The Forsaken Hero

”Uh, Xiviyah? Why are you petting a demon?” Luke stared at the demon on my lap, then up at me, then back at the demon. ”And why is it letting you pet it?”

”I...um...” My face grew warm as I clutched Borealis tighter to me, stroking him harder. ”He just showed up, and now, well...it’s like this.”

R’lissea giggled as my flush darkened, petting the ice bird’s head. ”Look at it! Isn’t it adorable? We named him Borealis.”

”You named it?” He shook his head, tail twitching. ”It’s not a cat, you know. Even with the Lord of Ash’s mark, it could lash out at any second. Demons are dangerous.”

”I don’t think it would,” I said, playing with a crimson curl. ”I just, .um..feel it.”

”A feeling?” His eyes narrowed. ”Interesting.”

I shrank back as he scrutinized me, only letting out a pent-up breath when R’lissea changed the subject.

”So why are you here?” she asked, watching him intently. ”It’s been almost a day since we entered Tormod’s Breach, but you haven’t even come to say hi.”

”Ah, about that,” he muttered, rubbing the back of his head as he walked beside us. ”The truth is, I’ve been having a hard time managing the scouts. We moved as quickly as we could, but the Empire had enough time to prepare several little welcome parties for us. I’ve had to take a few demons ahead and clear out some ambushes our scouts stumbled across. Nothing major, but still enough to slow us down.”

”We haven’t heard any fighting yet,” I said, tilting my head slightly. If Luke had gotten involved, I should have been able to sense the magical shockwaves and residue of the battle miles away.

He shook his head, groaning. ”They’re good. It’s a small, powerful party that knows its limits and retreats the moment we appear with reinforcements.”

”Hit and run tactics?” R’lissea asked.

”Exactly. They pick off our scouts, then vanish without a trace. They seem familiar with these mountains, and I dare not send a large force after them. These peaks are riddled with powerful monsters, and I wouldn’t put it past them to lure our troops into a dragon’s or something’s territory.”

”At least they haven’t attacked the main force yet,” I said, glancing about at the constricting canyon walls. ”When the Last Light fought with me in the ice gate, we were outnumbered, but we managed to hold on by defending a few canyons that led to the gate’s entrance. I bet someone could do the same thing here.”

Tormod’s Breach had places so narrow that the larger evolved demons struggled to pass. Several of the titanic fire demons had resorted to blasting apart sections of the mountain just to squeeze through. If you could plug it up and channel all the demons in one place, someone with a strong defense like Levin could hold them on his own for hours, if not days.

”That’s true, but it only works if the defenders are stronger than the attackers. They’d need an eighth-level warrior even to attempt to stall us, and someone like that is far too precious to risk holding us back for just a few more hours. I would rather that happen, actually,” Luke said, nodding. ”Then I could kill them here and now and get it over with.”

”Oh,” I said, lowering my head a bit. ”I didn’t think of that.”

Our defense in the gate had only worked because I had protected the soldiers from anything the demons could do to hurt them. Looking back, it had fallen apart when the Ice Demon serpent began interfering with my magic, and we lost the advantage.

”It’s alright,” R’lissea said, rubbing my shoulder. ”It was a good idea.”

I nodded. ”Thanks, but...it wasn’t. Compared to you two, I still have much to learn about these things.”

”I would rather you didn’t have to learn them at all,” Luke said. ”As long as you stay with me, I’ll do my best to protect you.”

It was a small, very conditional promise, but it did more to soothe me than any flamboyant and arrogant words. Certainly different from his attempts to comfort me before his ’secret’ conversation with R’lissea.

Although he had deliberately worded it to appeal to me, I still smiled hesitantly and nodded. ”Thanks.” He was actually trying, and that meant more to me than anything he had promised.

”The only thing we need to be aware of is an actual attack,” R’lissea mused. ”Even if they can’t hold us in the canyon for long, a few powerful soldiers in the way covered by mages atop the walls would cause massive casualties.”

”I doubt they’d be so bold to attack our army, but a few targeted strikes could be devastating.” His gaze lingered on me a moment too long, and I frowned, sensing there was more.

”Are you worried the Church might be plotting something?”

He sighed, rubbing his horn thoughtfully. ”The thought has crossed my mind, though it’s not the horde I’m concerned about. Our recent battles have exposed our reliance on a few key individuals to pose a significant threat to fortified positions. Typically, the strongest members of an army are the least vulnerable, but with you... even with the horde surrounding you, I still don’t like it.”

A shiver ran down my spine as I looked around. I’d known we were with the army, but I hadn’t fully realized to what extent. We had entered the canyon near the rear, slowed by Borealis’s appearance. Since then, the demons had steadily converged around us until I was caught like a leaf in a river. Even the few flying demons were concentrated above, forming a protective canopy in case we were attacked from atop the walls.

”Perhaps it’s for the best this demon took a liking to you. He could fly you out if something happened,” Luke mused, his gaze returning to Borealis. ”But I still don’t like one of the Devoted being so close. I’m almost afraid to ask how it became small enough to fit in your lap.”

”It’s one of Fable’s abilities. I used Nexus to share it with Borealis, and he shrunk down to this form.”

Luke gave me a skeptical look. ”Really? How long does your Nexus last?”

”A few hours. It should--” My eyes widened, and I glanced at the sun. It shone brightly overhead, close to midday. We had entered the canyon the previous evening, and I’d even slept with the demon in my arms.

My heart skipped a beat as I frantically searched Borealis for any trace of the Nexus, only to find it had vanished long ago, without even a hint of magical residue remaining. Instead, just like Fable, there was a faint glimmer of starlight around it, but their souls were clearly no longer linked.

”Fable? What...what did you do?” I breathed

Fable snorted and tossed his head, smugness radiating through our bond.

”You taught him?” I gasped, my jaw dropping. ”But I thought it was an innate ability!”

R’lissea gasped but quickly regained her composure. ”Maybe it’s like Soul Casting. You taught it to me, right?”

”Yeah, but...” I trailed off, my brow furrowed. ”If it’s a learned ability, then who taught Fable? He’s always been able to do that.”

”That’s not important right now,” Luke interrupted, his eyes fixed on my wolf. ”If he can teach any demon how to condense their size...no, even if only a few of them could do it...” His eyes flashed to me, his gaze as intense as when he’d first heard about Haven. ”Xiviyah, do you have any idea what this could mean?”

I shook my head, speechless, captivated by his gaze. Even in his seriousness, his eyes were beautiful, dark like the evening sky just before the first stars emerged. They were firm and unwavering, something to focus on as the chaos of these revelations troubled my heart.

”Xiviyah,” he repeated, making me jump.

”S-sorry,” I mumbled, my cheeks burning. How long had I been staring at him? I busied myself with stroking Borealis, replaying the conversation in my head. He’d asked me something... ”Um, what was it?”

He smiled, losing some of his edge. ”Can you teach others how to do this?”

”I-I don’t know. Um, Fable? Can you?” I asked.

The wolf snorted, and I shook my head. ”It doesn’t seem like he wants to. Maybe Borealis could?”

The demon cawed softly, but that seemed more a response to my renewed stroking of his glistening feathers than our conversation. He didn’t appear hostile to the suggestion, though I doubted he could manage it without the environment created by the Nexus. After all, the best way to learn something is to experience it firsthand.

”Do you think I could do it?” Jessica’s voice materialized out of thin air, making me squeak in surprise. She emerged from Luke’s shadow, stepping beside him as if she’d been there all along.

”Jessica, I told you not to startle her,” Luke chided.

She shrugged. ”That’s her fault for being easily startled. So? Do you think I can?”

I shook my head. ”I-I’m not sure, but I don’t think so. I don’t even know why it works on demons yet, but it probably has something to do with their nature. Infernal Mana once touched Fable, so that might be the link.”

”Pity,” Jessica sighed, a pout forming on her lips. ”It would have been fun to turn mini or something. I wonder if it would make me look like a child, or even smaller.”

R’lissea giggled, her eyes sparkling with mischief. ”Given that Borealis was almost a hundred feet long, you might be small enough to fit in my hand.”

Jessica’s grin widened. ”Now I want to even more! Do you have any idea how useful that would be? I could sneak anywhere, and no one could catch me.”

”I think you get into enough trouble as is,” Luke said, rubbing his horn with a weary sigh. ”But why are you even here? Aren’t you supposed to be investigating the Keystone?”