The Forsaken Hero

Barron’s eyes bulged as the ice spirit effortlessly dispatched the mage. An unfamiliar sense of dread settled in the pit of my stomach as the creature turned its gaze on us, its eyes glowing with an eerie blue light. It was like staring into the heart of a blizzard, reawakening the uncertainty that had ever plagued me about the existence of this creature. It had just killed a sixth-level mage like it was nothing, cleaving through his wards and body with ease. If it decided to act against me, would I really fare any different?

Barron and the hulking warrior exchanged uneasy glances, their bravado faltering in the face of this new threat. The scarred man’s hand trembled as he tightened his grip on his mace, a bead of sweat trickling down his temple. Even Barron seemed to hesitate, his usual arrogance momentarily forgotten.

”Damn it, Gray!” he muttered, his voice barely audible above the swirling snow. His eyes fixed on me next, sending a shudder down my tail. ”You’ll pay for his death.”

I shook my head, holding my staff tightly with both hands. ”K-kill them...please,” I whispered.

Though my voice shook, the ice spirit nodded. ”As you command, Star Mother.”

Barron and the other warrior both tensed as the spirit streaked toward them. Its sword flashed three times before I knew it had struck once, but Barron managed to parry them. Unlike the unsuspecting mage, he was a warrior tuned through countless battles and conflicts, with a reaction speed similar to the elemental. His mana and aura raged around him, strengthening his sword and protecting him from the frosty techniques of the elemental.

My heart sank as the battle continued past a few seconds, neither landing anything close to a decisive blow. It was incredible that a mere summoned spirit could compete with the commander of an elite military unit, but he wasn’t alone. It wouldn’t take much effort at all for the hulking warrior to flank the spirit and slowly wear it down.

However, instead of dealing with the spirit, the warrior turned a cold hard stare at me. I shivered as his lips curved up in a grin and took an instinctive step back, bumping up against the shard. My heart pounding painfully as he approached, casually swinging his mace through the air. The weapon hummed with power, vibrating with the strength of a sixth-level magical technique.

”First one gets to use ya, eh? You’re a filthblood...never had one of those before,” he muttered to himself. His eyes brightened. ”First time for everything. I hope ya scream a bit, too. I hate em quiet.”

I stared up at the giant of a man as he loomed over me, seeming to blot out the entire sky. Tremors racked my body, but it was more from pain than fear. I’d almost grown numb to constant threats against me, though my tail still twitched as his eyes roved over my body.

”You’re going to die,” I whispered, meeting his lustful gaze.

He chuckled, sweeping his hand out over the battlefield. I didn’t dare take my eyes off him, but I knew what he wanted to show me. I was alone. All of my allies were caught in the greatest battle of their life. Even where they fought two against one, they held no advantage. Such was the difference between fifth and sixth levels. Fable alone held his ground, standing by sheer virtue of his titanic size and high compatibility with my spells. He might have been able to get to my side with the power of the Oracle of Eternity, by my soul was too weak to support the timeless state it provided. He would never be able to get to me in time.

”Hurry it up!” Barron shouted, grunting as he parried a heavy blow from the ice spirit. ”You’ve heard the stories! Take her out before she pulls any of her tricks.”

”Don’t rush me, commander,” the soldier said, shooting him a glare. ”She’s too weak to cast a spell, much less resist. I’ve half a mind to take my pleasure now, while you’re all busy. At the very least I can promise she won’t be standing afterwards.”

”Bastard!” Another of the Dead Wing soldiers shouted, busy fighting Luxxa. ”Get over here and fight this slut! I’ll take the filthblood.”

Several more voices rose and fell, bickering over who had the right to capture and rape me. The man with the huge mace argued with each of them in turn, crudely insulting and explaining in detail how he was going to ravish me. This seemed to spur the others on, and for a moment, it seemed as though they were bickering around the campfire, not battling for their lives. My companions could only grit their teeth and fight on, each desperately looking for a chance to come to my aid.

I stood quietly with my back to the shard, my only reaction to the Dead Wing’s insults a slight warming of my cheeks. It was impossible to listen to the man speak of my body that way and not feel humiliated, but it was all things I’d endured before. Countless times, in fact.

They acted as though they had all the time in the world, and to them, they did. They lacked the senses to feel what I did, of the tremendous explosion of mana happening on the other side of the city, in the canyon. The winter storm overhead began to churn, intensifying until it completely overtook the thunderstorm. The remaining wyverns shrieked as their bodies froze over, plummeting to the earth and shattering like porcelain dolls.

As the constant boom of thunder faded away, swallowed up in a new wave of descending snow, the Dead Wing Legion seemed to sense something was off. But before they could act to finish the fight, we were enveloped in a blizzard. Snow smothered the air, as thick as fog, reducing visibility to a few inches. I braced as I felt an impending swell of mana grow on the horizon and winced as it swept over us. The sheer magnitude of the mana was overwhelming, blasting away the snow and clearing the skies for a single second.

In that brief snapshot of clarity, the hulking soldier lunged toward me. His mace crashed down on my head and shattered the Blade Ward. It might have held against the blow, but the earlier attack had weakened it, and I lacked the strength to restore it.

The secondary explosion from his magical technique lifted me into the air and threw me against the shard. I screamed, tasting blood, as the impact ignited the sunpurge, landing on the ground writhing. Through the blurring tears, I could make out his silhouette over me, the snow returning to enshroud his looming figure. A gauntleted hand tightened around my throat, cutting off my screams, and I could only dangle limply as it lifted me into the air.

”I’m going to die?” the man asked, shoving his face in mine. ”Isn’t that what ya said? Who’s going to kill me?”

I struggled for air, but his hand tightened further, squeezing the last of the air from my lungs in a weak whimper. My tail drooped behind me, too weak to so much as a twitch from the burning pain in my throat and from the sunpurge. My vision started to turn black, but even then, as I wavered on the edge of consciousness, I didn’t relinquish my hold on the shard, placing all my hopes on the presence I felt rapidly approaching.

”That would be me,” a deep resonant voice filled the air.

The soldier stiffened as an overbearing aura swept over the courtyard, bringing everything–the storm, the battle, even my rapidly beating heart, to a stop. Snow seemed to dance in place, the wind holding its breath, as a crystalline figure appeared by my side. He held a sword in both hands, the blade between mine and the soldier’s bodies pointed at the ground.

A second later, I was falling. The hand still gripping my neck, but it wasn’t attached to anything anymore. I caught a brief glimpse of the mace-wielding soldier falling to his knees and clutching a bloody stump before the ice spirit caught me, holding me fast with one arm. His hand cradled my head against his cool, smooth breastplate, softly stroking my hair as I coughed up blood and struggled for air.

”I’m here, Star Mother,” he said softly.

I nodded and used my sleeve to wipe the blood from my lips. I couldn’t keep my muscles from shaking, and had the spirit not been there, I would have fallen. The spirit shifted on his feet, and I tried to look to see what he was doing, but shielded me against him, blocking his vision. There was a sharp breathless cry and a muted thump, like a heavy body landing in the snow. A mace fell just within the limits of my vision, red staining the fresh-fallen snow beneath my feet.

”This battle is over,” the spirit said, its voice rising to penetrate the entire courtyard. Even the hundreds of soldiers fighting under Bethiv at the gate paused, finally noticing the power emanating from beneath the shard.

Barron stepped away from the ice spirit he was fighting, glaring at the one holding me. ”Who the hell are you to–”

”I spare your life because my mistress does not wish to see unnecessary death, but speak another word and it shall be your last.” The ice spirit was cold and emotionless, and yet even I could feel the fury veiled behind those words.

Barron was quiet for the longest time, undoubtedly weighing his aura against the ice spirits. Eventually, he spoke, sounding defeated. ”Damn it all. Fall back and regroup on the wyverns. We’ll await the Storm Hero’s orders.”

Few wyverns remained after the battle, but they still numbered plenty to carry the surviving soldiers. I felt some regret for letting them all go, but this wasn’t a battle I had the strength for. Every second I remained linked with the shard brought me closer to shattering my soul all over again, something I doubted I could survive.

”Is it done?” I whispered. My head felt heavy, weighed down by my horns, and I couldn’t help but rest it against the spirit’s chest. ”Are they safe?”

”They await you beyond the city, as do your allies who fought the demons at the canyon’s rim. I would warn you, though, that the demons utilized the path I made for our escape, and have fought their way to the walls. Already some might be within the city. You do not have much time.”

”I see. Thank you, and...goodbye.”

The spirit let his hand rest atop my head, a final gesture of care. ”Until you call again, Star Mother.”

I nodded and summoned my staff, then, after a final farewell, I severed the conduit with the Shard of Omniscience.