Link and Strata had been journeying for hours through sand with no sign of any life. Strata had never thought that the sphere would've sucked the life from the land miles upon miles away. There was a stunning sunrise of pink and gold in the sky, blinding Link as he trudged forward.

"Link, aren't we moving a little too slowly? Once the sun climbs higher in the sky, it will get much hotter. I won't be affected, for I do not need food or water to survive, but you could become dehydrated and I'm sure you're already hungry."

Link seemed slightly annoyed by the question.

"Don't fret over me, my body isn't the same as before. I'm unaffected by things such as food and water now. Even though I can get hungry and thirsty, I can't die from it. The same goes with a lack of sleep. I can get sleepy, yet not die from it."

Suddenly, the sand in front of Link exploded. Link launched himself backwards, avoiding the attack only to have the sand behind him burst as well. He was thrown off balance and fell sideways, but quickly regained his footing. By that time, the attackers had already retreated back under the sand.

"Did you see what kind of monsters they were, Strata?"

"I managed to get a glimpse of the one that ambushed you from behind, but it wasn't good enough to identify the species. Although, considering the terrain and how they are attacking, they are most likely either Leevers or Moldorms."

Link reached to pull out the Master Sword by habit, then remembered he no longer had it. Even if he did, he wouldn't be able to touch it. He was completely defenseless. He felt the ground beneath him shift slightly and managed to roll to the side, but as he did, the bottle with Strata inside tumbled from his pouch, onto the earth. Link didn't notice until he had dashed a good distance. He began to run back, but this time the monster didn't run to the cover of sand, but took the chance to go after Strata. Link saw the monster clearly now. It had a shape similar to a slug, with a green, slippery outside and four claw-shaped extensions coming from the top of it. The extensions were flexible, had tiny teeth on them, and were used for grabbing their prey. A Leever. It wasn't too big, and was sticking straight up, halfway out of the ground. It moved through the sand by spinning, directly toward Strata. Link was darting back to her as fast as he could, but it was obvious he would be too late. It snatched up the bottle and sent one of its claw-shaped arms to pull her out. All of a sudden, Link's vision was painted red. He felt excruciating pain throughout his entire body. His teeth grew into fangs. His bones began to reshape. In a split second, he was no longer a human, but a wolf. The wolf-Link's fur was platinum blond with three silver vertical stripes on its back and had completely red eyes. Link snarled and launched himself forward. The leever's teeth were wrapped around Strata and starting to puncture her skin. Link's paws barely touched the sand as he ran. Just as the leever pulled Strata from the bottle, Link tackled it and ripped off the arm holding Strata with his teeth. It screeched and attempted to escape under the sand, but Link tore it out of the ground and continued to shred it to pieces. Once he finished he turned to the fairy on the sand. She was unconscious and bleeding from multiple wounds. She fidgeted.

"Link... Thank... You..."

Sand exploded from all directions. Twelve leevers had appeared and began circling Strata and Link. Completely surrounded, Link looked from one leever to the other, trying to devise a plan. Then, just as all twelve of them closed in, Link took a deep breath and let out an ear-shattering bark. The dark aura surrounding him conjured into a giant, shifting mass right above him. It then took the shape of a gigantic wolf. The wolf of darkness then breathed black fire from its mouth that spread along the ground, destroying all of the leevers within seconds. Strata and Link were the only two who weren't touched by the fire. Link let out another powerful bark and the wolf condensed around Link, encasing him in aura once again. Knowing nothing could've survived the black fire, Link calmed down and returned to his original form. He then picked up Strata and examined her.

"Oh good. I was really quite worried, but these injuries are nothing a little red potion can't fix."

Not much later, Link had finished healing Strata. He sat next to her, a smirk on his face and cruelty in his eyes.

"We couldn't have anything happen to you. After all, you're my key to the Inverse Master Sword."