The setting sun glinted off the rooftops of Kakariko Village. The place was still bustling at this time of evening. But in a few short hours, everyone would shut themselves up in their homes. Dinner would be served; final chores completed; children put to bed. Silence would fall over Kakariko. Everyone would be asleep, comfy and safe in their beds.

Except for Forsaah.

She would be spending the night standing in front of the Shadow Temple, naginata gripped tightly in hand, constantly glancing behind her at the entrance. It sloped down…

Down into a pit where few ever returned from.

And those who did were never the same.

The temple housed shadow spirits, secrets, and horrors untold. And Forsaah was in charge of guarding the place all night, every night. Making sure nothing got in.

Or out.

It's not like she wasn't prepared if something did. She had spent years mastering magic that could defend her against…whatever was in there. And she could sound an alarm if she saw anything. Hundreds of skilled warriors would come, riding their shadowsteeds, and fight it.

Assuming it didn't destroy them all in one fell swoop.

Stop it, Forsaah told herself. The temple is getting to you. Nothing ever leaves the temple. It's always quiet.

Even so, her hand tightened on her naginata.

"A bit nervous tonight, are we?" said a voice somewhere in front of her.

Forsaah's heartrate went through the roof and she instinctively swung her weapon in a wide arc, summoning a blue light in about a ten-yard radius around her.

An old, one-eyed man hobbled into view. "Did I startle you, young one?" he asked.

She lowered her weapon. "I apologize, elder." She bowed respectfully to her elder. "The spirits of the temple were making my paranoia…extreme."

"It's quite all right, Forsaah." Penum was the village elder. He was and ancient, gnarled treestump of a man. Some said he lost his eye in a fight with a shadow spirit. But he always said it was in a fight with a horde of cuccos. In any case, it was said that with his one, abnormally blue eye, very unlike the crimson eyes of everyone else, he could see the truth.

"If I may ask, elder, why you are up at this time?" Forsaah said as respectfully as she could.

"Ah, straight to business as always, eh, Forsaah?" Penum chuckled. "I just wanted to check on you."

"I…I see."

"Also, you know, the spirits in there seem a bit… jumpy tonight, don't they?"

Forsaah's heartrate escalated to 200 miles per hour after that comment. 'Jumpy' shadow spirits?

No. Thanks.

"You seem the same way, Forsaah."

"Um…well…"

"Oh, its fine. I'd feel the same way too if I had to stay out here every night. And I was around when this temple had a purpose other than sittin' round lookin' creepy and ominous."

This piqued her curiosity. "You were?"

He let out a chuckle, which resonated into the dark. "Oh yes. I was young, remember, but I was there," his voice dropped to a whisper. "That place was used as a sort of prison, you see. It was supposed to be for those of us who chose to betray the Royal Family. Why they would ever do that is beyond me. But they did, and they tossed 'em into that there temple. No one knows what happened, but no one escaped the prison. Some say it was a torture chamber. Some say they were kept in solitude until they went crazy. Some say that the spirits of past prisoners whispered to them through the doors. Most of the prisoners just turned into harmless poltergeists, wandering the temple forever, but some, they say, were so evil that when they died, they morphed into creatures so terrible that no one would be able to lay eyes on them."

Forsaah couldn't help but glance back at the temple entrance behind her at this point.

"But after the Hyrulean Civil war, and our people grew scarce, eventually diminishing into this one community, they stopped using it, and the temple fell silent. But they say, that if the spirits were to escape, they would end the Sheikah. For good."

She let out her breath, which she had no idea she had been holding.

"Thanks for listenin' to me, young'un. I appreciate it." He said, his voice returning to normal.

"Yes…of course…."

And with that, she heard the old man's footsteps moving away into the darkness.

This was going to make her job so much easier.