The Forsaken Hero

I ran through the city, tears streaming freely down my cheeks. Shockwaves smashed into me, breaking against my wards. My hair streamed behind me in billowing waves, pulled by the eddies of winds. My entire body itched from the density of sun magic.

”Fable!”

I screamed until my throat was hoarse, passing street after street of homes and businesses reduced to rubble. Another wave of holy meteors lit the night sky, followed by another wave of explosions. I’d gotten close enough that the wave carried a thick veil of dust and debris, choking the air. I couldn’t see my hand in front of my face, and in the chaos, tripped over something.

My hands moved faster than I could think, cushioning my fall. I cringed, gritting my teeth, but the sharp impact never came. The ground felt...soft, like packed dirt instead of unforgiving cobblestone, leaving only thin white scratches on my palms.

I shook aside my wonder and rose, only to stumble as gouts of fire flickered in the dust, revealing a looming silhouette. My breath caught as a sixth-level evolved demon emerged, looking like a cross between a wolf and a lizard. It had thin, sinewy limbs and a whip-like tail, with serrated claws and teeth longer than my hand. The seams between its scales glowed molten, and liquid fire dripped between its jaws instead of saliva.

”Are you...” I tentatively raised my hand toward it. ”Please, I need help.”

It lowered its head to me, pushing its nose against my palm. Its scales were rough and warm like they’d been left out in the summer sun. A spurt of fire shot out of its nostrils, and I yelped, jumping back, but the fire passed through my arm without the faintest lick of heat.

A dozen fire scions crawled out of the darkness, illuminating the dust like torches. I shrank back, tail lashing, they passed by with barely a glance, sniffing through the rubble. One barked, and the others rushed toward it, digging into the ruins of a collapsed home. I turned away, stomach curdling as they pounced on something, filling the air with the wet sound of tearing flesh.

”Please,” I whispered, looking into the demon’s glowing ember eyes. ”I need to get to him.”

He pulled his head away and presented his side. The demon was about the size of a horse, but the thick ridges behind his neck gave me a handhold. I pulled myself up with barely a grunt, pleased that my arms hardly ached. The thought that this strength would soon leave me dampened spirits again, but I took a deep breath and patted the demon’s neck.

The evolved demon’s muscles coiled beneath me, its scales rough against the soft skin of my thighs. I held on tightly as, with a roar, it surged across the ground. It flowed over heaps of rubble with a serpentine grace, accelerating until the city blurred around us. I closed my eyes against the wind and huddled low over its shoulder. The hard scales and plates of its back felt unnatural, and more than once, I tried squeezing them, mistaking them for warm, soft fur.

Soon, we left the swarms of demons behind, breaking into the desolate parts of the city. Just hours ago, these ruins had been my prison, but that time felt like a lifetime ago. The pain, vulnerability, and helplessness were but a shadow compared to the fear I felt for Fable. We’d lost sight of once we entered the abandoned sectors of the city, but from my bond, I knew we were close.

Another series of magic circles spread across the sky. The mana within the runes was weaker than before, reaching only the middle stages of the eighth level. Fable’s soul, however, was barely a flicker. He was too weak to challenge something of this magnitude now.

I delved deeper into the bond, desperate to know his feelings. And there it was, hidden beneath his pain. It was fear, but not for himself. He was afraid for me, and what would happen if he weren’t there to protect me.

Tears welled in my eyes as I urged the Fire Demon onward, gripping his scales until my knuckles whitened. ”Fable, please, don’t leave me,” I whispered. ”You’re right. I can’t do it on my own.”

After an eternity, we burst out of the streets onto a field of destruction. The buildings had been razed for hundreds of yards in all directions. Deep canyons cut the land apart, pushing the removed earth in steep ridges on the sides. Arcs of lingering sunlight flashed across the ground like static electricity. They crawled toward us, drawn to our infernal blood, but were absorbed by Adaptive Resistance.

My gaze flicked up to Lord Evlon, who hovered a hundred feet overhead, his magic circles spread above us. His soul held barely a fraction of its full mana capacity, and his cloak was tattered and stained with blood. The polished gleam of his armor was gone, and he favored his side, gauntlet dripping with blood.

His back was to us, but his voice floated over the winds and thrum of distant explosions. ”I never thought I’d say this, but you’ve pushed me far, monster. Your strength and cunning are beyond any seventh-level monster I’ve encountered, and for that, you should be proud.” He took a deep breath, pouring the last of the mana required into his spell. ”But this is the end. I won’t make the mistake of overlooking your survival again. Don’t worry, though. I’ll be sure to repay the damage you’ve done to your master.”

He dropped his hand, finishing the spell. ”The Coming Dawn!”

Mana uncoiled from the runes and flowed into the center of the eight magic circles in rivers of glowing light. The convergence formed perfect spheres that gradually swelled into miniature suns with fiery coronas. After a few seconds, they spanned almost twenty feet across and began leaking mana in blistering gales of sunlight that fell upon the city, scouring everything in their path.

The sun surpassed the seventh-level threshold in only a few seconds, but the absorption didn’t slow. The Fire Demon stumbled as one fell directly upon us. The light broke against Adaptive Resistance, but it started to cower, shying away from the strands of sunlight lingering around us.

”Keep going!” I cried, forcing my will into the Nexus. ”We’re almost there!”

The demon roared and charged forward, clearing a thirty-foot fissure in a jump. The wind whistled in my ears, and my heart leaped in my throat, but I gritted my teeth and braced myself. The landing was rougher than I was used to when riding Fable, but with my enhanced strength, I took it in stride.

As Lord Evlon’s spell surpassed the eighth-level threshold, we reached the rim of a massive, two-hundred-foot-wide crater. The crater’s floor was glassy and smooth, glowing faintly like cooling glass. And in the center was Fable, lying limp on his side.

The wolf’s coat was mangy and torn, soaked with so much blood it obscured the silver. A long, jagged cut ran from his left shoulder to his flank, gaping wide to expose the pale white of bone. Thin ribbons of sun magic crackled across the wound, causing the blood to hiss and boil.

”Fable!” My heart stopped, my breath seizing in my chest. ”Please, don’t be--”

The fire demon threw himself into the crater, running to the wolf’s side. Violent shivers shook my body as the ambient mists of sunlight grasped at us like skeletal hands. The demon hissed, its instincts screaming at us to flee, but I squashed them with a thought and forced us the final few steps.

With a choked cry, I threw myself off the demon’s back, landing on my knees at Fable’s side. The shattered ground tore apart my knees, but I barely felt it, embracing him instead. His blood was hot and sticky, soaking my dress, but he shifted beneath me, his chest rising ever so slightly.

”Fable, please,” I sobbed. ”I’m here!”

Lord Evlon’s smirk vanished as he noticed me. He looked between me and the meteors, and his face grew deathly pale. ”No! What are you–Get the hell out of there! You can’t die here! The gods need your–”

I looked up at him, face stained with tears and Fable’s blood. ”I would rather die a thousand deaths than abandon my friends. I will never serve your gods!”

The air hummed as the meteors broke free of the circles, plummeting to the earth. The swells of sunlight intensified, eating through Adaptive Resistance and sending waves of fiery pain across my exposed skin. Fable’s blood hissed and steamed in the rising temperature, and I cried out, burying my face in his fur.

”I wasn’t strong enough before, but this time, I won’t let you die alone. Not like her,” I whispered, tears streaking my cheeks.

His tongue flicked between his lips, dabbing my cheek. My tail curled around his paw, holding it tight as I rose and faced the High Inquisitor. Eight blazing suns filled the sky behind him, releasing a horrifying pressure that left my chest tight and muscles shaking. They sent tingles through my soul, a promise from fate that death loomed above us. The moment they fell, everything would be over.