Chapter 7: All Night Mask.

Zak sat alone in the Romani Ranch barn, calmly stitching something. The Great Fairy sword, now devoid of swamp mess, was set against the wall sheathed in a crude wooden sheath. He weaved the thread through the fabric in his hands with expert skill. The cows near him mooed as he worked in an attempt to get his attention. Largely he ignored them, but paused every once in a while to check their food and water. After some time had passed, a knock came to the door. Romani peeked in, and Zak hid what he was working on from her.

"Yes?" he asked.

She smiled sleepily, "It's morning, already. Did you sleep well?"

He rubbed his eyes, "I couldn't get any sleep last night, but I should be alright. How did you sleep?"

Romani yawned, "Fine, I guess. If you're having trouble sleeping, do you want to try out my bed for a while? I'll sleep out here."

He shook his head, "Thanks for the offer, but it's not like that. I just have a lot of things on my mind. That's all."

"Oh, okay. Well, the offer still stands," she smiled, "By the way, there's someone here to see you. A young girl and her father, actually. Something about a monster."

Zak stood up and rushed out past Romani. He walked up to the two and shook the man's hand.

"Hey, sorry to bother you at such an early hour," the man said apologetically, "But I heard you're here to handle these weird creatures that have been popping up, lately."

Zak narrowed his eyes, "Can you described the monster in detail?"

The man blinked, "Well, let me think. It's about as tall as a man. It looked like it was made out of some sort of wire or something. It moved like it was a squid or something. Also, it had these huge unblinking eyes."

Zak nodded, "And where was it located?"

"The base of Ikana Canyon, just East of Clock Town. My daughter and I were in the area, collecting samples, and it attacked us. We barely got out of there," he said, shivering at the thought.

Zak disappeared inside of the barn, leaving Romani awkwardly standing next to the two strangers. "Um," she said, trying to break the silence, "We don't really have a lot, but please make yourselves at home. My sister should be making breakfast now, please tell her that you guys can have mine and Zak's share."

Zak emerged, decked out with his shield, sword, spear, and hookshot. Romani ran off to assemble the wagon. Before Cremia could come out to ask, the two were in route to Ikana Canyon. While riding, Zak's head bobbed up and down.

"Please," Romani pleaded, "Try and get some rest in the back, would you? I could probably take you in a fight right now." Without much reason to argue, Zak slipped into the back and laid down to rest.

While he drifted off to sleep, he dreamed of a memory long ago. He stood in front of a man in a deep purple tunic holding a wooden stick. The man charged him, and he retaliated by rolling to the side and slashing up the man's back with his own wooden sword.

"Ah," he winced, "Good job, Zak. You're coming along quite well. You should be proud."

The younger Zak smiled, "Thanks, father. Master Link is an excellent teacher."

His father grinned, "Master, huh? He's not that much older than you, you know. Besides, who do you think taught him those moves?"

Zak shrugged, "I'm not sure. Impa? The Zoras?"

His father laughed, "You're looking at him, kiddo." Zak's mother stuck her head out of the doorway, and beamed at the two of them.

"Daku, Zak, come get your dinner! It's getting cold," She called out.

"Yes, Malon, dear," Daku responded. Zak followed him as he returned to the ranch house of their home, Lon Lon Ranch.

Zak stirred in his sleep. Romani smiled a little, but her smile turned into a look of concern when he started twitching.

A slightly older Zak emerged from the water in Zora's domain, spitting out a mouthful of water. He swam over to the edge and pulled himself out. Several Zora warriors patted him on the back. Others climbed out of the water, holding their bruises while glaring daggers at Zak. He bowed as a form of apology to them, which they largely ignored. A female Zora grabbed Zak by the arm and escorted him up the winding pathway to King Zora XVI. Upon arriving, he bowed in greeting to the large Zora. His daughter bowed next to him.

"Zak," he proclaimed loudly, "I have grave news for you."

A bump woke Zak from his sleep. He looked around to see that they had come to a stop at a huge cliff face. All he could see was a single dead tree sticking out of the ground. He shook of his drowsiness and stepped out of the wagon. Romani hopped out as well.

"Wow," she whistled, "That looks like a long way up. What do you think?"

Zak pulled out his hookshot and fired it. The tip stuck firmly into the tree, "Sorry, Romani. It looks like you might have to sit this one out. Unless you think you can pull yourself up with this hookshot."

She frowned, "Please be careful, okay? If it's too much, we can always come back later."

He retracted the hookshot chain and climbed up the cliff. Once at the top, he pulled himself up and hurried down the path. A few bizarre monsters popped up to check him out, but he managed to easily dodge them. Zak approached the rushing creek at the base of the canyon, and stopped in his tracks. The wiry monster danced to and fro on its two wire-frame legs, stopping after it spotted him. It wasted no time and attacked him. Zak swung at it with his spear, which it grabbed inside its wire body. He kicked at it, and it retaliated by sticking him a few times with its wires. Zak released his spear and backed up. He fired the hookshot at it, which flew straight through its body. The monster advanced, spinning the spear wildly around. Zak pulled out his shield, which sparked as soon as the spear tip smashed into it. The wired monster sliced him up with its appendages by wrapping them around his shield. Zak stumbled back, and it threw his own spear at him. He bashed it away with his shield. His hand instinctively reached up for his sword hilt, but instead he darted off after his spear. The monster pounced at him, which caused him to dodge out of the way.

Instinctively, he rolled around behind it and drew his sword. He spun upwards, slicing up its body with the force of his attack. The monster fell to the ground in a jumbled mess of wires. Swiftly, Zak sheathed his blade and pulled out his blade of grass. He barely managed to play the song. Its wires shrank down until it became a wire-mesh mask with massive eyeballs. He gathered his spear and stabbed it in half, falling to his knees. The white light shimmered as it drifted past him before dissipating. Zak fell to the ground, unconscious.