As I trudged down the hill, my mind began to wander. Should I tell them about King Bulblin? I considered the options. What good would come of informing the villagers of his arrival? It wasn't like they could have stopped him. In fact, if I told them, it could actually be worse than if I didn't. After all, the Bulblins originally only kidnapped the kids and injured Rusl, no one else was harmed. Though, when I thought about it, perhaps the villagers would put up a decent fight. I mean, they had pitchforks and stuff, right? I nodded and decided that I would tell Mayor Bo and Rusl about the coming attack.

I looked up to find that I was already at the porch of Mayor Bo's house, and I smiled to myself at the subconscious path my feet took. I noticed most of the village was empty, which was odd since I figured they would have work to do outside. Didn't they have crops or something to deal with? With a shrug, I walked up the wood ramp up to the door, fist ready to knock. That was when I heard someone inside the house vehemently state, "The boy is unstable!"

I froze in place. "You cannot seriously believe what this stranger said," another voice said.

"This boy, he looked off his rocker," said yet another voice. Who was in there with the Mayor? And why did they keep calling me 'boy'? I'm nineteen!

"He was dropped into Hyrule Field by the Goddesses themselves," said a voice I was finally able to recognize; Rusl.

Something slammed inside as one of the previous voices cried, "He says they transported him, but what proof does he have?" The voice chuckled and muttered, "Video games, what rubbish!"

"Hear hear! No one 'blessed by the Goddesses' would have a lazy eye either! And did you notice how pale and twitchy he was? Surely that's a sign of evil!"

Right there. That moment, those brief few seconds of dialogue. That was when I decided, Fuck this village, and walked away from the house. What gave them the right to judge me so harshly? I was there to save their ungrateful asses!

I marched past the kids playing near the shop. I had no clue what they were doing nor any desire to find out, so I continued on.

"Hey Mister Zach," called Talo. "Whatcha doin'?" I completely ignored the brat, set on my goal of returning to my temporary house and stewing in the dark. "Hey, what's your problem? I'm trying to be nice here, you doofus!"

I trudged through the gate and toward my temporary house. "Ugh, why did I say yes?" I climbed up the ladder. "I know damn well why I said yes..." My foot caught on the last rung and sent me to the ground just in front of the door. That was it for me. I snatched the ladder up and flung it as hard as I could away from me. It fell limply to the ground beside the practice dummy, but I paid little attention as I slammed the door behind me.

Midna followed the rancher down the hill, her curiosity piqued by his demeanor. She wanted to know more about the man, and so she slinked into his shadow.

The rancher seemed so out of place, just like her. Perhaps he came from a foreign land, with different tastes and styles than both the Twilight Realm and Hyrule.

Before she knew it, the young man had stopped at some sort of house, just outside the door and ready to knock. The imp listened with some interest at the raised voices and the effect they had on her object of interest. She decided to see what all the fuss was about, so she sneaked beneath the door and hovered up in a corner. Paying little attention to the interior of the house, she saw eight Light Dwellers huddled around a table discussing something that truly bothered them, for Midna saw fear and animosity in their eyes, save for three persons.

There were three couples and two remaining men. One couple consisted of a scrawny male and his pudgy wife, the next had a short but muscular flat-top and his wife, and finally the last was a warrior with his pregnant wife. The remaining two men looked like another rancher and the big boss man, respectively.

"Hear hear!" said the wife of the muscular man. "No one 'blessed by the Goddesses' would have a lazy eye either! And did you notice how pale and twitchy he was? Surely that's a sign of evil!" Midna was surprised at the clear distrust the woman held. Who upset her so much? Maybe the rancher? He did have a temper on him, after all.

The large man rubbed his brow. "What would you have me do, Pergie?" He paced back and forth, brow creased. "Throw the lad out? He's done nothing to harm us."

Ah, so they were talking about the angry rancher.

Pergie looked down at the floor and wrung her hands. "I hadn't thought of that."

"He looked like he was gonna kill Bessie," said the lone farmer. "I almost let him off early so he wouldn't hurt any of the goats."

The stocky man spoke up. "Just because he hasn't done anything yet doesn't mean he won't!" The pudgy woman and her scrawny husband murmured and nodded in agreement.

The warrior stepped forward, raising his arms in a gesture of peace. "Everyone calm down," he said. The others quieted down when he spoke. "If Zach bothers everyone so much, I'll speak with him."

The warrior's wife smiled and nodded in approval. The others nodded as well, happy to have a chance to be rid of the blight, except for the large man, who mildly protested, "Rusl, are you sure about this?"

Midna grew bored of the conversation and slinked under the door, only to find her rancher nowhere in sight. "Hey, where'd he go?" She remained in the shadow of the porch as she searched for the Light Dweller. After scanning the quaint little village, Midna saw her target stalk towards the village gates, anger and resentment practically scrawled across his hunched back. "Poor guy, he must have heard them talking about him. Oh well!" She shrugged and decided to leave him and the village be, so she turned to shadow and flew into the trees.

"I'm tired of sticking to the shadows," she declared to no one in particular. She settled on crossing her arms as she lowered herself down to one of the tree branches that was safely blanketed by higher leaves. The imp phased into reality and sighed as she stretched her now truly physical limbs. "The Sacred Beast is probably around here; this is the only spit of land not covered in Twilight. Would have been nice if the legend came with a description..."

Midna rested her chin in one hand and that arm on her knee. "And what would I even do with it afterward? Keep it as a pet? Eee hee!" She then frowned. "Why am I bothering with the Sacred Beast at all? When Zant's Twilight expands enough, I can retrieve those Fused Shadows myself!"

With a huff, she muttered, "In my current state, I wouldn't be able to handle any monsters in my way. That's depressing." She growled, snatched a leaf, and crushed it in her petite fingers. She sat there for some time, and would have enjoyed the fresh air around her if her mood was not so sour. "That rancher guy might know. Those villagers did say he was 'blessed by the Goddesses'."

Besides, if she could not ask Zelda, she might as well ask this guy. What was the worst that could happen?

I sat in the basement in the dark, with music blaring from my headphones. I was perched on top of the decrepit chest, its half-rotted wood croaking slightly under my weight. I sighed and punched at the air, furious at the unfairness of it all.

"It's not like I chose to be this way," I hissed. The frustration boiled in my skin as I rose from my seat and paced across the basement floor. "They don't even know me!" I climbed back up the ladder to the main floor and tossed my phone and earbuds onto the makeshift bed nearby. I flung open the front door and jumped off the ledge, deliberately slamming my legs into the ground as I landed and ignoring the pain that came after.

It was a good thing Rusl put up that practice dummy, because I really needed something to hit. I slammed my fist against the pumpkin head, making an indent in its 'cheek'. I swung again, catching the puppet in its 'ribs' and making the rig wobble slightly. Too caught up in the adrenaline rush, I continued to smack and pummel the dummy I ran out of breath and collapsed against the base of the house. My skin cold with sweat, I sighed and looked up at the sky in exasperation.

"You alright, Zach?" asked Rusl from the threshold of the village gates. He was holding two buckets of water that were looped over a staff that rested on his shoulders.

I nodded blandly and replied, "Just tired. I practiced on the dummy for a little while."

Rusl lifted an eyebrow in interest. "I would have liked to see that." He nodded and walked over to the path leading to Ordona's Spring. "Let's have a walk, I'll show you around Faron Woods."

I looked up at him and almost said no. I wanted to go back into the house, lay down with some music playing, and take a nice nap. I wanted to say no, but I had the feeling that Rusl wanted to talk about something important, so I nodded and stood up. "Lead on."

He walked at a fair pace, talking about his past. He was actually from Kakariko Village, grew up with his parents until he decided to move out of town when he was of age. Uli was one of the Ordonians who regularly delivered fresh supplies and produce to Kakariko along with Ilia's mother. After a few years of courting, he settled down in Ordon Village with Uli.

We strolled into Ordona's Spring to find a familiar red horse being groomed by her owner. Rusl smiled at Ilia and asked, "How goes your day?"

Ilia smiled and answered, "Very well, thank you. I've been spoiling Epona all day here in the spring." She spotted the water buckets Rusl was carrying and added, "Would you like to borrow Epona for a bit?"

"I'm not completely useless for my age," Rusl said with a laugh. "Still, we do need more firewood—" I decided not to make a joke about how their houses were firewood, "—and I doubt Zach would appreciate all the heavy-lifting." I looked at them with half-lidded eyes and shook my head.

Ilia offered Epona's reins to me. I took them candidly, careful not to startle or upset the horse that was a good deal taller than me. At that moment, I really wished I had taken riding lessons when I was younger, because I had absolutely no clue what to expect from Epona. Was she hungry? Was she bored? Was she incompetent? I had no way of knowing.

"If you want to get Epona's attention," Ilia said, "just hum her favorite tune." I was half-surprised when she did not add anything about pressing the A button or something like that, but I digress. Thankfully, the horse seemed to know it needed to follow Rusl and me, so it was relatively easy to take control of her. With Epona in tow, Rusl led the way out of the spring and over to the great bridge connecting Ordona's province to the rest of Hyrule Proper.

The second I laid eyes on the rickety bridge, I spun around and declared, "Nope!"

Rusl raised an eyebrow in concern and took Epona's reins. "What's the matter?" he asked.

"I don't like bridges," I said simply. One would assume I would be willing to walk across a simple bridge, but not everyone can be the daring hero, can they?

Rusl looked slightly amused as he replied, "You've been across this bridge already, when Bo and I carried you in from the edge of Faron Woods."

"Well, I suppose that makes this bridge perfectly safe, doesn't it?" I was making a big deal over nothing and I knew it, so I took in a deep breath and set one foot on the first wood step. When the rig didn't collapse under me, I took another step forward, then another, until I managed to cross the bridge with low stress involved. "That wasn't so bad," I sighed out.

Rusl chuckled and said, "You get used to it as time goes on." We walked in awkward silence past a second spring, the one belonging to Faron, and I remembered something.

"Where do you go to wash off?" I asked, looking down at my sweat-stained clothes.

Rusl nodded over to the tunnel leading away from the spring and said, "There's a man down that way, Coro, who runs a bathhouse with his sister." I paused then, remembering that his two sisters should be up in Northern Hyrule with a boating course and fishing lake. How many other things were different about this world?

...What if the dungeons were different?

That thought chilled my blood, opening my mind up to the possibility that I was prepared for the wrong settings. If the dungeons and temples were changed and altered from what I knew, I would be in a massive heap of trouble.

Rusl eyed me from aside and misinterpreted the apprehensive look on my face by saying, "Don't worry, son. They respect people's privacy."

"Th-thanks," I muttered, my thoughts occupied with the new dangers that I had no clue about. Hell, I probably wouldn't be able to handle the threats I did know about! I could barely move a goat into its pen, how was I going to stop rolling Gorons or fight a giant plant?! It was that moment that I finally realized I was out of my league, way out of my league. The only way I was going to get through this was with a lot of help.

I sighed at the uselessness of fighting my predicament, focusing instead on where Rusl was leading me. We had walked for some time while I was busy rambling in my head, so I was surprised to find us standing in a large clearing. To our immediate left was a large house, roughly two stories, with a decent-sized bathhouse next to it. Straight ahead and slightly to the right were two passageways carved into the forest walls. One probably led to Hyrule Field while the other went into Northern Faron Woods.

"Hey, guys!" called a chipper voice from one of the windows on the house's second story. I couldn't see who was speaking until I heard lots of clattering and things breaking from inside, then a scrawny guy emerged from the door. He was a scrawny fella, which was even more noticeable when it was beneath the most absolutely ridiculous afro I have ever seen. It was so large that it even had a bird's nest! "Rusl, good to see you," he said cheerfully, grating against my ears and mood.

Rusl smiled and met Coro's outstretched hand. "Always a pleasure to see you. How is Iza?"

Coro settled his hands into his pant pockets and hunched over, creating a slight question mark look in his spine. He smiled widely and said, "Just fine, but I think Iza's about ready to head back to Kakariko." He turned to me and tilted his head, somehow managing to keep the bird nest completely balanced on top. "Who're you, guy?"

I said nothing, only stared in open disbelief at the ridiculous afro and bird nest. I was mesmerized by the fluff of hair and twig, observing it as though it held the secrets of the universe. I must have been stuck like that for a little while, since by the time I woke up from my trance, Rusl and Coro were looking at me with mild concern and curiosity.

"Uh..." was all I managed to say before a woman emerged from the house. She wore faded blue pants and a rather small black top, but what I paid attention to was the presence of yet another over-sized afro! Unlike Coro, this woman was my height, but that still did nothing to keep me from looking at the afro.

She walked over, gave me a quick but judgmental glance, and then said, "How's it going, Rus?"

He smiled and answered, "Just fine, Iza. I was just taking our friend Zach here for a tour of Faron Woods."

Coro blanched and rubbed the back of his neck. "I don't know about that. Trill mentioned seeing some unpleasant-looking things wandering around."

"Uh, Trill?" I asked. The name sounded familiar, but then so did everybody's.

Iza shuddered and rubbed her arms as she said, "That stupid pet bird of his, the one who runs the shop up near Kokiri Marsh."

"Kokiri Marsh?" I asked, managing to sound sincerely curious and deceptively calm despite the inner panic. No Forest Temple? Well, that makes things complicated, doesn't it?

Iza stared at me as if I was an idiot, and I immediately took a disliking to it. Before she said anything, Rusl cleared his throat. "You were saying, Coro? About the unpleasant-looking things?"

"Right, yeah. Trill's been seeing some weird things wandering about, like oversized plants with big chompers and Bokoblins."

Iza shuddered again and said, "I keep telling you we should go back to Kakariko." She humorlessly chuckled and waved her arms in the air. "Giant plants? Bokoblins? Soon you'll be telling me about hearts popping out of the grass!" She and I both snickered at that, but for very different reasons.

Rusl nodded and replied, "Of course. But perhaps you could spare young Zach a bath?" He reached into the pocket of his trousers and pulled out a shiny red gem, almost the size of his whole hand. "I trust this is enough?"

Iza and Coro both smiled at the jewel, though Coro seemed much more pleasant compared to Iza's greedy leer. She all but snatched it up and said, "It'll do." She started off toward the bathhouse and called to me, "Come on, Zake!"

"Zach," I grumbled, following her like a bratty child.

As I walked away, I heard Rusl say, "Now, Coro, tell me more about what Trill saw..."

Iza opened the door of the bathhouse and a torrent of pleasant scents wafted out. "Hope you don't mind the cramped space," she said. "Afraid we could only afford to build one room. Anyway, you'll find everything you need, so have fun!" With that, she shut me inside the bathhouse, alone and completely unsure of what I was supposed to do.

It was fairly decent-sized, with space enough for a tub, a shelf of what I assumed were hygiene products, a rack lined with towels and washcloths, and a basket for dirty laundry. I quickly checked myself, sighing with relief upon finding Farore's satchel still attached to my pants, since all my spare clothes were inside. With that, I examined the bath itself. It was long enough for two people to sit in if their knees were tucked into their chests, and deep enough for a relaxing bath. Above was a bucket of water sitting on a small flame, most likely to keep the water comfortably warm without boiling. A chain was attached to the bucket and hung over the tub for the bather to pull and bring water over their heads.

"This is the best bathhouse I've ever been in," I mumbled.

"I feel like a complete fool," muttered Midna as she tiptoed along the ground, careful to avoid spots of sunlight. She looked back and sighed tiredly at the tiny footprints she was leaving in the dirt. She considered shifting into shadow form since she would be safe from the sunlight, but it also hampered her senses, and she wanted to truly experience the world around her, if only to distract from her more important troubles. "Call it a coping mechanism," she explained to no one in particular. After some time trekking through dirt, twigs, and acorns, she grew bored of it and rested against a tree.

Light peeked through the canopy and missed her by just an inch. With a sigh, she gave up on exploring in-person and became a shadow once more. With nothing holding her attention, the weight of everything that happened to her threatened to crush her. She needed shelter of some sort, preferably a nice soft bed in which to sleep.

Midna was ever thankful of the wonders of shadow magic. While an outsider would merely see a shadow and think nothing of it, the reality was far more complex. It was disorienting the first few times Midna became a shadow, as her vital senses were replaced by an ethereal essence. Rather than bouncing sound off distant objects, Midna projected her consciousness out in a general direction and followed it, using the minor pings she discovered as pseudo-landmarks to get a sense of her surroundings.

Before long, Midna found herself at the entrance of a house just outside the quaint little village. It seemed unoccupied judging from the fact that its entrance ladder was discarded to the side of some strange dummy. She flew inside and took in a deep breath. It was dark inside, a definite plus compared to some dinky cave. There was a sleeping mat on the floor, which caused Midna to deflate.

"This house belongs to someone," she muttered. She did not care in the least about breaking and entering, but she doubted the occupant would be happy to see someone like her sleeping in their home uninvited. Midna then whined and stamped her foot. "I want a place to sleep!" She rolled her eyes at her predicament, which allowed her to notice a bed up above the main floor.

"Aha!" She flew up and looked over the bed. Its bedding was covered in dust, so she picked it up with her hair and shook it as clean as possible. Sure, the dust would fall to the occupant's sleeping spot but that was their problem, not Midna's.

She fluffed the pillow, removed the Fused Shadow, and settled in, but now that she was alone with her thoughts, Midna had no energy to sleep. It did not help that there were no blankets or sheets, leaving Midna exposed to the dark. The dark was her domain and yet, for the first time in her life, she found no comfort in it.

By the time she finally drifted off, her pillow was stained with tears.