59th Entry: Fused Shadow

Revali spent the rest of the night collecting the bugs that were the Tears of Light, which accumulated on the translucent grapevine. On the way, he was attacked by several Twilight Beasts which he repelled with Revali's Gale. He then followed Medli's instructions and placed the full grapevine on the main terminal of Vah Medoh. The flower-shaped terminal opened up, revealing a glowing creature shaped like a goat.

"You have done well, Revali, Champion of the Rito," said the goat-like creature. "I am Ordona, one of the Light Spirits summoned by the Seer to cleanse this land of the darkness that now entraps it."

"Why, thank you," Revali said proudly. "I am the Ritos' Champion for a reason."

"Indeed, though not for the reason that you may think," said Ordona. "While you may pride yourself on your prowess as a warrior and flier, the real reason Chief Kaneli chose you is because he sensed that beneath your arrogance you were a good soul inside."

This statement made Revali's eyes widen, and then he folded his wings. "Of course I'm a good soul! Why would anyone think otherwise?"

"Those you've hurt with your words may not recognize the goodness in you, such as Teba, Link, and Riju among others. All they see is a pompous bird who thinks he's better than everyone else and only thinks of himself."

Revali's feathers twitched in anger. "I didn't free you to be lectured at! Now will you rid my land of the Twilight and return my people back to normal already?"

"Of course," Ordona nodded. "Just think about how your words affect others."

Then Ordona vanished in a flash of light.

"He's got a point, you know," Medli said to Revali. "Words can have consequences, which can be good or bad depending on what the speaker says. But the most important thing is that the speaker owes up to their words instead of ignoring their effect."

Medli then vanished just as the sun was coming up over the eastern horizon. When this happened, the sky turned from orange to blue and the floating blue flames below became Ritos. Also, Revali's vision was no longer negative. This allowed him to see that while the Hebra Province and the distant Gerudo Province were no longer covered in the orange sky, the rest of Hyrule still was.

"Did Riju free a Light Spirit too?" Revali wondered, and looked down at his Sheikah Slate.

Unlike before, the screen was no longer black. So he was able to find Riju's contact information and connect to her.

"What is it, bird-brain?" Riju said in an irritated tone on the Sheikah Slate screen. "You caught me at a busy moment."

Revali hid his offense with a stern look. "Oh, really? Have you seen the rest of Hyrule lately?"

"As a matter of fact, I have," Riju stated. "I take it you were able to free the Light Spirit in your Divine Beast with help from the spirit of a long-dead Sage."

"Why do you think that's what happened to me?"

"If you hadn't, you wouldn't be calling me right now."

"Touché."

"I was also able to take control of my Divine Beast right after. Have you tried that?"

Surprised by what Riju said, Revali scoffed. "Of course!"

"All right, then prove it by flying Vah Medoh to the Arbiter's Grounds in the Gerudo Desert," Riju challenged. "It's the colosseum-like structure past Gerudo Town. Hard to miss."

Then Riju's image disappeared from the Sheikah Slate screen. Revali gripped the slate to the point of breaking, but he stopped and took a deep breath before heading over to the main terminal. Like he did so many times before, he placed his Sheikah Slate on the main terminal. He expected nothing to happen once more, but this time the blue lights throughout Vah Medoh lit up. After let out an ear-splitting screech, the Divine Beast took off in the direction of the Gerudo Desert.

###

Before the dawn came, Midna woke Zelda and Wolf Link up. Zelda immediately noticed several Yiga Clan members lurking near the canyon entrance she and the children came from the day before, and quietly packed up her gear. Standing behind the boulder, she and Wolf Link were transported by Midna to the Lost Woods which they needed to pass through to get to Korok Forest. Unlike the rest of Hyrule, the Lost Woods were not covered in the Twilight which Zelda attributed to the power of the Great Deku Tree. As such, some tree-like Koroks that were walking around had nervous looks on their leafy faces when they beheld Zelda and her companions.

"Don't be afraid of us," Zelda assured. "We're not here to hurt you."

"It's not you that we're afraid of," said one of the Koroks. "We fear of what will happen to the Great Deku Tree."

"The Deku Tree?" Zelda's eyes widened. "What's happened to him?"

"Well, yesterday, our adopted brother Gulley fell from the sky through a black hole," replied another Korok.

"He had a piece of metal attached to him, and he turned into this…monstrous plant that attached itself to the Deku Tree," the first Korok said, shivering nervously.

Midna looked surprised. "That sounds like the work of a Fused Shadow Fragment."

"The Fused Shadow?" Zelda exclaimed. "As in the Interloper artifact that the original Midna used to fight Zant and Ganondorf?"

"Yes," Midna nodded. "It's my family's most sacred treasure. For obvious reasons, we've never tried using it since my ancestor did all those years ago. But it seems Zant managed to obtain the Fused Shadow when he took over the Twilight Realm and broke it into several fragments."

"And he managed to put a curse on Gulley with one of these fragments," Zelda concluded. "But how would Zant be able to do that? Gulley is one of the new Seven Sages! And to my understanding, the Sages wouldn't be affected by the power of the Twilight because they channel the power of the Sacred Realm which is greater than the Twilight's power."

"Maybe this 'Greater God' that Zant worships gave him an extra boost in dark magic that allowed him to surpass even the power of the Sages," Midna speculated.

In Zelda's mind, she could only come to one conclusion as to who the 'Greater God' was: Ganon. But she chose not to say anything about this revelation, following Wolf Link and Midna further into the Lost Woods towards the Deku Tree in Korok Forest.

To be continued…