I don't own the Legend of Zelda

The stairs were dark and narrow, winding down far below Link. He kept one hand on the hard stone wall and felt his way down. The air was cold and musty, each step covered in a thick layer of dust, untouched for years. Link covered his mouth, the dust making him cough. In some places the steps had crumbled away into nothing, and more than once Link almost slipped and fell. It got steeper and steeper and he was starting to get out of breath, yet he had to get the end. Even if it took him to the centre of the earth, he would make it.

After what felt like many hours Link saw a faint light. Tumbling down the last few steps in his excitement, he found an ancient door whose hinges were almost rusted away. The light was coming from the other side but the door was stuck fast. Link pushed with all his might and slowly the door began to give with an ominous creak. "Just a little more" he grunted through gritted teeth as he gave a final shove and the door fell open.

He shielded his eyes from the sudden light. It was unlike anything he'd ever seen before. It was as if he was outside yet there was no sky, not any kind of sky that he'd ever seen. Instead up above there was strange swirling purple mists and dark shapes that seemed to move. There was the sun which should have felt familiar...yet something was off about that too. He was definitely underground he was sure of that. This sun seemed smaller and dimmer somehow, as if it was just a copy of the real thing. The land itself was just pure chaos. The ground twisted up and down in unnatural ways and was torn apart in places to create great chasms. Not a blade of grass grew in this strange ash like soil, nor did there seem to be any creatures or any other signs of life at all. It was as if the whole land had died.

"So this is where he came from?" Link said quietly to himself. It felt such a hopeless place. No wonder the demons had decided to leave it so long ago.

In the distance he spotted what looked like a castle. Having no other clues as where to start his search, he decided that reaching the castle was his best bet of finding whatever it was he needed to help Ghirahim. With a new fire lit in his eyes, he pressed on.

Unfortunately, the castle was further away than he thought. Especially as he had been wrong about the land being uninhabited. It was full of more monsters than Link had ever seen in one place. Countless hordes of bokoblins, monlins and chuchus. But there was also some creatures that Link has never seen before. Mummified monsters whose terrible shriek froze Link to the spot, strange spirits who followed him unseen and then tried to grab him as he struggled to set himself free, frozen frost beings who threw sharp shards of ice with surprising accuracy and speed. It was a lot to deal with and Link was quickly running out of energy.

He stopped by a lake to take a quick breath, leaning against what was the only tree he'd seen since he arrived. At least he thought it was a tree, it was certainly as tall as one. It looked more like a twisted black shape that spiralled up out of the ground. It felt as cold as iron. The lake's waters were grey and murky, yet as smooth as glass. He glanced at his reflection in its depths, and for a moment he could have sworn that it moved. He shook his head "I must be more tired than I thought."

He decided to rest his eyes for just a moment, but soon fell into a deep sleep. The waters of the lake began to bubble and grey fingers broke the surface; something was crawling out of it.

Link opened his eyes. "Huh?" He said half asleep still. That was when he noticed the sword pointing at him, only half an inch away from his face. Holding the sword was...well it looked just like Link. Almost, apart from the grey skin and glowing red eyes.

Link slowly stood up as his copy seemed to stare down into his soul.

"What are you?" Link whispered.

The copy tilted his head to one side and replied in a voice that sounded a lot like Link's. "Just a shadow. You're not scared of your own shadow are you hero?"

Link drew his sword, feeling more confident with it in his hand. "What do you want?"

"Hmm." The Dark Link pretended to think. "I think we both know the answer to that."

Link nodded, and swung his sword with lightning speed. It should have hit, Dark wasn't even paying attention, or at least it seemed that way. Until the shadow jumped on top of Link's blade with such skill that Link had never seen before. Looking at the shadow's mischievous grin he knew that this would be a battle unlike any other.