if i die tomorrow - permanent hiatus

fire

     The wood crackled as it slowly dimmed, the dying embers of what once was a fiercely blazing fire, reduced to a mere glowing orange, smoldering angrily in its final struggle with inevitable death. 

     I sighed and leaned back, a wave of leftover warmth washing over my weary body and engulfing me in a strange, homely comfort. I raised my eyes to the sky, the sun reaching out from the horizon and shedding its golden radiance over Hyrule. 

     Dawn. I still had a long way to go yet.

     I buried my face in my knees, holding down a rising tide of despair, of anger, or guilt, a mess of emotions that I couldn't make sense of, couldn't make peace with. Just this movement made the wounds torn through my flesh shriek in pain. I ignored it, refused to acknowledge it. 

     Physical pain was a good distraction to the so much more soul-shattering agony crushing me under its unrelenting jaws. I welcomed it, relished in it, if it could keep the monster slumbering in my chest at bay a little while longer.

     I dug the heels of my hands in my blurry eyes, then stood up, taking a breath. The scent of ashes rose, smoke curling up and disappearing quietly into the lightening sky.

     It will be okay. I told myself, taking another deep breath. Just keep going. It will turn out all right.

     I couldn't remember the last time somebody had told me these words, had assured me that everything was going to work out fine, just keep going, and it struck me again. This loneliness. 

     Not just loneliness. Alone.

     I swallowed the unwelcome lump in my throat and scuffed dirt over the glowing remains of my campfire, putting it out fully in case somebody stumbles upon it. 

     A soft exhale escaping my lips, I turned away and limped on, the majestic Dueling Peaks outstretched towards the brilliant heavens, wisps of clouds draped over the very tips of the mountains.

     Over the mountains lay Kakariko Village. Safety. A place to aim towards. A solid plan.

     Stomping down on the usual attack of nausea from my still-lingering fever, I scraped together my resolve and set off.

     I was racing down a field lined with dead bodies splattered with blood, my heart coursing, fear pumping through my system like acid. What was I running from? I didn't know. However, I did know that it hated me. It wanted me dead.

     Suddenly I smashed into something rock-hard and I staggered back, stunned. Panic almost took over my scattered mind as I stepped back, dread draining my mouth and leaving it bone dry.

     Daruk slowly turned around, his movements jerky. When his gaze met mine, I had to bite my lip on a scream.

     He had no eyes. Where they once were, only empty sockets with blood seeping sluggishly from their infinitely dark depths, like crimson tears.

     "I thought you were my friend." His voice, once confident and filled with energy, was twisted into a deathly rasp.

      I whipped around, but Urbosa stepped forwards, blocking my exit. Revali and Mipha pressed in from the sides, trapping me within. Their eyes were all pockets of an endless void, slowly bleeding.

     "I trusted you." Urbosa hissed, sneering.

     "I loved you." Mipha's face was fixed in a savage snarl.

     "I thought I could fight by your side." Revali growled, hatred magnified thousand-fold evident in every deepened shadow embedded in his face.

     Slowly they crept forwards, leaving behind no footprints, making no noise. My breathing came in short, irregular gasps as I backed away, knowing in the coldest part of my soul that there was no escape.

     They were chained down to death while I was still walking free, within the realm of the living. Now they were coming back for me.

     Suddenly they crumpled, their bodies swallowed by a blinding flash of light. They left behind nothing but a ringing silence.

     I could hear my own erratic heartbeat as I stood, frozen, somehow even more terrified now that they were gone. Where they disappeared were pools of blood.

     Horror tasted bitter.

     And then suddenly she was there, with her back to me, hands folded in silent prayer.

     My breathing stopped altogether.

     "I thought you loved me." She whispered. And what hurt the most?

     Her voice was exactly how it sounded in real life, not warped at all like the Champions' were. 

     Hot tears finally swept down my restraints and flowed freely down my face. 

     "I do." I murmured.

     Finally Zelda turned around. Two streaks of blood ran down her face, her eyes brutally gauged out and leaving two pits. She wore no expression, her face wooden.

     "Then why did you survive?" 

     I couldn't move, couldn't speak. 

     "Why... did... I... die?"

     (Somebody tell me, when did this become a horror story??)

     I woke screaming, my arms flailing against an unseen enemy. Tears were smeared all over my face, my messy hair clinging to the wetness. 

     Instead of shaking it off and pretending it never happened like I should have done, I curled in further into myself and closed my tired eyes, a soft, wounded noise dragging itself out of my throat.

     I failed them. I failed them all.

     I turned my back. I let them die. I betrayed them. 

     It was all my fault. 

     My shaking hands were wrapped across my chest, trying to give myself any amount of warmth. The night was growing old, the sanctuary of sleep beckoning gently to my exhausted body. 

     Yet, I could not sleep at all that night.

A/N: Whoa. How in the name of Hylia did THAT happen?

That just went from around a 10% horror level to a 100% real quick XD

I kinda like the shorter chapters that are either not hitting thousand or barely thousand, but please let me know what you think!

Peace from Andura.