A/N: This is an edited version of chapter 8. I corrected any accidental tense changes and grammar mistakes and changed some material in the chapter. I hope it is an improvement.

Chapter 8

"Welcome to Eldin"

I awoke, ruffled my feathers, and look around. It appeared I was under Twilight again, so I was once again a hawk, but where was Link and Midna? I spread my wings and take to the sky, struggling to climb as the air of Twilight was unstable, dense one minute and thin the next. All I could see was barren land, devoid of vegetation. I peered back at the Wall of Twilight, and it seemed to be farther away than it was before. It must be advancing towards Ordon, to recover the land that we had saved.

That wasn't good. We must act quickly and destroy the Monster that resides in the Twilight. But first, I had to locate the others. The words of the Spirit floated back to me, "You need each other to succeed. Never forget that,"

I pushed forward through the skies of Twilight, flying above the eerily empty landscape. I saw something move ahead of me on the ground, the figure bobbing up and down as it walked. I shifted my weight forward, and tucked in my wings, to head into a dive. The air of twilight rushed past my ears as I approached the figure. Its blurry outline, caused by the unique atmosphere of Twilight, became clearer now as I descended. It was a creature similar to that of a Boblokin, but it looked sickly and frail.

No matter.

I shifted my weight behind me, flare my tail feathers, and lashed out with my talons. They connected with their target, raking across the creature's face. I tried to find purchase on one of its beady eyes, but was forced to retreat when it swung its club at me. I climbed, circled around the creature, and dove again, this time aiming towards the creature's club like weapon. My talons snatched it out of the creature's hand, but upon picking it up, I felt myself start to lose altitude. This thing is too heavy, and I won't be able to stay airborne much longer while carrying it. I dropped it, unfortunately only a short distance away from the creature, regained altitude, and circled back around.

What to do?

As if that was the cue, Link, as the wolf, bared down upon the creature, ripping its stomach open spilling its bloody intestines onto the ground.

Lovely.

Link looked up at me, and softly barked. I understood, and dove towards him. Flaring my tail feathers to slow down, I extended my talons carefully and settle on his head. He growled at that, but didn't try to shake me off. Fortunately.

Midna, the imp on Link's back, greeted me in her shrilled voice, "We were just looking for you, Terra. I'm glad we found you," a pause, "now let's head out. We need to destroy that shadow creature,"

I couldn't help but notice she looked exhausted, despite her efforts to appear otherwise. Was she becoming weaker as we banished the Twilight from the land, as she was a creature of Twilight herself? Why was she helping us?

After travelling for a little while, both Midna and I riding on Link, we come across a village. Or what was left of it. The majority of the buildings were burnt to the ground, leaving an impression a great battle was fought here. If it was like this in Twilight, it must be like this in the light world, as the worlds mirror each other. It hit me. We were in Eldin Province, so that must be Kakariko village. I felt my heart ache in grief, I had fond memories of this place. The villagers here were very welcoming, and treated me as one of their own whenever I travelled through.

I softly caw, wanting to direct Link towards the Goron Mines. I had to see if the Gorons were okay. As Link started to climb the mountain, I took off and flew instead of hitching a ride, and he shot me a look of gratitude. He must be tiring from carrying us. Now, if only Midna would do the same thing...

I didn't have time to finish that thought. As soon as we arrived in the Goron square, a massive snake-like shadow emerged from the summit of the volcano. It hurled itself towards us. I nimbly dodged out of the way, and turn around just in time to see its maw open, letting out a guttural roar. I heard Link snarl in response, somewhere below. Midna floated off of Link's back and leaned against a nearby rock-face in silence, apparently wanting to keep out of the fight.

So, this must be the next Shadow we have to defeat. Wonderful.

The creature, seeming to disregard me as a threat, focused on the wolf below. It extended its two talons on its body, and dove towards Link. Its thick wispy mane, as black as the night sky, whipped through the air as the creature tore through the sky. Link, thankfully, dodged the creature, and it slammed into the ground. Upon impact, the Shadow creature melted into the ground and reformed itself into its serpentine form, hovering just above the ground. I went into a dive, tucking my wings in, hoping to do some damage with my talons. It roared at Link, and raised one of its claws to strike him. Link attempted to dodge, but the creature's claws connected anyways, raking across his body and sending him skidding across the ground. I reach the shadow creature, and I returned the favour, ripping off one of its digits on a claw with my talons, black blood spurting skyward. It let out an ear piercing shriek and snapped at the air in pain, as it turned towards me, its eyes red with fury.

And thus began the dance of death. Every time the creature would attempt to close its maw on me, I would skitter out of the way, circle around, and try to attack it with my talons, but it would fend me off with its own claws. It went on like this for some time, each of us successfully dodging each other's attacks. The Shadow creature was very quick and aerobatic, seeming to never tire. I, however, was starting to feel lightheaded from the exertion. Unfortunately, because I was moving slower, I wasn't able to dodge one of the creature's swipes towards me, and I was sent plunging toward the ground.

I would have hit the ground and perished, if it wasn't for Midna's efforts to save me. She snatched me out of the air with her orange hand protruding from the top of her head, and set me down carefully on to the ground. Link's broken wolven body laid beside me, bleeding heavily from his wound. Without a word, the small imp engaged the Shadow creature in battle.

His orange hand found purchase on the creature's mane, and with a jerk she ripped off its mane, a flap of skin seeming to go with it. It shrieked and flailed, but it was no use. With one ferocious strike, Midna ripped out the creature's brain, black blood spurting like a fountain covering the area.

The Shadow creature collapsed onto the ground, bursting into flames. It withered away into nothing, and in its place was the Vessel of Light. Midna brought it towards Link and I, and set it against one of my wings. We both started to glow, and I felt my wounds close and energy return to me. I instantly relaxed and fell into a deep slumber, hearing a deeply unsettling low chuckle in the distance.

Original A/N: Yep, I'm back everyone. I still plan to finish this story. In fact, the other day I expanded upon my initial outline, making the story longer and more complex than it originally was. So let's do this.