Author's Note: Eep! I totally forgot on giving out a shoutout to Fluzzy who followed the story! I'm sorry! *wails* Thanks to Kamkong for favoring and following the story.

Chapter 15: Frozen

I dragged myself out of the pool-sized puddle before plopping myself against the cool ground. Other than being completely drenched, I just laid there breathing in and out as I tried to rest.

"Phew…That was a close one. We're lucky there was a puddle down below, huh?" Midna asked as she too laid beside me. She then looked at her surroundings.

She discovered that this was Lake Hylia but she wondered why there was little water.

"So this is Lake Hylia…but there's so little water…" Midna commented. "It sounds like the spirit's spring should be somewhere around here as well…Anyway, let's take a look around…"

After getting back up, I decided to do what she told me so I did by looking running around the place until I honed my senses on to see if the spirits have anything else to say.

I found a guy who wore pants, shoes and a pink shirt that showed his belly and a strange hat.

"Hurrrm…I'm too old for this…" he mumbled. "Fyer and Falbi's Watertop Land of Fantastication…It's our grand reopening at our new lake-bottom location…whee." he stated with false enthusiasm. "Hurrrm…Yeah, nice lake…Don't lakes have more…I don't know…water?" he then looked at the far cave that loomed eerily.

"Did the Zoras who live upriver do something? Or is it a curse from that spirit that floats around up there? Whatever. It's not like I can go up and complain…That's way too high." he then squinted his eyes up ahead as he saw a figure walking around. "Whuzzat, a customer?!" he exclaimed.

But the moment the figure turned its head, the owner freaked out.

"YIKES! IT'S A MONSTER!" he screamed with fright.

Going to the direction he had spotted the monster, I instantly made myself to be in a fighting stance as I growled dangerously at the creature. The creature spotted a familiar grass and he took a piece of it, only to blow into it. The familiar tune—the tune that I play to summon my hawk—echoed throughout the silent place.

A noise came that sounded like wings flapping and then it came to its Master. The enemy hopped on its monstrous bird that looked wicked in every sense of way. The foe then took out its flaming arrow and released it.

I narrowly dodged the arrow as the weapon had struck close to me; only an inch away from actually injuring my paw. Sheesh, they must've been trained to be that good or they were born with it…

I waited for the gigantic bird to come closer at me so that I could attack it and when it did, I had sadly missed the chance since its great talons scratched right below my left eye.

That's going to be an interesting mark…

When the bird flew closer again, this time, I leapt at it as I viciously attacked the bird's weak point. Occasionally, I had to avoid the creature's flaming arrow though it was kind of hard, especially if you're too focused on the big bird. The bird came closer again, allowing me to attack the weak point.

Because I attacked it again (mind you the taste is horrible), the bird thrashed around as it threw off its Master who plummeted down to the ground. Then, I ran towards the fallen Master so that I could kill it. The flesh horrid skin entered my mouth, feeling the blood oozing out of its torn skin.

I spat the skin out of mouth, not liking the taste of it.

Because its Master was defeated, the bird stood still as it flapped its huge wings. Taking the chance, Midna flew towards it and sat on the back. The bird thrashed around, not liking that there was another person that had replaced its old Master.

"Hey! Stop it!" Midna commanded. "I'm your new master now! Settle down!" she yelled. The bird had stopped once it heard that. "Hey? Why don't we use this guy to get us all the way to the lake's water source?"

She can't be serious right?

She was serious when the bird flew at me, snatching me as it placed between its sharp claws. It was uncomfortable since the claws dug painfully into my skin. Midna then started to guide the bird in the direction she wanted to go. To tell the truth, I was definitely scared about that…

When we entered the narrow cave, many of the enemies started to fire their arrows at us. They all tried to kill us since they sometimes would strike the big cliffs of columns that timbered down. Midna served dangerously down in attempt to avoid it which she did but on the last one, she didn't do that great which caused the bird to hit the edge of the lower cliff.

The bird accidentally released me, sending me down to the water. The minute I splashed, the water's waves went berserk as they tried to drown me.

"Link!" Midna yelled. She made the bird to go down, hoping to reach me in time. But her eyes went wide when she saw me that I was no longer visible. The imp plunged into the water, searching for me. It was then that she saw a small figure that went down and down.

She urged the bird to go at me and when she did, the bird grabbed me. Above the water, everything was silent. Not a trace of living soul except the enemies.

And then, something broke the surface of the water. That something revealed the bird, Midna and me who were currently spewing out the water.

"Alright, let's go." Midna told the bird.

We were finally got out of the cave and the bird dropped me gently on a safer cliff while Midna landed on my back. We watched bird flying away before it disappeared out of sight.

"Ah…we're already here?! That bird turned out to be more useful than I expected." she replied as if nothing had happened. "Well, then…Where's the village of the Zoras? Let's look for it. It's getting cold…Hurry up!" she barked the orders.

When I jumped down, I slipped having face plant first. It hurts…Shaking out of my dazed state, I continued to run the slippery path. Questions swarmed inside of my head such as what happened? Why is it all covered in ice? Why did Midna save me back there?

That thought still puzzled me…

When we reached the end of the path, the first thing we had noticed was the waterfall. It was covered with ice completely though just by looking at it, it felt unsafe, unstable.

"Oh…Hey…What's going on here? I thought it was getting colder…but who would have thought that it would all be frozen?! This is the Zora village, right? Why don't I see any, then…" she paused. "Well…Anyway, let's check things out. Let's find the Zoras…"

I continued to follow up the path but it was hard since the path was well ice…it's pretty self-explanatory right? Anyways, I made to the top and then resumed to follow the icy path.

I growled an annoyed one when I spotted the three shadow beasts. They were quickly destroyed though but I began to be worried even more when I realized that there were still no traces of the Zoras.

What happened to them?

"Link, look down." she ordered.

I did so and there were many floating spirits. Curiously, I honed my sense only to widen my eyes with shock. Those were the Zoras! They were all trapped underneath the ice. It was as if every function of their bodies had suddenly stopped working, leaving them to be still like statues.

"Those are the Zoras!" Midna exclaimed, horrified. "Wow…This is really strange…What in the world happened?"

I glowered at her, thinking why she would care.

"Hey…What do you want to do? We can't just leave them like this…" Midna replied, trailing off.

What was wrong with her? She's not supposed to care for the light-dwellers. She only supposed to care for herself and her world. Midna sneered when she saw me that I gave her a disbelieving look as if that said "you actually care for them?"

"I can care for people once in a while!" she replied, furiously. "But that happens rarely."

I snorted.

"Anyways, the portal should work for us. We need to find a way to melt the ice and then come back here…"

I then started to tell her how but it didn't really work out that great.

"You want me to hit you with a rock?" she asked, puzzled while question my sanity.

I gave a long defeated sigh. Gee, who knew I could be this bad at charades…

I shook my head, indicating that she got it wrong. I then did the same motion which was having one of my paws to be the rock and my other paw to be the ice. I collided my "rock paw" with my ice, making explosive sounds.

"Oh!" she suddenly shouted. "Death Mountain! You want me to warp you to Death Mountain so that the big boulder rock can be transferred here!" she exclaimed. "Why didn't you say so?!"

I gave her a disapproving look which caused her to cackle.

Imps…

She warped us back to Death Mountain, quickly spotting the big flaming boulder that once nearly killed me. I was surprised that it was still hot.

"This thing has been here for a while now, but it's still pretty hot…"

I gestured her to warp it back to Zora's Domain. We then came back to the Domain while we carried the big boulder. The flaming hot boulder plunged down into the frozen ice. Because of the strong force, it released the ice sending out the water ahead. The huge torrent of water raced out as it then started to melt the ice that was on the waterfall.

"Who knew that something so dangerous would come in handy…" she spoke once we were in full forms.

I was relieved to see the Zoras were alright now…now that they have oxygen to breath.

"Alright…The Zoras are safe now, so let's go. The ice melted and restored the water flow to normal. Can we finally meet the spirit of Lake Hylia?" Midna asked, impatiently.

I rolled my eyes at her.

I started to head out of the Zora's Domain but a voice came, causing me to stop.

"Wait." it spoke.

I turned around and there in front of me, showed a spirit. A beautiful spirit that wore what it looked like a royal gown with intricate patterns on it. Her curly hair fell down to her shoulders and a small crown settled around her forehead. I stared at her in awe but something about her nearly threw me off. It might've been her face emotions since it held nothing but sadness.

"Please, you must allow me to thank you for revitalizing both my people and this spring, which is the water source for all the lands of Hyrule." she spoke softly. "In life, I was the elder of this Zora village and the queen of my people. I was called Rutela."

In life…? My eyes slightly got widen as I had realized…someone must've either executed her or got killed…

The queen smiled sadly at me as she probably knew I had figured it out.

Interested to know more, I walked towards her but Midna had to ruin it.

"Not to be rude, but we didn't exactly do it for you guys…" Midna replied, rudely.

I gave out a low growl, indicating to not to go overboard. Stupid Midna.

I sincerely hoped the queen didn't hear that. She looked like she didn't but I could never know.

"The dark ones…They raided this village and, as a message to my people, executed me before them. Young man…You who take the form of a proud beast…I have something to ask of you. When the dark ones descended upon our village, I sent my young one, Ralis, to Hyrule Castle to inform Princess Zelda of our fate. But…I fear danger followed him from this doomed place. I feel it. His presence grows fainter to me over time…" she replied, mournfully.

"He is so young. To see him suffering like this…"

"Calm down, little lady. Someone was sent to get the doctor."

I bowed my head down as I let the new information to sink down. That was Prince Ralis wasn't it? He's going to die if something isn't done…I highly doubt the doctor will show up…it's taking a long time for him anyway…

"You have seen him, haven't you?" she asked me softly.

I gave a nod.

"But…my time in this world has passed, and though I would give it gladly, I no longer have a life to risk in his rescue." she continued, her voice getting softer each time. "Please…would you save my dearest, Prince Ralis? If you do this thing, I will bestow upon you the protection of water. This power will grant you the ability to swim and respire in very deep water as if you were a Zora. Please…save my son."

She vanished but Midna had to ruin this comment. Mind you, I was still upset on just how insensitive she was.

"Hmm…So if we help her, she'll grant you the power to swim in deep water like a Zora, huh?" she thought though I growled at her. "So…What do you say, Hero? Oh, but now that I think about it. I don't suppose you should meet the prince as a wolf, huh?" she asked.

I glowered at her.

"Eee hee! So…No hurry to return you to the world of light, then, huh?"

I dashed quickly to get out of the Domain but when I did, I had noticed that the once frozen waterfall was now unfrozen as the water was flowing freely down faster and being much more powerful. Rain had drizzled down as well.

But, another thing that I had noticed was that the once frozen Zora's place was now filled with water everywhere. The water raced down that led to Lake Hylia.

"Looks like the shock of that impact not only raised the water level, but sped up the flow, too…This water should flow all the way down to the lake. Why don't you let it take you there?"

Her and her brilliant idea was my last thought before the last powerful wave plunged me into the depths of the water.

A soft moan escaped my lips well more of a wolf moan…so much head pain…Groaning, I slowly got up as I shook myself. I think I got water in my ears…

"Ugh…Aren't you awake yet?" Midna asked, annoyed.

Well I don't know, you tell me.

"Look! We got washed all the way down to Lake Hylia just as I predicted…And it looks like we're right in front of the spirit's spring to boot. Talk about lucky…"

Oh real lucky.

"Well, let's go!" she snapped. "Snap out of it and get to the spirit!" she barked.

Muttering in my thoughts, I still wasn't out of it mind you which was I had tripped over the stairs nearly being tumbled to the ground. Midna snickered at the scene that was displayed.

"Klutz."

"I am…the last of the spirits of light…consumed…by twilight…" the last light spirit told me when we had entered the room. And like many before the spirit, it told me to collect the insect of darkness.

Thank the goddesses that this is the last time I will be doing that. It's becoming a real pain.

With that in mind, I began to search for those annoying pests.

Hey it reminds me of someone…

Erm, anyways.

Sooner or later, I had collected all of them…or so I thought.

"Hey! What's going on?" Midna asked. "There should be one more…Where could the last tear be?" she wondered as she thought about it. "What?! It's in Lake Hylia no doubt." she frowned. "This is weird…"

Sighing, I got transported to Lake Hylia where things got a little dark. Thunder boomed when we had arrived and my dash went quicker, eager to kill the last tear. I soon found it which was located near the waterfall that was diagonally left of the Spring.

But the minute I landed on a floating platform, something started to bubble in front of me. The bubbles then rumbled furiously each second until it…just stopped. Until something shot into the air. It would've been a heart attack if we could see it but since it was nearly invisible, it wasn't.

I could still see the sparks that outlined its body so I honed my senses and what I saw disgusted me. I wanted to throw up as I looked at the gigantic beast that floated down. Its many legs were on the side here and there, sticking out. Its body pulsing as it took every flying step.

Ew…okay, ewwww….

The ugly beast then started to fly towards me as it had its zapping power around its body, hoping to zap its prey. But I dodged it and when it turned to face me, I immediately started to jump on its body, attacking it. I cringed when I had to bite the body as it poured strange liquid; it didn't feel like blood but more like water if anything else…

The disgusting creature flew back up once it swam around underneath the waters. I attacked it again when it came close to me, sending it back to the water. And then, I did it again though that was the last time as its body was flipped over, laying still on the water.

I jumped on the beast's body to attack its erm…legs but Midna halted me before I could even do anything. She told me to use the energy field which quickly struck all of the legs. Finally, the beast was now visible so I took off my senses as I saw the insect being crumpled into a ball before it exploded into the last tear of light.

Gratefully, I took the tear feeling its warmth as it transported me back to the spring.

Finally…no more twilight…no more being a wolf. I can be a human.

Midna told me to get the last Fused Shadow before she disappeared.

A glowing orb floated upwards but then it swallowed by a huge light spirit that splashed out of the water before it dove back into the water, swimming around the spring until finally, it shot up, splashing water everywhere including me.

"My name is Lanayru. Your efforts have at last restored each of us light spirits in Hyrule. O hero chosen by the gods…The dark power that you seek…It waits in a temple set in the bed of Lake Hylia. But before seeking it, you must now bear witness to something…and never forget it." Lanayru told me. "You must know that it was the will of the goddesses that we locked away the forbidden power."

I suddenly felt like I was in a trance though I was still able to close my eyes and when I opened them, I found myself in a different environment. The spring was no longer there. Instead, it was replaced with nothing but black and I looked down to see that I was wearing my Ordon clothes.

I just floated around aimlessly as if I was waiting for something to happen.

"When all was chaos, the goddesses descended and gave order and life to the world."

Green, blue and red circled around me, shooting in every direction it could.

"They granted power equally to all who dwelt in the light and then returned to the heavens."

The red light zoomed over a specific area as I watched it creating a something. A lifeless empty hill to be exact. But then a blue light washed over the empty hill, forming green grass. And with a final touch, the green light added its magical touch as sparkles gently fell down.

Was that…Ilia…?

She suddenly appeared beside me as we both watched the hill being full of life as we smiled and laughed…

"The lands where the goddesses descended came to be known as the Sacred Realm."

The three lights then exploded into one another, creating a bright orb that soon vanished only to reveal the familiar triangle.

The Triforce.

"For ages, the people lived at ease, content in mind and body…"

However, I suddenly felt off…something just didn't satisfy me.

"But soon, word of the Sacred Realm spread through Hyrule, and a great battle ensued…"

Unknown to me yet, Ilia held a dagger that was hidden. She wanted it all to herself…She didn't want to share it. It's hers and she must get it!

Her eyes were being lifeless as she turned around me while I thought the same thing.

It's mine…all mine…

But then before she could stab me, I reacted quickly enough to stab her. The sound of her blade clattered on the floor while a sword got thrown on the floor. Being in a trance, I then ran to the hill, eagerly to snatch the Triforce.

But then, something caused me to halt. On the hill, being in front of the Triforce stood three shadow figures but they looked like…

Like me.

"Among those living in the light, interlopers who excelled at magic appeared. Wielding powerful sorcery, they tried to establish dominion over the Sacred Realm."

Something big came from behind them. It looked like the helmet Midna was wearing.

No…they can't get it. What are they doing?! It's MINE!

The three shadow figures all raised their hands and with a flick, I vanished into specks of dust. However, instead of actually vanishing, I reappeared by replacing one of the shadow figures.

Ooh, how could it felt to hold the mighty power…I feel so strong now unlike before…The power that coursed through my body felt great. I didn't want to get rid of it.

I let out a deep, evil laugh.

Something happened though. The three glowing orbs descended down, making the helmet disappearing.

"It was then that the goddesses ordered us three light spirits to intervene."

I just stood there, watching in shock and with pure hatred. No! How dare they! They can't take it away! IT'S MINE!

"We sealed away the great magic those individuals had mastered."

I gave a scream of fury when we saw our hard work disappearing forever like it never existed. And then…the scene vanished, having me back in the spring like I had never vanished in the first place.

I was still in some sort of a trance while the three Fused Shadows danced around as they floated.

"You know this magic…It is the dark power you seek…the Fused Shadow…O hero chosen by the goddesses…Beware…" it told me, having me into another scene once again.

Though this one was filled with Ilia's that were all falling down, laughing and smiling being totally unaware of what was happening.

"Those who do not know the danger of wielding power will, before long, be ruled by it."

My heart felt warm at the sight of Ilia.

They just kept on falling and laughing. Hey, what's so funny?

Was that…a smile?

"Never forget that…"

Their laughs echoed in my mind and it made me want to join the many Ilias that fell down.

And suddenly just like that, I was snapped out of it and I fell to the ground, being overwhelmed…