Color bled away. The trees became skeletal shadows, and the sky turned the deep violet of a bruise. Link found himself not at a fountain, but on a mirrored lake of black glass. And in the center of that lake stood a woman made of fractured light.

He had found other fountains. Cotera, with her booming laughter and explosive energy. Mija, gentle and sorrowful, who healed his battered tunic with a mother’s touch. Kaysa, fierce and bright, who blessed his shields with the strength of a storm. But this fountain… this one was different. There was no shimmering veil of magic. Only a low, humming sorrow that vibrated through the soles of his boots.

She faded, leaving only a whisper:

“You see?” Guia said, her voice cracking like thin ice. “The others ask for a thousand rupees. I ask for one honest tear. I am not a Fairy of Power. I am the Guide of Lost Things.”

The moment the shard touched the cracked pedestal, the world inverted.

She was smaller than the other Fairies, her form barely holding together. Her hair floated not like petals, but like wisps of dying fog. Her eyes were not wild with magic, but hollow with memory.