The Forsaken Hero

Jessia’s words shocked me awake like a bucket of icy water. ”What?” I cried out, ”No... but Korra...!”

Luke scowled at Jessia, his jaw clenched. ”Jessia! What are you doing? I thought I told you not to do this.”

She glared right back at him, surprisingly earnest. ”Luke, I had to tell her! You saw the same things I did, didn’t you? Just how many inquisitors there were?”

A wave of emotions crossed his face: defiance, reluctance, and finally, a flicker of guilt. I was only half-paying attention to him, my gaze locked on the Apostle of Secrets, silently begging her to give me more.

”Damn it all,” Luke muttered, ”We could have found another way.”

He turned and left, the door slamming behind him. The noise startled me from my daze, and I reached forward, catching Jessia’s hand. She frowned after Luke, ignoring my pleading gaze, and pulled her fingers from my grasp as she moved to follow him.

”No, wait,” I cried, grasping at her fleeing sleeve. ”What happened? Is Korra alright?”

She jerked her hand away, tugging free of my grasp, yet stopped. When she turned to face me, her expression had softened considerably. ”I’m sorry, Xiviyah.”

I shook my head, tail rustling restlessly against the sheets. What was she even apologizing for? Whatever it was couldn’t matter, not after hearing the Last Light Company was in danger.

”What did you hear? Did they really lose?” I all but begged.

She shrugged, turning to leave again. ”I didn’t hear much, only that it happened. We can find out more later, alright? But I’ve got to catch up to Luke before that idiot leaves the range of my ability. We’ll be back soon, alright? Just try and get some sleep.

”But I...” I trailed off, biting my lip hard.

”Good girl,” she said with a nod. Then added, in an oddly emphasized tone, ”Sweet dreams.”

I leaned forward, opening my mouth to protest, but she was already gone, slipping through the window.

”...okay,” I whispered, sinking low into the bed.

How could she say something like that and then just vanish? If Luke was to be believed, they had to scout the keep, and I was a liability, a burden. They had no real reason to drag me along when I could collapse at any moment, but why was it so important to her that I knew my friends might be in danger?

My horns felt unnaturally heavy, pulling my head down into the pillow Luke had propped behind me. A chill rose in my soul as my mind swirled with fear, questions, and worry. Dark tendrils curled around me, born of the darkness, causing the curtains to shift and blowing out the candle they’d left behind. I hardly noticed, however, lost as my imagination ran wild, conjuring up a thousand scenarios where Korra was hurt or dead.

My fingers curled into fists, gripping the sheets tightly, my knuckles turning white. The need to know consumed me, an itch I couldn’t scratch, a burning under my skin. Were Korra, Sari, and the others okay? What if they had been hurt because I wasn’t there to protect them? I didn’t know how I could continue if that were the case, if it were my fault that something had happened.

With a shuddering breath, I surrendered to my fear. Mana swirled into my soul as I unconsciously reached for the Oracle of Eternity, only to be met by the chilling presence of Haven’s shadows. A spike of alarm drove into me, setting my heart fluttering in my chest. I’d nearly forgotten how close I was to losing control of the bond and letting its corruption spill into Enusia.

But I had to know.

It was dangerous, perhaps even foolish, but I had to try. I had to see.

Mustering the last of my conscious strength, I fortified my defenses against Haven before finally allowing myself to sink into darkness. The moment my eyes closed, they flickered open again, and I found myself within the familiar expanse of my soul space. Somewhere in the depths of my soul, I was distantly aware of the darkness leaking past my subconscious defenses, but it didn’t matter. I would either make it in time, or I wouldn’t. The die was cast, and nothing else mattered but ensuring my friends were alright.

I wasted no time worrying about the growing threat and immediately poured every fear, worry, and prayer for Korra into my soul space. The Oracle of Eternity responded to my call, and a vision soon appeared, woven from countless strands of light.

I burst into the vision expecting blood, war, and death. Instead, my view expanded over a series of rolling hills with a few distant mountains on the horizon. The night sky stretched endlessly overhead, cloaked by puffy white snow clouds. A peaceful sense of tranquility suffused the evening breeze as it caressed the long grasses, rustling them gently. With practice, I’d grown increasingly adept at determining when a vision was taking place, and I could feel that this was happening even as I dreamed it.

A sea of tents filled the valleys between the hills like a white-capped river, familiar pennants flapping in the breeze. I instantly relaxed, the panic losing its edge, as I spied the sigil of the Last Light Company. Their fires were bright and cheery, the soldiers around them laughing and in high spirits.

I gazed down at the pair taking center stage in the vision, and the last of my tension left in a long, relieved sigh. Korra and Gayron sat together on a hillside overlooking the Company’s main force, both healthy and uninjured. They held hands, their fingers laced together, with her head resting on his shoulder. They simply gazed at the night sky for a few seconds, watching as cheerful snowflakes danced down from the thin clouds. This snowfall was nothing like the storm we were experiencing in the mountains of the Ingrid Alliance. It was gentle and playful, just as the first snowfall should be.

Gayron’s tail curled around Korra’s waist, pulling her close, and she snuggled against his side.

”I can’t believe it’s already been another year,” she murmured.

”Oh?” Gayron raised an eyebrow.

”Today marks the anniversary of when we were summoned into this world.” Then she said quietly, ”That was two years ago. Last year, around this time, I set off to find Xiviyah. Sometimes, I wonder if anything’s even changed since then. I’m still looking for her.”

”Don’t worry, I’m sure she is safe,” Gayron reassured her. ”Kahlen said the Lord of Ash was with her, remember?”

I perked up at that, filing the information away to ask Fyren about later. Kahlen claimed he didn’t have a way to contact his lord, but perhaps the fire demon could send messages one way. It would be much simpler to meet up with the Last Light Company if we had even a little communication.

”Isn’t that all the more reason to be worried?” Korra asked, though she didn’t particularly sound concerned. I had the feeling they’d had this conversation before.

Gayron chuckled, the coil of his tail sliding up and down her waist, caressing her gently. ”If it’s true that the Devoted has chosen her, she’s about as safe there as anywhere. Luke seemed to take a liking to her too, for some reason. They had pretty similar pasts, and something seemed to happen when he received a vision from her. He didn’t speak about it much, but whatever happened kept her on his mind.”

”You don’t think...” she began tentatively.

He shrugged. ”Anything’s possible, though I doubt Luke’s heart is capable of that kind of thing anymore. After his sister died, he shut out every emotion but anger and a thirst for revenge.”

”He won’t hurt her, at least. Right?”

He shrugged again, causing her body to shift a little. ”Not unless she provoked him, though I doubt that could ever happen. Xiviyah’s about as likely to do something like that as demons are to give up souls. Honestly, I’m more worried about him taking advantage of her powers, as he certainly wouldn’t think twice about that.”

”Still, that’s not a bad thing. If she’s useful, there’s no reason he’ll let her get hurt,” Korra said thoughtfully.

”Exactly. And who knows, maybe they’ll actually fall in love.”

They both shared a laugh at that, and I inwardly blushed. It was obviously a joke, but I couldn’t help lingering on the thought. Love? Did I even know what that was?

There was a time I considered it possible to fall in love, but Soltair had crushed that hope with his betrayal. For now, I was still working on having friends, on simply being able to trust someone. Betrayal hurt the more you cared about someone, and I was still struggling with being betrayed by those who had publicly scorned me. How could I ever trust someone enough to even try to love?

A cold tendril of darkness curled around my soul, and the vision started to break apart. The last thing I saw was Korra tilting her head up and kissing Gayron on the cheek.

”Thank you,” she murmured. ”I can’t even imagine where I’d be without you.”

His response was lost as the vision shattered, returning me to my soulspace. It was like plunging into an icy ocean, with thick mist curling around my soul. Haven’s darkness had invaded it, proving I was too late. Luke and Jessia had forced me to keep awake for far too long, sapping my strength, and activating the Oracle of Eternity destroyed whatever defenses I had left.

Surprisingly, I felt remarkably calm and detached, without any of the fear that had gripped me the last time Haven leaked through my soul. Knowing my friends in the Last Light Company were safe was all I needed to know. If something happened to me, at least they were okay.

But that raised more than a few questions. Why, when I was so weak and vulnerable, with Haven threatening to burst, had Luke brought me to this city in the first place? Just what had the two apostles been arguing about, and why did it seem to be about me? And lastly, why would Jessia lie about the Last Light Company?

My memories of this city were fuzzy, addled by exhaustion, but I remembered just enough to guess at the answers to those questions. They were little more than a few scattered puzzle pieces, but the picture they seemed to put together filled me with dread and a touch of sorrow.

Everything had been calculated perfectly. Bringing me here to this place exhausts me just enough to leave me capable of thought yet unable to rationalize. Then, with a gentle nudge, I had been pushed in a direction that would forever haunt me. I had come to this city to save lives, yet it seemed that decision had only doomed them.

There was no other way to look at it. Luke and Jessia had planned this from the start. Our little adventure here had proved the demons had no way to break this city, leaving even the powerful apostles helpless. It only made sense for them to use the one factor no one could account for. Haven was coming, and there was nothing anyone, especially me, could do to stop it.