The Forsaken Hero

Many strategies were laid out in the hour that followed, mostly based on certain ’contingencies,’ Bethiv called them. I felt a little out of place, for all my visions were consumed by uncertainty and focused on Fate. There was no planning for a god, no back-up plan in case something went wrong. Last time, we’d been lucky enough to escape. I wasn’t counting on that again. Two paths were colliding, and reality itself would bear witness to that which emerged on top.

I left early, slipping away while everyone’s attention was focused on the map. Well, not everyone. As I walked through the ruined village, I felt something stir the air and turned, finding Jessia trailing after me.

”Jessia.” My fingers curled into my skirt.

”Don’t give me that look. We’re allies, remember?” She tried to saunter closer, but Luxxa stepped in her way, frowning deeply.

”What do you want?”

”I don’t know,” Jessia admitted. ”Just curious, I guess. Have you really thought this through?”

My tail twitched.

”You and Luke, I mean. It’s kind of ironic, isn’t it? There’s only one shard, but it’s you who needs it. He’s worked every minute of his life to ascend, but in the end, you’re going to take it.”

My heart beat a little faster, but I tried to keep it off my face. ”I’m not sure what you mean.”

She giggled, vanishing in a puff of shadow, appearing behind me, her hand trailing up my arm. ”Please, you should know better than to try and keep secrets from me. However, are you going to choose? Will you force Luke to choose a life of peace that you might fight, or sacrifice your own for his war?”

”I...” I bit my lip, looking away. ”It doesn’t matter.”

”I think it does. You just announced you’re going to break through. That puts your soul on a timer, and there’s only one way to stop it.”

I jerked up, turning to stare at her. ”How do you know that?”

Her lips quirked in a smile. ”How could I not?” Her smile faded, and she moved back a few steps, looking at me with the closest thing to earnestness I’d seen since Blacksand. ”Every secret has a time when it’s revealed, Xiv. Every story has an ending. Even the cycle. But if that’s true, then what about a beginning? Have you ever wondered about that?”

I gazed at her, blinking, my head tilted slightly in confusion.

”Everyone sees the end. They walk every step until they reach it. But the beginning?” She sighed, running a hand through her hair. I hadn’t really noticed before, but it had grown out, brushing past her shoulders. Dark and wavy, like a raven’s feathers. ”How often do we realize we’re on a path only after it’s too late? That first step? The true first step? Can we ever know when that was?”

”I...don’t know,” I admitted.

”Did you choose the first one? Or did fate guide you there?”

I opened my mouth, but closed it again, unsure of how to answer. I hadn’t asked to be reborn in Enusia. I hadn’t chosen to be a hero. If anything, hadn’t I chosen the opposite?”

”What does it matter the path someone is on if they didn’t even choose it? How could they be responsible for playing the hand dealt to them, whether for good or ill?”

”What’s done is done, Jessia. Whether you chose your path, or someone else did, you’re on it. Whether you keep on it, or blaze a new trail, is your choice. The next step is all that matters because it’s the only thing that possibly can.”

”Maybe, but the end only matters because of the beginning. Anyone can stand up, but if you’re fighting in battle: bleeding, exhausted, and weak, does that not make the ending so much more meaningful? The light only matters because of the dark, as you like to say.”

”What are you trying to say?”

She shrugged. ”Maybe nothing. Just...I don’t know.” She gave a playful smile, but it felt tight. Forced. ”Have fun, Xiviyah. Enjoy your ending. I suppose I’ll be heading in the opposite direction. It’s the only secret that really matters.”

Jessia vanished into the shadows, leaving only the weight of her words behind. I watched the fading wisps until they were gone, and let out a long sigh, sinking to the ground against a withered tree. The bark was rough against my back, the brittle grass scratchy on my bare legs. I clasped my hands in my lap, staring at them without seeing.

”The beginning...?”

”Don’t bother with that one,” Luxxa said, frowning slightly.

Jenna agreed, ”She’s always after teasing you. No need to take anything she says seriously.”

I nodded silently, but couldn’t shake it. I hated the idea of trusting Jessia, but she had saved me. Her warnings were cryptic, but never wrong. I rested my hand on the Aetherial Prism, rubbing the small blue stone Sari had given me. It was cold to the touch, sending a little jolt through me.

Hadn’t she tried to warn me about Alex with this? Her speech about losing things too precious to be lost made a lot more sense. It wasn’t the first time she’d tried to nudge me in the right direction, but why was she always so cryptic? She was even worse than fate, as though she actually wanted to keep her knowledge a secret.

I sighed, shaking my head. There was no figuring out the apostle of secrets. Luke trusted her implicitly, and though every fiber of my being warned me against it, I was content to defer to his judgment. Whatever her aims, whatever her true intentions, I believed in Luke.

There was little time before the meeting ended, and we marched to war, so I opened a gate to Haven, wandering the paths, half-hoping Fate would return. She never did.

I didn’t understand how she could care so little for the usurper. Since her fall, she barely mentioned him, and never unless she was warning me of his power. But even now, as the confrontation between our fate and his drew near, she was nowhere to be seen. I ended up standing in the cathedral’s central hall with Arantius, looking up at the shard.

”It’s not that she doesn’t care. It’s just that she has other more important matters to worry about,” Arantius said, reading my mind.

My tail moved restlessly. ”What could be more important than this?”

”You fight for Enusia, and the present. She fights for every star that will ever shine in the sky.”

”I’m going to fight him, with or without her,” I said, turning to look him in the eye.

”I suspected as much. Are you certain you’re prepared?”

”No. But I don’t have a choice.”

”Then do so without wavering. If you are meant to win, you will. Have faith in that.”

”I’m more worried about breaking into ninth level.”

He was quiet for a moment, then said. ”All things come to pass, most especially you mortals. Once you reach that level, you will have limited time to act.”

”How long?”

”A few days. A week, maybe. Unfortunately, in your case, that means you’ll likely never recover.”

I nodded, chewing on my lip. The realm’s inheritance was staggering for ninth-level beings. Selena had been unconscious for days. I, on the other hand, would be placing the entire burden on a first-level body and a soul binder that was never meant for such a burden. Eighth-level had almost killed me. I shuddered to think of ninth.

”There is a way, perhaps, to delay the inheritance,” he said, almost as if talking to himself. ”No, not delay. Expend. Upon reaching ninth-level, you will fully unlock the powers of the Final Star.”

”I already have them,” I said.

”In part, yes, because of your divinity. But divine artifacts are vast, and reflect the power of the wielder. Just as the divinity will surge, so too will your abilities and artifacts. Your aura, as well, shall manifest as it never has before. Despite all of your practice and training, controlling it will be impossible.”

”So what am I to do?”

”Unleash it. For the first time in your life, allow yourself to wield your power. You are not a hero or an apostle. You are the Oracle of Eternity. The Shards recognize as much. Do not fight it; do not hide it. Stand and fight for the future you believe in. More importantly, remember that you do not fight alone. No champion of fate ever does. Past, present, future...all are one, and all are united. Call, and we shall answer.”

”Thank you, Arantius.”

He smiled faintly. ”It is my role in her absence to offer you what guidance I can.”

”Then...one more thing?” He nodded, and I clasped my hands together. ”Is it really impossible for more than one person to ascend?”

He blinked in surprise, seeming taken aback. His gaze strayed to the shard before he refocused on me. ”Yes. It takes an immense amount of mana to take a mortal and make an immortal. The World Shard alone carries that power, though if you could somehow gather it elsewhere, I suppose it would be possible. But not even killing a Demon Lord’s true form would be enough. You’d need power great enough to bless an entire world with magic. The power of a god.”