Author's Note: Daddadadaddadadadaaaa! oh right *ahem* well we have FINALLY reached Gerudo Desert! *confetti's, balloons, streamers* It took a while but we are finally there! Bumbumbum! So I say, onward!

Chapter 23: The Silent Edge

"…Do you remember what the spirit said about the Fused Shadows? What do you think happened to the magic wielders who tried to rule the Sacred Realm? They were banished. They were chased across the sacred lands of Hyrule and driven into another realm by the goddesses." Midna responded as her voice held stiffness and bitterness.

I felt an image being planted inside my mind, erasing the current environment I was in. This one contained an eerie sky that looked like twilight.

"It was another world entirely…The antithesis of Hyrule, where the sun shines bright. Its denizens became shadows that could not mingle with the light. Eventually, most come to call it the Twilight Realm, and from it, none could return to the world of light…They were forever doomed to live in the twilight, flitting in the half-light of dusk, mere shadows of Hyrule…"

The twilight sky seemed to be getting away as it now introduced a building that looked like a palace with pinkish red intricate patterns on it. The twilight particles floated around aimlessly. As soon as it was introduced, it vanished.

I blinked when I found myself back to the Gerudo Desert.

"This is the history of the Twili as it has been passed down from our ancestors…" she replied, emotionlessly. "Do you understand what I am?"

I stared at the Desert ahead while processing the information of what I had just heard.

Midna took the mute silence from me so answered it for me.

"I'm a descendant of the tribe that was banished to the Twilight Realm!" she snarled.

Another image was imprinted inside my mind, watching another scene.

"It was a peaceful place…until Zant took control of the Twilight Realm and transformed all of the Twili into shadow beasts."

The new image took the place of what it seemed to be the inside of the palace. There were at least three shadow beasts walking towards the location their "master" had told them. The new room held many grey walls with blue neon linings as the atmosphere held an eerie feeling. Almost like other-worldly.

Beside the shadow beasts walked the infamous man who was dressed in robes and wore a mask as if to hide its true identity.

"It's clear to me now that he somehow gained a great evil power previously unknown to our tribe…In any case, I was sent from there and could no longer get into the Twilight Realm without his power."

The image disappeared.

"…But there's another tale told my people." she spoke but her voice held as if she was hoping for something big. "Though the goddesses forbade us to return to the world of light, they left on link between the light and the darkness. Something called the Mirror of Twilight was passed to the protectors of Hyrule…" Midna floated in front of me as she looked up at me with determined eyes. "It's our only path to the Twilight Realm…and we must get there!"

I could tell that she was starting to be nervous of what she was going to say next, wondering what my answer will be for whatever question she is going to ask.

Her hand softly touched my cheek, making me to feel her cool touch.

"You'll come with me, won't you?" she asked, a bit hesitantly.

All I could was smile.

She smiled softly at me before returning back into my shadow. I let out a sigh after the story telling. Midna needs to be left alone for a while…

I started to walk but it was soon transformed into a run since as of right now, that was kind of a much easier way…

Well, not really…

The harsh sunlight was beating down on me, making me to sweat 24/7 which also caused my vision to be damped from the sweat so I couldn't really tell if I was either sweating or being drenched…but when being in this forsaken hot desert, I would go with sweat.

Occasionally, I would meet up with Leevers. They are small, green spinning monsters that would pop out of the ground in packs. I hopped over one of them since it was about to attack me. I quickly defeated them by using a spin attack or the Bow and Arrows whenever I'm at a long distance. My aim of this weapon had been improved immensely.

I would sometimes be yelled at Midna because I was nearly sent to my doom when I wasn't paying attention. I had nearly fallen into one of the deep chasm…

Anyways…

Unbeknownst to me, in a far distance, there were a few enemies—mainly Bulblins—watching me like a hawk. They looked like they were planning something since they were speaking in their gurgle, inhuman language. With that, they all nodded and disappeared.

I tripped over a stone ground and stumbled to the ground, scraping my palm. The humidity was too hot, I'm not even sure if I could continue to go on. I laid on the semi-coldish hot ground while panting heavily. My saliva nearly disappeared since I could no longer feel it in my mouth.

I also felt another massive headache coming in until I realized that I had water from what Ilia gave me.

I need to thank her nonstop. She always knows how to prepare properly.

If I had Epona, things would go much easier…

I offered water to Midna as well and then I drank it. Pretty soon, night had settled in causing a chilly wind to fly in.

That actually felt refreshing when the cold wind blew into my face, washing away the sweat as it got turned into cold ones. I climbed on a taller cliff so I could camp for the night. The wind gently blew, having the fire to sway with rhythm. The stars above me shone brightly on the clear night sky.

It looked like they were trying to have more light than darkness.

I heaved out a sigh as I gazed longingly at the stars while my head rested on my hands that served as a pillow.

"It does look beautiful, doesn't it?" Midna's voice asked as she watched the beautiful stars with awe. She sat beside me, watching the shining stars.

I smiled, nodding.

"You know," I started. "Rusl once told me that those stars represent the dead peoples light. It lets you know that they are not gone. They are just merely watching over you, protecting you. To tell you the truth, I actually believed in that." I stretched my hand out as if I was trying to grab one of the stars. "When I look at them, it makes me feel warm inside…"

I brought my hand down, tucking it underneath my head again.

Midna stayed silent. However, there was just a certain question that she wanted to ask so badly but she knew it was more of a personal question…

"Link…" she started.

"Yes?"

She faltered a bit, wondering how she will start the question. "What happened to your parents…if you don't mind me asking." she replied quickly. "I mean, I totally understand if you do mind…I just…" she trailed off.

I smiled softly a bit though my eyes held sadness. "I actually don't know…"

She stared at me, listening intently.

"I kept on having dreams about a woman who seemed to be clutching onto something as if her life depended on it…I'm still having the same dreams. She seemed to be running from something and she was wounded pretty badly." I blinked away the tears that were trying to escape from my eyes.

"I asked Rusl once on how I got here. He told me that a woman came into the village in the middle of the night and she started to knock on the door…his door. Uli went and…she found out that the woman was badly wounded and wanted to help her. The woman refused and she only said to take care of her son."

I took a shaky breath.

"That son was me." I choked out. This time, the tears started to fall. I turned to my side so that my back was facing Midna and was curled into a ball. I didn't care if the tears were falling now.

"For years, I thought my mother had abandoned me…" I replied, quietly. "To be honest, I was actually glad to ask Rusl…"

"I'm sorry." Midna replied, softly.

"Don't be. I didn't know…"

Morning had finally came, making me to be ungrateful for it since I absolutely hated the heat it gave me. Thus, it also made me wonder how many days had passed. I was halfway through the hot blazing desert while sometimes taking off my boots to pour out the sand that had sneakily made its way in.

I squinted my eyes to see the structure. It was still far away which caused me to sigh with irritation.

If only there was a faster transportation…

"Link!" Midna's sharp voice rang out.

I jumped with surprise and blinked when I saw an arrow just an inch away from hitting my feet. I looked up to see a few towers here and there though on the top of the towers were none other than the Bulblins. I got out my bow and arrows to quickly kill them before resuming my long forsaken trek.

I also spotted their campsite and in return, they spotted me as well. Many of them were quickly surrounding me which caused me to barely catch up with them. However, I didn't notice that one of them was behind me so it raised its club.

Without a warning, I felt a sharp pain entering my skull and I blacked out.

"Come on, Link! Up and at 'em!" a nearly cheerful voice exclaimed.

I groaned—I seemed to be doing that a lot—before flickering my eyes open. My vision was still hazy, causing me to see doubles of everything. Pretty soon, it got cleared and I was able to see Midna.

"Finally." she muttered.

"Can I help it?" I asked, grunting. "Oww…I hate headaches." I moaned, massaging my temples.

She rolled her eyes. "You're such a whiner."

"Am not."

"Uh huh."

I looked around to see that there were no more Bulblins and that I was in a different spot. In front of me had silver locked gates and a knocked out Bulbo. This looked like a ranch…almost.

"What happened to the Bulblins?" I asked, stupidly.

"Ah, here's the part of where you should thank me. While you were out, I killed them. Unfortunately, you got captured so now we're here…"

"Great." I muttered.

A deep throaty laugh echoed the place, causing me to shiver a bit. That laugh…it sounds familiar.

Out of the shadows, my jaw dropped before the shadow imp told me to close it.

"You…you're still alive?" I asked, suddenly being stiff.

He threw his head back and laughed as if he found it very amusing.

"Of course I am boy. It's going take everything in you to actually to defeat me." he replied.

My jaw muscle twitched. "Then I'll be sure to do it!"

Before I could attack him, he threw his dangerous axe which nearly swiped me in half. The axe knocked down the Bulbo and almost like a boomerang, it landed right into his hands.

I gave out a charge yell, quickly performing a jump attack but he blocked it with his weapon. Dodging his scarily big weapon wasn't easy as he swung his axe 24/7. Every swing he made only made it more viciously and aggressively.

I used every sword antics I know. From the basic jump attack to the backslice to the helm splitter (which I had found out that it was very useful if I wanted to attack his head).

Once again, I executed the helm splitter, slicing his head as I made a horizontal slice on his head. The beast grunted with discomfort from the attack but unluckily, I didn't had the time to avoid the heavy axe since it brutally rammed me near the gut.

The wind was knocked out of me when I fell on the ground. I coughed, trying to get the right air in and the wrong air out. I quickly pushed myself back up by doing a front flip and instantly, I hacked away at his belly.

I ducked down as to avoid the axe from cutting my head. I then did another backslice—that one also helped but the most effective sword move would be the helm splitter…well to me anyways.

Finally, I performed another backslice—a powerful one, I might add—which made the beast to fall down with a harsh thud. He laid there for a few seconds, making me to think that he was finally done.

But, those hopes were faltered away when I saw him slowly moving. At last, he got up, clutching his limp shoulder. He then gave out an annoyed, discontent roar before walking away. The gate from which he came from before slid opened before it was shut down closed.

I sighed, running my hands through my hair while wondering how much more can I take of this.

Suddenly, I drew in a sharp breath when fire started to lick the wood before it got wildly spread out everywhere. I frantically started to search for a way out but only to realize that I had nothing until my eyes fell upon the still fallen Bulbo.

Now that was my only way out.

I sprinted towards it as I urged it to hurry up.

"Come on. Wake up, wake up!" I shouted over the raging fire.

At last, what it felt like hours—actually, it was minutes—the boar finally woken up and I quickly climbed on its saddle.

"Do you even know how to ride it?" Midna asked, hiding in my shadow.

"Nope." I coughed due to the smoke that was surrounding the air. "Come on! March. Go now!" I exclaimed.

Frustrated, I harshly kicked the boar's sides. With a snort, it reared up before making a furious mad dash (which I barely had the time to grab its reins) and it dashed out of the burning building.

Just in time too.

It continued to crash through the locked fences while I was bumping against the saddle as I was holding the edge of the saddle for my dear life. It reached its destination and I just realized that we were standing in front of the structure.

More specifically, the Arbiter's Grounds.

I gaped at its huge round structure that resembled of a colossal as it had many pillars that seemed to be in a semi-circle. It also had chains on its rooftop as if it was holding the building so it wouldn't break. I shivered when I looked at the dark windows; I could've sworn I had seen something in them…

The semi-long staircase was placed in front of me, leading to the very entrance of the place. It gave a bone chilling feeling the moment my eyes laid upon the door. The only thing that made it somewhat better was the flickering light from the torch.

Everything about it gave off a sinister feeling such as turn back now.

"You ready?" Midna asked.

I stared at the dark entrance then got off the boar. I ascended the stairs before continuing to stare at the dark entry.

"I'll be ready as I'll ever be." I answered before going inside.