Born a Weapon

A Twilight Princess Fan story

Chapter 14

Arrival

"The Hero's Shade? What does that mean?" Link asked. He had been called a hero, was this skeleton some kind of metaphorical shadow of him? The thought that a skeleton might represent him in some way worried him. Or was it a ghost? His ghost? That didn't make any sense.

"Later," the skeleton said. "You adapt to situations well and are very flexible. That will undoubtedly help you. But your skill with a sword is pitiful." Pitiful? Didn't he just give this skeleton a tough fight? How was his skill pitiful? Although, he never did get a hit with his sword, and the skeleton had little trouble blocking him. The only hit he got was the surprise kick he pulled off at the start of the fight. "If you are to survive, that must change."

"Well, what am I supposed to do about that? Are you offering to teach me?" Link said, gesturing to the warrior.

"Yes. You will learn and learn well, or you will perish. Assume a combat stance," the shade ordered.

Link was still confused and fumbled a bit at the sudden command but shifted his position to match how he stood when the fight he lost so easily started. The skeleton sheathed his sword on his back in a scabbard that didn't exist and attached his shield to it as well, just like how Link put away his weapons. The shade approached Link and adjusted his grip on the sword, making Link uncomfortable with the menacing breathing right next to him. Not to mention the skeleton towered over him.

Link practiced his swordsmanship for an unclear amount of time, taking the shade's criticism and advice to adjust his movements several times. Between sword movements, the shade told Link how to use his shield effectively. When the skeleton finally decided Link was performing well enough, he instructed Link to fight him again.

Link made the first move again, opening with a high slash that was quickly blocked. The blow was much faster and more precise than in the previous fight, and although it was still easy for the shade to block, it was not as easy as last time. When the shade retaliated, his sword came at Link with much more speed than before, forcing Link to use his shield to block because there was no time to dodge. It became clear the skeleton was holding back in the last fight and was likely still holding back now. If the shade beat Link so easily while holding back, Link did not want to fight him at his best.

Link kicked his opponent's leg, knocking it out from under him, making him fall to one knee, and tried to stab his face. The shade swiftly pinned Link's sword with his own, pulling Link forward with the sudden motion and bringing his shield up into his face. Link stumbled back, grabbing his face with a grunt.

"You didn't teach me to block with a sword!" Link grumbled.

"You are not ready for that move," the shade said as he stood, "If you try it before you improve further, you will likely get yourself killed. However, your enemies will not match your skill to allow a fair fight."

No, but I'm glad you are, Link thought. The shade lunged forward quickly with his sword pointed for a stab, but Link ducked and quickly rose shield first and smacked the shade's sword as hard as he could, sending it flying. Link promptly followed up with an upward slash which was blocked, but then used his shield to bash the shade, knocking him back, and swung his sword through his neck. The swing should have removed the skeleton's head but did nothing.

"Very good," the shade spoke, "that was a pinpoint strike. You have improved in the short time I have been teaching you, but you will still struggle against skilled opponents." Link gave a nod and put away his weapons. He knew he wouldn't become a swordmaster in one lesson and was content with the results of his training. "Before you leave this place, I have one more tip for you. When you knock an enemy down, make sure you finish it off before turning your attention elsewhere. Clever foes may fake their deaths to surprise you, and more skilled enemies may quickly recover. Never overlook your opportunity to finish a fight quickly, so long as it does not compromise your effectiveness."

"So, finish killing enemies fast, and if they're knocked over, that's an easy way to do that, but still be careful I don't do it when it would be stupid to." Link summarized. The shade nodded in response, and Link's vision began to turn white again.

"Farewell, hero. When you need to improve your skill to overcome the threats you face, I will return." Link's vision filled with white, preventing him from seeing anything, and he heard the shade's voice one last time. "A sword wields no strength unless the hand that holds it has courage. Remember those words."

Link slowly opened his eyes, not remembering closing them. Right in front of his face was Midna, leaning close to his face to see him better.

"Finally!" Midna cried when she saw Link's eyes open. "What happened to you? Did something hit you? I don't see any wounds on you."

"I'm fine. I was learning how to kill people with a dead guy." Link sat up groggily and elaborated before Midna could question his sanity again. Even though he was sure she would anyway. "There was a skeleton ghost… wolf… guy. Ok, so a wolf tackled me, then I met with a skeleton, and he taught me how to fight. Called himself the Hero's Shade."

"Shade? Like a shadow? Or a ghost?"

"Well, you're my shadow right now, so I'm guessing ghost," Link got to his feet, still a bit shaky.

"I doubt he would care if he was a shadow or a ghost."

"Probably not. How come you're not asking me if I'm crazy again?"

"I should," Midna began as she crossed her arms. "But I saw the way you fell. Something hit you, and I can't see anything that did, and you seem fine." Midna shook her head and sighed. "I don't know. Maybe it has something to do with you being this hero the light spirit mentioned. You said the skeleton called himself the Hero's Shade."

"I guess. Faron did say that."

"Well, I doubt he taught you much in just a few minutes. So this was just a waste of time."

"Wait, what? I was training for at least an hour, probably two!" Link sighed and facepalmed, "magic. Right. Ok, whatever, let's go. I want to get this over with." Link continued on his path once Midna had turned into his shadow again. Link was about to reach the area he rescued Talo from, which he knew was right before the entrance to the temple. But he encountered another problem. Blocking his path was a locked gate with two bokoblins on the other side.

"These things can make gates? Well, I wasn't expecting that." Midna said from his shadow.

"They can make some basic structures, but this doesn't look like their work. It's too well made." Link examined the gate and reasoned he wouldn't be able to break it open. If the bokoblins made it, maybe he could with enough force and time. "This looks more like the work of bulbins."

"So, what are you going to do? That idiot has the key." Although Midna didn't come out of Link's shadow to point, a quick glance through the bars let him identify the idiot. The two bokoblins were mocking Link, one of which was holding the key just too far for Link to reach through the bars and grab if he tried. Link ignored the mocking sounds from beyond the gate and silently examined the obstacle before crossing his arms.

"All right, screw this." Link said as he began to walk backward. When he was a decent distance away, he sprinted towards the gate.

"You're not going to be able to ram it open," Midna commented, which Link ignored.

When Link reached the gate, instead of bashing into it like Midna and the bokoblins expected him to, he used his momentum and ran up the gate until he could grab the top with his hands and pull himself over and land on the other side right in front of the bokoblin with the key.

"Hi," Link casually said to stunned bokoblin and kicked him with as much force as he could once it tried to react. The bokoblin fell onto its companion, knocking it over, and Link quickly stabbed his sword through them both in one move.

"What was that?!" Midna questioned as Link wiped the blood off his sword using the grass since there was nothing else to use before picking up the key the bokoblin dropped.

"Parkour."

"Well, that should be useful."

Link walked up to the entrance covered by a giant spider web. From the size, Link estimated it came from a Skulltula. It was a bit too conveniently placed. There were no other signs of spider activity anywhere aside from this one web perfectly blocking the entrance. The last time Link tried to cut a web down, it didn't go so well, but he did have a wooden sword at the time. Wanting to save lantern oil, he gave his sword another try, and it broke some of the web away, but not much. Link had the hack away at the web for at least a minute before it was broken.

"Geez, what is that stuff? It doesn't look that strong."

"It shouldn't be," Link said as he tried to get bits of the web off his sword. "Not even a skulltula's web is this strong."

"What's a skulltula?"

"A giant spider."

"… What's a spider?"

"Something you'll probably hate."

Link headed into the temple and immediately realized how dark it was. There was no light source in sight aside from the entrance, and the tunnel stretched on longer than he could see.

"It's so dark and dreary in here." Midna's voice came from next to Link as she emerged from his shadow to float next to him. Link took out his lantern and lit it, but it didn't light up as much of the area as he hoped. "Don't go running out of lantern oil. I don't want to take care of a lost little boy who's afraid of the dark."

"I don't fear the dark," Link said, "I fear what might hunt within it."

Eventually, Link emerged into a large open area lit with torches. A single door on a high platform clearly had stairs at one point, but all that remained of them now was wooden supports with a few planks attached to them. Link put out his lantern and put it away, using the torchlight to see and freeing his hands. He slowly and carefully climbed up the wooden planks after ensuring no surprises were waiting for him. When he reached the top, he saw the door had a red design that slightly resembled a swirl, but just barely, and no visible handle. Link tried pushing the door and got nowhere, but when he tried to slide it, the door gave way and slid into the wall and out of his way.

The next area had three doors leading in different directions, not counting the one he entered in, but they were all next to a raised platform, and it seemed their bridges were broken. Link examined the room and saw that there wasn't any sign of bokoblins in the immediate area. He checked the ceiling for any clever ambushers as he climbed the staircase to the elevated platform. After a few seconds of internal debate, Link decided to go straight… because that had the shortest gap he would have to jump. When Link opened the door, sunlight began to creep in, causing Midna to grunt as she backed away before seeking cover in Link's shadow.

Link emerged on a ledge outside the part of the tree he was in, and he saw a long wooden bridge leading to another section over a massive drop. On his left in the distance, he could see bridges that seemed to rotate when the wind struck a propeller position in the middle. At first, that seemed pointless, but he saw that the rotating bridges could be used to make a variety of paths. Still, the wind seemed like an unreasonable thing to rely on. Link began crossing the long wooden bridge, noting he could not see the ground from where he was. When Link was about a fourth of the way across the bridge, a large white monkey appeared from beyond a door on the side he was heading to.

The monkey had a strange object on its forehead, but Link was more concerned it was holding a strange-looking boomerang. The boomerang seemed to be made to resemble a feather with a golden handle and center and had a red jewel in it. The monkey raised the boomerang over its head, and the wind suddenly became more intense.

"What the hell is going on?!" Midna cried over the wind, which Link barely heard. The monkey threw the boomerang, and it soared out to the side of the bridge before curving towards the middle. Link's eyes widened in realization, and he immediately began sprinting back to where he came from. The boomerang collided with the middle of the bridge and snapped it in half, causing Link and the bridge to fall. Link grabbed onto the planks he was just running on and braced himself to swing violently into the wall of the tree. When he collided, the force knocked his grip loose, and he did an involuntary backflip before grabbing onto a lower plank.

Link glanced behind him to see the monkey mock him before running off through the same door it came out of. Link climbed to the top as quickly as he could and headed back inside and shut the door in case the monkey returned to attack again.

"Since when could monkeys use weapons?!" Link cried in aggravation as he threw his arms out to his side. "What the hell is going on with my life?!"

"You know yelling isn't going to get you an answer."

"I know, but I'm doing it anyway!" Link leaned against the wall and closed his eyes for a moment to calm down. He clearly couldn't get across the gap he nearly fell into now. Not without something to get him across, and there didn't seem to be anything that could do that. He would have to go through the other doors.

Link jumped back to the elevated wooden platform and looked at the doors. The door on his right, which was on his left when he entered, was too far for him to jump to. He headed to the opposite door and reasoned he could jump to that one. Barely. Link backed up to the opposite end of the platform and sprinted towards his target, leaping through the air when he reached the edge of the wooden structure. He slammed into the wall beneath it and let out a grunt but managed to grab the ledge with his left hand. Link grabbed the ledge with his other hand and pulled himself onto it. Link walked up the door and slid it to the side to open it just like the other.

The room beyond was dark, so Link lit his lantern to illuminate it. Once the flame came to life, he saw another large web just beyond what he could see without his lantern. Link drew his sword to hack away at the web, not wanting to risk lighting something on fire in such an enclosed space made entirely of wood. To his surprise, his sword cleaved through the web with minimal effort.

"That's how strong a skulltula's web should be. I have no idea why the other one was so tough. It's weird."

"Well, weirdness aside," Midna began as she emerged from Link's shadow and stretched, "I'm glad this area doesn't have the sun. Staying in your shadow is like sitting in a chair. Even if it's comfortable, it gets uncomfortable after a while."

"Is my shadow comfortable?"

"It is, actually. I didn't think it would be. But I still don't want to be stuck in there forever."

"I get it. I wouldn't want to be stuck in the same chair for hours either."

A faint ticking noise came from the left, and Link leaned slightly to look past Midna into the darkness. He silently handed the lantern to Midna, who silently took it without complaint, understanding Link had noticed something. With his right hand now free, Link grabbed his shield and held it at the ready. Link and Midna slowly backed away from where the noise originated until Midna cried with alarm. Link turned quickly to see Midna had backed into another large spider web, ensnaring her back and legs but not her head or arms, and noticed his left foot was stuck in it as well.

From the darkness emerged a large eight-legged creature, its many eyes set on the prey that had gotten stuck in one of its webs.

"What is that?!" Midna cried as she tried to pull free from the web but only succeeded in getting more of her stuck. Link quickly grabbed the lantern from Midna so she wouldn't ignite the web with them both stuck in it and, with nowhere else to put it, attached it to his waist while it was still lit. The flame was hot but did not burn him or set his clothes on fire.

The skulltula lunged forward toward Link, but he managed to quickly slice the web around his leg and roll out of the way. Link instantly noticed the area had scattered spiderwebs when he almost backed into another one. He would have to be careful not to get stuck while fighting. The skulltula turned to face Link with an urge to kill. He would make a far better meal than the small creature currently stuck in its web.

The arachnid lunched at Link again, trying to bite him. Link hopped away, wary of the webs, and slashed at the skulltula's leg. Link's sword left a nasty gash on his opponent that began to bleed before the same leg was used to smack Link and knock him backward. The skulltula prepared to lunge at Link again, but an orange fist from Midna knocked it off balance. Link used this opening to sever the leg he already damaged with his sword, causing the skulltula to reel back and flail in pain, and when it leaned backwards, Link rushed forward and made a long slash on its underbelly with an upward swing. The spider collapsed from the pain and protected its stomach from further attack, but Link raised his sword and plunged it straight through the creature's neck, killing it.

"Well, that was unexpected," Link commented as he pulled his sword out of his enemy and wiped it on the floor.

"No kidding! Get me out of this!"

Link stepped around the dead spider and cut Midna out of the web. He yanked the remaining web off her before doing the same to the piece on his leg. Remarkably Link was unscathed after the battle. He just hoped there weren't any more hiding in the shadows. After cutting through all the webs in his path, Link emerged into another hallway and continued onward, hearing Midna make a disgusted noise as she glanced back at the dead skulltula.

"I think we should stop for the day," Link said. It had been several hours after the incident with the skulltula, and it was clearly nighttime now, even though there was no way to track the time in the giant tree. Midna had gotten noticeably tired as her eyes were starting to close, and she had yawned several times recently.

"I hate to admit it, but you're right. Damn it. I wanted to get through this place today."

"I know you want to get this done as quickly as possible, and we should. There's no reason to leave people suffering any longer than we have to, but this whole thing is going to take a while. If the other pieces are as hard to find as this one, it might take weeks. And if they're harder, it could take months."

"I know, I know. I really hope it doesn't take that long. I just want to go as fast as possible, but you're right. If we get too tired, we'll just get ourselves killed. Then no one will be saved."

Link gave a slight nod before sweeping the area with his eyes. After finding a suitable spot to rest up a ledge that nobody could reach unless they could use parkour like Link or float like Midna, the two of them made their way up to the top of it.

"Here," Link said, reaching into his pouch and pulling out some bread, "I know it's not fancy, but it's food."

"I'll take what I can get," Midna snatched the food from Link's extended hand and sat while floating in the air and using her orange hair hand as a table to hold the food. Link sat against the wall and looked out at the tree. There wasn't anything interesting to look at, but that meant there wouldn't be any surprises while they slept. The only way something could come after them was if it came through a door, and those weren't exactly quiet.

Link reached into his pouch again to find something to make sleeping more comfortable with and was surprised with what he found. He had several blankets and long, relatively soft matrasses in his pouch with some semi-soft pillows. It was by no means as comfortable as any basic bed, but it was still better than sleeping on the floor.

"Would you look at that," Midna said, eyeing the two make sift beds Link was making, "those light spirits thought of everything." Midna dropped onto one after she finished eating the last of her bread. "Couldn't they have made them more comfortable, though?"

"A big fancy bed would take a long time to set up and wouldn't fit in many places. This is the best setup for us."

"Lay on that bed and then tell me that," Midna said as she rolled over, turning her back to Link. "Whatever, I'm going to sleep." Link got into bed himself and closed his eyes to sleep.

"It's not that bad."

"Yes, it is."

Link had no idea how long he was asleep, but he was slammed by a headache when he woke up. He gripped his head and grunted in pain and was vaguely aware of Midna waking from her bed and floating upwards.

"What's that smell?" Midna asked, still sounding groggy. Smell? Now that Link thought about it, there was a scent filling the room. He didn't remember it being there when he went to sleep. "It's coming from this way."

"Wait, you forgot your helmet."

Midna didn't seem to hear him, or just didn't care, and continued floating away. Thinking it was foolish to leave such an important magical artifact behind, he went over and picked it up. It seemed so harmless, just lying on the ground. You would hardly think it was an evil artifact Faron had warned could corrupt its users. Wait a second… corrupt its users? Suddenly Link didn't think holding it was a very good idea, so he quickly placed it into his magical pouch. Maybe you have to use its magic for it to corrupt you? Or you need to spend a lot of time with it? But Midna seemed fine. Wait a second, where was she going? The stupid headache made it hard for him to focus!

Link dropped down from his ledge, but in his dazed state, he messed up his landing a bit and fell over. He cried out in surprise more than pain since he didn't mess up the landing entirely. Again, Midna seemed oblivious to Link.

"Midna, we shouldn't separate. You never know when something might come through one of the doors. Midna! Can you not hear- Whoa!" As Link approached Midna, the smell became more intense, along with his headache. "What the hell is that stuff? Where is it coming from?"

A faint noise caught Link's attention, and he looked towards it to see something slowly emerging from the ground. At first, it was just a large purple mass, but a thin green stalk slowly followed it. The purple mass opened to reveal a mouth of teeth, and it took Link's clouded mind far too long to realize it was a deku baba. It had managed to avoid his attention because it didn't have the trademark leaf formation all the other deku baba's he'd seen did. The next thing Link's slow mind realized was the deku baba had emerged right next to Midna, who seemed as oblivious to it and Link's cry of warning as she was to his words a few moments ago. Link sprinted forward to do something, but he began to stumble as his headache became worse and worse the closer he got. His balance was beginning to fail him, and the world seemed to become hazy and spin slightly. Link forced himself to keep moving forward and suddenly ran into Midna, knocking her to the ground. Her only reaction was a slightly confused noise.

Link fell to the ground, catching himself with his arms, and was faintly aware of a sharp pain in his arm. He grabbed onto the purple mass biting him, and pulled with all the might he could muster in his weakened state, ripping the stem in two. The deku baba's head turned limp and fell from Link's arm, collapsing on the floor. Link lay on the ground, trying to gather his strength and thoughts as the smell slowly began to disappear from the room, and he remembered something someone had said to him before.

I even heard there's a rare kind of Deku Baba that lets out a scent and puts its victims in a trance! They wander right up to it and don't even realize it's about to eat them!

That's right. Coro said that before Link ran off to save Talo. Guess that rare deku baba wasn't made up. But he was missing something… Coro said something else.

I also heard their bites can have deadly poison! Real scary stuff, guy!

Oh yeah. They had poison in their bites too. It must suck to be bitten by one of those things.

…

Oh shit.

Link checked his left arm, and sure enough, there were puncture marks in his clothes. The bite had been on his elbow, the least protected part of his arm, and judging by the burning feeling forming there, the bite punctured his skin and injected some poison. His mind was foggy at the time, but he was sure the bite had lasted for at least ten seconds.

Link tried not to think of just how much poison could have entered his body in that much time and just tried to reach for the bottle of spring water he had in his pouch, but of course, it couldn't be that easy. His elbow wouldn't bend, and the pouch was on the left side of his waist.

"Midna…" Link called, his voice weak and cracking, "I need your help." Link shuffled over to where Midna had landed and turned her from her side onto her back. Her eyes looked through Link into nothing, but she seemed fine. "Midna!" Link called as she shook her, but his voice and shaking were pitiful. A slight reaction came from Midna as she seemed to become confused why she was suddenly shaking, but she was still too affected by the deku baba's scent to help.

Link idly wondered why he wasn't as affected as Midna was before realizing that didn't matter right now since the poison seemed to be affecting him. He couldn't move his entire left arm now. Link tried to grab his pouch with his right arm, but it was too far for him to reach. Link removed the belt holding the pouch after a lot of effort with just his right hand and quickly threw it on the ground. He undid the lid and plunged his hand inside, fishing for the bottle. After not finding anything, he resorted to lifting the pouch upside down and pouring its contents on the floor, and the bottle finally came out… and began rolling away.

"Damn it! NO!"

Link rose to chase after the container but immediately collapsed again. His legs were far too weak to support his own weight. Link inched closer in a crawl, moving his legs and one functional arm to move across the floor. Halfway to his destination, Link's legs collapsed and became useless. Pain began to flare in his chest as he looked hopelessly at the water that could save him. It was so close and so far at the same time.

"No! I'm not dying yet! Not so soon!" Link used his right arm to grab the dirt, "I don't care if I've lived for 17 years, I'VE LOST ALL THAT!" Pulling his arm back towards himself, Link gained barely any ground as he screamed his previously unknown age out to the liquid, avoiding him. "I've had barely any time," closer… "to live a simple life before this chaos happened!" closer… "THREE DAYS! THAT'S IT!" closer… "That's all I got!" his arm felt weak, "And if I have to live the crazy life of some hero," It burned "I refuse to die," it burned so much, "until I find out what my life was like before!" The pain was so intense, "Until those kids are safe," He felt like his insides were on fire, "UNTIL MY MISSION IS COMPLETE!"

Links fingers landed on the cool glass. It was such a contrast to the burning feeling inside him. His hand raised the bottle to his mouth, and he used his teeth to remove the lid and down the contests as fast as he could, all without rising in the slightest. While he was drinking, his arm became as useless as the other, and the bottle fell from his grasp. He watched as it rolled away with what little liquid remained inside, spilling some. He had managed to down most of the water, and all he could do now was hope it was enough as his world faded to black.