I flew south, soaring over the vast open fields beyond the castle. They looked so beautiful, illuminated as they were by the Twilight. I couldn't see any remnants of the Light world.
I passed a large pond and found the edge of the woods. The road lead beneath the trees, heading south. I floated there for a moment, sondering if that was the way I should take.
That was when I heard a strange noise. I stopped and turned around, scanning the horizon to find out where that pounding was coming from.
Then it came into view, from the north. A cloud of dust rising up from the earth.
I flew a bit higher, trying to get a better view. Something was kicking up the dust. Or a whole herd of "somethings." And they were coming in my direction.
I glided into the lower branches of a tree where I could see without being seen. And as the strange stampede drew nearer, I saw that it was a group of giant boars. The one in the lead was almost twice the size of the others. And unlike the half-dozen bristly brown pigs that followed, the leader had shaggy white fur and massive tusks.
Something was riding the boar. Some sort of huge ogre creature. And there were smaller goblin-things riding the other boars.
They continued towards me, headed for the same path that I had chosen. I quickly floated further up into the tree as the herd of massive boars thundered beneath me. Once all of them had past, I hopped out of the tree and followed.
It was hard to keep up with them. Despite their bulk, they were pretty fast. I followed them down the road, beneath the trees and past a small cabin. The road forked, and we turned right, continuing on past a spring.
But that was when I could follow no further.
Before me, a great gold and black wall reached up into the sky, blocking my progress.
The end of Twilight.
Beyond was the world of light.
One of Zant's Twilight monsters was there, as if waiting for them. It touched the wall of Twilight, which rippled like some strange glowing liquid. The strange stampede made its way out into the world of Light.
I flew up higher, peering through the barrier to see what they were up to. They were making their way across a long rope bridge. I could barely make out a small village through a gap in the trees. And between the bridge and the village was a small spring, like the one I had passed moments ago.
There were four things standing in the spring. Or rather, three people and a horse. They looked up, startled, as the pounding of heavy hooves reached their ears. Some of the boars smashed through the gate and the horse reared in panic. The two smaller figures – they seemed to be a girl and a young boy, tried to run. The older boy jumped to the side to avoid one of the boars.
One of the bulblin goblins fired an arrow, which hit the girl in the back. She collapsed.
The older boy gasped and started to run to her. But a bulblin rode up behind him, clubbing him on the back of the head. I flinched involuntarily. The boy collapsed and fell face-up in the water. One of the bulblins easily subdued the smaller boy as another lifted the unconscious girl.
The rest of the bokoblins had rode beyond the spring, to the village. The leader of the pack, the big ogre riding the white boar, returned. The white boar stepped into the spring and the ogre surveyed his surroundings.
The bulblins hefted the little boy and the girl onto the backs of their mounts. But they left the older boy for some reason. One of the other bulblins grabbed the reigns of the panicked horse and tied her to the saddle of his boar.
The ogre raised a horn to his mouth and blew out a hollow, rasping note.
I started as a cluster of red and black Twilight magic solidified in the sky above the spring. A Twilight portal.
The ogre tugged on the reigns, and his boar wheeled around, stomping back out to the path. The others followed, where they joined the boars that had raided the village. They had captured three other children as well.
The herd of boars and bulblins charged back across the bridge to the Twilight.
The Twilight monster opened the Twilight for them, and the boars charged through. I watched as the children's bodies flickered away and became nothing more than glowing spirits.
They galloped back down the road, towards the field beyond.
I hesitated, wondering if I should follow. They might lead me somewhere useful. But I needed to investigate this last area of Light.
And I wanted to see this Twilight monster that Zant had created. That monster had once been one of my subjects.
I shuddered as I watched the tentacles sway around the masked head. Even so, I felt a tugging at my heart. I wasn't strong enough, and Zant had turned my people into these monsters.
I floated down to where the Twilight Monster was waiting, wondering if I could speak to it. But the moment it saw me, it lowered itself to all fours and loped towards me. I quickly jumped up into a tree to avoid its long fingers.
I sighed and dropped to my knees. So, they really were just monsters that attacked whatever they saw.
And then something else caught my eye.
I looked towards the barrier to the Light and saw the boy. The one who had been clubbed unconscious. He was running across the bridge. He wanted to chase the monsters that had stolen his friends. And he was on foot. With no weapon.
How foolish.
He reached the entrance to the Twilight and skidded to a halt, looking horrified at the sight that met him. He had obviously never seen Twilight before.
I wasn't the only one to notice the boy's arrival. The shadow beast saw him too and loped up to the barrier. It shoved an arm through the wall and grabbed the boy around the middle, dragging him out of the Light. The boy shouted and struggled, trying to pry the monsters's fingers off of his chest. He gasped, no doubt feeling the effects of the Twilight closing in on him.
I watched, waiting for him to fade away into a spirit. Why was it taking so long?
The monster raised the boy up to his face, as if wondering the same thing.
Then something began to flash on the back of the boy's hand. Some sort of triangular mark. It flashed out a blinding light, which made me flinch.
The monster recoiled, hissing and throwing the boy away from him.
He landed on his stomach and shakily pushed himself to his hands and knees. He groaned, his face screwed up as if he was resisting the Twilight. Was that even possible?
I stood up, my mouth opened slightly. The triangle mark was still pulsing. The very Twilight around the boy was pulsing.
I could barely believe what I saw next.
The boy screamed and threw back his head as his back arched in pain. Fur burst from his skin and clothes and his head lengthened, sprouting fangs. Before my eyes, the human body disappeared beneath paws, claws, and tail. Within moments, all that remained was a wolf.
His forelegs buckled, and he collapsed to the ground.
The mark on the back of his paw dimmed and went out. He didn't move again.
The Twilight monster shuffled nearer the motionless form. It seemed concerned that the light might come back. It grabbed the wolf boy's hind foot and started to drag him away, following the path the boars had taken.
A grin slowly spread across my face.
I had found the divine beast.