Far Away, In a Shadowy Land
Chapter One: Beasts From Another Land
Link sighed as he looked at Castle Town's gate in the distance, people flooding in, even at this time, when night and day overlapped, at twilight. Many were Hyrulean, walking with their children or their dates. Others, however, were foreigners from the West. It was fairly difficult to distinguish the two groups from each other, as many of the foreigners sported the pointed ears associated with Hylians, added to the fact that most of them spoke Hylian. The rest of the foreigners were an odd assortment of short, stocky men with beards, a few small reptilian creatures similar to Lizalfos, and many people similar to Link's Ordanian family, with rounded ears.
Link hadn't been to Castle Town for over a year, not since Zelda had given him an honorary knighthood. People talked about the event like it was some grand festival, but Link's thoughts had been preoccupied during the affair. Constantly repeating Midna's last words: "Link, I…, See you later". He'd left before the festivities, returning home to Ordon.
Link had tired to start things back up with Ilia, but he could never get Midna's face out of his head, along with her last words. He'd spent dozens of sleepless nights thinking about them, pondering their meaning. He had eventually come to the conclusion that she could have only meant to say one thing, but that had only brought more unanswerable questions. Why did she not Finish? Would he be feeling this way if she had just said it? If she had, would she let him come with her, or even stay with him?
Link decided that these questions were unhelpful. He decided he just needed to move on. He had spent the last year at the ranch, herding the goats and practicing swordplay like before the Twilight, but he couldn't fool himself. He would often go to the Sacred Grove to think, sitting at the foot of the Master Sword's pedestal, asking more questions. Could he still hold the sword? If he did, could he find a way to find her? He decided one day to just stop, to just stop thinking about it, to put it down deep. Except at twilight. He allowed himself his feelings then.
He'd taken the village kids to Castle Town for the foreign circus. They'd already gone inside earlier, while Link pondered whether of not to go as well. He briefly thought about how much of a pain it would be to be caught, be quickly dismissed it. Not many people had even ever seen him up close, and even if he was wearing his green tunic, he would have been lost amongst a sea of people in performance garb from faraway lands.
As the darkness of night crept onto the field, Link mounted Epona and road towards the gate. He had nothing better to do, and besides, maybe a foreign taste might be enough to take his mind off things.
The day's main attraction appeared to be a circus. The colossal red stripped tent that the event was held up had been set up on the other side of Hyrule Field, and looked large enough to seat thousands. A tall, grey skinned man stood at the entrance of the tent, collecting rupees from those entering. He was rather brutish, with his lower canines pointing out of his mouth like tusks, with many scars crossing his already ugly face. "Twenty rupees," He said in a low, mean tone.
"That's a bit steep, don't you think?" Link said, counting out several of the colored gems and placing them in the bouncer's outstretched hands.
The grey man counted the rupees in his hands "Your money grow on trees, in grass. Mine from earth and hill," He said, ushering Link in.
The interior of the tent seemed somehow larger that the exterior. Several stands of benches surrounded the center circle, which was at least a hundred feet across. Hundreds of people crowded the stands, with several brightly dressed men selling odd foreign treats that smelled sweet and large tankards of ale. All of this was lit by orbs of light hanging in the air. Link climbed a set of benches to the top and sat next to one of the short bearded men he had seen earlier. "How did they make those lights?" Link asked.
"It's magic," The man answered in a low, gruff voice. "Pretty simple I hear."
"Magic, really?" Throughout his entire adventure, Link had seen a fair bit of magic, but most of it had been Midna's Twili magic, and most of that had seemed pretty situational. "Do you have a lot of magic in your lands?"
"Shhhhhh! It's starting," The lights above the stands dimmed as a brightly dressed man took to the center of the tent. His coat was bright red, his boots red and blue, and he wore black and white stripped tights.
"Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, people of Hyrule! I welcome you to the Circus of Amazement!" His voice seemed to be coming from every direction, almost like there was an echo. "For our first display, we'll show you something scary, something terrifying, something mysterious even in my homeland," He raised his hand to the side of the ring, to an area of impenetrable of darkness that Link could swear hadn't existed a moment before.
"From far away, in a shadowy land, I present you with the Shadow Binders and their Screaming Beast!" From the darkness emerged five tall, slender men in black ropes and rune covered masks, holding chains that extended into the darkness. Each mask was flat and grey, featuring a unique blood red symbol in its center. As they walked into the light, they tugged hard on the chain, and the creature crawled out.
The first part to come out were its front limbs. They were long and slender, completely blacked, and looked more like arms than legs. The next part was its face, if you could call it that. It seemed to be wearing a intricately carved stone mask bigger than its head, with odd, hair-like tendrils coming out the back of its head. The rest of its body was coal black, but had red lines crossing its body. As it was pulled into the light, it let out a long, mournful screech that sent some in the audience.
Link had heard that screech several times before, and the sound itself didn't phase him. But of all watching he was affected the most. It was a Shadow Beast, from the Twilight Realm.
Somewhere, somebody could get there.