Work Text:
He can feel the ground quake as they bound toward him; three towering, helmeted black beasts twisted into some mutated rendition of human beings. He wants to run, to wake up in his bed in his cozy tree home and sigh in relief that it was all just a dream.
But it’s not a dream, and so he holds his ground, shield raised and sword ready.
They’re close enough that he can smell the must rolling off them and he strikes, hacking and slashing at shadowy limbs and they fall, one at a time.
That’s his mistake.
The shriek the last one lets out pierces his eardrums and leaves him paralyzed as the beast’s felled comrades rise and close in. He aims to hit them all at once, but comes up short and leaves two standing.
He screams when a searing pain shoots through his shoulder; A rogue tendril has speared itself deep into his flesh. Vigor renewed with the adrenaline rush of serious injury, he cuts them down.
They do not rise again.
The portal hums and drains from angry red to a calm teal. He looks at the gore spattered on the forest floor around him, at the seeping wound in his shoulder. Midna comes out of his shadow to congratulate him.
She sounds genuine this time.
She’s saying something about fusing shadows when she frowns, and with a snide remark forces him to take a break. Grateful, he slumps forward.
He’s out before he hits the ground.