"Want to go explore the woods?"

“Want to go explore the woods?” Normally, Link would have found such a suggestion to sound fairly boring. After all, he grew up in the woods, and most of his exploring there led to danger and stress. But this was not normal, as Link was not his usual, Hylian self. To a wolf, the suggestion sounded absolutely amazing, and his ears immediately perked up at the idea, his furry tail wagging.

The last time Link had been to the Twilight Realm, he had only seen the palace and a few other buildings nearby. Now that the place wasn’t corrupted by Zant’s evil, he could see there was far more to it that it first seemed. In some ways, it was like a dark mirror to Hyrule, with many of the same biomes, the palette switched into a darker scheme. The closest forest wasn’t too far from the castle, and within a few minutes they were there. The trees were all coated with a dark bark, their leaves cascading in different hues, from purple to blue to orange and back again. The sight was surreal, but Link could smell the animals here, all Twili variations on common game in Hyrule.

Together with his mate, Link hunted what they could find. At first it was just for the thrill, for the chase, letting their prey go when they were done. But after a few hours their appetite grew and, as wolves, it didn’t seem too odd at all to begin killing and eating their catches, a rabbit here, a vole there. Once they were sated, they just began stalking around, unsure of what to do now. They’d stopped talking entirely, even in wolf. They were strangers in their own bodies, lost somewhere they barely knew, and had no idea of how to turn back. They’d waited hours, but no sign of the enchantment’s end had come. Soon, they realized they were walking just to walk, because they weren’t happy with where they were.

Then, something astonishing happened. In a small clearing, incredibly deep into the dark Twili forest, a light glowed. It was nothing like the neon lighting used by the Twili in their settlements, it had the telltale glow of actual Light World sunlight. Amazed, they drew closer, hope rising in their chests, and soon they found the source of the light: a portal. The magical gateway lay on the ground, a rip in the fabric of dimensions, and through it they could see what looked like somewhere in Ordon Forest. This was a way back to the light, and with luck perhaps the magic of the travel could change them back to humanoid forms. But what if it didn’t? What if they ended up in the same predicament, except now they were stuck as wolves in the Light World instead of the Twilight Realm. Nonverbally, they looked at each other and pondered: was this worth the risk? Or should they give up and hope of gaining back their old forms?