The Forsaken Hero

Moments after the Earth Spirit appeared, it floated down until its feet brushed the ground. Immediately, the ground erupted, throwing chunks of earth and stone into the sky, Paving stones, boulders, and even clumps of dirt flowed onto the spirit in an inverted whirlpool. Dust billowed out of the rapidly growing caldera in thick clouds, surging outward and coating everything. But, moments before the wave reached me, the spirit thrust its arm out, hand clenched in a fist. The dust cloud collapsed inward, imploding on the elemental, condensing around the larger rocks, and sealing it all together.

Within seconds, a massive, fifty-foot crater had formed. The Earth Spirit stood at the bottom, its intangible body now clothed in earthen armor. Large, ten-foot spikes jutted from its arms and shoulders, ending in jagged tips capable of bisecting boulders. Its head, formless save two impressions that served as eyes, was level with my own. I backed into the shrine, allowing it room to claw its way out of the hole. Hopefully, the mages wouldn’t mind this little...pothole... in front of their shrine.

Summoning Magic was something I’d dreamed of since witnessing Korra’s majestic Water Dragon in the heroes’ tournament at the Divine Throne. Elemental Spirit worked by conjuring an intangible spirit of a certain attribute. The summon had near-perfect control of the chosen element, capable of using existing materials to craft or change its body according to the caster’s desires.

Summoned creatures possessed an animalistic sort of intelligence. While this increased with higher circle spells, even the most powerful among them was incapable of doing more than simple tasks without oversight. A mage could impose their will directly over the summon and control it directly but doing so required the mage’s complete concentration.

A band of runes appeared around my wrist, connecting me to the Earth Spirit. They rotated slowly as I directed the earth spirit to lower its hand flush with the ground.

Taking a short breath, I delicately stepped into its palm. The earth and stone were compacted into a near-glossy surface, stronger and denser than any steel. I staggered as the elemental raised its hand, dropping onto my knees and throwing my arms around a spike. The creature’s gait was anything but steady, and it was all I could do to maintain my balance. Its palms were wide enough that I wouldn’t fall directly over the edge, but just thinking of the thirty-foot drop to the ground had me cowering, eyes tightly squeezed shut. My fear of heights considered, perhaps summoning such a huge creature hadn’t been the best idea...

But the ground it covered was undeniable. As I adjusted to the rhythmic gate of the spirit, I dared to open my eyes and watch the darkened forest from above. Each step shattered the ground, effortlessly crushing trees and boulders. After witnessing the sheer destruction in the elemental’s wake, I decisively ordered it to avoid the road. The damage was done, but I was sure they would appreciate it if I salvaged the lower sections, at least.

Within a minute, we had crossed the trough of the valley and begun the climb up to the city. No, climb might have been too strong a word. The fifty-foot-tall elemental charged right up the side of the mountain, carving titanic steps with its feet. The rugged cliffs were not putty before it, collapsing inward at the first contact.

As we closed in on the city, I was able to get a good look at just how devastating the destruction was. The gates to the city had disappeared under a pile of rubble, brought down by the dragon’s tail at some point during the fight. Bodies lay strewn about, crushed, bleeding, and burned in the attack.

Beyond the ruined gates, the ice and flames ravaged one out of three buildings. Pillars of fire roared against the darkened sky, spewing scorching clouds of ash and smoke into the sky. The stars vanished behind the billowing gray, leaving the city illuminated only by the flickering flames. Ice reigned between the raging fires, coating buildings and creating ice sculptures out of anyone unlucky enough to have been struck by the dragon’s breath. Large crystalline formations rose within the upper city, lancing through buildings and people alike.

Even from my limited vantage, the death toll was catastrophic. I had seen death and destruction, but not even our invasion in the Demon Gate could compare in sheer scale or carnage. Children lay beside their parents, husbands their wives, and friends, with their hands clasped together, their faces each twisted in fear.

I felt a shiver run down my spine and out to the tip of my tail. Was this the destruction wrought by the demons? What twisted evil could drive someone to revel in such suffering? My kind, the Demonkin, had brought this upon us. It wasn’t hard to imagine what would happen to me once word of this calamity spread. The looks of fear, suspicion, and hatred had been traditional, passed down from what I once believed the corrupt doctrine of the church. Now... it would be justified. Personal.

A distant cry of pain slithered through my thoughts, drawing my gaze to the pile of rubble before the gates. A pale hand twitched beneath a pile of stonework, accompanied by another weakened cry.

I glanced at my hands, which trembled anxiously, and curled them into fists. Now was not the time for fear. The elemental moved in harmony with my will, reaching out its other hand toward the debris. The rock shook as the spirit exerted its power over the elements and began rising into the air. Hundreds of tons of earth and storm streamed toward us, gathering on the elemental and adding to its bulk. Within seconds, the entire region and initial courtyard of the gate were clear, adding another twenty feet of solid mass to the elements’s bulk.

Once cleared of rubble, the corpses of the dead were revealed. The bodies nearby numbered two hundred, but, as I scanned the grounds, it appeared half yet lived. The survivors were torn and broken, their chests barely stirring, but it wasn’t too late.

I urged the spirit to place me on the ground and ran to the center of the clearing. Turning back briefly, I instructed it to begin clearing the way forward and excavate the main road up toward the university itself.

As it rumbled into the city, I took a deep breath and summoned my staff. The crystal blazed with mana as I began casting another sixth-circle spell. A magic circle hundreds of feet wide materialized in the air, hovering twenty feet above the ground. Beams of light descended from the myriads of runes, etching smaller magic circles beneath the bodies of the injured. As the final circle appeared, I waved my staff and completed the spell.

”Restoration: Mass!”

The entire courtyard blazed with vibrant green light as each individual magic circle released a pillar of Life Magic. The groans of pain and suffering turned to protests of discomfort as the magic flowed over the survivors, restoring their crushed limbs and burns. Although Restoration lacked the power of Regenerate, it could, at the very least, stabilize wounds that would have otherwise been fatal and allow one to seek treatment at a later date.

As the last vestiges of light faded, dismissed my staff and ran into the city, desperate to avoid the gratitude evident in the survivors, who were already picking themselves up. I had squandered enough time already, and couldn’t afford to be bogged down any further.

The Earth Spirit had made tremendous progress, blazing a trail that extended hundreds of feet into the city. Whenever it grew too large to safely navigate around the pockets of wide-eyed civilians, it found an abandoned sector to remove its excess material.

The citizens gathered together, digging through homes and businesses and pulling other survivors out. Speaking with one of these vigilante groups, I discovered the City Lord had directed temporary hospitals established in the city markets, which served as general emergency gathering locations.

I had the spirit pick me up, forgoing the attempt to clear rubble except in the most extreme circumstances. For all the damage, the city was largely intact. Only a few locations, like the gate, suffered catastrophic destruction that made navigation impossible. For the most part, homes burned or froze, but the streets remained clear.

As we approached the first market, I had the spirit hold me over the large square. Hundreds of shocked gazes rose to me, but I ignored them all and cast another Restoration: Mass. The power of this sixth-circle spell wasn’t limited to subjects, but area, meaning I could effectively heal the entire marketplace of injured at once.

As the magic descended, I ordered the spirit onward. Working our way up the city took more time than I liked, but I couldn’t abandon the citizens to their fate. There were more mages in this city than any other in the world, yet many lacked the ability to use Life Magic. An attack of this scale would have killed thousands in the initial attack, but the death toll would increase dramatically until the raging fires and magic ice were brought under control.

But, although I knew it was necessary, the urgency in my heart grew with every spell. Why was I healing these people when I could be healing Elise? What was the right thing to do? Burdened by visions of her death, I hastened toward the university, barely slowing at all to cast spells. Scarcely would the Magic Circle appear than I ordered the spirit on. My repeated casting wore on my mana, but the sea never seemed to drain, replenishing it almost the instant I finished casting a spell. My concentration and energy, on the other hand, were a resource that was rapidly dwindling. Even if my mana felt infinite, the enormous levels of skill and mental exertion required to cast so complex spells put a tremendous strain on my body.

As we finally approached the university, my mana writhed in warning. Flashes of sunlight and fire streamed between the buildings of the campus. Narrowing my eyes, I examined the remnant magics in the air, determining them to belong to Soltair and Trithe. Although Fyren had forced the dragon away, it seemed another battle was already in progress.