The Forsaken Hero

I tentatively nodded, butterflies fluttering in my stomach. A question? Were they finally going to bring up Haven?

Evla smiled, relaxing in her chair. ”So, how exactly did you claim the title of Oracle of Eternity?”

”What?” I tilted my head, completely caught off guard by the unexpected topic.

”I’ll admit,” she said, mistaking my relief for confusion, ”the first time Luke mentioned it, I laughed. It sounded so pretentious. But then your visions actually came true.”

I blushed, rubbing my horn in embarrassment. ”It was an accident, actually. The Oracle of Eternity is the name of one of my abilities, and after I lost my title as a hero, it just sort of stuck. I’ve tried to get people to stop, but they just ignore me. I can’t even get them to stop calling me ’my Lady.’ I’m just not that special.”

”That’s not true,” Luke muttered.

”No, I get that,” Constance said from across the table. His voice startled me, and I looked up, surprised he had been listening. He hadn’t seemed to care much about me after his introduction. ”Titles can be so boring and overbearing. If the nobles didn’t get worshiped their whole lives, I bet they’d feel uncomfortable too.”

”Oh, come on, what’s wrong with a cool title here and there?” Jessia asked, tossing her hair.

Edrin narrowed his eyes on her. ”Not everyone likes to pretend they’re royalty, Jessia.”

”I’m not pretending,” she retorted with a sniff. ”Royalty only has power because people think they’re better than them. If I can convince them the same is true for me, it’s no less authentic than any king’s.”

”And the stealing faces?” the Wind Apostle returned.

She hesitated, a small, mischievous smile darting across her face. ”You’d be amazed how many secrets you can learn when people think you’re on their side.”

”Like weaknesses?” I asked, tilting my head. ”Is that why you were with Alverin?”

”Exactly, I can–” she froze, her eyes widening.

”Alverin?” Luke’s head snapped up suddenly, his eyes narrow. ”Jessia...?”

She swallowed hard, glaring at me for some reason. ”It’s nothing. I was just doing some scouting in Brithlite before you arrived. The Oracle’s army arrived before we made any plans, so I never had a chance to give you anything.”

Luke followed her gaze, frowning as he found me staring at my lap again. ”And why would she know about it?”

”Well, you know, we might have come across each other. It was an open battle, after all.” She didn’t meet his eyes, pretending to be distracted playing with an errant strand of hair. ”It’s not like anything happened, though.”

”Is that right?”

I flinched as Luke looked at me, shrinking back further as Jessia’s eyes bored into me.

”Um...yes. Nothing happened,” I squeaked.

That was technically the truth, though it begged the question of what the Apostle of Secrets was actually doing in Brithlite. If Luke hadn’t known about it, and he’d led the invasion of the city, then why had she acted as Alverin’s aid in the first place? And why use her powers to try and kidnap me?

”So, what does your ability do?” Evla asked, her mismatched eyes fixed on me. ”Is it just visions?”

I blinked, momentarily lost in thought, before realizing she had asked me a question. I shook my head, my tail twitching in embarrassment. ”Sorry, what was that?”

She repeated the question, and I fell silent, chewing on my lip as I considered how to reply. A glance around the table showed the rest of the apostles were doing their best to appear occupied, but they were all watching me from the corners of their eyes.

”I can, um... see Fate,” I finally mumbled. ”Visions, magic, even memories.”

”Like the future?” she asked, tilting her head.

”Something like that,” I clarified, ”but it’s more about possibilities, like the battle where I saw you die. It didn’t happen, but it might have. Luke learning about it was enough to change the future. Sometimes, though, it takes a lot more.”

My mind drifted to the many visions of war, fire, and death I’d had in the Divine Throne. No matter how much I tried to protect the innocent, cities had burned and thousands were slain as simple collateral damage.

She fell silent, her tail swishing thoughtfully, unaware my own drooped in sorrow. ”So it’s not very reliable, then.”

”I wouldn’t say that,” Luke interjected, dropping any pretense of conversation with Jessia. ”It does far more than just offer glimpses. When we were investigating the city, it allowed us to view the flow of mana itself, functioning like an extremely powerful ’Divine Eyes’ ability.”

”It can even tell how powerful a soul or attack is just by looking at it,” Jessia added. ”Assassinating Inquisitors was easy when I could see the weak points in their spells, and which ones needed to die first.”

Edrin let out a low whistle. ”That does sound useful, especially if it can be shared with others.”

I nodded, overwhelmed by the sudden praise. Receiving this kind of attention was the last thing I expected from a group of apostles intent on conquering the world, but as I met Luke’s gaze, I was surprised to find him beaming with pride. It was almost as if he were bragging about his own abilities, not mine.

Evla leaned closer, drawing my attention back to her. ”And how about your wolf?” she asked. ”I saw it when we took the city, but only briefly. It’s quite small for an infernal beast, but is it really as strong as Luke said?”

I hesitated, glancing at Luke. Just how much had he told them about me?

”Well,” I said, deciding I was happy to shift the conversation away from myself. ”His name is Fable, and he’s one of my dearest friends. He’s not actually an infernal beast, though. He’s a...well, I’m not sure, but he’s not corrupted.”

”But how else could he have those horns?” Edrin asked, curiosity piqued. ”They’re certainly infernal, though I agree his soul is pure. Otherwise, he would have been bound by one of our marks, like any infernal beast that wanders too close to our armies.”

That was an interesting bit of information, and I filed it away to ask Fyren about it later. Demon attacks before had always been preceded by infernal beast waves, such as the one I pulled Fable from in the first place. I hadn’t seen any since waking up here, but I also hadn’t left the core regions of Luke’s army save to scout Whitecliff City.

”I’m not entirely sure myself, but it might have had something to do with the fact that I cured him of Corruption by overwriting most of his soul with my own. The taint hadn’t yet spread from his body when I eliminated it, but the next time we met—about a year later—he had changed.”

”I did notice his soul looked a lot like yours,” Jessia said, nodding. ”But what’s that about healing Corruption? Is that how the Life Hero learned to cure Sunpurge?”

”I’d like to know that, too,” Evla added. ”In fact, Luke said you were nearly consumed by the sunpurge when he found you in Brithlite. How are you not, uh, dead?” she turned to Luke, adding, ”And how is the Life Hero still alive?”

”She’s useful,” he replied vaguely, giving me a small, reassuring smile. I gave him a nod back, expressing my gratitude with my eyes.

”Useful? In what way?”

”Well, for one, she can heal Sunpurge,” Luke replied, thinking quickly. ”Considering the Sun Hero is our opponent, there’s no guarantee one of us demonkin won’t contract it. We learned from Xiviyah just how deadly that can be.”

”Wait, is that the cause of those weird monsters?” Evla asked, leaning forward. ”I’ve seen quite a few demons succumb to Sunpurge over this war, but nothing like that.”

Luke avoided their eyes. ”No, that was... separate. But Sunpurge is bad regardless.”

As they turned back to me, waiting for my answers, I rubbed my horn, sighed, and settled back into my seat. ”The darkness was a result of a rift in fate. It would have destroyed this entire realm, so I contained it in my soul. And as for how I was cured, it was thanks to R’lissea. She saved my life, and... yeah, she saved my life.”

They all looked as if they knew I was hiding something, but fortunately, they let me keep my secrets. Another question soon took its place, beginning an endless barrage of curiosity about my abilities, history, and companions. As we talked, I grew more comfortable, their friendliness putting me at ease.

They were so similar to the heroes, just youths with regular thoughts and motives. The only difference was that they stood on opposite sides of the war, yet none were the callous, emotionless figures I had expected. They were all so... human, and that brought me some comfort.

At the very least, the apostles seemed open to my presence, surpassing the initial reception I’d received from the heroes the first time we met in the Divine Throne. If only their demons shared the same open-mindedness.