Chapter One

He sat in silence, his bloody broken body propped up against the sole tree in the empty whiteness. His eternal prison. This was where he had fought the Hero of Time, supposedly to the death. He was made of shadows and darkness, though; he could not truly be killed. He was the discarded aftermath of the creation of the Hero, all those centuries ago. The goddess Hylia had wanted none but the finest parts of first distant hero called "Link".

She had arrived upon the scarlet loftwing when her people were in desperate need of a hero and their hero was Link. But that link had been tainted. When he was to be reborn in the first incarnation of the flawless hero, the three goddesses in Hylia's wake tore the darkness and the shadows from the hero's still tainted soul. They could not have the hero who would be born whenever needed be tainted by darkness. The goddesses removed the shadows and the darkness from the hero's soul. They molded the first Link to be the perfect hero. He would be born in Skyloft where the incarnation of the goddess Hylia, Zelda, would be born. Their souls would be forever bound, intertwined throughout history and throughout time. But the goddesses had left something out. The shadows and the darkness had had once been in the hero shifted and changed. It formed a being that reflected the hero, but was comprised of shadows, darkness, and hate.

The being of darkness and shadows was discarded, sealed away, to be forever forgotten. But it was not to be so. When Ganondorf had come to power and reached into the darkness, he found the being burning with hate and rage, desiring to exact his revenge upon the goddesses and their hero. Ganondorf took advantage of this beings hatred and manipulated the being throughout time. With each hero who arose, his darkness was never far behind, hunting him down and preparing to kill him. But things were never that simple. It came down to the last time the hero had fought his darker half.

It had been in the chamber of the water temple. The hero had entered the whiteness, not knowing what to expect. He'd been on his guard, but could never have been prepared for what awaited him. Seeped in shadow and waiting as still as a statue, his darkness stood waiting for him. There were no words, but the Hero knew, deep within his heart, what this being was. He fought valiantly, but was matched move for move. However, it was through the barest stroke of luck and a single mistake on the part of his darkness's half that he was able to gain the upper hand. Tormenting in his mind, through a link the Hero nor his shadow could explain, his shadow found and threatened the most precious being to the Hero. It was a strange young man called "Sheik". The shadow found this and thinking the Hero's love for the Sheikah would be an exploitable weakness, he tried but was seriously mistaken. The Hero fought for what he truly loved and brought his shadow to his knees.

The Shadow lay on his back, panting and glaring hatefully up at the Hero, he spat out, "End it." His blood spattered the Hero's cheek and while the Hero crouched with his blade pressed to his Shadow's throat her shook his head.

The Hero rose and left his Shadow laying wounded and dying on the floor of the empty white room. It was there that lying on his back and staring up at the whiteness, the Shadow mulled over what had happened. The darkness that had poisoned the Water Temple was vanquished by the Hero and his Shadow was sealed in the single white chamber with its ghostly white tree and its bare branches.

It was here that the Shadow of the Hero sat. Time meant nothing to him and time stood still in this godforsaken place, regardless. But outside the room, time continued to pass and flowed on, not waiting for the prisoner.

A dry malicious laugh escaped him as he sat against the tree and pain racked his wounded body. Here the darkness and the shadows recoiled from the blinding whiteness and his body mended itself slowly, much more slowly than he would have liked. In fact, his wounds had not healed at all.

Anger and impatience burned in him, but he could wait in cold, calculated silence for an eternity if he had too. But he could feel something changing. He knew not what was happening, but he could feel a shift. It was as if something was trying to reach into the chamber that had been sealed after the Hero had freed the temple. The silent prisoner was torn from his silent reflection as he felt the sudden shift. It was as if something were crashing upon the sealed door.

He reached for his sword which lay beside him, but the pain from his crippling wounds exploded in his every muscle. Yet, he fed on the pain and let in fuel his body and his hunger for revenge against the Hero for leaving him prisoner here. Taking up his weapon in his bloodied hand, the shadow rose to his feet, grinning at the pain, his teeth bared savagely. He held the blade in his left hand, his right groped for his shield. He would have his freedom.

He could definitely feel the crashing against the door now. Whatever it was, it was strong and would blast its way into the chamber in no time. Giddy with the prospect of gaining his freedom, he clutched his sword in his weak hand. He was exhausted, but felt his weak limbs respond. Finally, the door merely exploded inwards. To his shock, blackness washed into the white chamber, driving out the light. The blackness was cold and welcoming as it slammed into the Shadow. It was overwhelming and all consuming darkness, but mended his wounds almost instantly. But it was more than just darkness that entered the room. Beasts made to enter, but were greeted from the darkness by the Shadow's blade. It sliced into their throats before the great lizards had any idea of what was happening.

To feel his blade slice through the throats of his opponents, the Shadow felt the heady delight of battle and made short work of the half dozen lumber beasts. The great lizards were green with blades mounted upon their tails, ferocious to be sure, but they were no match for the healed Shadow.

He stood with slaughtered beasts at his feet. It was now that he brought his hand up to block the light from the Water Temple from striking his face. With a growl and a shrug, the Shadow noted that the temple was greatly changed with time. He made his way to freedom, searching for a way to escape the blasted temple that he could only assume he'd been trapped in for centuries.

When he found his way to the exit of the temple, the Shadow stared down at what stretched out before him. Water. It was everywhere. He'd have to swim to freedom, but this meant little to him. He couldn't die after all.

Sheathing his sword, the Shadow dropped down into the water, taking in a lung full of air before he kicked off. He swam through the water, it stinging his crimson eyes. His lungs began to burn early on, but the pain pushed him on. Lake Hylia was deeper than he remembered, but that mattered not to him. Breaking the surface, he was faced with something he had not expected. There was blackness everywhere. The land seemed to have been thrust into shadow or perhaps twilight. He swam to the shore and stood staring at his surroundings. They suited him fine, but the darkness with bits of black matter floating through the air was disconcerting. He stalked along the edge of the land, the black waters lapping at the shore just inches from his feet. He stopped suspiciously at the sight of four great shadow beasts covered in tentacles with four spindly arms and legs prowled ahead. They had not detected him yet, but something about them made him think of his hated "King". They reminded him of Ganondorf and his creations.

Hatred gnawed at the Shadow's gut as he stepped toward the beasts. One of them turned and gave an ear splitting cry. Its face was cover by a mask of sorts and its spindly legs carried it surprisingly quickly for its great size. Racing towards him, the shadow beast's companions joined the charge. Drawing his sword, the Shadow grinned maliciously, he was going to enjoy this.

He drew the blade back and bared his teeth in a savage grin. His red eyes narrowed and he pushed off the ground with his unnatural strength. Launching himself into the air, the Shadow brought his blade down on the back the nearest beast's neck. Walls of transparent darkness etched with red erected suddenly behind and around him and beasts. So, he couldn't escape until the beasts were dead, was it? Well, that suited him just fine. The blade pierced the beast's thick hide and met bone, but didn't kill the beast. With a cry the beast threw back its head and reared up, trying to dislodge its adversary. Another of the beasts reared as well and slammed one of its hands into the Shadow of the Hero's lean body. He was thrown off with a grunt and hit one of the transparent walls and cried out in pain as it shocked his entire body and threw him forwards. Lashing out, the Shadow brought the blade down on one of the beast's arm as it swiped at him. He ripped through muscle and bone as he severed the beast's arm in savage pleasure. The great beast bellowed in pain and fell back, dazed. The two unharmed beasts lunged at him, one from either side. Spinning to face the one on his right, the Shadow drew his blade back and leaped at the beast. He drove the blade into its throat, up to the hilt. Black blood spattered his arm and face. The beast gurgled as blood welled up from the throat and he pulled the blade back, the whole affair lasting only seconds.

The beast collapsed before him. Turning quickly, the Shadow saw the beast behind him lashing out at his back. It brought its hand down on his back with a ear splitting cry. The shadow was thrown, but twisted in the air, landing on both his feet with one hand on the ground. He drew the blade back and pushed off the ground, slicing at the beast's chest. The blade struck deep, but it took to more swings to sever the head from the beast's shoulders. The remaining two beasts, the one with the wounded neck and the other without its arm rushed at him from behind. Twisting, the Shadow landed between them. The one armed beasts swung at him, unbalanced, while its companion aimed low. Slithering beneath the one armed beast, he drove his blade deep and in one swing brought it up along the beast's belly and ripped through the one beast, continuing in the same strike to slice directly through the mask of the second beast and buried the blade deep in the beast's head. Without a sound the beasts stood for a full moment before collapsing on the ground and merely exploded into darkness, their black blood staining the Shadow's tunic and face. His made of face of disgust and turned away. There was a cave a short distance away and he made his way to it.

The yawning black maw of the cave awaited the Shadow of the Hero. He moved slowly and cautiously towards the entrance, his footfalls silent. He kept his blade drawn and eyes raked the deepest shadows. The cave opened up into a vaulted ceiling and ledges around the walls. A deep pool, more of a small lake really, reflected pale green light below a ledge the jutted out above the deep water. The Shadow moved cautiously onto the ledge and looked, not down at the water, but up at a faintly glowing mass of light that floated above the water. It was one of the guardians that protected Hyrule, a Spirit of Light.

The Shadow looked at the shattered Spirit with distain and contempt. The Spirit seemed to stir and look upon the Shadow.

"…So…You've escaped…" the Spirit said, its voice was faint, distant. It was barely there, but glowed faintly, valiantly attempting to remain present, even though it was exhausted. The darkness had sapped it, its light was gone. "…Why…have you come…?"

The Shadow swished his sword carelessly and examined the blade with disinterest before looking up at the fragmented Spirit and answering. "You know why I've come," he countered; his voice raw, yet still carried a threatening note. "Where is he?" He hissed.

The Spirit glowed faintly as though it were laughing. Its voice was exhausted as it replied. "He…will come…he always…has."

Curling his lip in disgust, the Shadow turned on his heel. He would find the Hero and kill him once and for all. "What good…would it do…?" The Spirit asked faintly. "He would…still come back…"

In disgust, the Shadow swung around to face the Spirit. "You're all but destroyed," he spat. "You're no match for the Darkness. You couldn't protect Hyrule and it's fallen. Your Hero couldn't do anything to stop it, what makes you think this time will be any different?" Disgust and anger roiled in the Shadow. "Your precious Hyrule is defenseless. You Hero and your Princess have failed you. The darkness will be unstoppable."

The Shadow spoke, his voice strong in the darkness and his red eyes seemed to glow as he spread his arms. Though, truly, he knew not of what he spoke. His imprisonment had cut him off from the world as it had moved on, leaving him behind.

"You…are still weak…" the Spirit breathed. "When they…find you…you will be…imprisoned…and you will be his puppet…again…"

Anger burned in him and he threw his head back. "I am no one's puppet," he spat. "I never have been."Rage burned in his veins as he said this.

"You…are not…complete…without him…" The Spirit sighed tiredly. "You never….will be…"

Furiously, the Shadow gazed up at the Spirit. "You know nothing!" He spat and turned to stalk away.

"…" The Spirit was silent as he walked down from the ledge and towards the entrance to the cave. "…Shadow…" It whispered, glowing faintly.

"…It's not 'Shadow'," the Shadow muttered. "And it's not 'Dark' either. It's 'Void'."

With that, the Shadow, "Void", departed into the darkness.