The moment they were stopped Link knew they were going to be screwed, but thankfully he wasn’t picked out first and killed during his more vulnerable state. Instead, he was shifted to the side with everyone else being picked out to fight, keeping Link on the side-lines for now. Link kept the ring on, he didn’t want to remove it and wanted to stay in this strange form and keep his odder yet regular appearance hidden away just incase they saw him as different and decided to take him out anyway. Everyone else was getting out and going immediately to aid Demoko, but Link was definitely a little more reluctant to do such a thing. He was feeling scared, he had a sword and the gloves to lift it but he just couldn’t bring himself to use it. The sword was hidden under the illusion, but his fear wasn’t. He wanted to help Nayrin but couldn’t, he wanted to fight but couldn’t. Running off from the caravan and trying to find somewhere to hide, while his shield protected his back from incoming fire his fear was anything but hidden as he became a cowardly little kid that he was supposed to be.

Two hurricane knights were flying over the battle looking for people to target. Everyone seemed to be preoccupied with what was around them, but not what was above. They spotted Link still in the cart and saw that he was hiding cowardly and choosing not to fight. As they flew over head the pair of Hurricane knights sent huge gusts of wind knocking the cart on its side and tossing Link out of it. The first knight landed in front of him and drew his sword to attack Link while the second remained in the air above circling.

Keeping his head low, Link casually glanced out of the cart every so often, trying to watch the others and hoping they were okay in return. He didn't want them to get hurt because he wasn't able to help them, his eyes shifting across the battlefield as he held onto the hilt of his sword nervously. With a feeling of anticipation, he leaned slightly forward but in doing so he was spotted by the enemy. With a sudden and very strong blast of wind, Link was thrown right out of the cart, sending him tumbling across the hard ground. With the hard ground smacking him around and sending him rolling like a ragdoll, he was understandably pretty disorientated by the time the knight came flying right at him and threw down its sword. In a reflex driven by instinct, Link immediately drew his own sword and blocked the attack, the force of it sending him sliding across the ground a little on his shield. He wanted to parry the attack, but he couldn't bring himself to do it and could only manage to stop it hitting him, his hand quickly trying to make a desperate grab for his shield. He was all too scared, his sword swinging out desperately as he tried to defend himself.

The knight was impressed by the boy's ability to deflect his attack, but he didn't care for very long as he charged forward leaning forward sword at his side. When he was in range he brought his sword from his side and swung it in an upward vertical arch. It would have left him widely exposed, but the knight was too fast to leave it open for more than a half second as he quickly twirled to the left and then brought his sword down in a top to side arch swing.

As his fellow knight continued his attacks on the ground, the knight flying over head dropped several small bombs behind and over Link to distort him and to throw him off his fight with his fellow hurricane knight.

Link could barely hold his own, his defence not holding up as well as it should had been able to. He was unable to concentrate long enough to follow with the attacks and parry them properly, he just didn't have the courage to. Gasping when the knight came in for another swing, he made a quick horizontal swipe only to end up falling back again, the knight's vertical swing only just missing him. With one more attack incoming, he quickly spun around as he tried to flee, his shield scraping against the knight's sword and breaking the illusion if only for a moment. He needed to get away from both of them, making a quick scamper as he tried to cover some ground; however, with a sudden barrage of bombs from above he was knocked around and thrown right off his feet several times over. Bouncing off the ground several times, he scampered for his shield once again, managing to pull it off his back and hold it up for protection, "Help! Help me! I-I can't fight!"

Time froze it seemed, everything slowed to a stop and this wasn't Demoko's doing for he slowed as well. The group was frozen before the giant behemoth of a man, nothing stirred except for Demoko's shadow that left his side and crawled quickly across the surface of the bridge and seeped into Link. Once inside it dragged Link into his own mind and to a very desolate place. There was clear water beneath his feet, but he hovered over it able to walk across it. Every direction was white except for up which contained the stars and a bright moon. In the distance hazy figures could be seen behind a cloud of mist. In the opposite direction a tall hazy figure stood behind another cloud of mist.

"You called for help my son." A skeletal warrior said who stood next to Link but a bit off. "Do not be afraid for you are safe here." The Skeletal warrior said as he approached Link. He was taller than Link, but by no means a giant like Onyx. The warrior gave off a cold presence, perhaps due to his not so lively personality. "I am the Hero's Shade, I guide the Hero's of Hyrule when they need it most. I have not been summoned for over 500 years, but then again there hasn't been a Hero for 500 years as well." The Hero's Shade said as his cold breath slowly reached Link, thankfully it didn't reek of decaying tissue. "Tell me son, what is it that you require of me?"

Link had no idea what had happened to him the moment everything suddenly stopped, thinking he had died and this was what death felt like. Gasping, he pulled back, looking all around himself before something caught his attention out of the corner of his eye. A shadow moved towards him rapidly, almost jumping in fright at what it could had possibly been, "Ah! No! Please no! I thought I-ah!" Shielding himself from the inevitable shadow, it proved completely useless as he was dragged away from reality and tossed into a plain far more empty than his own. Letting out a gasp, he spun around quickly, his breathing rapid as he tried to suss out where he was and what could possibly be happening. This must had been purgatory, his death probably painless if he didn't even realise he had been killed.

Slowly looking around, he almost leaped right out of his boots when a voice called out to him, an undead creature pretty near him. Cowering slightly, he stared at it as it spoke, feeling confused to what was being said and what it was. Everything it was saying could easily leave a frown on his face, his feet shuffling back a little shutting his eyes a moment as everything felt suddenly a little chilly, "W-What...? But...I-I locked away that side of me; I'm just an ordinary boy!" he spoke, frowning a little, "Why would you come before me if I did that...? I-I'm not a hero, I'm just a coward! You should be helping the others...my friends...o-or at least, if they think of me as their friend..."

"True you have cast aside your Hero's Destiny for a blank slate and I do not think any less of you for it. However regardless of if you are the Hero or not, you are my bloodline and I will not ignore your plea for help." The Hero's Shade said. He looked off into the stars over head and stopped looking at Link to allow the boy to calm down. "I can not help them my son, I can only help you who can in return help them if you wish." The Hero's Shade turned his head back to Link and looked coldly at him with his one good eye that was an orange hue. "Tell me my child, why have you not learned that those who are travelling with you sincerely are your friends? I know they are not the most perfect people in the world, but they do care for you Hero or not." The Hero's Shade said as his voice tensed around the word "hero". He did not mean to put Link down, but to simply emphasize the point that his companions will care for him all the same.

He turned his back to Link and walked off a bit, placing his hands behind his back. His armor rattled against itself and his dead flesh and bones with every step. "I cannot blame you however for feeling unsure about them. When I was young, I had no friends and was bullied by the other kids. I was different from the rest and easy for everyone to pick on. After so many years it is hard to allow people into your life who you feel are only going to hurt you when you let your guard down." The Hero's Shade looked down at the water that they slightly hovered above and saw the reflection of a young 10 year old boy in a green tunic. "I can't help your friends, but they are not the ones who need my help, it is you, you need help finding some of your courage and I will for I do not want you to travel down the same road I did."

Link was having a hard time adjusting to the fact that there was an undead warriors standing before him, talking to him like he was a long lost relative. He couldn't understand it, but there was one thing he knew and that was that the creature was friendly, "...M-My bloodline...? But I didn't cast it aside completely! I just...wanted to know what it was like to be normal..." he spoke, pressing his fingers together as he shuffled nervously. He didn't really think he had any ancestry considering he was essentially created by one and birthed by the other. Lowering his gaze in contemplation, he stared at his hands before suddenly gasping, his eyes going straight to the gazing eye on the Shade. Hesitating a moment, he frowned and looked down again, "I-It's just-...I...I don't know if they like me or whether they like...the Hero. Are they looking for fame, glory and money? Will they kill me before I can become a monster and destroy everything? And if Nayrin leaves too-...does she still love me? The half-breed creature of darkness that I am?"

Blushing a little, he let out a sigh as he lowered his gaze, the Shade's story sounding all too familiar to him than he liked to had known, "I guess...it's a curse for us: to be treated differently, to be bullied, to be an outcast", he frowned, staring down with no shadow to reflect upon. He didn't mean to doubt his friends, but when he went from none to many surrounding him all with the same goal it was easy to doubt their own thoughts of friendship towards him. Slowly looking back to the Shade, his hands went to his heart shakily, staring at the figure before speaking up again, "But I have no courage! It's all locked away! I...I can't allow myself to die either for if I die while I have everything sealed away, there will never be another Hero! I won't be reborn, I will become part of the void and everything I was in the past will disappear...you will disappear! How do I find courage through that??"

"I had a hard time of wondering if people accepted the Hero or me as well. I found the latter to be true." The Hero's Shade said as he continued to stare at this reflection. "I found that the friends I had made, were still the very same people I had come to love even when I was no longer a hero." He turned away from his reflection and looked at Link. "They will still love you monster or not my Son. Even after so many centuries, even after I have become this monstrosity that is before you, even after I gave up my destiny as the Hero of Time, Saria still considers me her friend." The Hero' Shade stared deeply at Link and a breathed deeply and then sighed sitting down next to him. There wasn't much to look at in this realm but the stars. With a wave of his hand they were sitting on a grassy hill that overlooked the old peaceful Lake Hylia that the Hero's Shade remembered. The mist still surrounded the boundaries of the realm and the stars still hung overhead.

"Child, just because you locked away the Hero's Destiny doesn't mean you can't have courage. True there won't be another Hero, and true I will disappear, but I'm okay with disappearing." He said calmly. No doubt the reaction that Link was least likely expecting. "Fighting to prevent those things won't give you courage my son. I think the only thing it will do is stress you out and maybe a heart attack." he said calmly yet again. "Courage is hard to make out of thin air, you can't force it and you can't be thinking about it either. Many people think that courage is just facing your fears and being strong and heroic. It is true those things usually run parallel to being courageous, but in my opinion courage is the state when you stand for what is right and what is just or fair." The Hero's Shade held out his hand as a butterfly came a fluttering before him. It landed on his finger and he eyed it carefully before it flew away. "It requires less to do what is easy and not what is right, so thus when one does something right they are going against the current."