A/N: Hey everybody! Guppy here. Thank you so much for all the reviews! I hope you all enjoy this next chapter, it was one of the original concepts for this story that survived 'the purge' (AKA a massive crash that caused me to lose much data) I have the plot already thought out and in a rough layout form. I'm thinking this story will be around twenty chapters and 200,000 words long, so I hope you stick with me through it all. Anyway, onto my replies for the reviews!
Boleslava: Thank you for the compliment, I tried to keep everyone in character and I'm glad to see others thought I did. I hope you keep reading and enjoying this fanfic!
ArchShadow24: Yay! You reviewed again! I apologize for the Talo, Malo mix-up in the last chapter. When I originally wrote the chapter I mixed up their names, so I had to go back and fix them all. (I reviewed it for that specific error three times) But it appears I missed some. I'll go back and fix that soon. And as for your next observation, I'm glad to see that the slight innuendo caught on. Ilia was always one of my favorite characters in Twilight Princess and I never felt she got as much attention as she should have, but I'll let you find out whether or not you think the pairing is likely to happen.
Disclaimers: I do not own any Nintendo copyrights, including Zelda. I do, however, own my original characters and your eyes for the approximately twenty minutes it takes you to read this.
Adventure 2: The Change
Pain assaulted me as I drifted back to consciousness. I didn't know whether to be relieved or worried by the fact that painful awakenings had stopped seeming unusual to me. Cracking an eye open I expected to be blinded by light of some kind, but it was dark, so dark that it took me a second to realize my eyes really were open.
Sitting up was a laborious process. My mouth felt like it had been stuffed with cotton and body felt like it was made of lead. Looking around I found myself in a small, damp cell of some kind. The three main walls were constructed of stone and mortar with the fourth being a wall of iron bars, like a prison cell. Chains hung from the wall to my left, hooked up to the ceiling and floor in a way that you could pull someone spread eagle against it. It looked more like a medieval torture chamber than anything else. I was sitting in a pile of wet hay, the only thing to disrupt the uniform emptiness of the room.
Attempting to look around the cell I found to my annoyance something kept getting into my eyes. "What the frick!" I shouted grabbing at the object. Tugging on it hard I was rewarded with pain shooting from my scalp. "Oww, what is this?" looking over it closely I found it to be formed of numerous fibers and connected to my head. '…Hair? How the crap did it get so long?!' quickly feeling along it I found it went down past my waist. The lighting was too poor to make out much detail, so I couldn't even judge the color.
'What the heck,' I thought, biting my lip in confusion. "Gah," quickly releasing my lip after a sharp pricking sensation spiraled from two points. "Again, what the heck!" I shouted to the air. Feeling over my lip I found two sensitive areas where my teeth had jabbed it. Carefully tracing my teeth I found that my canines had lengthened and sharpened into two formidable fangs.
Shaking my head I disregarded the strange changes as a state of delirium, caused by large amounts of stress. Looking over my surroundings yet again I thought, 'How the crap did I end up here?' My head hurt too much to think very hard, 'The last thing I remember was in that weird dream…' Looking around the dark room it seemed all too real to me. The faint dripping of water adding to the freaky atmosphere. 'Wait, if this is a dream I should be able to wake myself up!' the though struck me.
Reaching down I pinched myself as hard as I could, "Gyaaah!" I screamed out. Looking down I saw two dark red holes where I had pinched my arm, confused I looked at my other hand. The nails on my hand were sharp and tapered to a point, dripping a liquid of some kind…'Blood,' the realization chilled me, more so as I realized it was my own. A quick study of the other hand revealed long sharpened nails as well.
'What the—when did this happen,' the stinging sensation brought me back to my pierced arm, 'That hurt way to much to be a dream… what the heck is going on?' In order to avoid panicking I stood up quickly, what I didn't count on was something getting in the way.
With a sharp yelp I fell to the floor and jarred my knee. Hissing out in pain I clutched at the fabric that was wrapped around my legs and found it to be connected to my shoulders as well, 'What, a dress?... Wait, no… it's a shirt.' Studying it closer I found the orange shirt I had put on in my dream yesterday, I could tell by the smoothness of the fabric and contrasting weave of animal hair. The fabric of the shirt now came down past my knees. 'B-but that was just a dream…there's no way I could end up in a different world!'
Clutching my head, panic crept upon me as I thought of the implications of never seeing my family again. 'What if they need me? What if something bad happens and one of them gets injured?' then an even worse thought crept into my head. 'What if I can't get back?' I began to hyperventilate as the worry grew. Digging my sharp nails into my head I focused on the pain and pulled myself back into control. Standing up quickly I was more carful with the over large shirt as I walked slowly towards the bars. Slipping my hand down my side I located the hem of the shirt I carefully ripped off a strip of it, a task that proved much harder than expected, even with sharp nails. Wrapping the fabric around my arm I carefully tied it over the puncture wounds. Pulling the fabric tight I staunched the blood flow and took a few deep breaths before moving on.
Turning I studied the gate of my prison, seemingly impenetrable. The large cast iron bars towered over me, reaching up and disappearing into the gloom surrounding the ceiling. Outside the bars a single torch was lit, casting its paltry light down a hallway of the same stone as the cell.
I began testing the bars for weak points, places where rust had formed or age had worn them down. After five minutes I was forced to realize that there were none. 'No, I have to get out. I have to get home!' Rage began to bubble up inside of me. Anger at being locked in a cell, anger at having no idea where I was, anger at the injustice of it all, and anger at my inability to do anything about it.
Suddenly my left hand started to burn. I could feel all of my rage and hurt flowing into it. I knew what to do. Raising my hand as if in slow motion I saw the dark triangle pulse an even deeper black, seeming to draw in the darkness around me. Pressing my palm against the bars I release all of my emotions through the hand.
"BREAK!" A concussive blast followed my scream of rage as the entire wall in front of me blew out, denting into the wall on the other side of the corridor. My long hair and shirt blew out behind me with the backlash of the force. I didn't wait to see if anyone had heard, I took off down the hallway, running as fast as I could.
The soles of my bare feet slapped against the hard stone of the hallway as I continued to gain speed. Sharply turning a corner at the edge of the corridor I found the ground drop off quickly in front of me. Another ledge was visible in the distance over a seemingly immense space. There wasn't enough time to slow down so I did the only thing I could, I jumped.
A sense of weightlessness overtook me for a second, almost like I was flying, but then I slammed into the edge of the other side, knocking the breath out of me and causing me to bite my lip. Wincing I barely managed to grip the ground before falling, my sharp nails proving useful and digging into the cracks in the stone. Panting I spit the out blood that had welled up from my lip then, gathering my strength, I heaved myself over the edge, ignoring the protest from my wounded arm. Rolling over I slowly sat up and turned towards the drop off, slowly I began crawling to the edge. Taking a deep breath I carefully looked out into the abyss, darkness filled the empty gap. Nearly forty feet of cracked stone and cut off corridors lead down to a water filled tunnel of swirling torrents.
Sliding away from the edge I stood up and turned to face the dark corridor. Taking another deep breath I continued down the hallway. Increasing my speed but maintaining a more reasonable pace this time, I quickly sped down the hallway. As I rounded another bend in the seemingly endless corridor a dark shape appeared out of the shadows and rammed into me, flinging me against the wall.
"Gaahh!" crying out as I hit the wall, I slid to the floor and quickly rolled to my feet. A black thing about the size of a small dog was creeping towards me. It seemed like an octopus, but its form wasn't solid, it kept shifting in and out of different shapes.
"KWEEE!" the thing squealed out as it lunged at me. Ducking and holding my arms up protectively in front of my face I darted out of the way. The thing hit the ground and was instantly on me again. It bashed into my forearms with surprising force, causing me to skid back.
'What the heck!' I thought, 'What happened to all my power!?.' My previous muscle mass had seemed to disappear along with my height. Seeing I couldn't muscle this creature away I looked for an alternative. 'Nails!' the thought struck me. Lunging out I swiped at the black mass. Hissing it leapt away before slowly circling me. We stared at each other for a second before,
"GAAAHH!"
"SKWEEE!" we flew towards each other, I flung my right hand in a large arc, bringing my sharp nails in with as much speed and power as I could. Just before its foremost tentacles were about to hit me, I made contact. With the sound of tearing flesh my hand seemed to melt through the shadow beast. It fell to the ground in two pieces, writhing on the floor before disintegrating into dark smog. The black triangle on my hand flared up again and the smoky essence of the thing swirled around, startling me, before being sucked into the mark.
"…Freaky," I muttered to myself. Note to self, be carful with black triangle.
Continuing on down the corridor the darkness seemed to increase in intensity. For about five minutes I could see nothing but black in the distance, the darkness broken only by the occasional torch. Just when I was about to stop and rest I noticed a pinprick of light stretching out on the horizon. Picking up speed I kept running towards it, and it got closer and closer until suddenly I was blinded by the light.
Stumbling to a halt it took a second for my eyes to clear up. I found myself in an open chamber with a large window on the side and a small spiral staircase descending on the left. Rich tapestries of royal red and gold hung on the wall, surrounded by burnished metal torch sconces. The room was truly beautiful, but none of these things held my attention.
Across the room in the doorway of another corridor stood a little girl. Her long, golden blonde hair fell in a curtain around her face, ending in ringlets around her knees. A long orange shirt was her only item of clothing, nearly drowning her frame it fell down to her ankles. Her pale skin was nearly snow white, smooth and flawless except for bruises on the forearms, it reflected the light from the window, forming a halo around her.
Her delicate features had a refined look to them, a slightly upturned nose and high cheek bones gave the appearance of grandeur. Finely sculpted lips turned down in a slight frown, a sliver of a single pointy tooth poked out from the right lip. She looked like an angel, except for her eyes, those haunting orbs that seemed to look into my very soul. Red, like freshly spilt blood they seemed to speak of confusion and fear. A single black line descended from her left eye, like a tear drop stopping just above her nose.
I slowly took a step forward and noticed that she did the same. I started walking, step after step closer, her hand slowly rose, stretching out to meet mine. When we were finally close enough to touch my hand stopped, pressed against a cool surface, it could go no farther. 'A mirror,' the lone thought popped into my head.
"No…" the horse whisper escaped my throat, as I noticed for the first time the soft lilt my once tenor voice had taken on. My hands slowly descended, stopping at my crotch, but no familiar bulge greeted me, just a smooth surface… it was gone. The girl in the mirror was me.
"No…no," I whispered out the words in denial as I slowly sank to my knees. 'Even my family wouldn't recognize me now.' "…no…NO!" I screamed out the last word. I felt something warm sliding down my face, lifting up my hand it came away wet. I started shaking uncontrollably, and for the first time in nearly ten years, I cried.
Huge, heaving sobs wracked my body for what seemed like hours, I lost all sense of time and awareness. I have no idea how long I lay kneeling in front of that mirror. It could have been hours or days that I stared at the weeping reflection of what I had become… a child… a little girl.
(LINE BREAK)
I awoke to near darkness, not even remembering when I had fallen asleep. I didn't look at the mirror, just stood up and slowly walked to the spiral staircase across the room. My previous haste was gone, I felt drained of energy, like a husk.
The winding staircase led down for several floors before ending at a door. The large brass gateway was rusted shut, the doorknob jammed at an awkward angle. After shoving fruitlessly against it for a while I noticed a place where the stone stopped and gave way to wood. Moving over to investigate I found it termite ridden and very old. The decaying material gave way easily underneath my fingers, clawing through it I slowly tunneled my way through the wall. Ignoring splinters and scrapes I kept pushing until I could see the dimly lit street through the cracks.
Giving a final push I crawled out of the jagged hole I had shoved through the rotting wood. Standing up I was cast in shadow by a looming presence. Turning around I saw the menacing wall of a huge castle filling up the near night sky. The finely crafted stone walls held a reminiscence of greater times, but the magnificent sight held no wonder for me, I felt empty. I turned around and marched down the poorly lit alley, walking around discarded trash and who knows what else. Coming out I found a street with a few people walking around in the gloom. I saw a kind looking lady and walked over to her.
"Excuse me ma'am. Can you tell me where I am?" the woman gave no reply, she didn't even seem to notice me. I tried again, "Excuse me—," I was cut off as she quickly turned around, looking over her shoulder.
"Being out at night gives me the creeps," she muttered, "Something's not right around here, not since those things came."
It was then I realized she couldn't see me. I noticed what I had over looked before, she and everyone else here, had a greenish glow to them. They seemed almost ethereal, like they weren't all the way there.
'The Twilight,' I thought, taking notice of the dusk like color that coated everything. 'I'm still in the Zelda world,' The idea of this all being an injury inspired dream had left me. It was too real, no dream could affect you like this. Now I just wanted it to end, and for that to happen I needed to find a way home. There was only one person I could think of who could possibly know the way.
I wracked my brain for what happens next in the story line, 'Ilia and the villagers were just kidnapped… And we were sucked into the Twilight, so Link will have met Midna and become a wolf.' I was suddenly hit with a thought that stopped me cold, 'What if my presence has changed the story line? I already messed up the Talo retrieval, so who knows what else I could have screwed up.' I shook my head to clear it of such thought, 'No, you haven't done anything that big, it should still stay the same. Okay, so the next stop was… was… the forest temple!' Now I had a destination, something to do. I had no idea how to get home and the only person I could trust was Link… I hope.
'If I remember right, Hyrule castle is in next to Castle Town, so that's where I am right now. The forest temple is in Ordona province, it didn't seem very far away in the game.' I thought through all the ways you could get there, trying to bring the map up in memory. Slowly a rough layout formed in my head, the details gone but the general shape still persevered. Then another thought struck me, 'But there are enemies along the way,' Looking down at my nails and clothing I thought, 'I'm going to need better gear than this.' And so began my hunt for helpful items.
Being invisible had certain advantages, I could borrow things without people noticing. And yes borrow, I'd find a way to pay them back… eventually. Running down the streets I noticed just how much bigger everything was compared to me. I had shrunk a good three feet. It was not pleasant to say the least.
Also, my feet hurt really badly. I had ignored it up to this point but the lack of shoes on an unpaved road really begins to take its toll after a while. Sitting on a curb on the side of the street I tore off more of the large orange shirt, wrapping the strips around my feet. While no shoes they definitely helped relieve the pain in my feet. Getting up I moved on.
Quickly searching through the town I found the first thing on my list, one of those magical satchels. One of the ghost people had a stall set up selling them, entitled, 'Bertha's Bags'. Looking around I found the one with the largest storage space. Looking it over it seemed like a normal bag to me, about the size of a hand purse and circular in shape with a flap covering the top. Undoing the clasp I looked inside and saw the rough interior of a leather pouch. Reaching in I felt around for anything that may have been left inside, like an instruction manual. To my surprise I couldn't feel the bottom, groping deeper and deeper I reached inside until my shoulder was pressed against the entrance. Looking down I found that my whole arm had disappeared into the bag, and the bag hadn't distorted at all!
Pulling my arm out and making sure it was all there I placed the satchel in the crook of my arm and decided I would definitely explore the possibilities of it later, but there were more pressing matters. Next thing on my travel list was food. Down the street from the bag stall I found a small store selling general goods. Checking inside I quickly sought out non perishable food items. Dried meat, canned foods, anything that wouldn't start to rot after a few days. I was careful as I selected the items, quietly stuffing them in my bag. I avoided anything in plain view of the owner, so as to avoid suspicion.
Moving along quickly I was about to leave when I saw something, a row of water skins hung up on a rack. 'Gah, idiot! How could you forget the water?' I mentally berated myself. Picking up three I looked around for a place to fill them up, finding none in the shop I returned to the street. As I was passing by a stall I saw a bunch of those hair scrunchy thingies, you know the ones you use to put your hair in a ponytail. After a minute of internal debate, 'You'll look like a sissy… but it will keep the hair out of your face,' practicality won over and I grabbed a few.
Tying my hair back into a low ponytail I was annoyed to find that no matter what I did, some of my hair would escape its bonds and fall into my face. Giving it up as hopeless I continued on my way. Spying a fountain a little ways away I walked quickly towards it, a little too quickly. I bumped into a large lady who was carrying a bag of groceries in her arms, causing her to drop the bag on the ground. She looked around angrily for a second but couldn't seem to find the one who bumped her.
"Sorry," I said on reflex. Forgetting for a moment that I was useable I picked up one of her oranges and placed it back in the bag. Apparently teleporting produce was not an everyday occurrence here. The lady freaked out, tossing her hands in the air and ran off screaming at the top of her lungs. I felt sort of bad so I finished putting all her stuff into the bag and then placed it on the side of the street. Nobody noticed the groceries clean themselves up and neatly stack into a bag. It just goes to show how if you're not paying attention you can ignore the most obvious things. Shaking my head I went to the fountain and filled up the water skins.
Clothing was the next big thing on the to do list. As comfortable as it was, this shirt wouldn't last forever, plus wearing boxer shorts three sizes too big was getting on my nerves… they kept slipping off. Finding a clothing store was easy, for a seemingly medieval town they had a lot of clothes. Turning into a store titled, 'Bobs Slightly Used Wares,' I began to search.
I have no idea what size I am now and I feel no urge to find out. Looking around I grabbed some of the more durable shirts I found, all of the several sizes to big. Looking around I discovered several pairs of shorts and found, to my delight, that on me they were about the size of a pair of caprees, very baggy caprees. Although they were a little big (O.k. very big) around the waist I found that if I tied them with a belt they stayed reasonably well on my small hips.
Moving into the back corner of the shop I changed out of my orange shirt, wincing when it rubbed against the bandage on my upper arm. Pulling on a large white shirt of about the same size and a pair of shorts I pulled them on, tying a belt around my waist, over my shirt. It gave off a tunicy effect but there was nothing else I could do, the pants here didn't have belt slots. Stuffing several other items of clothing in my satchel I took off, eager to leave the store. The clerk had been getting suspicious of all the movement and noise when nobody was in the store, and was now stalking the isles with what suspiciously resembled a crossbow.
With all that in my satchel there was only one thing left, a weapon. There was no way I was going around without something to defend myself with. Those shadow things packed a mean punch… and they really freaked me out.
It took nearly an hour of searching to find a weapons shop. It was wedged into a corner by a doctor's office and out of plain sight, in other words a complete headache to find when you couldn't ask for directions. Sneaking in I was amazed at the rows upon rows of weaponry. I was something of a medieval nut, so this helped to brighten my mood..
Halberds, pikes, curved swords, great swords, bows, you name it and it was there. My area of expertise in weaponry happened to be six sided blades like katana and wakazashi, they were trained in my dojo. Sadly though it appears that those swords weren't made in this world, or at least weren't found in this shop. Most other weaponry was out of the question to. My diminutive frame made it impossible to lift, let alone swing, most of the weapons.
To add to my frustration, I had to be quiet so as not to disturb the owner, the creepy old man sat behind a counter reading what looked like a grungy newspaper. Every once in a while he would drop the paper and look around suspiciously, glaring at everything with his beady eyes. Let's just say I didn't want to attract his attention.
After twenty minuets of fruitless searching I was about to give up, but then I saw it. It was perfect… well balanced, finely crafted, and small, most importantly small… now the only problem was getting to it.
The weapon was located halfway up a fifteen foot wall with tons of crates stacked along it. Looking around I spotted a single crate off to the side. Walking over to it I heaved myself up. Turning to another crate stack, this one with two crates, I lifted myself up again. Three crates latter I was at the weapon.
The object in question was a long knife. With a blade nearly a foot and a half in length, it was comparative to a sword for someone of my height. A large grip so I could use two hands if needed and a thin, sharp blade. Lifting it up I was impressed to find that it weighed very little. I was even more surprised to find it solid, the thing couldn't have weighed more than three pounds.
My search for the dagger had brought me high up on the stacks of crates that lined the wall. Misjudging the distance between two of them I over stepped and slammed into one of the racks. Steel crashed around me, making a cacophony of loud noises startling me nearly as much as the owner.
"What in tarnation," came an angry shout. I quickly grabbed the knife out of the mess of steel and ran. I knew he couldn't see me but I still didn't want to be caught alone with the creepy old man, he gave off this aura that was just frightening. Sliding across the floor I ran down the room and between the isles and out the back door. I didn't slow down until I was three streets away from the shop.
The annoying thing about a state of eternal twilight is that it's really hard to judge the time of day. I had no idea if it was day or night as I was running around the streets, but I did know that I was exhausted. My small legs were dragging as I pulled into an alley on the side of the street. Sitting down I lay back against the wall, setting my pack next to me.
"Yaawwn," I let out tiredly, stretching my arms. Today had been really stressful, and I still didn't know what to make of the change. I felt emotionally and physically drained, so I didn't dwell on it for to long. Instead I did what I do best, I procrastinated thinking about it and slid it to the back of my brain, waiting until some unknown time later to decipher it.
My eyes slowly got heavier and I drifted off to a troubled sleep in one of the dark alleyways of Castle Town.
(LINE BREAK)
I awoke the next morning to the persistent twilight that obscured this world. Getting up stiffly I stretched before picking up my satchel and dagger and tying them to the belt at my waist. Walking out into the crowded street I rubbed my eyes to help clear them up. Stumbling along I was looking for a gate to get out of the town when a delicious smell intruded upon my senses. My stomach grumbled and I realized how hungry I was. Following the smell I honed in on a small bakery selling freshly cooked muffins. Sneaking through the line of people I carefully took a muffin… okay three, from the rack.
Continuing on my way while munching on the pastries was much more enjoyable, but I found that my new teeth caused me yet more trouble. It would definitely take some getting used to for me to eat comfortably with my 'fangs'. The streets of castle town were congested this morning—afternoon-err you know what I mean. I took me a while to find the main street, it was hidden from view by most of the thatched buildings that lined it, I then followed it to the main gate.
Exiting the gate the flow of people decreased dramatically, almost no one was leaving the city. I crossed a long stone bridge that let out into a large clearing. On all sides I could see giant mountain walls in the distance. You could faintly see an opening in between two of them in the distance.
'Okay,' I thought, 'How do I get from Castle Town to Ordon?' The blurry map from my memory began to form. 'Okay, I left from the south exit of Castle town. If my memory is correct there should be two areas between me and the entrance to the Ordon province,' With that settled I began my journey.
Walking was dull, very dull, there weren't even any monsters to fight. I was alone on the lonely path towards Ordon. The orange sky was drab, nothing ever seemed to changed, unless you looked really close. As it is, I had nothing better to do so I managed to notice several things, one, the shadows shift over time. It's as if the sun is still out and casting its effects, we just can't see or feel it. The second thing was that the distance in the game was grossly underestimated. I had been traveling for nearly two hours and was only just getting to the shadows cast by the mountains.
By now my feet wraps were starting to slip up so I sat down to retie them. They had started to fray so it took several minutes of fiddling before I got them tight again. The short rest gave me time to process my thirst, walking for a long time seems to be dehydrating. Taking my satchel I reached in for a water skin… but nothing was there.
After groping around for a second I freaked out, looking into the small bag I could see nothing. "What happened to everything!" turning the bag over I shook it wildly, trying to get something out, but nothing did. After that I stuffed my hand back into the bag. "Come on, where's all my stuff? I want my water!" I shouted out.
Suddenly I felt something hit my hand, gripping it I pulled out one of my water skins. Staring at it for a second I set it down and reached back into the bag, "I want my orange shirt." I stated in a clear voice. Fabric suddenly appeared under my fingers and I pulled out the tattered orange shirt. "Cool," I said staring at the bag. It sort of made me feel like I could do magic! Sticking my hand in yet again, "Give me a rabbit!" … nothing happened, "Drat, I guess it only works with what you put in it." I grumbled.
Deciding this was as good a time as any for lunch I took some of the dried meat and a slice of bread from my pack and ate them. The dried meat wasn't very good and the bread had already started to go stale but on the upside I found a use for my teeth, they made great bread crackers. All in all it wasn't a very good lunch but it was fuel and would keep me going. After a five minute rest and another quick drink I replaced the shirt, food, and water container back into the bag and retied it on the belt around my waist. Standing up I continued on the monotonous journey, after about twenty minutes I reached the pathway between the mountains.
The path was refreshing, unlike the plain in all its orange glory, the pathway was shadowy, and cool. The constant color of the sky was disrupted as the shifting colors changed to a cooler blue. Scraggly weeds attempted to grow on the sides of the path, fighting for a place among the others.
Continuing on my short strides carried me along the path at a sedated pace. The coolness was nice and after what seemed to me like too short of a time it came to an end. The walls gave way to open air and a huge plain spread out in front of me. Grasses and shrubs of all kinds adorned the rolling hills and everywhere the horizon stretched to where it faded into the distance.
Looking at the vast expanse I had to cross I grumbled to myself, "Remind me to sue the game makers when I get back home, because this is way longer than they had in the game." Continuing along the warm air closed in on me. Even without a sun it still managed to be absurdly hot out in the open. Occasionally I would pass by a tree, shriveled and burnt looking they all appeared to be dead.
Step after step I walked, crossing grassy hills and sandy ditches. I kept convincing myself that my destination would be viewable over the next hill but the horizon remained barren. The hot air and continuous walking was quite strenuous and by the time I had been walking for an hour I was covered in sweat. Long hair once again proved to be an annoyance as it clung to my head and face along with the sweat. I had to keep pushing it up behind my ear, despite the fact that I had it in a ponytail.
Eventually an inevitable force of nature took its toll… I had to pee. I first noticed it when suddenly my bladder felt like bursting, no warning, I just suddenly had to go so bad I could barely hold it. Looking around I realized, 'There are no bathrooms!' I spotted a large rock a little ways ahead. 'I guess that will have to do.'
Walking up to the rock and looking around (yeah, I knew no one was there but can you blame me for making absolutely sure?) I pulled up my shirt and unzipped my pants. Reaching in my hand groped at nothing. '…crap.' I stopped and thought for a second, 'how exactly do girls go pee?' My full bladder was making it hard to think, 'Don't they have to squat or something.' The awkward dilemma was solved when I decided that the need to pee overpowered my embarrassment at squatting.
Pulling off my pants I squatted down and waited… and waited… "What the heck!" I shouted angrily. I was sitting there, squatted down with a full bladder and yet could not pee. Closing my eyes I calmed myself and forced my body to relax. Eventually a faint trickling sound could be heard.
I'm sure my face would have appeared beet red to anyone walking by at the time. Of course if somebody did walk by they wouldn't live long enough to process the information fully. They would die… a slow and gruesome death.
Once nature had run its course I pulled up my pants and refastened the belt. It was quickly decided that this would never be spoken of, thought of, or even slightly alluded to.
The rest of the day was a long and boring tale of travel, sweat, and heavy complaining that I will spare you the misery of listening to. Let's just say that by the time I decided to stop for the night I was miserable.
The foot wraps turned out to not be the best form of protection. My feet had blistered and popped over and over until they started to bleed. My wraps were now tinged red from dried blood and there were several open wounds on my feet. I removed the wraps and tossed them, washing the wounds out with water I hissed in pain. Once they were relatively clean I pulled out the orange shirt again and ripped more fabric from it, wrapping it around my feet tightly.
The next matter to be attended to was the puncture wounds in my arm. My nails had done a fair amount of damage and while the gashes were shallow and small they still hurt a lot. The strain I went through throughout the day had reopened the scabs and I had to clean and rebandage them as well.
I ate a meager meal of bread, dried meat, and some dried vegetables, all washed down with water. There was nothing even remotely nice about it, but I was so hungry it tasted almost good. Setting my dagger by my side and my pack under my head I lay down to sleep. Staring up at the sky I thought, 'It really would be depressing to live in an eternal state of twilight. I feel sad for Midna's people… Maybe before I go home, I could find a way to help them.' With these thoughts I drifted off to sleep, dreams of blue skies and dark nights dancing across my eyes.
(LINE BREAK)
I was running, running. Dark storm clouds loomed overhead in the sky as I raced past trees and leaves that groaned in the wind. Rain thudded down, accented by rumbling thunder and stark flashes of lightning.
I could feel it gaining upon me, whatever it was. It had been chasing me for what felt like hours, my muscles groaned and protested as I pushed them far past their limit. I don't know why, but I knew if I stopped something terrible would happen.
The forest seemed to laugh at my efforts, seeming to taunt and say, 'Keep running keep running, it's futile. You can never escape!' The dark forest gloom seemed to increase in intensity, encroaching on my vision and making obstacles harder to see. The pounding rain made it even harder to see as it streamed down my face, pooling under my eyebrows and hampering my vision. I kept running, narrowly avoiding trees and puddles until suddenly my feet were taken out from underneath me.
"Gaahhh!" I screamed as I hit the ground hard, knocking the breath out of me.
I gasped for air as I lay on the ground, unable to amass the energy to move. Suddenly I heard a sound behind me. Rolling over I quickly stood up, raising my hands into a defensive position.
To my horror, instead of the muscled arms I was used to, two frail fists were what came into my vision. "Crap, I'm still little!" I whispered in panic. My attention snapped back towards the direction the sound came from when I noticed a shifting in the shadows. Pushing my long wet hair back from my eyes I squinted through to rain to try and see what it was.
Out of the darkness two red orbs bored into me, freezing me in place. Suddenly the eyes were gone, blinking out of existence. I spun around quickly and seeing nothing began slowly turning in a circle. The rain continued to pour, the occasional flash of lightning lighting the forest in an eerie glow.
Suddenly something slammed into my back, a horrible pain arched from my shoulder and I was spun into the air. Landing hard it took several seconds before I could breath again, gasping in large lungfulls of air and a little bit of water. The shadow was onto of me before I could do anything more, gripping the back of my neck and lifting me into the air.
"L-let go of me." I shouted in panic, trying to wriggle from the arm. The hand around my neck loosened for a second, letting go. Then it griped it again from the front, slamming me into a tree with my feet still dangling off the ground. The blood red eyes stared at me from underneath the hood in shadow, half lidded as if this were pathetically easy.
"Get off!" I managed to shout through my constricted throat. Kicking out with my foot I aimed for his neck. A second hand blocked it, wrapping around my ankle and snapping it to the left with a sickening crunch. "Gaaahhhh!" I screamed as the pain lanced through my body, my vision turned red for a second.
I gripped at the cold hand around my neck, trying to pry off the iron fingers. The owner of them just laughed, a cruel sound speaking of untold amounts of malice. I could feel myself shaking as I began to realize how much of a difference in power there was between us. The broken ankle didn't help either.
"So pitiful," a deep, gravely voice began, "The bearer of such a great power, reduced to trembling like a little girl." He said the last part with sneer. I felt anger rise within me at his words.
"What the heck do you want?!" I spit into his face. I could see a flash of yellowed teeth as he smiled, before he said one chilling word.
"You."
I awoke with a start, sitting up quickly. Looking in every direction I clutched at my speeding heart. I was soaked with sweat and lying a few feet from where I had fallen asleep. I quickly reached down to my ankle and found it whole and unbroken.
"Whew, only a dream… only a dream." I sighed in relief, but it felt so real. It took me another several minutes to completely calm down and I decided that I was in no state to go back to sleep. Rummaging through my bag I pulled out a piece of bread a nibbled on it. Once I felt I had enough energy I got back on my sore feet and set off again.
Today was much like yesterday, except this time I noticed what I had overlooked yesterday, a large forest in the distance, stretching out for miles. I continued on my way and the closer I got to the forest the greener things became. The shrubs grew bigger, the grasses taller. The occasional trees lost their dead look and seemed to liven up, green leafs sprouting from them.
About an hour after I set off I arrived at the foot of the forest. Crossing along it I looked for a path leading into it. Eventually I found the road that I had left somewhere in my hazy walk the day before. It lead to a bridge that seemed a little off to me. Looking closer I noticed that the dirt around it had been scattered, and deep gouges were in it.
'Weird, it's like someone tried to move it.' I thought. Dismissing it as unimportant I continued on my way. Eventually it came to my notice that something was off here. I couldn't tell what it was. 'Maybe it's the lighting, its dimmer in here—wait the sun,' sure enough I could see sunlight streaming through the branches of the trees, 'if there's sun then Link has all ready restored the light spirit. Crap, that means he could have left already!' the alarming thought filled my head.
Speeding up my pace I sprinted down the pathway, sliding around bends as fast as I could. Eventually I reached the large wooden bridge, spanning the gorge leading into Ordon. It felt like years had past from when I had first raced across it with Link but I knew it was only a matter of days. Running around yet another bend I felt my side start to cramp up, but I was too close to stop. Suddenly I saw it, only about ten feet away, then seven, then four, until I was on top of it. Clutching my side and gasping for air I looked around, I had found the spring; it was pristine and peaceful… except for a large greenish blue vortex spinning above it. The vortex was odd, surrounded by geometrical shapes that eventually spiraled into the center, leading up into the sky.
"The vortex, he's already been here." I whispered. I suddenly felt tired, really tired. I knew the vortex didn't mean that Link had already left, he could still be in the temple, but I was skeptical. The vortex seemed to taunt me saying, 'Your too late, you're too late.'
I heard a distant rumbling sound, rolling across the sky and causing me to shudder. The sound of thunder, I didn't want to get stuck in that. Repressing bad memories I turned around and saw grey clouds stretching out across the horizon. Replaying my options in my head I realized I could always go back to the village, it was just down the path, but there was nothing there for me, I needed Link. 'Where does Link head next? After the forest temple is…Ugh, think Skyler, think… the Goron temple!' the thought struck like an epiphany. 'The Gorons are on a volcano and the volcano is near that village, Kar- Kathiko, something like that.' Memories starting to spill back into my head, 'If I remember right it's closer than Castle Town was, you just take a branching trail that goes to the left.' Ok, now I had a destination.
Setting out I crossed the bridge yet again. The thunder seemed to get closer. 'Dang, I don't want to get caught in the rain, but if I don't hurry Link might go on before I get there.' Worry over missing Link yet again won over my dissatisfaction at being forced into less than satisfactory conditions… Midna better know a way to get me back. I quickened my pace to a slow jog, I still wasn't completely recovered from my sprint.
Moving along at a reasonable pace (meaning a pathetically slow trudge to most) I looked up at the sky and noticed that the sun was starting to set. Darkness seemed to roll in and along with it came the rain. It started out as a faint drizzle, but as I continued along it grew into a full fledged maelstrom.
Lightning lit up the sky around me and thunder echoing through the darkness, each time causing my head to spike in pain, but I wouldn't let that stop me now. I was too close. Each step I took was a challenge, the wind pushed against me, forcing me back. I cursed my tiny body yet again as I slipped and fell into another puddle. Pushing myself back up I kept on going, not letting myself stop. The wet ground stuck to my feet as I trudged on. My long hair was a tangled mess, whipped by the wind it blew in every direction, plastering to my wet face in the most troublesome locations. After walking for what felt like hours I finally reached the strange bridge, the furrows that had resembled drag marks were now nothing more than a muddy embankment.
Pushing on I kept walking, across the bridge and slowly following the left hand side of the trail, poor visibility making it nearly impossible. The rain thudded down, puddleing in any available space, I had long since lost all feeling in my feet. My extremities were numb and I hugged myself for warmth. Clutching at the thin cotton was of little comfort, the clothes were so thoroughly soaked that they slid across my skin, seeming to increase in weight with every step. I felt so tired… so very tired, but I couldn't give up, not now.
Slowly, despite my resistance, my walking slowly stopped, forced to a standstill by the winds. Falling to my knees I hugged myself, my will slowly giving way to exhaustion. I felt light headed and my vision was bugging out on me. My head hurt, I had trouble concentrating as shapes started to blur together and darkness encroached on my vision. I slowly fell forward, landing with my head slightly to the side, rain falling around me. I feebly attempted to push myself up again but my body wouldn't respond. The headache that had been increasing in intensity burst into spectacular colors, and I slowly slid even lower on my stomach. The sound of thunder roared in the distance, the only sound I could hear until that to began to fade.
Oooh, a cliffhanger, I'm mean aren't I? Well, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, tell me what you thought about it, I'm eager to hear your feedback. Remember, reviews are food for the plot bunnies, the more they eat the more ideas they excrete into my head! … Okay, that imagery was a little strange, but it gives you the basic idea. I hope to see you all next chapter.
Guppy Out.