-Urû'Horuk-
Two graves lay freshly carved in the Twilight rock, glowing sigils that pulsed as the respective Twili corpse was lay atop it. A shaman, dressed in ceremonial robes, placed his hands on one of the circles, the runes lighting up. He did this to the other, before stepping back and raising his arms. Black flames erupted from both circles, engulfing the Twili within. The shaman brought his hands together, the flames freezing in place before converging in the centre of their respective circles. The shaman turned, nodding to the families. They approached, taking the crystal from the circles and returning to their homes. Midna watched the whole ceremony in respectful silence, mentally cursing Trazyn. She held the Belt of Astral Twilight in her hands, and she shuddered when she saw the resemblance the crystals had to the ones that had just formed. Phasing the Belt into her pocket dimension, she turned, heading towards the rift that led to the world of light. Gideox ran up behind her.
"Excuse me, but you saved the rest of the Twili in the courtyard. You are unlike any Twili I have ever seen. May I ask your name?"
Midna stopped. She considered lying, to hide herself, but she thought against it.
"I am the result of what happens when you get cursed. I am Midna."
A sudden change came over Gideox. His eyes widened, and he immediately fell onto one knee.
"Forgive me, princess, I did not realise it was you."
Midna rolled her eyes, motioning for Gideox to stand.
"Good. I don't want people to see me like this. Don't tell them. As soon as I get back into the Twilight proper, I'll be normal again. For now, just let me go."
Midna turned and disappeared through the rift, Gideox stretching a hand out to her; he lowered it again after a few seconds.
"Leave her be. She can be... Temperamental. Gideox, can we talk for a moment? In private?"
"Of course, princess. My house is this way."
Gideox led Zelda to the simple building that served as Gideox's house. Inside, he pressed a rune on the wall, barriers covering the door and windows.
"There. Now we cannot be listened in on. What was it you wished to discuss, princess?"
Zelda took a deep breath before talking.
"I have been... Recruited, by Umbrak."
"Pardon me? Umbrak? What do you mean?"
"Your deity wants me to find a host. I can't, and Midna can't, so I've been looking around, observing. I believe that you will be a suitable conduit."
"I'm flattered, but what does that mean to me? What will happen? When?"
Zelda sighed.
"I don't know. She doesn't tell me much, only what I must do."
"I see. When you see Umbrak again, tell her I'll be her conduit."
"Thank you, Gideox."
Breathing in the fresh Hylian air, Midna sighed in frustration. She had to get the third piece of the Fused Shadow so that she could stop Trazyn. She could feel it calling to the other two pieces, tugging at her compulsion, beckoning her to find it. She could feel smaller fragments of power, no doubt shards of the Fused Shadow that were scattered about the land. She ignored them, focussing on the larger pull, gathering her energy to warp. She came apart, reforming in Faron Woods. The pull was already much stronger, and she followed it through the trees, flying high to avoid the sentries from Ordon below. She couldn't face them, not after what happened to both Link and Rusl.
She flew into the Forest Temple, frowning when she saw that many of the stone doors had been shattered, pebbles and dust strewn across the rotting rooms. She bristled slightly, unconsciously preparing herself for an attack. She continued her journey, soon reaching the room where Link had fought Diababa. She felt uneasy; she hadn't heard a single animal or insect since she had arrived, only the sound of the wind rustling the trees.
Midna approached the pinkish water, taking care not to touch the poisonous substance. She peered into the pool, sighting a radiant darkness at the bottom. Rolling her eyes, she plucked a single hair from her head and dropped it into the water, groaning as the fiery strand blackened and dissolved. There was no way she was getting to the fragment. Even if she boiled the water off, she knew the vapours would kill her before she could escape. Then, she had an idea.
Landing on the shore and taking care not to touch the water, Midna pulled Link's clawshot from her pocket dimension. She aimed and fired, the recoil almost dislocating her shoulder, and she braced herself when it closed around an object in the water. The chain began to retract, the metal blackened from the contact with the poison, the darkness moving towards her. She smiled, knowing that she had it. Her smiled was quickly replaced by a frown when the chain snapped, the corrosion eating through several of the links and dropping the fragment. She cursed, throwing the clawshot into the water and dodging the splash it created, she took the second one from her pocket dimension, but as she took aim, she was forced to dive out of the way of a blast of energy that evaporated the water behind her. She turned, the clawshot forgotten as she gathered her magical energy to direct against her assailant. When she saw that it was Zant, she summoned the Belt to aid her.
"Fancy trinkets will not help you here, Midna. You are powerless to stop what is coming."
Midna checked the Belt, seeing that eight of the nine jewels were full- she had replaced the ones she had used for her and Link's protective gear. Drawing from one of them, she fired a powerful beam of darkness at Zant, driving him into the ground. She heard bones snap with the force of the blast, yet Zant merely stood up, brushing himself off as if an insect had landed on him.
"Foolish girl."
Zant punched the air, a powerful concussive force catapulting Midna across the chamber. She hit the wall, vines emerging to pin her in place as Zant approached the pool, staring at the darkness within. Midna burned the vines away, forming a spear in her hands and launching it at Zant. He caught it and threw it back, all without turning around. She was forced to dodge, giving Zant the time to throw up a barrier, the energy forming a sphere around him. Midna punched it a few time, expending another crystal on the Belt before she stopped.
"It's made with the Triforce of Power, you foolish girl. You will never get through."
Zant manipulated the shield, using it to push the water out of the way, revealing the final piece of the Fused Shadow. Confident that his barrier would hold, the usurper stepped towards it, reaching out to the war mantle.
"Zant, stop! You're using a body of the Light. If you touch that, you will die."
Waving an arm at Midna, He lifted it out of the silt, brushing off the dust before trying to place it on his shoulder. As he tried to don it, it flew from his grasp, forcing itself against the barrier. He frowned, rubbing the sore spot on his hand that had appeared. He grabbed it again, and found that he could not take his hand away. He felt the power flowing into him, the light of the Triforce eclipsed by the Fused Shadow. His flesh burned and bones cracked as he changed, his body warping and expanding, filling with muscle and spines as the darkness took hold. A wave of shadows knocked Midna back, and when they cleared, Zant was no longer there.
In his place stood an awful creature, like the Shadow Beasts that had plagued the land, but much larger, and it had no faceplate. The only thing adorning its head was a mouth lined with needle-like teeth, and its limbs and back were covered in spines tipped with red. It turned to her, affixing her with a burning gaze.
"Alright, you monster. Let's dance."
She pulled a shackle from her pocket dimension, clasping the metal around her hair and allowing the chain to trail. She felt power flow to her limbs, animalistic fury whispering at the edges of her mind. Zant stared at her, a cloud of shadows covering it. It reared up, burrowing into the ground and moving through it with deadly speed, its spines erupting from the ground beneath Midna's feet. She dodged out of the way, trying not to breathe in the dust kicked up by Zant's emergence. She focused on the eyes, and she raised an arm. A phantasmal wolf burst from the ground beneath her, hoisting her onto its back and lunging forward, claws and teeth slashing at Zant's beastial form. Midna's wolf's claws raked against the shadowy aura that Zant had, to no effect. It roared in return, launching itself towards her and biting, its jaws snapping shut over a sphere of dark energy. The ball exploded, almost ripping Zant's lower jaw off. It staggered, the aura dropping, and Midna attacked, spirit wolves appearing from Twilight Portals that spontaneously appeared and disappeared as she directed the power of the shackle. As Midna ordered her wolf to leap into the air to deliver the final blow, the spines on Zant's back extended, skewering the beast and stabbing into her thigh. The wolf dissipated, and Midna fell to the floor, clasping a hand over the wound and cauterising it to stem the bleeding. In that short time, Zant had retracted its spines and charged, bearing down on top of her. She had no time to blink or warp, or dematerialise. Its claws were already approaching. She braced herself for the imminent pain, her eyes closing instinctively. She opened them when a flash of light burned through, and Zant howled. She gasped when she saw what had saved her.
A strand of light was spiralling from one of the jewels of the Belt of Astral Twilight. There, between her and Zant, the light had taken the form of a heavily-armoured man wielding a radiant shield and blade, the tip of which was embedded in Zant's chest. The phantom moved like water, its movements blurring together to deliver several cuts in the blink of an eye. Zant reared back, quickly scrambling backwards as the darkness around it yielded to the Light. It quickly shrank in size, returning to the form of Rusl, the Fused Shadow fragment falling to the floor in front of him. Zant looked at the armoured phantom with a mix of fear and anger, before slamming his palms together and vanishing. The phantom stared at the empty space before raising his sword to bring it down across the Fused Shadow.
"No!"
He stopped, turning to face Midna, who almost broke down crying when she saw that it had Link's face.
"Can you understand me?"
He nodded.
Yes.
"Where are you?"
He approached, pointing at the Belt of Astral Twilight. Midna picked it up, inspecting it. She realised that the final jewel had not been empty, but rather filled with golden light.
"You're inside the crystal?"
Yes.
"Is there any way you can return to your body?"
No.
Midna shed a tear, momentarily overtaken by her feelings before she composed herself. She picked up the right shoulder fragment of the Fused Shadow, noticing some visible damage, scratches, on top of it.
So that's where the splinters came from.
She picked it up, storing it in her pocket dimension. She couldn't risk changing, not here. She turned to Link.
"I have the power to stop Trazyn. Will you help me?"
An expression ghosted across Link's face, the blank expression there bending slightly into a smile. He sheathed his sword, disappearing into the jewel.
Yes.