Chapter 9- The Magic of Love

Yes. This is that one chapter where things start to...how should I put this...veer away from what was originally planned. Yes, that's it.

Anyway, note that this chapter's title is bold. Guess what that means? It's violence time! And, no, it's not the fighting kind….I have nothing else to say, but this will be the first "Mature" chapter of this novel. If you do not wish to read this chapter, simply skip to the next one. If you do, great, then go ahead and read it. Enjoy. And do not yell at me for taking this too far.

Deep within the woods

Fiend was worried. Very worried. For one thing, Zelda had shown up from out of nowhere, and Link had gone off with her. Where, Fiend wished he knew.

And then Razar had gone off, leaving him with Rika and this Dragon called Datolite. And another Raven called Razon. Razon seemed to have a pretty good idea where everyone had gone. When Fiend asked him about it, Razon only grinned. "Don't you know what season it is?" "No...Well, it's Spring…" The bird only grinned harder. "What else is it called?" Then Fiend knew. Datolite and Rika were suddenly looking at each other. "...Oh, no….they…." Just then, a roar rose up out of the woods behind the group. Fiend could only gaze at the many trees with a mix of dread, horror and wonder.

About 5 miles away….

He didn't want to get up. He wanted to stay where he was. But his body had other ideas.

The lion ignored the increasing pressure around his stomach, but at last, he got up from the lioness that was sleeping before him, and he walked over to some bushes.

A few minutes later, he came back, only to find the lioness sitting up. She yawned, showing her huge canines, and then got up and walked over to the bushes he had used minutes before.

While she was gone, the lion looked down at his front paws. His left front paw had a symbol on it, one he thought he recognized. But then the thought left his beast mind and he lifted his head to gaze at his mate, who was coming back. (Please note that both of them are full Lions, which means that they are basically Legendbeasts, but smaller. Carry on.)

He was content. And why wasn't he? He had everything that a male lion could want: a territory, a mate, food….what else could he want?

His mate walked up to him and rubbed up against him, slightly purring. The lion stood and chuffed at her, telling her that they were leaving soon. She accepted this.

It wasn't long before the two of them had caught game. Now, they had eaten what they had caught and they were lying by each other.

Then, the lioness attacked him. Not out of anger, but something else.

The lion ended up on top of the lioness and he stared down into her cobalt eyes. ...Do you trust me? He didn't know what these feelings were, at least, the other part of him didn't. But the beast part did. She growled at him. Yes. I do.

By now, his instincts were threatening to spiral out of control. So, the lion did the only thing he could do.

He allowed the lioness to stand before him. Then, the lion smelled something. He didn't know what it was.

The next thing he knew, he felt as if he was exploding with...what? Joy? He was standing, he knew that. No...The reason why he was standing was because the lioness was supporting him. The lion felt confused. He remembered nothing of how he had come to be like this.

A few seconds later, something happened, and because of this, the lion felt his world explode into bright flashes of light...and just before a wave of...something crashed down on top of him, he tilted his head back to the sky and roared his heart out.

At the Hot Springs

It turned out the panther could shape-shift, and now a female raven was standing before him. She flew into the air, cawing at him. He couldn't say no.

They clashed in the air, locking talons and then entering a free fall. (Sound familiar? Hawks do this as well...) Then they flew apart, and came up out of the dive. They then swooped down next to the spring and landed beside it. At the same time, a roar rose from the nearby patch of forest, and as the raven waddled closer and closer to the female raven, he wished the beast luck.

Hours later

Fiend's camp

Fiend was beside himself with worry. He knew now what they were doing. He had heard the roar come from the woods. Now, he just had to wait for them to come back.

Razar came back first. But he wasn't alone. Nor was he himself-he was a smaller version of the Raven Legendbeast. Rika and Razor reached the two ravens first.

"WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?!" Fiend's roar of outrage rang through the camp. Razar merely squawked at him. "...What do mean, you can't understand me? Change back. Now. You've got some explaining to do." Before long, a barely clothed Raven stood in front of him. Standing next to him was a red-cloaked Black Panther. To Fiend's surprise, she grinned at him. "Not every day that you can make love to a mortal, is it?" "...DIN?!" "Of course, who else would I be?"

A few hours later, Zelda showed up. So Fiend went ballistic on her. "WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?!" Then, something threw him across the clearing. When he got back up, a male Lion Legendbeast was standing in front of Zelda, protecting her.

Fiend had no choice but to walk slowly up to the lion. "Turn back. Now." The Lion bent his head and snarled at him. "I heard that." He only snarled louder. Finally, Din intervened.

Seconds later, a bewildered Link was standing before Fiend. "...How….did I get here? What…" Then he looked around him. And became even more confused. "...Din? How did you get here? And Razar, why are you wearing that?" And then he turned and saw Zelda. "...But….you….you were….what even happened?!" Still smiling, Din walked up to the distraught Lion. "Well….to put it bluntly, you do know that Spring is called something else, right?" Somehow, Link managed to nod his head. "Yes." Then it slowly dawned on him. "...No…..no….I….no…." Din nodded. "Yep. You did." Something in her voice caused Link to stare at her. "...You did it too? But how? You're supposed to be Immortal….right?" Din nodded. "Yes. But that doesn't mean I can break the rules every once in a while…" The Panther then turned to Razar, who seemed to be wearing...something. "...What are you wearing?" Razar merely looked down at himself. "...I think this is what they would call a "toga" where you are from…" Then he realized how much it actually covered him. "...This is not decent at all…." Noting that he had nothing else to wear, the raven sighed and shook his head. "Ah well, at least it's something. Well...we may or may have not regretted what we did, but it's in the past. We can't change it. Now, I say that we try and look for the others." The others in the clearing agreed to this, and they agreed to set out the next morning.