Legend of Zelda: Shadows of the Past - Prologue

WHAM!

A fatal misstep.

My vision blurred as my body flew through the air. The cold walls of Arbiter's Grounds crushed my ribs as I slammed into them at high speed. The stone stole my breath as I recoiled, the rest of my body hitting the wall a second time before falling limply to the ground. A sort of black veil seemed to wash over me as I struggled, desperately trying to keep myself from losing consciousness. The veil grew thicker and thicker, and I found myself losing the battle as the veil reached my mind. It begged to sleep, screaming at me to forget the life-or-death situation that I was currently in. I felt surprisingly little pain - there was more of a numbness that only seemed to make staying awake harder.

"Link!" I heard beneath the thick fog. A plea. My shoulders shook furiously, rousing me from my weary state. The veil shook with my shoulders, and eventually the layers of fog began to strip away. I finally found my vision again, and I looked around deliriously as it began to clear. The first thing I saw was Midna, who continued shouting cries of help and rousing me further. The second things I saw were the Bulblins. I felt a sense of dread as they slowly advanced, creeping towards the two of us with looks of bloodlust and hatred so tremendous that shivers rolled down my spine.

"Midna…" I called hoarsely, still fighting for breath as my ribs began to ache, "The Master Sword…"  The blade had slipped my grasp in the attack and now it lay a few feet away from me. I reached for it, but in vain as the dark veil had lifted, and I could feel the pain of my injuries with full force. They were excruciating, as though thousands of pins and needles were prickling my body, and a weight seemed to hold my lungs down, crushing them a little more each time I struggled for a breath.

Nothing, however, could compare to the feeling of dread as the Bulblins neared. I could almost see death itself approaching - an ominous, inescapable horror that that tortured me with every step it took; filling me with that gut feeling that all attempts to save myself would be futile. I had become a cripple, a useless thing lying in the sand, unable to escape the fate that crawled toward me at a slow, agonizing pace. A few of the monsters even let out hiccupped cries that resembled laughter, as though they were snickering at my pitiful state.

They were so close now. So close that I could smell the sand on their skin that they had been sleeping in for gods knew how long. They loomed over me, their shadows blocking out the pale light of the early morning hours. I gave them a good final glare – if I were to greet death, I would do it with courage. One of them stepped forward as the others let it through, and I spotted a fresh wound on its leg, crudely bandaged and still dripping with blood. I smirked- how fitting for the first Bulblin I hadn't successfully killed - a shot I had missed, which started the brawl -   would be the one to kill me. It gave a good hearty laugh before lifting its club, and I held my breath as it prepared to strike.  

"Halt!"

The eerily familiar voice echoed softly through the campground as the Bulblins ceased their advance. A second chill ran down my spine as I spotted, off in the distance, the gleam of a silver helmet, its grotesque metal head sticking its tongue out in a childish taunt. Midna's eye, the only visible one, narrowed as she protectively stepped closer to me, but I could see the fear in her clenched jaw and cold sweat.

"Zant," Midna whispered, the severity of her tone running deep.

The figure began to walk towards us, his black robes elegantly flowing with the wind. His metallic armor boots clanked and clanged with every step he took, his ominous presence enhanced by the cold sounds they created. The bold , fish-like eyes of the armor head seemed to bore into me, "You are a hard one to dispose of," he said, his voice muffled and deepened by his metal armor covering, "I'll have to admit, I'm quite impressed by how far you've managed to squirm your way around."

"He's a feisty one," Midna taunted, "He never gives up."

Zant replied with a nasty chuckle, "Oh ho! And look at the boy now, can't even grasp the hilt of his own sword," The armor head glanced in the direction of the Master Sword. Alarm flared within me as Zant began advancing towards it, and desperately I fought the weights and needles my body felt as I tried, again, to reach for the sword.

"Stay away from my sword!" I yelled hoarsely, yet furiously. I then smirked, "Of course, unless you wish for your death. You must know what blade that is if it was strong enough to break that curse you gave me," I spat at him. I wasn't going down without a fight.

The armor turned, once again facing Midna and me, "So. It is true then," he seemed to mutter in an absent state of mind, "The sword has awakened to its master's call." He became silent for a few moments as the sun slowly rose over the horizon, staining the sky and sand a pale pink. Midna and I waited with baited breath, the sense of dread growing thicker and beginning to loom over us.

"Why are you here?" Midna finally spoke.

"You have been troublesome enough." Zant spoke, his voice becoming louder. Midna and I watched as he slowly raised his arm, drawing a circle in the air, "At first I thought killing you would be a simple solution, but as long as the blade of evil's bane still exists in this world, there will be hero's that wield it."

A flash of light erupted from the sky, a glowing orange beam vividly shooting out in all directions. I watched as the explosion drew itself back in, swirling circular lines zooming past each other and forming something similar to a fiery whirlpool in the sky. Zant cackled evilly as a breeze began tugging at my sleeves, "I thought to myself, 'why not rid of this frustration by taking out both the hero and the blade'!" The breeze began to pick up speed and soon I found winds gushing in directions all around me. I was surrounded by feeling of weightlessness as I realized the winds were lifting my body off the ground. Midna gave a small shout as she was sucked from the sand and whirled high into the air, "Goodbye hero, goodbye Master Sword!"

The sword dislodged itself from the sand flew high into the air along with Midna and I. As it drew near, I reached for it, still ignoring my pains, and felt a feeling of satisfaction as I was finally able to grasp the hilt. Quickly sheathing it, I then turned my body over so it would face the ground to try and find a way back down, but let out a small yell of surprise as the ground beneath me had completely disappeared. I became engulfed in the swirling orange light and was now being sucked around in a vortex of magic. My body shook mercilessly, and I felt as though something was trying to tear me apart. The winds were so loud that I couldn't even make out the sound of my own voice as I flew through the portal.

Midna flew around with me, and I watched as she tumbled about, hopelessly trying to find her way back to me. I reached for her hand as she yelled out my name, even though I could not hear it over the roar of the magical winds. It was just as our fingertips brushed that the magic suddenly disappeared, unwrapping me from its grasp. I fell through the air alone, watching as the swirling light shrunk in size until it disappeared completely.

The last thing I remembered was falling towards the grassy earth, praying to the gods I would be dead before my body hit the ground.