The Forsaken Hero

”Are you sure this is a good idea?” R’lissea asked, her brow furrowed as Luke stood and summoned his staff.

Jessia shrugged. ”It’s not like they can do anything about it. Might as well thin their numbers out a bit.”

Luke nodded and mustered his mana. He raised his staff and then paused, rubbing his horn. ”It’s... a little high. Would you take us lower? My spell’s got a shorter range.”

I shifted, tightening my grip on Borealis’s feathers to peer over the side. The shimmering purple haze sparkled in the fading sunlight, dark and ominous. Below us, the city continued with its evening, unaware of our presence over their heads.

A tingle raced through my soul as I spotted a small fort built into a peak overlooking the city. It was similar to those that had defended Whitecliff City, with a few towers bristling with mana cannons, but something about it drew my gaze.

”Did you see that before?” I asked, tugging at Jessia’s sleeve.”

She frowned and peered over my shoulder. ”See what? You’re pointing at the whole city.”

I blushed, clasping my hands in my lap. ”O-oh. I meant the fort.”

”I...don’t think so.” Her expression tightened, lips curving in a frown. ”It’s built on the backside of the mountain from the pass. You’d have to be outside the canyon to see it.”

Luke crouched beside me. ”What’s wrong? Can’t you take us lower?”

”She’s just worried about a little fort,” Jessia said, tossing her hair.

”It feels different,” I said, pursing my lips. ”It’s...dangerous.”

His eyes met mine, dark and serious, and my breath hitched. Heat crept up my neck as I quickly looked away. A shiver ran down my spine as I remembered his arms around me. What had I been thinking, letting him hug me like that?

”Where is it?”

”Where?” I echoed faintly, my gaze lost on the land below.

He frowned and reached out to lay his hand on mine. It was huge and calloused, dwarfing my slender fingers, but it was also warm. ”The fort you mentioned. I was wondering where you saw it.”

I squeaked, the heat in my cheeks intensifying. ”R-right. It’s, um, over there. In the mountains.”

His brow furrowed, and he held my gaze. ”You’re looking a little strained. Is this too much for you?”

”No, it’s just, um...”

”Ah, sorry,” he said, withdrawing his hand. ”I didn’t mean...”

He coughed and turned away, his tail twitching.

R’lissea stood behind me, her skirt brushing against my back. ”Oh, you two...” She lightly tousled my hair before letting her hand rest between my horns.

”H-hey!” I protested, ducking my head.

She laughed, dropping her hand to her side. ”So it’s alright if he does it, but not me?”

My blush deepened, and I frantically shook my head. ”No! I didn’t...it’s because...I-I don’t like it!”

Luke chuckled, his tail swishing over the icy feathers. It brushed against mine, and I shivered, snatching my tail away and holding it protectively in my lap. They all laughed at that, and I clutched my tail in both hands, lips drawn in a pout.

”Alright, alright, don’t make that face,” R’lissea said, still hiding a smile. ”And you’re right. Something seems strange about that fort. It’s facing the wrong way.”

Luke’s smile faded. ”You’re right. But why would they build a fort that can’t even see the breach? Also, is it just me, or is its courtyard a lot bigger than the ones in Whitecliff City?”

”I think so,” Jessia said, tossing her hair. ”They seem to have some kind of supports built into it, like a shipyard or a...” Her eyes widened. ”There’s a second one right there, hidden behind that ridge. It is a shipyard! There’s a--”

My mana erupted, sending a panic surging through my system. Borealis screeched in as if he could sense my feelings, diving as a blinding flash of light erupted beneath us. His far wing dipped, and he veered sharply to the side, throwing us off balance. The slant of his back sent me tumbling down the icy razors of his feathers like a slide. My wards flared across my skin, forming a thin mana barrier that protected me from the sharp edges.

Before I could even scream, R’lissea grabbed my hand, halting my fall. She clung to a jutting feather with her other hand, her face pale with fear. A splatter of warm liquid painted my cheek, and I looked up, eyes wide, to see a rivulet of blood streaming down her arm. Every flap of Borealis’s wings jolted us, and the crystalline edge of the feather dug deeper into her fingers.

”Hang on!” She gritted her teeth, her voice strained with pain.

I whimpered, tasting her blood as it dripped down my cheek and pooled in the corner of my lips. My eyes remained locked on hers, refusing to acknowledge the dizzying drop below. In the brief moment I’d fallen, I’d glimpsed nothingness. Borealis’s back was an icy slope leading directly to the earth far below.

Fable appeared in a heartbeat, wrapping his body around us both. R’lissea cried out as she released the feather, allowing him to take our weight. Blood splattered across her dress as she cradled her injured hand to her chest, revealing a glimpse of jagged flesh and bone. A soft green glow enveloped the wounds as her soul shone with a healing spell, stemming the flow of blood.

I opened my mouth to ask what had happened, but another blinding ray of light flashed just over the demon’s left wing. It left an afterimage seared into the air, lingering long after the attack was gone.

Borealis leveled out before suddenly diving, slamming us back against his back in a jarring reversal of momentum. Fable cushioned our fall, his claws scrabbling for purchase. For a terrifying moment, we slid across the crystalline feathers before he found his grip.”You alright?” R’lissea asked, pulling me close. She hadn’t released my hand since catching me.

I shook my head, struggling to speak past the sob choking my throat. Every fiber of my being ached from being tossed around, and even breathing hurt. Borealis wheeled around, giving us our first glimpse of the attacker. I’d expected to see the skyship, but the sheer size and majesty of the vessel stole my breath away. It was a hundred feet long, thirty feet wide, and far more elegant than the previous model. Instead of a traditional sailing ship, this one resembled a sleek, double-deck barge. The hull was split into two wide, triangular pieces joined by a crystal core at its center. Thick, overlapping plates of enchanted armor shielded the hull, though the deck itself remained exposed.

A single sleek mana cannon dominated the front deck, positioned on a curved rail that spanned the rift between the hulls. It was a massive, beautiful work of art with a core that radiated seventh-level mana.

After Borealis’s maneuver, we were left a hundred feet beneath the ship, giving us a view of the sky ship’s underside. Six more seventh-level mana cannons jutted from the hull, three on either side. Their crystals were inactive, and they lay half-withdrawn into alcoves in the plating.

”Where’s Luke?” I stammered, barely audible above the wind.

R’lissea shook her head, but the gale snatched away her words as Borealis surged upward, his powerful wings buffeting us. I covered my ears as the demon’s screech tore through the sky, leaving a ringing in my ears.

Borealis’s soul blazed with power, his feathers humming beneath us, each glowing with an inner light. Every wingbeat created thick eddies of snow that obscured the air behind us in an icy mist.

The skyship banked as we struggled for altitude, the crystal core of its cannon glowing ominously as it lined up another shot. I glimpsed the upper deck before it fired, spotting twelve smaller mana cannons mounted on the edges. But the scene dissolved into black dots as the main cannon erupted in dazzling light.

The beam arced through the air, predicting Borealis’s dive. But the demon reversed its momentum, surging upward, and the attack passed harmlessly beneath us. The maneuver carried us over the skyship’s deck, out of range of its main weapon.

Soldiers, mages, and sailors scrambled across the deck, shouting and screaming. Mages took their positions at the smaller mana cannons, pouring their mana into the crystal cores. The weapons hummed to life, emitting a fifth-level aura.

”N-Nexus!” I cried, snapping from my daze and linking Fable and Borealis into the spell.

Adaptive Resistance surged through the bond as the cannons swiveled toward us. While smaller than the others, these were far more agile and maneuverable, and fired a series of blinding pulses instead of a concentrated beam. The streams of energy were too numerous for something of Borealis size to dodge, but their explosions pattered harmlessly against Adaptive Resistance.

”Xiviyah, can you buy me some time?” R’lissea asked, summoning her staff.

”I-I don’t know! Borealis?”

He screeched, and I felt a wave of affirmation.

”Just hurry!” I cried, clutching Fable’s fur.

My stomach lurched as Borealis plunged toward the ship. The deck cannons lit up, filling the sky with streaks of light. The combined glow of the approaching storm was blinding, forcing me to shield my eyes. A surge of mana rose behind me as R’lissea began casting a spell.

My wards flared as the shockwaves of a hundred explosions rolled over us, a sea of writhing mana. Borealis blasted through it with an effortless flap of his wings, accelerating until the world blurred around us. Less than a heartbeat later, the ship materialized out of the swirls of color, and the soldiers’ faces turned up toward the descending demon in terror.