Hero by Heart

Chapter 70

He was on fire. He was being burned alive, and there was nothing he could do.
     He couldn't open his eyes. He couldn't use his mouth. He couldn't even control his voice.
     Nothing he wanted to do would work, and all he knew was pain. Unbearable pain.
     Link had thought he was dead many times before, but never had it felt this much like hell.
     And the worst part: this time he knew he wasn't dead.
     He was hardly conscious, and he couldn't comprehend anything of what was happening, but he felt his heart beating. He could feel his chest rising and falling as he breathed.
     And with every beat, every breath, the fire in his body expanded.
     He screamed and screamed, imagining large gusts of fire escaping from his mouth, but it didn't work.
     The pain stayed, and now his throat was burning too.
     His fingers clawed at his neck, wanting to dig in and rip out the fire. He tried to smother it, push it back down, but it only made it worse.
     Now the fire had spread to his hands, burning his skin, melting his bones. He needed to get it out, beat the fire out, but he couldn't seem to move his arms.
     Had the flames consumed them? Was there anything left but pain and fire?
     Link screamed again, his entire body writhing in agony, but nothing he did could stop it.
Why wouldn't he just die? Surely hell could not even be as horrific as this was. Nothing could be worse than this pain.
Link trashed, heaved, writhed and wrestled, but the fire was relentless and wouldn't budge for a second.
In the end he was too tired to even move, and he let his body collapse back down. He felt broken and hollow. The fire had sucked out everything in his body, and left nothing to fill his flaming skin.
If this was not death, then surely he would soon die. And part of him welcomed the thought. Death would mean freedom. He would escape from this white-hot prison and his mind would be at peace again.
If only he would die already.

A sliver of light pierced through the darkness. Link had long since given up on fighting the fire, and it had reduced him to ashes.
He felt exhausted beyond comprehension, and lay quietly as the fire danced over and through his body.
In the end the blazing flames had reduced to smouldering embers, and his mind had drifted away, escaping the burning prison for a little while.
He had been dreaming. Strange, feverish dreams, where nothing made any sense and still seemed totally logical.
A face drifted in front of him, real or imagined, he couldn't tell.
It was a beautiful face, with bright green eyes, so green that it almost hurt to look at.
After all the darkness all he could think of was the colour of fire, vague and faded, but it was the only colour he could still remember.
And now this green.
It was the most beautiful colour he had ever seen.
It was like a field of fresh grass in spring, waving in the wind. Like a forest of young trees, stretching as far as the eye could see, housing countless beautiful animals. Like the slopes of a mountain, rising up high into the sky, magnificent and strong.
It was a colour that reminded him of life.
The green eyes sucked at him, made him want to claw back to the surface of his mind, made him want to live again.
Slowly he registered the rest of the face. Soft skin, full, pink lips, curved, blonde eyebrows and a wrinkled forehead, surrounded by strands of golden hair.
Those strands hung down, swaying gently over him, framing that beautiful face. They were short strands, not as long as he had expected.
What had he expected? Why was he even expecting anything? He didn't understand this face. Did he know it?
The green eyes blinked, and the lips curved up ever so slightly.
Unwillingly Link felt his own lips mimic the motion, reminding him of his body.
With the memory of his body, so too came the pain.
Link gasped, folded double and crashed back down, overrun by a blazing fire once again.
The green eyes were gone. The face had disappeared. He was back in the darkness, with only the fire for company.

He was hot.
It wasn't the unbearable heat of fire that he felt now, but a pressing, damp hotness that made his clothes stick to his body.
Drops of sweat ran over his face and dripped from his hair, but he paid it no mind.
     He swung his sword through the air with a practised ease, pushing back his opponent and gaining more and more ground, until finally, he found an opening and sent the guy tumbling to the ground.
     He laughed and extended his hand, helping the young knight back to his feet.
     That was when he saw her. The princess.
     Princess Zelda truly was a sight to behold. With her long golden hair, the bright, intelligent green eyes and her air of importance, she turned heads wherever she went.
     Link had been living in Castle Town for a little while now, and he still could not get used to seeing the princess regularly.
     She seemed kind enough, and he felt a strange urge to protect her, but he had never even spoken to her. It wasn't his place. The princess would never have eyes for a simple knight as himself.
     Yet there she was, and she certainly seemed to be looking at him.
     He knew she occasionally would appear to watch the knights' trainings, but even in his wildest dreams, she would never lay eyes on him.
     Why would she?
     But not only was she watching him now, she slowly walked closer, until she was no more than a few strides away.
     Link nervously scraped his throat and fell to one knee, bowing his head.
     The knight beside him followed his example and together they waited for her to speak.
     'Don't let me keep you,' she said softly.
     Link looked up to see her gesturing for them to get up.
     'Please.' She waved for them to continue, and Link turned back to his opponent in confusion, who was looking just as lost as he was.
     Still, they could hardly defy a direct order from the princess, and so, he took his stance and waited for the knight to do the same.
     All throughout their match Link could feel those green eyes on them, but he did not dare to look.
     When he eventually defeated the guy, he stepped back and bowed his head.
     He turned to see the princess studying him, and stood up straight, wondering what had brought her to them, and why she hadn't left yet.
     'You are very skilled,' she suddenly said.
     Link felt his heart skip a beat, and his cheeks started to burn, but he gratefully bent his head. It was a huge honour to be praised by the princess, and not something he had ever expected to experience.
     'Please,' she smiled, 'carry on.'
     After that she turned and slowly strode away, the air of dignity almost palpable around her.
     Link looked after her until she disappeared from view, wondering what just happened, and why the flutterings in his stomach wouldn't settle down.