Yay! We get to meet Midna now! :D
--~~--
I didn't know how long I'd been out by the time I came to. Was it all a dream? What had happened?
As I stood, opening my eyes, I regained myself and suddenly noticed there was a shackle attached to my left forepaw.
Wait, paw?!
I let out a gasp as close to a wolf's gasp, looking down at my paws in horror. It wasn't a dream after all, I really was a wolf.
But how? It's physically impossible for a human to transform into a wolf! Ever since those weird monsters came and kidnapped Ilia and Colin, strange things have been happening.
Oh no! Ilia and Colin were still out there! Here I was trapped in a cell, and my friends were in danger! What if those monsters also kidnapped the other kids? Where was I? Where were they?
All I knew was that I was locked in a cell, and I couldn't escape.
I had to hurry and get out of here. I had to find my friends!
I gnawed at the chain that shackled my left leg. It wasn't coming apart, even with my new stronger wolf teeth.
Suddenly, I sensed a presence and heard a small sound. My ears perked and I looked toward the back of the cell, tensed.
As my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I saw someone, or something standing there.
It was a small creature, no more than about 2 feet tall. It wore a strange helmet with odd markings and two pointed ends, with one side covering their left eye. The creature's eye was red and yellow. Their skin was black and blue-white, with strange aqua markings along their legs, arms, and ears, with firery orange-red hair in a ponytail.
I believe it was a mythical creature known as an imp.
The imp grinned at me, with one fang in their mouth, and leaped into the air. I followed its movements and it landed in front of the bars of the cell.
"I found you!" The imp proclaimed, grinning at me. I guessed the imp was female, given that it had a high pitched voice, and had small breasts and round hips.
Being a wolf, I couldn't speak, but I had to try to scare her away somehow. So I raised my haunches and growled.
"Ooh, aren't you scary!" The imp said, amused and not the least bit intimidated. She faced me, crossing her long, tiny arms. "Ee hee! Are you sure you want to be doing that? Snarling and glaring at me? Well, that's too bad... I was planning on helping you...if you were nice."
She was here to help me? I stopped growling and stood straight, at least as much as wolf could on all fours. I stared at her, listening to what she had to say.
"Ee hee! That's much better! You humans are obedient to a fault, aren't you?"
The imp came over to me and tapped my chin with her finger. "Oops! But you AREN'T human anymore, are you? You're a beast! Ee hee!"
I didn't appreciate being reminded or teased of that, or being tapped on the chin like this. I snapped my jaws at her, but the shackle prevented me from going far, and the imp jumped backwards out of the way.
"There, there." The imp said, having spread her arms wide. "You be a good boy and calm down. No need to bite!"
Then the imp brought her hands before her, creating a black ball with swirling red magic between her hands. She tossed it toward me, and it snapped the chain. The shackle still remained around my wrist, but I was free. Wow! Amazing!
I barely had time to react when the imp came up in my face, grinning.
"You look kind of surprised! Ee hee hee!"
The imp giggled and floated back toward the bars, where she transformed herself into bubbles, floating through to the other side of the cell bars. I watched in amazement, having never seen this kind of magic before.
"So! I bet you're wondering, where exactly are we?!"
Yes, I was wondering where exactly we were. Wait! How was I going to get out now? She could get in and out just fine, but what about me?
"Well, I'll make you a deal." The imp continued, grinning. "If you can get over here, maybe I'll tell you! Ee hee!"
The imp beckoned me, and then yawned. That obviously meant I would take a while in finding a way out. Great. I had to get out of here and save my friends, and I was now under the mercy of an imp who was taking advantage of me in my current state!
It's official, I don't like that imp at all. Well, at least she was helping me out of here.
I still didn't know how to get out!
Oh well, no choice but to try to get out of here myself.
I looked around the cell, and then at the imp. She was floating a few inches above the ground, waving her...hair?
Spotting some debris and boxes in the corner to my left, I inspected them for a moment. Hmm...
With no other option, I rushed at them and bashed my head into them, breaking them free from the space. Ow.
I saw a hole in there, that could be dug through.
Well, that was very smart, putting a digging animal in a cell where there was a soft spot to dig through. I may not be used to my new animal body, but I did know how to dig.
I went over to the hole and dug through it, coming out on the other side of the cell. After I emerged completely, I shook the dust off my body.
I heard the imp giggling, but she was nowhere to be seen! I figured she was above me, given the echo of her giggle.
Suddenly, I felt a weight drop onto my back. I let out a growl and bark, running around in circles to try to throw the imp off of me. What was she doing, riding on my back?! I don't remember that being part of our deal!
"Hmph! I guess you're not completely stupid after all!" The imp stated, not falling off my back.
I stopped running around and fell on my stomach. Well of course I wasn't stupid, I was a human with a human brain trapped in a wolf's body.
The imp patted me on the back, and then lay on her stomach on my back.
"Listen, I like you, so I think I'll get you out of here." The imp then tugged back on my ear, as a way to tell me that I HAD to listen. "But in exchange for my help, you have to do EXACTLY as I say! If you need anything from me, just give me a sign! So, are we all clear? Good. Now, come on! Get moving!"
She nudged her heels into my ribs, like how a human would when on horseback. I barked out and stood.
I wandered around the room, looking for a way out. The big metal door was obviously locked. And even if it wasn't I didn't have hands to open it. There was another cell next to mine, so I went over to it. It was empty, but the door was unlocked. I poked the door with my nose and went inside.
There was nothing in there, but then I noticed a barred crawlspace on the wall. Near it hanging from the ceiling was a chain. I stared at it for a few moments. Maybe it was a lever to open the bars?
Giving it a try, I leaped up, grabbed the chain with my teeth, and tugged it down. Sure enough, the bars lifted up. I went through the tunnel. If I had been in my human form, I probably would've had to crawl on my knees.
I went through the fairly lengthy tunnel, and came out to some kind of underground sewer. It still gave no indication of where we were, but we were obviously under some kind of a village or something, if this was the waterway.
Near the wall ahead of me, I noticed a weird-looking blue-ish flame. It was floating a couple of feet above the ground. I stared at it, wondering what it was.
The imp must've sensed my curiosity, so she began to speak.
"Oh... Well, well... Ee hee hee! Want to see something interesting? You're a beast, remember? Hone your senses and poke around!"
Hone my senses? How was I supposed to do that? Oh well, may as well give it a try.
I closed my eyes for a moment, concentrating. Then I opened them and felt my senses heightened. The blue flame was actually a person! It looked like a soldier or some sort of protective figure. Apparently a male, he had a spear and a coat of armor. The man was mumbling about something having run away and hearing noises.
What was going on? I didn't understand this at all.
I walked away from the weird flame-person thing in case he'd see me and attack. Then I looked back at it. What was that?
"That was a soldier's spirit." The imp answered for me, as if reading my mind. "Maybe it's someone from the other world? Ee hee!"
Spirit? Other world? Nothing was making sense! What was the imp talking about? I tried to look at her, but even as a wolf, it was almost impossible to see your back.
"There are lots of other spirits roaming about here, you know." The imp continued. "Hone your senses to see them. They might know things..."
Well. So somehow we were communicating with spirits? I still didn't understand why they were spirits or what was going on, and most of all, where we were.
With no other option, I ran down the canal edge. I'd leap over a gap, and the imp on my back would shout "Oh!", grabbing harder onto my fur and holding on. Heh heh, I had to admit, that was kind of funny, making her panic just a little.
I wandered around, going through another barred door. I noticed weird-looking spider things lurking about. They were creepy and disgusting, and one of them leaped at me.
I yelped out and ran off from it, and the imp stopped me.
"I doubt you're used to your new body yet, so I'll just tell you... Think about how you fought enemies in your human form... Just because your shape has changed, doesn't mean your instincts have as well!"
True. I did still have my human brain, so that was easy enough to know.
I continued along the waterway, not sure where to go next. I could see there was nowhere else to go around here.
To my left, I noticed some spikes on the ground. I stared at them, wary about crossing. There was no way I could cross them without damaging myself. But we needed to get across. If only the water level was higher...
That's it!
Behind us, I noticed a chain hanging near a door that lifted up. Maybe, just maybe...
We went over to the chain, and I leaped up, grabbing it with my teeth and pulling it down. Sure enough, the door raised and the water came gushing out. Now we were able to swim in the water across the spikes without fear of damage.
We swam across and turned a few corners, looking where to go next. But when we came to large bars, I noticed stairs on the other side that we could climb. The imp floated off my back and passed through the bars, using her bubbles.
"This way! Over here! I'll be waiting for you, but you'll have to help yourself out for a change!"
I glared at her, but decided not to press the issue. I looked around, and noticed a small hole to the right next to the bars. I couldn't get down to it because of the water.
Then I knew what to do.
I went in the opposite direction and saw another chain with another lifting door. This would probably lower the water level, right?
So I leaped up and grabbed that chain. Sure enough, the door lifted and the water drained out.
I ran back the other way to where the bars were. I squeezed through the crawlspace, noticed a spirit hiding in there, and then continued on.
When I came out, the imp dropped onto my back. Great, just when I was getting relieved of her not being on my back.
"Ee hee! Awww, did the detour tire you out, little wolf? By the way... Are you honing your senses like you should? It looks like the spirits in here... They're all soldiers. Where in the world could we be? Ee hee!"
Was she just stating the obvious, or hinting where we were? Well, it didn't help. We could've been ANYWHERE. Knowing there are soldiers wandering around in the sewers weren't helping.
The imp tapped her heel against my ribs. "You want to get out of here, right? OK! We're off!"
I snorted and then went to where the stairs were. They rounded and led the way to an upper level, obviously a way out.
I ran up the stairs, and came to a gap. No problem, I could jump the gap.
Leaping over the gap, I stopped on the next broken step, but it crumbled under our weight and we fell into the water below.
"Ugh... What are you doing?" The imp muttered in disgust.
Give me a break! How was I supposed to know that the steps would give away?
I ran back up the stairs and came to the gap again. I stared at it warily. It was too far for me to jump across. How were we going to get up there?
Sensing my doubt, the imp spoke. "I guess I have to do EVYERYTHING for you... Look, I'll show you all the small ledges, so just jump to where I am!"
She floated over to the step, turning back to me. How was I supposed to jump this?!
Taking a breath, I stepped back and leaped to her. I landed on the step, the imp floated to the next, and I leaped there too. She landed on my back and we continued up the stairs.
She had to help me out over a couple of other ledges, and too-high spots.
There were a couple of tightropes too. I hesitated before crossing one, but then carefully walked across it. It was a wonder I didn't fall, since wolves were not made to cross tightropes.
The imp helped me across a couple of other ledges, and finally, we made it to the top.
There was a door that was closed, a few boxes...and was that another door up above this one? Why was there a door all the way up there?
There were a couple of bats flying around, so I took care of them and then wondered what we could do to get up to that open door.
I went over to where the boxes were, standing on a small ledge.
"So..." The imp said. "You know where we are yet? Ee hee!"
No. Can't you please tell me?
"Well...if you go up to the top, you might figure it out!"
With that, she led me up the ledges to where the door was, and we went through. Freedom!
But I still didn't know where we were.
--
When we came outside, I saw that we were on some kind of rooftop to a castle. It was raining, and there was that strange light that I saw back in Faron Woods. A few towers were raised around us, there were black birds flying around, and I couldn't even see the ground. The weird lighting made it hard to see down below, or very far up ahead.
Okay, so we were in some kind of castle waterway. But what castle was this? Where were we?
"So, we were finally able to get out." The imp said, stretching her arms. "And look at the sky! Isn't the black cloud of twilight looking beautiful today? Do you know where this is? You STILL don't know? Ee hee hee! Look, there's someone I want to introduce you to...but I'll need you to go to that tower to do it!"
Maybe the person she wanted to introduce me to would enlighten me more on the subject. I leaped down to the rooftops and we were on our way.
