Prologue

Rise, warriors. Come to my spring.

I opened my eyes and saw that I was standing on the shore of a small pool of water, the waves gently lapping against the sand near my feet. All around me was impenetrable blackness, but floating just above the water was a strange ball of white light. The mysterious voice seemed to be emanating from the center of the light, as clear and gentle as the spring beneath it.

I did what it said, rising from the kneeling position I had been in. As I stood, I saw movement out of the corner of my eye. Three other figures were rising with me. I squinted at them, trying to pick out individual features, but it was too dark to really see their faces. We all waded into the water, and the voice spoke again.

You are fated to play a part in a great destiny. The wielders of the four elements shall unite with the hero and cleanse the land of darkness. This is the prophecy passed down to the light spirits.

So the glowing orb was a light spirit. Why was it telling me about some strange supposed destiny? This seemed suspiciously similar to fantasy movies and games.

The light slowly faded along with the figures, and I was left alone in the darkness. I saw a faint shadow up ahead, and, curious, I decided to walk toward it. As I drew closer, I noticed with a start that it was perfectly mimicking my every move.

"Hello?" I called out to the figure, tense. There was no reply. I continued walking until I was right in front of it. All I could see was a dark outline and a pair of glowing red eyes. I looked closer, and suddenly recognized it.

In front of me was a mirror. The dark figure was...me. Well, sort of. Her skin and hair were pure black, and I already mentioned the glowing red eyes. As I stared in astonishment, the dark me smirked and stepped out of the mirror. Now she was standing right in front of me, holding a huge knife. She lunged at me, and I ran. I felt myself falling as the world faded to total darkness.

I jolted up, heart racing and chest heaving. I was in bed, and it was just turning light. My breathing slowed, and I looked around. This was not my room. I was confused, until I saw my friends Rune and Sierra sleeping on the floor. Kristen, or Kris as everyone called her, was next to me, still asleep. That's right, I was in Kris's room. Rune and Sierra were visiting our city, and we had all spent the night at Kris's house.

Rune stirred, and sat up. "'Morning, Lily," she yawned, looking at me.

"Good morning. Did you sleep good?" I asked.

"Yep. You?"

"Yeah, but I had a weird dream. I'll tell you about it when the others wake up." Eventually Kris and Sierra woke up, with a little 'help' from Rune that involved throwing a few pillows, and we headed to the kitchen for breakfast. As we were eating cereal, I told them about the dream I had.

"So, there was this pool with a light spirit in it. It said something like there is a destiny we would be a part of..."

"Who's we?" Rune interrupted.

"I'm not sure. There were people around me, but I couldn't see them clearly. Anyway, it said something about 'wielders of elements' and 'uniting with the hero', but I didn't really get it. And the weirdest part happened after that. There was this mirror, and I saw me in it, only I was all dark with red eyes, kind of like Dark Link from Zelda."

"Cool," said Rune.

"Yeah, but kinda freaky. She tried to kill me."

"I had a dream like that a few days ago," said Sierra. "There was someone talking about destiny, but I think it was a tree."

"A tree? Like that talking tree from Ocarina of time?" asked Kris.

"I don't know, I haven't played it."

"This is so weird! I had that dream too, but I can't remember who was talking. I think it was someone or something from Twilight Princess," said Rune.

"I had that dream, too," said Kris. "The dark version of me was really creepy!"

"Why did we all have similar dreams?" asked Sierra.

"I don't know. It's like those dreams Link always has before his quest. In almost every game he has a dream telling him about how he's supposed to be the hero," I replied.

"Oh yeah, because that's totally going to happen to us!" Rune said sarcastically, making us all laugh.

"Well, let's get started!" I said excitedly. Everyone agreed, and we all went to the living room. We were planning on playing the entire Twilight Princess game in one day, and I was psyched about getting to show it to Sierra, who had never played the game before. Kris turned on the Wii, and we started playing. We had decided to take turns playing so that each of us could do our favorite parts. Rune started in Ordon village, and she got through the beginning stuff fairly quickly. Kris did the stuff in the twilight next. We were all excited to meet up with Midna, one of our favorite characters. When she got to the tower with Zelda, Kris gave the controller to Sierra. After the cutscene about Zant's invasion, Midna warped Link back to the light world, and the light spirit told his story. Sierra started sneaking through Ordon to get the sword and shield. We helped her a little, but she got most of it done on her own. She continued to the twilight in Faron woods, and with our help and Midna's, she restored the land to light. When Link was revealed as the hero and got his signature green tunic and hat, we quietly cheered. I always loved the scene when he was transformed back into a human. It seemed like the real start of the adventure, and I never got tired of seeing it.

Sierra continued on to the bridge that led to the first dungeon, where she met the golden wolf form of the hero's shade. "It's so pretty!" she said.

"Wait till you see his other form," I mumbled. When the hero's shade took Link to the strange misty world, he howled and turned into a skeleton with armor.

"Oh," she whispered, a little freaked out. Everyone laughed. The hero's shade taught Link the ending blow, and he was taken back to the normal world. Finally, Sierra handed me the controller and I continued into the forest temple.

I sped through it, fighting Ook and rescuing the monkeys. I defeated the boss with ease, and got the first fused shadow. Every time I play, I can imagine the dark energy coming off of it. This time, however, I could actually feel it. The dark energy was coming off in waves, and I felt it gripping at me. "Can any of you feel that?" Kris asked, a strange look on her face.

Sierra and Rune had the same puzzling look. "Yeah, it's like I can feel the fused shadow," Rune responded.

"Me, too," added Sierra.

"I can feel it, too," I said. "This is so weird, why can we feel something in a game?"

"I don't know," Rune whispered, seemingly lost in thought.

Link was teleported outside by Midna to Faron's spring. The light spirit told him to head west the the next light spirit like he usually does, but then he continued. There, you will meet the warriors of the prophecy who will guide you to victory. The screen showed Link's face, and he looked just as confused as we felt. Then the light spirit looked directly at us. Come. Now is the time for you to begin your journey.

Suddenly, a powerful wind blew, scattering everything in the living room. "What's happening?" Sierra screamed. Surprisingly, I was calm. I closed my eyes, feeling the wind lift me up into the air. Opening them again, I saw that all my friends were rising into the air as well. We were all brought toward the center of the room, trying our hardest to stay upright as we were tossed around in the wind. I felt someone's hand grab mine, and looked over to see Kris holding mine and Sierra's hands. I grabbed Rune's hand next to me, and she grabbed Sierra's. Now we were all floating in the air, holding hands in a circle. A small ball of light appeared in the middle of the space we had created, and I felt some sort of energy intensify all around us as it grew bigger. It eventually reached us, and I heard a rushing sound. Someone screamed, and I felt myself being jerked violently forward before everything went black.