Once we warped back to Kakariko Village (and surprised the heck out of Barnes and the kids) we then proceeded towards Death Mountain... only for us to hear a scream from inside of the town. Link immediately turned around to see who it was and I had to poke my head out of his shadow to see. And what did I see? One of the kids, the blonde one, was laying on the ground with a wound on his shoulder. And the one who caused the wound? "Zaant..." I growled lowly as Link rushed to the monster with a glare in his eyes. "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO COLLIN?!" Link exclaimed at Zaant, demanding an answer. Zaant stood up and turned around to look at Link, his movements slow and intimidating, which scared the other kids deeply.
"I have given him the branding of the Twilight. In only 24 hours, he will become a Twili. And anyone with half a brain knows that a Twili will die if exposed to even a fraction of sunlight," Zaant said with a very sinister cackle soon after, me gasping and seeing that the moon had come out finally. It was now time for me to shine. "YOU BASTARD!" I exclaimed as I hopped forth from Link's shadow and grabbed Zaant's body with my hair, surprising him as I actually managed to pin him down! "Midna... you...!" Zaant glared at me.
"Release Collin from this curse right now, or would you rather me smash your face in with fists of steel?" Epsie growled as she turned into her new golem form and smashed her fists together, making a loud clanking sound. "Very well," Zaant growled, Collin gasping as he felt his shoulder and I looked at it. It no longer had the mark on it. "Now leave these innocent people alone!" Link growled at him. Zaant simply cackled and disappeared soon after, de-materializing his body into Twilight. "That was Zaant?... He tried to send a blast of energy at Beth, but I shielded her from it and got hit in the shoulder... and what's a Twili?" Collin asked.
"A Twili is a person that resides in the realm of Twilight. They were banished there due to a great war between the Twili race and the Hylians eons ago. After their banishment to Twilight, the Hylians put a curse on all Twili people. If they were to be exposed to too much light, whether artificial, spectral, or sunlight, they'd be slowly poisoned and killed. Only the patriarchs of the Twili race or those who are incredibly powerful in magic may be able to traverse the world of Light with no negative effects... I was one such Twili, the ruler of them... then Zaant betrayed me, leading to all of these events that have happened... me turning into an imp means I am now susceptible to being killed by too much light. Zaant has gained some form of powerful magic in his body, which allows him to trap areas within Twilight as well as traverse the world of Light with no ill effects. He wears the bird mask to not only look imposing, but to protect his face from the sun, as it is the only part of his body that can be burnt and poisoned," Midna said, everyone looking at her and almost all of us gobsmacked by her speech.
"Whoa... I had no idea that all of that had happened to you, Midna... now I see why you want to get these Fused Shadows by any means necessary. To stop Zaant and this war he's causing..." Epsie gawked at me, which I felt a bit weirded out at. "Midna..." Link said as he put his hand on my shoulder, hoisting me up to look him in the eyes. "We're going to help you stop Zaant from hurting anymore people. No matter what, we need to stop this madman. And we all have our reasons now. I want to stop him because he is hurting innocent people. Epsie wants to stop him because he hurt Ilia. And you want to stop him because he betrayed you and turned you into an imp. We need to get going to the Goron Mines right now to save time," Link said, me looking into his blue eyes and smiling... I never noticed before, but he had the look of a true hero... he'd be willing to protect anyone he cared for... and now I was one of them. "Let's get going. I'll warp us to the volcano area to save time," I said, me snapping my fingers and our trio being warped to the volcano immediately. But when we did so, I immediately retreated into Epsie's shadow. Why? The volcano was erupting and a giant skewer of lava fell literally inches away from my body! Even that kind of light hurt me a bit and I didn't want to risk any lasting damage.
Link and Epsie then proceeded to climb to the top of the volcano and we were then met with a bunch of Gorons that wanted to hurt us, but a loud voice stopped them just in time. "That's enough!" the voice boomed from the back of the cave. "Do you really think that a duo of humans are worth all of you ganging up on them at once?" the Goron said, him looking to be a bit larger and older than the rest. Definitely an elder.
"I am Gon Coron. Who are you to have made it this far?" the elder asked. "I'm Link, this is Epsie," Link explained. "And I'm Midna," I said as I poked my head out of the shadow and only my head. There was torches lit all over the room. "So we have two members from the realm of Twilight and a human? What business do you have with us Gorons?" the elder asked. "We want to have the Fused Shadow that's being kept in your mines to stop a madman from spreading Twilight across the land," Epsie said, that getting the elder's attention.
"Really?... Well, normally we do not trust outsiders, but for this time, I may make an exception... see, our village Patriarch went into the mines along with myself and the other elders to check up on the treasure, the Fused Shadow. But upon touching it, the Patriarch turned into a frightful monster... we had to seal him in the deepest parts of the mines. But because of our Patriarch's madness, the volcano has been in pain as well, raining fire and brimstone at sporadic intervals. I will allow your group access to the mines if at least one of you can defeat me in a sumo wrestling match," Gon Coron said. "Then let me handle it. I loved practicing Sumo and I could take on Bo on any day no matter the weather," Epsie smiled, Link placing his hand on her shoulder. "Epsie, remind me to ask you how many other people know your true identity?" Link smiled. "I'll tell you about it after I beat this guy in a wrestling match. I don't even think I need to go golem for this one," Epsie smirked. I wondered if she really was that strong. To be stronger than a creature literally made of rocks... I would be quite impressed if she could handle taking on an Elder of the Gorons.