Chapter 12

My vision was blurred as I awoke, unable to move much. When my vision finally focused I quickly discovered why, my arms had been shackled, together and then each hand shackled to the wall all of the chains connected at the wrist. My feet too had been shackled but directly to the wall at the ankles. Angered I yanked at the chains endlessly, trying to get free. "Now what's the point of escaping, once Midna finds out what you've done, and I assure you she will, she will... despise you," I heard a disgustingly familiar voice hiss from across my cell. I relaxed for a moment and to my surprise my helmet shrank down below my chin.

Not caring for the reason I yelled, "It isn't my fault. You... you tricked me!"

"Stop blaming others for your misdeeds," Zant seemed to be scolding me. I let out a loud yell and began pulling at the chains again and to my shock Zant crossed the room in a split second jabbing something into a very small exposed area near the top of my neck. I gasped for air and coughed when he pulled it out. "Now, you be good and wait for that to set in, I'm off to dispose of those little pests before they find the mirror," Zant said vanishing once again.

What did he mean by let it set in,I thought feeling a little dizzy. I realized all my muscles and despite the fact I was in the twilight, or at least an area Zant had made like it, my armor retracted and I felt light as a feather. "What the hell did he stab me with anyways," I asked no one since I was all alone looking around in case he had disposed of the item within my cell. Either purposely or without care he had, and I spotted it near the spot he had vanished. It looked rather like a small needle that would be used to inject someone, or draw blood. It looked empty so I had guessed it injected me with something. "Damn that Zant, if I ever get out of here I'll..." I paused my anger boiling my blood, and then suddenly I yelled without any control over my tongue, "I'll rip his skull in two, yank out his brain and shove it through his heartless chest!" Whoa, I've said some pretty gruesome stuff but that was bit much, even if it is Zant, I thought astonished at how gruesome I had just been.

Zant returned and I found my blood boiling again, unable to control myself I pulled at the chains trying to get at Zant, yelling at him at the top of my lungs. He laughed, "Looks like it's already taking effect, my god ordered me to inject you with these, no more then one a day, but he said they would remove the source of your power, after removing your ability to control the source. Looks like the source of your powers is your emotions, that's a dangerous power boy. Oh by the way, I saw Midna, she seemed devastated when I told her of what you did, I got the feeling she hated you!"

My eyes went wide, at first I felt anger at Zant but then the anger was redirected at myself, but then it quickly shifted to sadness. I found tears welling up in my eyes, "Ah what the hell," I sniffled shaking off the feeling. Okay wait, that injection removed my ability to control my emotions... but if I feel all my emotions evenly, maybe I can level myself out,I thought quickly trying to level out each feeling with more thoughts of people, events and other things that made me feel a certain way. I spent hours trying to do this before it finally worked but I was not so happy with the result. All of my emotions fused together to make a new monotone zombie emotion. I saw Zant return to my cell door and my armor quickly formed up to protect against any attacks, I think I was getting the hang of controlling it on my own. Zant laughed, appearing inside, "Fool, if I had wanted to inject you again, I would not have shown myself for so long."

Suddenly Zant's movements slowed so much that it looked like he was no longer moving, but staring hard for about a minute I could see slight movement. Suddenly a faint voice echoed through my head, "Cha... Cham-" I focused hard trying to hear it. "Champion, we do not have long to speak so just listen, we had difficulty finding you, we shall bestow upon you the knowledge of any powers you have acquired, and any new ones you acquire you shall learn to use instantly," the goddess said and I felt my brain pulse, suddenly crammed with knowledge of my power. "We cannot assist you any further, you must find your own way out, good luck our champion."

Zant began moving normally again and he walked right up to me. "You seem emotional, I'll just give you a good nap until I inject you again tomorrow, and I just thought up an ingenious way to prevent that little pest from getting any farther," he said grabbing a sword off a table inside my cell. He put the sword to my head and I gave him a hateful glare. "Sleep now," he uttered and the blade penetrated my armor and my skull without any pain whatsoever. I simply felt myself pass out cold.

"Christopher, wake up and get your butt to school," I heard a distant yet familiar voice say. "Christopher," it repeated and I opened my eyes and to my shock saw my mother. What the hell, I thought blinking to make sure I hadn't gone insane. "Get up and get going or you'll miss your bus," my mother said to my face.

"But, Zant... Midna," I mumbled under my breath.

"What are you mumbling about now? More of those stupid video games probably, I wish you'd spend more time on school work," my mother gave me the usual lecture. This can't be a dream, my mother never scolds me in my dreams, I thought climbing out of bed and looking around.

"Wait somethings not right here," I said as my mother left the room. My mother mumbled something inaudible as she walked down the hall and I walked to the other side of my bed. "I... when did I get a Wii," I said thinking back to when I was removed from my world. "This... it isn't a dream... I'm... I'm home," I uttered to myself. Wait, if I have a Wii I must have bought Twilight Princess, I thought frantically looking for the games. I found cases of games I recognized for all my systems and finally at the bottom of the pile I found Twilight Princess.

"Would you put those damn games away, unless you want to walk to school," my mother yelled popping her head back into the room.

"Fine whatever I'll walk, I need to check something," I said shooing her away.

"I have to go or I'll be late for work, love you," she said walking quickly down the hall.

"Yea, love you too," I said it being more of a habit still. My parents and I always made sure we never left each other mad, because you never know. Midna...my mind strayed back to what Zant had told me about how Midna reacted. I shook it off and opened the case putting the disk into the system and grabbing the controller. It actually loaded and I went to the file select. Two games had been either nearly or already beaten by the looks of things. I clicked on the first and pushed start but a strange message flashed so quickly on the screen all I could catch was "corrupt." I tried the second and the same thing happened, wondering if it was coincidence I tried again but this time the message made a frightening noise and I decided to move on.

The last file had changed now however, instead of my standard variations the name Link(like LINK), it said Chris. That definately was not the weirdest part though. The heart gauge that normally showed a max of two lines, if you had the time and energy to go seek out every piece of heart in the game, now had four full rows. The other two files had shown the Fused Shadows next to the hearts but this one had a faint message etched in the shadows, when I finally read it I realized all it said was a laugh, just; "HAHAHA."

Growing frustrated I clicked start and everything went black and I felt as though I was falling and suddenly, I was sitting upright and sweating like crazy, in a bed that was definitely not my own. "You'll be late, hurry now," I heard a voice call from the hall and looked down at myself to realize I was back in the world of Hyrule, but was I really? I got up and ran after the voice, which had turned into fleeing giggles now.

I know that voice, I thought as it called to me again. It sounds like Midna, but oddly different,I slid round a corner and was faced by a large door. I pushed it open and was greeted by a large number of shadow beasts and at the head table in one of two middle chairs sat, or rather, floated, Midna. She called me over again, her voice having a slightly different sound then I remember. I rubbed my eyes and looked around. I've had some weird dreams but this takes the cake, I thought rubbing my eyes but still not waking up. I sat down next to Midna regardless and she and all the shadow beasts raised their glasses as Midna toasted me. I raised my glass but then my head began to hurt, why is she toasting you, you killed thousands of her people you idiot... I get it now, this is obviously fake and a view of the impossible, Midna remains an imp and her people shadow beasts simply because I know no other form for them.I clutched my head as it began burning, "You better wake up," Midna said to me and I turned my head towards her.

To my surprise I saw Zant right in my face instead and my armor quickly formed up. I heard a small noise, like a needle hitting metal. Zant looked surprised, "You shouldn't have woken up for another hour at least. How did you-"

"Zant, perchance could you answer me this... Did you make this entire prison just for me?" Zant backed up and nodded strangely. "Now, the main thing I need to ask you... Is the whole place, made of darkness?" Zant looked shocked and worried, "I'll take that, as a yes!" I pulled at my restraints again and Zant rushed forward the needle coming straight at my eyes. I closed the eye sockets and everything went dark. My vision removed I could hear everything at least twice as well. Zant jumped back and I ripped the shackled holding my ankles to the wall right out, breaking the chain holding my legs together at the same time.

"Even if you get out of this cell you will never make it out without having to kill more shadow beasts fool," Zant laughed and my rage welled up inside once again. My helmet retracted and I let out a huge roar pulling on the chains that bound my wrists to the wall. Zant looked purely shocked. With one final pull I yanked a good sized chunk out of the wall and brought it down on where Zant was, or at least had been, after I checked the rubble I noticed he was gone. I absorbed the rubble of the wall, as I knew I would be able to, since Zant made everything out of the shadow that increased my armors power, whether I was in it or not. I tried to absorb the chains but found Zant did have half a brain and made them from actual metal.

"Fine," I said simply and ripped the chains between my wrists apart. The chain that had held me to the wall however was too long to remove in such a way. "Well, no time to fiddle with it," I said running to the bars of my cell and absorbing them. As Zant said there were shadow beasts guarding everything. Okay, Zant had to open a portal below me to bring me here, so if I head up I should be able to escape,I thought looking at the high ceiling above me. I looked across the large room ahead of me and saw a door with some stairs that went up. I looked back and found my cloak was still there but had changed slightly, it had become large enough to wrap around myself, had somewhat of a collar, and a hood large enough to shade my entire face. I used it to make myself invisible and ran as fast as I could maintaining my invisibility.

I made it up two floors like this and then heard a voice. "You idiots, just look there, he's dragging his chains still, now get him!" I looked over and saw Zant disappear and several shadow beasts heading straight for my exposed chain. Thinking quickly I spun around and whipped the chain around the shadow beasts, binding them to each other. I stepped down on the point where the two separate chains joined into on and pulled, breaking any of the exposed chain. I quickly made for the stairs but found a huge door closing as I got there. I stuck my claws into it and absorbed a hole just the right size for my light form to fit through. I quickly changed to light form jumped through the hole and returned to my shadow form, making myself invisible once again. I made it up another two floors before hearing Zant again. "I've had enough of your cowardice," he said jabbing his sword right into my face. It knocked me back and made me visible but that was all. "You may have made it to the top, but you will never escape."

"Thanks, I had no idea I was at the top," I said and Zant growled in a very odd way. I jumped at him and he took a swing that bounced off my armor, I pushed off his head and reached the ceiling, sinking the blade of my bow into it at an angle so that I would not fall. I then jabbed my claws in and absorbed a hole in the ceiling until I hit hard ground. I punched at it with my right hand but couldn't even make a crack in the hard rock. "Only one way to do this," I said covering my face except for my eyes. I stuck my claws into the ceiling beside me and began absorbing the prison itself. I could feel a huge amount of power flowing into me.

"What are you doing, stop ruining my new prison," Zant yelled and I laughed inside his head.

"Better get all of those shadow beasts out of here, after all, it is almost your entire army," I laughed as Zant suddenly had a massive amount of shadow beasts around him and then vanished through a portal all of the beasts rushing after him. I turned my attention back to absorbing the prison. Using a slight amount of the power I absorbed I pushed power into my claws causing them to absorb the remainder at four times the speed. Suddenly the entire prison had vanished and all that remained was a large hollow spot in the ground. I could feel an immense power surging through my body. I slammed the rock hard ground above me hard, punching a hole up to the surface. To my surprise sand dumped down on my head. I clambered up to find myself in the middle of a dessert in the dead of night. Power was still surging throughout my body, it was almost becoming painful at this point. I've gotta use up most of this power, or I'll burst from the sheer overwhelming force of the energy, I thought quickly determining a way to use up a large amount of energy.

I grabbed my head and focused as much energy in as I could to do a sort of mind reading sweep to find Midna or Link. Using a huge amount of energy I let out a small burst that went a long ways, I received thousands of thoughts all at once, giving me a slight headache, but I continued to listen for any mention of Midna or Link, or their thoughts themselves. The bursts had even gone past Hyrule town but I could not find any thoughts of either of my friends. Damn, that didn't work and I've still got a large bulk of energy left, I thought clenching my fist. I decided the only way to burn off this energy would to be to force it all into speed and run to Hyrule town. I got into a ready position to start running. I pushed off with my left leg and as soon as it touched ground I began running. I was not moving at full speed however, the sand was shifting with my movements and I could not get enough traction.

After a long while I finally reached solid ground and took off running, moving nearly twenty times faster then I had on the sand. Running on the rock-face like this I managed to avoid lake Hylia and end up above it and closer to town. I came right to the middle of the bridge heading into town and ran out of excess energy, I then quickly retracted the plate armor, reverting to my chain mail and the chest plate. The sun was beginning to rise now, as I walked into town I pulled my hood over my head and let my cloak encircle my body. I decided to head for Telma's bar considering the fact she may know something of Link's whereabouts. Walking through town I remained my monotone emotion the whole way, that was until an annoying little brat decided it would be funny to hit the guy in the hooded cloak with a tomato. Angered by this fruit beaning me I spun on my heel and growled loudly at the boy who ran off in fear. I could feel my breathing heavy from the sudden outburst. I calmed myself and returned to walking hoping no one had really seen my outburst.

I could feel stares burning holes in me from every which way, it grew annoying so I quickly glanced around turning away heads facing me and relieving pressure from heads that never had turned. I turned down the alley and nearly ran the rest of the way to Telma's bar. I opened the door and went in and found the strangers in the back ready to attack already. Realizing that the last time a hooded stranger wandered in it turned out to be some armor clad creature, even though it was me. "Relax," I said taking down my hood.

"Ah, it's Link's friend!" Telma said cheerfully and with great relief.

"Yea, and I was rather hoping you could tell me where he is, or at least a general clue of where he was heading last?"

"I believe he just left a couple minutes ago heading for the path leading to snowpeak," Telma replied. "That mountain is damn cold though, if you ain't got more then that cloak you'll probably freeze to death before you even make it five feet up it."

I laughed, "Don't worry about me, I don't much mind to the cold! But... uh, where exactly is snowpeak anyways?"

"It's just near the base of the waterfall that comes out of that cave the Zora all live in, but your not seriously thinking about trying to climb that wretched mountain are you?"

I didn't answer her question and with that I turned to leave but then remembered something Telma had said and turned back to her. "Did you say Link left only a short while ago," I asked.

"Yea, actually he probably left not but a minute before you walked in the door," Telma said and I mulled it over for a minute. "He asked about snowpeak a few times before just that last time though, he seemed distressed about something last time though..." Right, I suppose he can warp from anywhere now... but that makes it even harder for me to find him, wait Zant said I'm on of the Twili now so...I ended my thought with an abrupt wave to Telma. "Where ya goin'," she asked me as I neared the door.

"I'm gonna go find Link," I stated opening the door and stepping outside shutting it behind me. I walked out a little ways and put my theory to the test. Okay, so the nearest place to snowpeak is the Zora's home, and I'm pretty sure there was a portal there, not completely but if there was I should be able to figure it out, I thought focusing my mind on the Zora's domain and suddenly I felt my body split into those little black squares again. I guess I was right, I can use the portals like Midna or Zant now.

Some chapters are long and some are short, it's hard to keep a time line in check with the games and events and things I want to happen before certain points XD. Thanks for reading, review if you can!