Chapter 6: The Shadowed Face

It was not long until the pair had moved beyond the dungeon and discovered a way into the sewers. Yet when Link leapt into the waters below them, he backed into the furthest wall … away from all the glowing green lights. Their presence perplexed him, and though he wanted to sniff the odd bubble of brightness, the very thought of sniffing frightened him. Would he ever become human once more? And if he did ... would he still be keen on these wolfish characteristics?

"Oh, well. This is interesting, eh?" the tiny creature upon him spoke out, knowing full well that Link was at this moment even more confused and bothered by the state of things. "Don't resist what your new body would have you do. Take a whiff why don't you!" she spat.

A growl snapped her way from her steed, but after a moment of vigilance, Link was assured that the hovering light would not surprise him with any strange movements. Adhering to his companion's advice, he lifted his snout to the blinding specks. As soon as he did so, catching a faint scent of a human, he could see an outline similar to that of a Hylian guard. Shocked at what he could see in his four-legged form, Link almost snapped backward … yet his curiosity won him out. Quietly, he looked over the knight, and in that moment, Link again was surprised, to hear the man mumbling. "I can't run any … farther. I'll be safe here…. Yes, I'll be safe…. I think."

Link barked at him, but there was no response, as the soldier sat with his back to the wall, shaking in the unnerving silence. Only the racing water of grime could be heard. With a questioning expression, Link looked to the black imp upon him. She had no trouble reading his wolfish face. "That is a soldier's spirit. Maybe it's someone from the other world?" Her little giggle provoked a narrowed eye of suppressed frustration from Link, feeling that she was keeping something from him upon intension.

"Shall we move on then?" she grinned and prodded him. Shaking her finger from his beautiful coat, he leapt into the shallow septic waters.

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After nearly an hour of traversing the murky water of the castle sewer, the couple came to a large room with ascending stone stairs which were carved out from the curved wall. It seemed to stretch up to the heavens, yet the stairwell was visibly broken in many places. "Well, you'll have to climb it, now won't you, beastie? Get on with it!" his partner commanded.

Growling, Link pulled himself in the direction of the first step. With his weight, eight steps collapsed in sequence and exploded in a whirl of dust at the bottom of the pit. "Oh! Do I have to do everything?" With a flick of her hands, and a quick jolting nod of her head, the pair dissipated and then reappeared higher up the stones. Link blinked as he looked over the stones, which owned only traces of a railing. Below were many spirals of the stairs. He looked to the imp. "I'm sure you can handle the rest, then?" she pointed with an exaggerated wave of her arm. He looked ahead to see that only a few meters of raised stones remained. With a frustrated bark, Link moved on into the chamber ahead.

Above him towered a hollowed cavern-like room. It seemed oddly large to only hold the existence of a door and a few windows. The door had apparently been blown open from a massive gust of wind. Link followed the crumbling stones to emerge outside. All around him towers shot upward, catwalks connected every piece of stone. It was as if a city itself, built of ancient stone in a time long gone by. Etched in a stone high above on one of the tower's archways appeared the symbol that had long plagued Link's hand since he could remember. Shock absorbed him, but he didn't let the creature notice.

"Ah, finally outside. Oh, and just look at the sky! Isn't the black cloud of twilight looking beautiful today?" she asked. "Know where you are yet?" Link looked at her blankly. "Oh well. Look, there's someone I want to introduce you to, so I'll need you to go to that tower," she pointed. Link followed her finger and memorized the location, for the rooftops of this massive place seemed a maze to his eyes. With that, the imp fell quiet, and Link started off across the windblown catwalks of what appeared to be ... a massive castle.

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When at last Link and his little companion reached the other side of the treacherous catwalks, a tiny black hand pointed to an open window sill of a tower nearby. Link grunted his way up the craggy rock-faced structure. His footing faltered on the jagged pieces a few times, forcing him to quickly readjust the pressure he applied to each of his paws. Walking on all fours was still strange enough to him, but now he had to learn to climb with them as well. Which ... wasn't all that difficult. It was like instinct, as if he had been this way for years.

At last, he climbed over the sill and leapt into the circling stairwell below. He ascended the steps cautiously, only the light from the cracked window guiding him. However, it surprised him how well he could see in the dark spots.

At the top of the stairs there loomed a gigantic doorway. Upon the closed threshold lay a wooden plank, and before he could act, his partner had already lifted a finger and broken the bark to mere splinters. She only cornered him with that sneering grin then looked away, expectant. Ruffling his fur a bit, hoping to agitate her, he waddled forward, pushing past the giant doors.

The room beyond was rather large, bed at one corner and a small table holding a wasted meal in another. A patch of the wall had two identical windows carved into it, though; they remain unopened, obviously sealed by some invisible protection. Before the rain-stained glass stood an unwavering form. Its straight figure undoubtedly named it human of sorts, however, a hooded mantle sheltered its identity; a splatter of white embroidery decorated the shoulders and back.

Sniffing a taste of wickedness about this room, Link growled at the figure, unknowing that his partner found a certain humor to his actions. At the sound of an echoing giggle, the hooded figure turned swiftly about to look upon them. Link could barely see a nose and mouth. A darkness splayed across its eyes. Yet with a small gasp from the hood, Link identified its gender as female. At this, he perked up, his snarling visage erased. Captivated, he moved forward to try to gain a better look. The creature rolled her eyes in amusement.

"…Midna?" a feminine voice spoke from beyond the black veil. Her voice was as pure as the hymns Link had heard as an infant. Realizing that the voice spoke to the one he carried, he looked back at her and set the name to her likeness. Yes, the name seemed to fit.

"You remembered my name?" laughed Midna. "What an honor for me."

The figure shifted, and Link looked back to her and felt her eyes staring into his, even though he still could not distinguish them from beyond her shadowed face. "So, this is the one for whom you were searching," she said aloud.

Midna pawed at her lips. "Not exactly what I had in mind … but I guess he'll do."

It was in that moment, that silence overtook them. The figure crouched before Link, and he followed her face, trying to blink back the darkness from her features.

Suddenly, her fair voice broke the quiet. "You were imprisoned?" Link looked to his hand—paw—to acknowledge the chain to which she referred. "I am sorry," she said after a long moment of contemplation.

His backside partner shattered the solemn calm about them. "Poor thing," her cynical voice echoed. "He has no idea where this is, or what's happened. So, don't you think you should explain to him what you've managed to do? You owe him that much." She lowered her head, making her eye glow within the darkness. A sparkle prickled the air from her red and yellow socket. "Twilight Princess." The name rang with Midna's crude giggle.

The figure slouched then, as if remembering why everything had been shrouded by darkness within the swiftest moment. Link heard her sigh, yet then, she lifted her head to him again. Her voice had broken free of its soft notes and become an octave of importance. "Listen carefully." She took a breath, gathering her memories. "This was once the land where the power of the gods was said to slumber. This was once the kingdom of Hyrule. But that blessed kingdom has been transformed by the king that rules the twilight. It has been turned into a world of shadows ... ruled by creatures who shun the light."

She then recollected the events that had led up to the fall of the kingdom, how one dark day the king of the twilight had laid siege to the castle of Hyrule. "Out of a cloud of smoke, the monsters came at the army with brutal force. The proud knights of Hyrule were no match for their wickedness. It was in that moment, when the army was all but defeated, that the ruler of the twilight—with two shadow guards—came before the princess of the kingdom. He left her with a painful decision. The kingdom could surrender to the will of his reign or all the people of the land would suffer death. Faced with this decision, the princess did the only thing she could…. She laid down her sword to him….

"It was in that moment that twilight began to cover Hyrule like a shroud, and without light, the people became as spirits. Yet within the twilight, they live on, unaware that they have passed into spirit forms. All the people know now is fear. Fear of a nameless evil…."

Throughout her dreary reminiscence, she had once again turned to the window, and had stolen away into quietness. She shook free of her thoughts and again looked to Link. Without fear and in resolute honesty, she declared, "The kingdom succumbed to twilight, but I remain its princess." Her hands lifted to the hood, and in the motion, the sleeves of her mantle slid back to reveal beautifully patterned white gloves the length of her arms. She tossed back the shadows from her face and shook her head free of the static that still ate at her gorgeous blonde locks, sparkling golden crown, and dangling earrings that reflected the image of Link's birth mark. Link stared up at her beauty in complete awe, so much so that Midna nearly tumbled off and had to snatch his fur to remain aloft.

The woman's cheeks seemed to glow in contrast to the surrounding darkness, and her blue eyes gazed down into his own. "I am Zelda."

Midna tilted her head. "You don't have to look so sad," she said in a tone unusual to her. Yet to amend her soft gentleness, she said, hands behind her head, "We actually find it to be quite livable! I mean, is perpetual twilight really all that bad?"

"Midna, this is no time for levity. The shadow beasts have been searching far and wide for you. Why is this?" the princess asked.

Midna popped up from Link's backside and hovered with her back to them in a moment of thoughtfulness, yet it was clear that no answer from her would be straightforward. Zelda patiently waited.

"Why indeed?" she giggled. "You tell me."

Zelda shifted, accepting her cryptic reply. "Time has grown short," she said to Link. "The guard will soon make his rounds. You must leave here. Quickly." With that, the princess turned back to the windows and stared blankly into the twilight beyond and the bobbing orbs of green light traveling the streets of the town below. It was in that moment that Link saw the light in her eyes dim; the sparkles within them were merely reflections of what had become of her citizens ... because of her.