Chapter Three – The Beasts

The following day, Inasha traveled to the sanctuary, where the children had been staying with Renado while they waited for this Link person to come for them. They had yet to come looking for her. She wondered what was keeping them.

She still felt incredibly skeptical that the man would come here to look for them. Kakariko was far from a well-known town. Nothing ever happened in her small village, so why would anyone suspect that a group of kidnapped children would find their savior in a pacifist village that hated the idea of weapons?

Regardless, she didn't have the heart to share her doubts with the children. There was no sense in destroying their hope, especially since she didn't know the boy well enough to make a good judgment herself, anyways.

Her heart sank when she saw the figures of the three children slouched against the wall of the sanctuary, faces downcast as they were apparently reprimanded by two elders. Renado, Luda, and Colin stood off to one side, watching silently.

"...talk or use of weapons is strictly forbidden!" a raspy voice became clear as she drew nearer. "If you're going to stay in our village, you're going to learn our ways!"

"They're not going to be here for that long, Griselda," Inasha stepped between the silver-haired elder and the younger children. "Where they come from, sword fighting is revered."

The woman scoffed. "And why do you think they were kidnapped by monsters? They're attracted to the challenge."

She had to force herself to keep from rolling her eyes. "What did they do anyways that was so bad?" she gestured to the rescued children.

The other elder spoke up, a red-headed woman who was a few years the junior of Griselda. "The brown-headed boy created a weapon from a forked branch and a piece of leather, and was shooting at the birds!" she pointed a bony finger towards Talo, whose face became a deep crimson color.

"It's hardly a weapon…" he mumbled softly.

"I think they deserve a bit of a break!" She tried to reason. "I mean, come on. They're trying to adjust to our culture!"

"One bad mistake could threaten the whole village."

"I doubt that monsters are going to come and raid this village just because some eleven year old boy made a makeshift toy from a piece of bark and a dusty piece of leather!"

"Silence child, you have already caused this village enough problems with your practice of archery!" Griselda snapped. "This town had for a long time been a place of peace and was ignored by the monsters! But your silly little pretend games have brought their attention to the town! And now even our Goron protectors refuse to speak with us!"

The addressed girl began to boil with rage. "At least I'll be able to defend myself, should we ever be raided!"

"If it weren't for weapons, your good for nothing father would at least still have a beating heart!"

Collective gasps from the children and Renado were audible and the silence that followed. Heat rose to Inasha's face, and pressure built up behind her eyes. She felt the first of hot tears begin to trickle down her face.

She thrust her face into her arm to shield her leaking eyes from everyone and ran in the direction of Eldin's Spring.

When she was all by herself at the edge of the waters, she stopped and looked around. There were no children playing in the spring today, as the temperature had chilled slightly overnight.

Certain now that she was alone, she threw her head back and looked up at the morning sky. Tears still found their way down her cheeks.

"Why did you even create me?!" she yelled up at the sky. "What purpose do I serve?! What am I doing here, in this stupid pacifist village?"

Only the westbound wind answered her, chilling her through her light clothes.

"Goddesses…why would you give me this passion and then put me here…of all places in Hyrule…why wasn't I born where the children I rescued live?"

"Inasha!" Eldin's urgent cry pulled a choked gasp from her lips. It was filled with urgency and desperation. "Run, my child! A dark evil is approaching fast! You must hide!"

She spun to face the light spirit, who had appeared in his main form. His broad, golden wings spanned across the entire width of the spring, his face hidden by a golden mask with darkened markings. His whole being held the consistency of the waters in which he took residence. "What about the rest of the village?" she called up to him.

"You must be protected!" he answered, giving Inasha even more questions. Before she could even take another breath to ask them, however, a dark circle opened in the sky above them.

"Quickly! Into my spring!" Eldin urged her, motioning to the path through the cliffs that led to her usual hideout. Frightened by the huge black…thing that was falling from the portal, she obeyed and dashed for the cave.

The cliffs rumbled around her, and she glanced back to see a huge boulder fall over the only entrance and exit to the cave she now hid in. "I will protect you, Inasha!" Eldin called his promise to her. "But you must remain silent!"

She continued up the slope and reached her hideout that overlooked the deepest part of the spring. She could see three of the black beasts that had fallen from the portals beginning to stalk through the streets of her village. They walked on all fours, though their hindquarters were lower than their upper bodies. They wore large black masks over their face, tentacles spilling out from underneath the bottom of the masks. Their slate grey bodies were covered with strange pink markings. Pitch black circular patterns also laced their leathery skin. Their limbs were strange and disproportional, though they seemed to almost glide over the terrain with terrifying speed and grace.

One of the monsters charged at Eldin. He blinded the dark creature with bursts of light and struck out with his huge wings. Two more monsters joined the first and teamed up against the Spirit of Light.

Inasha's eyes trailed over her mother's general store, where two monsters were circling, looking for a way into the boarded up building. They lashed out at the metal door, trying to break into it, but to no avail. Inasha held her breath, praying that they would leave soon.

Her eyes darted between the Light Spirit's battle and the monster's attempt to break into her mother's store. Already other monsters were breaking into other houses and dragging people out and disemboweling them in the dusty streets. They savagely tore women, men, and children alike to pieces and left their remains where they had been attacked. Screams of terror mixed with the guttural roars of the strange creatures as the entire small village was torn apart.

It was hard for her to keep silent between watching the blows that Eldin was receiving and the monsters outside the general store eat away at the wooden boards that guarded the windows. She fought to keep herself quiet as they swarmed into the hole they had made in the window. They came out with her mother in their oversized hands, fighting and kicking at the monster that held her.

She itched to run to save her mother, but she knew it would be suicide to leave the spring.

Another cry from Eldin distracted her for just a moment. One of the beasts had leapt onto his back and was attempting to tear at his throat. Without thinking, Inasha picked a sharp rock from the base of the cliff beside her and tossed with all her might at the attacker. It found its mark just behind the mask and the beast lost his grip on the golden bird, allowing him to toss it aside.

Her gaze immediately darted back to where her mother had been fighting the creatures, and almost retched at what she witnessed. One monster had his oversized hand on her mother's head, and the other monster…held the rest of her body. Dark crimson blood stained the two monsters and the ground between them.

Inasha lost all her self control and let out a horrified scream at the sight. Eldin spun to her, worried for her safety, which left him vulnerable to an attack from the two monsters he had been just barely staving off. Both leapt onto his back, sending him crashing into the waters. Inasha clamped her hand over her mouth, horrified tears beginning to spill from her eyes. She collapsed on the ground beneath her, but was too close to the edge and was soon tumbling down into the chilly waters below.

Meanwhile, the monsters ripped Eldin's orb of light from his talons and shattered it. The midday light disappeared from the land, and the province was cast into a permanent Twilight. Eldin was reduced to a small ball of moving light, lamenting as he looked over the destruction of the town he had tried so hard to protect. He could do nothing now. He was too weak. His light was gone.

The beasts made for Inasha next. They climbed over the cliffs and tried to get into the back part of the spring, where Inasha lay in the shallower water, panting heavily. It felt as though all of Death Mountain were sitting upon her lungs. Her vision was pounding, and she hardly had the strength to lift her hand to her face.

Her skin felt as though it were being torn from her very body. She could have sworn she could see her body melting in with the waters, but she convinced herself she was merely delirious.

"Leave her be, she's almost dead," a somewhat high male's voice sounded from somewhere nearby. She had never heard the voice before, and she couldn't move her head around to look for the source of the voice. Footsteps in the shallow water quickly faded away, and all the sounds of the invasion began to fade away, until finally an unnerving silence fell upon the village.

Even her cries were lost in silence. Inasha felt as though she was being torn apart from the inside out. There was a fire inside of her, seeking a way out of her exhausted form. She tried to push the fire away from her.

The waters begin to wash over her, but even they could not quell the fire that burned at her. Her body was melting away from her, she was sure of it. It was leaving her and mixing with the waves.

"My child...come to me..." Eldin called for her.

"I can't move!"

"Leave your body. It will do you no good now."

"Leave my...?" she felt herself begin to rise up, but she could see herself still lying in the shallow waters. Her body seemed to be liquid as well, mixing in with the spring and eventually disappearing.

She turned to face the weakened light spirit. "Eldin...what has happened...to us..." she breathed quietly.

The spirit did not answer her. She looked towards the sanctuary, where Renado was just now seeking shelter. In his arms he held her mother's body. Five youthful faces could be seen peaking out from the doorway, looking on with complete dismay.

"Where's Inasha?" Colin's soft voice barely reached her.

"I have not seen her. I have faith that the light spirit Eldin is protecting her," he responded with a melancholy tone.

"She can handle herself, Colin," Talo promised. "After all, she rescued us all on her own! I bet she's already gone to go find help. Maybe she'll find Link!" The shaman ushered them further into the sanctuary. He took one last, long glance around the village, then disappeared into the darkness of the building.

"Mom..." Inasha whispered softly. "I don't hate you...please...I don't hate you!" her voice rose as she tossed her face back to the sky. "Come back! I need you here still!" If she had still been a physical being, she knew she would be crying.

"Inasha..." the spirit called once again to her. "I grow weaker...with every moment...the dark creatures...have stolen my light. My entire realm...now cast in the Shadows of the Twilight..."

"Eldin...it's okay..." Inasha tried to reassure her friend. "You tried..."

"My goddesses! I have...failed you..!"

Inasha looked up to the sky, too choked with sorrow to speak anymore. She prayed silently.

Goddesses...why...why would you put me here. Why have you taken both my parents from me...why did you even create me? I serve no purpose...and now I never will...

X-X-X

The longer Inasha and the spirit stayed in the mysterious darkness, the weaker they became. Eldin's health was declining at an alarming rate. Though he now had no physical form for Inasha to be able to see signs of illness, should they appear, she could feel his presence growing weaker. His voice as well was growing weak, though he did not halt his lamentations.

"I have failed…I could not…protect the land…" his voice echoed over and over again in the empty valley. No one had set foot outside since the attack on the village. Monsters that bore the same skin and markings as the large beasts that had attacked earlier now roamed freely throughout the streets. None of them seemed to pay any mind to Inasha and the fading light spirit.

"Eldin…" her own voice was so weak. "Eldin…you did what you could…"

"You do not yet understand, my dear child…" he whispered softly. His voice cut off with a higher note of obvious surprise.

"What is it…?"

"A powerful force has entered the lands," he responded gravely. The words shook Inasha. The light spirit would not be frightened unless it was truly something that was a great threat to them.

"Is it good…?" she asked with a sliver of hope.

"I cannot…be certain…"

Goddesses, are you going to bring us death already? Or will we be doomed to lay here in agony until we both fade until nothingness? Why…why would you put us in such pointless positions!?

Inasha's senses were on high alert. Every movement and sound caught her attention—which quickly became a hassle as there was quite a bit of monster activity in Kakariko.

This will only further prove those keese-brained Elders' point…though I know that merely using a makeshift slingshot did not attract these beasts.

"The power…it draws nearer…" Eldin warned.

Inasha tried to focus her senses in an attempt to find the "force" that Eldin referenced, but she was no light spirit. She did not rule the province of Eldin, and could not distinguish a spike in any certain power force.

"It is a good one," he added after a few short seconds. Inasha released a breath she hadn't realized she had been holding.

"Then…perhaps we are saved?" she asked softly.

"Perhaps…"

A wolf with a strange-looking imp on its back was fast approaching the town from the southern entrance. Their swift movements caught her eye. The rattling of a chain echoed off the rocky walls, attracting the attention of three of the huge, dark monsters that had stayed near the spring.

A barrier fell from the sky as the wolf engaged the three of them in battle. He immediately tore into one that was further away from the other two, removing its throat and ending its pathetic life. With a fierce growl he turned his attention to the other two, who were swiftly approaching him.

Inasha sucked in a breath. She had watched these creatures revive each other with monstrous shouts. Unless the wolf could somehow destroy both simultaneously, the battle would not end until he was torn to pieces.

If she still had a physical body, she would have begun chewing on her nails, at this point.

The wolf lowered into a stalking position as the two black creatures circled him slowly, like sharks around their next meal. The imp on his back formed a hand from her bright orange hair, which lifted up high into the air above. A black field surrounded the wolf, encompassing the two beasts. Red sparks held them in place, and the wolf pounced.

With ferocity that Inasha had never seen before, he ripped through the bodies of the two monsters. Black entrails surrounded with pink blood lay scattered on the ground where the wolf had dashed straight through the bodies of the monsters. They dispelled in an explosion of pink blood, which immediately disappeared into the ground.

"Inasha…this is our savior…" the light spirit whispered to her.

She took a better look at the pair that had just defeated the horrible monsters without so much as a scratch. The wolf was deep gray with lighter markings and had piercing, feral blue eyes. Part of a prison chain was attached to his left paw.

His partner, the imp, was black with light grey markings as well and also had strange, glowing blue patterns on her arms and legs. Most of her face was hidden by a stone mask, revealing only the bottom half of her face, and her right eye. Her hair was tied in a pony tail with an iron clamp. Her yellow eyes shone with ambition and mischief.

Eldin called out to him. "To the hero…who was transformed into a blue-eyed beast…in the realm of shadows… In twilight… This way…" he beckoned.

The wolf obediently came forward, and didn't seem to notice Inasha one bit, who was a mere couple of inches away from where he stopped. Neither the imp nor the wolf seemed to notice her.

"…I am…a spirit…of light. Hero…chosen by the gods… Look for…my light… Gather the light stolen by the shadows…into this…"

A golden item shaped like a curled-in grapevine floated down to the wolf and imp. The imp took it and placed it on his neck, then looked back at the spirit. "We'll be back soon! See ya later!" she called, urging the wolf into town.

Inasha looked at the spirit with a raised eyebrow. "That's it? No explanation? What's going on Eldin?"

"My dear child…I promise to explain all…when the Hero returns…with my light…"

Inasha sighed but let the spirit return to rest. He was fading so quickly. She took to prayer to the Goddesses that the wolf and imp would return quickly with Eldin's light. She wanted to be whole again.

X-X-X

Hours had passed, she was certain. And still, there was no sign of the wolf or imp.

Earlier she had heard a far off explosion. She prayed that it had merely been another one of Death Mountain's recent eruptions, and not the supposed Hero meeting his fate.

"Eldin, are you sure they'll be back?" she addressed the spirit.

"He returns…" a faint whisper was heard from the spirit. Sure enough, soon Inasha could hear the rattling of his chain. She watched him approach quickly. The imp removed the object from around the wolf's neck and tossed it into the spring.

A harsh light pierced the valley, and the orange glow of the Twilight disappeared. It was midday in Kakariko.

A young man stood where the beast had once been. He was clothed in a green tunic and strange floppy hat. His blue eyes shone with determination. His blonde hair was tousled and messy, as though he'd just stumbled from out of bed. The imp creature was no where to be seen.

The spring began to glow brightly, the rocks with ancient glyphs carved into them coming to life with a cyan glow. Eldin's Light Sphere rose from the waters of the spring. With great fanfare the humongous bird appeared, relishing in his old strength and form once again. He flapped and stretched his wings for a moment, then looked down at the hero.

"My name is Eldin. I am one of the light spirits of Hyrule. I am the spirit that guards these lands."

The waters beside him began to ripple. At first it was subtle; the Hero paid no mind. But then the waters began to shake and form waves. Finally, a great column of water rose almost six feet into the air. When it receded back to the spring, a girl was left standing on the waves. She looked tired and unnerved, as though she was mystified as to where she was.

Her green eyes gazed into his blue ones. A flash of recognition sparked in her eyes. She opened her mouth to speak.

"It's you!"

"O great hero, Link," Eldin addressed the boy once again. "This is my pupil and dear friend. This is Inasha."

X-X-X

Revised 12/23/14
Typo fixes.