The Forsaken Hero

”They don’t, normally,” I admitted, giving Fyren a look. ”But he and Fate had...business. I think.”

The fire demon returned my gaze evenly, giving nothing away. I itched with curiosity, but I had a feeling my questions would go unanswered. All that was clear from what little I’d overheard was that Fate and Arantius were familiar with Fyren. They knew him, and that didn’t bode well. If that were true, it meant that, in all likelihood, Fyren hadn’t just learned about the Primordial Mark in some ancient text.

No, in all likelihood, he had seen it firsthand. Fyren had been there during the first war and the creation of the Divine Cycle. Just who had I bound my soul to?

There was no answer in his glittering eyes, nor in his expression.

Korra gave me an odd look. ”Well, if there’s nothing to say, how about we grab some food? The elves may be pricks, but they have some fine dining, even with the refugee crises.”

I hesitated, absently stroking Fable’s fur. ”I...I don’t know. There’s so much we have to learn and do, that I--”

”Oh, come on,” she said, taking my hand and pulling me away from Fable’s warmth. ”I heard there’s this specialty shop. Want to know what they sell?”

I swallowed hard, avoiding her gaze. Her grin widened.

”Pastries! Cream-filled ones, at that!”

My stomach involuntarily rumbled. I froze, blushing, and covered it with one hand.

”Well, um, maybe a little,” I said, tail twitching in embarrassment.

As we left together, Fyren and Fable tailed us, keeping a vigilant eye on our surroundings. I reached out to Borealis, instructing him to bring Elise to wherever it was we were headed. I needed to speak with her urgently.

An hour later, we were relaxing around a wide table carved with runes and decorated with frilly green tassels. The Wilden’s River, or so the sign said above the door, was a small store nestled in the corner of the nobles’ district of Brackencliff City. We occupied one of the exterior dining spaces set on balconies overlooking the rest of the city. Beneath ours was a small pond with waters as clear as crystal. Small, colorful fish swam in the waveless waters.

Elise sat next to me, having arrived just a few minutes ago. Borealis perched on the backrest of my chair, watching everything with his sharp, ice-blue eyes. He shifted slightly, his feathers brushing across the tips of my horns. I grabbed him as tingles pricked my scalp, scolding him softly as Korra and Gayron continued to bicker about whatever it was they were on about.

”...more effective for my combat style. Flying, combined with the reach of my flames and sword, is just better,” Gayron said.

Korra sat forward, hands on the table. ”That’s exactly why it suits me more. I can close, dodge, and weave far better than you. Flying is an enhancement to mobility that’s far more than just additive. I’m far more dexterous than you to begin with, so the difference is all the bigger.”

I leaned over to Elise, nodding at the pair. ”Is this okay? Will they ever stop fighting?”

She giggled, drawing a glare from both Korra and Gayron. ”Probably. Confrontation’s in their blood. Some of the kids at Western University were like that, too. If it’s not a battle, it’s an argument. They said it ’spices up life,’ or something silly. Still, to think they learned how to fly? That doesn’t even belong in fairy tales.”

”I don’t see what’s so great about it,” I muttered. ”We already have skyships, and those are terrifying enough.”

”Maybe that’s because the only time you’ve ridden one was to send it crashing to the ground,” Elise said.

I scowled. ”It wasn’t like that. And I’ve ridden Borealis, too. It was even worse.”

Borealis cawed indignantly. I smoothed his ruffled feathers.

”Elise, there’s something I have to tell you.”

”Oh?” she raised her eyebrow. ”Have another vision about me? Not more of this ’empire’ stuff, is it?”

I shook my head. ”No, the thing is that I can’t see what we need in a vision. But I did learn where Nithalee is. She was the one who was supporting the anti-magic barrier around the empire’s city at Tormod’s breach.”

”Really? Do you think she’d know?”

I hesitated, my hand coming to rest on Borealis’s back. ”It’s impossible to say, but it’s our only chance. If we can learn the whereabouts of the mage supporting the world barrier, it’ll give us something to negotiate with Luke.”

Her face fell. ”And that’s why you need me. Xiviyah, I...I don’t know how much I can do. The elves have always been prideful, but with me, they’re...talking with them is even more impossible.”

She stared down, hands balled in her lap, pulling her dress tight.

”You can do it. I know you can,” I said.

”You mean I have to,” she muttered. ”But I’m telling you I can’t. I’ve tried everything since we’ve come here, every trick I learned, but they just won’t respect me. I barely have any understanding of their politics, or what kind of offers I could make that they’d even be enticed by.”

”The truth, Elise,” I said softly. ”It’s the only thing we’ve ever had to offer them. Surrender, or be destroyed. I wish it weren’t so, that we came in peace, but the path we’re on is one of blood and death. We’re but heralds of war, come before the first sword falls.”

She was quiet for a long moment, staring at her barely touched plate of food. ”There’s something else, too,” she said, sighing. ”The elves have always been stubborn, but the way their nobles talk...they’re afraid, Xiviyah. Not afraid of the demons, or the Risen, but something else.”

”What else is there to fear? They’re alone on this continent now. They’re the only ones left.”

She shrugged. ”I don’t know, but...I have a feeling we’re going to find out. Whatever it is, the sentiment’s coming from Duskwood, their capital. I pray we find out before we ever set foot there, else using fear and threats against their tribunal will be vain.”

”I’ll see if I can find anything,” I said.

She gave me a grateful smile. ”Thanks. But don’t push yourself too hard. You’ve got much more important things to worry about than finding leverage against some stubborn elvish nobles.”

”Then can I leave that with you?” I asked, holding her gaze.

She shrank back, chewing on her lower lip. After a moment, her shoulders squared, and she gave a firm nod.

”I’ll do it. You can trust me, Xiviyah.”

I smiled, reaching out to touch her knee. ”I do, Elise.”

She smiled back. ”And I, you. I just wish we had more time. You’re leaving tomorrow?”

I nodded, sinking back into my seat, stroking Borealis. ’We won’t be gone for long, assuming everything goes right. Which it never does.”

She chuckled, the tension between us snapping like brittle twine. ”I can agree with that. Have you decided who you’re taking?”

”Every soul requires that much more mana so that the party will be small. Emilca said the spell she developed to obscure infernal blood and mana won’t work on true-blooded demons, so that leaves Fyren and Borealis out.”

”Will you be able to summon Fable?” she asked.

I shrugged. ”That’s what we don’t know, yet. Ideally, yes, but we’re not optimistic. It would be safer for him to come through with us.”

”I’m going,” Korra declared, startling us both. We looked up to see her and Gayron holding hands between their chairs, determination burning in their eyes.

”I suppose I’ll be along as well. Someone’s got to make sure you don’t get into too much trouble,” Gayron said.

”And I,” R’lissea said. ”I wanted to ask Selena, too, but she left the city shortly after our training concluded. There was another outbreak of Risen in a nearby village, and she left to find survivors.”

”That bastard,” Korra muttered, tightening her grip on Gayron’s hand until her knuckles whitened.

R’lissea nodded. ”I hate it too, but there’s nothing we can do about it. Until we find a way to purge the Black Mist, we’re helpless to stop him. All we can do is burn the Risen, a final mercy for their tormented souls.”

”Then it will be us four,” I said, looking around the table at my friends.

”Will it be enough?” Elise asked.

Korra smiled smugly. ”I doubt Enusia’s seen a taskforce as powerful as us since the days they hunted ninth-level monsters into submission. Three heroes, a wolf, and an apostle. I’m still jealous that you’re the only eighth-level. Don’t get used to it, I’m catching up soon. I can feel it.”

”Please do, we can use all the power we can get,” I said.

”Xiviyah, any idea where we’re headed? You must have learned something through your visions,” R’lissea said.

I answered, ”It’s a port city on the southern continent...”

The day wore on as we talked, strategizing and planning for the morrow. As confident as the conversation was, I knew the teasing, bickering, and occasional boasts were attempts to shore up the uncertainty each of us felt inside. Shards were always heavily guarded, especially ones on the coast, where the church knew the demons must attack first.

But that kind of uncertainty was precisely what I was used to. The odds had never been in favor, but step by step, I’d survived the path until now. With a bit of luck, and fate willing, this time would turn out no differently. It had to.

Filled with apprehension. I bid my friends farewell and returned to our quarters. It was only mid-afternoon, but after the harsh training in Haven and the ever-growing trepidation of the coming day, I wanted nothing more than to curl up with Fable in front of a fire and read a book or tome.

All too soon, night came. And with it, one last night of studying the port city, searching for every possible danger, every future where something went wrong, or someone was injured or died. There were hundreds of such scenarios, and thousands more I hadn’t sniffed out by the time R’lissea shook me awake.

I sat up in the covers, bleary-eyed and yawning. Gray morning light filtered through the window.

”It’s time,” was all she said.

I nodded, rubbing the sleep from my eyes. ”Let’s do it.”