The Forsaken Hero

The moment we returned from Haven, Bethiv sent word to the various officers of the Last Light Company. Less than an hour later, the camp was a hive of activity, every soldier preparing to march. Tents vanished like trees felled in a hurricane, and before nightfall, all that remained was a vast, empty plain dotted with the scattered ashes of cold campfires.

Now, several hours later, we were traveling at the head of the column of soldiers. The sun was directly in our eyes, casting a low, golden glow across the land. I groaned as Fable trotted over a particularly large boulder, slumping forward and draping myself over my wolf’s shoulder.

”Couldn’t we have waited for tomorrow?” I muttered. ”Now that we’re started, I doubt anyone will want to stop to rest tonight.”

”Not if we’re really being spied on,” Korra answered with a shrug. ”But why are you complaining? You don’t even half to walk, just sleep on the way.”

I glanced longingly back the way we had come, then sighed and rested my head on Fable’s broad shoulders. He was warm and comforting, but riding him was far from luxurious. Maybe I should have waited until tomorrow to tell them about Kahlen’s claim.

”I’m just glad we’re finally moving,” Korra said, stretching with a yawn. ”That field was getting real old.”

Gayron snorted, standing just on the other side of Korra. ”As if I’d believe that. How many times did you ask me to spar with you out there? If it were going to get old, it would have happened sometime last week, after our tenth or twentieth bout.”

She blushed slightly and turned away with a sniff. ”Whatever.”

I covered my mouth with my hand, suppressing a smile, which only earned me a playful glare from Korra. It was nice to see her on the receiving end of some teasing for a change.

”Xiviyah, am I doing it right?” Sari’s voice came from behind me, her small hand tugging at my sleeve.

I glanced around, taking in the small magic circles she carefully rotated above her hand. We’d only been traveling for a few hours, but she’d already coaxed me into teaching her how to cast arrays. This particular one was a simple spell, a variation of the array I’d created to diffuse Life Dew into a mist.

”That’s right,” I encouraged her. ”Just pay attention to the runes. Especially the last one in the second magic circle. That’s the one that links them all together.”

”Okay,” she said, her gaze never wavering from the circle, then added as an afterthought, ”Thanks.”

I smiled genuinely this time and turned back to look over Fable’s pricked ears. The four of us were at the front of the army, just behind the vanguard. The Star Guard and the demons formed a protective ring around us, their presence as much a show of force as a practical defense. The ever-growing danger of the world and the potential for infernal monsters had greatly culled the number of Bandits and ruffians, and even if there were dangerous characters around, they would avoid antagonizing an army of this size at all costs.

Brithlite was a beautiful country, if slightly more tame than Heartland’s feral forests and mountains. The mountains and hills rolled in gentle slopes; the trees stood tall and graceful. If it weren’t for the rhythmic tramp of thousands of armored boots, the air would have been still and peaceful, carrying the scent of wildflowers.

”It’s so beautiful,” I murmured, my gaze drawn to a particularly vibrant patch of white flowers. Their delicate petals caught the fading sunlight in a way that made them seem almost ethereal.

”It’s not like this is anything special. The Northern Continent’s always like this just before winter,” Gayron grumbled, rolling his eyes.

”Come on, Gayron, lighten up,” Korra chided, exasperated. ”Let her enjoy it. The Gods know we haven’t had enough color and laughter lately. Besides, she was asleep last week and missed the return to normal after the anomaly disappeared. This is your first time seeing flowers since Blue Canyon, right?”

I nodded timidly, half-afraid Gayron would object again. But he didn’t, and simply huffed in annoyance. Unfortunately, that had been my last chance to enjoy the scenery because darkness soon claimed the land.

As I guessed, no halt or rest was called, and we marched on long into the night. After months of rigorous training and blooded in their first real battle, the recruits of the Last Light Company had truly become soldiers. Even the youngest among them had reached the mid-stages of the third level, with the majority pushing into the fourth. Their strength was such that they could march for days on end with only short breaks for food, and even then, only once or twice a day.

That was the reason I had Sari ride with me. She was only second level, but her focus on magic left her body a little stronger than my own. A few hours of hard marching would leave her exhausted, and we had nearly a week and a half before we arrived at Liceria.

As the sun dipped behind the mountains, what little strength I clung to vanished, disappearing like water between my fingers. The constant thrum of the soldiers and Sari’s sweet, soft voice chanting lulled my eyes closed, and my consciousness followed a moment after. The last thing I remembered was snuggling into Fable’s fur, my head on his neck, his scent heavy in my nose.

The following days passed slowly, one hour bleeding into the next. When I wasn’t studying one of the tombs Thron gave me or curled up on Fable sleeping, I taught the high-level mages. They took turns walking alongside us, listening as I lectured and occasionally interrupting with questions. I didn’t bother instructing anyone weaker than fifth level because their souls and foundation experience simply weren’t good enough to grasp the advanced techniques I’d inverted.

With the recovery of my soul, I gained access to the full breadth of my mana. Instead of using Link Ability on only a dozen or so at a time, I could wrap hundreds in a Nexus at once and share the Oracle of Eternity, granting them the insight that came only from actually being able to see mana. Through experimentation, it became evident that Nexus had some hard limits, and I could pull in at least three hundred at a time. Furthermore, the connection became unstable, and the entire spell became unpredictable, with people losing effects at random.

Another limit I found was that Nexus could only share magic of the sixth circle or below. I didn’t know any seventh-circle spells aside from Mana Storm to actually test that theory, but I was familiar enough with the runes now to feel safe in that assumption.

After the first week passed, every single mage above fifth-level had a relatively solid grasp on the techniques used to create arrays. Almost half of them could even cast third and fourth-circle arrays without relying on my abilities, too, while a small fraction, all sixth-level mages, managed a few fifth-circle arrays.

The martial soldiers weren’t idle, either. Korra, and then Gayron, spent a lot of time drilling them on the usage of Magical Arts. The Apostle of Fire had picked them up extremely quickly, but I suspected that had something to do with just how much time the two spent together. If they weren’t dueling, supposedly to demonstrate how arts functioned, they were talking or bickering together among the soldiers. She seemed to spend more time with Gayron than she did me, but that was probably just because of our different roles and responsibilities. Hopefully.

It was on the eve of the tenth night that Bethiv finally allowed a meaningful break. I watched curiously as the soldiers went about preparing a temporary camp, setting pickets and erecting more wards and magical protections than I could count, seeming to set the gently rolling hills alight with mana and runes.

The soldiers didn’t even bother setting up tents, collapsing exhausted onto the ground around small fires. They could march for days on end, but even the hardiest were strained after a week and a half. I felt a little embarrassed being as tired as I was after riding and resting for a week and a half, but that didn’t stop me from sliding off Fable’s back and sitting on the soft autumn grass. Fable curled up behind me, his tail wrapping around my waist and drawing me back against his silver fur.

”You’re something else, aren’t you?” I asked, lovingly stroking his jaw. ”Ten days, and you’re not even a little tired.”

He hummed contentedly and licked my cheek, causing me to giggle and push his great head away.

”You seem to be doing alright,” Korra said, plopping down beside me. Gayron was with her, though he remained standing.

I yawned and laid back, closing my eyes for a long moment before allowing them to flutter open again. ”It’s been a long day, though not as bad as the times I traveled with Soltair. We slept more then, but he didn’t seem to care how much my feet hurt or how often they stopped for me to catch up.”

”You’re route took you through those mountains west of the Divine Throne, right?”

I nodded, idly rubbing Fable between his horns. A peaceful silence descended on us until Korra cleared her throat.

”Are you ready for tomorrow?”