The Forsaken Hero

Fate took me through a hundred visions. Divine Realm or mortal world, it was the same. All of existence was in chaos, even places no demon had ever set foot.

The tide of visions slowed, placing me on a dark mountain. I could tell the instant I materialized, I was Enusia. I’d visited so many strange places that just breathing in familiar air was like waking from a dream.

The vision was of a dark mountain range wreathed in wintry shadows. Gusts of wind chased small, bitter flurries across barren rocks and cliffs. A few weeds poked through the powder dusting, black and withered by the heavy haze of infernal mana hanging over the region.

Two demons and a lithe, cloaked figure with a nondescript stood on an outcropping overlooking a massive horde of demons. One spoke, and I immediately recognized Hag’s raspy voice.

”Are you certain we’re shielded from prying eyes?”

The cloaked figure pulled back their hood, revealing Jessia’s face. She glanced at Hag, and her lips pursed in a frown. ”Why must you always question me? Have I not proven my loyalty to you already?”

Hag’s lip curled around serpentine fangs. ”Watch your tone. apostle. You mortals are all unreliable, and we cannot risk the Oracle catching wind of our plans.”

”Peace, Hag,” the other demon said. ”She’s the one who made this possible.”

I was startled to find his voice familiar too, but his face...I stiffened as it came to me. Wasn’t this one of the other demon lords? His soul was certainly powerful enough, but...where was his mark? And where was Hags, for that matter? I could make out a faint smudge where it should have been, but it was blurred beyond recognition. Was this what Luke had mentioned before?

Jessia rested her weight on one hip, folding her arms. ”What matters is that Luke entered Radia. The slaughter goes well, but if the church is right, they’ll break them at Roann. That will be our chance.”

”Is that sssso?” Hag hissed. ”I do not trust them. They will turn on us. How could the divine possibly ally with the infernal?”

”Idiot,” Jessia muttered, rolling her eyes.

Hag’s eyes narrowed. ”What was that?”

Jessia looked at her, letting a smile through. ”Just commenting on your wisdom. Of course the church will betray us, but not before they give us what we need.”

”And that is? Rash’Alon wants the fate demons, Hag and I seek the horde, but I still haven’t heard what you get out of this arrangement,” the other demon lord said.

”I don’t see why that has to change.”

The demon lord growled soft, a low rumble in his throat. ”You walk a dangerous path, mortal. Your usefulness protects you for now, but in the end, you’re nothing but another soul to assimilate into the horde.”

Jessia put on a pout. ”Why would you waste a good threat like that? Save it for someone who actually cares.”

With that, she vanished in a puff of smoke, and the vision plunged into darkness.

I sat alone in silence, staring listlessly into the dark. Rash’Alon. Everything we’d feared was true. Jessia was working with Rash’ALon.

Luke was wrong. She had betrayed us. But even worse than siding with hostile demons, she hinted they were allied with the church. A loose, tentative agreement, maybe, but how could she? After everything they’d done to us, after all the pain they’d inflicted, she was...an inquisitor.

I shivered at the thought. My visions into her past were clear about that, but I’d always thought she’d derived her motivation from her hatred of them. Why else was she so determined to fight and kill any of them they came across? Was it all an act? A secretive performance?

No, that couldn’t be. One of the few times I could say for sure her smile was genuine was when she tortured that inquisitor in Blacksand for information. She hated them, I was certain. So why, then? What goal could she possibly have that would require her to team up with only people she truly loathed?

I was so distracted by the thoughts that I didn’t notice I hadn’t returned to my soul space after the vision ended. It wasn’t until I noticed a gradually brightening light to my left that I realized the visions hadn’t ended at all.

I stood slowly, my tail flicking as I looked around, completely bewildered. I could see in the dark, but my eyes couldn’t penetrate the gloom. It was...smoke? Ash? And laced with fine traces of mana, too.

The light brightened until it pierced the blackness with morning light. Rolling clouds parted before the breeze, and slowly, the fog began to clear. The ground was rough and uneven, covered in misshapen lumps. I took a step and froze, the crunch of bone cracking in my ears. My tail curled, and I didn’t dare look down, hurrying until I found something solid to stand on. Something that wasn’t cold steel, rotting flesh, or sticky blood. The stench filled my nose, causing bile to rise in my throat.

”Gods, where am I now?” I whispered.

My answer came as the sun finally burned through the fog, revealing a massive battlefield. Corpses: demons, humans, and beastkin, lay strewn about in heaps across the plains. My sight faded into darkness after a few hundred feet, but the corpses were so thick they numbered in the thousands.

A single figure entered from the edge of the scene, strolling through the battlefield like it was a garden. My chest tightened at the sight of his fiery red hair and blazing eyes. Was that...Alex?

The fire hero slowed as he passed by me, scanning the corpses intently. His brow furrowed as he stopped, rubbing his chin.

”I could have sworn I felt something here. But maybe not? There’s so much mana clogging the air, it could have been anything.”

He kicked around a little more, then paused, and his eyes lit up.

”Jackpot!”

He waved his hand, shooting a lick of flame that incinerated a hill-sized curse demon. The ashes blew apart as he jogged through them, stopping in the middle. He reached down and pulled something out of the fine gray powder. It was a severed arm, clad in a dark black sleeve trimmed with silver.

”Interesting,” he murmured to himself.

”What are you doing, Alex? We’ve got to go!”

This time, it was Verity’s voice that made me turn, but as I did, she got too close, and the vision scattered, disrupted by her magic. I was properly deposited in my soul space, hugging myself in the darkness.

Eventually, I let myself go, surrendering to my exhaustion and slipping into a fitful sleep.

I awoke slowly to the feel of a slight tugging on my scalp and a gentle touch along my horns. I blinked groggily, letting out a soft mewl as I opened my eyes. I stared blankly up for the longest time, meeting a pair of violet eyes.

”Luke...?” I murmured, letting out a small yawn.

He smiled faintly, his hand coming to rest on my head. ”Good morning.”

”Is it?” I yawned again and tried to sit up, but he held me down, gentle but firm.

We were still at the inn, in the same room as before. I still sat in the chair, but Luke had sat up, laying my head in his lap. My back hurt from being slumped over all night, but I didn’t really mind. It was difficult to even notice it, given how wonderful it felt for him to be running his hand through my hair. He sat on the bed now, his legs hanging off the edge, my head in his lap.

”I’m sorry,” I whispered, closing my eyes, resting my cheek against his thigh. When had he had a chance to strip off his armor?

”Whatever for?”

I bit the inside of my cheek. ”I wanted to stay awake for you. But I guess I was too tired.”

”It’s alright. As much as I would have enjoyed seeing you wait for me when I awoke, seeing your innocent, unguarded face was even better. You’re adorable when you sleep, you know?”

My face warmed, and I nuzzled my cheek against him. ”It’s not fair to say things like that.”

”Funny. I was under the impression you thought the same thing about me.”

”Luke!”

”Alright, alright, I get it,” he said, chuckling to himself. ”And thank you for trying. It means a lot to have someone watching over me. If it were up to the demons, they probably would have assumed I was dead and happily eaten my soul.”

I laughed softly, opening my eyes to peer up at him. He seemed much better than he had when he fell asleep, and a quick scan of his soul showed it was in much better shape. He caught me watching, and his smile faltered, and a shadow crossed his face.

”I’m sorry, Xiviyah. I lost.”

”Soltair’s strong. We already knew that.”

”Yeah, but not like that. After all of my training and practice, I thought for sure I’d be stronger. I sparred with Fyren and Ernyst. I’ve studied alongside remnants from across the Divine Realms. But none of that was enough. I was overconfident.”

”Or maybe he really is that strong. Your fighting style relies on cursing your opponents to limit their movement, power, and magic. Soltair’s ability basically makes him immune to all that, doesn’t it? And he had a dragon with him. Those are scary.”

”Scary, hmmm?” His smile returned, and he patted my cheek. ”I guess that’s true. But I’m still disappointed. I have to be stronger, or we’ll never be able to defeat him. I just wish we had more time.”

”Regretting all those days we spent strolling around Sulvarus?” I asked.

”Never.” His response was immediate, catching me off guard. ”I wouldn’t trade those for anything. Seeing you smile, hearing your laugh...” he sighed, shaking his head. ”I know we didn’t plan for you to be here for this stage of the invasion, but I’m glad you’re here. I didn’t realize just how much that was true until it wasn’t. It seems foolish of me to leave you back then, so...I’m sorry.”

I lay for a second longer before sitting up. This time, he let me, looking earnestly into my eyes as I took his hands, our faces just inches apart.

”Then please, Luke. Don’t ask that of me again. Don’t go until you must.”

He swallowed hard, his tail giving an agitated twitch. But, at last, he nodded. ”I won’t. No matter what happens, I won’t leave you again.”