It should be abundantly clear that the Twilight Realm is heavily based on the Dark World from A Link to the Past (and it should be becoming clear that the Hero from the past is the Hero to the Past, if you know what I mean), to the point where the Twilight Princess geography barely even matters except for the Sols.
Hoping to write another couple chapters tonight, after I’ve slept and done some organ practice! Huzzah! We’re almost at the end, and things are picking up again! In fact, this chapter is super short in comparison to the monsters I’ve been writing. The next one will probably be pretty short too, but I can’t make promises about that. In any case, I don’t want to stop, but I’m a bit sleepy, so I should and recharge my batteries for the next chapter!
Chapter 18: The Dark World
Link trudged up the steps to the Arbiter’s Grounds once again, Midna floating along just behind him. The Moblin camp was deserted still. In his pocket he carried a present from Nabooru, a mysteriously glowing pearl. “It might come in handy,” she only said as she gave it to him. “Dug it up just for you. I know where you’re going.”
Inside the prison was no less quiet. The monsters all seemed to have gone. It was eerie, but he wasn’t going to complain about an easy trip to the top. Unless the monsters were just all waiting at the top for him.
But they weren’t, and he walked out between the arches into the open space behind the Mirror.
Midna called out the pieces of Mirror that she carried, and they swirled through the air, spinning and organizing themselves before fitting one by one into place with the piece already in the Mirror’s frame. It fused together without a trace of a crack, and began to glow with a soft white light. Concentric circles shone out of it, projecting onto a black slab of stone. An unusual portal appeared in its face, formed of concentric rings rotating at different speeds in different directions. The Triforce appeared at the back of the smallest ring.
“Some call our world a realm of shadows… but that makes it sound unpleasant,” Midna said softly as they stared together at the concentric rings. “Instead, it has a serene beauty much like the twilight here as the sun sets. In that light, all my people were pure and gentle… Until Zant found Ganondorf’s evil power.”
“It was our fault,” came a ghostly murmur, and Midna’s eyes widened and she turned to see the ghosts of the ancient Sages standing in a semicircle, watching them. “The fault of us who live in the Light of Hyrule… we only wished to see that evil gone forever, for the cycle to be broken. We speak for all of Hyrule when we say that we hope you can find it in your heart to forgive us… O Twilight Princess.” And they bowed low before Midna.
Link turned to stare at her, although he had at least partly guessed before. Midna herself shrank back, her face twisted in bitter sadness. “So… you knew? Of course you did. You are spirits.”
She gave a short, unhappy laugh. “As a ruler who fled her people, I’m hardly qualified to forgive you.” She paused, her eyes unfocussed, remembering. “When he cursed me… I was so ashamed of my new form. I stumbled out of the palace by secret ways, heavy with despair, until I remembered there was one thing he hadn’t taken from me, one thing that I carried always as Princess of the Twili, to guard and to never use: the Fused Shadow that my people retained from their ancient rebellion. It was then that my plan of revenge first began to take shape.”
“Among my people, we believed that the Hero – should we ever see him – would take the form of a divine beast. So when I saw you first pulled into the Twilight, and that Triforce shining on your hand, and your subsequent transformation… I thought I could use you, Link. And I only cared about returning our world to normal… and I didn’t care about what happened to the world of Light, not at all.”
She turned pleadingly to Link. “But after seeing the selfless sacrifices that you and Zelda and the others have all gone to, to help not just yourselves but me as well, I know now that I must save this world too. There is no other way.” Her gaze turned determined. “And Ganondorf isn’t interested in the Twilight Realm anyway. His whole focus is here. If we can defeat Zant, the curse on me will be lifted, and then we can bring back Zelda. And then we can destroy Ganondorf, all three of us, together.”
“We will,” Link promised her. “I’ll see your kingdom restored, too. Light and Twilight are two sides of the same coin, but we’ve forgotten the other side. That won’t happen again.”
She touched his face in gratitude. “Thank you, Link.”
“What are we waiting for?” Navi butted in, a cheeky smile on her face. “We gotta go uproot a usurper!”
Link nodded and turned to the portal.
“Wait!” came a cry from behind him, and they turned to see Shoza, Darunia, Franz, and Jakob hurrying up the stairs towards them.
Shoza was in front, panting from the heat and the speed of their climb. Link frowned. The Zora was wearing armour, war armour that he had never seen a Zora wear before. “You gotta let me come with you, man.”
“No,” Midna said. “The Twilight warps people from the Light, even if they don’t turn into ghosts. You wouldn’t even be able to pass the portal.”
“Ruto might be in there,” Shoza insisted, taking another step forward. “Please. I have to.”
“Shoza, you’re crazy,” Link said. “What are you doing here in the desert? You’re going to die.”
“I’m fine,” the Zora snapped. “I am. I have to come. If there’s even a chance… I’ve searched for portals to other worlds for three years, and now here is one. Maybe she’s not there; maybe I die crossing over. It doesn’t matter. It’s a chance I have to take and you are not stopping me, dude. Not you, and not anyone.”
Link sighed. “Shoza…”
“What about that thing Nabooru gave you?” Navi asked.
“Navi, you’re not helping,” Midna said.
Link pulled it out of his pocket. “The Moon Pearl?”
Shoza walked forward, surprisingly calmly. “Would that protect me in the other world?”
Midna sighed in exasperation. “Yes. And since Link has the Master Sword, he doesn’t technically need it. And since Navi is bound to him, she’s protected by it too. So yes, you can have the pearl, and yes, it will keep you in your natural form. But no one else can come! Got it?” She glared ferociously at the other three.
Franz put his hands up defensively. “We’re just escorts, don’t look at us.”
“Thanks so much,” Shoza said fervently. “I’ll make it up to you, I swear, guys.”
“Come along,” Link said. “You can fight?”
“I can fight as well as any Zora,” Shoza said, and finally cracked a grin. “You thought we just sat on our butts while Ganondorf tried to take over the world last time? Nah, we had our share of battles. It was just the cold that got us.” He brandished his elbow fins. “These will take out most things. I can take care of myself.”
“Right.” Link turned to the portal and stepped in front of the Mirror. A set of stairs made of white light formed, taking him to a point directly in front of the mirror’s beam. He felt a tug from in front, and was swept away forward…
The group re-coalesced in a group of dark trees. The sky was a pale golden colour, and the underside of the leaves shone in neon green.
It was weird and strange and beautiful and Link could finally appreciate what Midna said about her land.
“This is right where I expected we’d end up,” Midna said. “This is the Han Woods. We’re about a day’s journey away from the Palace. But here, I can teleport at will, even without the Fused Shadows.” She grinned devilishly. “So hold on to your hats! Or helmets, or wings, or whatever.”
“I guess we can start at the Palace,” Shoza said, but he looked a little disappointed that he couldn’t search the whole world on foot.
Midna sighed. “If I get access to a certain place in the palace, I can check the whole kingdom for your girlfriend. Just relax, geez.”
“Sorry,” Shoza said meekly. “I guess saving the world really is more important.” Navi laughed, but quietly.
Link wondered. Who in the world would he search for so desperately if they had died?
The answer surprised him. Yes, he would search thoroughly for any of his friends, but he had given up on Marin the instant the dream had dissolved around him, and he hadn’t exactly hurried back to Hyrule once his dreams of his past adult life had begun to appear.
“Shoza,” he said quietly, “you’re a better man than I am.” Then they rose skyward as tiny black squares.
They came back together again on a little rise overlooking a large obsidian complex marked with red runes.
Shoza was looking at him in confusion. “Why would you say something like that? You’re the Hero!”
“Perhaps there are similarities. I fight for Hyrule, you fight for the person you love, and neither of us is going to give up or take ‘no’ for an answer. But… The women I’ve loved have died, and I’ve done nothing. I might search so desperately for Zelda, but that’s more for Hyrule’s sake. I… haven’t done what you do.”
Shoza shrugged uncomfortably. “Well… hey, man, things are different for anyone. I’m more concerned that Rana-girl’s alive and you broke her heart, they tell me. I mean, you guys were tight as anything before you went to fight Ganondorf! And then you come back three years later and don’t even give her the time of day, what gives, man?”
Link held up his hands. “It’s not that simple…”
“Okay, I did hear some things about your depression and stuff. She wasn’t talking to me about it. But still, it just seems weird. I don’t get it.”
“I don’t get it either,” Link confessed.
Midna was waiting at the edge of the cliff. “Are you two going to stand around yakking all day about girls? Come on, hurry up! We’re almost at our goal!”
“All right, we’re coming,” Link said.
As he reached her, she reached out for his sleeve. “And… if I can make one more selfish request of you? Regardless of what my reasons were… I still abandoned this world. I left behind those who followed me and supported me as their ruler. Even now, they must hope for hope for this world. But… if they saw that the only hope was a hideous little imp… don’t you think they’d feel let down?”
“Midna, you’re not hideous,” Link told her with a fond smile. “I always thought you were cute.”
She blushed, perhaps? It was hard to tell with her skin colour. “I disagree. If you knew what I looked like before… So, I’m sorry… but can I keep hiding in your shadow?”
“Yes, go ahead,” Link said. “I’m sorry you don’t like your appearance… I honestly think you’re cute.”
“Oh, shut up,” she said, and dove into the ground beneath his feet.
Shoza shrugged. “Girls, man. The nice ones don’t believe they’re pretty, the arrogant ones think they’re pretty when they’re not.”
“Let’s not get into a discussion on that,” Link said. “I’m certainly not qualified to talk about it. I think most girls are pretty.”
“He’s pretty dense,” Navi told Shoza. “I think it’s a guy thing, if we’re talking about gender stereotypes.” Link snorted.
They made it to the bottom of the rise and headed for the main gate of the palace. Link saw movement on the right and drew his sword, which glowed golden in the Twilight. One of the disc-faced monsters was walking by, and didn’t even seem to notice them.
“Wait!” Midna’s voice echoed around them. “That person is not… an enemy. She’s just transformed by Zant’s curse. How could that rat do this to the ordinary people… He’s stolen the Sols from the entrance to the Palace.”
“Sols?” Navi asked.
“It’s like… miniature suns. They give us life and energy. They are very powerful. I guess he’s warped them to his purposes, hiding them away… I hope they’re still inside the Palace; then we can fix this. Anyway, I can’t take you in the secret passage – it only works going out.”
“Got it,” Link said. He saw another one, this one ten feet tall. It, too, ignored him.
“Link,” she said. “We don’t have to fix the whole Twilight Realm. I don’t think. Zant is here, in the Palace, right now. I can feel it. All we have to do is get to him. Once we do that, I can fix everything at once.”
“All right,” Link said. “So it will be faster to confront him than to go around to every corner of the Twilight Realm as I’ve been doing in Hyrule?”
“Exactly. Now get going! And hide the light of that sword for now. He will have guards loyal to him in the Palace for sure.”
“If they attack me, I’m attacking them back.”
“Fair enough.”
When they made it inside the palace walls, Midna pointed them to the central building in the complex, but the way was blocked by a black waterfall of fog. “Shadow crystals,” she said. “Another invention of Zant’s.” So they went to the building on the left, the faint golden light in his Master Sword changed to blue. It was an odd change, but not one that seemed threatening. Perhaps it reacted to the ambient light. The light outside was more gold, the light inside was more blue.
They fought their way through rooms full of crystal fog that turned Link back into a wolf, past platforming puzzles and monsters and traps, and found themselves in a room with a shining sphere clutched in the grasp of a large disembodied hand that looked like a mechanical Floormaster. Shoza had turned out to be completely competent, although he often made noises of fear and flinched at some of the things he saw. But he was accurate and deadly with his fin boomerangs, and he seemed to have a preternatural sense for danger, and he kept up with Link.
As Link approached the sphere, Zant seemed to appear in front of him, though transparent and blue-tinted. He stabbed without hesitation, and the thing vanished.
“Wow, that was weak,” Midna said. And then black crystal fog spilled out of it, and monsters spilled out of the fog. “Spoke too soon!”
Link was transformed into a wolf as the fog spilled over him, and only quick work saved Shoza from encountering a similar or worse fate. Still, now he could fight the monsters without worrying about accidentally transforming in the middle of his battle.
The monsters were strong, but the adventurers were stronger, and soon Link was back in his own form, picking up the Sol from the Floormaster. As they turned away, it twitched and came to life, and then followed a hectic chase back through the palace to the front plaza, the Floormaster following them through closed doors and floating through the air while they scrambled below on the ground, hindered by walls and pillars and other obstacles.
It stopped chasing them when they got to the front door, unwilling to go outside, and Shoza wiped a hand across his brow. Link found it odd that Zoras could sweat; their leathery hide and occasional patch of scales didn’t seem conducive to sweating.
The creature nearest to the door, a ten-foot-tall behemoth with a disc-shaped face trailing tentacles, flashed blue in the light of the Sol, and diminished until it was only six and a half feet tall, much more slender, and much more obviously humanoid. Its head was rather small, blue skinned, with cheerfully glowing orange eyes.
In the plaza were two circular depressions, and it didn’t take a puzzle-solving genius to figure out what went in them.
Then Midna directed them to the building on the other side of the Palace, where the exact same thing happened. When Shoza placed the second Sol in its depression, their blue light grew stronger, lighting up tracery in the floor of the plaza. All the citizens nearby were turned into normal Twili. Some of them waved at Link.
“They’re not generally very talkative,” Midna said. “In public, at least. Oh, your sword!”
The light from the Sols was drawn towards his sword, which turned from a dull golden glow to a brilliant golden sparkle, lighting up the whole plaza. Link raised it over his head.
“Even the guardian deities of this world are on our side!” Midna cried.
He turned towards the waterfall of fog. “Well, there’s only one way left to go.”
“Try attacking the fog,” Navi said. “I bet you can blow it away with that light.”
He did a spin attack next to the fog, and golden sparks shot everywhere, coupled with a magical energy he hadn’t felt since he’d wielded Demon’s Helix Blade. This was the true power of the Master Sword, ready to unleash on evil and wickedness. He hoped it would keep glowing in the Light world, too. That would be very impressive, especially at night.
They wandered through some passages and came out onto a balcony with a low railing, looking out across the fields of twilight.
“Here,” Midna said quietly. “This is where he cursed me.”
Link was distracted by the shuffle of hostile monsters and… something else? A sniffle, perhaps?
They were divebombed by a dozen large birds, all coming one after another. Shoza took out several before they got too close, and for the rest, Link was waiting in front of the Zora with his sword blazing. It chopped them clean in half with one blow.
He twirled the sword appreciatively when the birds were all dead. “Wow. I think I like this.”
“The Master Sword always was your favourite,” Navi teased him.
“L-link? N-n-navi?” came a weak, shuddering cry. Shoza tensed, uncertain which direction to run in, for the voice was Ruto’s.
“Ruto?” he shouted back. “Ruto, where are you, babe?”
“S-since when have you been allowed to call me babe?” Ruto sniffed haughtily. “Link’s my fiance. At least, he was, until he went and cheated on me with that Rana girl!”
“Hey, Rana’s all right. Where are you? We’ve come to get you home!”
A small blob appeared on top of a nearby ledge, and seemed to pour down until it was huddled in a corner. Link and Shoza started, because the creature was not Ruto. It was some strange, twisted version of an octorok, with bulbous eyes and extended snout and waving tentacles. “H-h-help meee!”
“It’s all right,” Link said. “We’ll get you back to Hyrule.” He laid the blade of the sword on Ruto’s head, and she transformed back into a Zora.
She frowned at him. “That’s not going to work, stupid. The moment the blade stops touching me, I’ll change back. Why is Shoza not changed?”
“Here,” Shoza said, taking the Moon Pearl from his pocket and handing it to her. “This will keep you safe.”
She took it, not without some hesitation. Their eyes locked, just as Shoza let go and collapsed into a squidgy little octorok himself.
Ruto laughed. “Come on, I’ll take you home. Where is home, anyway?” She glared imperiously at Link. “Take us home, fairy boy!”
“You don’t have to be so harsh on the Hero, lady!” Midna said, defending Link.
“He cheated on me with another woman, after we were engaged! The least he could do is apologize and take me home! That’s what he ought to do! I don’t want his undying love and affection anymore. He’ll just throw mine away again!”
“Well, technically, I guess that’s true,” Navi said. “But really, you didn’t give Link much of a choice in the matter. And him being a boy, he wasn’t sure how to tell you about it gently. So it’s as much your fault as his. Besides, you have Sh…” Link swatted at her to stop her talking. Shoza could confess for himself.
Ruto put her hands on her hips. “Fine. But I still want to go home.”
“Oh, I’ll take her,” Midna sighed. “You two sit tight here, and don’t get yourselves killed.”
“Ruto,” Link said. “For what it’s worth, I’m sorry. I really didn’t know what was going on, and by the time I figured it out, it was the wrong time to tell you, and I never got the chance to explain. If it makes you feel any better, I haven’t had any luck with my other relationships, either.”
“Well, good! You deserve it!” But maybe she thought she had gone a bit far with that last jibe. “Well, you mostly deserve it. But we’ll talk later, in Hyrule, assuming you don’t get yourself killed by this monstrously evil Zant creature. Or Ganondorf! I hate him! I hate Ganondorf so much!”
“Come along,” Midna said, and made a portal.
Ruto still stalled. “I’m sorry. I’ll see you later. Okay?”
He nodded. “Okay.”
They turned into small black squares that rose into the sky.
“I think they’ll be all right,” Navi said. “Even if they come out in the desert. I bet Ruto has some Sage power that will help them get back to the rest of Hyrule. Did you see the way they looked at each other? I think she saw Shoza’s feelings in his eyes. I think she’ll be considering him!”
“That’s good,” Link said a little absentmindedly. “I hope she’s not too hurt over her mother’s death. But hopefully she’ll be happy that her little brother is safe.”
He turned to go onwards. They had to pass through the waterfall of black crystal fog again. “Shouldn’t we wait for Midna?” Navi asked.
“I’m already back,” Midna said from behind them. “Really, there was not much chance of you actually dying while I was gone. I saw them through the portal, and I’m sure they’ll be warmly greeted on the other side. She’s already cozying up to him, you know that? Although I don’t think he’s very pleased to be called ‘cute little octoroky-baby’. Eww.”
Link laughed. “I’m sure he’ll get over it. I take it Ruto is like the rest of us: once she gives her loyalty, it’s there to stay. But I’m glad he loves her, because I… was never really interested. Can we keep going?”
“You may go onwards,” Midna said, teasing him with the tones of a princess.
They made it down a long corridor. “Midna, did this palace really have all these obstacles while you were ruler?”
“Nope. He’s twisted it to defend himself. He knew someone would come eventually to challenge him. But I don’t think he was expecting the Hero of Hyrule and his magic sword.”
“Not many people seem to, actually.” Link unlocked the huge door at the end of the long hall and it glowed blue with peculiar twisting designs before it opened.
Zant sat in a stone throne at the end of a long, shallow flight of stairs. Link walked unhurriedly towards him, power crackling along the length of his blade.
“Zant,” Midna said, her voice low but clear in the cold silence of the hall.
Zant did not rise to meet them, the lower part of his helmet drawn up to reveal his oddly feminine mouth.
“We have to thank you for placing that curse on Link!” Midna sneered sardonically. “It’s been very helpful!”
“You speak of magic?” Zant said at last, rising slowly from his throne. “Still your tongue a moment, whelp, while I tell you of magic and the oppression of ages…” Midna bristled at the ‘whelp’ comment. “The people of our tribe, who had mastered the arts of magic, its power and challenges, were locked away in this world like insects in a cage…” His helmet completely withdrew, revealing glowing orange eyes, short red hair under a leather cap, and a swirling tattoo down the bridge of his nose. Strangely, although Link could not read his inhuman eyes, they seemed to radiate confidence and arrogant power.
“In the shadows here, we regressed, until we knew neither anger – nor fear – nor the faintest bloom of desire…” He spread his hands to the ceiling, and then began to contort and twist around on the spot. Link wondered if it was a visual representation of Zant’s frustration. “And it was all the fault of a do-nothing royal family that resigned itself to this miserable half-existence!”
He sprang upright and jumped up and down several times in a raging tantrum. When he stopped, he was breathing heavily. “I served and endured that decadent family for far too long, my impudent princess.” Midna stared, eyes wide and mouth hanging open. Apparently she hadn’t seen this side of Zant before. He rose into the air and launched himself at them. Link had a very vivid impression of malevolent orange eyes, as he raised the Master Sword to protect himself and Midna. But Zant disappeared before he touched them. “And why, you ask? Why did I endure such abuse? Because I was next in line to rule, and instead they banished me! Banished ME!” He spun around on the spot, howling, before coming to a halt, pointing accusingly at Midna. “They would not acknowledge me as their king, and as such, I was denied the magic powers befitting our ruler!” He turned away from them, spreading his arms to the ceiling again. “I turned to the heavens in my rage and despair… and it was then that I found a god!”
“Oh, no,” Navi muttered.
“I’m with you on that one,” Midna answered her.
“I had fled to the balcony to bemoan my fate. There He appeared to me! A great flaming sphere, like the Light world’s sun, but greater and far more powerful! He swallowed me into himself, and within I beheld His face! ‘I shall house my power in you’, He said. ‘If there is anything you desire, then I shall desire it too’. Then He disappeared from my sight, but I knew his power was in me. I felt it! And I knew that I should have to disappear into the exile my parents so justly visited on me, and learn to use this power, and bide my time, until I should have an army worthy of conquering both this world and the other.”
“My god had only one wish of His own,” Zant said, and disappeared. Link hesitated, listening hard for him to reappear, and he did a moment later in front of the throne he had recently vacated. “That wish was to merge Light and Shadow… and create Darkness!”
He rose high in the air, spreading his arms. Red runes and sigils appeared behind him, spreading in a great magic circle. “And you are the last obstacle to our complete domination!”