LOZ:Twilight Princess:Ch.6 FINAL

----Chapter 6: Hero Chosen by the Gods


Link raced across the rickety bridge that led toward where the beginning of his nightmare had taken form.  As he stepped off the last of the planks and onto solid ground, already he could feel the beckoning darkness that rose high and offered no escape.  Uneager to relive the experience, his pace quickly cut from a gallop to a creep.  Just looking over the twilight barrier made Link’s fur stand completely on end and his eyes burn.

He slinked forward, the orange highlights blinding him. Here, Midna leapt off his back and approached the wall of blackness.  “The Faron Woods you know so well are now covered in the twilight,” said Midna, and it seemed to him that there was something new in her voice.  Though, whatever Link may have detected at that moment, was gone with the next.  “You may not be able to come back here.  Are you still willing to go?”

It took Link minute to bark his positive response, and though he felt confident in his decision, it was within the next painful moments when he finally came to the realization of the scope of the journey he was about to undertake.

Midna had turned from him, disappearing into the twilight barrier, a ripple coursing outward being the only trace of her existence.  Link had sniffed the air at that moment, trying to digest what had happened, believing that perhaps she had abandoned him after all. Though, this presumption soon washed away upon seeing a large orange arm--yellow tipped fingers attached to it by a silver wrist piece--reach out and grab him up.  In his terror, the agony of his primary encounter with the black hand replayed in his mind.

It had been this swift action and this painful moment that had made Link realize the true nature of his quest.  He had just embarked on a voyage sure to engulf a countless number of his days.  Although he remained ever hopeful that his adventure could end once the Faron spirit could renew his human glory, he had to cling to the promise he had made himself.  To find Ilia, the children, his noble horse.  He had to save them from their fate, which was still very much unclear.  Why had they been taken at any rate?  Who were the monsters that had stolen them and brought about the cruelty of darkness?  Yet, Link had little focus to ponder, for his body felt stretched and twisted as his form passed through the dark portal into the twilit Faron.

On the opposite side, Link looked around, quickly having shaken off the intense ache that had pressed against his body.  The dim air choked his lungs.  He coughed, and realized Midna’s returned presence atop him.  When he looked up, she again had retaken her colorful form, the white and green of her features again visible overtop her shadows.  It was then he noticed, looking up at her, the sky above gleamed like a mystical painting.  Bright golden yellows and subdued violets pierced his eyes.  Sweeping his gaze away from the vivid hues, the twilight suffocated his eyes with splotches of black dots of varying sizes, giving the false impression that his vision was failing and he would soon fall into darkness.  

Yet, he had already fallen.  In this darkness, the twilight hovered about the land, as if mocking it, entrapping it.  The twilight had laid its claim over the land … and Link despised it.

“Ah, do you hear that?” came Midna’s tone, shattering him from his thoughts and observations.

Link listened, and Midna voiced what he heard.  “It’s the lamentation.”

Indeed, Link agreed.  Ever since he had listened to the depressing song of Ordona, he knew that he would never forget such a melody.  At once, he tore across the pathway in the wood, trying to locate from where the spirit sang.  He rushed through the low boughs and giant shrubs and tall grasses, without putting a care to the many slaps leaves offered him or the many prickles that the ground presented to his paws.

In the distance he could see the tiny alcove where water sprinkled over the rocks of the natural boundary between tree line and spring.  Link sped his pace, yet was halted at the sudden appearance of shadow beasts.  Three squeals shattered his ears.  After the initial shock, however, Link instantly took action.

One of the three monsters slashed out at him with its blade-sharp fingers, but Link leapt back, clearing the blow.  He snapped back at the creature, digging his teeth into its neck, as the other two closed in.  As Link detached himself from the shadow, he sprang away to avoid the attacks of the others just in time.  In anger, the wounded beast twisted about, shrieking.  Link dodged a series of assaults, Midna clinging to his thick neck with all the strength within her tiny hands.

At Link’s next offensive opportunity, he raced across the backs of the shadow beasts, ripping and digging at every piece of black and red flesh into which he could submerge his teeth and claws.  Within seconds, the pained screeches of the three identical shades ruptured from their lungs, and they turned to black dust and faded into the haze of the twilight.

Adrenaline rushing through his veins, Link tried hard to calm his body, which still shook with the sudden jolt of surprise that had shuddered through him upon first hearing the beasts’ squeals.  Stilling his breaths and Midna slackening her hold upon his hair, the couple returned to their search for the spirit spring, leaving the reality of the battle behind them.

Through a curve in the woodland path, they happened upon the niche that held the magical waters of the spirit’s dwelling.  Above the massive collection of droplets hovered the unmistakable form of a disembodied spirit being.  It’s harmony of dejected lyrics did not cease upon their approach, however, as the tune had when they had spoken with Ordona.  Nor did the circling sparks of light transform into a beast of white light.  The bubbles of radiant light simply drifted weightlessly about as fragments of a larger orb.

At long last a weakened voice called out to the partners in a hoarse crackle of gentleness, its purity shattered by its disfigurement.  “Please … be careful,” it warned.  “These woods have changed.  The dark clouds of dusk cover this land, the drape of the twilight.  In this twilight those who live in the light … become as mere spirits.”

Yes, Link thought to himself.  The princess told me of this.

“It is a place,” the spirit continued, “where the dark ones and evil creatures dwell.”  It let out a moan.  “I am … a spirit of light....  Blue eyed beast, look for my light.  Retrieve the light stolen by the dark beasts … and keep it in this vessel.”

The fragmented appendages surrounding the ball of energy spread down toward Link like a key of islands.  When they had stretched to a distance just above his snout, their glow grew ever brighter, and in a swift flash, an ornament that looked like a sprig of grapes appeared to the companions.  Midna reached out for it since Link did not own the necessary opposable thumbs which would allow him to hold it.

“In the shadows of twilight … the dark insects are as invisible as normal beings are.  However … in your current state … I must press upon you not to deny the abilities you possess.  It may very well hold the key … to pressing back the twilight,” declared Faron in a resolute attempt to convey the gravity of the circumstance.  “Find the insects of darkness....”

Faron’s voice faded into the rhythm of the continued melody, and it was the motivation Link needed to turn from the light and begin his last steps toward regaining his humanity.  Midna looked down to him as she held the vessel tenderly.  As Link set off into the woods once more, he did not notice the stare that passed over her countenance.  She looked at her hands then before passing her gaze back to Link, to the symbol painted across his forehead.

It took a few seconds for her to realize her trance, and she shook loose, agitated with herself. What did it matter to her what Link did?  He had agreed to help her, and he was an honest human … wolf.  And whatever happened to him on their journey together would not be her fault.  He had agreed willingly, and she could not turn back now.

She would not turn back.

===============

Locating every dark insect convicted of stealing the spirit’s scattered light had taken them to the boundaries of the forest and the thick of the swamp’s treetops.  Link had heeded the words of Faron and used the capabilities of his bestial body to find the remains.  His long snout had become useful, so much so that momentarily Link hated the thought of renouncing it.  But such emotion lasted only for instants, as he truly would be glad to be returned to a body without a tail.

A few hours into their hunt, Link had come across a small shack in a corner of the woods.  A campfire had been suffocated in front of the home, rendered to ashes by the winds.  The owner, it appeared, had retreated inside days ago, the tracks leading to the front door.  Link also noted that the door had been barred shut from the inside, the windows also fastened tight by planks of wood.  Link would have left the owner to his hiding, except … his nostrils picked up the familiar scent of darkness.

Midna took the hint immediately. “We’ll have to find another way inside.”

He nodded and padded his way along the corners of the hut.  Just when they thought that the owner had left no opening unlocked, Midna pointed upward.  “There!”  

Link followed her gaze.  A squared hole led into the house from a makeshift balcony.  Link looked about and discovered that the house had luckily been built near a small, leveled knoll.  He pushed himself up the inclination and turned to the house.

He took a moment to adjust his footing on the uneven ground then sprinted and leapt for the eroding ledge.  Three of his paws landed safely on the outcrop, and he struggled--claws grating into the wood--for only a moment to lift his last leg up onto it.

Midna ducked down as he entered through the unshielded threshold.

Once inside, he made his way down to the floor by a series of shelves and crates.  On the ground floor, they could both feel the presence of a lingering spirit, and upon further inspection, Link recognized the fluctuating form of Coro—the odd little man that had once appeared to gift him a lantern.  Great fear boiled in his eyes.

“Oh … these things aren’t normal,” the pair could hear him say.  “So creepy.  Go away!  Shoo!”

Grinning to himself Link had a pretty good idea what Coro found so sinister.  He twisted about and sniffed out the buzzing figures of two light thieves.  With great agility and matching their every turn of attempted escape, Link pounced upon them and bit out the life within them, which only the presence of the light had been able to sustain.  From their corpses blue lights rose, and Midna leaned forward to snatch them as Link stood on his haunches for her to reach.

“Those were the last of them,” proclaimed Midna.  “Let’s return these to Faron.”

Happily, Link turned about, hearing a mumbling Coro as he took his leave from the shack, “They just … died....  Oh, I have no idea what’s going on.”

All Link could ponder on his way back was if the process of returning to his human identity would be painful.

===============

When at last they had again come into the presence of Faron’s spring, Midna immediately slid off Link’s back and placed the vessel of light below the glowing orb.  She then stepped back alongside the eager wolf.  The recaptured blue light rose up from the vessel and grew in color.  Shades of orange, green, and white transformed the light into the missing pieces of the whole, and they were all once again rejoined with its entity.

It was at this point that the dullness of the ground, water, and sky faded into nothing and became the Faron Woods Link remembered from his many excursions.  The rushing of the clear water soothed him, letting him know that his efforts had indeed been well worth the expenses.  

“It was so nice, too,” said Midna.  Her giggle softly played upon his ears.  “What’s so great about a world of light anyway?”  Link looked at her, but she merely laughed off the puzzlement in his eyes, patting his rough coat.

They waited patiently as the spirit spring began to glow, and the orb above it began to reshape itself.  A hand grew out from its sparkle, holding onto its radiance as if selfish of it, cradling it like a babe.  A body matured from the hand, with a long tail that coiled around itself and its only possession.  The eyes of a squirrel-like beast looked back into the eyes of the wolf below.

Link, mesmerized by the shimmering crystalline eyes, could not look away, and he felt transported somehow, away from fear and sorrow and pain.  A certain peace overtook him, lulled him, pulled at him.  He felt an odd sensation, a rip behind his navel, and though it nearly choked him, he felt … relieved, cured of his agony.  He felt lightheaded only for a moment, but regained himself as the spirit at last spoke.

“I am Faron.  I am one of the spirits of light who dwell in Hyrule.  I use the life force of the gods to protect this forest,” the light explained.  “O brave youth, in the land covered in twilight, where people roam as spirits, you were transformed into a blue-eyed beast.”  He paused, allowing Link to digest his prelude before proclaiming, “That was a sign … that the powers of the chosen one rest within you.  And they are reawakening.”

Link could not register it all.  He was transformed because he was destined to do what?  Why him?  What powers?  Who was this chosen one?  What did it all mean?

But Faron reassured him with only, “Look at your awakened form.”

Shock washed over Link as he took in the sight of his hands and legs, which were now free of fur; until now, he had not noticed he no longer sat in the body of a wolf.  He stood before Faron as his fleshy form of shining skin and textured clothes.  However, the clothes that he now wore were of a new nature to him, the attire of Ordon draped over his figure no more.  Now his body was closely knit together with a soft yet durable green tunic and two more layers underneath--one chainmail and the other a simple white, sleeved shirt.  The clothes stretched down to his thighs, and a belt held the layers close around his waist.  Gauntlets and delicately embossed bracers protected his forearms and strong leather boots rose up nearly to his knees.  Off-white trousers wrapped his legs as well.  Then he noticed the final piece of his new garments.  He put a hand up to his hair and patted down the length of a long, wobbly green hat that sucked tight around his head.  The only pieces of his apparel familiar to him were the identical blue earrings still set into the lobes of his pointed ears.

A wave of relief washed over him.  Not only was he once again human, but he had not felt the pain of the reshaping of his twisted body.  He noticed how the color in Midna’s body had once again faded to a solid black, only her eye protruding into the light.

He returned his gaze to Faron, filled still with confusion but also thankfulness.

“The green tunic that is now your garb once belonged to the ancient hero chosen by the gods.  His power is yours.  His is the true power that slept within you,” conveyed Faron.  “You are Link … the hero chosen by the gods.”

A tsunami of bewilderment struck Link at that moment.  A hero?  Chosen by the gods?  Gods in whom, until only a little while ago, he had not stored any belief or faith?  But for what purpose?

Somehow, though, Link knew, and the feeling amazed and confused him.  He knew the gods were real.  He knew the trials that awaited him, the people he would save, the evil he would banish.  It was all so clear to him now, however much he wanted to ignore it.  

“Brave Link,” spoke the light, “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.”  Faron sighed heavy.  “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.  If you would seek this forbidden power, then proceed to the temple.”

Without warning or farewell, Faron broke into shards of light and was engulfed by the spring below as the fragments of his existence fell.

Link tore his gaze away and looked once more to his human hand.  He flexed the fingers, almost as if afraid it was all a cruel dream of the twilight.

Midna watched him silently, and he was too busy warming to his own body again to notice her straying eye.

This was the first time she had seen his humanity up close.  His features were Hylian and he sported a well toned figure.  Light colored hair softly stroked against his face in the wind, and it hung over his eyes, the only part of him that she knew from his former self--a fierce blue gaze which seemed to know more than its sparkle allowed others to see.  They both marveled at his left wrist, one that had once been bound by a shackle.  Obviously, the power of the light had banished its figure from Link’s form.  Midna was sure, though, that the skin must indeed be bruised, and with Link’s attempt to hide a slight pain, she knew.

Midna broke free from her stare, bodily shaking her head free of the nonsense of sentiment, and removed the shield and scabbard from her back.  Immediately, she returned to her sardonic impish character.  “Well, well, chosen hero and all that?  No wonder you turned into that beast.”

Link looked at her and saw his weapons.

“What a shame though … 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....”  She laughed, but this time, its roughness did not bother him.  “So, you want to head to that temple?” she asked, reading his predictable mind.  “That is convenient.  I was about to head there myself.  And you want to help your friends, right?  Maybe they’re in that temple, waiting for you to rescue them.”  She sneered.

Without a word Link seized the sword and shield from her grasp.  He buckled the sash of the scabbard around his torso, and clipped the end of it to his belt.  Once attached, he cast the shield about him and set it onto the sheath.

He looked up and gazed into the forest.  This was his moment.  The beginning of what would be a long journey, he knew, despite his wish for it all just to be over.  For the children to be safe back in Ordon.  For Epona to be laced up outside his home.

For Ilia to be in his arms again … before she had been so ruthlessly snatched away.

His recollection of Ilia was his driving force.  It was his duty to find her and the others, not as the chosen hero, but as a friend.  If his responsibility led him to a temple of the wood, he had a pretty good idea where to begin his search.

Link stepped away from the spirit spring, and Midna dove into his shadow, yet noticing the new sparkle of understanding and courage that emanated from his eyes before she disappeared.  He had already been through so much.  Pain.  Confusion.  Fear.  But now, a gleam of true strength resonated from within him.

And his journey was only just beginning.