Author's Note: Please remember that this takes place in January 2013, before Hyrule Warriors and Zelda U were revealed, so Zach would not know about them yet.

It took a little longer than Midna liked since she had to take care not to shake Zach's body too much, but they finally made it to Ordon Spring. The Twilian grimaced as she set the wolf-boy into the water, wishing that the sun would go down so she could heal. Her shadow form was of a metaphysical sense; she was there and yet not there, and she did not care to find out if the water could heal sunburn.

After a minute or so, Midna glanced at Zach to find that he was still laying in the water, a look of pain on his face. Hmph, serves him right, the imp thought as she floated into the shade and sat down on a patch of grass. As she materialized, she immediately felt the pain of her injuries: three broken ribs, the tip of her left shoulder blade had fractured, there was a substantially bleeding bite wound on the underside of her knee, she had a splitting headache, and her fang was poking through the hole in her lip.

The fight itself was a sort of mixed blessing in that Midna could now see her weaknesses in combat, the down side being she had very few strengths without her magic. It would have to be a crutch until she was restored to her true self. Nevertheless, the Twilian was nothing if not innovative as she sat in the shade and reviewed the scuffle with Zach. She had the advantage while using her illusion, but it was severely tiring and even if Zach had not provoked her, it would have faded in seconds anyway, and once it did, the wolf-boy was able to hold his own more easily if not crudely.

Midna snorted to herself and conceded that he was the second person in a while to bring a fight to a standstill, though she most certainly won by his own admission. She looked up at the afternoon sun and raised a brow at how fast the day was ending. It had been bright and sunny when she and Zach were brought to Faron Spring, yet it looked very close to dusk now.

"The darkness is spreading," Orochi said, startling Midna. "Have you finished throwing a tantrum?"

Midna groaned and held her forehead. "It wasn't a tantrum, he started it." She glanced over at Zach and found that he was still laying in the water, breathing weakly.

"A childish excuse. We agree that his actions and words were less than tolerable, but you are not completely innocent either."

The Twilian rolled her eyes and drawled, "Thanks, Father, I'll think about what I've done very hard."

If she did not know better, Midna would have thought she heard a sigh. "You truly are the Fierce Deity's descendant."

"What are you saying, that I should apologize to him?"

"Not at all. As you said, he struck first, but consider how close you came to killing your only link to the other Fused Shadows."

Midna hesitated for a moment before crossing her arms defiantly. "I'm not going to apologize. He insulted and harmed me, the fool's lucky I didn't set him on fire or something." She lay down in the grass and squirmed a bit as the itchy blades touched her back. It was rather peaceful now that the Twilight had been lifted, with the birds chirping and the smell of fresh water. Maybe when all this was over, Midna would take a vacation in Hyrule, see the sights, try the cuisine, and be just plain Midna rather than the illustrious Princess of Twilight.

"Do you want privacy?" The voice startled Midna, and she sat up to find Zach stretching his shoulders and arms.

The Twilian noticed he was avoiding eye contact as she said, "Not really. I'm not undressing for this one, and certainly not near you."

Zach nodded and stood up, his joints popping with movement. "I'll be shade for you." He still had not looked in her direction, only down at his boots. "I won't look, promise." Midna narrowed her eyes but eventually nodded. After dodging from the shade into his shadow, she began to address her injuries. "Uh, make sure to actually drink the water for broken ribs and stuff." The Twilian nodded again despite him not being able to see her and sipped the wonderfully refreshing spring water. The gash in her lip sealed up and she felt her rib and shoulder bones painlessly snap into place. The bite wound on her leg also began to heal up and her headache slowly ebbed away.

Midna sighed in relief and said, "Oh Goddesses, that is so much better." She took another sip of the water and smacked her lips before sliding under Zach's shadow. "Ready."

The wolf-boy nodded and made his way back to his house, his gaze never raising higher than the ground. He climbed up the ladder and reentered the building, then plopped down on the mat near the Beefaroni container. Midna emerged and sat across from him, neither saying anything. She picked up the bowl and noted that the food was cold in spite of her stomach's protests.

Not willing to let it go to waste, Midna struggled to work with the utensil by trying to shovel as much of the food into her mouth as possible, but she could not get enough of it on the utensil before it all slid off. "I suppose you have no idea how to use a fork."

The Twilian glanced up and found that, contrary to when she asked if he was from the future, there was no judgment in Zach's eye. In fact, he sounded almost sincere. "Uh... yeah. I'm used to chopsticks."

The wolf-boy nodded and scooted closer to her. Taking Midna's hand despite her vehement protests, Zach curved her fingers and placed the fork along her index finger and moved her thumb down so that the utensil was pinched between the two digits. "There. Now you just scoop up a manageable amount and eat it."

Midna blinked and tried his suggestion, which worked enough to get two noodles on the 'fork'. She grimaced at the sight and almost gagged despite the mildly pleasant smell as she stuck her tongue out. The Twilian licked a tiny drop of the sauce and immediately pulled away from it. "I don't like it."

Zach sighed and took the bowl. "Then don't eat it," he said tiredly.

"Hey hey hey!" Midna protested and held her hand out for the bowl. "What're you doing? I'm hungry."

The wolf-boy lifted an eyebrow. "You didn't want it."

"I didn't say I didn't want it," she clarified. "I said I didn't like it."

"You didn't even try it."

"Did too!"

Zach rubbed his forehead and said, "You took a tiny itty bitty lick of the sauce. That does not count as trying."

"Just give it back." Midna motioned for the bowl again. Zach sighed once more and gave her the dish. She gulped down her disgust and stuck the forkful of Beefaroni in her mouth. The rush of flavor surprised her as she popped the fork out and stared at the contents of the bowl. "... It's actually not bad." The Twilian continued to eat, secretly delighting in the taste, and glanced at Zach once in a while to find him fiddling with his boots and removing them, until at last the bowl was empty and Zach's feet were bare. Per Twilian custom, Midna bowed her head and said, "Zach, it was a feast."

The young man nodded and took the bowl from her. He set it aside on one of the crates and twiddled his thumbs a bit. He seemed tense about something, which was evident by his shifting stance. "I'm sorry," he muttered. Midna lifted a brow and waited for him to explain. "You were right." Zach continued to avoid eye contact as he spoke. "I shouldn't have said those things. It was very hypocritical of me to make fun and mock you for your shortcomings when my own are just as obvious. I'm... I really am sorry."

Midna let his apology soak in before she sighed. "Thank you. Really, thank you, I appreciate that. I don't forgive you, but I appreciate it." She floated into the air and moved to hover in front of him. "And you're right as well. I do need your help. But you need to understand that you need me as well. I'm the only person in this realm who can handle the Fused Shadows, and when you enter the Twilight and become a wolf, you need my magic to help you get around." The Twilian sighed and crossed her arms. "We need each other to get through this, and we're not going to get anywhere if we're always at each other's throats, so I propose a few ground rules.

"First, let's not mock the other's physical oddities. I won't tease your eye, you don't tease my condition. Second, when one of us is upset, let's not take it out on the other person. I lost my family, my best friends, my people, my home, even my true self just days ago, and while I could take it out on you, make you miserable and hit you over and over because I desperately want to hit something, I will not. Does this sound fair?" Zach nodded. "If we're going to get through this in one piece, we have to get along and work together, because you clearly are not going to play along if I try to make you my servant," she smiled playfully and then cleared her throat, "so I promise that I'll be more helpful if you promise to try to control your temper just as much as I try to control mine. I'm not asking you to be Cuddly Happy Mister Fun, nor am I expecting that of you. I'm also not asking for us not to banter a bit, since without that I think we'll both go insane from boredom. Let bygones be bygones, y'know? So, what do you say?" She held her hand out to him. "Truce?"

Zach eyed her warily then glanced at her hand, and Midna could see the inner stubbornness in his eye slowly give way to understanding. After several moments, he took a deep breath and let it out calmly, then took her hand and shook it. "Truce."

Midna beamed and said, "Goody! Now, since it's getting dark, I think it's time we head to bed." She yawned a bit and stretched, earning a most satisfying pop in her joints.

"Here," Zach said as he brushed off the thin mattress and pulled a blanket from his satchel. "It-it's not fit for royalty but it's better than the floor." He laid the blanket down and set a pillow at the head of the mattress.

"Thank you." The Twilian removed her helmet and set it aside, then floated down onto the blanket. "Ooh, this is very soft." She immediately cocooned herself in the delightful material and glanced over at Zach, who was now dressed in dark blue pants that were rather baggy and a sleeveless white shirt. "That was fast. How's your arm, by the way?"

Zach shrugged and said, "Too lazy to change outside, and it's scabbed over." He held up the phone, which now had a black string attached to it, and lay down on a simple dark-colored sheet with blanket on top. The string split into two and the ends reached up and sat in the center of his ears. "If this is too loud, let me know."

"Wait, you're going to listen to music?"

"Unless it gets too loud, yeah." Zach dragged his thumb down the glowing face of the phone and scrunched his face in thought, apparently trying to determine what music will play.

Midna glanced about nonchalantly, though deep down she was very curious about what sort of music was inside that tiny little device. "Oh, I forgot to ask before, but I've been wondering... You said that this whole story is a-a 'video game' where you come from, right?" Zach nodded and slowly turned his head to look at her, and she was a bit surprised by the apprehension in his eyes. "Well, if you say it is interactive, like a play or something, then it has music, right?"

Zach nodded again and asked, "You're wondering if there is music for when you appear?"

The Twilian blushed and shrugged casually. "I guess, yeah. Is there?" For reasons outside her understanding, the brief silence that followed was laced with nervousness and a feeling of foreboding. Had she crossed a line of some sort? Was it taboo to ask that sort of question in America?

"Yes," Zach answered finally. "Yes, but I don't have it on my iPod, sorry. Uh, iPod is the actual name of my phone."

Strange name for a strange device, I suppose. "Oh. Well, that's alright, you can just imagine it in your head, can't you?"

Zach sighed and said, "I could if you really want me to."

Midna rolled over and gave him her best pout. "Pleeeaaase?" Immediately, music began to play through the link between their minds. It was a somber melody that was accompanied by strings and drums, but the Twilian frowned. "I've heard this before but why does it sound so depressing?"

"Uh... it's your theme song. It's literally called 'Midna's Theme'."

"I suppose so, but it's far too sad and downbeat. My mother sang a happier version to me when I was young."

"How old are you?" Zach asked suddenly.

Midna blinked and said, "Uh, nineteen years old."

The wolf-boy gaped openly at her. "Only nineteen? How do you measure years in the Twilight Realm?"

"The cycles of the harvest, of course. Why do you ask? How old are you?"

"Nineteen," he answered.

Midna giggled and said, "What a coincidence. You can turn the music off now, by the way." 'Midna's Theme' suddenly stopped, leaving the two in awkward silence, though the Twilian was unable to sleep. After a little while, she sputtered her lips. "Tomorrow, we head out to the first Fused Shadow…"

"Yep."

"It's… it's a bit surreal to know we're so close to the first one."

"Nervous?"

The Twilian looked up at the fire-lit ceiling. "A little bit. I mean, we fought a giant plant just to find a bug. Who knows what guards the Fused Shadow."

"A bigger plant," Zach said casually.

"Heh, I guess you do know your stuff." She looked over at him to find him laying with hands behind his head. "So, you know what's going to happen, right?"

He tensed up and let out a breath. "A fair good bit, yeah. It wasn't 'Kokiri Marsh' last time, but the Fused Shadow was there."

Midna nodded and fixed her gaze back on the ceiling. "Well, that's good. Hate to go all the way and find it's somewhere else."

"Yep."

"Yeah… Well, have a good rest."

"Uh... you too."

Midna narrowed her eyes and pondered what had made Zach so awkward and tense. He was hiding something, no doubt, and it had to do with her. He knew something she did not, which was no surprise so far, but it felt much more important than the Fused Shadows, if that were possible. The Twilian wanted to know, but she wanted to sleep just a bit more, so she decided to wait until morning to ask him about it, whatever 'it' was.

"Row, row, row your boat," a haunted voice sang in the darkness. Midna tried to find its source, but it was difficult with the metallic hallway bouncing every sound. Bloody handprints stained the walls as though someone was leaning against them and fell into a ventilation shaft.

"Gently down the streeeaaam…" She breathed through the helmet's apparatus as her weapon pointed further down the hall. It was heavier than she would have liked but it packed a mean punch that her hazard suit protected her from.

"Merrily… merrily… merrily… merrily…" The sound of feet patting echoed behind the Twilian and she spun around to find… nothing. That was strange, she swore she heard something.

"Life…" The voice was much closer, almost right in front of her though there was nothing but air. "Is but…" Midna slowly turned her head and was grappled by Burak, her eyes and mouth illuminated with blood red light. "A DREAM!" Before she lost consciousness, Midna thought she saw a white-haired being strike Burak down, and then the Twilian knew no more…

Midna lurched into a sitting position and wiped the sweat from her black forehead. What was that about, she thought. It was the strangest dream she ever had, and that was saying something. Metal hallways? A weapon with lights? A glowing suit of armor? She had no idea what to think of it, and there was no time to try because Zach was already up.

"Morning," he said with a yawn despite being fully dressed and sitting up.

The Twilian nodded absently and rubbed her eyes. "Today's the day." She stretched a bit, flexing her stiff muscles and joints, and summoned Zach's sword and shield. He scooped up the shield and hefted it about with a frown. "What's the matter?"

Zach gripped the shield on his left hand and rotated his arm a bit. "Well, I don't know where to put the shield when I'm not using it. If I have to climb a ledge, I'll need both hands."

"Hm, that's a good point." Midna walked behind him, ignored the pang of indignity at their height difference, and studied his back. "If we could find some straps, maybe I can make a harness for the shield."

The wolf-boy nodded and stood up. "There's a bunch of boxes in the basement, I'll bet there's a few leather scraps down there." He walked over to the entrance and paused. "Ladder's broken."

Midna shrugged and floated down. "I'll look around," she said. "Eesh, there's a lot of boxes in here."

"Send a few up, I'll search those."

The Twilian nodded and lifted three boxes up the opening. "So, what sorts of things happen later on?" A subtle thud sounded from above. "Hello?"

"Gimme a second," Zach replied as the Twilian began to rummage through a crate. Clothes, tiny shoes, a few toys, but no leather. "Off the top of my head, there's a Bulblin raid in Kakariko Village, an escort mission from Castle Town to Kakariko, raiding Bulblin camp, snowboarding, building a cannon, Twilight Realm, and Hyrule Castle."

Midna sifted through another box full of clothes, these ones seeming to belong to a woman, but still no leather straps. "So… we make it back home?"

"Mhmm."

She smiled hopefully at that and said, "So we win?"

There was another thud. "…Yeah."

"Then why do you get so tense every time I ask about what'll happen?" Midna searched another box and found a ragged leather bandolier. "If we win, there's no reason to be so upset."

"Can I ask a question?"

The Twilian rolled her eyes and tossed the bandolier up the opening in the ceiling. "You just did, but I suppose I can permit another."

"Got the leather strap, thanks. My question is, what do you plan to do with the Mirror of Twilight?"

"I guess I shouldn't be surprised you know about it," Midna replied as she floated up and looked around the room. He had found several scraps of leather and lined them up on Midna's bed. "I wasn't planning on doing anything with it other than using it go home." She picked up one piece of leather and flung it away, deeming it too rotten to make a good shield harness.

"You break it," Zach said, catching Midna's attention. "At the end of the story, when Zant is gone, you destroy the mirror and are never seen in the series again."

She frowned and asked, "What series? I don't understand."

The wolf-boy sighed and sat down on a crate. "The story of Twilight Princess is just one of sixteen in a series of tales titled The Legend of Zelda, which chronicles the adventures of a hero named Link who must save whatever land he happens to be in from a great evil."

"Wait wait wait, what?" Midna scratched at the top of her head and reached for the bandolier. "The collection is titled The Legend of Zelda, but the main character is named Link? Why is it called that? Zelda's barely even in this story, such as it is." She looped it over Zach's shoulder and tightened it a bit until it was snug and secure. They would have to find a replacement in a few weeks or so but it would suffice for now.

As she took another leather strap and rigged it to the bandolier, Zach said, "Trust me, you are not the only one who asks that question." He chuckled and looked at his phone. "They called it that because they had no idea how popular the first game would be, so they named it after the princess you have to save. Even though not every game has Zelda present, every Zelda game has that title and then a subtitle that relates to the specific story. In this case, Twilight Princess."

Midna was no less confused than before. "So the overall story is named after a princess, and this one is named after another princess, and the main character is neither of them?"

Zach shrugged and said, "We humans are weird like that. Final Fantasy has a thousand games despite having the word 'Final' in the title. Ow! Not that tight, please."

"Yeah yeah." The Twilian continued working on the harness until at last, she had a working rig. "There, that should hold the shield when you're not using it."

Zach stood up and stretched and rotated his torso about, testing the harness' flexibility. He picked up the shield and tried to secure it on his back, but he was having difficulty actually finding the loop that would hold the shield in place. When Midna offered to help, he turned her down and insisted on doing it himself. After a few minutes and a dozen attempts, Zach finally managed to secure the Ordon Shield on his back and said, "Groovy."

"So you're upset about me breaking the mirror and vanishing forever," Midna said. When Zach nodded, she returned the nod. "I can see how that's distressing; I am rather memorable." She licked her lips anxiously and cracked her knuckles. "So, does that mean I get back to normal?"

Zach sighed and nodded again. "At the end, you turn back to your true self."

Midna found herself grinning widely at that. She was worried that she would forever be this hideous imp, but now Zach wiped that away with his guarantee of her going back to normal… and destroying the only gateway between her realm and Hyrule. "I'm sure I had a good reason for doing it," she said.

The wolf-boy snorted and said, "Not according to the fans. Nearly everyone who liked Twilight Princess wrote their own ending where you and Link live happily ever after while making your decision seem like a very stupid one."

"Eesh, talk about harsh. I've never even met this Link guy, and destroying a sacred relic is no small feat even if I don't understand why I did it." She then frowned and glanced at her ally. "So where do you fit in all this?"

Zach shrugged. "I'm Link's replacement. He died some years ago and the Goddesses enlisted me to do his job."

"So you're taking the place of the main character?" Midna gave him a playful smirk. "I bet not many people would be pleased with that."

"Of course not," Zach said bitterly. "They're too elitist to give any new blood a chance. Fucking snobs."

The Twilian raised an eyebrow and donned her Fused Shadow. "I think you need to calm down, you're starting to insult people you've never even met." She stretched her limbs and yawned a bit. "I take it we're going in on an empty stomach?"

Zach looked into his satchel and nodded. "Looks like it, unless we can find fruit outside." He tossed up the Ordon Sword and caught it haphazardly before looping the sheath on his belt. "Well, let's shove off."

Midna hesitated a moment and pointed at the weapon. "Do you know how to use that thing?" She knew the answer already (a resounding NO) but wanted to see what his view of it was.

He looked rather confused and nodded. "Yes. Pointy end goes into the bad guy."

"Ah." She shifted her jaw from side to side and muttered, "This is going to end well…" She cleared her throat and nodded at Zach. "Off we go. Let me know if you find some food." With that, the Twilian dove into his shadow and he walked out the door, lantern in hand.

I climbed down the ladder and headed down the path to the bridge. "How'd you know how to make the harness?" I asked as I closed my eyes and walked over the shaky wooden beams.

"Standard doctrine, everyone in the palace needs to know basic survival skills," Midna answered. I nodded and strode into Faron's spring. "What're you doing?"

I knelt down near the water and pulled out an empty bottle. "This stuff heals, so I should take some with us." I opened the bottle and dunked it into the spring, then removed it when it was nearly full. "Not a red potion, but it'll work." After checking the satchel, I found that I had three more bottles, so I filled up two and kept the third empty in case I found lantern oil, which I would definitely need. I continued on my way until I reached Coro and Iza's house, but only Coro was sitting outside by a small fire pit.

"Hey guy!" he greeted with a wave. "Glad to see you're alright, some nasty baddies ran through here a few days ago."

I nodded and replied, "I'm surprised they made it over the bridge, but yeah, I'm fine. Instincts like a wolf, y'know?" Midna quietly giggled beneath me.

"Sounds good. What're you doing out here though, guy─er, Zach?"

"Heading into Kokiri Marsh," I answered, and he immediately launched to his feet in panic.

"You crazy?!" Coro exclaimed. "There're monsters in there!"

I sighed and pointed to the sword on my hip. "I got a weapon, I think I'll be fine."

He did not seem convinced. "Guy, what's the point of a sword if you can't see where you're swinging?"

"I got a lantern, buddy."

"But do you have oil?" Oh, very smooth, Cofro. "I bet you don't."

I sighed again and said, "No, I don't, and I don't have any money to buy it from you." In all honesty, I was planning to steal it from Trill further down the way.

Coro deflated and went back to his seat. "It's pretty cheap," he said meekly.

"Sorry." I walked past him and through the gate. I liked that this was reality rather than a game, because the spider webs that blocked my path before (yet not Talo's when he barged through here) had not been replaced. I pulled out my phone and turned on the flashlight to help me see the floor until I emerged into the same smog-infested area as I had been to two times previous, only this time with an unlit lantern and a fierce grip on it.

"So how are you going to get through the fog?" Midna asked. "I'm not going to help you here, you know."

I nodded and said, "I know. The fog doesn't like fire, so all I have to do is light the lantern and go on my merry way." After turning off my flashlight, I dug into my satchel and felt around. Come on, Farore wouldn't leave me hanging like this... Aha! I triumphantly pulled out a match and sat on a nearby stone.

Midna emerged from my shadow and looked at the items boredly. "You know how to use that, right?"

"Surprisingly, yes I do." I struck the match against the rock and held it against the wick, lighting it instantly. "Perfect, now I just have to make sure that monkey doesn't steal it." Midna returned to my shadow and I walked to the edge of the foul-smelling fog, lantern tight in hand. I waved the lantern a bit and the fog shied away. With a smirk, I was just about to step in when a monkey, male judging from the lack of red bow (how the hell did she even get that?), charged past me without taking my source of light and fire. He hopped onto an overhanging tree branch and waved at me.

"Aw," Midna cooed. "He's gonna lead us─" A Deku Baba the size of the one Midna and I fought before shot out and chomped down on the primate, making it disappear down the plant's gullet as it retracted back to whence it came.

"..."

"..."

"Aaanyway." I backpedaled and walked over to the nearby wall, then used my previous tactic of clinging to it around the area, swinging my lantern occasionally to ward off the poison fog. I was running out of oil because when we reached the other side, the flame was close to dying. Thankfully, Trill's shop was just through the pass, so I blew out the fire and switched it out with my phone until I reached sunlight on the other side. That's when I came upon a most interesting sight.

Three Shadow Beasts were lumbering about in a Twilit cage, and judging from the dried blood on the ground, they were the same ones Midna and I escaped from before.

"They're still here?" the Twilian asked.

I shrugged and said, "Gotta give them props for durability."

"Um, should... should we try to fight them?"

I looked around the arena and found that there was enough space for me to get by without getting zapped by the electric wall. "Nah, let's just leave 'em. We'll come back later." Midna gave her assent and I walked along the edge of the clearing to the next area.

There, on the opposite wall, was the bridge leading to Kakariko Village, just where it was before. "Perfect. Hey, Midna, you think you can store this away for a little while?"

Midna emerged in her shadow form and looked the bridge over. "It's bigger than what I'm used to, so I can warp it but not store it. It doesn't work that way. You see, when I warp or pocket something, I have to split it into a bajillion particles and it is very difficult to try to recreate large things." She turned to me and shrugged. "That's why I couldn't warp you out of that house in the village; I didn't want to risk hurting or killing you just to move you a few feet. I could probably do it if I have a sufficiently strong portal to work with, but my magic as it is won't be up to the task."

I nodded and said, "So that's a no on the bridge."

"Well, I could warp it, but I don't have a corresponding portal to work with." She looked up and sighed. "I can't create a sustained portal on my own, but when we defeated those Shadow B-beasts before, the portal they used turned green and available for me to use."

With another nod, I said, "Alright, we'll just come back later, kill the ones back there, and you can use that portal to move the bridge."

Midna nodded half-heartedly. "Yeah, that sounds simple enough."

"Then what's wrong?" I asked with a raised brow.

"Nuthin', I've just never moved something that big before."

I chuckled softly and said, "First time for everything." Midna shrugged and ducked into my shadow again, and I continued forward until reaching the area that led to Kokiri Marsh. Turning to the right, I found Trill's shop, but no Trill. Shrugging, I helped myself to a full bottle of lantern oil and faced the twisted wooden path ahead. To no one's surprise, there was a golden wolf guarding the way. Its left eye was glowing red while its right eye was simply missing, and it panted as it sat in patience. "Midna, do you see that wolf over there?"

After a moment, she replied, "Nope."

"You sure?" I sent a mental image to her but still got a negative response. "Okay then. I see it, and I know what's gonna happen, so don't pani─Oh shit, it's comin' right at me!" The wolf had charged like a bullet at me and I could barely unsheathe my sword before it tackled me and my vision whited out.