The Forsaken Hero

”You don’t have to accept the soul binder, you know,” Luke said as we walked hand in hand across the familiar islands, heading out beyond the fragmented city at the realm’s center.

”I won’t let fear stop me,” I said with more determination than I felt. ”Always. I’ve always given in to it. But I won’t anymore. If this works, I can finally have a chance to use my power for something greater, to be the star this world needs me to be.”

”I’m worried about you. What if it doesn’t work?”

”Then it doesn’t work. But I’m serious, Luke. I need you. I can’t do it alone.”

”You won’t be.” His hand snaked out, wrapping around my waist. I yelped as he plucked me off the ground like a child, carrying me like a princess. ”I’ll carry every step of the way if I have to.”

I giggled, squirming in his arms. ”I get it, I get it. So put me down already!”

”Hmm, no, I don’t think so.”

”Please? It’s embarrassing!” I said, blushing furiously as the few remnants around took notice.

”You’re cute when you’re flustered,” he said, leaning down to kiss my cheek. ”Why would I want to stop that?”

My blush deepened, and I pouted up at him. He chuckled, but didn’t let me go, instead rising off the ground, surrounded by violet light. I squeaked and wrapped my arms around his neck, my stomach flipping as we began soaring over the islands, and the endless, yawning sea of stars.

”It’s so beautiful,” I whispered, petulance forgotten as I looked out over the realm. From above, it looked even more like an ocean, with islands bobbing across the stars like ships. In Enusia and on Earth, things grew fainter and blueish with distance, but here, they just vanished into the starlight, like fog. There was no end to it, no horizon.

”Do you remember when we traveled through this realm for the first time together? I thought I was going to die,” Luke admitted.

”But you...you didn’t have to go. You shouldn’t have.”

”Then where would you be?” he asked, squeezing me in his arms. ”I couldn’t let just a precious star go out like that. Even if I didn’t have a name for that feeling, I was certain of that much.”

I sighed, nuzzling against his chest. For a while, we just soared in silence, enjoying the quiet solitude. It felt different than when he flew me through the skies of Enusia, even more tranquil. If this was supposed to be an elaborate ploy of some sort to distract me from the soul binder...it was working.

”Look,” I said, pointing ahead.

The last island this far that I’d ever visited rose out of the starlight before us, a small, misshapen mass with an old well on it. Beyond, there had been plenty of floating rubble and ancient debris, but nothing concrete. Now, an entire archipelago of new land had formed.

”It’s like a mountain range,” Luke said, slowing as we hovered over the first island.

As he said, the islands were massive, with soaring peaks and rugged valleys. It was strange, seeing actual mountains in Haven, even if they were made up of multiple islands. They looked almost like diamonds, with one peak stacked atop a upside down one. The bottom half was rocky and bare, with a few streaks of glittering mineral veins, while the tops were dusted with foliage, rivers, and even groves of trees. The largest of the archipelago was almost the size of the city island, close to a mile across.

Luke landed on an island about the size of the Sunsinger estate. It was lightly wooded with tall, coniferous trees. The air was crisp and cool, smelling of pine and damp earth. I felt the crunch of gravel beneath my boots as he set me down, my tail swishing through the tall grass that surrounded the small, rocky clearing he’d chosen. We were surrounded in gentles hills and peaks, blocking the view of everything beyond our island.

”It’s almost like we’re back in Enusia, alone in some mountain range,” Luke said, noting the same thing I did.

I took his hand, and together, we strolled through the forest, weaving around the hills to stay in the valleys and avoid any real hiking. I’d done enough of that at Soltair’s side for both my lifetimes.

”How many more islands like this one do you think there are?” Luke asked after a few minutes.

I shrugged. ”Hundreds, it seemed. Haven...?”

The spirit appeared, making Luke jump. ”Yes, my Lady?”

”Why is Haven growing? I thought it was past that already.”

”This realm is inextricably tied to your soul.”

”Right, but...I’m not that much stronger, right?”

”You are. About twice as strong as when you first broke into eighth-level.”

”It doesn’t feel like it,” I muttered, my hand curling up Luke’s arm, pulling me to him.

”Even so, it’s the truth. You’re simply unable to use most of your increased mana pool. However, Haven’s growth isn’t so limited. All of Fate’s Divine Realm exists in the abstract in the endless night you call the sky. When you first formed this realm, I took the liberty of giving this realm concrete form. I took the opportunity to translate most of those concepts into what you’ve seen so far. Things like the city, library, and training grounds took priority over simple wilderness like this. But now, as your capacity has increased, so too has what I can manifest in the material.”

”So nothing in Haven is actually real? It’s some sort of...what, other dimension?”

”I believe you once called this place a dream, and that is most fitting. In a dream, you can experience that world, but it only exists within itself.”

”That’s why the remnants don’t have souls! That’s why Emlica said none of the books are real,” I gasped.

He nodded. ”Something like that. This realm is but a remnant itself, a memory of a divine realm that once had form and meaning.”

”Are all divine realms like that?” Luke asked.

Haven shrugged. ”I’m afraid I only know what little I’ve gleaned from the remnants and Fate herself, from their thoughts and words, but that seems to be the case. The biggest difference is that Divine Realms are cemented in the identity and existence of their deity.”

”So it’s only like this because Fate...fell?” I asked. ”The rest of the gods have real, tangible worlds?”

Luke looked down, resting a hilt on the pommel of his sword. ”This is real enough. If the Sun God’s realm were like Haven, it would have vanished the moment the arbiter did, just like that book you took into Enusia.”

”I... I didn’t think of it like that. So, if Fate were to reclaim her divinity and become a goddess, what would happen to Haven? Would it...” My voice shrank. ”...disappear?”

”Perhaps that’s something only she could answer,” Haven replied evenly. ”I’m not even certain it’s possible to separate the realm itself from your soul at this point, given how intertwined they are, so even if she were to pull the remnants, the essence of her kingdom, from here, it would still exist in some fashion. Like one of your homes without furnishing.”

”That’s a relief,” I said, resting a hand on my chest. ”Thank you. You’ve answered so many of my questions.”

”How much are things going to be expanding at this rate?” Luke asked, surveying the forest.

”You’re asking from a logistical standpoint?” Haven asked.

Luke nodded.

Haven rose into the air, gesturing with his hand. ”Come, follow. See for yourself the concepts that have realized.”

Luke swept me into his arms and flew us over the tops of the trees to the peak of the central mountain. There, we took in the vista, gazing at the archipelago extending into the distance.

”Is that a castle?” Luke asked, staring to our left.

I turned and let out a small gasp. There, on an island that was all sheer cliffs and rugged chasms, was a small keep. It was built into the side of the mountain itself, with walls embedded in the stone, and towers that dropped into the black depths of the chasms. A few remnants drifted around it. Even from this distance, I could feel the excited buzz flowing off them, emanating through the realm.

”The original Divine Realm held an entire kingdom’s worth of development,” Haven explained. ”The city is but a portion of the capital at its center, just enough to give the cathedral some clothing. There are dozens of keeps, castles, barracks, fields, and orchards. Even villages, like the one I drew the First Light Inn from. Many of them are manifestations of the worlds the remnants lived in. This keep, for instance, was built in a world by that remnant there,” Haven said, nodding at the remnant leading the small group of explorers. ”Fate was compassionate to her heroes, allowing them to bring those concepts with them when they Ascended. While they were adapted to her needs and the rigid structure of her Divine Realm, Haven has no such constraints. As a sentient realm spirit, I can mould the concepts as I will, allowing the remnants to develop as they will.”

”Fields and orchards? You could make farms here?” Luke asked.

”Would the food even do anything? Could we eat it?”

”You already have,” Haven reminded.

”Oh, that’s right,” I said, blushing slightly. How had I forgotten Morning Glaze from the First Light Inn?

”But anything grown and produced here exists only within this realm. So even if you were to grow a million bushels of grain, it would take an entire shard’s worth of mana to project them into a mortal world for consumption.”

”But that wouldn’t stop us from bringing troops inside,” Luke muttered, rubbing his chin. ”In fact, that would be better. Why make camp in the forest if you could stay in a literal fortress? There would be training yards, fresh water, and a mana-rich environment. That alone would raise morale, but combine that with real food and teachers with millennia of experience–”

”Luke,” I complained, squirming in his arms so I could look at him. ”We’re supposed to be relaxing. Can’t we just enjoy ourselves without thinking of armies and invasions?”

”Ah, forgive me,” Haven said, bowing. ”It seems I’ve contributed to that as well. I can make it up to you, if you’d like?”

”No, you didn’t do anything wrong. I’m really glad you told us all that,” I said hurriedly. I paused, then scratched my cheek, tail curling. ”But um...what were you thinking?”

He smiled faintly. ”There’s a lovely waterfall and meadow not five islands from here. It might prove ideal if you wish to survey the expansion yourself. I can notify you when Emlica and the mortal mage require your presence?”