Cursed Entrance by puppy_sg29@yahoo.com Chapter 1 : Unfamiliar faces Epona watched the sun go down. What was her master doing? Her master, yes, Link, he had gone into Kakariko Village for a long long time. Epona neighed, Link was pretty much ignoring her; thanks to the almighty, and irritating, Fire Temple and its boss, Volvagia... All this while, she had been standing outside and staring at the stone steps, waiting for Link to return. "Maybe I'll go explore..." she thought, and cantered off and across the bridge. Epona galloped freely across the field, and saw an entrance she had never seen before. "What is that?" she thought. She neighed and went in. Upon going in, the entrance faded away, leaving Epona in a forest she had never been to before. She trotted over the wet grass and over to the exit. Maybe she would end up in Lake Hylia? She liked water very much, although she was a bit scared to go into deep water. After going through the huge log that served as a door to the exit, she was astonished. This place was unfamiliar, and she could see monsters like the green and red chuchu, real bombchus, deku babas, keese, and more scattered across the green field. "Where am I?" She saw snow, she saw huge shaky buildings, she saw a forest, she saw sand and water. She saw a huge town. Where was she indeed? She trotted slowly over to a sign, and tried to make out the words. "It says... Welcome to Termina..." Epona suddenly bolted upright. TERMINA!? Wasn't Termina the neighbouring country of Hyrule that was a good 1000km away from Hyrule!? How did she get to Termina in just a matter of seconds? Anyway, she was joyful that she could explore some new place. She tried going into the town, and was blocked by a guard. She remembered that Link had often sneaked past guards, or perhaps just use his sheild to hit them. She used her front legs to knock the guard senseless, and after doing that, happily trotted into South Clock Town. There was a tower, and some carpenters working on some sort of tower. The townspeople didn't really mind that a horse had just entered the town. They were more worried about the chunk of rock above them. Epona wandered around the town, and eventually noticed the Moon. It seemed bigger than before, it seemed like it was drawing closer to the town. "Why is the moon so big? Is this country very near to the moon?" The chestnut horse made her way to East clock town, and saw a few buildings, and red coloured things. She saw a child walking here, there, and everywhere. She saw a woman with reddish short hair wearing a dress come out of a house, and gasp at the sight of a horse in their town. Epona neighed. "This woman seems to be in a happy mood even though she's shocked." The reddish haired woman was Anju, the keeper of the Stock Pot Inn. Anju recovered from her surprise, and patted Epona. This horse had a special feeling to it, it was as if the horse could distinguish people. It was as if the horse could recognize people who loved horses, almost as if the people were horse people to them. Anju snapped out of her thoughts, and looked at Epona. Epona was staring at her with unflinching eyes. "Why, how are you? You seem to like town very much, don't you? Are you from Romani's Ranch?" Anju asked, while rubbing Epona's neck. Epona whinnied. "I come from Lon Lon Ranch, not Romani's ranch. I'm fine, just that i don't know my way around, thats all." she thought. Anju smiled to herself. She had nearly forgot that animals couldn't talk. "Lets go inside, its starting to rain." Anju said warmly, and was about to go in when she realized that Epona was a horse, and couldn't squeeze in such a small opening. "Oh dear... How do we get you in..." Anju thought aloud. She snapped her fingers. "I know!" She pushed Epona under the shelter of the straw roof, and watched as the rain came thundering down, just like lightning. Raindrops swiftly dropped onto the ground, making a soft splashing noise. She went into the inn, and came out with a few sheets of blankets. She draped them over Epona, and went in, coming out a second time with quite big a container filled with water, and some carrots and hay. She sat herself down on the bench. "I'm Anju...Cremia gives me hay and carrots occasionally on her frequent trips her, and says that when she brings her horse to Clock Town for deliveries, she needn't carry hay and carrots to add to the load. The trip from Romani's Ranch over to Clock Town is quite a distance, so her horse would need refreshments. This big container also served as her horse's water tray." Anju said while watching Epona nibble at the carrots. She continued, "I'm very happy, because I am getting married on the day of the Carnival of Time. I hope that the moon will pose no threat to my wedding..." Epona licked the water and lay down, everything silent for a moment. "By the way your name... I haven't named you yet..." Anju said. Epona looked at Anju, who was pondering over a name. "I think I'll call you..." Then she caught sight of Epona's white mane, and she also caught sight of the mountain Snowhead. "I'll call you Snowe. This is because your mane is as white and beautiful as the snow!" With that, Epona neighed happily, and soon fell asleep. Anju returned to her inn, and locked the door for the night. Dawn of Day 1 "Do you think its alive?" Epona heard a voice say. She opened her eyes, and saw a group of children huddled around her. She neighed loudly, and reared up, scaring the children away. After her hooves had pounded on the floor, the children came back, and gather around her like before. Epona frantically hoped that the woman named Anju from the day before would help. A boy with a red cap tugged at Epona's mane. "What is that? Why is it so queer?" he asked the others. The other boys started pulling epona's ears, tail and mane. "Get away!" Epona thought and in anger, bit one of the boys closest to her, the red capped one. He screamed in pain, and they all rushed away, screaming "A monster! There's a monster!" Epona glared after them, and then lay down again. She heard a sound, and the door opened. Anju walked out with more horse food, and refilled the water container. "Good morning Snowe!" she said and patted Epona. Epona listened as Anju started talking about everything. Then she heard a lot of commotion, and Anju gasping. She turned her head lazily, and scrambled to her hooves. Anju stood up. The boys from before, the Mayor, the guard Vincsent and Madame Aroma were making their way over to Anju. "So its true! There really IS a horse in town." Madame Aroma huffed and folded her arms. "We cannot allow a creature of the wild to be in this town, please understand." Mayor Dotour explained. It took a few seconds for what the mayor said to register in Epona's mind, but she realized it. She wasn't allowed in this town!? Chapter 2 : Romani Ranch Epona looked from Anju, to the mayor and the others. Anju was on the losing end. "I understand, mayor. I'm terribly sorry for the inconvenience..." Anju said, almost in a whisper, and led Epona to the gate. "Snowe, we're going to Romani Ranch, where you'll live and lead a happy life. I'lll visit you sometime." Anju said while walking Epona to Romani Ranch. Epona whinnied softly, and they both went to Romani Ranch in silence. When they had reached Romani Ranch, it was already noon. Epona was again astonished at Romani Ranch. It was so much better than Lon Lon Ranch. "Although i can't be in town with Anju, at least i still have the grass, the air, and the trees to accompany me, and Cremia that Anju always mentions. Now, Anju went into the house. Epona looked around contentedly, and spotted a girl with red hair. "Why do all the girls have red hair?" Epona thought. The girl also saw Epona, and ran over to the horse. "Hi! I'm Romani!" she said, her voice all bubbly with joy. "Romani? Nice name. I'm Epona, but Anju calls me Snowe. And you probably can't hear me, so i'll just stop wasting my time." Epona neighed. Romani's smile broadened. "Thanks! Nice to meet you, Epona! I can hear you, why did you say i can't?" Epona jumped in fright. "What!? You can hear me?" "Of course! Why, you can hear me too, so stop saying I can't hear you. Anju calls you Snowe? Well, i'll just tell her that your real name is Epona, and she'll know!" Romani exclaimed, and jumped up to tell Anju. "No stop! No need for that! I'm from Hyrule, and somehow got into Termina, so I must find a way back." Epona neighed. "Hyrule? What's that? I'll ask my sister later." Romani said, and sat down on a crate. Epona noticed the bow Romani had in her hand. "What's that for?" Romani frowned and gripped her bow tightly, "I'm practising. On the day before the Carnival, they will come. Every year. They come. At night. And when they come... The cows... They take the cows... and..." "and... But sister doesn't believe me. She says i'm fantasizing. Epona, we have do stop them! If only i had an assistant... If only you were human... then we could fend them off..." Romani said, while resting he rbow on her lap, and gazed at the sun. Epona left Romani to be alone, and trotted over to Mamamu Yan's doggy racetrack. She explored the ranch, and in the end, went back in front of the house and stood, waiting for Anju. Inside the house, Anju and Cremia were discussing about the wedding, Epona, and other. "Cremia... I am happy about the marriage, but something is starting to worry me..." Anju said, sitting on the chair. Across the table, Cremia asked. "What is it you're worried about?" "Its about Kafei. I haven't heard from him since three days!" "Three days is nothing, one week is something. Besides, where in Termina could he have gone? Don't worry, everything'll turn out alright." Cremia said, assuring her friend. Anju nodded. "I hope so. And about the horse-" "Its alright. We'll take good care of her. By the way, you should leave for town soon. It will get dark in a few hours, and the journey back on foot is about an hour. I'll give you a ride." Cremia said, and got up. Anju got up, and smiled. "Thank you Cremia, and i'm terribly sorry for bothering you..." "There you go again, apologizing." Cremia said and opened the door. "I'm sorry" that was Anju. "Another apology?" "Im sor- well, i just can't help it!" Epona neighed when Anju walked out. Somehow, this person gave Epona a very motherly feeling. Anju smiled again. "Bye Snowe." Dusk of Day 1 Epona munched on the soft grass. Romani Ranch was Epona's dream ranch, neat, tidy, yummy and homey! What was best was that Romani could hear her! "Sister left with her friend, saying that she would be back before eight. But i'm not worried. If sister came back later, that means i have more time alone!" Romani giggled, and practised again. "Romani? You don't have any arrows left." Epona whinnied. "What? Oh well.Whats my score?" Epona looked up at the girl, who was expecting good results. She looked down at the floor. "Since you have 50 arrows, and 50 targets, you need to burst each one with one arrow, the number of arrows left are supposed to be 0, and the targets too. Your arrows left were 0, and the targets left were 15. That means you scored 85/100 overral." Epona neighed. Romani jumped for joy. "85!? I can't believe it!" "I'd wish for my little master to arrive. You should take lessons from him. His archery is 100/100 every time! Thats why he is the Hero of Time! But now isn't the time to start thinking about my master, now's the time to think about how to go home!" Epona sadly looked at the ground, and at her hooves. Suddenly, her ears pricked up. She had heard Epona's song, clearly a sign that she needed to go back to Link! She neighed, not being able to return to her master. For the whole of the evening, Epona had been hearing the song, calling for her to return, but she could do nothing... Romani, also feeling helpless, watched as Epona didn't tough her food, nor her water. She left the horse alone, and went inside for bed. Chapter 3 : Sprite Dawn of Day 2 Epona awoke, basically because the neighing of a horse was heard. She stood shakily up on four legs, then observed Romani and Cremia go about their day, and Cremia rubbing the neck of another black horse. Romani was also excited about this, and was running around jumping for joy; they now had two horses, one for Cremia, one for Romani. Obviously Romani would take Epona. The chestnut flung her head and swished her tail, quite angry at being left alone because of another horse. Yes, she was quite docile when Link and Malon were handling her, but as to others, she wasn't all that tame. Only with Link or Malon would she be fully contented. And with the addition of Anju. The other horse's coat was solid black, and only one horse like that in Hyrule existed. Ganondorf's horse. Epona screamed and reared up, both front legs in the air, whilst she bared her teeth at the other horse, her ears flattened to her skull. A while ago, Epona would have just laid lazily on the ground, content that she had such a nice home, but this horse, this one horse made her remember Hyrule, made her remember Ganondorf, made her remember that Link needed her very much, to defeat Ganondorf, Epona was needed to cross over to Lake Hylia, and many more! The other horse, just stared at Epona, then tossed its head, obviously ignoring Epona. She grew madder with ever passing second, and finally, Epona galloped ferociously towards her foe, and knocked it down with a single blow from her front legs. Cremia was shocked to the extent that no words could come out, but she knew how to handle a situation like this. She led Epona away from the other horse, and was nearly attacked to death by the untamed, wild spirit of Epona. Finally, Epona calmed down, but kept an eagle eye on the other horse. The other horse snickered. It came closer, and Epona remembered that this wasn't Hyrule, it was Termina, and this horse had a white splash on its forehead. "You, you had better not enrage me, or you won't see tomorrow!" Epona hissed through gritted teeth. The other horse finally decided to talk. "Well, i'll see if you can even lay a hoove on my mane." she mocked. "Oh, really? I'll wait until Cremia and Romani are gone, THEN i'll pound the living daylights out of you!" Epona threatened, and lay her head on the soft, sweet smelling grass. All at once it had calmed her down. Her fierce and untamed spirit still burning, still flowing in her blood. Epona was like her mother, fierce, strong, wise, intelligent, untamed, wild and yet beautiful. She had never seen her father before, and decided that she wouldn't find out. When Malon found Epona's mother, she was already pregnant with Epona, so Epona didn't know how life would be in the wild, until she met Link. Being Link's horse was no easy task, because Link would often camp out in the field, or leave Epona alone when he was in a temple. Epona had to survive on her own, sometimes even a week went by while Link was over and done with with the temple. Most of the enemies ignored her, mainly because she was just a horse. "By the way, why are you here? Who are you? What's your name?" Epona asked, suddenly growing curious of her foe's reason to be around, annoying her. "I'm Cremia's horse you fool. A year ago, the neighbouring country, not Hyrule, invited me to the huge worldwide race, because in Termina, I'm the fastest horse. Too bad I got a cramp while running, and lost to the horse from Hyrule. I believe it was a black horse, and a green man was there. And my name is Sprite." "Sprite, well, I don't really want to beat you up, besides, having one friend more means having one foe less. AND I think i can get rif of the enmity between us with one simple thing..." Epona begun, and Sprite cocked her brow. "And what exactly is that thing?" Epona's eyes had a gleam to it, and it sparkled like a thousand stars. "A race. To determine the fastest horse in Termina." Dusk of Day 2 Epona watched Romani and Cremia go into the house, come out to put the blankets and water for her and Sprite, all in a disturbed state of mind. Ganon took part in the race? What for? And one more thing... Hyrule... Epona gazed at the starry night sky, wondering when she would be returned to Hyrule... When 8 o clock struck, Sprite trotted out into the view of the moon. Strangely, the moon was nearer than before... Anyay, Epona and Sprite were preparing for the little race. Epona used her hoove to stomp out a start line, and a finish line. They were to run around the ranch for 3 rounds. Sprite snickered. She would beat Epona hands down, or hooves down. Epona was still in a disturbed state of a mind, so Sprite would have a higher chance of winning this race. "So, i'll countdown. 3,2,1, GO!" Sprite started galloping as fast as she could. Epona, on the other hand, galloped, trying to use as little energy as possible. Very soon, Sprite was at her 2nd round, and confident that she wouldn't lose. The chestnut gathered up more speed, and went a little faster. When Epona had entered her 2nd round, Sprite was nearly finishing, but she had little energy left to run as swift as before. Even though Sprite had lost energy, Epona was still very far behind. Suddenly, out of the blue, strange soothing music was heard. Epona's ears pricked up again. This was another song to call her, call her back to Hyrule. Epona steadied her sight on the finishing line. The direction of the finishing line, it was the direction the song was played from. Without a moment's hesitation, Epona focused on the music, the finishing line, as if it could bring her back to Hyrule, where Link was, and gallop to her master, feel the weight on her back, and go wherever Link wanted to. She galloped at full speed, and crossed the finish line way before Sprite, astonishing her foe. "Well, you're faster then me, but only because I gave in." Sprite tossed her head again, but she knew that Epona was better than she was, and wouldn't lose her sportsmanship. Someday, she would challenge Epona again... For now, she would go to sleep. It was already near midnight. Chapter 4 : Frantic search Link stared at the sky, trying to make out a few constellations. Back in Hyrule, nobody had seen Epona, and Malon didn't have Epona stay at the ranch or something. Right now, Epona was lost, and Navi, Navi was becoming a bother by reminding him of the mission instead of Epona. He had been playing the tune to call forth his trusty steed about a zillion times, but still no Epona. "Where IS Epona?" Link asked, for the hundredth time this day. "Wait, I heard that there is a neighbouring country not too far from here, that is called Termina. If you find the correct path, you'll teleport straight into Termina. I believe Epona has went through-" "Enough said Navi, lets go!" Link said, hurriedly getting up, just so that he could stop hearing Navi's long 'speeches'. Another reason was Epona. He would search throughout Hyrule. He needed to find Epona, and fast... Chapter 5 : I'll Wait... Dawn of Day 3 Epona woke up, went about her daily routine; run around for 2 rounds, rest, and eat. Today, the weather was dull. Drizzles broke out time and again, and Epona was forced to stay under shelter. Romani also grimaced, she couldn't practise. As soon as a drizzle stopped, both Epona, Sprite, and Romani gleefully went out onto the field to play. Romani was improving in her shots. Epona and Sprite were helping Romani, and were recording her score. It drizzled for at least half a day that day. Dusk of Day 3 Cremia watched as the sun set. Sometimes, she really wished that days would go by so peacefully, calmly, and perfectly. She did her usual routines, brushing the horses before they went to bed, covering them with blankets, tucking in her sister, making sure the barn was safe, and sleep. If everyday life was so peaceful... Dawn of Day 4 That day, Epona was in a unusually good mood. Romani was ill, so she needed to rest in bed. Today, Anju might come to visit. Sprite knew of Anju, so she also waited patiently for the inn keeper to come. Cremia brushed the horses, gave them food, changed the water, and so on so forth. "Snowe, Sprite, today Anju might be coming, so you two behave yourselves, ok?" Cremia said while brushing the horses. Epona neighed. Cremia was in a more joyful spirit than them. Epona looked at the sky. The clouds were starting to drift away, being replaced by dark, ominous, ones. Sprite had taken a fancy to 'hibernating' and refused to get up, she soon would when it rains...Epona thought. She trotted around the ranch, trying to discover new things. Nothing much interested her as of now. She wouldn't hibernate, nor run around doing nothing. Thre must be something for her to do... Her ears flattened against her skull. She listened very very carefully to every noise that the wind brought, and she heard the town peoples' gossip in the wind. "Did you hear? The mayor's son has gone missing, and rumour has it that the moon is falling soon! I also heard that Milk road is blocked by a huge boulder!" Epona strained to hear. Kafei.... Kafei... somehow that name echoed in her mind. Then it struck her. "My fiancee is the mayor's son, Kafei. Some may think I just wed him for fortune, but I truly love him..." Epona had remembered Anju saying. If the moon was falling, and kafei was missing, Anju would be so heartbroken, coupled with the fact that she couldn't come over to pour out her sorrows to her friends. Epona whinnied softly, and looked back up at the sky. The moon was getting bigger, and as Epona observed, something shiny was falling from it's eye. She squinted. The thing grew bigger, and Epona realized that it was a jewel or something of some sort. She galloped to a safe spot, and watched as the thing crashed into the middle of the ranch, creating a small hole in the ground. The mare snorted. What use would a jewel do to a horse like herself? Cremia had come out to check what the noise was all about, and as she saw the glowing thing, her eyes widened, and her jaws nearly dropped to the ground in amazement. She hurried over, and picked the stone up, the Moon's Tear. In town the topic of the moon, and the Moon's Tear was spreading like a bush fire, and somehow news got to Romani Ranch about it. Cremia was all excited, this was a very rare stone! Epona watched the girl happily return into the house, gripping the Moon's Tear as if it were her most precious possesion. A few hours later, raindrops were already falling from the grey and darkened sky in huge numbers, swift and heavy rain. Epona's assumption was right. When the drizzle began, Sprite scrambled to her feet, took cover, and hid in the snuggest corner she could. Epona just snorted. She, too, was in the shelter, but since she stayed out in the rain a while, she was quite wet. Some raindrops rolled off her flank, and she blinked away the raindrops that were on her eyelashes. Epona shook herself vigorously, just so as to dry up a bit. She had stayed in Termina for such a long time... Link might be still searching for her now... Just when she got to thinking that she would escape Romani Ranch to search for an exit out of Termina, the sound of rocks being smashed was heard. Then Epona remembered that Romani Ranch was blocked by a stupid boulder. She lay her head on the ground again, awaiting sleep. Dusk of Day 4 For how long she was asleep, Epona did not know, she just knew that when she woke up, everything was so dark and so blurry, and something seemed to be wrong somewhere. She got up, let her eyes adjust to the darkness, and trotted out of the shelter. The rain had turned into a light drizzle, a soothing drizzle. Sprite was gone, in the house, the lights weren't on, and the all too familiar barking, mooing, and the chickens clucking, they weren't heard. Something was missing, but she didn't know what. Usually, the dogs would bark from time to time, and the soft mooing of the cows could be heard, by Epona and Sprite, and the chickens... it also was time to time. But tonight... Epona galloped until she was almost out of Romani Ranch, saw the huge boulder, and she also saw a mishapen object hovering above the boulder. It was carrying a scythe, and the scythe was covered in red liquid. Some of it dripped on the boulder, and Epona was just unlucky enough to be standing very near, so it dripped on her. She kept very quiet, and wasn't moving, mainly because she was rooted to the spot, in fear. She could only watch as the figure blended in with the darkness, and was gone in the twinkling of an eye. She blinked again. Where was it? More importantly, What was it and what was it doing? The drizzle washed away the redness off the boulder, and soaked the grass. Epona shuddered. She made her way back to into the safe shelter of the ranch, and saw Sprite lying there, still sleeping. The lights were still off, but the usual sounds and noises were back. She lay back down, drinking water first, and rolled over, trying to go to sleep, again. Epona's eyes were suddenly wide open. Her breath came out raspy, and she evidently had another nightmare. The horse looked at the sky. It was getting lighter in colour, proving that the sun was rising. Echoes of Epona's song could still be heard, but this time, it was louder, and closer. Epona heard the song again, this time as if it was just played a few km away, not like the usual, faint soundings. She got up and hopefully waited, and waited. Time seemed eternal, but she still waited. The song stopped, and Epona waited longer. Still nothing. She blinked back tears. Dawn of day 5 Epona was up and about, and Romani was also feeling better today. Sprite was still in OFF mode, which meant she was still sleeping. Epona noticed the mysterious figure from the night before, it was around the ranch at different intervals, and sometimes a fleeting image. The scythe was white, clean, no blood on it, unlike the night before, when Epona first saw the figure. Romani was getting better at her shots too. During the day, Epona had been disturbed by the appearance of the figure. So Romani, while riding Epona, had failed to shoot all the targets in record time. Now, Romani was having lunch, and Sprite was running around the field, improving, no, boosting, her stamina. Epona watched, just as the figure appeared in front of her, right before her, standing there, staying, two green, glaring, piercing eyes, staring into hers. Her eyes locked with the figure's eyes, and she nearly died of fright. "You want to get back to Hyrule, don't you." the figure said, in a deep and mysterious voice. Epona hesitated for a while, before in a soft tone neighing. The figure's eyes glowed brighter. "You're a horse whose fate is to travell through time, and different worlds, seeking out answers to stuff that you think about subconsiously. Your death place will be varied. If you really want to get back to Hyrule..." the voice trailed off. Epona gulped. When she heard what the last few words were, she was dumbfounded. "Remember these words... they will guide you..." the figure said, drawing blood, and fading away. Chapter 6 : Home in Hyrule Dusk of Day 5 Epona winced in pain. The wound from before, the one that the scythe drew blood with, it was very painful, but when she thought about it, she knew what her duty was. The figure had given her hope, although a little bloodshed was neccassary. Romani got out her writing things, as Epona had asked her to. "Romani, will you write what I say?" Epona asked. Romani nodded, and took up the 'pencil'. Epona looked at the ground, then started speaking her mind. A few minutes later. "Alright, I've written what you said." Romani said, getting up and stuffing her writing utensils into a basket. Her handwriting was very messy, but not inaudible. Romani rolled the paper, and put it into Epona's mouth. "There you go," she said, going into her house for the night. Epona bit the paper hard, so hard that she bit her tongue... Many, MANY thoughts were running through her mind. The figure appeared before her again. "Have you done what you want yet?" it asked. Epona couldn't reply, she only looked at the figure. "I guess so. Well, return to Hyrule, don't go into the entrance you saw when you were coming into Termina. This place will not remember you, and you will not remember this place. I shall try to stop you from coming back through that entrance, that's the best I can do" it said. "Why..." she whinnied, the paper dropping out from her mouth. "Why what?" "Why are you helping me?" There was a moment of silence. Epona heard the raindrops, they were coming down, faster and faster, and heavier. "The soft croaking of the frogs sometimes can put you to sleep, but they mean something else, in their own language. Their voices symbolise the mourning of the dead, because the dead are not as lucky as the living, and they can only hope that the living will not meet such a tragic end as the dead, not that early, not that early... And you are of the living. You are lucky, and I also do not wish for your arrival in the world of the dead. I do not want to lose my only daughter..." Epona felt tears welling in her eyes. "I'm your daughter?" "Most of the dead take on a form like mine, this is because they have commited a grievous sin in their life. Even horses..." The raindrops washed away the lone tear that fell, disguised it as another raindrop. Epona closed her eyes. No tears this time... she told herself. A moment later, it was dark, all dark. Sprite woke up in the middle of the night. "Epona, I'm ready to race again!" her eyes dancing with joy. She was confident that she wouldn't lose. Epona was lying on the ground. Sprite stamped one foot in annoyance, and nudged Epona. "She's fast asleep..." Sprite grumbled. She lay down again. "Tomorrow... tomorrow we'll race..." she mumbled, before sleep consumed her. Link looked at the huge boulder in front of him. Navi also looked. "Do you know how to get rid of this?" Link asked. Navi flew in the air behind him. He looked at it again. The mishapen figure appeared again. Link blinked, and then jumped back, preparing his sword. The figure laughed, a cracked, laugh, but oddly, there was a bitter and forlorn feeling to that laugh. From beneath the cloak, a rolled paper dropped out, with a few drops of blood on it. The figure faded into the darkness again. Link picked the paper up, unrolled it, and smiled faintly. "What's it say?" Navi asked. "It says we go back to Hyrule." he said, and walked away, from this place, away, from Termina. Somewhere in Hyrule... Epona watched the sun go down. What was her master doing? Her master, yes, Link, he had gone into Kakariko Village for a long long time. Epona neighed, Link was pretty much ignoring her; thanks to the almighty, and irritating, Fire Temple and its boss, Volvagia... All this while, she had been standing outside and staring at the stone steps, waiting for Link to return. "Maybe I'll go explore..." she thought, and cantered off and across the bridge. Epona galloped freely across the field, and saw an entrance she had never seen before. "What is that?" she thought. Suddenly, something cold, and chilly, like a presence which was very familiar to Epona was felt in the air. She nearly set foot in the entrance, but the song, the song to call her sounded. She neighed again. "I'll come back later!" she thought, and galloped away, to Kakariko Village. Meanwhile, Link had just realized their next stop after saving Hyrule from the evil Ganondorf, was Termina. Three days would wait for him, and the moon would also wait, for Link to save Termina. The figure hovered in front of the entrance, watching as the horse galloped away, the scythe rusted with the previous night's blood. Its time was nearly up; every soul was left in the world even after death if they had unfinished tasks, tormented by their past, but if they fulfilled their greatest wishes, they would be able to rest in peace. Within seconds, the last task was accomplished. The cursed entrance was sealed, until the Hero of Time needed to travell to the other land. Then, another soul would guard the entrance and open it, not the figure itself. A shooting star shot across the night sky, representing another soul which was put to a deep sleep.