The Silent Beast | The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

Chapter Five: Gearing Up

The woman made no response to the imp's words, looking down at Link and me. "So, these are the ones for whom you were searching..." She remarked, offering a kind hand towards the both of us. Midna, however, raised her hand and sighed, closing her red eye. "They're not exactly what I had in mind, but... I guess they'll do." She nodded in approval, her hand on her hip as she kept riding Link. The woman then crouched down to our level, causing me to sit down impulsively. Link stayed standing, so the woman took my paw in hand gently to inspect the broken chain. "...You were imprisoned?" She inquired, a worried look crossing her expression as she looked down. "I am sorry." From the sound of her voice, it was hard to be angry or scared in the first place. I could only imagine what she was even going through here. However, one question was in my mind: Why wasn't she a spirit like everyone else? Luckily, my question was hopefully going to be answered soon enough.

"Poor things have no idea where this is or what happened..." Midna remarked as she pet Link's fur. Her words were being targeted towards him, but I wanted to know what was going on here. "So don't you think you should explain to them what you've managed to do? You owe them that much..." The imp spoke, putting her hands on her hips and leaning back slightly. "...Twilight Princess! Eee hee~!" That caused me to look up to Midna in complete confusion and then to the woman. 'The princess? Wait, I don't think the Princess of Hyrule Castle is a Twilight Princess. That just wouldn't make sense..!' I thought as the princess looked to the ground. Whatever Midna had said made her hesitate tremendously. The woman then looked back up to Link and me, her voice becoming more serious. "Listen carefully... This was once the land where the power of the gods was said to slumber. This was once the kingdom of Hyrule." She confirmed for Link, looking back and forth from Link and I. "But that blessed kingdom has been transformed by the king that rules the twilight... It has been turned into a world of shadows, ruled by creatures who shun the light," She revealed, closing her eyes. 'No wonder her voice became so serious...' I then whimpered aloud, lowering my head to which the princess laid a hand upon my snout to comfort me.

"It was very much sudden, and we gravely overestimated our enemy. Smoke covered our vision of the surprise attack at the throne room. The shadow beasts rushed in at a speed I never thought I would see. Our soldiers did their best to come at odds with the king of shadows, but it was, unfortunately, no use. They were easily vanquished hastily. He soon arrived within the hall, two beasts of shadow trailing behind him. 'It is time for you to choose: surrender or die,' He said. 'Oh yes, a question for all the land and people of Hyrule... Life? Or death?!' I wasn't able to do anything, and I made this decision to wrap our world in shadow." The princess's words were enough to send shivers down my beastly spine as I continued to listen. She stood up to look back out at the kingdom covered in shadow. "Twilight covered Hyrule like a shroud, and without light, the people became as spirits. Within the twilight, they live on, unaware that they have passed into spirits forms..." And that gave us our explanation of what was happening. "All the people know now is fear... Fear of a nameless evil..." She then looked back to Link and I with a look devoid of any happiness. After all, this was much more sinister than any other royal duty she had. "The kingdom succumbed to twilight, but I remain its princess..."

With that, she raised her hands to her hood, and Link sat down. Meanwhile, Midna almost fell back onto the ground, her eye wide that the princess was going to reveal herself to us. However, before she could fall, she managed to catch herself when grabbing Link's fur. The princess took the hood from her head, revealing her magnificent form. The gold she wore upon her head gleamed with a brilliant glow as I had never seen. Her brown hair was similar to Link's, only darker and, of course, longer. The princess's bright blue eyes peered at us with a look of sadness as well, "I am Zelda." She finally spoke, revealing her name.

After all these years of living within Castle Town, I had never even heard her name, surprisingly enough! Everyone always referred to her as "the princess" or "her majesty," but it was very rare she ever came into the town. However, we knew that most of us potion-makers would never be the ones to meet the princess herself. Besides, my father was always having me work with him back then.