Ilia for Link and Andim. Link especially. He had been acting very strange lately ever since he went to Hyrule City a few days ago. She walked to the edge of the town where the forest began. She sigh. Nothing. She had to get back to her job now: Tending to the village horses.
Just before she turned around to get there, she heard a dry leaf crunch behind her. Startled, she turned. She was appalled at what she saw: Andim, in tattered clothes, bloody scratches on hr face, and an expressionless face and eyes.
“Ilia…..” Andim staggered toward her, holding onto the trees to keep her from faltering.
“Andim!” Ilia cried as Andim fell to the ground, as strings attached to her legs were cut. Ilia lifted her up and took her to the medical house. She was unconscious.
The doctor looked at Andim as she lay on the floor. When he cleaned her face of the blood and dirt, it revealed more than just a physical wound. Ilia’s intuition was telling her that something bad happened to her on the inside.
“Is she going to be alright, Ara?” Ilia asked worriedly.
“She should be fine by tomorrow,” said Ara, the village doctor. “I know how Link worries.”
“Well that’s just it. Link didn’t come back from wherever he went. And we both know his top priority is to protect Andim no matter what. So I fear that something must’ve happened to him for her to turn out like this.”
“We’ll ask her what happened when she wakes up.”
“Provided that she does….”
Link, like Andim, also blacked out shortly after his transformation. He awoke in a caged cell. He tried to get up like nothing happened, but as he arose, he fall down again. His legs were chained. Along with that, his legs were short and furry. It wasn’t a dream. He really did turn into a wolf!
In Link’s wolf mind, he remembered the moments after his alteration. He didn’t realize it himself, but he attacked Andim! His new claws were stained with her blood.
“No…..no…..no……” he said over and over in his mind. “NO!” he screamed. But it only came out as a wolf’s howl. He tried to gnaw at the chains that bound him to the ground. He knew his efforts were futile, but he still violently ate at the metal chains.
Then his black nose twitched. He smelled a vile scent. He stopped his useless gnawing at the chains and growled in the shadows. The smell of evil heightened as he knew the source was approaching closer now.
“There, there, doggy,” the source said in a familiar and calm tone. The growling of a furious wolf didn’t seem to intimidate it at all. It spoke again, “You have something that I want…”
Now Link knew whose voice that was. It was Andim’s! Link stopped growling altogether. If it really was her, he didn’t want to attack her twice. “Andim?” Link tried to say, but his voice was just a bark or a howl.
“Andim? Who’s that?” asked the girl, as if understanding Link’s new language.
“You’re not Andim?” asked Link.
“You’re close, but you’re going backwards. I’m Midna.”
“Midna. Andim. Andim. Midna. You’re like her reflection aren’t you?”
“Ugh! For the last time! I’m Midna! M-I-D-N-A! I don’t know who this Andim is. But she must be pretty special if you keep bringing her up! Now stop talking! Even though you may not realize it, everyone else is just hearing an annoying wolf howl. So pipe before someone-“
Midna jumped from the wooden door with a small window with bars on it. Out of sight, she heard someone approaching the bared window.
An animal-like man with an unkempt face and unruly hair look at Link. “Shut the fuck up! Stupid dog……” the man walked away.
Midna was in the corner, looking like she was scared. She stood up and walked over to Link. “That was close. You’re going to have to keep quiet until the coast is clear.”
Link growled. Midna reached into Link’s collar and pulled out the Goron’s Ruby that was in it. He honestly forgot it was in there. After all that happened.
“Ah-ha. I knew you had this,” Midna said, holding it up to the moon’s light that showed through the cell.
“Hey, give that back!” Link didn’t realize he howled again.
“Shut up! Geez, I don’t know how this “Andim” puts up with you. Now, if you want to get out of here, then you’ll have to do exactly what I say.”
“Why should I believe you?” asked Link.
“I know what you’re thinking. I would’ve asked the same question. But this is different. A few years ago, a princess from your world, I suspect, came here and was captured. And now that this “great evil” has her, I need to find a way to take back to the “light” world. People from there shouldn’t come here. Which I suspect you did because of your condition now. Rest assured, she ok. She wore this mysterious cloak that shields her from this alien world to her. She won’t be too hard to find.
“As for the stone, I’m going to need it. You can have it back. Provided that you survive that long.” Midna looked down at the stone that was glowing. “What’s this? The stone throbs.”
Midna reached into Link’s collar again and pulled out the Kokiri’s Emerald. “Even better. I would think that you have the sapphire as well?”
Link shook his head. “You’re lying!” Midna said, growing impatient.
“I don’t have it. I was looking for it before I came here, that’s the truth.”
Midna looked closely at both of the stones. “They’re not glowing. You’re telling the truth….I’m sorry.”
“What do you want?”
“Maybe we can make a deal. It’s a very big world out here. A small person like me won’t be able to travel very far or fast. That’s where you come in.”
“Oh….I don’t like the sound of this.”
“You’re going to be my ride around here.”
“Damn! I knew you were going to say that!”
“Yeah, I said that. Will you do it?”
“No!”
“Think of it this way: I can get you out of here. All you have to do is let me ride you. And you can save that princess of your world. You’d get your stones back, and you can go back to that precious Andim, of yours.”
Link just nodded. “Good. Now, keep quiet, and I’ll take care of that guard down the hall.” Midna walked to the door with the small bared window. Then looked back at Link. “Howl!” she commanded.
Without a second thought, Link howled loud enough for anyone within a mile could hear him. Link got Midna’s plan to summon a guard. But for the of rest the plan, he remained in the dark.
“Get over here and help me up to the window,” Midna motioned to Link. Link walked to the door and stood with his left side touching the wall. Midna ducked under the tiny window as they heard footsteps approaching.
The same man was at the door again. “I said shut up!” he barked. In one motion, Midna bolted up so that she was visible to the man on the other side of the bars, she put her left hand on the back of his head and her right hand on his face. Quickly, she moved them both counter-clockwise and snapped the man’s neck.
“Ok. Now, I’ll release you from you chains. Hold still,” said Midna. She placed her hand on Link’s shackles and in one glow under her palm, the chains broke, setting Link free. “Now we need to get out of here.”
“Just go through the door,” said Link, not straining his voice since the guard was now dead.
“Oh sure, when the guard doesn’t report back to switch shifts, we’ll just walk out the front door, right where they expect us to go.”
“Well I don’t see you helping!”
“I just set you free!”
“Yeah, but you also took my stones away!”
“They’re not your stones! They’re the Spiritual Stones!”
“Doesn’t matter! I still had them in my possession and you took them!”
“Shut up! Just let me think!” Midna looked around. “Those ducts would work. They’re used to move about this place unseen. Sort of like a spy route.”
“That’s odd. Why would they include a duct that people could use to spy on their plans?”
“You got me. If I was designing this place, I would’ve left that out. I don’t even know what this place is.”
“Then how did you find me?”
“I saw you enter this world for the first time. I could tell because I’ve never seen you here before. And I know of everyone here. I was-am-in dire need of help to destroy the evil that threatens our world. Maybe even yours. Since you don’t know anyone here, you would have a clean slate. You didn’t know anything about this place, so I could trust you.”
“…I just want to go home.”
Midna looked at Link with sympathy. “I’ve never had a home. I lived any prayed off my own ambition, to stop the destruction of my world.”
“…Let’s go…” Link did not want to sadden the only person that can help him now.
The duct was as tall as Midna on top of Link. With an extra foot to spare. The width was wide enough for Link to sleep in, with his tossing and turning and all. A grate was at the end of the duct.
Midna told Link to run as fast as he could at it, she would do the rest. Link charged at it with speed and force. Midna used an invisible wall to push through. The wall reminded Link of Andim. And how he hurt her. He pushed the thought aside. He did not want to think about it. Not now when he needed every ounce of his concentration.
When they were out of the duct, Midna told Link to run out of the gate that lay ahead. As Link was running, a few guards were waiting at the gate. Link slowed, but still ran fast. “Don’t worry about them, I’ll take care of them!” Midna yelled to him. “Ha!” Midna threw a flame ball at him.
“Thank you, Goron’s Ruby!” she called. Link suspected it gave her that new attack. The gate burst open at Midna’s hand. A bridge ran across from the gate to a spiraling pillar with stairs going all the way around it. “Down those stairs! Hurry!”
Behind them, spears, arrows, and knives were being thrown at them. Midna used her magic to make another wall. This time, it made everything behind it swirly. Like it was under water. It deflected everything that hit him.
When they scurried their way downstairs, they made their way out of a bigger gate. This one, Link hoped, was the real way out. ‘Why were they after me?’ Link thought. ‘Why were they so determined to imprison me?’
When they finally out, after the barrage of weapons and people chasing them stopped, Link finally got a good look at this world. Everything was in black, white, ash, and gray colors. Like a worn out pictograph photo. It just seemed so depressing. Toaru Village alone seemed to hold more joy than this place.
Unusual animals seemed to roam the sky with endless energy. Midna was silent on Link’s back. A simple explanation about this world would’ve been nice. Midna held tight on Link’s metal collar.
“That was some great speed back there,” Midna said finally.
“Thanks, I used to run before I was….well a wolf,” Link said, with a little humor.
“Your body is not able to sustain it’s original form while it is here. That is why you are this way. But fret not, most people from the light world of yours can’t even survive here.”
“I guess that makes me feel better, but there was a question that’s been on my mind since I got here.”
“What is this place?”
“….Link…..Welcome to the Twilight Realm.”
