Chapter 5
Twilight Palace, In the Heart of The Dark World
I was led to a fancy bedroom by a bunch of ugly monsters.
"Hey, watch it!" I cried as I was tossed to the floor.
"Shadow Assassins! Get down here!" cried a shrill female voice. A few of the monsters hurried away, but the rest stayed. They resembled giant pigs walking on two legs. They positioned themselves in front of the door. One turned his head inside, to stare at me. He pointed his thumb outside the door, then to me, then he pretended to drag his tasseled spear across his throat. He left to his post right outside the door, closing the door behind him. I knew what that meant. Try to leave, and I was dead.
I took a moment to look around the room. The stone walls were beautifully plastered with tapestries, and the marble floor was carpeted with fluffy rugs. A closet that looked like it could hold all the clothes in Hyrule Castle was built into a nearby wall, and a four-poster bed with deep purple and dark crimson sheets rested in the middle of the north wall. My eye caught a dark blue blanket huddled in the corner.
"So they got you too?" I looked around, confused. "Over here." The heap I had taken for a blue blanket slowly rose up. It was a young woman, with silver shoulder armor and a midnight blue dress. Eyes as black as the night sky stared at me from behind a curtain of chocolate brown hair.
Akaya stepped toward me. "My little sister. I was hoping they would forget about you, but the eye of Nayru does not lie.
"What are you doing here?"
"I was kidnapped, just like you." Akaya said quite calmly. "And I suppose you want to know who these people are, what they are going to do with us, and what the Eye of Nayru is, right?"
Dumbstruck, I nodded slowly.
"These people are a band of villains, with intentions of world domination. From what I figure, they already have the Twilight Realm under their little finger, but they will soon focus their hand over the Light World. I do not know what they will do with us, but I can guess they either want us for ransom, or for the powers we carry. The Eye of Nayru is a gift given to a handful of people in the Light and Dark Worlds. It is a power that makes the person clairvoyant, to some extent." She answered the questions in order.
I sighed and miserably trudged over to the bed, where I flopped down onto my back. "What powers are you talking about?"
"When the Goddesses created Hyrule, they blessed the royal family's members so they each had a special talent. As you can see, my talent in clairvoyance."
"And my talent?" I murmured, not quite caring.
"You're blessed with wisdom, of course."
I sat up. "What do mean?"
"Direct daughters of Princess Zelda the First are always blessed with part of the Triforce of wisdom."
"And how do people tell that I am a Direct Daughter of Zelda?"
She shrugged." It's something a princess is born with. You were born with it, but I wasn't, so I got a different blessing."
"And princes don't get this special blessing?"
Akaya shook her head. "We've never had a boy who did."
"Hmm..." I said sleepily.
"You're tired, you should sleep. Only the Goddesses could tell what happens tomorrow."
I rolled onto my side. "The goddesses are the ones who got us in this mess in the first place. Besides, I thought you had Nayru's Eye or whatever..." I murmured. I think Akaya said something else, but I couldn't tell because I was already asleep.
Shadow's House, the Same Night
I headed home quickly. I couldn't wait to tell Link what I had found in the libraries. I climbed up the ladder, and headed inside.
"Hey, Link!" I called, stepping onto the carpet. Wait, a carpet?
"Fabulous, I can see the floor!" I said. Link came climbing down the ladder from the second floor, and walked over to me.
"Way to go, buddy old pal!" I cried, wrapping my arm around his shoulders.
"Ah! Get-get-off of me!" He cried. I let go, chortling.
"Have you found anything in those libraries of yours?" He asked, shrugging his shoulders around to work out cracks.
"I did indeed!" I said, giving him a huge cheesy grin.
"And what did you find?"
"Okay, look at this." I led Link over to my dinner table, and dropped a big, heavy book on it. I thumbed through the pages until I found the one I was looking for.
"See here?" I pointed to the left page. "It says here that a deity turned wrong can be done in these three pendants from the Light World." I pointed to a picture of three metal disks tied to golden chains. "See? They're the pendants of Power, Wisdom, and Courage."
"I've heard Jine talk about her history tutors' lessons." Link said, half to himself. "The pendants are apparently hidden in abandoned master temples around Hyrule."
"Well, looky there!" I cried, closing the book and looking up at Link. "For once, you say something useful!" Link attempted to whack me. I grabbed his arm and gave it a small twist.
"Ow!" He yelped.
"You're lucky you didn't surprise me, or you'd be hand short." I said with a smirk.
Suddenly, loud shouts of yelling and a roar of footsteps thundered outside.
"What's that?!" Link yelled.
I hurried over to the window. Tons of monsters, Moblins, Bokoblins, Kargoraks, Dodongos, you name it, were marching toward the house, screaming bloody murder. I told Link so.
"Haha, dodongo..." He said. I slapped him.
"This is no time to for jokes!"
"Well, what do they want from us?!"
"They probably see that we're a threat to their evil plan, so they're coming to destroy us!"
"They're gonna make us a'splode?!"
He got another slap.
"Most likely!"
"Well...why don't you transport us to the Light World?!" He franticly cried.
"Do you know how much power that takes? I'd need to meditate to restore my magic!"
"So, meditate!"
With a frustrated sigh, I dropped to the floor.
"Don't blame me if we all die, though!" Were my last words before I plunged into my subconscious.
When a Twilin meditates to restore magic, they fall into their subconscious. But a Twilin's subconscious is not like a Light-Dwellers subconscious. Here, you can do whatever you want, for as long as you want. So long as you have once thought it, or about it, it exists in this amazing place. It's like your own personal world.
I can't describe what one looks like. It depends on the person. If you imagine yourself falling into an abysmal glowing blue pit, or simply your own bedroom, that's what it's like. Nothing dangerous can happen to you, so long as your physical body is safe. But if your body dies, your soul doesn't. It can stay trapped inside until you order yourself a painless death. You could stop to meditate one day and sleep through the end of the world.
People often think of the subconscious as the ultimate paradise, but if you stay in it for too long, you could become perfect to yourself, but utterly insane to everyone else.
I didn't plan on staying forever, though. I had a world-and an annoying kid-to save.
I was walking around in the princess's bedroom in the Palace of Twilight. I walked over and flopped onto the bed.
"Energy." I said.
Shadow Magic poured out of the walls, spreading everywhere. I did exactly what my teacher had told me so many years ago.
"Control the urge to absorb that your body has. If you let it run free, your magic channels will clog and nothing will be absorbed. Slowly drag in a current of magic, and push away the rest."
I spread my arms out, and pulled Shadow Magic into them. The rest was kept away until its turn.
Finally, the room was empty. I opened my eyes.
"Awaken!" I cried. Almost as soon as the words had left my mouth I was gliding, gliding back to the real world.
"Link! C'mon!" I cried, jumping up.
"It's about time you got here!" He shouted back. I looked around to see what he meant.
Monsters had begun to climb up the rocky walls to reach windows. Some of the more agile monsters were already trying to bust down the door. The flying pests were pecking t the shutters. The ones that got through were wrestling their bodies inside. Just then I realized the danger of the situation.
"Link! Come! Here!" I shouted, dragging him to the ground, just in time to save him from a stampede of bokoblins.
"Kraa!" They shouted. I held back my giggles for the time being, and focused on transporting myself and Link to the Light World. I allowed the Darkness to drain from my body, and focused on feeling Light and warmth caress my skin. I almost shuddered.
And then we were flying through the air again. Shadowy colors faded to light rainbows, and sunlight covered my body. I looked over at Link to see how he was taking it, but it looked like he was having fun. I squeezed my eyes shut and tried to think dark things. Shards of darkness, black robes highlighted with blue, the beautiful crimson sky...
And then we landed. I stood up and shook myself off. Link did the same.
"So, where do we go now?" He asked.
"The East Palace is where the book said the pendant of Wisdom is, so let's head there."
"Great! Do you know where we go next?"
"Uh, no...let me check the book..." I said, attempting to summon the book from where I had placed it in my mental storage. Mental Storage is an extremely difficult trick for Shadow Magic. The only reason I could do it with ease was because I was a learned master at it.
I searched for a minute, until Link interrupted me.
"Uh...Shadow? You do, somehow, have the book, right? I mean, you brought it?"
I checked one last time. Nothing.
"Shadow?"
I very loudly said a word that made Link look at me in horror and shock.
Chapter 5
Twilight Palace, In the Heart of The Dark World
I was led to a fancy bedroom by a bunch of ugly monsters.
"Hey, watch it!" I cried as I was tossed to the floor.
"Shadow Assassins! Get down here!" cried a shrill female voice. A few of the monsters hurried away, but the rest stayed. They resembled giant pigs walking on two legs. They positioned themselves in front of the door. One turned his head inside, to stare at me. He pointed his thumb outside the door, then to me, then he pretended to drag his tasseled spear across his throat. He left to his post right outside the door, closing the door behind him. I knew what that meant. Try to leave, and I was dead.
I took a moment to look around the room. The stone walls were beautifully plastered with tapestries, and the marble floor was carpeted with fluffy rugs. A closet that looked like it could hold all the clothes in Hyrule Castle was built into a nearby wall, and a four-poster bed with deep purple and dark crimson sheets rested in the middle of the north wall. My eye caught a dark blue blanket huddled in the corner.
"So they got you too?" I looked around, confused. "Over here." The heap I had taken for a blue blanket slowly rose up. It was a young woman, with silver shoulder armor and a midnight blue dress. Eyes as black as the night sky stared at me from behind a curtain of chocolate brown hair.
Akaya stepped toward me. "My little sister. I was hoping they would forget about you, but the eye of Nayru does not lie.
"What are you doing here?"
"I was kidnapped, just like you." Akaya said quite calmly. "And I suppose you want to know who these people are, what they are going to do with us, and what the Eye of Nayru is, right?"
Dumbstruck, I nodded slowly.
"These people are a band of villains, with intentions of world domination. From what I figure, they already have the Twilight Realm under their little finger, but they will soon focus their hand over the Light World. I do not know what they will do with us, but I can guess they either want us for ransom, or for the powers we carry. The Eye of Nayru is a gift given to a handful of people in the Light and Dark Worlds. It is a power that makes the person clairvoyant, to some extent." She answered the questions in order.
I sighed and miserably trudged over to the bed, where I flopped down onto my back. "What powers are you talking about?"
"When the Goddesses created Hyrule, they blessed the royal family's members so they each had a special talent. As you can see, my talent in clairvoyance."
"And my talent?" I murmured, not quite caring.
"You're blessed with wisdom, of course."
I sat up. "What do mean?"
"Direct daughters of Princess Zelda the First are always blessed with part of the Triforce of wisdom."
"And how do people tell that I am a Direct Daughter of Zelda?"
She shrugged." It's something a princess is born with. You were born with it, but I wasn't, so I got a different blessing."
"And princes don't get this special blessing?"
Akaya shook her head. "We've never had a boy who did."
"Hmm..." I said sleepily.
"You're tired, you should sleep. Only the Goddesses could tell what happens tomorrow."
I rolled onto my side. "The goddesses are the ones who got us in this mess in the first place. Besides, I thought you had Nayru's Eye or whatever..." I murmured. I think Akaya said something else, but I couldn't tell because I was already asleep.
Shadow's House, the Same Night
I headed home quickly. I couldn't wait to tell Link what I had found in the libraries. I climbed up the ladder, and headed inside.
"Hey, Link!" I called, stepping onto the carpet. Wait, a carpet?
"Fabulous, I can see the floor!" I said. Link came climbing down the ladder from the second floor, and walked over to me.
"Way to go, buddy old pal!" I cried, wrapping my arm around his shoulders.
"Ah! Get-get-off of me!" He cried. I let go, chortling.
"Have you found anything in those libraries of yours?" He asked, shrugging his shoulders around to work out cracks.
"I did indeed!" I said, giving him a huge cheesy grin.
"And what did you find?"
"Okay, look at this." I led Link over to my dinner table, and dropped a big, heavy book on it. I thumbed through the pages until I found the one I was looking for.
"See here?" I pointed to the left page. "It says here that a deity turned wrong can be done in these three pendants from the Light World." I pointed to a picture of three metal disks tied to golden chains. "See? They're the pendants of Power, Wisdom, and Courage."
"I've heard Jine talk about her history tutors' lessons." Link said, half to himself. "The pendants are apparently hidden in abandoned master temples around Hyrule."
"Well, looky there!" I cried, closing the book and looking up at Link. "For once, you say something useful!" Link attempted to whack me. I grabbed his arm and gave it a small twist.
"Ow!" He yelped.
"You're lucky you didn't surprise me, or you'd be hand short." I said with a smirk.
Suddenly, loud shouts of yelling and a roar of footsteps thundered outside.
"What's that?" Link yelled.
I hurried over to the window. Tons of monsters, Moblins, Bokoblins, Kargoraks, Dodongos, you name it, were marching toward the house, screaming bloody murder. I told Link so.
"Haha, dodongo..." He said. I slapped him.
"This is no time to for jokes!"
"Well, what do they want from us?"
"They probably see that we're a threat to their evil plan, so they're coming to destroy us!"
"They're gonna make us a'splode?"
He got another slap.
"Most likely!"
"Well...why don't you transport us to the Light World?" He franticly cried.
"Do you know how much power that takes? I'd need to meditate to restore my magic!"
"So, meditate!"
With a frustrated sigh, I dropped to the floor.
"Don't blame me if we all die, though!" Were my last words before I plunged into my subconscious.
When a Twilin meditates to restore magic, they fall into their subconscious. But a Twilin's subconscious is not like a Light-Dwellers subconscious. Here, you can do whatever you want, for as long as you want. So long as you have once thought it, or about it, it exists in this amazing place. It's like your own personal world.
I can't describe what one looks like. It depends on the person. If you imagine yourself falling into an abysmal glowing blue pit, or simply your own bedroom, that's what it's like. Nothing dangerous can happen to you, so long as your physical body is safe. But if your body dies, your soul doesn't. It can stay trapped inside until you order yourself a painless death. You could stop to meditate one day and sleep through the end of the world.
People often think of the subconscious as the ultimate paradise, but if you stay in it for too long, you could become perfect to yourself, but utterly insane to everyone else.
I didn't plan on staying forever, though. I had a world-and an annoying kid-to save.
I was walking around in the princess's bedroom in the Palace of Twilight. I walked over and flopped onto the bed.
"Energy." I said.
Shadow Magic poured out of the walls, spreading everywhere. I did exactly what my teacher had told me so many years ago.
"Control the urge to absorb that your body has. If you let it run free, your magic channels will clog and nothing will be absorbed. Slowly drag in a current of magic, and push away the rest."
I spread my arms out, and pulled Shadow Magic into them. The rest was kept away until its turn.
Finally, the room was empty. I opened my eyes.
"Awaken!" I cried. Almost as soon as the words had left my mouth I was gliding, gliding back to the real world.
"Link! C'mon!" I cried, jumping up.
"It's about time you got here!" He shouted back. I looked around to see what he meant.
Monsters had begun to climb up the rocky walls to reach windows. Some of the more agile monsters were already trying to bust down the door. The flying pests were pecking t the shutters. The ones that got through were wrestling their bodies inside. Just then I realized the danger of the situation.
"Link! Come! Here!" I shouted, dragging him to the ground, just in time to save him from a stampede of bokoblins.
"Kraa!" They shouted. I held back my giggles for the time being, and focused on transporting myself and Link to the Light World. I allowed the Darkness to drain from my body, and focused on feeling Light and warmth caress my skin. I almost shuddered.
And then we were flying through the air again. Shadowy colors faded to light rainbows, and sunlight covered my body. I looked over at Link to see how he was taking it, but it looked like he was having fun. I squeezed my eyes shut and tried to think dark things. Shards of darkness, black robes highlighted with blue, the beautiful crimson sky...
And then we landed. I stood up and shook myself off. Link did the same.
"So, where do we go now?" He asked.
"The East Palace is where the book said the pendant of Wisdom is, so let's head there."
"Great! Do you know where we go next?"
"Uh, no...let me check the book..." I said, attempting to summon the book from where I had placed it in my mental storage. Mental Storage is an extremely difficult trick for Shadow Magic. The only reason I could do it with ease was because I was a learned master at it.
I searched for a minute, until Link interrupted me.
"Uh...Shadow? You do, somehow, have the book, right? I mean, you brought it?"
I checked one last time. Nothing.
"Shadow?"
I very loudly said a word that made Link look at me in horror and shock.
Back to Part 4 | Continue to Part 6