The Forsaken Hero

Haven was solemn and still when I broke through the gate, stumbling directly into a hard, armored chest. Strong hands, each large enough to encircle my waist entirely, grasped me, steadying me, and I stared up, my heart skipping a beat, into Arantius’s glowing eyes.

”Careful, little one,” he murmured, letting me go slowly, as if afraid I was going to break.

I hurriedly backed away, my tail lashing anxiously as I beheld the remnants filling the island. Not just Arantius, Gathrin, or Jasrin, whom I expected, but hundreds of them. More than I’d ever seen gathered in one place. Fate herself stood among them, her hands folded at her waist, a small crease on her brow.

”F-Fate?” I asked, hesitating, unsure of whether I could even approach.

She opened her arms, and I fell into them, shivering as she patted my back.

”Why is everyone so scary?” I asked, peeking out from behind her sleeves at the remnants. Not one of them looked less than ready to level a city.

”This is a day that belongs in the records of History,” she murmured, her eyes fixed on the portals. She absently stroked my back, her aura humming as it resonated with my own. With the entire realm.

”I don’t understand,” I whispered, biting my lip.

”You will, child. You will.”

The gate rippled, and Fyren appeared, leading Zephyriss and Incinderus. Fyren moved toward us, standing at our shoulders, but the demon lords stiffened, gasping as the ambient fate mana swept over them. Their auras battled it for a second before it suddenly slipped past, enveloping their souls. Zephyriss shuddered, dropping a foot in the air as her wings of cloud and lightning broke apart and reformed. Inciderus drew a sharp breath, embers materializing around him.

Just as soon as they recovered, they turned in our direction, and their gazes fixed on Fate. Zephyriss’s wings gave an uncertain flutter, but Incinderus strode forward, towering over us by almost fifteen feet. Arantius stepped between us, his hand hovering near his sword hilt.

”Peace, Firstborn,” Incinderus said, lowering his head in an awkward, unpracticed gesture of respect. ”Lady Fate, your presence is most...surprising. Never have I laid eyes on the true form of the divine before.”

Fate offered a shallow smile. ”I’m afraid that’s still true. I’m but an echo, a remnant, of that goddess.”

”And yet your bearing is noble, your soul true. None could possibly mistake that charlatan upon the divine’s throne when the truth stands before them.”

”You flatter me, Demon Lord,” Fate said, somehow managing to speak entirely without humility. But then her hand fell on my shoulder, and her voice softened. ”But this is not the time for pleasantries and politics. You’ve come at my dear Oracle’s request, who you have served at great personal cost. I understand that she does not know the extent of it, but I do. And I offer you my gratitude. There are no more loyal servants than a demon with a primordial mark.”

”It is an honor to witness the hand guided by fate,” Incinderus said respectfully. ”But if you’ve seen the price we’ve paid, surely you understand what inviting us here means.”

”Of course. Haven, if you don’t mind?” Fate asked.

To my surprise, the realm spirit appeared, hovering at my side. He answered my confused look with a smile and faced the demons.

”A realm spirit?” Incinderus’ demon eyes widened, an amusing expression despite the gravity. He turned to Fyren. ”You neglected to mention this realm has gained sentience.”

Fyren waved dismissively. ”One of a million oddities surrounding the Oracle.”

”More than an oddity,” he grumbled.

”You wish to make your home here?” Haven asked, scrutinizing the demon lords.

”Yes, as do all those who have sworn their souls to the Oracle,” Incinderus answered.

”It sounds rather amusing, no?” Zephyriss asked, flashing a playful smile. ”Think of it, the first infernals to ever descend on a divine realm, and doing it by invitation!”

What was that supposed to mean? Fyren had come here countless times, and so had the demons who served Rash’alon. The latter, of course, never made it out, but the demon lords were hardly the first.

”Amusing or not, I cannot permit it unless you understand the weight of what you ask,” Haven answered. ”Your fates shall be tied to this realm, and thus tied to the Oracle. Should she fall, it shall cease to be. Should you lose her magic, or simply choose to keep the realm closed, there will be no escape. You will be as bound as the remnants.”

”What is he talking about?” I whispered to Fate. ”How could demons--”

”Hush, child,” she said, pressing a finger to my lips.

”We understand, spirit,” Incinderus’s gravely voice answered. ”Our fate was sealed the moment we accepted the mortal’s mark.”

”Very well. Then these husks are no longer necessary. You have the location?”

The two nodded, and Haven waved his hand. I shrieked as a sudden storm of ninth-level power erupted in their souls, tearing them apart. Neither moved, fought back, or even opened their mouths, simply accepting it without so much as twitching. I shrank against Fate, but Haven waved his hand, and the power vanished before it could coalesce in a shockwave. Incinderus and Zephryiss were gone.

”Haven!” I cried, ”How could you--”

But my words died as I realized something that sent a chill down my back. The primordial mark was still intact. The demon lords had definitely been killed. I didn’t know how Haven did it, how he possessed the power to obliterate two peak eighth-level beings so easily, but there was no doubt about it. I had felt their souls discorporate. So how, then, could I still feel them?

My horns prickled as an immense amount of mana began to gather where the two had been slain, unprompted by anyone in my realm. Slowly, a small gate began to form, the fiery red swirls formed entirely by infernal mana with a purity I’d never seen before. Another began alongside it, gray and blue, crackling with lightning.

My legs went weak as I finally realized what was going on, and I fell against Fate, my head spinning.

”They...they’re coming?” I whispered hoarsely.

She absently nodded, loosely holding me with her hands clasped at my waist.

”Interesting,” Jasrin breathed, stepping closer to the gates. Though wary, his eyes glowed with excitement. ”They don’t seem to have any need to break.”

”Because there is no realm wall to break through. These might be the first demon gates to ever approach a realm that has welcomed them in,” Fate said.

The fiery gate stabilized, drawing the winds with a faint roar as the flames rose into the sky. It stood almost three hundred feet tall, far smaller than the power emanating from it suggested it should be.

A dark form appeared within, taking up nearly the entirety of the gate. It breached a second later, and a titanic form of incinderus emerged.

His true form was beyond any hulking demon on Enusia, easily two hundred feet tall. His horns were a crown of viciously carved obsidian tendrils, and seemed to scrape the stars. The orange glow of molten fire coursed through the countless cracks in his scaly armor, his eyes glowing with malevolence.

The air shivered as fiery wings unfurled behind him, the realm itself bracing itself against the enormity of his aura. Even restrained, it eclipsed that of Elaine, the Pope, and even the Arbiters. Just looking at him had every instinct screaming at me to flee or hide, but I should never try to fight back. For surely there could be no hope of victory.

But as just as sudden as the pressure gripped us, it vanished, and the massive demon shrouded itself in a cloud of sparks and cinders. When the embers winked out, Incinduers had resumed his previous form, merely twenty feet tall and far less vicious-looking. He flew down and stepped onto the island, the only hint of his former terrifying self the weight of the soul and aura he carried.

A clap of thunder broke the sky as Zephyriss, too, emerged from her gate, trailing a massive storm behind her. The dark clouds, crackling with thunder and lit from within by lightning, spread across Haven, bearing the same familiar mana patterns as the golden mist that enshrouded me. An elemental aura.

I stared up, wide-eyed, looking for any hint of the storm demon lord, but of her, there was no sign. Until the clouds suddenly broke, and she descended from their midst, appearing the same as ever. A slender woman with wings of storms and blueish skin swirling with white and gray patterns, like clouds dancing on the horizon.

Her wings flared, catching her a foot above the soft grass of the entrance island. Above, the rest of the storm dissipated, leaving nought but the smell of rain behind. She glanced at me, and her lips quirked in an amused smile, apparently amused by my expression.

”Welcome, Demon Lords, to Haven,” Fate said, looking them over with a slow nod. ”May the stars ever guide your path.”