The Forsaken Hero

”I will give you a chance to explain yourself,” High Arbiter Elek said, looming over me stiffly.

I remained on my knees before him, my tail twisting nervously. The soldiers of the Last Light Company stood around us in a loose ring, solemn and silent as the grave. Their weary countenances were torn by conflict, an uncertain glow in their eyes. The arbiter’s wings fanned out behind him, rustling in agitation as he folded his arms, staring down at me.

”It was the only way,” I whispered, not daring to meet any of their eyes.

Alex snorted, standing beside Connor outside the ring. ”As if we can believe a story like that. Even if you could use infernal mana, how could you possibly kill a sixth-level demon? Not even Soltair can beat a demon at the same level by himself, so how could you when you’re so much weaker?”

”Silence, hero,” Elek snapped. He let out a sharp breath and let his arms drop to his side. ”But even so, I cannot deny your question. Xiviyah, are we truly to believe you single-handedly closed a sixth-level gate by yourself?”

”I wasn’t by myself,” I said, raising my head and looking around the ring of soldiers. Save for a few I personally saved, they shied away, not daring to meet my eyes. Their wavering gazes diminished what little confidence I held, and my hands tightened on the folds of my bloodied skirt.

”So it seems,” Elek said, sparing Captain Bethiv a glance. The man stared back proudly, as though daring the angel to challenge the claim.

”It is as she says.” The captain stared back with certainty, as though daring the angel to challenge the claim. ”I have no damn clue if she used demon powers or not, but one thing’s for sure. She killed tens of thousands of demons today, including the Gate Commander, and destroyed the core, not to mention saving our company. No matter what anyone says, that makes her a hero, at the very least.”

Elek nodded slowly, seeming to weigh his testimony with the golden glow in his eyes. ”Very well, I see no fault in your words.” he returned his piercing gaze to me and asked, ”And how exactly did you marshal these demonic powers?”

”I called, and it answered. The mana came to me on its own,” I explained softly. ”Even if it hurt, I did what I had to to defeat the demons.”

”A warrior uses any tool at their disposal to gain an advantage,” Elek replied, ”yet there is a line that must not be crossed. To use the power of the demons is to fall for their schemes. Today, you nearly corrupted the souls of two hundred brave men and women, not to mention your own. Even now, I question the miracle that reversed the process, but had it completed as it was meant to, you would have become infernal monsters in your own right.”

”If it was meant to be, it would have been,” I whispered, raising my gaze to meet him.

”I do not regret my choices, only that the consequences were not mine alone to bear. I’m sorry,” I added earnestly, bowing my head to Bethiv.

The man shook his head. ”I’ll not have that from you, hero. We were prepared for whatever death and torture the demons prepared for us, and this is no exception. We fight for our home, and had you not done what you did, it would lie vulnerable. Any man here,” he said, casting a critical eye over his soldiers, ”would suffer the same a thousand times, even if we ended up damned mindless monsters of our own.”

As he talked, the soldiers of the Last Light Company shifted, murmuring in low voices. One by one, they gripped their weapons firmly, eyes hardening in resolve. Though the nexus had faded, I felt their decision as clearly as though our souls were still united.

”Yes, sir!” They cried as one, saluting Captain Bethiv.

Elek waited patiently for their support to die out before he relaxed, his wings settling down against his back. ”If that’s how it is, then it is no longer my place to press further. But I give you a warning, Xiviyah. You cannot pursue infernal power without embracing demonic nature. In their schemes, one often hides the other, yet they are wholly inseparable. Do not fall for their seductive charms, or you find yourself in a position from which there is no escape.”

”As Fate wills,” I replied calmly. The sense of danger I felt from him had ebbed, replaced by the fondness that had characterized our relationship until this point. Yet, beneath his warm smile, there was a hint of caution, as though he were petting a feral animal.

”Are you for real?” Alex asked, raising an eyebrow. ”You’re saying she’s getting off the hook for abandoning us? Not to mention, whatever spell she used could have easily crushed us in the tunnels, not just the core. Shouldn’t there be accountability for that?”

”A good question,” Elek mused. ”Perhaps we should take a look at a few other things as well. Like how two heroes managed to lose the entire standing army of two nations, twenty thousand soldiers, in an hour and a half. Or how they managed to wander around in a tunnel while a noncombatant killed the strongest demon to appear in a gate.”

Alex froze, slowly growing pale. ”H-honestly, I don’t care that much. I just thought the Brithlite kingdom would like to know why their elite soldiers might end up with infernal corruption.”

”It is not our place to judge the guilty, hero,” Elek replied heavily. ”Only act on the verdict of justice.”

”Y-yeah,” Alex nodded quickly. ”Anyway, where’s Soltair at? Shouldn’t he have been with you?”

I relaxed as the conversation moved on and the Last Light Company dispersed. They were all clearly exhausted, but they all put on bright smiles, uncharacteristic of their rugged features. After catching Bethiv glaring at a few dour faces, it became clear they were only trying to cheer me up, but I appreciated the sentiment.

Even so, it was hard to do anything but worry. With the closure of the gates, it would be time for Elek to fulfill his mission and drag me back to the Divine Throne. But before I could truly think about that, another thought struck me.

What had happened to the Ice Spirit? Judging by the way Elek and the other heroes spoke, it was clear they hadn’t seen the massive summoned creature. It was uncertain whether any demons remained that might break out, so before leaving, I supplied its anchoring magic circle with enough mana to sustain it for several more hours. There was no way Elek could have missed it, nor failed to detect it if it were hiding.

The gate was gone by now, broken into a thousand pieces, so perhaps that mystery would remain unsolved. Yet, as we broke camp and began the long march back to Brithlite, my mana stirred. Turning, I gazed at the mana-shattered peak over which the titanic gate had once loomed, feeling an alien intent pressing upon me, as if it were watching me. A tiny flicker of mana flitted away from the mountain, disappearing into the forest on the other side of the valley, gone so quickly I questioned whether it was there at all.

The air stirred, startling me, and I looked up to find Elek fluttering down beside me. ”Come, Xiviyah, it is past time we depart.”

”Depart?” I repeated, my heart leaping in my chest.

He nodded solemnly. ”Indeed. I had planned to leave following our victory celebration at the Brithlite castle, but...” he glanced darkly at the ranks of soldiers marching behind us.

Combined with the troops he brought to the other Demon Gate, they numbered one and a half thousand. They marched slowly, with their eyes downcast, returning through the muddy footsteps of twenty thousand men. There would be no celebration here, not even a funeral. Even had we been able to recover so many corpses, there would have been no burying them with the numbers we had left.

”Now? But what about Soltair?” I asked hesitantly. We had yet to meet up with him, after all.

”I have collected the Soul Binding control,” he said, holding up the ring. ”And as for the slave crest, I trust you will be obedient?”

I nodded numbly. I had dreaded this moment for months, and now that it was here, I felt...empty. After the horror of the Ice Gate, what did it matter that I was going to face ’justice’ at the Divine Throne? Could they do worse than the weight of the guilt of twenty thousand lives? Had it not been for the unequivocal support of the Last Light Company, I would still be huddled in a corner somewhere, a thousand condemning faces dancing before my eyes.

”Alright,” I whispered. ”I’m ready.”

He wrapped me up in his muscled arms, hefting my slender frame as though I were no more than a doll. Soldiers around us backed away, faces locked in curious trepidation.

”Xiviyah?” Captain Bethiv asked, laying a hand on his sword.

”Thank you, captain, for everything,” I called, forcing my soft voice to reach the more distant soldiers.

”And I to you,” he replied, giving a sharp salute. ”No matter where you go or what happens, you’ll always have a place beside our fire. We owe you our lives, a favor we’ll never forget”

The column of marching men echoed with the ring of steel as they pressed their gauntlets to their breastplates, echoing their captain’s salute. The arbiter’s wings rose, and I turned my head against the arbiter’s shoulder, hiding my tears. Even after my eyes had dried, I refused to turn away, my knuckles white as I clutched his armor tightly. The sudden acceleration and consequent velocity of a ninth-level angel were beyond anything I could have imagined, reducing Soltair’s wild leaps to little more than a child’s crawl. The wind tore at my dress and hair, but Elek’s arms never wavered, holding me tight for what felt like hours.

”Don’t worry,” he chuckled, ”I’ve never dropped anyone before.”

I nodded, but that was hardly reassuring, considering we were nearly a mile over the ground. ”A-are we going to fly the whole way there? What about teleporting?” I asked shakily, finally daring to open my eyes.

”Teleport? Unfortunately, the nearby mages are still recovering their mana from summoning you here. Even so, we’ll arrive before morning. Feel free to sleep if you can. It might be a long time before you get another chance like this.”