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Link’s heartbeat presses weakly against Zelda’s fingers. Unforgotten nightmares fill the void of ever-stretching moments between each fading pulse.
The dreams were real. Link is dying.
Zelda sits, holding him, amongst the blood-soaked and burning grass, surrounded by the sparking and dying husks of guardians. Her skin hums with recently awakened power, and her prior visions flash through her mind.
She's walking into the sanctum, golden flame bubbling away the malice clinging to her skin. Link’s eyes adjust as he emerges into the daylight of an overgrown kingdom without another person in sight. Link's dashing around on a sorrel horse, avoiding the lumbering steps of a colossal fiery beast. Her gut is turning as she falls into darkness. Link's face is illuminated by the strange glow of an unfamiliar arm. A shattered master sword, thick with the scent of rot, falls into her open palms.
She’s swallowing a stone. She’s becoming something monstrous.
The terrors that would rouse her from her bed, deep in the lonely night, are real. They have already been set in motion.
Zelda waits for another beat of Link’s heart, but she doesn’t feel it. Link’s dead.
Tears carve paths through the grime on her face. Link was always going to die; their fates have already been written. Even as she holds her dear friend's corpse, some future Zelda is lost, wandering in the sky above them.
Perhaps this is the only path to victory after all of her insufficiencies as the sole remaining Priestess of Hylia. Or, perhaps, this destiny is punishment for her selfish, cowardice-filled heart, which is begging her to run from this fate as fast as her aching legs could carry her. The world was bigger than just Hyrule. Could she find some corner of it safe from Ganon’s wrath?
But how could she run? Her friends were here , in Hyrule. If she runs, would Purah, Robbie, and Impa even have a chance at surviving? Would any of the remaining people who called this land home be able to rebuild any sort of life? Could the champions ever be recovered if the Divine Beasts were allowed to run amok, unconstrained? And poor Link…
Besides her, the master sword flickers to life in short bursts, filling the silence left by Link's empty heartbeat. If she runs now, she loses the opportunity to save him.
More memories flash through her mind: Link driving the point of the master sword, awash in holy power, into the head of a crimson demon with a serpentine body and a head crowned with horns. Link wrapping his arms around her as they fall, wind whipping through her hair.
After all of this is over, will they get a happy ending? If she can contain Ganon to Hyrule Castle for a hundred years, Link will have time to recover.
If Link can find the Sword That Seals The Darkness and kill the Demon Dragon, she will have the chance to reverse her transformation.
If she sets out on this course, one day, she might be able to put her head to Link’s chest and hear his heartbeat once again.
The visions weren't a condemnation, but a glimpse through the darkness to the ending of their quest. They’re a sliver of hope she can hold throughout the century she’ll spend locked in the rotting corpse of the castle she’s always called home.
The snippets of memories fade as pinpricks of rain draw Zelda back to reality. She lifts her face from Wild’s chest and notices the two Sheikah kneeling behind her.
She wishes that she had more time to waste, that she could linger in indecision and pretend that Link is sleeping instead of dead, but with every minute she waits, Link could be slipping further from life. So instead, she relinquishes Link's body to the Sheikah warriors. She chooses to be the Princess of Hyrule and do what she must to save Link and her kingdom.
As she looks at Link with her unspoken, useless goodbyes, she wonders if she will ever get the nerve or the chance to tell him about the roles they have to play in the story ahead of them. She’s choosing to step towards this lifetime of suffering. Would he make the same choice?
She knows, even without the visions, that her knight, who followed her to every corner of Hyrule, her shadow, will do anything to save her.
So, she clutches the grip of Link's sword and walks towards the Lost Forest, knowing exactly what she needs to do.