The Forsaken Hero

Korvin clapped once, and the two inquisitors swiftly entered the room. They bowed low to the Grand Inquisitor, lowering their eyes until he gestured for them to rise.

”The heroes shall begin arriving soon, and I shall have to be there to greet them,” he said, ”begin the interrogation, and I shall join you as soon as I can.”

”But it hasn’t been a week yet. I thought we were-”

”There is no longer a need to wait. I have completed the transfer.”

The two gasped, their eyes widening in shock. Korvin flicked the woman the ring, who caught it, clasping it in her hands reverently.

”Ensure she remains unmarked. I expect the Pope will wish to parade her around like the animal she is later. The other heroes may wish to speak with her as well, although for what reason I cannot imagine.” Korvin left after his final instructions, shutting the door behind him.

”As you command,” the black-haired woman replied excitedly. Her eyes sparkled brightly as she peered into my dull, lifeless face, and she rubbed her hands together gleefully.

”Patience,” the older, male inquisitor reminded her.

”Yeah, yeah,” she returned, rolling her eyes. Her brow scrunched as she examined me closer, lifting my chin to look me right in the eyes. ”When I heard my first interrogation was going to be a hero, I thought it was going to be a little harder. But look at her! She’s already broken.”

”Our purpose is to extract information, not break them. Judgment comes from the Divine, not our mortal hands,” the other replied soberly. But he ruined the image as his face split into a vicious grin. ”But that doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy it.”

She nodded eagerly, then turned back to face me, cupping my cheeks in her hands and drawing my gaze up to her. Despite her enthusiasm, her eyes reflected the cold, merciless way of the inquisitors.

”Let’s start with the twin gates. The High Arbiter claimed you closed the ice gate singlehandedly, but even I know you were only a fourth-level. How was such a thing possible?”

I opened my mouth, but no sound came out. After straining for a few seconds, I managed to stammer, ”W-water.”

She frowned and her grip on my face tightened. A pulse of agony swept out of the slave crest, continuing for several seconds before the older inquisitor grabbed her wrist, pulling her away.

”Did you forget what I said, child?” he demanded.

Pushing her aside, he reached into his spatial ring and withdrew a small waterskin. I shifted eagerly, eyes locked on the leather pouch, but he held it back.

”If I give this to you, I expect your full cooperation. Otherwise, I’ll allow Emery to demonstrate the full extent of her training.”

I nodded quickly, not daring to let this chance go. By this point, my vision was going fuzzy, and my entire body suffered from dehydration. And at this point, what did it matter that I revealed my secrets? Fyren was the one who had pushed me to hide my abilities, but he had abandoned me. What worth did his words have any more?

The inquisitor grabbed my chin, roughly craning my mouth back. My neck and shoulders screamed in protest, but I readily accepted the thin, trickle of water he leaking from the waterskin. It was flat and stale, but tasted like the dews from heaven.

Long before I had drunk my fill, he pulled back, leaving me gasping. ”You will receive more if I am satisfied with your answers.”

”Yes, master,” I replied, shocked by how even my voice sounded.

”You may continue, Emery,” he said, stepping back.

Before she could make her move again, I quickly opened my voice and narrated the events of the gate, leaving out the parts of the elemental’s perceived sentience and the full extent of my usage of the infernal mana.

”What are these ’arrays’ you speak of?” Emery asked, eyebrows knit in confusion. ”They never mentioned anything like that in my magical studies.”

Her mentor nodded, stroking his chin thoughtfully. ”A power that allows you to compete with higher circle magic sounds unbelievable. Give me the ring.”

The girl nodded, obediently handing him my bond.

He rolled it between his fingers, and said, ”I’m going to restore some of your mana. I will allow you to cast a spell to demonstrate this ’array,’ but forbid you from acting to harm us, yourself, or the environment in any way. Do not attempt to escape or hide the truth from us. Is that clear?”

I began to nod, and his eyes narrowed, a warning shivering through the slave crest. ”Y-yes master!” I squeaked, not daring to meet his unsatisfied gaze.

”Better,” he muttered. ”Now begin.”

The threads binding my soul withdrew, allowing a trickle of mana to flow into me. It wasn’t much, putting me at the equivalent of a third-level mage, but it was enough. Life seemed to flow through my veins, strengthening and ennobling me, sweeping away some of the murkiness clouding my mind and soul.

Under their watchful gaze, I began constructing magic circles, but quickly ran into problems, and the array collapsed. Without the Eyes of Fate, it was impossible to see what I was doing. Perhaps I could replicate one of the previous arrays I had created, but those had all been using fourth-circle spells, something far out of my reach right now.

”What happened? Getting coy?” The girl asked, taking a menacing step forward.

”I-I can’t,” I answered, staring at the ground. ”I can’t see without-”

Everything turned dark as the world spun. When I came to, my cheek burned, rapidly bruising.

”Try harder,” she said.

”But without the-” I froze mid-protest, eyes locked onto her raised hand. Her eyes gleamed with anticipation, as though daring me to finish the sentence. ”Y-yes... master.”

It was incredibly dangerous, especially considering the damaged state of my soul, but it seemed refusing wasn’t an option. To reduce the risk of backlash, I settled on a simple Life Magic second-circle spell I knew by heart: Lesser Restoration.

Arrays had two primary roles. The first, which I chose to demonstrate, was weaving a higher-circle spell from pieces, efficiently utilizing lower amounts of mana to craft each circle before weaving them all together. This method was extremely limited, as mages lacked the total mana pool to sustain anything other than maybe a single spell at one level above their own. The other method, which I intended to keep secret, was to combine the effects of different spells, like when I crafted the array reflected and dispelled the Demonkin assassin’s Explosive Cascade spell during the beast attack. It was infinitely more powerful and held near-endless potential, but doing it was far more dangerous to the caster.

”Lesser Restoration.”

I gasped as the rejuvenating power of Life Magic flowed into my body, soothing the ache of my arms and shoulders. Blood rushed through the strained limbs, flooding my body with a wave of fiery tingles.

Though the circle had faded, the inquisitors continued to stare at the space it had occupied in utter disbelief. After several seconds, the mentor tore his gaze away, fixating upon me.

”Again,” he commanded.

I was all too happy to oblige, desperate for more of the soothing touch of the Life Magic. But, unfortunately, he seemed all too aware of that, and had me cast different types of spells. Each array drained my entire first-level mana reserve, but my mana regeneration matched that of a seventh-level mage, and I could theoretically go all day.

The inquisitors took detailed notes, barraging me with questions for the next few hours. Whenever I started to gain control of the conversation, whether through my experience, magic, or knowledge, they were quick to punish me. They alternated using the twin aspects of the slave crest, sometimes punishing my soul, and the other my body. Occasionally, they would strike me physically, leaving me covered in welts, cuts, and bruises.

I was powerless to resist, and by the time they were satisfied, I had divulged nearly every secret I kept. The man allowed the woman to take charge of the questioning, but would step in anytime she asked a poor or vague question, ensuring I was forced to respond with what they needed. Throughout the day, they acquired all of my knowledge, speculation, and innovations, including things like Soul Casting and the visionary power of the Eyes of Fate.

The fact that I had spoken with Fate several times caught them off guard, and had the man furiously scribbling notes, recording every last detail I could remember. I shied away from sharing some of the more intimate parts, like her motherly care, or her perceived abandonment, which I still had yet to come to terms with, but they callously tortured me until the story fell from broken lips.

Of my entire life in Enusia, I was able to conceal only a handful of things, and only then because they didn’t know the right question to ask. Fyren’s medallion and mission remained hidden, as did the full extent of my knowledge about Demon Souls and infernal mana. They learned a little through my explanation of how I developed Soul Casting, which was done through observing demon and monster magic, but not of the spell I used to purify the wolf.

Of everything I shared, they were most keen on learning my unique methods of casting magic. From the runes granting fine control over Binding Winds to the additions to Nexus, I surrendered everything. All of my modifications, creations, and applications were laid bare before their cruel methods, torn from my lips in between screams. They would find most of them useless, as only a handful alive could possibly compose a chant for them, but the principles would be enough to revolutionize magic forever. Arrays in particular would spread quickly, as they allowed weaker mages to contend against stronger ones. They were dangerous, and could potentially cost an inexperienced mage their life, but I had no doubt the ninth-level mages would rally behind this field and explore it to the point of creating stable practices and methods, not to mention chants.

I had little strength to spare for the future, but it was saddening to think all of these marvelous innovations would be attributed to the church. There was no chance in any hell my blood, sweat, and tears would be recognized. My name would fade into the shadows, known not as a pioneer in magic, but as the hero who betrayed the world.