A.N.: Okay I know this is a week late, but I've been so busy the past weeks I just haven't had time for writing. And again bringing up the fact that my first language isn't English, I can't write at a fast pace if wanting the text to be good and not clumsy.

I've realized that Twilight Princess as a game and as a storyline is very long, and because I automatically write kind of "describing" and long text, and in eight chapters haven't even gotten into the Forest Temple... I've decided to try to get the story forward faster, though I'll probably still have to cut it in three or more main parts/series.

During this spring and summer I will also rewrite the first chapters, because I'm not pleased with them, and they're clumsy if anything, and I also have to change some small things among them.

Italics are thinking or animal/spirit talking.

However, here's the newest chapter!

Chapter 9

A loud splash of water got Rusl spinning around on his heels. "What was that sound?!" he wondered on the alert, ready to draw his sword at any moment. Now behind him stood Uli, his wife, to whom he had been talking a moment ago. "It couldn't be the kids, could it? I must go and search one last time. You get inside the house, it is too dangerous here." He turned to face her.
"I have placed the sword that was to be our gift to Hyrule on the couch. If the mayor comes for it, please give it to him."

"But... your injuries!" she complained, full of worry.

"Don't worry, darling, I'll be fine. I promise. Just go inside and wait there." When said, Rusl gave her a small smile, and still a worried look in her eyes she turned and stepped inside the house, shutting the door tight behind her.

At the time Link, the cause of the splash, had gotten out of water and as quietly as possible ran near Rusl's house, and was crouching under the small hill, being barely able to avoid the man's gaze. The nearby frogs had told her that there was a lot of stuff buried near by the town rascals, and by digging she could find something. When Rusl had walked far enough, Link ran up to a white cuccoo, hopeful to get some information of how to get into the house to get the sword she had heard of.

"Ah... To be a wolf on a night when the moon rides high... Beautiful! But tell me, is your true form a human who is not currently in the town?" the cuccoo spoke.

Link's eyes widened. Could he know the truth?

"...Nah! Just teasing!"

A sigh of relief.

"You're lucky... Your sharpened senses and your soft-looking coat... Lovely!" Link snarled, the cuccoo would give her nothing but useless words. Being unable to speak out loud without barking and whining, she left the cuccoo there and went behind the house to find a place where she could get inside. There she found some black, glinting blur-like spots on the ground. Because of the frogs, she knew she could dig to somewhere or find something in those. Being a smart wolf, she chose the biggest one next to the wooden wall, and managed to crawl into the house.

Uli wasn't in the house - she had to have heard her crawling under the wall and left to get Rusl. Link's brain worked fast, she had to get out of there as soon as possible. The sword was on the couch as she had heard, and before she could even touch it, Midna popped out once again. She made the sword float next to her before snapping her fingers, making the sword disappear.

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

Link was already digging her way out as the imp slid back into her shadow. She didn't like the idea of going back into the twilight, but she trusted the imp to help her bring the children back, so she did as Midna said.

In two minutes she had come near the spring, but as running past, a voice stopped her.

"Wait..."

The word flowed in the still air like a calm breeze, echoing around her until slowly fading away. The wolf turned her gaze to the spring, slowly.

Another, slow flow of words. "Come... To my spring..."

Without hesitating she walked through the broken gate.

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

An unknown power within the spring forced her to take a few steps closer. The voice in the wind that wasn't blowing - it had been calm, but somehow tensed, weak. Link knew something was going to happen.

As soon as the thought appeared in her mind, black columns fell from the sky, striking themselves deep into the soft sand and shaking the ground. A wall of electricity appeared between them, forming a closed circle around her. Red, blocky designs started pulsing on the both columns and the wall, causing the triforce on Link's paw glow painfully.

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

A crackling coming from the sky got Link lift her gaze up. A portal, like the one Midna had warped her through but with red designs, appeared on the sky. Something black dropped from it, the portal then disappearing.

In front of Link stood a black creature, a large ash-grey shield replacing its head, and long tentacle-like hair growing behind it. It had red designs on its stomach and backside, and stared at Link without eyes, breathing heavily. The air around the monster felt heavier, the calm melody of the woods was replaced by pure darkness.
For a second fear lingered in Link's eyes, but a low growl drove it away. She had to kill that monster, the shadow being.

Fortunately it wasn't the fastest attacker, and Link easily killed it by attaching herself onto its chest and biting down couple of times. It blew up and left behind floating twilight particles, which dashed up to the sky and formed a new portal, this time with blue designs.

The spring suddenly darkened, before on the large rocks surrounding the spring appeared brightly glowing patterns - the same she had seen on the black wall of Twilight, but blue. She got blinded for a second by a white light that covered the water, after it changed into a warm yellow. From the waters rose a ball of light, growing bigger the more it rose. Around the ball formed a figure that reminded a lot of an ordon goat, glowing as white as the waters a moment before.

"O brave youth..."
His voice still didn't come from him, but echoed all around Link.

"I am one of four light spirits that protect Hyrule at the behest of the gods. I am Ordona."
There was a small pause. Link kept standing still, amazed.

"The black beast you slayed was a shadow being. It had come to seize the power of light I wield." The spirit closed his eyes slowly, and Link realized she was doing the same, against her own will. Her view stayed black for a moment, but then a picture started forming in front of her eyes.

"My brethren in Hyrule have already had their light stolen by these fell beasts."
She saw three of those beasts, crawling to Faron Spring, the light spirit himself trying to protect the light.

"The entire kingdom has been reduced to a netherworld ruled by the cursed powers of darkness."
The twilight broke through light, driving it off from Faron with an eerie shriek. The next thing she saw was Hyrule Castle, and a dark cloud of twilight hovering over it.

"The blight will not stop with Hyrule. Before long, the entire world of light will fall into the hands of the king who rules the twilight."
The view darkened once more, and after she could see again, she found herself standing in front of the spirit, back in the spring.

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

Link's eyes widened. Suddenly she felt that this wasn't just a one-day trip to save the kids.

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

The spirit slowly faded away, letting the night cover the spring once again. It was calm, there was no wind or sounds of animals, but it was calm. Link didn't waste any time in the spring, and was already running towards the wall of Twilight. However, a heavy burden had landed on her shoulders. She now carried the fate of not just Hyrule, but the whole world of light with her wherever she went. And she carried it all by herself, alone.
But one thing still bothered her as she ran along the bridge. Why me.

Now standing just a couple of feet away from the crackling wall and pulsing patterns, she almost got scared when Midna suddenly appeared in front of her. She hadn't seen her popping out, it was really dark near the wall. "You should warn me next time..." she snarled though Midna couldn't understand, and as usual, the imp ignored her. Instead she glanced the black wall behind her. "Hey... Look..." she annoyingly grinned. "The Faron Woods that you know so well... They're now covered in twilight. You might not be able to come back here, but... Do you still want to go?"
Link gnarled. "As if I'd have any other choice."
Midna giggled childishly, to her it was just mindless barking. "I'll take that as a yes." And with that, she floated through the wall as if it was water. Soon after, a huge hand formed of Midna's orange hair reached for Link, and pulled her through.

Her head ached with a pulsing pain, and her body felt like a sack of rocks, but it was nothing compared to the first time she had been pulled through the wall. The woods was covered in sallow and dirty shades of grey and yellow, familiar black particles twirling and floating upwards from the ground. The atmosphere was waiting, quiet, different from the castle's. Link stopped walking as she noticed a sword in the corner of her eye. When she turned her head, she saw Midna, the shield attached onto her face like a head of a Shadow Beast and holding the sword as wrongly as possible.

"Hmm! So these are the weapons you use in your world?" She fixed her grip of the sword and swung it couple of times so low Link had to crouch to avoid being cut in two.
"You really think this thing can slay the creatures of twilight?"
Link growled. Are you trying to act stupid or do you naturally are?
Midna threw the shield on Link's face and the sword into the ground, almost stabbing it into her paw. Do you really have to?
"...Well, I won't use these, but I'll hang on to them for you!" The sword and shield disappeared with a snap of her fingers. Thank goddesses you won't mess around with my weapons anymore...
"All right, a promise is a promise... I trust you enough to help. In exchange for my help, though, I need you to gather some things for me. Look, I can't tell you all the details now, but it'll be easy, trust me..." Midna bended forward and whispered in Link's ear. She growled deeply, not liking the tone in the imp's voice.

"But enough about that. Do you hear that noise? It's the lamentation of the spirit that had its light stolen... Where in the world could it be? Eee hee!" Link frowned and gazed forward. She didn't like this, those things Midna left unspoken or Twilight. But if anything, she didn't like the fact that Midna seemed to know everything already... Why? That was something that bothered the wolf.

"Better get going, don't you think? Don't blame me for your world's fate if you don't hurry up and find that light! Come on! Snap to it!"
Ignoring the annoying tone in her voice Link had to agree - she had to continue no matter how long it would take. The fate of her world was, indeed, in her hands - or paws.

She ran through the first clearing without interruption, but was surrounded by the familiar columns and the fence of electricity when arriving the next one. However, nothing happened until she had reached the centre of the are. A red-designed portal appeared, and this time it wasn't just one beast, but three falling from it, and heavily landing around Link, surrounding her. She dropped in the fighting stance, ready to kill.
"Aww... We're penned in again! Pffft! Who do they think they're dealing with? No need to take these little pests on one at a time, right? You can take them all at once! So... You can handle this by yourself, can't you? Good luck! Bye!" Link glanced backwards, seeing Midna flying as far away from the beasts as possible before the fence blocked her from moving further.
"You little..! Come back here in an instant! These guys are from your world, come and – " She was cut off by a Shadow Beast that sent her flying through the air like an arrow. With a half-snarl and half-whine she thudded back onto the ground, and was immediately on her feet, leaping towards one of the beasts. Just as she was biting down onto its chest, one of the two left there slapped Link and she was again flying. When stood up, she quickly did a spin attack, managing to fall one of them, and in the next second fell the other one. Link succeeded to sigh in relief just before a horrible, painful shriek reached her ears, getting her to crouch on the ground and howl in pain. The whole area shook, and the two fallen beasts were standing again. Link's eyes widened, how could this be? She quickly ran to Midna, who jumped upwards and landed on her back.
"What's the holdup? If you leave the last one alive, it's just going to use that shriek to bring the others back."
Couldn't say that any earlier...
"Listen, let me help you out here! Just move like I tell you! When you get close enough, I'll expand and energy field. Enclose all you enemies within it and let the magic guide you!" Link nodded. Before doing like Midna said, she killed one of them to make things easier. Then, when got close the others, Midna rose her hand-like hair upwards and a black circle fringed with an orange edge appeared beneath her and started expanding. "Quick, get them inside the circle! I can't hold it very long!"
Link did as said, and as a beast entered the energy field, orange, a kind of web appeared around it, locking it inside. The other one followed, and Midna released the energy. Link felt it flow in her body, and then she was transformed into a deadly arrow flying past both of the beast, gashing their bodies with her sharp fangs. With both of the strikes she felt the energy flow from her and into the beast, killing it immediately. The beasts exploded and left behind only a new, blue portal on the sky. Before she could continue to the spring, Midna told her that the more she let her charge the energy, the more powerful the attack would be and could kill much bigger and stronger opponents. Finally you tell me something really useful...

Just before the spring she stopped - so suddenly Midna almost fell off her back. "Do you really ha –" Link cut her off with a gasp and nodded towards the spring. Midna lifted her head and straightened her back. Hovering over the spring's lowest waterfall there was a little cloud of sallow mist and among it, small balls of the same sallow, died light circled each other. "Oh." was the only thing that came out of her mouth. Soon after, the confused look was replaced by a wide grin. "Well, I didn't expect that. Come on! Find out what that is up for! Eeehee!"
Link glanced at Midna, but padded as close the swirling mist before a familiar sound was audible.

"...Please... be careful... These woods... have changed" The voice of the spirit was weak, only a whisper in the non-existing wind, and it seemed to come from so much further than in front of her. She frowned, the light spirit was dying.
"The dark clouds of dusk cover this land... This drape of shadows is called... twilight. In this twilight, those who live in the light... become as mere spirits... It is a place... where the dark ones and evil creatures dwell..." A small pause, the spirit seemed to take a fragmentary breath. "...I... am a spirit... of light... Blue-eyed beast."
Link gasped.
"Look... for my light... Retrieve the light stolen by the dark beasts... and keep it... in this vessel." The said vessel the spirit gave her looked like a bunch of empty grapes.
"In the shadows of twilight... the dark insects are as... invisible... as normal beings are here... Let me use the last of my power... to reveal the locations of the dark insects... that consumed the light..." Link's view darkened, and in front of her eyes she saw a map of Faron Province, light blue dots located in the places where the insects hid.
"... Find... the insects of darkness... The dark insects... They are the form taken by evil... once it has latched on to... our scattered light." The weak voice died off, and Link knew she had to hurry.

The locations of the tears of light clear in her mind, she headed northward. In the short tunnel she found two of those insects with her sharpened senses, and killed them off easily. They exploded in a flash of light, and left behind one tear of light each. They were sucked in the vessel through Link's body by running into them, and with each, she felt herself growing stronger in the darkness.
Remembering the next one's hiding spot, she ran to Coro's house, but slid to a halt with a loud gasp. In the front of the house hovered a light of a spirit, and next to it a black horse lay on the ground, yellow eyes widened and mouth opened into a soundless scream. Link walked closer, past the frozen horse, avoiding to look at it. The lines of the spirit slowly started appearing as she got closer, and even before the spirit was entirely visible Link recognized it.

Epona.

In disbelief she stared at her loyal mare. How could this be possible? Then her gaze turned to the black stallion. It had a saddle and bridle. The wolf frowned, the horse must have had a rider. Have you been in a fight? Only then, she noticed the yellow eyes of the stallion. That is unnatural... There is no way you can be a normal horse... Hundreds of thoughts crossed her mind as she tried to find out what had happened, but was interrupted by Midna's yawn. "Oh come on! Hurry up already! We don't have the whole day to just sit around and do nothing!"
Link ignored her and continued thinking. With the knowledge she had gotten along the still-short journey in twilight, she knew that no one could enter twilight in spirit form, and no one could be a spirit in their own world before entering here... And then again, no one could even enter if not pulled in by a creature from the twilight. So how had Epona gotten here?
"Don't you dare to ignore me, doggie! Remember what I said on the rooftops back then? You have to do exactly like I tell you to! Now, get going!"

"Shut your mouth! I'm trying to think how Epona got here! But oh... You are a twilight creature aren't you..? And don't call me doggie!" She growled, but didn't expect Midna to understand , and a small gasp escaped her mouth as the imp answered her.

"I am! Of course I am, how do you think I'd have gotten you here otherwise? Oh goddesses, you are such a stupid dog!" After she had calmed down, she added; "And obviously I can understand your mindless barking in twilight, but it doesn't mean you can just randomly shout things. I also have that choice of throwing you outside to the small world of light you have left, eehee! Now, hurry up! We have wasted enough time!"

"Tell me first how did she get here?" Link asked, slightly more polite, nodding at Epona's spirit. Midna took a deep breath.
"Look, there is only one way to get in twilight without a twilight dweller. If, and only if, you have strong powers of light given by the goddesses, or as we call it, a golden soul, you are able to bear the pressure caused by the darkness of twilight and keep your true form."

"But she did turn into a spirit."

"She did, but was turned because her soul had been stolen by a dark magic I can't recognize. I can also sense the presence of another who had been blessed with the golden soul... and I'm pretty sure you know him! Eeehee!"
"What are you talking about? How would I kn – " Link was cut off by her own realization.

"Colin!"

A.N.: I'm leaving you to deal with a cliffhanger, eheh.
Okay, if I liked to write the previous chap, I absolutely loved writing this! Hopefully it shows in the text... But however, the next update might come already next week, but if I'll be busy again, then in two weeks. I hope you liked this chapter aaand yeah. See ya!