The Forsaken Hero

The Ice Spirit and I stared at each other for what felt like forever, though, in reality, it must have been closer to the space of a single heartbeat. Its soul was unlike I’d anything I’d ever witnessed before. It was an assimilation of infernal mana and demon essence, and yet strangely similar to my own. I could feel its presence as close as Fable, a pulsing warm bond nestled within my soul. It didn’t seem to have clear, distinct emotions, not like Fable did, but I could feel a faint sense of pride and satisfaction, as well as...joy?

”I need your help,” I said softly, looking up into its icy blue eyes. ”Please, I need to get to my friends in the canyon. There is someone who can help Sari, but we don’t have much time. She’s dying...”

”I obey.”

With that assertion, the serpent shattered into millions of shards of ice. My tail stiffened in shock, but before I could cry out, the shards dissipated into snow, joining the fury of the storm still raging throughout the city. A dozen explosions rang out through the city as the massive coils effectively vanished, letting the attacks of the church’s army fall among the buildings of the city.

”What the hell...?” Korra began, her mouth hanging open. ”Where’d it go?”

”I’m a spirit, child of water. We have no form. I simply take the form of the Ice Demon because it feels...right,” the elemental’s voice resonated behind us, and we both whirled to find a tall, handsome man covered in full plate armor standing with a faint smile. He was the picture of the Ice Spirit that answered my call in Bluerock City, down to the translucent and crystalline form.

”I-I see,” Korra responded, staring at it with shock equal to my own.

In this small and condensed form, the power and majesty of a ninth-level being were all the more apparent. I expected a snake the size of a castle to be overwhelming, but when faced with a creature only a foot taller than me, its presence was stifling. The spirit was considerate and hadn’t even released its aura, and yet I struggled to breathe, my tail quivering at its presence.

”If you’ll allow me, Star Mother?” It asked, reaching for the child I still clutched in my lap.

My mouth went dry as a thousand thoughts and fears flashed through my mind, and my grip on Sari tightened. I didn’t know this creature, and even though there was no malice in our soul bond, could I trust it with Sari? It was a force of nature, something whose mere existence caused the anomaly that plunged half of Brithlite into an eternal winter. Elementals weren’t supposed to have sentience, they weren’t supposed to be like this at all!

Sari took a shallow, labored breath, her small hand tightening around mine. Her eyes fluttered from the pain of simply breathing, and my heart softened. This spirit had answered my call, this was no time to doubt it now, not when it could save her.

As I allowed it to take the broken foxkin, Korra looked at me with concern. ”Aren’t we going with it?”

I shook my head and looked up into the sky, where the magic circles still lingered. ”I...can’t leave here. If I get too far from the shard, I’ll lose my connection with it and the gate will close.”

”Gate?” Korra asked, then looked up at the summoning spell.

Only, instead of a conjuration, it had settled into its true form and resembled the burning mass of swirling mana in the canyon. The biggest difference was that this gate held no infernal mana, instead being forged of pure, refined mana that cycled with the same pattern as my soul. It was the same as the portal I opened to summon Fable, only large enough to cover the city. The presence of the anomaly remained behind in the world beyond, meaning the spirit before us, for all of its power, was still only an avatar. Just how terrifying the actual anomaly was remained a mystery, and one I’d rather not explore for now.

”Please, get her there safely. But first,” I laid a hand on Sari and used the mana of the Shard to add her to the nexus. Her face eased at once as my resistances and spells gave her some measure of support. Most importantly, the Heart Crest shattered, leaving her free of Alverin’s tainted influence.

A small stab of guilt drove into my heart, and I pulled back my hand, fingers curling despondently. That should have been the first thing I’d done, not the last.

”I’ll see this child to your allies,” the ice spirit said, pressing a gauntleted hand to its breastplate in a salute. ”What would you wish of me then?”

The question left me feeling a little lost, and I thought for a moment, my eyes lingering on the ashen face of the foxkin. Just what was the plan now? I vaguely recalled some of the strategies we discussed in the meeting, but those plans were accomplished. We had reached the shard and freed the Last Light Company. Sari, though not safe, was in our power. Weren’t our objectives complete already?

No, not quite. I gave my head a little shake and met Korra’s gaze. She gave me a nod, and I looked up into the piercing blue eyes of the spirit. ”I can’t abandon our soldiers in the canyon. Joel will lead the ones outside the city to us, but the demons are in the way of the others.”

”Then I shall cut a path through,” the spirit rumbled.

I shook my head. ”No, please. Try to avoid fighting either army as much as possible. Just get them here safely. Jackal should recognize you, so have him lead the army to the other side of the city. We’ll hold out here until everyone’s to safety and draw as much fire from you as we can.”

He gazed at me evenly for a moment, as though pondering my reluctance to fight. I bit my lip and looked away, my tail flicking back and forth, but, fortunately, he accepted the command. With a final, flourishing salute, he launched himself into the air. Once he had cleared the height of the walls, mana erupted from his soul with the force of a tsunami. He streaked across the sky toward the fiery streaks of red in the canyon, leaving multiple shockwaves in his wake. I flinched as the first rolled over us, a deafening boom that signified he’d broken the speed of sound.

”It’s up to you now,” I whispered, watching the rapidly shrinking comet that held my beloved friend.

Then, without another glance back, I turned my attention to the courtyard. My heart sank as I gazed out over the broken ruins of the tower, forcing myself to face the horrors I had inflicted on the friend and foe alike.

The tower was gone, exposing the crystal to the inner courtyards of the fortress. The Last Light Company had secured a loose perimeter around us, but battles still raged against the vanguard of the church’s army. Corpses were everywhere, and the groans of the dying rose above the distant cries of fear in the city. For every soldier slain by magic or the sword, there was another encased in ice, or ripped apart by frozen shrapnel. Many lay slumped over against walls, frozen stiff in their final moments as they struggled to protect themselves from the ferocity of the storm I had summoned. Many of them wore the colors of the Last Light Company.

Tears gathered in my eyes as I witnessed the massacre, a choked sob rising in my throat. What had I done? Just how many had I killed? I felt nothing for the dead soldiers of the church, but our own? How had I been so blind as to kill those who refused to abandon me?

Korra’s hand rested on my shoulder, and I turned and buried my face against her shoulder. She caught me up in an embrace, stroking my hair softly as I wet her blouse with my tears.

”It’s alright,” She whispered, though from her voice I knew it certainly wasn’t.

”I’m sorry,” I replied, ”I’m so sorry. I just...I didn’t mean to...”

”Focus,” She said, pulling away from me just far enough to look into my eyes. ”We may have saved Sari, but Alverin hasn’t given up on this position, and the demons are moving in.”

A surge of anger rose within me at the mention of the king, but I quickly forced it away. Korra was right, this was no time to let emotion cloud my judgment again. Taking a short breath, I scrubbed my sleeve over my eyes, drying the last of my tears. ”Where did he go?”

”He retreated the moment that monster showed up,” she said, nodding in the direction the ice spirit went. Her brow creased, and she asked, ”But was it really alright to send Sari with that thing? And why did it talk like it would crush both armies? Just what the hell did you summon?”

I looked away, focusing on the intricate patterns of frost tracing over the stonework. ”It’s the same thing I summoned to fight the High Inquisitor, only...its true form. That elemental was no mere spirit,” I said, mustering the courage to look her in the eye. ”It’s a ninth-level being. The apex of this world.”