"Sheik! Come out, quick! The sun has set already!" Shouted a childish female voice from below. Long, silvery hair danced about as she jumped excitedly, bright red eyes upturned into the house's window above her. A equally young boy with messy bed hair finally appeared at the window, opening it quickly and looking at the horizon. The sky still had large stripes of dark pink and orange, with a few stars already apparent underneath them. The boy sighed. How she managed to always be the first one awake in the village amazed him, and he would have gladly taken some more hours of sleep, after the intensive training his father made him go trough the night before.

"Liyana... Please, it's only 20:30!" Sheik whined, passing an hand in his silvery hair to shake away the dizziness of waking up too fast. "Isn't it a bit early for anything?"

"Of course not! Come on down!"

The boy wanted to protest but couldn't find any words. He turned on his heels and put on the first clothes his hands could grasp on the floor, them being a dark blue shirt and plain black pants. The faint, dying light of the day seemed to pour into the young one's room and a glimmer caught his attention in the corner of his eye. His gaze was unwillingly set upon his lyre, that had been laid there long ago on a dusty shelf. A light frown made its way across his face, and he wished he could reach out and play it like he did long ago. Or at least to him it looked like it was long ago.

Time is so unfair...

He did reach out for it, gently pinching one of the strings and a soft note resonated in the heavy twilight of his room. A smile as faint as the pale moon rising above Hyrule formed on his lips, and his gaze softened, showing a look of desperation and longing. His mother had this instrument forged and built for him when he was very, very young. She showed him the basics and he continued to learn by himself, much to his mother's contentment. He truly had a natural talent for everything that went around producing and playing music, creating poems and songs of maturity that never ceased to amaze his mother. Now it rested on a shelf, forgotten up until now. He cursed destiny under his breath as his hand left the golden instrument. He thought about going away, running away from Kakariko, with only his lyre and his feet to guide him. Liyana would come along, too. It would be perfect. It was the way Sheikahs were really supposed to live, wasn't it?

He dismissed the strange thought by shaking his head, and walked down the set of stairs, head hung low from the overwhelming fatigue and brusque awakening.

"What is it you wanted?" Sheik asked, closing the door behind him gently not to wake his parents. Liyana looked enthralled by something, he could feel it. There was something in her tone of voice that told him she'd just seen something very interesting or unusual. She just playfully giggled and took his hand. Sheik blushed inwardly and followed her without a protest.

They ran playfully to the village's end, and Sheik let himself smile and even laugh with her as he tried to outrun the young girl. They climbed up the ladder that lead next to the huge windmill. Sitting side by side, they watched the moon slowly appearing over Hyrule. Staring at that moon reminded Sheik that soon he would have to get to training, and the carefree, stomach-tickling feeling vanished. He bit his bottom lip furiously, embarrassed to have let out such an inappropriate feeling. Each time it happened, it was only harder to get back to reality again. He turned his gaze to Liyana.

"Hm?" Sheik looked confused at the sight of his bouncy friend. She was definitely up to something.

"I was walking on the mountain's trails earlier and guess what I saw!"

Sheik felt a wave of panic run through him. She had been told not to go there. It was dangerous, people could easily die up there, but she was so stubborn, nothing could stop her. Even if that meant getting up earlier just to walk a bit on the massive mountain's trails, may it only be at its base.

He decided he would only waste his words if he warned her again, so with much difficulty he answered.

"I wouldn't have a clue." He couldn't deny this interested him, though. The daily routine was boring and most of all, harsh and demanding. He envied her, for her parents decided she wouldn't be a warrior, but rather an artist. Liyana was an incredible dancer. He envied her but never was jealous, he could never bring himself to be mad at her, even in times when she was as stubborn as a Beamos.

"An Hylian battling a whole bunch of red tektites!" She simply said. Sheik awaited the rest of the story, debating hard already not to scold her for being meters away from a bunch of tektites, but when he saw she was finished, he gave a long sigh.

"Oh, how bizarre... You woke me up for this?" He replied sarcastically, a bad mood starting to kick in.

"But, the thing is..." There she lowered her voice to a quiet whisper, and Sheik had to lean down to hear her better. "He died."

"So what? A lot of people have been reported dead or never seen again in the mountains... And besides, that's another proof as to why you should never go there, let again alone!" Nothing went through him. Young apprentice-warrior Sheikahs were roughly trained, it was known. He had been well-taught. Death happens. That was it.

"But, but... he seemed already so weak... How come?" She asked with the renewed innocence of a child that wanted to know everything, down to the meaning of life itself. Sheik only gave a small chuckle.

"That's why we must protect them, I guess." He simply answered. Liyana giggled.

"Yes but, sometimes I wonder what's the point, if we're stronger than them...?" She asked again with insatiable curiosity. Sheik opened his mouth, but nothing came out. Why couldn't he answer?

Because he didn't know. His father taught him of an alliance made long, long ago. But was it all? Throughout all these years of training, of learning, of pain... it was all for an alliance he didn't even give his agreement for? He stared at Liyana, studying her face, frowning. She gave a yip of embarrassment.

"Hey... did I say something funny?" She asked, careful not to anger him, because he was so unpredictable sometimes, she'd known to be careful.

It took a moment before he replied, still staring in her eyes, as if hoping she would answer that question, because he wanted to know.

Sheik had always secretly held a dear hate for the Hylians. He would never admit it, even to himself at the time, but he was weak of heart. Before the long, hard training years started, Sheik was the kind of boy to play around in the forest, playing his lyre with Liyana all the time. Life seemed so easy, and he loved to watch the nature grow and live around him, and learned his own way. But then, at the age of 10, the world shifted upside down for him. His father started to take on his son's more important education, ignoring his wife's instinct on their child's destiny. It was his time to be a man, and to learn the ways of life as a Sheikah Warrior. And he never was offered the choice, this probably being the reason why his anger and hatred stayed bottled up inside where nobody could see it, not even himself.

His father told him how to fight, how to hide, how to be silent, when to strike, everything a shadow warrior would need to learn, the precious techniques passed down from generations to generations unto him. He was often distracted and uninterested, and his father was unfortunately one who did not take it easily. Sometimes, when training, Sheik looked at the younger ones playing together outside, without a care for the world. It brought tears to his eyes and he thought about Liyana, and how the world seemed beautiful... but then an hard slap would hit Sheik right in his face, and, unknown to his father, in his heart... and he went back to his training session.

He was told he lived to protect the Royal Family of Hyrule, and also that he would die by it. He could not fight against such a strong alliance between two races, no matter how hard he hated to wake up every night to train endlessly. It never stopped. And he had still so much more to learn...

Now he was 16, and it was far from over. Especially for him. That one fateful night... he was presented to The Shadow, along with other Sheikahn apprentices of his age. The moment of truth, if not a bad play on words, because it really was. His father had told him much about this day, this fateful day, where he would finally become a true man, a true Sheikah. Where finally, all the hiding techniques his father taught him would be useful, hidden among the comforting darkness.

The Shadow was like the Goddesses for the Hylians. Altough the Sheikahs also worshipped the 3 golden Goddesses, The Shadow held a special place for them. It was loved and worshipped everyday, and in return The Shadow helped the Sheikahs by aiding them in battle. For the Sheikanh tribe, the plural of Shadow didn't exist. The Shadow was all that was dark, and it was whole and unique; bound altogether. All Sheikahs whom The Shadow had left its mark upon became a part if it, and thus could melt in it very easily, making them semi-invisible and very unpredictable in battle. This special night, the youngs were to be facing The Shadow for the first time, and it was at that crucial moment that It decided whether or not they were ready to hold its mark and honor their family.

They were all standing before the entrance of the Shadow Temple. Some torches had been lit, but not all of them, and it gave the strange room an eerie feeling. Families were watching from the back of the room, near the exit, while sons and daughters were nervously waiting. In front of the children was a wall that had a mysterious painting on it... depicting the ever so eerie smiling face of a creature, that seemed to melt with all the darkness painted around It. Its head laid on His hands, as if It was happily watching all of the children who had come to see It. That was The Shadow. It was how Sheikahs had given their God a face to look at, and this very face always haunted Sheik in his dreams.

Seeing it now as big as ever, and seeming so... there, so alive, frightened him to no end. He felt as if everything was of darkness and death around him, and wanted to scream. Scream and go back outside, with the sounds of the crickets and night birds all around him. The sound of life. He wanted to go away, away from this place. Never to come back.

A slow, sorrow-filled moan resonated in the room, and a thick black fog descended around the children, hugging them like a mother would with her child. Other moans could suddenly be heard.

Spirits.

It sent millions of shivers up Sheik's spine. Dead people. Talking to him. Long-dead ancestors. His eyes widened; was he the only one who was scared stiff like that? Yes, yes, he was. The other children were all smiling, closing their eyes, lulled by the voices. Sheik couldn't understand. Poor child who didn't belong there.

The fog danced around the children, forming a circle around each of them, each of them except Sheik. And all the other fathers who stood there merely shook their heads with disappointment. Everyone knew that Sheik wouldn't make it. No matter how much his father tried to convince them (and himself) that Sheik was only a bit distracted... everyone knew he was weak of heart and was frightened by the cruelty of life. His father wore a mixed expression of shame, anger and embarrassment on his face. His son wasn't a true Sheikah. How did this happen? How could he dishonor his family like that!?

The weeks and months and years after were spent into a more intensive training like Sheik had never endured before. His mother didn't protest against what his father made him endure, but she was still always there when Sheik crawled in the house at the end of the night, crying like the world was about to end. And she comforted him, telling him to hold on, to be strong... She passed her hands lovingly in his glistening silvery hair, to wipe the sweat and blood away... And he cried so much, often he fell asleep on her lap, and when his father entered the house she would give him a stare than look back at her son. But nothing more. His father didn't care.

Nobody really cared except Liyana. The Liyana that was sitting next to him right now, at this moment, as his memories flashed once more in his mind. Lowering his head again with the unbearable weight of a family's dishonored son, Sheik gave a weak sigh.

"No, not at all..." He slowly answered, suddenly taking his eyes off her face and looking back at the horizon. Liyana was confused, but was nonetheless used to the new Sheik. No, in fact, Sheik hadn't changed even a bit. It was true he was stronger, but he was still the wounded child he was years ago, tears at the corners of his eyes at the idea of being a warrior of darkness and death. At the idea of dieing for people he did not even know, when he wanted to live. He wanted to scream it at the top of his lungs for the world to hear. For every Hylian to hear, especially the Royal Family. He wanted to spit in their face and curse them all, and live for his own self. Why was he the only one with such feelings? Why was he the only one that didn't seem to be so blind?

'But why, if we're stronger than them...?'