The Forsaken Hero

The following day, I couldn’t sit still. I kept looking over my shoulder, jumping at every shadow. Every time R’lissea called me, or Elise asked me for some advice on a spell, I couldn’t help but examine their soul closely, making sure it wasn’t really Jessia in disguise. She had to have been waiting on purpose, dragging the day out as long as possible.

When dusk streaked the sky, I’d nearly given up, exhausted from the constant jolts of stress and adrenaline. I sat in front of the tent, waiting for the first star to appear. It had become something of a habit, a time to relax and reflect. Normally, I pondered my fate and the path I’d chosen, yet today my mind was on Jessia.

Just what had she meant by her little ’hint’ before? Had she been referring to the teleportation ring? She was never one to fiddle with anything except her dagger, so it wasn’t likely to be a coincidence.

So what connection did King Alverin have with the teleportation ring? The circle had them, and the Apostles had them, but the church didn’t. Did that mean they came from the demons?

We’d had vague hints that the circle was associated with the demons, but I had a hard time envisioning Luke entering an agreement with them. He hated them almost as much as I feared them.

So another demon faction, then. As far as I knew, only the Devoted and Rash’alon stood apart from Luke. It couldn’t be the devoted, but what would Rash’alon gain from letting the Circle use rings? The only thing he was concerned with was...me...

I groaned, rubbing my horn. It all felt so close to clicking together, yet there were still so many questions, so many assumptions I could make that might end up being wrong. Like, was Jessia really just investigating another faction? Maybe they wanted to know what Rash’alon was up to, or they hadn’t realized he was behind it yet. Could the origin of the Circle’s rings be the information Jessia wanted to trade with me? But if it regarded the faction war, why didn’t Luke know Jessia was in Brithlite? He had acted surprised when he learned she was with Alverin.

It was maddening, forcing me to question everything I thought I knew. The motives of the circle, their fierce desire to possess me, Jessia’s intentions...it was all too much. I felt a headache coming on.

Suddenly, Fable’s ears pricked. He sat up, looking toward the grove. I turned, holding my breath, and saw...Jessia. She was dressed in her usual black leather armor, a cloak fluttering around her heels. I looked around, wide-eyed, but it was just her.

”You look a little tense,” she said, plopping down beside me.

She made a move to pet Fable’s tail, but it slithered away from her, wrapping around me instead. I relaxed against his flank, grateful she hadn’t found me when I was alone.

She stuck her tongue out. ”Fine, keep him to yourself. But mark my words: one of these days, I’m going to find a way to cuddle with him. He looks too damn soft.”

Fable’s tail curled tighter, hugging me like a living blanket. I smiled, gently petting it.

”You’re here for a vision?” I asked.

”Obviously. Are we going to that Haven place or whatever?”

I shook my head. ”It should be fine here.”

”Oh.” It might have been my imagination, but she sounded disappointed.

I extended my hand to her, palm facing up. She looked at it for a moment, then reached out, placing her fingers in my palm.

”It’s going to feel weird,” I said, mustering my mana. ”Whatever we’re going to see is going to seem real, but remember that it’s just a vision. Please, please don’t let your emotions get out of control. It’s...dangerous.”

She looked around curiously as my aura swirled, forming a gentle whirlpool of stars with us at its center.

”Is that what happened with Luke the first time?” she asked.

I flinched. ”Y-yeah.”

”I don’t think you have anything to worry about. I can’t remember the last time I got upset.”

I tightened my grip on her hand and drew her soul into mine. There was a flash of cold, then hot, then...nothing. When I opened my eyes, we were sitting next to each other in our soul forms, the endless stars of the soul space stretching overhead. I quickly let go of her hand.

Jessia touched the inky blackness of the ground, gasping as starlit ripples spread from her fingers.

”I always imagined what it would be like if you could stand on a clear pond at night, with all the stars glimmering in the water. I guess this is it,” she said, looking around in wonder.

”You have?” I asked, leaning forward slightly.

She laughed, turning to look at me. ”Of course not. Who would? Wait, don’t tell me...”

I blushed, quickly looking down at my lap. ”I, um...no...?”

Her giggle echoed across the soul space. ”Ah, I can’t resist it. However, do R’lissea and Elise survive without teasing you a bit?”

Her smile tempered a bit, and she sighed, turning back to staring at the endless horizon.

”I suppose, knowing what you’ve been through, it’s no surprise you dreamed of something like this. A vast, empty world, S surrounded by twinkling stars. It is romantic when you put it like that.”

I shifted, gripping my skirt just a little tighter. It was uncanny how easily she read me, and in a place like this, where I was most vulnerable, I had to resist the urge to flee altogether, or at least edge away from her.

”So,” she said, turning back to me again, her voice just a little too loud, ”What kind of vision did you have lined up today? Remember, I’m not saying anything unless you show me something worthwhile.”

I stood slowly, taking a deep breath. Ribbons of soft light materialized as I exhaled. Turning slowly, I gazed at Jessia, no longer trembling.

”Don’t tempt fate, Jessia. The secrets within are hidden for a reason.”

The vision broke like a wave, crashing around us with physical force. I gasped, stumbling half a step, weight settling on my soul form. For a second, it seemed as if we’d returned to reality and the burden of a physical body, yet as I blinked away the light, the thought perished.

Stark white walls, narrow corridors, figures dressed in starch white robes emblazoned with golden suns.

My stomach twisted in a not, every instinct screaming at me to run. I knew this place. No matter how much I’d tried to forget it, I knew it. The secret halls of the inquisitors, the Dusk Chambers. They were, in the words of the Grand Inquisitor himself, the place where the light is brought to those who have never known it.

”No!” I whispered, stumbling against the wall. I pressed a hand to my chest, struggling to breath. I shouldn’t have to breath, this was a vision, and yet.... Why? Why were we here? Why would fate show me something of my own life, not Jessia’s? Didn’t it know this was supposed to be about her?

Heavy footsteps sounded in the corridor, approaching us. I shrank against the wall, barely containing a sob. My heart thudded with painful jerks, my stomach clenching so tight it hurt. A thousand lines of fire blazed across my skin, retracting long-forgotten cuts inquisitor knives had once carved into me.

A woman inquisitor, slender and lithe, came around the corner, a pair of knives sheathed at her left side. Her eyes swept right over me, and yet pierced me through the core, nailing me to the wall. She stepped through a doorway a few paces shy of where we were standing, leaving it ajar.

”Xiviyah, what the hell is this?” Jessia growled. She sounded soft, and yet very, very angry.

”I’m sorry, I don’t know why...” I stammered, letting out a choked sob. ”I just...”

I trailed off as I finally brought myself to face her. Her face was pale, her arms folded tightly beneath her breasts. Her eyes darted around, looking...frightened. It was a look I’d never seen on her before, the face of something small and vulnerable, something being hunted.

”I thought...it was me,” I said in a small voice, hunching my shoulders. ”Did you...Did they take you here, too?”

She swallowed hard, forcing herself to relax. ”Something like that. Come on, let’s see what we’re here to see.”

She followed after the inquisitor, hesitating before the door. She touched it, trying to ease it open, and jumped back when her hand passed right through it.

”Convenient,” she muttered, walking through the heavy wooden door.

Suddenly, I found myself very, very alone. With a terrified squeak, I chased after her, practically diving through the door. I was a single hair away from breaking and fleeing the vision. If it were me being ’interrogated’ on the other side of this door, I wouldn’t be able to stop myself from doing so, our deal thrown to the ashes.

But it wasn’t. Instead, it looked...normal. A few light crystals bathed the room in soft light. The walls were stark white, the carpet the same, yet it looked like a noble’s study. A few bookshelves and shelves leaned against the walls. Several chairs sat against one wall, with a large wooden desk across from them. A man wearing a high inquisitor’s uniform sat behind the desk, leaning back against his chair’s backrest. He was old and withered, but with sharp eyes and a hooked nose, like an eagle’s beak. A younger man, perhaps sixteen, sat on one of the chairs against the wall. He wore rich golden robes in the style Radian nobles preferred.

The female inquisitor stood between them, crispy saluting the old man. Now that I really looked at her, I was surprised by her youth. She couldn’t have been older than twelve, and yet wore the sun signifying a true inquisitor. Her hair was shoulder-length, a deep auburn color, and her eyes were gray, like the stormy sea. She looked...familiar.

I shuddered. Probably one of the inquisitors who tortured me, then.

”Report,” the high inquisitor said, leafing through one of the many scrolls scattered across his desk. ”No trouble, I assume?”