Xavier opened his eyes. He could feel again. He was laying in a pool of water, with the sky above him. He blinked as the sunlight filled his vision. He took a deep breath and thought to himself. He was terribly confused. He sat up and looked around him. He wasn't lying in a pool. The water stretched as far as the eye could see. There were no buildings or land anywhere in sight. But the water was unusually shallow. He could faintly make out the sound of a harp being played.
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He looked down to see he wasn't wearing any clothes. He would have been embarrassed but he had more pressing matters. Where was he? And how did he get here? He had quick flashes of memories appear in his head. Fire. A beast made of smoke. He could remember the feeling of burning alive. But if that were true, how was he here?
"It's because you're dead, silly." A voice said from behind him.
Xavier quickly turned around and saw a woman standing before him. She was dressed in a white ceremonial gown, with a Triforce crest as her belt buckle. She had flowing blonde hair that reached her lower back and piercing blue eyes. She looked remarkably similar to Princess Zelda, but it clearly wasn't her. So, who was she?
"My name is Hylia. I know that's what you're wondering." The woman said.
"You... you can read my mind?" Xavier stammered, approaching her slowly.
"Well, this is my realm, so I control everything here. I can read your thoughts and turn you into whatever form I wish. Your physical body is... less the pleasant to look at. So, I returned you to the form you took when you first set out on your journey." Hylia replied.
"Where uh, where am I?" What is this place?" Xavier asked, confused.
"I just told you this is my realm." Hylia answer, slightly confused.
"I don't know what that means though. You said I'm dead. Is this like, the afterlife?"
"Hm, an afterlife of sorts. Normally, when you die, you're sent straight to Sacred Realm or the depths of Demise. But I wanted to talk to you first. You seemed interesting. Not exactly your average hero, you know?" Hylia giggled, still playing her harp.
"I'm not a hero. And I'm hardly interesting." Xavier grumbled.
"Oh? You, who stopped a bad person from killing a king? Who freed an entire region of my precious Hyrule from the clutches of monsters? Who sacrificed his life to destroy an enormous threat to the entire world? You would still refuse to call yourself a hero?" Hylia asked.
"I didn't do any of those things. In the domain, all I did was panic. In the Citadel, Gully did all the work, and saved me. And in the castle... I didn't sacrifice myself. I wanted to escape. But I wasn't able to. I would have gone if I could. I didn't want to die."
"Well who does?" Hylia asked, approaching him now as well, slowly. "But you know what I saw? I saw a boy who was afraid, but still stood up against a group of people who previously thought to be his friends. I saw a boy do whatever it took to free an entire village and make the world a safer place. And now I see a man, who gave his life to fulfill the wishes of my reincarnation, who not even a day earlier you hated with every fiber of your being. Call yourself whatever you want, but i'd call that a hero. And I like talking to heroes. It's been 10,000 years since I last spoke to one as interesting as you."
