Waves crashed on the pale sands of the coast of southern Faron, their constant roaring punctuated by the shrill cries of seabirds. It was a place untouched by humans, one of the true wild places where they had no settlements, which was largely due to the Zoras that lived there. While the River Zoras of Lanayru were friendly towards humans and other races, the Bay Zoras of the Faron Sea and its many islands were territorial and distrustful, and behaved much how all Zoras behaved once.

A lone rider headed eastward towards the Necluda Ocean, the vast body of water that separated the lands of Hyrule and Labrynna. Even though the Zoras were something to be avoided, he had stopped to speak to them all the same, and offered them gemstones from the depths of Death Mountain in exchange for information. Since the Bay Zoras did not often find the materials to make the silvery jewelry they adored, the gift was eagerly accepted, and the man who brought them was allowed to pass through their lands undisturbed.

He paused at one of the many sandy channels in a wide delta that emptied out into the large bay and let his horse drink, a large bay stallion that had the strength and the stamina to outrun any potential trouble. Even though there had been plenty of other horses to choose from, the stallion had been suggested to him by a friend, since his own horse was pregnant and unable to make the journey. If he had to hazard a guess, the eight-year-old bay was probably the father, although it would be difficult to determine until the foal was born.

The man idly looked around as the horse drank, and in the distance he spotted what the Zoras had described: mossy green ruins that spilled out of the edge of the dense rain forest. The ruins were suspected to be Hylian, although the elderly Zora historian that he spoke to suspected that parts of the ruins were so ancient that they predated the race, and came from the time before Hylia took pity on a small clan of humans that struggled in the harsh world the gods had created. The massive Zora had said that there were colleagues from a settlement on the eastern coast of the continent that believed the ruins were built by the gods, an idea the historian openly scoffed.

However the man heard exactly what he had wanted to hear, and traveled east along the coast. It was midsummer and not quite typhoon season, and because of that he was able to travel without needing to hole up in a cave somewhere with a terrified horse. He had spotted roving packs of Lizalfos here and there, and while they eyed him warily they did not bother attacking the lone human. Most likely they were far more concerned with hunting fish and game than hunting something they wouldn't eat. Then again, they probably took one look at how he was armed and decided it wasn't worth the trouble.

He carefully crossed the delta and its narrow channels in the sand, and the horse fussily picked up his hooves as if he did not like the way he sunk into the wet sand. Once they were on harder ground that was held together by flat sea grasses and scrub, the stallion cantered again, happy to get away from the soggy delta and the sand that clung to his fetlocks. It didn't take long to reach the ruins, and upon closer inspection he could see they weren't colored by moss at all, even though they had their share of plants growing on them. They were made of green granite that had flecks of black and gold in it, a kind of stone not seen anywhere in Hyrule, but then again that could have been due to the ruins using it all. Rounded buildings with high pillars and empty windows boldly faced the sea, and perhaps when the world was younger, that sea was closer to the derelict city.

The man dismounted and found a place to tether his horse, who gave him a flat look and then began to nibble at the grasses that grew along the edge of the jungle. Accepting the stallion for the trip had seemed like a good idea at the time, but it turned out the bay had a bit of an attitude, and not the sweet demeanor of the mare the rider usually used. With bits of shell crunching beneath his boots, the man walked past several buildings of a similar rounded shape, and approached the ancient stone road that led into the jungle. At the end of that road was a curved wall that extended in either direction, and a massive door with the Crest of the Triforce sat in the middle of the tall wall. The door was open slightly and he was able to enter the ancient bowl-shaped city easily enough, although he wasn't quite sure what building he was looking for, only its contents.

He looked down the tiered levels of the city, and at the round temple at the bottom that was surrounded by a reflective pool of green water. Even though he searched carefully using a skill that very few people possessed, he was unable to find the thing he was looking for, and it was neither in the large temple nor the ancient homes and shops that surrounded it. Frowning, he turned around and walked out again, certain that he had missed something. Retracing his steps, he took careful looks at each of the worn buildings of green stone, until he noticed one that quite obviously was not. Its stone was gray and appeared far more ancient, and it lay nestled between the other buildings in such a way that he hadn't seen it when he had approached from the opposite direction. He circled around to the south side of it and found its entrance.

Just like the city wall, the door to the gray stone building had the Crest of the Triforce on it, but the three familiar triangles were surrounded by three circles that had familiar symbols on them. The man knew what they were, and that in modern times they had become associated with the Gorons, the Kokiri and the Zoras, but he also knew that they represented Din, Farore and Nayru...the golden goddesses. He had found what he had come for.

Even though the door was shut tight, he had the key. He extended his left hand towards the ancient stone door, a hand that had the very same three triangles on the back of it, and they flared to life with a brilliant gold.

"Knock, knock." he said.

The door shuddered and a seam appeared in its middle, and with a shower of dust and fragments of dead vegetation, its two halves swung inwards. The man smiled in satisfaction, lowered his hand, and the golden light on it winked out. Then he lit a lantern and entered the ancient temple that he knew held an ancient relic.

Link had found out about the ruins from Shad months ago, but it had still been late winter, and Hyrule was still caught in the grip of famine despite there being a reasonable harvest last year. Making sure that food was distributed fairly and evenly had been a difficult task, as was making sure that desperate people didn't steal more food than they were allotted. Now that it was the second summer since the Twilight Invasion and he had just reached his twentieth year, things were were somewhat easier. That didn't remove the ever present threat of the Leighs, the pressures of Zelda to wed, the army deserters that had formed into a more organized movement, or the angry commoners that had accosted noblemen in the streets over their wealth. The first harvest of this second year took only a slight amount of pressure off his shoulders, and off of Zelda's as well. He had done is best to make sure to keep her burden as light as he possibly could, although there was only so much he could do.

Of course if Zelda knew what he was doing, she would not have been happy about it, and it would be another heavy thing for her to bear. That was why he wouldn't say a word to her, and neither would Shad. For all the princess knew, Link was off visiting Ilia now that she had moved back to Ordon.

With the lantern swinging slightly in his hand, he walked into the dark temple, and his light made the shadows dance as he moved. The layout was similar to another building that he had encountered, and he knew that past the main rectangular room would be a back room that was large, round, and contained what he was searching for. Finally, after months of being patient, he would find it.

The door was golden, as he had suspected it would be, and probably the only reason something so valuable remained was due to the fact that no one could open the main doors to the building. The other building of similar design had been modified so people who knew the proper spell could open the doors, but these would only open to those who had the power of the gods. It wasn't Farore herself that opened the golden door, but a young man who had her power bonded to his soul twofold.

Beyond was a large room that had nothing in it but two features: a tall rectangular slab of stone at the back of the room, and a flat circle of black glass that stood in a metal frame at its center. The mirror was aimed up at a slight angle just like he assumed it would be, and everything about it was like the Mirror of Twilight. Yet this wasn't that mirror; it was one of the three remaining on the continent, named the Mirror of Dawn. Elsewhere were the Mirror of Evening and the Mirror of Midnight, although Shad had been unable to determine where they were. All they had known that somewhere in the southeastern part of the continent was an ancient mirror created by the gods to access the Shadow Realm, and now he had found it.

He shifted the lantern to his right hand and prepared himself to do something that was possibly foolish. Even Shad didn't know what Link's plans were, and the young knight was only supposed to seek out and find the three mirrors. He had told his friend nothing about activating one, since he didn't intend on going through. All he wanted was to see was if it still worked. With any luck no one would notice, not even the sage Rauru. The ancient sage had said that the mirrors could resonate when someone went through them, but he hadn't mentioned that it could happen when one was briefly active.

Determined to do what he had come to the ruins for, Link raised his left hand towards the black mirror and Courage lit up on his hand. Then he carefully sang a series of notes, the notes that Midna had told him to remember if he ever needed to return through the Mirror of Twilight. It was entirely possible that it wouldn't work, and different spells were needed for each mirror. It was entirely possible that the trip was a waste and a failure.

But it wasn't. The etched patterns on the surface of the obsidian began to glow white, and flat circles made of white lines emanated from the mirror and beamed towards the rough boulder behind it. A portal sizzled and whined and then yawned open there, a series of concentric white circles that formed a tunnel to something dark, something that he assumed was a similar building on the other side. He saw his own glowing hand tremble as he still held it before him, and he felt his heart pound.

He had done it. He could go through, if he really wanted to. He could go and see the friend that he sorely missed, the woman that he had began to fall in love with and had since lost that love, but never the fondness he had felt towards her. The bond they had formed through all they had done together was a strong one, and time had done nothing to lessen it. Midna was on the other side of the mirror, and he knew that one day, he would see her again.

One day, but not today.

Just as he had opened it, he closed the portal with his song magic, singing the same song but in reverse. Then Courage winked out and the mirror grew dark, and the only light in the room came from his lantern. While he had done it, the feeling was bittersweet, and even though he had come so far, he felt as if it wasn't far enough. No, it would be eventually. Eventually he would be able to go there and possibly bring Zelda to visit Midna and Jannis, and the hero and his princess from the Light Realm would visit their counterparts from the Shadow Realm. But for now Hyrule still needed him, as did Ilia. For now, he would have to be patient.

Link smiled as he walked from the temple with lantern in hand, and was still smiling when he shut the large stone door behind him. He had waited two years so far, two whole years of secret research and collaboration with Shad, and that was why he knew he could wait a bit longer. For the time being he would continue to alternate between protecting Zelda and living with Ilia, two women that already made his life happy enough. When the day finally came and he was reunited with the third woman that was so important to him, he knew that happiness would be complete.

His boots continued to crush the shells of the beach as he made his way back to Spirit with the intention to return to Ordon, where Ilia waited for him. He had already endured multiple hardships to get this far, and to gain what happiness he had managed to find, happiness he knew he was due. Even though he knew that the future was full of unknowns, he also knew everything would be all right in time, as long as he had courage.

THE END

The Twilight Invasion is over, but the tale of the Hero of the Twilight is not. New threats lurk on the horizon, and both his country and his future queen must be protected. The story continues in the next series, Like A Phoenix.

The tentative post date is late 2023/early 2024. Be sure to follow to get notifications, so you know when the first few chapters of book one go up!