My brain: You haven't updated your story all year!

Me: ...It's January...

Born a Weapon

A Twilight Princess Fan story

Chapter 13

To the Forest Temple

Midna was asleep with the book in her lap when Link came back. Link took this opportunity to sneakily measure the green shirt on her. It would suffice, but it was a little big. He'd also found the fishing rod given to him before all this chaos happened and placed it into his magic pouch. He took this time to search his pouch more thoroughly to see what was given to him by the Light Spirit. He found basic survival necessities inside, such as food, and decided to try to make some.

Midna's eyes slowly fluttered open. Wait, I was asleep? When did that happen? She groggily sat herself up and heard the book she was reading fall from her lap. Oh yeah, I was reading that. I should put it aside before Link comes back. I don't want him to know I gave in and read it. Just as she was about to, however, she realized she heard the sound of writing coming from in front of her and saw Link writing in a book.

"Morning," Link said.

"Morning?! How long was I asleep?!"

"You fell asleep yesterday, so all night." Link said as he closed his book and headed out of Midna's sight before returning with a bowl of some kind of stew and handed it to her before returning to his book.

"We need to get going," Midna said as she tried to hide how much she was enjoying her meal. Why does everything taste so good here? "We should have left yesterday.

"If you're actually up for it, we can, but if you're going to pass out or something were waiting more."

"The twilight is going to keep expanding!" Midna shouted.

"And if you get killed because you weren't ready?"

"If we wait too long, it won't matter! Besides, I can just stay in your shadow."

"… Fine, but if you get killed, don't blame me," Link said as he returned to writing.

"What are you doing?"

Link turned his book around to reveal an incredibly detailed drawing of a bokoblin on the left page and several notes on the right about it.

"What's that?"

"I encountered a few of these bokoblins when I headed into the woods before, so I figured I would write down what I knew about them for later. I did this for everything I've encountered so far in the order I ran into them, and I checked that book while you were asleep for more information," Link said, pointing to the book next to Midna, who was now sure Link knew she was reading it and was slightly embarrassed. "But there was nothing on the creatures we encountered in the twilight, I wrote down what I knew, but I was hoping you could tell me more." Link flipped through the book until he got to a page about the Fused Shadow and handed it to Midna. "This page is about the Fused Shadow. That thing was a pain in the ass to draw, and after this are the creatures I encountered in the twilight."

Midna was amazed at Link's drawing skill. Every creature was drawn in such detail you'd think they stopped to pose for Link. She even got disgusted when she saw that creepy thing with no legs from Hyrule castle's sewers.

"Sorry, but I've actually never seen these things before. Zant made them when he took over." The name of their enemy always carried venom in Midna's tone whenever she uttered it. "The only animals we have in my realm are farm animals."

"Wait, then how did you know what a wolf and a dog was when you kept mocking me?"

"We had one dog in my realm once, and we knew what its ancestors were." That confused Link. How could there have just one dog in her realm? What about its parents? Midna continued to flip through the pages until she saw Link's drawing of the Shadow Beast. She slammed the book closed and threw it away like it was on fire, and buried her face in her hands. It looked so… real. Link had drawn it so well it almost looked like it was leaping out of the page at her. Like it was going to grab her and drag her to the fate so many other twili had suffered. A fate worse than death.

"Hey, calm down. It's just a picture."

Midna looked up to see Link with his hand placed comfortingly on her shoulder, which she quickly smacked away.

"I'm fine!"

"Midna… what did you mean a fate worse than death?"

"What?"

"You were mumbling. And you said something about a fate worse than death."

"It's nothing! Forget about it!" Midna nearly shouted while avoiding eye contact.

"Midna-"

"I'm done eating, lets go!" Midna demanded as she merged with Link's shadow, which had already been cast over her, so it looked like she just sank into the floor. Link sighed and picked up the book he had given to Midna and placed it into his magic pouch. He also picked up his notebook and did the same, but before he did, he opened it to the page about the shadow beasts and added a note:

Midna had some kind of traumatic experience with this creature, something about dragging people to a fate worse than death.

Link headed to the forest, but when he reached the intersection where Coro's hut was, he veered off his path towards it.

"Where are you going?!" Midna demanded.

"I'm going to make sure Coro is ok."

"You already did! Stop wasting time!"

Link did not reply, just continued his path to Coro's hut. Midna retreated into Link's shadow just before he knocked on the door. Once he did, he heard crashing noises from inside.

"Coro! Are you in there?"

After a few seconds of silence, Link heard shuffling and the click of a lock. The door opened slightly, enough to reveal Coro's eye, which studied Link for a few seconds before the door opened fully.

"That threw me for a loop guy, I was wondering who it might be, but it turned out to be just you, guy! Your clothes look so different, I hardly recognized you, guy!" Link had forgotten he now wore the outfit of an ancient hero. A feeling of expectance slammed into him, but not him expecting anything. He suddenly felt like everyone was expecting him to perform impossible tasks. The reality of what he had to do crashed down on him, but he kept a straight face and showed none of his inner turmoil. "Listen, guy, it's kinda rough around here lately, so be careful, ok? There are so many monsters now I had to close the gate." Coro pointed to the path that Link was heading down before. "But that didn't stop some freakish bugs."

Guess we had to come here anyway. Take that, Midna. Link thought as he looked at the gate Coro was indicating.

"Coro," Link said as he turned back to face him, "I need to get in there."

"What?! You want to get back there?!"

"I have to. I might be able to do something about all the chaos that's been going on." Link saw turmoil in Coro's eyes. He didn't want to let anyone enter the dangerous area, but he could see Link was determined, and he believed him when he said he could do something about the monsters.

"Well… you sure do look geared up for it." Coro gave a loud sigh, "All right, guy. Give me a sec." Coro headed back into his hut, and Link heard shuffling. After about a minute, Coro emerged with a key and a bottle with a thick yellow liquid. "Here's the key, guy," Coro said, handing it to Link, "And this is lantern oil, take this too. Just this once it's free, I won't let you head back there without at least this." Link nodded and accepted the bottle, placing it into his pouch.

"Thanks, Coro."

"No problem, guy. If you ever need more, you know where to find me but be ready to pay next time."

Link turned and left Coro at his hut with a nod and headed to the locked gate, key in hand. Link opened the gate and headed through it before closing it behind him and re-locking it.

"Why did you do that?" Link heard his companion ask.

"So nothing can get at Coro or Ordon. I still have the key. It's fine." Link said, placing the key into his pouch. As long as I don't lose it, Link added in his head.

"What if something's chasing you and you don't have time to open it?"

Link turned to see Midna floating with a very unamused face and crossed arms.

"Then I'll have to either deal with it or die, but I can't leave the gate open. Any enemy can make a break for it while I'm in the forest." Link replied as he began walking through the tunnel that led to the forest.

"Just remember, I need you alive to get the Fused Shadows. You better not get yourself killed." Midna remarked as she returned to Link's shadow.

Link was prepared for an attack as he headed through the tunnel, but nothing happened. No new enemies replaced the ones he eliminated on his way through the first time. At least things still stay dead, Link thought. After a lot of cautious walking, Link emerged before the strange purple fog that was unfortunately still there. "Great," Link grumbled.

"Even with the light back, this place kind of looks the same." Midna commented while examining the area, "and that fog is still there." Link looked around with a solemn face. He doubted he could perform the same parkour he did to get over the fog the first time. The branches probably wouldn't hold his weight. "It's really dark too. Hey, what about your lantern? Can you light this place up?" Link didn't think it was too dark, but some extra light couldn't hurt. There might be some small detail that he couldn't see, so he obliged his companion.

Once the lantern was lit, he heard something approaching behind him. In an instant, Link spun around and brandished his shield, alerting Midna to the approach as well. The same monkey Talo pursued into the woods came charging out and collided with Link, knocking him over. The monkey was visibly stunned, not knowing Link was there, and was merely running to the light, and ran off in fright.

Midna didn't even try not to laugh at Link, clutching her sides as she shook while floating in the air. "Oh nooo! A monkey! I'm so scared!" she mocked. Link sat up with a groan and looked at her with an annoyed expression. Midna continued to laugh and mock Link when he suddenly realized the lantern was gone. He glanced around quickly and spotted it about to roll into the fog.

"SHIT!" Link cried as he lunged right without standing up fully to catch it, but it barely escaped his grasp and tumbled into the purple gas. "Damn it!"

"Oh great! Now you lost our only light source!" Midna ranted off, but Link wasn't paying attention. Something inside him was screaming at him, something he could barely not remember.

Move! MOVE NOW! RUN!

"MOVE!" Link screamed as he sprang to his feet with a roll, but Midna stood, or rather floated, in confusion, and there wasn't enough time! Thinking quickly, Link thrust his right arm in her direction, sending his shield flying just past her face. One his shield was in front of her, filling her vision, she heard a loud bang and saw a bright flash from around the edges of the shield. The shield was slammed into her with great force, knocking her backward as she collided with the ground on her back.

The shield tumbled off her, freeing her vision in time to see Link flying through the air on her right. He twisted in the air to adjust his position, landed with a loud crash, performed a half roll and half tumble, and slammed his back into the rock behind him. Link was stunned but forced his eyes open in time to see a tree branch the size of his arm heading right for him. He quickly leaned to the right covering his head with his left arm, and heard the branch crash into the wall behind him, getting destroyed and sending splinters flying everywhere, two of which cut Link's face. A light clink revealed Link's lantern landing next to him, flame blown out and surprisingly still in one piece.

The two adventures looked at the carnage in shock. The entire area the gas once resided was scorched black, and it was amazing the trees were still standing. Aside from the miraculous trees, there wasn't a single sign of life left. Everything was burned away, right down to the last piece of grass.

Link tried to rise and felt a sharp pain in his chest and back, but with a long groan, he managed to get to his feet using the wall to keep himself stable. With his left arm around his chest and his right on the wall, Link took a moment to catch his breath. Link heard the faint sound of Midna approaching from behind, circling to his front. Link raised his head to see her examining him while holding his shield in both hands. After a few seconds, she floated to his back and reattached his shield.

"What the hell was that?!" Midna said now that the shock was starting to wear off.

"Whatever that purple gas was is obviously explosive."

"You think?"

Link took his arm off the wall but kept his other around his torso and picked up his lantern.

"It's a very effective weapon."

"What?"

"Think about it. It's poisonous and drains all your energy while you die, then if you expose it to fire," Link said, gesturing to the carnage, "it destroys anything left. Likely including the body and any evidence. If I didn't see what happened, I'd think this was the result of a really bad fire."

"Are you saying someone used that gas as a weapon?"

"I told you it wasn't here when I came through the first time. It had to get here somehow." The two of them stared at the scorched earth before considering this new revelation.

"What the hell are we up against…." Midna said with concern.

"Well, whoever they are, they're not going to kick their own ass," Link said as he began to make his way forward, "though that'd be nice." Link used the igniter on his lantern and was surprised when a flame came to life inside it. "How the hell is this still working?"

Link and Midna passed through the area once filled with life as a feeling of dread pressed down on them, and they were both overcome with immense relief when they finally got past it.

"The next area doesn't have much shadow cover, so you should get back in my shadow," Link advised Midna, who took his advice, and proceeded to the next area. Almost there, Link thought. Link emerged in the last area before the large tree he made his destination and saw two bokoblins staring in confusion at the wooden structure propped against the wall. Link tried to sneak past them but almost got caught when they turned to head in the same direction he was trying to. Link was going to leave them alone, but he saw they were attempting to plunder the talking bird's shop.

Link silently drew his dagger he attached to his belt and moved closer without a sound. Midna once again noticed that even though she was in his shadow, on the ground, she couldn't hear his footsteps. The bokoblins were conveniently burying their faces in whatever they could find, blocking their vision perfectly. Link snuck behind the bokoblin on his right, covered its mouth with his hand, and slit its throat with the other. Link waited for the muffled cries to cease before lowering the body carefully so it didn't make any sound and approached the remaining enemy. Link repeated almost the same method on his next victim, but instead of slicing its throat, he stabbed straight through it. The efficiency of the kills scared Midna, though she would never admit it.

After receiving tremendous thanks and praise from the talking animal and politely refusing to buy anything, Link removed the corpses from the shop headed away from the stall.

"That bird should give us something for free! If we weren't here, he wouldn't have anything left!" Midna complained once out of earshot of the bird.

"It's running a business Midna," Link responded, ignoring the fact Midna said we when Link did all the work.

"It almost didn't have a business anymore!"

Link trekked forward silently, not interested in debating the topic anymore until he reached the large tree that was apparently a temple of some kind. His eyes rose, trying to see if he could see the top, but just like the bottom, it was too far away to see. Now that he was examining the tree, it struck Link just how massive it was. Not only could he not see the top or bottom, but he couldn't even tell how wide it was either. The tree stretched in every direction as far as he could see. It struck Link that he was here before, and he could have gone in already, but then he realized he didn't know what was in there last time, and he was wildly underprepared. So he pushed the thought away.

Link lowered his eyes and began to walk forward but stopped before he could finish his first step. Sitting in front of the tree's entrance was a wolf that seemed to defy logic. Its fur was a golden color and seemed to be glowing, Link could faintly see through it, making it seem like a ghost, and its left eye was glowing red while its right had a scar in its place. The wolf's eye was staring right at Link, who made sure to stand his ground as not to provoke the wolf.

"What are you doing?"

Link moved only his eyes to see Midna's shadowy form floating in front of him, looking at him with impatience.

"Trying not to prove the wolf."

"What are you talking about?" Midna questioned as she looked directly at the wolf, "what wolf?"

Link turned his attention from the wolf to look at Midna with a questioning gaze and almost didn't see the wolf dash forward and lunge for his head. Link threw his upper body backward, catching himself with his hands, and when the wolf flew over him, he pushed himself back to his feet and drew his sword and shield. As soon as it landed, the wolf sprang back at Link, so Link raised his shield and prepared to strike it with the sword after blocking its attack. Just when the wolf touched the shield, rather than hear a sound of a collision, Link saw the wolf phase through his shield and close its jaws around his head. All Link could see when the wolf struck him was white. The only reason he knew he was knocked over was because he felt himself fall. Link sprang to his feet and raised his shield, prepared to fight blind if necessary, but that thought quickly disappeared when he clearly saw his shield in front of him. His vision didn't turn white. Everything else did.

Link looked around, seeing nothing but white. He couldn't find Midna or anyone else. However, he heard the unmistakable sound of panting behind him. Link spun, ready to face the wolf again but froze when he came face to face with something else. Before him was a skeleton wearing golden armor with a round golden shield and a sword. Its armor and shield were covered in moss, giving Link the feeling they were ancient. The skeleton had only one red dot in the middle of its empty eye socket while the other remained empty and pitch black. Despite being a skeleton, Link could hear its breathing echoing throughout the white land, sounding nothing like the panting he heard before. Link didn't think breathing could be scary, but now he knew it could.

The skeleton raised its shield before him and held its blade high behind him. Link immediately noticed the skeleton was holding its sword in its left hand and its shield in his right, just like Link. Link took a combat stance after the skeleton and examined his opponent. Link would think the skeleton was examining him too, but the glowing red dot never strayed from Link's eyes. It eventually became clear the skeleton was waiting for something, so Link tried to lower his weapon slowly in hopes of avoiding a fight. Once Link dropped his shield, the skeleton dashed forward and swung at Link's head. Link leaned backward the same way he did to avoid the wolf's lunge, but once his hands landed on the ground, he shifted all his weight to them and kicked the skeleton with both feet, sending it staggering backward. Link quickly rolled to his feet and lunged forward for a stab, but the skeleton spun to avoid and brought his sword down on Link's head. Link raised his shield just in time but was sent staggering from the force of the blow. Link leaned back to avoid a slash and responded with one of his own, which the skeleton blocked with its shield before countering. Link stopped the blade with his shield and prepared to counter, but the skeleton bashed Link in the face with its shield, making him stagger, and quickly followed up with a slash that connected with Link's torso, knocking him to the ground.

Link clutched the spot he was struck but felt nothing. Looking at his torso, he saw no sign he was ever hit, even though that blow should have killed him. The skeleton before him returned its arms to its side, showing no intention of fighting anymore.

"A sword wields no strength unless the hand that holds it has courage."

Link was surprised by the sudden deep voice, not expecting the skeleton to speak. Judging by the voice, Link assumed the skeleton was a man and quickly got to his feet.

"You may be the hero of legend, but your current power disgraces the proud green of the hero's tunic you wear," the skeleton continued. Link didn't know why he was being told this, but the skeleton spoke again before he could question anything. "You must use your courage to seek power… and find it you must. Only then will you become the hero for whom this world despairs. If you wish to save Hyrule from the horrors it now faces, then you must receive the secrets I hold."

"Who are you?" Link asked.

"I am the Hero's Shade."

I know I said this chapter would have the Forest Temple, but it didn't turn out that way. The next chapter definitely will though.

I might change this chapter's name if I think of something cooler. If you want to suggest one that's fine, but I make no guarantee it will be chosen.