded through the forest, following the strange boy-like creature and its bizarre puppets. He could feel Midna's heels dig into his flanks whenever she felt he was not progressing fast enough. Strangely enough he was becoming accustomed to his wolf form. He was not sure to be comforted or disturbed by that.
The guardian statues had admitted them and the two of them entered the sheltered grove that served as the resting place of the legendary Master Sword. As he passed between the guardians, he could feel hope returning. The grove felt good. It felt right. Like no evil could taint it. He could almost hear it whispering…
The Master Sword! The Sword of Evil's Bane! The Sword Evil cannot touch!
Chosen Hero! Take it in hand! Cast down the Shadow!
It could work. All could yet be saved. He increased his pace, trotting forward to retrieve the sword, though how he would in his wolf form, he was not quite sure. However, he stopped when he heard the whispers change from coaxing confidence, to alarm.
You are tainted! You are tainted! Purge the darkness! Remove the Shadow!
Tainted? Link did not even have time to register the thought before the shockwave washed over him. Midna let out a cry of alarm and her small fists instantly griped painful handfuls of his fur. It hurt, but he ignored it. The sword must have sensed Zant's curse. Link dug in and tried to press forward to claim the sword, Midna holding valiantly to his coat. One step. Link felt a pain in his head. Like a burning hot poker, yet from the inside, threatening to drive him mad. He ignored the pain, choosing to focus on Midna's brash demands of an explination, though unintelligible over the wind, he could tell she was scared and hiding it. Two steps. He heard a scream, but it was not Midna, and it clearly could not be him. But after a moment he realized that it was him. Three steps. Midna was suddenly torn from his back, tumbling out of the clearing, swearing at the top of her lungs. Four steps. He was almost there.
The Twilight and the Darkness! The Shadow is impure! Purge them all!
Five steps. Link felt something tear away from him, and at the same time, the screaming was silenced. Six steps. He could not go on. The pain from his head was too much. His vision blurred, his legs faltered…
The golden triangle on the back of his paw flared to life suddenly. He would not give up. He would succeed. He felt the pain suddenly leave him. The curse was suddenly blasted from him, and he stumbled to his two human feet, ready to struggle against the force from the sword. He promptly fell on his face. The grove was tranquil once more. All was silent.
The Twilight and the Darkness, the curse has been purged.
Link stood up, strode boldly to the small altar that housed the Master sword. His hands griped the azure handle and pulled the shining white blade from its stone. He felt power surge through his arms as he held the sword up to the light. Behind him, he barely heard Midna murmur: "The sword has accepted him as its master…"
Link let his arms fall back to his sides. He felt exhausted, drained completely. He almost felt weak, but with a newfound strength from the sword in his hands. He felt like he could sleep for a week. He turned to tell Midna something along those lines in an attempt to act more confident than he felt when the air was rent with an ear piercing scream. He whirled around. It was not Midna screaming this time either. It was his voice, but not from his lungs.
On the ground at the entrance to the grove, was a dark shape, like shadows made solid. Even as he watched, more darkness gathered and formed to the figure. Even dark squares he had only seen from twilight were being absorbed, much in the way Link had seen the Fused Shadows form. When the transformation stopped, the complete solid form was visible for a mere instant, but it was more than enough for Link to recognize it. How could he not recognize it?
The figure was him. It was him made of darkness and twilight, with glowing red eyes. For an instant the figure was solid, then dark smoke began to boil off of it and it screamed again with Link's voice, though it sounded very far away, distorted as if under water. The figure, the Shadow Link forced himself to one knee, his blood red eyes scanning vacantly.
"Where am I?" he shouted. His gaze flitted around, grazing over Midna for a moment before resting on Link. "Who are you?" He held out his hands and looked down at himself. Though he was only a solid black form, it was obvious that his form was identical to Link's. "Who am I?" His form wavered, and even more smoke began to pour off of him, he seemed to grow less solid, less substantial with each question. He forced himself to his feet and wavered again. "Who am I?!" he demanded again.
Link was stunned. He looked to Midna for some explanation but she looked just as dumb struck as he felt. She looked like she fought, but failed to suppress, the urge to point at the dark and smoking, figure. "He's you!"
Link started to respond but was cut short again. "I'm you? But…" The figure looked down at himself again and wavered even more this time. "I'm… a… Shadow…" The figure wavered yet again, seeming on the verge of vanishing entirely when Link heard a whisper from the Master Sword in his grasp.
It is a Shadow of the Hero's radiance. A ghost of a time best forgotten…
The Shadow Link looked up; Link guessed it must have heard it too. The shadow wavered again, then there was an explosion, much like the one Link had felt before from the Master Sword, but this time everything went black and he heard his Shadow scream "NO!"
As suddenly as it had come, the darkness was gone. The Shadow Link stood firm. His form no longer wavering and only the slightest tendrils of smoke seeped from his body. His body and clothes also had gained definition; he was no longer a purely black shape. Strapped to his back was an empty scabbard, no sword nor shield was in his grasp, yet Link tightened his grip on the Master Sword anyway. He felt it distinctly. The hatred and desire to kill, radiating from his shadow self.
The Shadow Link stalked forward. "I am ME! I am my own being!" He raised his hand and with a "flash" of darkness and the roar of gathering twilight, he held a sword, identical to the Master Sword, but with a bright red hilt and dark steel blade. Link was so shocked; he almost forgot to raise his shield to block the strike.
The shock held him back for several seconds. Within that time he had nearly died four times, just managing to raise his shield, or use his sword to deflect the attack at the very last instant. Finally, as the latest strike neared, Link heard Midna scream. Coming to his senses, link bashed his shield forward, forcing his shadow self back on his heels and slashing down with the deceptively light Master Sword. The shadow's red eyes widened, and he raised his right arm as if to ward off the blow, but with no shield one arm could barely hope to slow down the attack. The fight was over.
But the Master Sword stopped dead, held fast by the shield that had materialized on Shadow Link's arm. Link hopped back. That was not fair. But at least now they were on even footing. The two of them squared off, and circled one another very slowly. Link could feel the shadow's eyes piercing into his own, as if reading the depths of his soul. His legs were heavy. He had been tired when he had reached the grove, and with the Master Sword's defensive purging of both the curse and this shadow had left him ready to drop. Link's only comfort was in watching the smoke continuing to rise in ever increasing amounts from his shadow. The Shadow Link also mirrored his ragged breathing but would not back down.
There was a small crack, followed by a roar. Both Links turned in time to see a familiar orange bolt of energy surge forward and strike the Shadow Link in the side, launching him into the air to land in a heap near the entrance to the grove. Midna hovered forward next to Link.
"That's enough! I don't know who you are or where you came from, but you better run if you know what's good for you!" Midna folded her arms across her chest and smiled smugly. The Shadow Link struggled to his feet, smoke more obviously seeping off of him once more. "And why is that?" he demanded, but Midna merely pointed behind him. The Shadow Link turned in time to see the guardians of the grove come to life once again.
"Darkness! Destroy the darkness!" The guardians hefted their spears and began advancing on the shadow. The Shadow Link turned from the guardians, to Midna, then to Link. "This isn't over!" he shouted, then vanished, much the same way Midna did when she teleported through the twilight. As soon as he was gone the guardians returned to their post and became lifeless statues once more.
Midna floated forward a little more and "harrumph"ed. "What in the hell was that Link?" She tossed her hair irritably when he did not reply. "Link?" She turned in time to watch him collapse. "Link!"