Once again, Link found himself in an area dominated by twilight. He felt the familiar weight of Midna on his back, and he realized suddenly that the sword and shield were no longer in his mouth. He glanced back at Midna, and while he wasn't able to see her, he saw the edge of the shield dangling off of her face. It took all of his self control not to laugh.
"Hmm! So these are the weapons you use in your world?" She swung the sword haphazardly, making Link have to duck to avoid being slashed across the back of the head. 'Careful! Hylia's sakes, you're worse than Talo!' Midna scoffed, and Link looked back up at her.
"You really think this thing can slay the creatures of twilight?" Link snorted. 'Not if you use it like that, it can't.' Suddenly the shield landed on his face, and he winced. 'Ow! What was that for?!'
"... Well, I won't use these, but I'll hold onto them for you!" She snapped her fingers, and suddenly the shield and sword dissipated into more of the green particles. 'How.. how did you do that?'
"All right, a promise is a promise… I trust you enough to help." Despite the feeling not being mutual, somehow hearing Midna say that she trusted him was.. oddly reassuring. She leaned onto his neck, getting close to Link's ear.
"In exchange for my help, though, I need you to gather some things for me. Look, I can't tell you all the details now, but it'll be easy, trust me…" As Link was about to respond to what Midna said, his ears twitched as he suddenly heard the sound of wailing in the distance.
"But enough about that. Do you hear that noise? It's the lamentation of a spirit that had its light stolen… Where in the world could it be?" She laughed. 'Since Ordona was in the spring, I assume the spirit of the woods is in a spring as well.' He searched through his memories for a moment, trying to remember if he had seen a spring while he was trying to save Talo. A vague memory surfaced, of a spring to his right as he rode Epona in pursuit of Talo. But he couldn't remember exactly where the spring was. He felt Midna relax into a lounging position on his back, tauntingly humming to herself.
"Better get going, don't you think? Don't blame me for your world's fate if you don't hurry up and find that light!" When Link didn't immediately start running, Midna's tone became impatient, prompting Link to give a low growl.
"Come on! Snap to it!" In part to spite her, he dashed forward without warning, startling her so that she nearly fell off of his back. Link smirked to himself, or at least as close to a smirk as his wolf body could replicate.
As he continued through the forest, suddenly more stone posts with pinkish-red markings dropped from the sky, and a barrier stretched between them. Link growled. 'Again?!' From overhead, three of the shadow beasts dropped down, surrounding Link.
"Aww… We're penned in again!" She scoffed. "Who do they think they're dealing with?" Her tone became mischievous. "No need to take these little pets on one at a time, right? You can take them all at once!" Link nodded, preparing for another fight.
"So… You can handle this by yourself, can't you?" Link blinked in surprise. 'What's that supposed to mean?' In a flash, the weight of Midna's body on his back vanished. From behind him, he heard Midna float away.
"Good luck! 'Bye!" The next thing he knew, all three shadow beasts had lumbered up to standing right in front of him. He stepped back, eyeing them suspiciously, waiting for an opening to attack. After some dodging and attacking, two of the shadow beasts fell to the ground. Just as Link was about to begin attacking the third, it let out a disturbing, bloodchilling scream that froze Link in place as he tried to curl up to avoid the sound as it echoed in his ears. He shook his head once it was over, only to turn around and see that the two dead beasts had gotten back up. 'How?!'
Suddenly Midna reappeared on his back, her tone impatient.
"What's the holdup? If you leave the last one alive, it's just going to use that shriek to bring the others back. Listen, let me help you out here! Just move like I tell you! I'll expand an energy field, so enclose all the enemies within it!" Link nodded, and began dodging around the beasts to try and get them close together. At last, they were close together, and Midna began creating her energy field. The beasts were enveloped in pinkish orange sparks, and suddenly she dug her heels into Link's side, startling him into a jump right at one of the beasts. To his surprise, he dove right through the beast, and some kind of force pulled him through the other two. All at once, the beasts fell dead, and they exploded into more of the green particles, which flew into the sky to create another swirling vortex. 'What.. was any of that just now?' Midna had nothing to say, and so Link continued onward.
It wasn't long before he found another spring that looked much like the one Ordona came from. As he approached, a faint ball of swirling lights slowly appeared above the water, far dimmer than the orb that appeared alongside Ordona.
"... Please… be careful… These woods… have changed…" It was unmistakably the voice of another light spirit, considerably weaker than that of Ordona.
"The dark clouds of dusk cover this land… This drape of shadows is called… twilight." Link huffed. 'Yeah, Ordona already told me. How do I help you get your light back?'
"In this twilight, those who live in the light… become as mere spirits… It is a place… where the dark ones and evil creatures dwell…" Link grimaced. 'Yeah, Princess Zelda told us that. What I need to know is how to help you get your light back.'
"... I… am a spirit… of light…" Link groaned internally. 'This is going to take a while, isn't it.'
"... Blue-eyed beast." Link snorted. 'I have a name, you know.'
"Look… for my light… Retrieve the light stolen by the dark beasts… and keep it… in this vessel." Link nodded. 'Finally, some new information.' A small object descended from the light spirit, something that vaguely resembled a bunch of pale gray grapes. Like with the sword and shield, Midna snapped her fingers, and the vessel disappeared into green particles.
"In the shadows of twilight… the dark insects are as… invisible… as normal beings are here… Find… the insects of darkness… The dark insects… They are the form taken by evil… once it has latched on to… our scattered light…" The spirit fell silent, but Link stood in the spring for some moments as he tried to formulate his plan. 'If the insects are invisible like normal people are..' He didn't even have time to finish his thought.
'Senses.' With that solved, Link set about finding the insects the spirit spoke of. It wasn't long before he sensed two of the insects, which fled from him as he drew near. Just as he was about to attack them, however, a shadowy figure rose up from the ground. 'That looks like those plant monsters that were here when I had to save Talo…' Unlike when he was chasing after Talo, however, this time Link had to make leaping and pouncing attacks at the monster until it dissolved like its shadow brethren. For just a moment, Link found himself musing about the plant monster's appearance. 'It almost reminds me of those weird bird monsters at Hyrule Castle..' An involuntary shudder made its way down his spine as he caught up to and killed the two insects, wincing as the foul taste flooded his mouth for some moments. To his surprise, a small bubble of blue, water-like light came out of the insects and floated up to Link. As soon as they touched his skin, he felt a pleasant and familiar warmth spread through his body, as if he were laying in the grass on a summer afternoon.
As he continued down the path, defeating more of the shadow plant monsters as he went, he found himself remembering what Rusl had said about the wood seeming strange.. was it only a day before? Two? The perpetual twilight made it difficult to have a steady concept of time. 'Oh Rusl, if only you knew just how strange the wood looks now.' Fittingly enough, another insect appeared roughly in the same place where Rusl and Link had that conversation, though it fled under the gate before Link could catch up to it. Unfortunately for the insect, however, Link noticed the large hole under the fence, which he easily dug through. Just as easily, the insect was defeated, and its portion of the light was collected as well, and he dug back under the gate to check if there were any insects near the strange lantern seller's home.
The man was not next to his fireplace as he had been the last time Link saw him. After wandering around somewhat aimlessly in search of insects, he noticed the raised platform adjacent to the man's house, and the open window directly in front of it. 'I wonder…' As soon as he reached the wooden platform, Midna seemed to have the same idea.
"Hm… Looks like we can get in there!" Link nodded, following her lead to land on the platform in front of the window.
Inside the man's home was a series of wooden planks arranged as a walkway up to the window, as well as a dishevelled kitchen and some various objects scattered around the floor. Using his senses, he noticed the man cowering in the corner, standing up on a box.
"Wh-What's with these bugs? Those things aren't normal!" The man began hyperventilating. 'Interesting, so they can see the insects.. Just not me.'
"They're so big… So weird… So creepy… C'mon… get away, bugs… Shoo… Get out of here…" As if on cue, two of the insects slithered out from under the platform Link had used to climb down. He wasted no time disposing of the two and collecting the light they had stolen.
"Wh-WHAAT? They just… died?" While the man had stopped hyperventilating, he still stood shaking in the corner. "Oh, boy, I have NO idea what's going on around here…" As Link climbed back up to leave, he heard the man continue talking to himself.
"Are there more of those bugs… outside? Ohh… Maybe I should just lay low for a while…" Link snorted. 'Not a bad idea, considering there absolutely are more of them outside.' With that, he left the house and jumped back down from the window platform, and then dug his way back under the gate. 'I've already checked everywhere else, time to check the cave.'
Thankfully, the torches he had lit remained lit, though it also seemed that part of his enhanced canine senses included better vision in the darkness than his human self had. Ultimately, though, there were no insects in the cave, just various shadowed versions of the same monsters that were in the cave when he had been chasing after Talo.
When he left the cave, he was taken aback by what he saw. 'The entire lower area… it's all covered in that purple mist..' Even though his sense of smell was once again blocked by the twilight, he could smell something very off about the mist. He ran out onto the destroyed bridge, hoping to see some way forward without walking through the mist. Unfortunately, he could see no such path.
While he paced, trying to think of another way across, he tried to listen for another of the insects. Unfortunately, the hissing of the mist blocked out any other sounds, just as the mist blocked out much of his ability to smell. He was only able to smell anything suspicious when he just happened to pass by one of the walls, where the smell of the insects slowly came into prominence. He growled, looking around for the insects, before realizing it was scuttling around on the wall above him. With a leaping pounce at the insect, he wasn't able to catch it, but he startled it enough that it began flying around the area, high enough so that it was just out of Link's reach. Finally, just as it was about to land, Link pounced forward and caught the insect in his mouth, and the light it stole had been retrieved, and Link resumed his pacing.
After some moments, he noticed a small rocky outcropping near where the insect had been. 'Doesn't seem like there's much else here to try. Might as well see if this could be useful.' He stepped onto the outcropping, and no sooner had he done so than Midna perked up on his back.
"Hey… Think we can get across over here?" Again she floated to multiple platforms and other places for Link to land, and again he leapt across, trusting that her judgement would bring them to their destination. Eventually he landed near the outcropping that looked like a piece of an archway, and he remembered curiously studying the rocky pillars on his first time through this section of the forest. 'I guess it's a good thing these are here.' Climbing up to the archway outcropping, he barked for Midna, and once more she led him to safety across the pillars and into the large tree in the center of the area. Immediately he noticed two more of the insects, which he dealt with before they even realized he was there. Then he continued to the other side of the tree, and Midna led him across a series of large tree stumps, tree branches, and rocky pillars, until finally they reached the next cave.
While he couldn't see them, Link's ears twitched as he heard the sounds of the insects scurrying around in the ground near the cave entrance. After taking some time to figure out where they were, he dug them up from the ground and soon they too were dead and the light they stole reclaimed.
On the other side of the cave, he noticed two things. One: Three of the shadow beasts were aimlessly meandering around the area, prompting a grimace from him. Two: There was a wooden bridge propped up against the cliff face on the far side of the area. Link tilted his head at the sight of it. 'That.. wasn't there before.' Shaking his head, he sighed as he ran forward to deal with the shadow beasts. Once more the stone pillars with red markings dropped down from the sky, but this time he knew Midna would help him defeat the shadow beasts. An energy field and a well-timed jump, and the three fell dead before they could even make a single swipe towards him. 'So much easier just doing it that way.' Like before, the shadow beasts exploded into green particles that became a vortex in the sky.
He sniffed around curiously when he reached the place where Trill should have been with his shop, but the loud little bird was nowhere to be seen. Seeing nowhere else to go, he made his way up the winding path to where Talo and the monkey had been trapped, only to be surprised by what he found.
The monkey's spirit was cowering in fear on top of one of the wooden stakes on the ground, as two of the insects circled her. Immediately, Link leapt forward at one of the insects, and the two broke their pattern to flee from him. To his luck, when he lunged at one it just so happened to be right in front of the other, so it didn't take much time before the insects were slain and their stolen light reclaimed.
Next to him, the monkey began looking around.
"Someone… Someone helped me?" She breathed a sigh of relief. "Boy, lucky for me… Ever since the boss went funny in the head, there've been scary monsters everywhere…" Link tilted his head to one side. 'Funny in the head? I wonder what she means by that…'
"Those village kids got led through the woods for some reason…The whole forest is so weird now… What's happened?" She went back to glancing back and forth, as if still expecting some kind of attack. "The boss is threatening his friends… The village kids got kidnapped… I mean, what's going on in these woods now, anyway?" Link wished he could reassure the monkey that he was going to make things right, perhaps even thank her for helping Talo.
When the last bubble of stolen light was regained, Link again felt the pleasant warmth spread through his body. The forest began to glow brighter and brighter, until the light was blinding. Before he knew it, he was back in the Faron Woods spring, and the vessel was floating in front of him. He noticed that the gray grapes were now slightly tinged blue. The vessel slowly floated over to and sunk into the water, and as it did so the twilight faded away to reveal a beautiful sunny day. Midna, once again in her shadowy form, skipped across to one of the waterfalls, pretending to sit in midair.
"Aww, but it was so nice here in the twilight… What's so great about a world of light, anyway?" She reclined in the air, before laughing. "See you later!" With a twirl, she vanished, just as the light spirit of Faron Woods began to emerge from the spring just as Ordona had. This time, a monkey clutching the orb of light slowly faded into view, its long tail curling around itself. As its tail tightened and loosened its ring around itself, Link noticed that rather than a monkey's tail, the tip of the spirit's tail resembled a stinger, like that of a scorpion. The light spirit addressed Link, its speech similar to Ordona's in the deliberate slowness.
"My name is Faron. I am one of the spirits of light who dwell in Hyrule. By the order of the gods, I protect this forest. O brave youth… In the land covered in twilight, where people roam as spirits, you were transformed into a blue-eyed beast… That was a sign…" Link tilted his head. 'A sign? As sign of what?'
"It was a sign that the powers of the chosen one rest within you… and that they are awakening." Link was taken aback. 'The chosen one? Chosen by who? By Hylia? By the gods?'
"Look at your awakened form…" Link blinked. He had been so distracted with the vessel and with the light returning to the woods that he hadn't realized that he was no longer in the body of a wolf. Looking at himself, he realized that wasn't all. Rather than the clothes he had left Ordon in, instead he was now wearing a green tunic and cap, with a light chainmail tunic beneath it and over a light tan undershirt. He had leather gloves on his hands, and a leather armguard on his sword hand. He now had a set of trousers that fully covered his legs, although the bottoms of the trousers were covered by the tall boots he was now wearing. Leather straps and a leather belt held not just the sword and shield to his back, but also various pouches like his wallet. 'I.. How…?'
"The green tunic that is your garb once belonged to the ancient hero chosen by the gods…" Link looked back up at Faron. 'I.. I hope you at least washed them before putting them on me..'
"His power is yours. His is the true power that slept within you." He stared at Faron, mulling over the spirit's words. 'Is.. Is this connected to that weird mark on my hand?' He almost reflexively went to look at it, but the gloves prevented him from seeing it.
"Your name is Link." Were he not still trying to process Faron's words, he would have smirked and thanked the spirit for addressing him by name.
"You are the hero chosen by the gods. Brave Link… A dark power rests in the temple deep within these woods. It is a forbidden power. Long, long ago, I and the other spirits of light locked it away. Because of its nature, it is a power that should never be touched by any who dwell in the light." Link, remembering Midna asking him to help her gather some objects, pondered if that was what Faron spoke of.
"But this world weeps beneath a mantle of shadows, and so there is no choice… You must match the power of the king of shadows." As Faron began to fade away, the light of the orb spreading across the forest, the spirit gave its final words to Link. "If you would seek this forbidden power, then proceed to the temple in the forest depths."
Link again found himself staring at his new attire, in particular the sturdy leather gloves. He smirked. 'These would have come in handy when Fado kept losing those goats. After a moment, Midna appeared from his shadow.
"Well, well… You're the chosen hero and all that, huh? So THAT'S why you turned into that beast!" Link shrugged. 'I guess so.' Midna's tone again became mischievous, almost playful.
"What a shame… I mean, maybe you'd rather just wander as a spirit like the rest of them, totally unaware of what was happening for all eternity… right?" Link scoffed, prompting a laugh from Midna.
"So… What do you want to do? Do you want to head to that temple?" Link nodded.
"Well, isn't that convenient! I was about to head there myself." Link raised an eyebrow. 'I had a feeling. So I was right: the objects you want me to help you gather are those dark powers the light spirits locked away.' He paused. 'What's your plan here, Midna? Why do you want the dark powers? What are you planning to do with them?' Midna, seeing Link's skeptical expression, adopted something almost like a pleading tone.
"Hey, look… You want to help your friends, right? The way I see it, maybe they're in that temple, waiting for you to rescue them…" Link frowned. 'I'm not sure, the monkey said she'd seen the kids being dragged through the forest. Wouldn't she have mentioned them being brought to the temple?' However, if there was even the slightest chance that there was a clue at the temple as to where the kids had been taken, Link had to take it. Midna smirked.
"Well, good luck, Mr. Important Hero!" She giggled. "See you later!" With that, she disappeared back into Link's shadow, and Link walked once more along the path to the deeper parts of the forest. He stopped at the lantern seller's house, surprised to see him once more sitting by his fireplace. He smirked to himself as he walked closer. 'Finally decided to come back outside, eh?' The man seemed surprised by Link's presence, gasping.
"Hunh?!" Then, after studying Link for some more moments, he broke into a grin. "So… It's the Ordonian! You seemed familiar, but then your clothes seemed kinda different, so I got thrown off for a second!" The man stopped grinning, adopting a serious expression.
"Listen… Things have been a little rough around here lately, so you should watch your step, OK, guy?" He shuddered before continuing. "There are so many monsters now… I got kinda scared and closed off the path to the temple." Link snorted. 'Kinda scared is putting it mildly.' The man rubbed at the back of his neck.
"But… You, guy… You wanna get back there, huh?" Link nodded.
"You sure do look geared up for it… So here you go!" The man handed Link a key, and Link took it and slid it into one of the pouches on his belt. 'It feels so good to be able to hold things again…'
"Oh yeah… The woods on the other side of this cave are covered in really thick fog, so make sure your lantern is full!" Link frowned. 'So the purple mist didn't dissipate with the twilight going away, did it.'
"You're definitely going to need to use your lantern a lot in there, so bring all the oil you can! And check this out! I have a special, one-time offer of a bottle full of lantern oil for only 100 Rupees!" Link winced at the steep cost. 'Surely I don't have that many Rupees, right?' To his surprise, however, the wallet at his waist easily held over 100 Rupees. 'I guess I haven't been keeping track of how many I've been picking up.' A grin found its way onto his face. 'Wonder what everyone back home would say, if they saw all these Rupees…' The lantern seller grinned at him.
"How 'bout it, guy? What a bargain!" Link nodded. 'With how thick that mist was, I don't want to take any chances.' The man reached next to his seat and picked up a bottle of lantern oil, holding it out to Link. Link took the bottle and slid it into one of his pouches, and then began counting out 100 Rupees to hand to the man.
"Thanks a lot, guy! And you can put all kinds of stuff in the bottle once you use all of the oil inside, guy!" Link laughed to himself. 'That does tend to be how bottles work, yes.'
"And hey… Keep using that lantern so you'll come back and buy more oil, OK, guy?" Link smirked and nodded, and then walked to the gate in front of the cave. The key easily fit into the lock, and Link stepped through and into the cave.
