So, after a long time, I've finally uploaded my first Fanfiction. A big thanks to FaolanLupa (go check her Fanfictions out) for motivating me to write.

Just some info:

1) This story will take place assuming:

a) BoTW is set after TP, or in that timeline

b) BoTW is set about 10,000 years after TP

and

2) Only the prologue is written in 1st person, present tense. Everything after will be past tense, 3rd person. Don't ask why, I have no idea why I did this. Maybe I'm just experimenting or something.

Now on with the story!

Prologue

I feel lifeless. Limbs stiff and aching, I can't move. I try to prize my eyes open however I realise that the attempts are futile as my body is frozen in place. I can't completely remember how I came to this place, and any memories of the events leading up to here are hazy and broken into fragments, not unlike shattered glass. The few things I can actually remember is my head pounding, smoke, and the acrid stench of death…

I still feel as though I have a headache and I attempt to move a hand to rub my head, when I remember I can't move. I try to struggle free from the invisible bonds that keep me immobilized. Dammit, I think, and stop trying to get free. I'm not usually the kind of person that gives up, because if I was, Hyrule would have fallen into the chaos and destruction of the Twilight. But I persevered through the dark times and earned my heroic title. Yet now I give up, I think. Deciding not to think about it, I let my mind rest and drift in to what is hopefully sleep.

A pool of shin-deep water surrounds me, coating me in its soothing properties. Gently blowing, the warm breeze causes the deep blue water to ripple around my legs. I notice I am dressed in my ordinary village clothes; something I haven't worn since before saving Hyrule. Since then, I had always worn the green tunic that once belonged to the previous hero. I slowly look around, my brain taking a while to register the sights and I realise that I am in the Ordon Spring. My heart is suddenly filled with hope as I think, am I back? I carefully make my way to the entrance of the spring. I walk through the gates, and that's when I notice it, that burning smell. The smell is being carried by the wind; I can tell, and I can also pinpoint the location it's coming from. I turn my head and I am filled with dread as I see the sight of Ordon Village burning. I try to get there but a wall of fire blocks my path. Suddenly, looking around, I see that fire surrounds me with no escape.

Wait…

Somebody is calling my name! Quickly, I turn around to see Ilia trapped within the flames. I cry out and foolishly run towards her, preparing to run through the fire. I run and run, but she never gets closer. It's almost as if she's getting further away, yet she isn't moving. With no warning, my feet leave solid ground and I'm falling… falling through an endless abyss of darkness. I hear familiar voices of the people I know, Rusl, Ilia, Colin... they are telling me I am worthless, that I couldn't save them…

"Stop!" I yell, "Please! Leave me alone!"

I was no longer falling, but it was still dark. The place seemed familiar. I realised everything I had just witnessed was a twisted nightmare. I come to the conclusion that my dream was based off my lost memories right before I arrived at this place, but I had no way to tell how much the dream had changed everything.

I still couldn't move as I had tried yet again. I am about to finally accept my fate when suddenly I feel a tingling sensation in my left hand… the hand where the Triforce resides. The tingling transforms into more of a warm and comfortable feeling, and it begins to pulse throughout my system. I can feel it throughout me now and it spreads warmth into my stone-cold body.

I realise with joy that I can now force my aching eyelids open, and I use every ounce of strength in my body to sit up. It takes a while, because I feel extremely weak at this current point in time. For a few minutes, my confused brain cannot register the surroundings. When it does, all I can see is white. The floor does not look like a solid surface, yet I am sitting on it. Slowly, I force myself onto my feet, and my legs wobble slightly, as I have not used them in a while.

"So you've awoken."

I sharply twist around to see a young man about my age leaning against a vast set of doors. There were too sets of doors, a silver one, which was where the stranger was, and a light green door.

"What do you want?" I immediately ask, hostile, and I cautiously walk closer. As I get a clearer look at him, I notice a lot of things. He looks a lot like me, same Hylian ears with an earring in and same face shape. He even wears the same green tunic, but it lacks the chainmail like mine. His eyes are the same shape, same colour, however they seem different; mine are more feral.

"Who are you?" I ask in awe. He lowers his head and smiles.

"I am like you, a hero of the past, and, like you, I once wielded the Triforce of Courage."

Then he tells me a long story, one of a forest only inhabited by children and he talks of the evil he defeated. Then he tells another story, about a world filled with masks, and a moon threatening to crash into the surface.

I'm trying to wrap my head around this. I want to know how it's possible we're meeting, and why I am a hero of the past, not the present. After all, I only saved Hyrule a year ago. Instead of any of these questions, I ask,

"Have I seen you before?" He nods. My eyes widen as I remember his voice as one from when I was on my journeys to save the land. "You! You're the warrior who taught me the hidden skills. So you were my ancestor all along…" There is silence for a while, and then he speaks again.

"I suppose you would like to know why you are here." I hesitantly nod, noticing the uneasiness in his voice. I guess what he's going to tell me isn't going to be good news. "It may be hard to take in, but you should know the truth." He gets ready to tell me what I assume is going to be bad news. "You are no longer apart of the living. You haven't been for about 10,000 years."

It's strange, but I'm not actually that surprised. I can tell that he's also surprised, however it is at the fact I am taking it so well. He quickly changes the subject and continues speaking. "I'm here because I want to offer you a choice. The Goddesses were going to make you do this, but… I thought you should be able to choose" I felt anger rising within me. I'm always flung into things because of the Goddesses. I can never choose my own destiny, though I desperately want to be able to. The Hero of Time gives me a look of understanding.

"So what choice do you want me to make?" I ask. The Hero stops leaning on the door and stands up straight.

"This," he announces, pointing to the silver door, "leads to the Sacred Realm. The afterlife. There you can be in paradise for the rest of eternity."

"Or…?" I question.

"Or," he begins, and points at the green door, "You can choose this door. It leads back to the living world. This is the task the Goddesses have set for you. They want you to aid the new hero who has no memory of who he is. Of course, you won't be able to stay in the living world forever, as you've passed on."

I look down. I want to rest in the afterlife, I want peace, and most of all… I don't want to do the Goddesses bidding. Though I have a deep respect for them, I don't want my fate tampered with any longer. But… my heart longs for adventure.

I guess that's just the kind of person I am.

I step towards the green door and speak.

"Don't think for one second that I am letting the Goddesses control my fate. I'm doing this only because I want to."

The Hero of Time laughs.

"I figured you'd choose that path. You and me are much alike." I take steps towards the doorway to my departure. "One more thing…" he says. "The people of Hyrule are aware that heroes existed in the past, but they don't know what we did. So please… pass down our legends." I listen to his words and agree.

"After all we've done… us and our heroics should be remembered."

I reach out my hand and open the door, and inside is a swirling vortex of colours. I glance back one last time before stepping through.

The warrior watched the Hero of Twilight step through the portal.

"I think," he said to nobody in particular, "I finally deserve to move into the afterlife."

He opened the silver door, and stopped to look back at the doorway where his descendant had gone through.

"Good luck, Hero of Twilight."

He stepped through with the first smile he'd had in a long time.

Thanks for reading!