The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Queen

Gerudo's Keep

"Link... That was either incredibly brave or incredibly stupid of you. My ruby's on the latter," Midna said, a shadowed form of her appearing by Link's side.

"Thanks, I think. So, now that we are in the tower, do we go down or up?" Link rubbed his aching arms and tried not to think of his bleeding feet or how he'd have to finish this adventure without shoes.

"Up, probably. We're already close to the top, which is where the sword is most likely hidden. Be careful, alright? This place is probably crawling with traps and monsters."

"Right." Midna returned to his shadow and Link stood slowly. The room he was in had no light other than what poured in through the broken window. The air was filled with a thick dust, like the room hadn't been disturbed in ages. Placed in tidy rows about the room were strange statues. The statues were like pyramids, skinny and tall, and had a dull black sphere floating in the space above the top most point. Link took a cautious step forward. There was a soft hum and the black circles all turned red in a way that oddly reminded him of an eye opening. A red scary eye with large black pupils. The eyes turned to face him and blinked sluggishly before glaring at him in anger.

"Link! Get down!" He did as Midna yelled. Red rays shot past him, just inches above his head.

"Praise the Goddesses... That was close."

"Link! Thank your deities later and get out of here now!" He sprinted past the eye statues, laser beams following his every step. The door was straight ahead, past a large walkway amid the rows of statues. He ran and, after a few close calls, made it to the next room.

He slammed the door behind him, entering an ominously silent room.

"What's this room?" Midna asked. The floor beneath Link's feet shifted and moved. Something was pushing through the stone tile. It looked like a pile of bones. As it reached the surface, it became clear that the pile of bones belonged to a wolf. The bones pieced themselves back together before Link's eyes and another piece of the puzzle was revealed. It wasn't just any wolf, it was a stalhound. Rotting flesh hung off the bones like an overgrown coat. The bottom half of the jaw was disconnected and its eyes glowed a menacing green.

"Nice doggy..." Midna talked from his shadow, her words doing nothing to make the doggy nice and instead agitating it even more. Link took a step back, so that he was right up against the wall. More stalhounds were steadily pushing their way through the floor. Soon he'd be surrounded by them.

"Wow, a defenseless hero against a bunch of undead beasts. This is a tough decision, which side should I root for?"

"Midna, not helpful at all."

"Right. Sorry. Grab the pitchfork, it's your best bet."

"Thank you." He grabbed the pitchfork and unfolded it as quickly as he could. Fending off the stalhounds, he made it to the next door.

"Hmm, this is going to be more difficult than I thought it would be. Good luck, hero!" Midna exclaimed cheerfully. Her voice awoke the keese hanging from the ceiling.

"Midna... Why?" Link managed to say before a bunch of keese swarmed him. He dropped the pitchfork, which broke in two upon impact with the floor, and he hurried to the ground in a protective position.

"Dagger!" Midna had to yell to be heard over the screeching and she jumped up from Link's shadow as a hazy incomplete version of herself to help fight off the keese. Link grabbed the twisted sharp dagger. The weight was a bit off, but it quickly adjusted to a perfect balance. He didn't dwell on this fact, just went straight to clipping wings and beheading the keese.

"Thanks for the help." Link wiped the blood off the dagger on the stone floor. Then he picked up the two halves of the pitchfork. It was broken beyond repair.

"Sad. The gallant pitchfork died before it got to retire and live the rest of its life as a simple farming tool," Midna said, loudly fake crying.

"I hope you pretend to be sad better than that at my funeral." He threw the pitchfork at the wall in disappointment. It hadn't even lasted two rooms, what a waste.

"Hey! I wouldn't have to pretend to be sad at your funeral, dummy! And I refuse to even attend if you die at the hands of the Light Spirit. If you want me there, you better get moving!" Link was really confused and, if he was being honest, in pain. Midna wasn't making any sense. Why would she be sad about his death but refuse to attend his funeral? He didn't have time to wonder. He needed to keep moving, which was becoming increasingly difficult. The bits of glass in his feet kept digging in deeper and he was starting to have difficulties ignoring that. He needed to fix that sooner rather than later. He also had a deadline that needed to be met if he didn't want to willingly die. And he would, willingly die that is, if that's what it took to be the hero this time.

Link walked over and picked the stupid pitchfork back up. It had landed in a puddle made from water dripping from the ceiling (like he was in some sort of a cave and not in the middle of a desert?). This gave him an idea.

"Hey Midna, how did you say that magic cup works?" he asked as he switched the pieces of the pitchfork for the small clay cup.

"Any liquid you drink out of the cup shrinks you to the size of a little golden bug. The effects last about an hour, if I am remembering correctly."

"Perfect, an hour should be more than enough time to find and rescue my sword."

"You're not seriously going to try to... Actually, that might work. I don't think speed is affected by the magic, so you should be able to move as fast as you normally do."

"Even better." Link dipped the cup into the puddle. The water looked beyond disgusting, it was so murky he couldn't even see the bottom of the cup. Trying not to imagine the gross germs swimming in it, he brought the liquid to his lips.

"Ew! Really Link!? You are becoming more like a wolf every day. I can't watch this!" She disappeared back into his shadow.

"Hey!" He dropped the cup with a shudder. Everything felt wrong, like his skin didn't fit right. His head was splitting into two as his surroundings grew bigger and bigger. Actually, no, he was getting smaller. When everything stopped changing, Link bent over and hurled.

"Are you alright? Wait! I'm tiny too!" Her now tiny shadowed form rested a hand on his shoulder.

"I'm fine. Just dizzy. That's all." He wiped his mouth and somehow managed to ignore the disgusting aftertaste that filled his mouth.

"Everything looks so different when you're tiny," Midna whispered, like it was some sort of secret. She was right. The door that had moments before seemed unassuming and average, now was grand and imposing. The cup Link had dropped was like a tunnel leading to nothing. The small puddle was a death trap ocean.

"It does," Link mumbled softly.

"Alright. If you're feeling better, we should probably get going. Be just as careful as before, you don't want to get squashed," she said it as if getting squashed was nothing more than a minor hindrance.

Link nodded but didn't say anything. His vision was swimming and his insides were twisting into complicated knots. Maybe drinking from that dirty puddle hadn't been his best idea.

"Seriously?" Midna paced back and forth as she thought about what to do. "Would you like me to stay and help? Alright. Onwards, sick hero!" She wrapped her shadowy arm around his waist and together they continued to search for the Master Sword.