Duskin's POV:
I could feel my heart beating in my chest, like a ticking clock I knew was running out of time. I was just waiting for the alarm to go off. I'd stayed behind to protect the castle and I would do that until the end, though it had become a prison within only an hour's time. I was trapped in the palace with these monsters that had long since escaped the room we'd tried to lock them in.
For two hours, I'd been trying to avoid the shadow beasts, but more and more seemed to appear out of nowhere and I was running out of hiding places. I wished I was more like Link, as much as I despised him at times. He never seemed to run out of courage like I did.
I ran to the library, hiding in the shadows, although I knew it would do no good. The monsters were designed to dwell in darkness. I pulled a random book off the shelf. Twili Poetry. I grabbed a quill pen and scrawled a note to Midna on a blank page at the beginning of the book.
Dearest Princess,
I remembered that Midna hated when I called her princess and crossed that out.
Midna, I love you. I know you do not return these feelings, but I had to let you know. I apologize that I was such a stuck-up coward in life. Forever yours, Duskin
It was so… insufficient to tell her what I needed to say. It seemed too plain, but I was at a loss for words, so it would have to do. I then stuffed the book back into its place.
The monsters were outside the library. I could hear them beating on the door before they finally figured out how to open it. They weren't the brightest creatures, but I wasn't any less afraid of them because of it. The huge doors creaked and one swung inward slowly. My heart felt as though it stopped when I saw them coming towards me.
Everything seemed to go in slow motion, and I couldn't hear for some reason. I stood and drew my sword, but my feet felt so heavy and my head was killing me. I guess it was the fear that did this to me. I put up a good fight and killed a few, but they seemed to come over me in a wave, there were so many. I blacked out.
When I awoke, everything felt wrong… like I was in the wrong body. The creatures were gone… except for one.
I jumped up and prepared to fight… and so did it. I was looking in a mirror. I threw a heavt book at the mirror and shattered it. I refused to believe what I saw. They were doing this to me. They were the ones making me feel so confused. None of this was real.
But it was. I'd never liked light all that much, being a Twili and all. But this thing I felt now was different. It wasn't just a dislike for the brightness that hurt my head or the prejudice light creatures. I felt the need to destroy any and all light power.
I began to panic as I realized I was losing myself, then forced myself to calm down and hold on to all the rational thinking I had left in me. There was a loud, slow, banging sound, over and over, coming from down the hall, where the main entrance to the palace was. I got up and walked there, stumbling a couple of times, not used to this strange new body.
At the entrance, the shadow beasts were using one of the grand pillars of the throne room as a battering ram. I had assumed that it had been them who had locked the door, in order to keep me in. But apparently they were trapped here as well. But by whom?
It didn't matter then. All that mattered was that I keep them from getting out. That I protect my princess. Illia's face appeared in my mind. That I protect my princesses.
I charged towards the shadowbeasts and threw a few to the side, my vision red and blurred from the energy and rage I felt. The adrenaline was kicking in and it somehow gave me the strength to lift the entire battering ram myself. I swung it, slamming it into the other shadow beasts. No, not other shadow beasts. I refuse to be one of them.
The shadow beasts fell away as I swung the pillar, until each one vanished in a puff of smoke, curling in the air like a red ribbon, until all was silent. I dropped the battering ram, and it fell to the ground with a dull thud that echoed on the walls and vaulted ceiling. I collapsed to the ground, my energy sapped and the adrenaline gone.
I wrote with my claw on the ebony door one word: Ilia. And I died there, a monster. But my kingdom was safe.