"...I accepted life as the hero..."

A Final Request

He sits on the ground, bleeding.

I'm begging you... Please.

A dark gash splits his middle, staining the shirt beneath the armor. Whatever color it once was, it is now a deep crimson.

There's not much time for me in this world. Your people are my last hope.

He pulls his fallen helmet closer, seeking comfort in the damaged headpiece.

There is so much left for me to leave to the future. The challenges I faced, the battles I won, the courage I showed.

The man turns his head weakly, revealing a gaping head wound. Blood gushes forth, drenching the right side of his face. His eye is closed, whether from injury or to keep the blood from entering his eye, it is hard to tell. He leans his head against the boulder behind him. Pathetically, he groans as he settles down.

Everything is lost to the flows of time.

He closes his other eye. The chest plate heaves up and down with each short and shallow breath. The sounds of battle. The yells and roars of men and monsters. The smell of leather and iron still cling to the air. Boots squelching through mud. The quiet airy sound of an instrument.

A strange cacophony of sound, so far away.

Like a distant memory.

But they have already forgotten him.

/\/\/\

With a heaving sigh, the man continues.

I know... the Darkness is no longer in this world. But still... I cannot bear to keep quiet. The people do not know about my deeds. Doesn't that make me a part of the shadows too? I alone know what has transpired in this world. It was my knowledge that protected the peace of Hyrule. Me.

He opens his working eye. His gaze is accusatory.

Where were you people when the land was thrown into chaos? Don't you need my help? Can you really say with certainty that you can protect this land from the Darkness?

His gaze softens. He chuckles mildly, which is apparently more than he can manage at the moment. A hacking cough followed by the smell of blood fill the now empty forest. Blood oozes out of the fatal wound across his middle from the exertion of coughing. As if to illustrate the severity of the wound, a faint splash and a blubbering hiss adds to the sounds he makes as his life's blood falls to the ground.

My body may be weak, but my spirit is strong.

When his coughing fit subsides, a final gush of blood accompanied with a thick and heavy gurgling noise fills the forest clearing.

I'd laugh, if I could, at my pitiful state. What was once a great hero is now just a useless lump of flesh.

He smiles sadly.

Or was I ever even a hero?

Sometimes I wonder if it was all just a wonderful dream of my own invention. I have my memories, yes... but how do I know they are really mine? Was everything just a dream? It couldn't be, right? I knew this land, before I came here. It couldn't have just been a dream...

The man looks down at the sword in his hand. He tries to grip the handle, but his fingers only twitch feebly. The bloodstained handle clatters feebly against his gloved hands.

This sword never did feel quite right. It's just not the same. No sword is. Even the one I used in my childhood... It's not the same...

He looks up again.

Please tell it wasn't all a dream.

The piercing single eye is filled with a desperate sorrow. A need to know the truth.

It's been so long since I've seen one of your kind. If anyone would know, it would be you. Please... please... tell me it wasn't all a dream.

At the answer, his eye grows wide, making him look years younger. You can almost see the young man he once was behind the blood and dirt. This time when he smiles it is serene.

~{ 0 }~

So it was real... thank the goddesses. I had feared I had gone mad. All the people I once knew didn't know me. The things I had seen and done, the things I had to do... all of it was unnecessary. So many memories, but no one else remembered.

His soft gaze turns to stare at the endless sky above him.

I'm glad the world is at peace. Even more so, now that I know the truth. Ah... to think I would be bested in a place like this. No one will ever know how I died. Ha ha... nor will they care. I will just be one more foolish Hylian trying to follow the footsteps of the hero... Ha ha...ha...

A streak makes itself known on the man's face. Cutting a clean line through the dirt and drying blood.

Ah... it's unfortunate. Being so afraid I couldn't even tell anyone. I was scared that everything I thought I had done was a lie. I thought that maybe I wasn't who I thought I was. Do you know what that's like?

He opens his eye and turns once again to face you.

Do you know what it's like to live day after day with years of memories that are all lies?

With a shaky breath, he drops his head to stare down at his split belly.

It's scary. I couldn't do anything. I was so petrified. Ha ha ha... what kind of hero am I? Maybe now I'm not a hero at all... I guess I technically never was...

He looks up again, the sad smile returning to his face.

I didn't teach him anything. My child will never know his destiny. The knowledge of what my descendants will have to face... that will die with me. The power to beat back the darkness... the courage to stand up for what is right.

I couldn't leave anything behind... there was so much to tell. If only you had come earlier. If only I didn't leave to go on this foolish quest of mine. I'm not the hero I once was. I'm just a shadow of my former self.

His single working eye becomes serious.

/\

Please...

Please...

I must teach what I have learned to those who come after me.

I'm considering making a story about the narrator of this chapter. What do you think?

No one knew what became of the hero... but then again, no one knew he was a hero... at least not in this time...