Chapter 7: An Abrupt Reunion

Hyrule Castle

"Link?! You're human! How did you change back?" said Zelda.

Midna phased out of Link's sword, appearing in her true humanoid form. Her Twilight Guards phased out of his sword as well.

"He had some help. It's been a while, Zelda," said Midna.

"Midna... How is this possible? I thought the Mirror wasn't complete," said Zelda.

"I don't know how it happened, but really, I'm glad it did," replied Midna.

"I'm glad to see you in your true form," said Zelda. "Fortunately you didn't come under horrible circumstances."

"Not in the Twilight Realm. As for you though, we can't say the same," said one of the Twilight Guards.

"Yes. Link told us about the cult," said Midna. "And people from another kingdom, if I'm not mistaken."

"Oh, yes, the Ylisseans," said Zelda.

Link left the room, and later returned with everyone from Ylisse. They were a bit confused as to why Link called them up there, and who the tall Twilight princess was.

"..." (Link). He explained to them who Midna was, and how she went through the mirror last night and reverted Link back to his human form.

"It is nice to meet you, Midna. I'm Chrom, the leader of Ylisse," said Chrom.

"I've never seen a kingdom outside of Hyrule or the Twilight Realm. It is nice to meet you, Chrom," said Midna.

"This is my daughter, Lucina," said Chrom.

"Wow, you look really young if you have a daughter who looks old as Link," Midna stated.

"Actually, I'm from the future. I traveled through time," responded Lucina.

"..." Midna did not know how to respond.

"It's a bit complicated," Lucina said.

They introduced Midna to the rest of the party. They explained the entire situation with the Noth Grashtas/Twili Risen with her, and showed her the knife that Lord Grateau threw at Link. In response, she showed them the shadow crystal that was in Link.

"We could use it to turn Link back into a wolf if we need him to," she said.

Castle Town's East Entrance

Four guards were stationed outside of the entrance, guarding with shields and swords. Fortunately, these guards weren't as cowardly and ill-trained as the ones from the Shadow Invasion. Two guards would stop anyone who tried to enter, and they would search their items for anything.

A man in a black poncho and walked to the entrance, carrying something long and narrow, wrapped in a white tarp. The guards stopped the man, who at another glance had a hood on.

"We're going to have to search through your items, sir," a guard said.

The man handed the guard the object. The guard unwrapped it, revealing a fishing rod.

"Oh, it's just a fishing rod. Go along, sir," said the guard, as he wrapped the rod back up.

The man in the poncho walked through into Castle Town.

"Weird fishing rod. It's edges felt sharp," said a guard.

The man continued to walk through the bustling streets. The center was filled, with tighter security. He needed to distract the guards, and everyone in the center. He couldn't draw attention. Perhaps the fountain might draw attention, he though. He walked over to the fountain, and layed his rod on the rim of the fountain. He faked a cough, and pretended to knock the rod into the fountain.

The fountain froze into crystal blue ice. He pulled his rod out, and walked away. By then, everyone was looking at the fountain. With a subtle wrist movement, he gestured towards the ice. The minuscule pieces formed into a small vortex in the sky. As quick as it formed, it dissipated and unraveled into snow. As amazed as the citizens and the guards were, it gave the man enough time to walk through unnoticed. The vortex had also caused a wind that was loud enough to mask his footsteps. The two guards at the castle entrance retained their positions, but the man had a way of dealing with them. He pulled out a small shard, and he stabbed his shoulder. The black radiance of the shard dissolved into him. He went under a shaded area, and dismantled into dozens of black squares, those black squares flew through the door, remaining in any shadows that there were.

He was inside the castle, just as he planned.

The Throne Room's Balcony

Link stood atop the balcony, observing the small snow flurry in Castle Town. With him was Gregor, also observing the snow.

"It doesn't feel right. Why would it be snowing in spring?" He stated.

"..."(Link). He said it could just be a magician putting on a show.

" Maybe, but I'd keep an eye out," said Gregor.

"...!" Link's senses jolted. With his senses, he noticed dozens of black squares flying towards the throne room. He grabbed his bow, and out a bomb on it. Link aimed, and shot it towards the cluster. The squares reformed into a man with an item in a tarp. He released the tarp, revealing a sleek sword. He sliced through the bomb arrow, but instead of exploding, it froze into complete ice. Then the man dissolved back into squares and flew directly above Link.

The man reformed, and landed by Link, and took off his hood, revealing his face. A Twili risen. It wasn't like the others though. This one looked more human than the others. He didn't have the reptilian skin, or the dark purple radiance and complexion. Gregor and Link readied their swords, as well as the Twili Risen.

"..." (Link). He told Gregor to alert Chrom and the others. Link would handle the intruder.

The intruder charged at Link, and their blades clashed, pushing Link back a little as he held his ground. Link overpowered the intruder, and he knocked him off balance. Link swung his sword vertically, and the intruder weakly blocked it with his sword. The intruder gripped his sword fiercely, and Link could see a white haze form over his dark eyes. The intruder's sword lightened and turned a whiter shade. It was an ice sword. The frost had no effect on Link's sword though, and the intruder was distraught. He pulled away, and attempted another swing, this time with Link blocking with the Hylian shield. Again, no effect. The intruder pulled away again, and fled up the steps leading to the throne room. Link followed, prepared to face him.

The intruder held his ice sword parallel to his face and he used its power to trap Link's legs in ice. It hastily formed up to his thighs. He approached Link, making the ice expand, entrapping Link's body more in ice. He had Link covered up to his shoulders, and finally came close to him.

"You made me use up all of my magic. But you're an interesting specimen, Hero of Time. You're not what I came for though," said the intruder.

The intruder stopped and looked at the Twilight guards that arrived at the throne room, as well as Midna and Chrom.

"Don't come closer or I'll turn him into solid ice, and shatter him!" shouted the intruder.

"..." (Link). He tried to tell them that he's lying, but the intruder pressed his blade closer to his head.

"Forgive me for this, Link..." Midna said.

Midna took out the shadow crystal. All of them backed away from the throne room. As they did so, the intruder pulled his sword away from Link. Midna immediately launched the shadow crystal into Link. It pierced the ice and lodged into Link. He fell down, and turned into a wolf. The intruder backed away, distraught and distracted. Midna sprinted ahead, and used her powers to grab him from afar, with the shadow hands the can create. He struggled, but the grip was too strong for him.

Midna started to grip him tighter, and she started to drain something out of him.

"!" (Link). Link yelled to Midna, pleading her to not kill him.

Midna kept draining him, until all that was left was a body. Well, not entirely. She let go, and after taking the shadow/twilight out of him, he was revealed to be a regular human. A man with jet black hair and a long face was released from Midna's grip.

Sometime later, in the castle's dungeon

The intruder was brought down to the dungeon, and his arms were chained to the wall. Midna, Link, Shad, Chrom, and Robin were in the cell with him.

"We know you work for Noth Grateau," said Midna.

"Yeah, I did. He turned me into that though. Didn't you notice how I looked more like a human?" said the man.

"Just tell us what you know," said Chrom.

"Well, guess I have nothing to lose now. Grateau turned me into a shadow, or a twili risen. After you guys attacked their cave, he sent me to deliver a message: The merge is coming," stated the man. "Oh, and he's coming to kill you all."

"The merging of Hyrule and another. That was in the book," said Shad. "When the three sacred blades are brought together, they shall form so powerful that it brings the two kingdoms into one."

"Yeah, it went something like that," said the man.

"You seem pretty cooperative, considering that we have you chained in a dungeon, after you tried to kill Link," said Robin.

"Well, your lightning sword is a bit menacing," said the man. "So none of you are going to ask who I am?"

"Who are you?" said Midna.

"My name is Ren'kir, or Ren for short. I live here, in Castle Town. Until Grateau kidnapped me, and forced me into becoming a Noth Grashta," he explained. "By the way, thank you for removing the twilight out of me."

"Um, your welcome," Midna replied.

"Although, that comes with a side effect. You see, now I can channel twilight into different things, in the same way that you and Link can," Ren said. "The excess twilight that didn't come out has to go somewhere."

"So you can use that to turn into a shadow beast, or some other shadow monster?" Midna asked.

"Potentially," he answered.

"What was that about the merging of the kingdoms? The three sacred blades, specifically," said Shad.

"Grateau mentioned the three blades when we encountered him at the cave," said Chrom.

"From my understanding, you two have two of them. The Master Sword and whatever your blade is called," said Ren.

"Falchion," Chrom said.

"Yeah, Falchion. I think the third blade is Grateau's. I've seen him pull it out a couple of times. I was basically his assistant, and he told me a lot about it. Apparently, it can turn a person into a shadow being, without any way of reverting back. Although, it wasn't in its true form yet. He needed some special stone for it," explained Ren. "It was uh, the raving stone or something like that. Wait, it was called the Radiating stone!"

"Why are you still so cooperative?" questioned Robin.

"Did I ever say that I wanted to work for Grateau? He kidnapped me, forcibly turned me into a shadow man, and sent me on a suicide mission. Oh, and thank you for not killing me. Should have said that before," said Ren.

"So, you're willing to fight against Grateau with us?" asked Midna.

"Yes," he answered.

Link walked over to the chains, and unlocked them. At the same time, Robin readied his Levin sword.

"Hey, easy with the lightning sword," said Ren.

"One last question: That sword that you had, was it some magic sword like this one?" asked Robin.

"Yeah. Grateau gave it to me. It's powered by magic," Ren answered. "If I'm free and helping you guys, can I go to my house in Castle Town? I need to get some things."

"..." (Link). Link allowed Ren'kir to join them.

"If Link says so, I'm fine. But Ren'kir,listen: If you take one step out of line, I we will make sure to throw you down the abyss under Eldin Bridge," Midna assertively stated.

"Whatever you say, Queen of Twilight," said Ren.

Ren'kir's House, West Castle Town

Ren's house was tucked away in an obscure street in the Western half of Castle Town. It was a small Tudor-style house, but unlike the other houses in the town, it had a small front lawn with a sapling in it. Link went inside with Ren, while Chrom and Robin waited outside. The inside of his house was relatively normal. One thing that caught Link's eye was the two large bookshelves, both filled to the brim. Ren picked up a wide, forest green scarf. He took off the black poncho, revealing his clothing beneath. He wore a white tunic, stained with patches of dirt, and brown pants, darker than the stains. Ren put on a dark beige jacket, and then the scarf.

Ren went to one of the bookshelves, and took out a thick book from the top shelf. He pulled out a few cases that were tucked away behind the books.

"..."(Link). He asked what were in the cases.

"Darts and poisons," Ren answered. "Shall we get going, then?"