I awoke with a start, vaguely aware of a thud somewhere in the distance. The thud sounded again and I heard muffled voices in the same direction. Groaning, I sat up from the wooden floor and checked my phone. I had been asleep for barely half an hour, but it felt more like half a lifetime.

"Zach, are you alright?" I heard Ilia ask from behind the door. I rubbed my face and got some crust out of my eye before getting up. Every muscle was begging me to just roll over and die rather than mingle with the townfolk. Not only did I just not want to, my muscles were very stiff as a result of that green potion. What goes up must come down, I suppose. When I opened the door, there she was.

"I'm fine, I just took a little rest," I said, my jaw cramping with each syllable.

Ilia nodded and smiled. "You've earned it, I would say. Talo's parents are outside." Whatever good mood I had was utterly gone when she mentioned them. I stepped out of the house and descended the ladder to greet Pergie and Jaggle. The couple stood close to one another, smiles on their faces. I waited by the ladder for them to say whatever they had to say and then take their leave.

"So..." Pergie started. She held her hands behind her back and looked anywhere but me. "You're going to Hyrule Castle?" I narrowed my eyes slightly and nodded. "Isn't that just incredible... How wonderful for you!" She chuckled nervously and glanced at me. I did not chuckle back. Finally sighing, she looked me in the eye. "But I suppose I should be apologizing to you for the trouble Talo caused you yesterday... He and his brother are a mischievous pair... but they'll always be a pair of angels to their father and me." The woman latched her arms around my shoulders and pulled me into a bear hug. "Thank you so much."

She didn't actually apologize...

Jaggle cleared his throat and frowned at me. "Yo, Zach. Sorry if my little tyke was causing you trouble today." Close enough. "I gave him a ferocious scolding, so I hope you forgive him." He pulled out a wooden shield and offered it to me. "I'd like you to have this shield, Zach." That sent my eyebrows up into my hairline. "It's hand-carved and sturdy as long as you keep it away from fire." I took the shield gratefully and ran my finger along the goat design on the front. It was large, about the size of my torso, but it was surprisingly lightweight, enough for me to heft it around with one arm. "Oh, and hey..." Jaggle patted my shoulder and gave me a lopsided grin. "You be careful on your trip to Castle Town, Zach!"

Pergie nodded and said, "You take care, and you come back safe." She ignored Jaggle's subtle glare. "This village welcomes you back anytime."

"Thank you," I said, bowing my head to them. I'll give them this; they were polite liars. "If it's alright with you, I think I'll go back inside now." The couple nodded and bid farewell, and as I climbed the ladder, I found that Ilia had yet to actually leave. Sighing, I asked, "Can I help you with something?"

Ilia frowned a little and said, "I was wondering if you'd like to go to the spring."

"What for? You already patched me up." It defied logic for her to invite me anywhere without some necessary reason.

"I... I just thought you'd like to. You don't have to if you don't wish to."

Mentally narrowing my eyes, I thought it over. My muscles were tight and it was difficult to move, so maybe the spring water could help with that. Shrugging, I said, "Alright. Gimme a second, though." Ilia nodded and I quickly stepped inside to hang the Ordon Shield above the doorway. It took a few tries, but I managed. When it was done, I tossed my wooden sword on the makeshift bed and followed Ilia down the ladder.

When Ilia and I reached the spring, I smiled a little at the glowing stones on the waterfall. It was a fairly calming sight, and the water was guaranteed to soothe my stiff and aching muscles. I sat down in the sand and checked my phone out of habit. The time was barely a quarter past 2, but... that couldn't be true, the sky was dark enough for it to be 6 at the earliest. Before I could look at the battery level, Ilia sat down beside me and smiled.

"I come here sometimes when I want to relax." She glanced over at me. "You had a trying day, so I thought this would help you."

"Hm." She was right, I was feeling calmer and more relaxed every moment I was near the spring. "You still don't believe my story." When she frowned in confusion, I explained, "That I'm from a different world entirely and that this is just a game where I come from. You don't believe it."

Ilia sighed and leaned back on her arms. "It's not something you hear every day, I admit." I had yet to actually turn my head to look at her because I did not want to establish eye contact. "A part of me wants to think it's not true but..." The girl sighed again and shrugged. "I can't explain it but... I can feel that you aren't lying."

Clenching my jaw, I kept from making a sarcastic retort about how stupid and cliché that was. Instead, I grumbled, "I'm relaxed enough for today," and stood up. Ilia followed suit and brushed sand off her pants.

"You don't have to be alone, Zach." I finally looked over at her to find that she was standing a bit too close to me. Red Alert! "I can be your friend, if you let me..." She closed her eyes and leaned forward at me with pursed lips. RED ALERT! RED ALERT! RED ALERT!

I quickly moved my hand up and blocked her kiss. "What are you doing?" I asked, hoping I didn't sound as angry as I felt.

Ilia opened her eyes. "Oh! I'm sorry..." She hurriedly stepped back and looked at the ground, her cheeks beet red. "I-I thought..."

"Let me set the record straight," I said. She looked up at me and frowned. "This is not a romance." Her eyebrows shot up but I ignored that. "You are experiencing heightened infatuation due to lack of contact with a member of the opposite sex—" Ilia blushed even more furiously, "—that is close to your age. I do not have any attraction to you at all. Period. The End."

Ilia's brow furrowed upward as she stuttered, "I-I... I'm sorry... I didn't mean to offend—"

"How old are you, anyway?"

"Uh..." Ilia stepped further back and hugged herself. "I turned 16 several months ago."

I nodded and rubbed the back of my neck. "No wonder. This sort of... idealistic affection is common for teenagers." Ilia pouted and I had to fight off a sigh. "This happens literally all the time back where I come from. I've dealt with this sort of thing before."

Ilia looked away and nodded slowly. "I see... but can we still be friends?" She looked back at me and smiled. "You do seem like you could use one."

"Probably." That was all I was going to say on the subject, and Ilia seemed to pick up on that.

She reached forward and held my shoulder as she asked, "Can you at least promise me this? No matter what happens on your journey, don't try to do anything... out of your league."

I almost snorted at the irony of her request. "I can't make that promise," I said. "Anything can happen, especially if today was any indicator." A rumble of thunder interrupted her reply. It was a deep booming sound, though if it were thunder... why was the ground shaking? We looked at the exit to the spring and were met by the rampage of a very large silver boar. Atop the silver swine was a green-skinned sumo wrestler-like being with a horned helmet and crude plate armor. "This is sooner than I thought!"

Ilia turned to me and punched my arm hard. "You knew this would happen?!"

"...Oops?" Several smaller boars charged in, their riders wielding clubs that they swung carelessly in the air. I pushed Ilia down just as one weapon swung at her head, only for my own skull to get clobbered. Dizzy and disoriented, I fell to my knees and could only barely make out Ilia getting hogtied. I watched through blurred vision as King Bulblin planted Ilia on his mount. The Bulblin lifted the visor of his helmet and glared at me with beady red eyes for a few moments. He snorted, lifted up a large battle horn, and blew into it.

I had to cover my ears as the horrific drone bored into my skull. It was like someone had asked the devil himself to practice his throat singing. I tried to walk but one of his cohorts smacked me in the head again and sent me crashing into the spring. Coughing up water, I struggled to climb out as the Bulblin horde rampaged to Ordon Village. It was good that my head touched the water otherwise I would certainly have gotten a concussion from the two blows to the skull, but that was not important.

"King Bulblin has attacked, but I can't do any good if I try to chase him down now. Damn it! I should have been prepared!" I took off in a run, turning left to Faron Woods. As I crossed the bridge, I couldn't help but wonder how the hell did a minimum of three large boars get across this without it collapsing? All thoughts ended when I collided with a thick black wall no more than twenty feet from the bridge. I fell flat on my ass, glaring at the scripture on the wall: An enormous, imperious Z that was emblazoned in the center of the mass of Twilight.

I stood up and pressed my hands against the surprisingly cold surface of the wall, trying to force my way through. I pushed with all my meager might but only succeeded in making myself tired. I never saw the onyx hand until it had already snatched me up by the throat and pulled me through. The shadow beast tilted its head at me as I struggled to get out of its grip.

Giving the creature my best glare, I hissed, "Bring it, Cthulhu!" I reared my right arm back and punched it as hard as I could in the arm that was clutching me. Brilliant golden light shot out of the back of my hand and I found myself sailing through the air as the beast tossed me away.

I landed hard on my back and the wind was knocked out of my lungs, but at least I was alive. I felt a droning buzz in the back of my skull as I stood up and looked around. It was Faron Woods all right, but the ground seemed to be illuminated and the sky was golden with dark clouds billowing overhead.

I looked down at my hand. The Triforce mark glowed erratically as the drone increased in intensity. It was getting hard to breathe, but I managed to take two steps forward anyway. That was as far as I got before a searing white hot pain shot through every nerve in my body.

Gritting my teeth, I could only clutch at my stomach for a few precious seconds before my fingers blistered. I looked down at my hand and tried to scream at the claws emerging from beneath my fingernails, but my lungs weren't working. I could barely breathe even as my spine stretched past its limit.

The bones in my face cracked and shifted and I pressed my warped hands against my cheeks to stem the pain. I instead felt my nose and upper and lower jaws bend and shape outward. I took a painful step forward and watched tiny white hairs sprout along the skin of my hands. It was so agonizing that I collapsed to my knees, only to feel my shoulders warp and shift along the back of my ribcage.

"Make it stop..." I managed to growl, though my voice was vastly distorted and sluggish. "Make it stop..." I slammed my clawed fist against the ground. "Make... it... stoooooooooooowwwwwwwlllll!" Whatever human voice I had was consumed by the cry of a desperate animal. The last thing I saw before my world ended was a yellow and red eye watching me from afar...

"Okay, enough fooling around," Midna declared, patting her fist and palm together. "Find the Sacred Beast and then get the Fused Shadow." She floated forward, surveying the ground for any and all signs of animal footprints. She was still hungry but there had been enough delays; besides, she had Zach waiting to have dinner with her.

Midna had to chuckle at that. Having dinner with a Light Dweller, what a turn her life had taken. She shrugged and continued on her way, turning over stones and brushing away moss in search of the Sacred Beast. She was getting irritated at the seemingly futile hunt when she heard something from above. It sounded like some sort of trumpet. It was playing an oddly melancholy but playful tune that reminded Midna of when she and her friends played together in their youth.

She shook herself from that line of thought and followed the music upward. It grew louder as she approached what looked like a child, a bit smaller than herself, wearing a most bizarre orange outfit and hat. In its hands was what Midna assumed to be the source of the melody, but she did not even try to guess its name since she was distracted by the child's blood red eyes and eerie, overstretched smile that showed two rows of sharp teeth. Attached to the creature's belt was a small lantern that shined with a pale blue flame that danced in its confinement.

Before Midna knew it, the musician spun on its heel and ran through the hollowed trunk of an enormous tree. "Wait!" She quickly followed behind, easily catching up to the child. "I didn't mean to scare you, little guy."

The child giggled and then jumped into the air, twirling into nothing. Midna blinked and looked around before gasping. Maybe that was the Sacred Beast! It was not a Twili and certainly not a Hylian, after all. Grinning, Midna flew through the tree trunk and out the other side, only to find that she had started back where she was before. "Wait, what?" She spun around and went back through the trunk, emerging in the exact same area she was already in. Growling, Midna floated through the tree branches and into another outlet, where she heard faint music coming from the tunnel to the left.

"Gotcha!" She darted down into the burrow and popped out the other side, emerging into a different area this time. The new area had a small stream and various rock formations standing in the water. The melody was much louder now and seemed to be coming from the other side of the tallest rock. Midna floated above the stone and shot down at the child when she saw it playing its instrument. Grabbing it around its midsection from behind, Midna laughed. "I got you!"

The child struggled and thrashed in Midna's grip, so she latched her hands together and refused to let go. "Settle down, I'm not gonna hurt you," she said into her prey's ear, but quickly regretted it when the child's head spun around and stared at her with its blood-red eyes. Caught by surprise, Midna released the creature and it vanished. "Curse it, get back here!"

Midna sighed and cupped her chin. She floated to the ground and wandered through a different tunnel, emerging into a sort of hub with various pathways connected to it. "Come out, come out, wherever you are," she sang as she slowly spun in a circle. The music seemed to be coming from everywhere now and Midna was unable to pinpoint its location. The tempo quickened and it felt as though someone was dancing to the beat.

Midna admitted to herself that the music was fairly exciting and she wanted to tap her foot at the least, but she had a job to do and less time to do it in. She tapped her chin in thought; this little guy was hard to find, but Midna was able to sense things in the shadows. All she had to do was stretch her senses and they would ping every living thing nearby!

Midna nodded and closed her eyes. She took in a deep breath and let it out slowly, allowing her mind to calm down. The scent of the forest filled her nostrils, the sound of birds calling echoed in her ears, the touch of wind brushed her skin, and... there! Midna's eyes shot open as she looked in that direction, only to scream when she saw that it was a shadow beast.

Pure instinct took over. Midna flew up and over the canopy. She did not even notice the golden aura of Twilight when she landed. Instead, she collapsed on her knees and rubbed her stinging eyes.

"I'm okay... I'm okay..." Midna clenched her fists into the dirt and drew in a wretched gasp. All she could think of was her mother transforming into a hideous shadow beast. "Th-that is the past, not the here and now." She nodded to herself as she slowly steadied her breathing. "I'm safe and sound, there aren't any monsters here to get me." Wiping her eyes, Midna stood up and let out a shaky breath. "I'm okay... I. Am. Okay."

Satisfied that she had sufficiently calmed herself down, Midna took stock of her surroundings. She was still in the forest near the bathhouse where that lady attacked her. She floated into the air and closed her eyes. She stayed low under the tree branches and floated forward down the path until she came upon the Twilight wall. And guarding it was another shadow beast!

Midna flew to a tree branch but the shadow beast had not seen her. She could only watch as the creature drew close to the wall and plunged its fist through. Then she heard a scream as the shadow beast yanked Zach into the Twilight. Midna found herself staring in fascination as Zach glared at his captor with boldness and defiance in his eye.

"Bring it, Cthulhu!" Zach hissed before punching the Shadow Beast. From his hand shone a light so bright and magnificent that Midna saw blotches of color in her vision for several moments afterward, but that did not stop her from witnessing Zach's subsequent agony. His thumbs shifted along his forearms, his spine ripped through the skin to create a tail, and claws forced their way from beneath his fingernails. He clutched his hands to his face and stumbled forward, revealing that his mouth was shifting into a snout.

"Make it stop..." Zach begged as he sank to his knees. Midna saw something white fall from Zach's face. "Make it stop..." he slurred again, his voice distorted and almost unintelligible. Midna's eyes widened when the light dweller lifted his head up and screamed, only for that scream to quickly devolve into the most agonized howl Midna had ever heard as Zach's body fully and swiftly transformed into a four-legged beast.

His fur was the same shade as Midna's shadow cloth except for the underbelly and paws, which were shock white like her skin, and the top of his head and body were the same dark brown as his hair. Several white markings adorned the former light dweller's beastly face, and there was another white streak running along his shoulders, ribs, and hips.

By then, the shadow beast that had grabbed Zach was back on its feet and approached him. As Zach was dragged away by his hind leg, Midna could not help an appropriately impish grin from stretching across her face.

"The Sacred Beast at last!" She spotted the small white object that fell from Zach's face and floated down to inspect it when she made sure the coast was clear. Kneeling down, the imp scooped the tiny disc-shaped thing in her hand and turned it over. A ring of blue centered with a black dot stared up at her and almost made her gag. "HIS EYE FELL OUT!" Not wanting to look at it anymore, Midna whisked it away to a pocket dimension for safekeeping and then went off to follow the shadow beast before it got too far.