The Forsaken Hero

”He made it!” I cried, jumping up and down, forgetting I was a thousand feet in the air. Borealis had made it!

A shockwave ripped across the landscape below, radiating from the impact crater where Borealis held the dragon. It tore trees apart, stripped soil from bedrock, and started landslides on every ridge and peak. The clouds fled the sky as it burst skyward, leaving me floating in an endless, unbroken sea of blue.

The dragon roared and struggled, but half of its bones were covered in earth. Borealis jerked free with a flap of his wings, shaking his feathers in a shower of rubble. He pulled the dragon after him, spinning about and slamming it into the cliff face behind them. The mountainside collapsed, burying both in a tsunami of earth.

As the valley fully disappeared beneath the mountain, my heart skipped a beat, filling with dread. Even if Borealis had made it, he’d dropped a mountain on Korra. Soltair had survived it, but could she? And if she had, would she be crushed beneath the battling titans?

Borealis surged from beneath the rock, letting out a triumphant shriek. He clutched one of the dragon’s bony limbs in his talons, throwing it high into the air. He landed and raised his wings, channeling immense infernal energy. Mana flowed across his feathers, gathering on his wingtips. With another cry, he released a pulse of mana that flowed outward like a shockwave, encasing everything in a dozen feet of solid ice. The wave hit the arm on its descent, and the bone shattered. The black mana flowed from the bone, dissipating harmlessly in the air.

”Borealis...” I groaned, ”You’re supposed to save them, not just kill the dragon!”

I closed my eyes and pictured Korra’s face. There was a brief moment of weightlessness before the visions stabilized, and I found myself deep underground. A soft blue light illuminated the space, revealing a cramped cave with the ceiling an arm’s length away. Korra and Gayron were huddled in the middle.

Korra’s eyes were closed, her body surrounded by a flowing aura of water mana. Sweat beaded on her forehead, making her hair stick. Gayron had an arm wrapped around her, holding her head to his chest. Their breath misted, and swirls of frost scrawled across the rubble.

”...heavy...” Korra mumbled, ”And cold...”

”You’re carrying the literal weight of a mountain. Let me know when, and I’ll take over,” Gayron said, smoothing her hair back.

She shook her head. ”No, I got this. Just...where did that dragon come from? And was that a demon?

Gayron hesitated, glancing up at the roof of the cave, looking beyond it. ”I’m not sure, but...it was a trap. That much is clear.”

”It’s always a trap with the circle. I just didn’t expect it to be so...dramatic.”

Gayron chuckled. ”I suppose not. Last time, they just tried hitting us with those antimagic arrows. Too bad they hit one of my Flickers instead.”

”Maybe going in with a clone wouldn’t have been a bad idea. We were too arrogant.”

”They’re not clones,” he muttered. ”I share all their senses, and we share the same soul. While they have independent thought, our wills are united. We’re great at teamwork.”

He flashed a meaningful grin.

”How could I ever forget?” She blushed, squirming slightly. ”But that doesn’t help us here.”

The cave shook, causing them both to stiffen. The ground groaned, and Korra’s magical art flickered.

Gayron sighed, relaxing. ”They’re still brawling. I didn’t get a good look at the demon, but the dragon’s aura reached seventh. Even if it’s undead, I’m not sure we could face something like that.”

”I wish Xiviyah were here,” Korra mumbled, closing her eyes as Gayron continued stroking her hair.

”I mean no disrespect, but she’s hardly more than a child. Her magic’s next to no good in a fight.”

”No, not like that. She just...always knows what to do. And somehow, no matter the odds, she always survives. I’ve lost track of the times I think we’re dead, but she somehow does the one thing that lets us pull through.”

”That’s the power of Fate, I suppose.”

Korra nodded. ”Not that it’s going to help us here. We’re going to have to fight it out ourselves. What are the odds that the demon is actually friendly?”

”It had a soulmate, but I didn’t recognize it. Assuming the Descent hasn’t happened yet, it belongs to one of the other apostles. I doubt it’ll attack us if it recognizes me. The only problem is I don’t remember a powerful demon like that among our forces. It must have recently evolved.”

They were quiet for a moment.

”Alright, we’ve waited long enough. Let’s get out of here,” Korra said.

Gayron opened his mouth, closing it again at a glare from Korra. Together, they stood, and Korra took a deep breath, concentrating her mana in her soul. A large water dragon swirled out of her chest, wrapping around her body.

”Now!”

At her cry, the magic barrier vanished, and the ceiling collapsed. Korra launched herself upward, dragging Gayron by the hand. I cried out at the sudden movement, reaching out toward them, but I could do nothing.

A solid granite obelisk plunged toward them like a titan’s spear, big enough to crush them both. The instant before it did, however, Korra shifted. It wasn’t a proper description, but neither could my eyes justify what they’d seen. In one instant, she was under the rock’s shadow, the next, she wasn’t. She didn’t teleport or anything, just...shifted, dragging Gayron along with her.

The space she’d left behind wasn’t large enough to merit a significant shift in the mountain’s weight, and occasional boulders stacked up, leaving them in makeshift caverns. Korra and Gayron took turns blasting through, destabilizing the mountain enough for them to use Korra’s strange technique to ascend. I rose after them, watching in wonder until, at last, a shaft of cold, blue light penetrated the earth.

Just as the two were about to break through the last few feet of earth, the vision broke apart.

”Come on,” I folded my arms, glaring at the fading wisps of fate. ”It’s not over yet. Let me see!”

I willed myself back into the vision, but fate was tenuous, reluctant even. Frowning, I drew deeply on the Oracle of Eternity, panting from the effort. It took a few seconds, but the vision eventually reformed.

The scene that appeared before me crackled, the weave jitering like static. It was my will alone that kept it from breaking apart. The only problem was...it wasn’t the scene I wanted to see. Or at least not at the right time.

I hovered in the air again, overlooking a peaceful mountain vista with a cavern leading into a cliff. There was no sign of Korra or gayron or of the destruction Borealis had caused. +

”Is this a joke?” I muttered, glaring at the sky. I was at least ninety percent certain fate didn’t have a personality, but times like this stressed that theory. Maybe I should ask Fate about it later.

Just as I was about to let the vision go, a tremendous wave of aura washed over me. I stiffened, my blood running cold, and looked up.

There was a tiny mote of light thousands of feet above me, the source of the tremendous pressure. Infernal mana washed off it in waves, setting the sky ablaze like the Northern Lights. I squinted at the dot, which expanded and filled my vision. There was a single instant where it was close enough to discern details before it passed me by entirely, but all I glimpsed was a rainbow sparkle of light. It trailed a beautiful, glimmering cloud of frost and snow after it, like a comet streaking across the sky.

Scarcely had I registered that it passed me before I felt its impact. I turned quickly, staring at the mountain, but had already missed the initial impact. The dust cloud was already rising, eating hundreds of feet in the blink of an eye. The entire landscape was changing, turning over like someone was shoveling a garden. Mountains flipped, valleys rose, and ice consumed everything. The shockwave passed me, bringing the beginnings of a roar so loud it literally blasted me from the vision.

I woke with a scream, shaking violently, my ears ringing. Fable was quick to my side, giving me a one-over before relaxing and licking my cheek. I groped for his fur, eyes squeezed tightly as the tremors slowly faded and the terror of the moment left. I could feel his concern through our bond, and I slowly raised my head, petting him gently.

”I-I’m alright,” I stammered, then, after a thought, added, ”I think.”

I tried to stand but immediately fell, my body shaking uncontrollably. The vision had shaken me worse than I thought.

Or...maybe it hadn’t. It wasn’t me that was shaking, but the room. There were dozens more cracks in the walls and ceiling than before. Fresh scorch marks adorned the floor, filling my nostrils with the scent of cinder. I felt Fable’s eyes on me and cringed, ducking my head.

”Not yet,” I mumbled. ”I’m going to next. I just got a little...distracted.”

Pushing my worries for Korra away, I settled back on the bed and closed my eyes. Maybe this time, I’d find something more relevant to our situation. Because if I didn’t, I wouldn’t be alive to see Korra again anyway.