As always, thank you to everyone who reads this and my other stories. It is great to see other Zelda nerds enjoying the story I've created.
I am hugely excited to start this sequel to In His Shadow (and the Journey) and continue Link and Dark's story. This project has been close to my heart from the beginning and has taken no small effort to create. I hope you like reading this fic as much as I enjoy writing it!
If you haven't read In His Shadow and The Journey yet, this story will probably not make a lot of sense, but hopefully the summary helps with the background.
*I changed the title of the story to one that suited it better*
She woke on the edge of the woods, disoriented and chilled to the bone.
Craning her head left and right, she saw nothing but trees and foreboding blackness. When she closed her eyes, there was only smoke. And fire.
She shivered. She was cold. Hungry. She tried to sit up, but a lance of agony cut through her, making her cry out. Where was she? What had happened?
It was blank. Someone had stolen everything. There were only hazy memories and flickers of fear eating at the edges of her consciousness. Her arms lifted and she held them closer to her chest, though it caused more pain. She felt...something was missing. She should have been holding something.
She looked around where she lay, but there was nothing in the grass, nothing nearby. Something had been taken. She'd lost something. Bereavement shrouded her. Grief pricked her heart. What had she lost?
When she looked down at her too empty arms, she gasped. Blood was splashed across the front of her dress. Hers? Something had been taken from her, she knew. Something she would have died for.
The grief and pain swelled in an insurmountable wave, crashing into her. Her entire body was shaken with sobs she couldn't stop. She was lost. Alone.
In the trees, some nocturnal animal shifted, rattling the leaves. Her eyes darted to the shadows, tears forgotten. She rose to her feet, though the pain was throbbing now, insistent. She couldn't stay here. There was still danger nearby. Chasing her.
Slowly, she spun in a circle. Where should she go? Not north. She frowned. There was nothing but forest to her right. Open plains to the left. Open meant danger. No cover.
She turned around. That way. Keep walking. Don't stop. Need to get away.
Her foot stumbled. She caught herself, forcing her eyes to focus on the terrain ahead. She couldn't afford to stop.
She kept walking. She didn't stop even as the pain subsided to a dull roar. Even as the first flashes of daylight crept over the treetops.
She had to find what she had lost.
