The man in the tower began to pace, extremely restless. The sun had started to sink, and the plain should have been filled with the golden rays of day's end. Instead, a large, thick mist covered the ground. The castle door had been closed early today, since no one could see where they were going. He brushed back a piece of his blonde hair with a shaky hand, and halted at the window again. Everything is going so wrong. The boy looked dismally down at the plain for any sign of life. A ruddy part of the cloud moved abruptly, and he strained for a closer look. Is that...? The figure moved closer to the moat, and the mist parted ceremoniously for it.

"No," he said softly. The figure was actually a horse. It was covered in blood and dirt, and its saddle was hanging by the stirrup caught in its tail. Long purple burns covered its rear. The horse looked mournfully up at the tower, and bobbed its head before being enveloped in the mist again. If I saw what I thought I saw, he thought that must be Helen's horse.

He smacked a hand on the wall. Why is he playing with me like this? He could have both of us by now. He breathed deeply. Helen's fine. I would have felt it if she had been... killed. The boy snorted ruefully. It wouldn't have been the first time today I would feel that. He glanced momentarily at the triforce on his hand. It was fading. Anger pulsed through him, and he abruptly tried to put his hand through the window. It sparked for a moment before sending a crackle of sharp pain up his arm. He jerked away and cradled his fist, which was already turning red and bleeding. He looked at the sword that Ganondorf had given him back.

"If you give up, just use that. It will end it without the torture that I will put you through." The man in black had sneered.

"You can't touch me!" he had spat.

"That may be true," Ganondorf had laughed, "but there is more than one way to break someone, Link!"

The valley brought back ugly memories, which seemed to push themselves to the front of my mind. The place where I had fallen had left a semi-circle in the side of the valley. I peered down curiously, and was rewarded with the learching of my heart and stomach. There was no way that I was going to fall that way again. I cautiously tip-toed over the bridge, and through the long since unguarded gates. The desert people had become more trust-worthy of people over the years, and they had long ago stopped posting guards at the front gate. A lot of people were finally leaving the bubble of their towns, and taking pilgrimages to the temples. The long abandoned shrines to the elements had now become as elegant as they were before.

Anyway, I walked past the large stone walls into the city that they had built into the side of the mountain. A large swirling desert lay to the south, but it had become much less treacherous now that guides were leading packs of tourists over the twisting sands. The desert people are consisted of all girls and any boy that is born to any of them is considered a prophet. They still set up the ceremonial guards around the city, and so the flash of color was surprising. Each one of them was dressed in a gauzy purple fabric around their legs like pants, and left a bare space on their waist. Their mouths were all covered in the fabric, and their eyes were outlined in the traditional gold. Every one of them carried a sharp and dangerous knife on a long pole; one which I had had experience from training on before.

As I passed through the first level of the city, the guards stared at me from the corners of their eyes as I passed by. I made my way up a hill to the second level, and in the back was a training ground for cavalry. It looked long out of use, but I supposed people trained there once in a while. A woman in white stood under an awning, peering out from the only shade at me. What makes them so nervous about me? I thought as I shook my head in amazement. "Good day. May I ask where I could find employment? I heard about the jobs that they are offering..." I trailed off and shaded my eyes from the glaring sun so I could see the women. She smiled, revealing white teeth that glowed slightly in the shade.

"Try around the stables. They're over there." She pointed to a long winding path to the left of the archery range. Nodding, I set off up the trail, which went a surprisingly long way up the side of a plateau. Finally reaching the top, I sighed with relief that turned into a gape of wonderment.

Before me lay the most magnificent stables that I had seen in my life. A large sand colored brick wall rose 40 feet into the air, and connected with a clay tiled roof, inlayed with designs in a dark maroon. Each individual stall was carved and polished with care, until they looked like a waxed floor. Even the sandy dirt floor inside the stables looked as though it had been placed there with purpose.

My head was watching the ceiling as I walked though the giant wooden doors and into the cool shade of the stables. The roof was so far above me, and the rafters looked about as thick as a stone wall. I was about to run into a wall when an older woman dressed in olive green blocked my way.

The woman was slim and brown; the result of working in the sun for hours. Under the trees, the elves had evolved to keep their fair skin. Suddenly, I felt very out of place.
"May I ask your purpose?" the woman asked patiently. I closed my gawking mouth and cleared my reeling head.

"I heard they have jobs here," The woman razed an eyebrow but stood silently. "I am in the right place?" She nodded.

"One does not see many elves asking for employment," she titled her head questioningly. "What is your name?"

"Helen." a faint glint flashed in her eyes, but she said nothing. "Do you think you can take me?" Hope rose inside me. This was the only place I could go. Her face was blank, but she nodded reluctantly.

"We are having difficulties breaking a new horse. I suppose that you could try your hand at that." She peered at me from the corners of her eyes. "Follow me."

Had Sara gotten to the girl in time? The sages waited nervously around the rip. If this was a failure, than it could cost them this dimension. A sudden popping noise from the back of the crowd made the anxious people jump. Sara stepped into the crowd once more. Immediately, the sages crowded around her, their voices rising as they tried to talk over one another. "Did you find her?" "Was the forest taken?" "Why are you out of breath?" The girl waited unfazed as their chatter finally quieted.

"We have done all we can," she sighed forlornly. "It is up to them now. I fear that there is a misunderstanding between the two of them, but there is no way anyone besides themselves can solve it." Each of the Sages stared straight through the back of the next; somewhere beyond the room, somewhere they had been before. In each of their minds, a black shadow grew like a virus, staining and poisoning everything it touched. Someone waved a hand and the rip closed, lurching the room into perpetual silence and darkness.

The huge stables were nothing compared to the horses. Stable hands struggled to reach a bridle around the head of one particular giant who seemed to look down on the tiny people with quiet disdain. We passed at least twenty stalls, each stocked with a different color horse; palomino, pinto, dun, gray, gray black, grey white, white, and all the shades in between. Somehow, the air seemed cleaner and fresher in the stables. There was no sign of any dirt, nor any sign of horses that one would usually complain about: the smell most of all. The last stall in the hallway we were in seemed particularly dark, though it had a window overlooking a steep cliff. The women gestured toward the doorway. "This is the one." She pulled a carrot out of her pocket. "I recommend bribes as an entrance fee. If you can tame this horse, I can find somewhere to put you." She tossed me the carrot and backed away. With the carrot pressed to the bars, I nickered softly to a dark shape in the corner. The black shape's head moved, but nothing happened. Carefully, I opened the stall door enough to allow entrance, making sure that the door didn't lock behind me. Just in case.

The black shape still didn't move, which may or may not have been a good sign. "Hey," I said softly, "I'm not gonna hurt you." Nothing. "What are you doing in the corner like that?" I held out the carrot as a peace offering. The shadow horse reluctantly reached its nose out until it could just nibble on the end of the treat. When I made no sudden moves, the back half followed the front. In dim light I could make out burn marks on its matted dark brown coat. The saddle hadn't even been removed yet. As it finished the carrot, I scratched its forelock gently.

With my hand, I traced along its almost anorexic body until I reach its belly. Using feather light touches to remove the girth and the saddle blanket, I could almost feel the sigh as the weight was literally lifted from its shoulders. It ambled quietly over to the food pail as I brought the saddle out of the stall to examine it better.

The saddle had similar burn marks, obscuring any symbols that might have informed who the previous owner was. However, it was evident that who ever had owned it, had owned it for years. Bits of leather were tearing off in wear, obvious leg marks were warn into the sides, and the sword sheath had been sewn together pretty primitively. Leaving the saddle outside, I reentered the gloom. The horse seemed to be more nervous now. The whites of its eyes glowed as it backed itself into a corner and bucked slightly. I froze, humming a calming song that popped into my mind. Truthfully, it was more for my nerves then for the horse, but the horse shuddered and stopped. I stepped cautiously closer, but it didn't seem to mind, so I hooked a lead rope onto its bridle and lead it out into the hall.

We both blinked rapidly as our eyes adjusted to the sunlight. No one was in the hall at the moment, so I hooked her to a clip on the wall and rummaged around in a nearby tack room for a brush. The horse relaxed onto the wall as I gently curried around her scratches. The matted fur turned a copper gold as I brushed the dust away. Carefully, I moved on to its mane, which was brown with dirt.

Only half an hour later stood a very clean horse that was almost purring with contentment. Its mane was actually white, which I had discovered after washing her down. Somehow it looked really familiar... however, I didn't get a chance to connect the dots because another stable hand had discovered what I had done.

"How did you get her out of the stable?" she asked incredulously. "I couldn't even put my hands in the bars without getting bitten!" I smiled.

"I just sang her a song, didn't I girl?" The horse nodded vigorously as I unclipped her lead rope and took off her bridle. The stable hand backed away in fear, but the horse stood stone still. I rubbed her forehead inattentively. So familiar... I thought as the stable hand bragged about her latest exploits against the horses.

"This one is so much smaller then the others. No wonder a newbie like you could tame her. I really wonder if this is one of the queen's stocks. No, I would not think that it would be..." She droned on until one of the other hands called her away. The horse gently snuffled the top of my head.

"No... you couldn't be." I turned to look the horse. Its black eyes absorbed me until something clicked in my mind. Epona just doesn't answer to anyone. She wouldn't even answer to me at first... the voice explained. "Epona?" The horse looked me straight in the eyes and whuffled agreement.

Link had given up pacing by now. So much time had passed; it felt like he had grown 30 years in the past days. Perhaps I have, he mused, after all this pressure and stress... He laughed weakly. Age was probably last on his list of importance at the moment. From the muffled yells that snuck up from the walls, the purple mist had entered the town and was wreaking havoc. Listlessly, Link turned onto his side away from the window. Shards of metal on the floor gleamed sickly in the thick haze. He broke the Ocarina of Time, he thought, the one thing he has been searching for all these years, and he broke it. With a groan he covered his face with his hands, praying to whoever was listening. I'm so tired… perhaps death is a better alternative. Simply thrusting cold steel through one's chest. A small pain to end the large.

It was a shock to find out that this gaunt, bruised horse was the gallant Epona. She sniffed my pockets distractedly for food as I scratched behind her ears. "What happened to you?" I asked, my mouth pressed into her cheek. Link would never abuse Epona to this point, although the Link I thought I knew wasn't real. He was just trying to pull my chain.

She pulled her head up abruptly and smelled the air. Cautiously, she stepped out of the barn onto the plateau and looked to the horizon.

"What is it?" I asked. She turned her head and nodded at the sky. The plateau was higher up then it seemed, allowing a perfect view of the surrounding countryside. However, the entire countryside was now obscured by a purple tinged cloud that seemed to be moving steadily towards us. The wind from whatever storm that was driving it had already stripped all the leaves from the trees, but they seemed to be trailing the cloud like they were caught in it.

A few of the other stable hands were also looking over the vista disturbedly. The cloud seemed to be using tendrils of itself to climb the walls of the plateau. I rubbed my eyes to make sure that it was real. Clouds can't climb. Epona nudged me frantically.

"I think I should leave," I agreed. Trying not to hurt her, I mounted Epona as gently as possible. However, she galloped away as soon as I touched her back. Gripping her mane for dear life, I buried myself into her neck as the landscape blurred into lines. I felt my leg slap something hard, sending tendrils of pain up my body, but I had no voice to cry out. Wind whipped the tears from my eyes and the words from my mouth as Epona flew across the ground.

I was almost thrown off when she stopped suddenly, her feet digging into the ground to slow herself. The wind from the storm was actually painful, whipping clods of dirt against my skin. Through the fog, I could make out a large gray wall. "Hyrule Castle?" I yelled over the scream of the wind. Epona reared. "The bridge is drawn! We can't go in!" Epona trembled beneath me. She didn't know where to go either.

Link jerked when he heard Helen's voice carried on the wind, ignoring the rush of pain he felt when he put his hand to the window. The storm outside was becoming violent, but he could still see the faint glow of a horse's mane. "Epona?" He pounded on the window, taking no notice of the blood which began to flow from his reopened scars. "I can't break this window alone!" He cried frustratedly. Searching the room for something to use, he spotted the Sword of Time on the ground. His fingers barely brushed the metal before he plunged the sword into the opening. The window seemed to cry out, but the sword had broken through enough to shatter the spell. Drops of liquid metal and shards of the hex covered the room. The hilt of the sword clattered onto cold stone.

Epona was becoming frantic.

"We have to leave!" I shouted above the storm. The whites of her eyes glowed in the dim light. The storm was getting stronger, if that were possible. The chains of the bridge screamed as the wind forced its way in, opening reluctantly, but falling with an earth shattering slam. With the wind whipping my unraveled hair into my face, I couldn't see what was happening.

"Epona, the bridge is down!" I cried, hair flying into my mouth. She reared violently and I fell off. My hair streamed behind me in the gust that issued from the bridge as Epona tried to shield me with her body.

"Epona," I protested loudly. "We need to get away from this storm!"

"Indeed you do," said a voice, hidden by the trembling horse. "However, I'm afraid you can go no further." She reared at the voice, but was forced to canter away by the unseen force.

"No!" I cried. "You aren't real!" A man stood before me, dressed in black armor. His yellow eyes smiled mischievously as he pushed a hand through his red hair.

"Remember me?"

Really Dramatic Pause with scary percussion music

Muhahahahaha... the author leaves you with a cliffhanger. Oh the power I weild over you pathetic mortals. >:)