The Forsaken Hero

Morning in the Slave Quarters was always a hectic time. Slaves scurried about in the narrow hallways, getting about their tasks or preparing to head up and serve within the upper levels of the Divine Throne. Despite the abundance of slaves, there were no taskmasters or supervisors. Every slave had their orders, and would be severely punished by the slave crest if they were tardy or disobedient.

I had things much easier than the typical slave, bound only by Father Ithris’ schedule. Fortunately, he had a tendency to sleep in, which gave me some leisure time each day. The morning after Soltair left, I awoke feeling clear and refreshed. Lying in bed, I hummed softly, recalling our conversation from before. I took a deep breath, inhaling what little remained of his scent and rose to prepare for the day.

My soul had recovered significantly, and the weakness threatening my body at least allowed me to move around, if slowly. As I laced up the back of my dress, my gaze fell on the nightstand, which was a luxury item Soltair smuggled in for me. There was a thin tome, one I scarcely remembered getting from the library. What was that for again? Curious, I walked over, taking care the movement didn’t incite anything from my injured soul, and picked it up. It was a spell, Life Dew. Why was that he-

My eyes widened as I recalled Selena’s request. The spell was fairly decent, as far as optimization went, which made her query rather strange. But, I’d promised her I could improve it within a few days, and hadn’t even started. I knew the spell by heart now, even used it during the duel, but there was still a lot of work to do.

A little flustered, I opened the tome and immersed myself in its contents. Lost in thought, I carelessly reached out for my mana, only to be jolted back by a searing pain in my soul. I scanned the spell again, and shook my head. Without seeing the spell in motion, I’d never be able to modify it, but perhaps-

I jumped as a loud knock reverberated around the room, causing my heart to race. I limped over to the door, holding onto the wall for support, and eased it open. Father Ithris stood in the doorway, looking as grumpy as ever.

”You’re here early,” I said.

He glanced at me from head to toe. ”You look terrible. Worse than usual, I mean.”

I nodded, used to his bluster and held up the tome. ”I’ve got to get to the training fields. Would you accompany me?”

”That’s why I’m here,” he grumbled, falling in behind me. I looked back at him, but found his gaze vacant. He must be dealing with something big.

The other slaves gave me a wide berth, staring and whispering as I slowly stumbled by. I was used to such attention, but something in their eyes brought me to a stop. Curiosity, irritation, and even disdain were common enough, but fear... that was new.

A cat-eared girl, younger even than I was, tripped as I walked by, landing at my feet. I flinched as she knocked into my shins, the collision nearly knocking me over. As she looked up, her eyes filled with horror.

”I-I’m sorry!” She cried, pushing her face into the ground. A little taken aback, I reached out to help her, but my hand froze as she flinched away, tears filling her large brown eyes. ”Please, have mercy!”

”Please, stop crying. I’m not going to hurt you,” I said gently. ”It was an accident, right?”

The girl looked up and nodded, but still didn’t dare meet my eyes. ”Yeah, an accident!”

”Then there’s no problem! Let’s just pretend like it didn’t happen.”

”You mean you won’t hurt me?” she asked, filled with disbelief.

”Hurt you? Of course not. I was just passing through.”

A slightly older beastkin, perhaps a sibling pulled her away, bowing to me fearfully. I watched them hurry away, keenly aware of the other slaves watching closely. No one once noticed the Father, focusing all their attention at me like deer in the headlights. Not daring to remain any longer and risk another incident, I hurried as quickly as I could and left the slave quarters.

In the end, there was no escaping it, and I got the same reaction everywhere. The priests kept their voices low, but my ears were exceptionally sharp, and I picked up a little of what was going on. Apparently, I was currently struggling to hold back my inherent demonic tendencies, and could snap and kill without warning. A new nickname floated around, as well, and they referred to me as the ”Slave Hero,” instead of the ”Sun Hero’s Slave.” The change didn’t mean much to me, but it showed the influence of the War Hero. He put on a strong front and earned the respect of the Divine Throne. I shook my head wryly. If it weren’t for his own hubris, I never would have received the opportunity to take him down.

Selena was hard at work at the training fields. The elf’s flawless skin was tight around her eyes, and a few stress wrinkles decorated her forehead. She seemed overly cheerful as she greeted me, asking about my health and recovery following the duel.

”I can’t use magic right now,” I said. I looked down in shame, hoping she wouldn’t get angry.

”You burned your soul like an idiot! It’s a miracle you didn’t die, so treat this like a slap on the wrist. I don’t ever want to hear that you overexerted your mana again.”

”Okay,” I nodded. She lectured me for a few more minutes, earning me sympathetic gazes from the other mages. When she judged I was feeling bad enough, she sighed and relaxed her teaching expression, tucking a strand of her long blonde hair behind her pointed ear.

”I saw you use Life Dew during the duel. Does that mean...?”

”I didn’t. I tried to work on it this morning, after I woke up, but my soul is too damaged for now. I was hoping you’d be able to help me?”

”Help you? You know I can’t see the magic, so how would I do that? Besides, we need to modify the chant as well, so it’s basically impossible.”

That was true. As talented a mage as the elf was, she was unable to get a grasp on chants. Kind of a strange weakness for an instructor who teaches it, but that only served to demonstrate how complacent this world had gotten.

”It might be slow, but I think I can walk you through it.”

She looked at me, eyes wide with surprise. ”But can you even use your ability? I refuse to allow you to hurt yourself on my behalf.”

I hesitated, feeling a little unsure. I hadn’t thought about that, but perhaps I could get away with limiting my mana. I took a deep breath and gathered a bit of mana in my eyes, activating the Eyes of Fate. The exertion fanned the embers in my soul, but the pain was like a storm on the horizon: threatening, but not quite there.

”I should be fine. Are you ready?” I asked.

We spent the next several hours locked in deep concentration. Although I was forced to take breaks every few minutes, the process wasn’t too different from Waterball. Life Dew was in better shape to begin with, but that only made choosing things to improve more difficult. By the time I grew too exhausted to continue, we had made significant progress. Selena glowed with excitement, casting our slightly improved Life Dew over and over.

”This should be enough!” she said, clenching her fist. ”Thank you for the help.”

”It was the least I could do.” I closed my eyes to rest a bit, and idly wondered what was so urgent about it. I didn’t mind her keeping a few secrets, and was just grateful for the chance to repay her kindness.

After spending the rest of the day in the library, I let out a wide yawn and prepared to head back to my quarters. It was growing late, and I didn’t want to risk breaking the slave curfew.

Just as I was about to walk out the door, a heavy hand fell on my shoulder, causing me to jump. I turned to Find Father Ithris standing behind me. ”Filthblood,” he said in a low, grave tone. ”Come with me.”

I nodded, startled by his presence. He had been unusually quiet all day, fading into the background until I’d forgotten he was there.