Ok maybe I should think back on that last thought. This whole 'adventure in the darkness' thing, it was going to end really badly. No… bad is an understatement. There are no words to describe how bad this will finish.

The first thing I see when I enter the cave? Well it was kind of hard to see, but having some wolf traits did help, I could see something. It was a large dark room, with a round stone thing in the middle. So perhaps I've stumbled into some strange place where they do weird rituals.

That would have been nicer than the truth, or maybe it was the truth. The walls had caught my attention, so I walked over to investigate. There were strange little lumps sticking out of a wall, so I reached up to touch one of these said lumps, and guess what? A skull popped out and landed on my foot.

It wasn't shaping up to be a good day. That skull really hurt, it's not like my boots are made of iron or anything.

So now I guess I've stumbled into some place where crazy people had decided that their main home decor would be skull walls? No wonder Shad looked nervous when he saw the inscription. He must have had some idea on what this place was about.

So that's where I am now, contemplating running for my life, or going in deeper to see what other creepy shit these people decorated with.

I really want to listen to the part of me that's saying run for my life, but I've never been one to back down from a challenge.

And I still had that pulling feeling in my gut. I need to go down there, and unless I listen to what my instincts are telling me, I'm not going to be able to rest.

So with that thought in my head, I picked up an old torch that was hanging off one of the walls and lit it.

Bad idea.

Now it looked like the walls were staring at me. Now all they need to do is start talking. Or maybe pop out a skeleton.

That would be my limit.

"Shadow temple... Here is gathered Hyrule's bloody history of greed and hatred."

"Shit..." I backed away from the walls as they continued to talk.

"One who gains the Eye of Truth will be able to see what is hidden in the darkness."

Eye of Truth? I don't think I have anything like that.

I stepped around the alter and stopped in front of the tunnel leading down into the darkness. A cold wind blew past me and ruffled my hair.

It was now or never.

"Hey!"

That voice… is that Midna?

No, her voice is not that high pitched. I turned towards the voice, almost expecting to see some deformed skeleton creature waving a bloody arm at me, but instead (thank the Goddesses) my eyes were filled with a very bright blue light.

The source: a floating puff ball.

"Hey! You can't go in there- Link!"

It started flying in circles around me.

"My name is Link, but I can confidently say I've never met you before... What are you? A soul? An over grown fire fly?"

"No I'm a fairy! Don't you remember me?" It flew closer to get a better look at me. "Wait! You're not my Link!" It flew into my face and bounced off my nose.

I guess it doesn't care about personal space…

"Your Link? Did you date a guy named Link before?" What a weird bug, but it didlook like those fairy's back in Ordon.

"No you idiot! He was my partner!"

That's nice, so this Link she was talking about had a side kick...

"Did your Link have the Ocarina of Time?" I asked her.

The book did mention something about a fairy.

"Yes he was the hero of time!" It was flying around me again; its voice is really annoying.

I pulled out the book, finding the page on fairies. It took me a few seconds to find a scripture on a fairy named Navi. "So your name is Navi?"

"Yes! Yes! So are you the new hero? Hero of what? Time? Music? Something? Nothing?"

She was talking too fast; I tried to block her out. My sensitive ears were not pleased with her shrilly voice.

"Are you going to answer me?" She asked while smacking into my face again.

I really wish she would stop flying in my face like that.

"If I was a hero of anything...It would have to be...maybe twilight?" I guess that would fit. That's how I saved this land; I battled the twilight, forced out the darkness, and became a part of the darkness.

Yeah, it fit.

"Twilight? Cool! So what were you doing in here? You know this is the Shadow Temple right? There are a lot of scary things down there!"

No, the talking skull walls didn't give me that view on this place at all. "So? I want to find out what's down there."

I didn't want to tell her about how I needed to go down there. I barely know her after all.

"Really? You're weird! I know my way around here, so why don't I show you around?"

Yeah right. And slowly lose my sanity? "I prefer to do things by myself."

She flew past me. "Great! Let's go!"

No way in hell.

I turned and walked down the corridor in an attempt to get away from her, and that's... when my torch died. "Well I guess I can't blame it... It was pretty old," I said sadly.

"That's why I'm here!"

Great, now there's a reason for her to tag along. "Lead the way then, Navi..."

We took a sharp right turn. She stopped. I kept walking, and I was about to ask her why she wasn't following, but when I took my next step I found that there was nothing to step on and soon found myself falling.

"GAH!"

"Watch out!"

What was the point of that? I already fell!

Luckily I had enough sense to grab onto the side of the hole before I fell to my death. "Thanks for the warning, but you could have said something sooner."

"Well you should have watched where you were going."

I guess I'm supposed to see into the future now too... Women…

I pulled myself up and glared at the light bulb. "If you haven't noticed, helping me see is the reason you're here."

"If you're going to be a jerk about it, maybe I'll just leave then."

So it's come to threats has it? I pulled out a bottle and waited until she had her back turned. When the opportune moment presented itself I then swooped her inside and corked it. "Good now you can serve as a lantern."

I win today.

"Just you wait until I get out of here!"

Too bad the bottle isn't sound proof.

At least it will serve as an excellent cage to present her to Shad in. I'm sure he'll be thrilled, he's never seen a fairy before, at least not that I know of.

I eyed the other side of the hole. It was defiantly too far to jump, and there were no ledges that I could shimmy across.

That's when I noticed the target. It looked kind of worn, but if I could just make it over there and then grab onto the ledge...

"Use the Hook-Shot you dumb human!"

Ouch… First I meet a ghost that insults my intelligence, and now a fairy that insults my race.

Peachy.

I tied the bottle to my belt and took out the Hook-Shot. I aimed for the target and pressed the button. I got to the other side pretty quick, and I even managed to grab hold of the ledge.

"Yay! You did it!"

It's really not all that hard… This is why I don't talk though, I'm too rude.

I climbed up a let out the breath I didn't know I was holding and my heart almost stopped when I got a good look at the wall. It looked like a giant face had been stretched over it.

Creepy.

I took a step towards it. Where am I supposed to go now?

"The shadow will yield only to one with the Eye of Truth handed down in Kakariko village."

Thanks creepy wall, I'll check that out next time I'm there.

Navi bumped around in her jar and said, "Oh just walk through it already! I would tell you to use the Lens of Truth, but humans don't have any magic, so you can't use it."

I ignored her, which was becoming hard to do… and walked through the wall. It had a similar feeling to having Dampe's ghost floating through me, cold and uncomfortable.

I found myself in a larger room. Navi's light didn't reach far enough to show me the entire thing, but it showed me the giant bird statue thing in the middle of the room. It seemed the entire temple's theme was based off of some form of horror or torture.

Now I'm really glad I didn't bring Shad with me, the look he gave me earlier must have been because he knew something about this place.

And it wasn't a good something…

"Make my beak face the skull of truth, the alternative is descent into the deep darkness."

Touching the bird statue or taking a trip to hell? I'll pass on both thanks.

"Just ignore it! You want to go see the cool parts of the temple right? You have to go into the next room! And one more thing! Take out your Hover Boots! You're going to need them!"

Well maybe she is good for some things. I followed her instructions and pulled my boots off so I could slip on the boots. I had a feeling that I wouldn't need them for too long so I tied my other boots onto my belt.

The Hover Boots were hard to walk in; it felt like I was walking on ice. I almost slipped off the ledge into the next random hole in the floor. They seemed to levitate with every step I took, they didn't hover for long though, if I stood still long enough they stopped.

"Only one who has sacred feet can cross the valley of the dead."

I looked at my feet, noting how un-sacred they were.

"It's Ok! Just run over onto the tongue!"

"Tongue?" Now that's creepy. I stared at the slab of stone, wondering if it would come to life if I touched it. Then I looked into the darkness below me. I was hoping it was the wind, but I was pretty sure I was hearing screams of people being tortured down there.

Navi cackled delightedly, "If you fall, you join the other souls down there and you will be tortured for all eternity!"

"You're getting a kick out of this aren't you?"

"Yep! I always loved watching my Link squirm. He wasn't good in places like this thanks to a traumatic experience as a kid."

This is turning out to be a strange day. I talked to a ghost, and I got partnered up with a sadistic fairy!

I took another deep breath and held it, and then ran as fast as I could.

I'm not sure what happened next. Maybe the boots ran out of magic because they were so old or maybe I didn't run fast enough. But the next thing I knew, it felt like the ground had left under my feet and I was falling so fast my lungs couldn't catch air.

This is it. I'm going to die.

I never thought I would be so calm. Of course I've faced death before, and I always seemed to keep it together then too. But there had always been a slight possibility that I would make it out alive.

Not this time.

I was either falling to my death or falling into a pit of lost souls.

Lose, lose situation none the less.

I was quite content to just let gravity over take me and end it quick, but the stupid puff ball was screaming at me to do something. Do what? Flap my arms and hope that I magically grow wings? Really, like that would ever happen!

"Shut up bug... Can't you see I'm trying to die?" I finally managed to say over the wind. I never liked bugs, and she wasn't helping me change my perspective.

"I'm not a bug! I'm a fairy! Now would you stop being stupid and attempt to save us?!"

Stupid huh? "What do you 'oh mighty puff ball of knowledge' suggest we do then?"

"Well there's this trick Link used to do with the-" She cut herself off as she looked down. "Oh for the love of the Goddesses let me out of the bottle now!"

What was wrong with her now? It can't be much worse than dying. I looked down towards the...green water we were falling toward. It looks slimy...wait, water! Maybe I can just dive in and hopefully not break anything during contact.

"What are you doing you moron? That's a huge mass of dead souls! Not water!"

"Oh shit..." That doesn't sound like something you'd want to take a swim in. I pulled out Navi's bottle and opened it. No point in killing her too.

Though it might save a future hero some headaches.

I should have never come down here. Shad was right, and now he wasn't even going to know what happened to me.

I felt a light tug on my hand. It was just the bug. She was fluttering her wings as fast as she could, it looked like she was trying to slow down my fall and fly us to safety, but her little wings were too small to carry both our weight.

I didn't have much warning when we hit the green stuff. It was freezing; it felt like it was stealing every source of heat in my body. I could have sworn cold lifeless arms were wrapping themselves around me and dragging me away from the surface.

Besides being totally numb, the air was knocked out of me from the fall, and now on top of everything I was drowning.

I grabbed Navi and held her tightly to my chest. I don't know why the stupid bug didn't fly away when she had the chance.

It was very dark, or was it like that because I had my eyes closed? I willed my muscles to move, it really hurt though. My eyelids slid open and I was greeted by the sight of... Oh isn't this lovely... A women's deformed face.

I quickly began clawing in an upwards direction, well hopefully it leads upwards, because if it leads downwards I'm officially screwed.

And I guess my luck didn't run out for today. I broke the surface and started gasping for air. The cold hands were pulling against me still, trying to drag me back under water. My arm broke free and I threw Navi into the air.

"Link are you Ok?" She was doing it again... Flying around my head in circles.

"Yes I perfectly fine, I'll be right back. I'm just going to have a tea party with these dead souls..." What a stupid question. Does it look like I'm fine?

"Use your Hook-Shot to grab onto something!"

Easier said than done.

I pulled out the Hook-Shot with maximum effort and aimed in a random direction. My vision is starting to go; it was covered with black spots. I'm probably falling unconscious, but my body is so numb right now... I can't tell.

"Hurry up before your life energy drains!"

Life energy? I don't know what the hell that is, but it sounds important.

One of the hands groped me. Yes, a dead person grabbed my ass. Probably that deformed girl looking for a date. Sorry, I plan to stay single for a while yet.

I pushed the trigger and prayed it would latch.

It did, and it almost tore my arm off.

I felt that one; every muscle in my right arm felt like it was on fire now. I must have torn something, probably muscle but it could have been tendons… it hurt like a bitch.

My back hit the ground, knocking the breath out of me again. The world was spinning and changing colors. Was the green stuff some kind of hallucinate drug?

Navi was quick to hover in front of my face again, making my vision even worse. "Hey! Is your arm Ok? I heard it snap!"

So my arm was broken? Fantastic. Well at least it's the right arm. If my sword arm was injured, that would really suck.

"Are you cold? I should build a fire!"

She landed on my chest and started bouncing. Maybe I should have let her drown. My body shivered in response to her question though. I need to get warm.

At least I wasn't wet though, that green stuff I feel into wasn't any type of liquid then.

Rolling onto my stomach, I searched for something that could be used for fire wood.

Nothing. Just darkness.

"I found a box over here! I'll use magic to light it on fire! So hurry up and come over!"

"Over where?" My sight was still not the best right now. It was like looking through a dense fog.

I felt the flutter of her wings on my face.

"Come on! If you don't get warm you'll die!"

I nodded, then using my left hand to support my weight, I slowly got to my feet, but I fell to my knees before I could stand up straight. I was too damn dizzy.

"Crawl over if you have to!"

She was tugging on my ear now. Damn it was getting hard to concentrate. A small nap right now would be nice.

"Don't fall asleep! Come on Link! Get up!"

My body obeyed her more than my mind did. It's desire for warmth might have had something to do with it.

"That's good! Just sit there!"

I sat, and stared at the area in front of me. I could barely make out the silhouette of a large box. Then there was a bright light.

"There! That should do it! Now... Do you have anything that we can make a sling out of?"

"I-I have s-some cloth i-in my b-bag" I could feel myself shivering again. That means the numbness is leaving. I hope that's a good sign.

"Take that out... Well... when you can move again! It shouldn't take too long!" She landed on my good shoulder and patted my cheek, offering me some comfort.

I was glad for it.

Her words couldn't comfort me when my body finally came out of shock. I could feel my arm now. I did a lot more than break it.

It felt like it took forever before I could move my good arm to get the extra cloth out of my bag. Navi had found some small sticks that I could use to support it with. She had to help me secure the sling, and it was a lot harder to do it with one arm and a fairy.

I waited for my vision to finally clear before I stood up to test my legs. I didn't fall over so that was good. Now if I could just get the hell out of here, I was done with exploring this place, it wasn't worth what my instincts were telling me.

"Now follow me! I know this place well! And the exit is over here!"

"Is the bug getting scared now?" She probably just can't handle being around a person who doesn't like to talk much.

"No... It's not that! I can sense a strong evil spirit down here! And you're in no condition to fight it!"

"Excuses."

"No I'm te-

A loud moaning sound cut her off.

This moan wasn't like the echo-y moans that I had heard before I fell down into this pit of hell, no this moan sounded like those Redead things that Mr. Ghost had warned me about.

Navi flew behind me, and hid under my hat.

"ReDeads... um do you like dead things Link?"

Yes... I'm a necrophiliac... "Not really..."

"Then run!"

"Where?"

"Go up the ladder beside you, jump on the boat, and then play Zelda's lullaby to make it move!"

A boat? These people had a boat in their home? What a bunch of freaks... Of course I wouldn't count this place as a home...

"Go now! I can hear them!"

"I know... It's not hard to miss.." The dragging sound was getting closer to me.

"Link! Look out!"

She turned yellow, which for some reason scared me more than the sudden weight that had accumulated on my back. I rolled forward and fangs ripped open my shoulder, but I managed to knock off whatever had jumped me.

The right side of my body was getting beaten up badly today.

I ran for the ladder, and then latched onto it like it was my life line. Climbing it with one arm was going to be a challenge.

Half way up, one of the Redead things screamed. Now that shit was scary. I thought back to the time when Midna had given me the mental images of Ganondorf in bondage gear. That had been the scariest thing I had experienced at that time in my life. But this scream was much scarier.

How the hell did we get into that conversation in the first place?

"Hey Navi? You still alive?"

"Yes! I'm right behind you! Now climb the damn ladder!"

Man she was pushy.

I made it to the top, just barely. The exertion on my injured body was starting to get to me; I was sweating more out of pain than exhaustion now.

And where the hell was the boat?

"Over here! Just jump on the boat and play Zelda's lullaby!"

When she flew over to the edge of the platform we were on, I could see the... Boat... I thought she said boat... This was a ship... And it had the head of a bird carved into the front of it.

This boat was creepy.

I jumped onto it anyway.

"So where's the exit again?" I took out the ocarina and the book. Zelda's lullaby didn't look too hard to play on a good day, but with my arm busted it was going to be a challenge.

"Well we were going to leave, but I'm afraid the exit is now blocked by ReDeads, so were going to defeat the evil I sensed, and look for a new way out!"

Great... I'm going to fight a very intense battle with one arm, a flute, a sword and a fairy who can turn into a lemon.

My life is so wonderful... I should write a book.

Instead I said, "sound's fun. Do I have to steer this thing? Or wil-

"The spirits will guide it!"

"Great, spirits... They were so helpful last time too." I held the ocarina up to my lips carefully and played the song as quickly as I could before my arm could protest too much.

The ship creaked and shuddered, then it began to move. Unfortunately the moving up and down started to make me seasick. I stood at the front of the boat and looked in the direction it was sailing.

And then I heard the thud behind me.

I really hate this temple.

I turned to see a huge skeleton wielding a very blood rusted sword.

"Watch out!" Navi turned yellow again, and flew towards the walking creep so I could see it better.

I unsheathed my sword and got into my fighting stance. I couldn't use my shield but I was confident in my skills without it.

Then it laughed at me.

It was a very taunting laugh, like somehow; I being alive and looking totally beaten to hell already was funny. But being a bunch of walking bones, with a manly laugh and no brains wasn't.

I attacked first, slicing my sword toward its head.

It jumped back and then with a strange battle cry, it jump attacked me.

Hey... That was one of my favorite finishing moves. I blocked then pushed him back, leaving him wide open. I spun around and hacked him in half.

Score one for the crippled hero.

"Link! The boat is sinking! Jump off now!"

The boat was sinking back into perverted souls...

No.

I jumped and landed. Well I landed on my ass... But I still landed.

"Good! Now take out your Lens of Truth!"

I gave her a dirty look. "But I thought I needed magic to use it?"

"Oh... Well we really suck then! Onwards to die!"

Well someone's optimistic.

But before she could lead me to the next room, a very loud roar rang through the air, so loud in fact that it shook the ground I was standing on. That is never a good sign.

Navi flailed and bumped into me. "That must be the monster I've been sensing! Get ready!"

"Would you stop yelling? I'm the only one here, and I can hear you just fine."

My arm was going numb again, and I wasn't sure it was due to it being dislocated, broken or just in too much pain.

The thought of pain left my mind as I felt the air shift behind me. Maybe it was the boat...?

I turned around and the sight that greeted me almost made me laugh... Almost...

Apparently, when the boat sank, it fell and eventually landed on the giant... Dead... Lizard... standing before me, and it was now very pissed off. Only it's head was visible right now, and on top of its head... sat the boat.

Hey, I didn't sink it.

"Link! Dead creatures are weak against fire! Burn it!"

I tried to resist giving her a dirty look again. "Um...How...?" I'm human. No magic.

"You disappoint me... You know that right?"

"Yes mother..."

"Good! ...What?"

"I can help you."

The Triforce on my hand lit up like it just had a light bulb inserted into it.

Navi flew around me in circles she was so excited. "The Goddess Farore! It's an honor!"

Is it just me or was everyone forgetting about the zombie lizard behind us? But as I looked at it again, I noticed that it had gone strangely still.

"Fear not young hero. For I have stopped time. The beast is of no concern right now."

"Um... Thanks..?"

"Link! Show some respect and bow! She's a Goddess!"

No really? I thought random green glowing girls were common in these areas.

"Link. I cannot stay long. I came here to help you. Please except my gift. The gift of magic."

A green light surrounded me. I felt a tingling sensation all over my body. My broken arm stopped throbbing and was soothed. Thank the Goddess.

"Wait... I have magic now. So am I still human?"

"No... You are now Hylian. Does that anger you?"

I shrugged. "Not really."

"Then I will take my leave. Your arm is healed, so it won't hinder you any longer."

"Thanks again."

"Farewell."

I hadn't noticed before how quite it was, but now with the breathing of the dead lizard back, it was suddenly very loud.

Removing my arm from the sling, I pulled out my shield. It was nice to have it back.

"No! Use your fire arrows! I'll show you where to aim!"

A arrow is going to kill his thing? Yeah right.

The lizard picked the boat up and tossed it aside.

It probably wasn't into boat hats; they're not really in style right now.

"How do I use fire arrows?" I asked her quickly.

I sheathed my sword and shield and then pulled out my bow and nocked an arrow. I had to duck and roll out of the way when the reptile swung a huge clawed hand at me.

"Just call out to it!"

I took aim at the spot where she was hovering around it's throat. This was going to sound so stupid.

"I call upon the power of fire." Yep. There goes whatever pride I had left in me.

I was more than surprised when my arrow came to life with fire. Why the hell wasn't it burning my bow?

Or my hands for that matter?

"Look out Navi, I'm firing." She moved and I released it.

The arrow hit it dead on in the weak point Navi had pointed out to me. Unfortunately the stupid thing didn't die right away, it just started thrashing wildly as its body was slowly consumed by fire.

Deciding to end its suffering, I pulled out my sword and rushed forwards, slicing its throat open. It gasped once more and then its head fell to the floor, dead.

"Good job Link! You killed it!" She flew around me, and then landed on my nose.

The lizard's body dissipated and left behind a circle of blue light.

"What's that?" Maybe it would get us the hell out of here.

"That's our way out!"

That's all I needed to hear. I found now that all the adrenalin was gone, I was starving and judging from the smell in the area I really needed a bath.

It's the green souls I swear; my sweat can't smell that bad.

I walked into the blue light. A crystal thing encased me, and I was carried into a very bright light.


So the hero of twilight has awoken the sage of shadow? How are thee Impa?

I am well Rauru. Why have I been awoken?

A new evil is arising. The hero who lives in Hyrule now is not strong enough to handle it on his own.

So what are we doing to help?

We will summon a past friend... But first he must awaken the others.

A past friend?

The Hero of Time...