The Forsaken Hero

With the Nexus secure, I folded my arms and glanced at the ice demon perched on my shoulder. ”Now then, Borealis. What’s the next—”

I staggered, clutching at my head, as a torrent of sensation flooded my mind. The thick, oily taint of infernal souls seeped through the Nexus, a thousand times worse than linking with Fyren. But it wasn’t just the chaos of their souls or the coarseness of their mana, but their very essence and thoughts.

My consciousness swam as the demon’s senses bled into my own. Hundreds of demonic urges surged into my mind—rage, lust, and an insatiable hunger. The world dissolved into a cacophony of overlapping senses: the stab of swords, the scrape of stone under clawed toes, and the pain of sun magic searing my skin.

Even worse than the vestigial senses was the hunger. It buffeted my willpower with a vengeance, urging me to lunge at Fable, the distant soldiers, Borealis, anything with mana, and consume it.

I barely noticed as Borealis’s weight left my shoulder or as my legs gave out beneath me. The demons’ thoughts clawed at my mind, a thousand voices screaming in unison. They burrowed into my consciousness, an invasive tide threatening to drown me.

”It hurts,” I whimpered, clutching my head in my hands. ”The voices... I can’t... make them stop.”

Fable’s growl rumbled over the noise. I groped blindly for him, and my fingers tangled deep into his fur. I collapsed against his shoulder, shaking with sobs. His tail encircled me, holding me in a silent embrace.

His warmth seeped into me, a soothing balm against the scathing chaos. It was like the sun breaking through storm clouds, chasing away the shadows. The voices receded, softening, merging into a unified presence. A single will, strong and steady, pulsing in time with the mysterious bond that tethered me to Borealis.

My sobs dwindled to ragged gasps, and I slumped against Fable, cheek pressed to his fur. My wards flickered weakly, catching the edges of something cold and slick that brushed the back of my hand. I recoiled, a choked gasp escaping my lips, but my limbs were leaden. Another tap, insistent this time, against my hand. Mustering my strength, I pried my eyes open and blinked the world into focus.

Borealis, his crystal eyes clouded with concern, hopped anxiously from one foot to the other, gently pecking at my hand. When my fingers twitched in response, a visible wave of relief rippled through him, a silent current that was quickly echoed by a surge of warmth from the distant Nexus. The excitement spread among the demons, and they surged toward me. I squeaked and shrank against Fable.

”Please, keep them back,” I half-sobbed, pressing a hand to my head.

A swell of sorrow rippled through my soul, so deep and sincere it brought tears to my eyes again. I pursed my lips, holding back a sob as I struggled with the emotion, only to realize it wasn’t mine at all but emanated from the Nexus.

Slowly, I raised my head and looked around. The demons encircling us had fallen back, their heads lowered and tails limp. The Nexus fell silent, the demons bottled up and subdued. Even Borealis was still.

Through the Oracle of Eternity, I could make out a pulsing light laced within the fabric of their souls. This... mana converged in the center, a million threads coming together to weave a single, familiar rune used to depict fate, destiny, and starlight—the same I’d been given as a name by Lord Byron’s slaves.

Glittering threads connected the scions to the massive, axe-headed evolved demon, which had a similar rune etched within its soul. The strands woven from the Nexus passed seamlessly into the rune, combining with a strange mark and linking me to the rest of the scions under its control.

I rubbed my head, groaning, struggling to piece together what was happening. I’d cast a Nexus on the evolved demons, which somehow gave them a rune that connected me with all the demons in this horde.

My mana writhed, and Fable abruptly vanished. I pitched forward, collapsing without his support. A powerful presence loomed behind me, but before I could turn, Fable crashed into me from behind, sending me sprawling. The rough-faced cobblestones scraped fiery lines across my palms and knees as I spun across the ground, ending face up with my back against the cold earth.

”Damn it,” the commander of the soldiers snarled, his voice a grating rasp. ”Move, you wretched beast!”

Fable yelped as his axe, meant for me, lodged in his shoulder. He staggered beneath the force of the blow, fur turning red with blood. I shrieked, raising my hand toward him, but was blown back as the soldier’s mana exploded. Chunks of flesh and fur splattered the street as Fable howled, stumbling a few steps before collapsing in a heap.

”Fable!”

”This was the beast that defeated the inquisitors? Pathetic,” the man spat, hoisting his axe over his shoulder. ”When the Fate Hero said they’d fallen, I anticipated something worth my time. Not a mangy animal and it’s equally filthy slut.”

I scrambled to my knees, ignoring the sting of stone against the raw, bloody scrapes, and threw myself to my wolf’s side. Blood soaked my hands as I dug through his fur, my chest heaving with erratic breaths. I choked sob, recoiling as I found the source of the blood.

The axe had cut deep into his shoulder, slicing through the protective fur to leave him vulnerable to the secondary explosion of the seventh-level technique. The raging torrents of mana had stripped his flesh to the bone, ripping him open from his neck to his ribs.

He whimpered and rolled his head a bit, straining to reach me. His tongue dabbed against my knee, licking a bead of blood from a scrap. I broke into a sob, collapsing atop him, hugging his head to my chest.

The haft of the soldier’s axe slammed down next to me, cracking the stone. ”I’m sickened you would weep for a monster when so many lie dead on your behest,” he said. ”At least your demons know their place, cowering at my feet like the scum they are.”

”Fable, you’re going to be alright. I’ll heal you!” I cried.

Casting Nexus and surviving the demon’s voices had taken nearly everything I had, but I poured what little left into a healing spell. The soldier scoffed, but I barely even noticed him, watching desperately as small sparks of healing magic crawled across the wolf’s pelt.

Fable’s flesh itched, his fur regaining a bit of its luster, but before the wound could begin to close, the light died away. I sagged, mana spent, and started to sob. The wound wasn’t fatal, and given a few days would likely disappear entirely, but...

An impossibly strong hand crashed into my wards. I shrank against Fable’s side, staring up with wide eyes as the soldier looked between his hand and me.

Everything was dark, the edges of my mind frayed. Fable had been everything I had. With him hurt, I was helpless. Even after everything I’d done, after recovering from my wounds and saving Borealis, after promising to protect my friends...was it all in vain?”

”Resilient slut, isn’t she. Any trouble with her, Conrad?” another voice said. Another soldier joined the first, Garyth, he’d been called. His squad of soldiers followed close behind, keeping their weapons pointed at the demons around us.

Conrad shrugged, bringing his axe down on my wards. They shuddered, the golden light cracking like a broken window.

”To be expected. Apparently, wards are the one thing she’s actually good at.”

Another hit, more cracks.

”Still, to think this sobbing child killed that seventh-level inquisitor?” the second said, shaking his head. ”I’d say the demons helped, but...look at them. Ever seen them do this before?”

My tail curled around Fable’s paw, gripping him tightly. Another hit, and we’d be–demons? That’s right, there had been demons there.

I stared blankly at my hands, wondering where Borealis had gone. He’d been sitting on Fable, right? And what of the other demons? Why hadn’t they attacked the inquisitors?

The third strike crushed through my wards with the sound of breaking glass. The blade thudded into the earth just inches from my foot, and I flinched as a spray of chipped rock drew hot, thin lines of blood across my back.

The Oracle of Eternity pulsed, and a heavy, steel-clad hand landed on my shoulder. Everything blurred, my vision passing into shadows until a sharp, metallic click rang in my ears. A metal band closed around my neck, cold and heavy as the night’s shadows. Mocking scorn, flashing knives, and the fiery pain of a slave crest surrounded me, driving me deep into my own mind.

This was it. The price for letting go of Fate’s hand and choosing to trust. I’d gotten so close to healing, to being truly free...yet here we were. Had it all really been just a dream? Just a cruel joke? Showing me what I could have, dangling it before me, then jerking it away when I finally reached for it.

A heavy hand fell on my shoulder, roughly jerking me about. Tears blurred my vision, obscuring the face of Commander Conrad and his team. Fable shifted weakly, but one kicked his side, and he went still.

”Please, Fable,” I sobbed, ”Save me!”

”Stop your mewling. Your precious apostles have retreated to the canyon, and this beast is as good as dead,” the soldier spat. ”The only mercy you’ll find is in the gods’ graces.”

My tail gripped Fable as he hoisted me into the air, desperate for even a little of his warmth. The soldier grumbled and shook me free, suspending me helpless in the air. My shoulders ached where his fingers dug into my skin, my chest tight with terror.

My mana was gone, Fable hurt, and Luke had abandoned me in the city. There was nothing I could do.

And yet...

This couldn’t be the end. It couldn’t. I wouldn’t return to the darkness.

With nowhere else to go, I sank deep into my soul, grasping for the whispering voices, the rage, the hunger.

”Please... save me.”