The silence bears down upon me like the weight of an anvil, the encroaching darkness signalling the finality of it all. For weeks, every moment of my day has been spent trying desperately to achieve this singular purpose, and now that it’s done, I don’t know how to go on. 

We’ve been through so much together in the last forty-one hours. We’ve stomped out so many evildoers and foiled so many plots against the kingdom that I’ve lost count. We experienced betrayal worse than a knife in the back from a friend, love that transcends time and space, and so many deaths that I stopped remembering them after a while. There were times I wanted to just give it up, to go back and end this journey for good, but I knew there would be no one else who would do it. 

And now, it’s over. 

I look down at my hands, trembling and sweating. It feels so… hollow. Everybody around me is gone. All my companions, my friends who remained with me even when all seemed lost, vanished into the void. The quest that gave me a reason to live, over and done with. Perhaps I did save the world, but where does that leave me? 

Is this what being a hero feels like? 

Does it mean having to continue on like nothing ever happened, for the rest of my life? Being without purpose, without friends or a reason to continue on? 

I want to scream. 

I want to rage against this inevitable end. 

“Charles!” I drop my controller in shock, my head spinning around to see my mom standing in the doorway, her eyes narrowed and a very, very scary scowl on her face. “It’s seven in the morning!” 

I slowly turn to look out the window of my room, and bite my lip as I see the sun flitting through the gaps in my blinds. Sheepishly, I turn back to my mother. “Yeah…” 

“I can’t believe you’ve been up all night playing that ridiculous Mario game! It’s a school day and you haven’t got any sleep!” 

I shake my head, looking back at the screen where Princess Peach stands, waving at me next to that big, glowing ‘THE END.’ 

“You wouldn’t get it, mom.”