Still wondering where Midna was, I decided to go on back to my village. I had to see what happened to the rest of the children, maybe get some leads on where they were taken.

I had to find them and save them, and I had to do it now. I wasted enough time.

As I came to the entrance leading out from the spring, I heard Midna speak again. Instinctively, I looked at my back. She still wasn't there.

"So, um, what next?"

Suddenly, I saw my shadow leave me and Midna popped up in front of me. She was a shadow! She retained her shape, and her right eye was the only thing standing out.

"Ee hee hee! Did you think I'd disappeared? Listen, there's another thing I forgot to tell you... Don't think can just run off and save your friends, because you can't. Just beyond that bridge, the land is covered in twilight. Last time, a shadow beast pulled you through the curtain of twilight... But if you want to go that way this time, you'll need the cooperation of someone FROM the twilight...like me! So you really have no choice but to do what I say."

Great. That was a bribe if I ever heard one. Cooperate with Midna or I can never save my friends.

Well, she did have a point, of course. Since she was from the twilight, as she said, I'd need her guidance if I was ever going to get through it and save my friends.

"Saving your friends and all that..." Midna continued. "Well, that'll depend on your actions... Because you can never trust words, you know. Right now, I want a sword and a shield that'll suit me. You do understand me, don't you? Ee hee hee! So, what do you plan to do? While you're here dawdling, the twilight continues to expand. Come on! Hurry it up!"

Midna disappeared below me, probably in my shadow or something. So I went off to get back to the village.

She was out of luck, since our village was tiny, and not exactly holding a lot of swords and shields up for grabs. Then again, I distinctly recall Jaggle mentioning that he was building a shield, and the gift we were supposed to present to the royal family was a sword that Rusl crafted. Well, so we were in luck.

But, I didn't know where to find them, or how to get them. I couldn't ask anyone since I was a wolf, and I hardly think they'll recognize me.

We came up to a couple of those green monsters that kidnapped the kids by my house. So I managed to take care of them, sinking my teeth into their throats and lashing them until they exploded into nothing.

Just as we were going into the village, a voice called out to us.

"Wait!"

I raised my haunches and growled, not turning around. I heard Midna sighing in the shadows about how stupid I was with "growl first, ask questions later".

Sitting on the doorstep of my house was a chipmunk. And it was talking to me. Whoa! How can I understand it?

"I don't know what you've come here to do, but if you're going into town, be careful! THEY came and made both the forest and village a mess... They kidnapped the children from the village..."

What?! So they DID get the rest of the kids! Where are they? Do you know where they are?! I have to find them! What if they're hurt? Or worse?

"But you're different...you're not a bad thing, are you?" The chipmunk continued. "I can tell, because you smell like the trees of Ordon... If you run into any trouble, try talking to the animals in town. We animals understand one another, so you'll be fine!" He them scampered off.

Well, at least I had some helpful guidance now. Maybe the animals could give me some leads as to where those monsters took the kids. I just hope no one else was hurt either.

We went into the village as nightfall descended. It was so quiet, much more quiet than usual.

Hanch was on top of the plateau that Jaggle usually perched on. He was looking up at the sky mournfully.

"Ohhh... How did it come to this? The children... Please say nothing's happened... Please forgive you're good-for-nothing father..."

I felt pretty bad for him. Although he was a good guy, he was...well, kind of useless and lazy a lot of the time.

We went around the village, careful to keep out of sight. I then noticed Mayor Bo and Jaggle outside Jaggle's house talking. I couldn't make it out, so we approached and listened.

"Oh! About the shield..."

"Hey! Not so loud!"

They started speaking in whispers. Even with my heightened hearing, I couldn't hear them well.

Jaggle and Pergie's puppy was dozing outside the front door and he noticed us. He then explained that we could find things in soft spots by digging, and to let him know if Jaggle and Bo were talking about food.

We approached, and I hid in the tall grass to listen.

"So, that shield is still in your house, right?" Mayor Bo asked.

"Uh, yeah, it should still be in our storage loft." Jagged replied, nodding.

"Good! Go grab it, as quick as you can! Rusl got wounded pretty bad, so he can't go search for the kids. I'll take over for him."

Rusl was hurt? That could only mean he went out there and was attacked by those shadow beasts that Zelda mentioned. Well if HE couldn't do it, what made Bo think he could?

Apparently, Jaggle was thinking the same thing.

"But Rusl had a sword, Mayor! And he STILL got hurt! If you're unarmed, you're done for!

"I'll be fine." Bo insisted. "The sword we were goin' to present to the royal family should still be at Rusl's house."

"Oh yeah? All right, I understand, Mayor. I'll hurry up and get that shield. You just wait here..."

Suddenly, they turned around and saw me. Mayor Bo gasped.

"No good! Run!"

They both ran off. Oh come on, I wasn't going to attack! Well, they didn't know that, I know.

Midna then popped out of the shadows, looking up at the house. I followed her gaze and noticed that the skylight window was open.

"That's not a bad bit of information you heard, huh? Ugh...look at that open window. This village is full of idiots."

I glared at her as she said that. I didn't like my friends, pretty much my only family, being insulted like that. It wasn't their fault!

Midna ignored me and continued, her gaze drifting over to the water wheel on the side of Jaggle's house. "So... We should jump up there...but from where?"

The waterwheel? Oh, wait, she meant the hub of the waterwheel. Yes, we could use that, but she was right...from where?

I came back around, and looked over at the plateaus. We could use those to get up there. But we wouldn't be able to get by Hanch without him seeing us.

While I wandered around looking for some clues, a torch lit and I heard Hanch yell.

"Mon-MONSTER!"

A monster?! Where?!

I looked at him and realized he was talking about me.

"You've come back for more, haven't you?! My... My daughter... Return her! And TAKE THIS!"

Hanch blew a blew of Hawk grass, and the hawk came flying down, perching on his outstretched arm. The hawk came flying at us, but I managed to slip away pretty fast and avoid it.

Sera's cat, who was outside the shop, told us that we were no match against the hawk. So much for that.

We went around to the side of the shop onto a rock, and Midna popped out of the shadows.

"C'mon, let's get up on the roof from here and scare that guy. Look at him...posing like he's all important... Wait until he sees us! Ee hee hee!"

I didn't appreciate her talking about Hanch like that, but I did have to agree that our only way past him was to scare him. Lucky for us, he was a wimp, so it wouldn't be hard.

Midna helped me leap up onto the roof, and we crossed over to where Hanch was. He turned around and jumped up, the hawk flying away. Wow, I didn't even need to growl!

"WHOA!" He screamed, and jumped into the water.

With him out of the way, Midna went to the waterwheel hub, and I leaped to where she was, and then up on the roof of Jaggle's house. We went in through the skylight window, landing on the top bunk bed.

I leaped down, landing on the table, near the storage loft. Midna popped out of the shadows, looking up there.

"Ee hee! Found it! Found it!"

I followed her gaze, and saw an Ordon Shield hanging on the wall. Perfect, now we just had to get up there and get it down.

Midna helped me up to the loft, and I went over where the shield hung, looking up at it.

How was I going to get it down? Even in my human form, it would be too high for me to reach.

With no other option, I bashed into the wall a couple of times to jiggle it. Sure enough, it fell to the floor. I picked it up with my teeth and scooped it onto my back.

Midna popped out of the shadows, studying the shield.

"It looks...kind of cheap... All right, then... Next is a sword. Hurry up and get one!" Midna disappeared back in the shadows.

What do you mean hurry up and get one? There's only one! Oh, Rusl had one, but there was no way I could take his without getting damaged. Well, Mayor Bo did say that the sword was at Rusl's house, so I guess we had to go there.

I climbed out the nearby window and landed in the water.

It must've caught attention because I heard Rusl off nearby.

"What was that sound?! The children could not have returned...could they?"

"Give me a break!" I heard Midna mutter from the shadows. "If the children came back, wouldn't they run back to their families instead of going for a swim?"

(That was a line from Ferngirl's fanfiction From The Eyes of the Twilight Princess.)

Well, Midna did have a point.

We perked and heard Rusl continue speaking.

"I must go out and search one last time. You get inside the house. I have placed the sword was to be our gift to Hyrule on the couch. If the mayor comes for it, please give it to him."

"But, darling...your injuries!" I heard Uli plead.

Okay, so now we just had to find a way inside without them seeing us.

We swam back to shore, kept out of sight of Rusl, who was limping around the village with lit torch.

Going to the side of the house, I noticed a hole that I could probably dig in to get inside.

I dug through the hall, shutting my eyes so that I would get any dirt in my face, and came out on the other side inside the house. Sure enough, the Ordon sword was sitting on the couch, just like Rusl said.

I went over and picked it up, scooping it onto my back with the shield.

Once I had it, Midna popped out of the shadows.

"All right... So now you have a sword. Looks like you can actually be useful when you concentrate! All right... No more detours. I'm going to take you back into the twilight. Go back to the woods where you first transformed into that shape!"

Midna disappeared into the shadows, and I went and dug myself out of the house.

Rusl was still wandering around the village, very slowly. Luckily, we managed to keep in the shadows and out of sight as we made our way out of the village.

--

As we approached the bridge, a voice called out to us.

"Wait... Come...to my spring..."

Midna mumbled under her breath about how now seemed like a good idea to growl, but I ignored her and ran to the spring. Could it have been the legendary spirit of Light?

We got into the water as the voice spoke again.

"You have...been transformed...by the power...of shadow... Come...to me..."

I sniffed around, trying to locate the voice. Suddenly, dark pillars with red markings landed around the spring, surrounding me. I tensed, raising my haunches and growling. Was this a trap?!

"Beware...A shadow being... It approaches..."

A strange-looking shape with a swirling hole appeared above us, the same red markings along it. A strange black monster like the one that had pulled be into the curtain of twilight fell out of the hole, landing before me in the spring. The weird swirling hole shape disappeared.

I immediately leaped into action, latching onto it and sinking my teeth into its throat. The shadow monster thrashed and tried to throw me off. I went in again and finished it off. It dissolved into black squares, and then rose up above us, creating the same shape with the swirling hole, except the markings were blue instead of red.

Once I relaxed, the spring darkened, but then the water and the rocks suddenly began to light up. A swirling, golden orb of light slowly rose from the water. I watched it as it rose high above the water.

The light seemed to create a shape, which then looked like a goat, with its round horns encircling the light orb. Its entire body seemed to be made of light, and yet it didn't hurt to look directly at it.

"O brave youth..." It spoke. "I am one of the four light spirits that protect Hyrule at the behest of the gods. I am Ordona. The black beast you slayed was a shadow being. It had come to seize the power of light I wield."

It paused for a moment before continuing.

"My brethren in Hyrule have already had their light stolen by these fell beasts. The entire Kingdom of Hyrule has been reduced to a netherworld ruled by the cursed powers of darkness. The blight will not stop in Hyrule. Before long, the entire world of light will fall into the hands of the king who rules the twilight."

I couldn't believe it. So this king of twilight was out to shroud Hyrule and the rest of the world in twilight? How are we going to stop him? Is there anything that can be done?

"To save this land from the king of twilight, the lost light must be recovered." Ordona went on. "The three light spirits who have lost their light must be revived. There is but one who can revive them and redeem this land... You."

Me? But I'm just a farm boy, how am I able to help? I can't say I don't want to help, because I do, but how can I do it? There's no way I could possibly manage it!

"You still have not discovered your true power... Those transformed by twilight usually cannot recover their original forms... Unless... If you were to return to Faron Woods where you were first transformed... If you were to revive the light spirit... There, by the power of the light spirit, you may find the means to regain your other state of being..."

Ordona then disappeared, its light fading away. The spring was back to normal, as if it had not been there.

Well, so the only way I could be human again is if I go to Faron Woods and revive the Light Spirit. I didn't have any other options, so I hurried out of the spring and across the bridge to get to Faron Woods.

I still didn't know where the kids were, and as much as I wanted to be human again, I wanted to know where they were first. But it looked like no one was giving me any leads. Great.

We approached the wall of twilight. I looked around a bit nervously, and noticed the strange markings appear on the large, black wall. Stopping near, Midna popped out of the shadows.

"Hey... Look... The Faron Woods that you know so well... They're now covered in twilight. You might not be able to come back here, but... Do you still want to go?"

I nodded.

Midna turned and floated through the wall, creating a ripple. Suddenly, a large orange hand shot out from the wall, grabbed me, and pulled me inside.

--

We came into Faron Woods, surrounded by Twilight. Midna was in her solid form, and back on her old seat, on my back.

She took the sword and the shield, and had placed the shield on her face. I'd probably laugh if I could, since the shield was not supposed to go on your face. She must've assumed that the shield was used to protect your head.

"Hmm! So these are the weapons you use in your world?" Midna asked, taking the sword in her right hand. She swished it around, I had to duck my hand in order to avoid bring whacked by it. "You really think this thing can slay the creatures of twilight?"

I growled at her, how could she talk like that about Rusl's hard work, and how that sword as especially requested by Zelda. Besides, after all I did to get it, she's ungrateful! She was lucky I was even helping her at all.

My thoughts were interrupted when the shield landed landed on my face after she was tossing it aside. I could hear the sword strike the ground beside me.

"...Well, I won't use these, but I'll hang onto them for you!" Midna said. She snapped her fingers and the weapons disappeared, dissolving into black squares.

Okay, so at least she was holding on to them, probably so I could use them once I became human. No problem, I knew how to use a sword.

"All right, a promise is a promise... I trust you enough to help." Midna leaned on her stomach over to my ear. "In exchange for my help, though, I need you to gather some things for me. Look, I can't tell you all the details now, but it'll be easy, trust me..."

Why not? It'd be a bit easier if I knew what I was supposed to help gather and what we were up against! Well, I guess maybe Midna didn't trust me THAT much. Oh well.

"But enough about that." Midna went on, gesturing toward the path up ahead of us. Do you hear that noise? It's the lamentation of the spirit that had its light stolen."

Perplexed, I listened. Sure enough, off to where the spring was, I could hear a sad, sorrowful song ringing in the air.

"Where in the world could it be? Ee hee! Better get going, don't you think? Don't blame me for your world's fate if you don't hurry up and find that light!" Midna was now lying on my back, looking at her nails in a bored fashion, humming a tune. "Come on! Snap to it!"

I let out a wolf grumble and looked to the path ahead of us, ready to go.