The Forsaken Hero

”It’s already started?” I gasped. ”Then is he already...here?”

Fyren shook his head. ”These gates were part of the first wave. None of them, including Rash’alon’s gate, should break until past the morning.”

I breathed a sigh of relief. The cures gate had been scary enough. I didn’t know if I could handle an actual curse demon lord without some time to calm down.

”Should we rouse the scions? We could be there by midnight,” Zephyriss said.

I tensed, only to relax again as Fyren said, ”We should rest for the night. Xiviyah’s exhausted and needs to recover her mana.”

”Arriving amid the Descent could turn ugly,” Incinderus mused. ”With hordes appearing everywhere, conflict would be inevitable. Better to save our strength.”

The three demons nodded in agreement, and I sagged against Fable. The most important thing right now was speaking with Luke, and securing a treaty with the elves. But delaying it just one more day was like a breath of fresh air. Rash’alon aside, I certainly wasn’t ready to face Luke.

”What about me?” Evla asked as the group broke up.

”You’re free to go where you want. You can stay with us, or go ahead tonight,” I said.

She arched an eyebrow. ”Really? After doing all that, you’d just let me go?”

”We saved you because we wanted to. Not because we need a favor,” R’lissea said.

The demon was quiet, her tail rustling the prairie grass. ”I...do you mind if I rest with you? Today’s been...taxing, and my guard ran off.”

I shared a guilty look with R’lissea.

”T-that’s fine. She can use our tent, right?” I asked.

R’lissea nodded. ”It’s got plenty of room, so as long as Elise is okay with it, there’s no problem.”

We found Elise on the edge of the valley, practicing her sun magic. She muttered softly, struggling to blend a fifth-circle Sunbeam spell with a second-circle Holy Star into an array.

”What kind of magic is this?” Evla asked.

Elise jumped with a squeak, her magic circles winking out. ”E-Evla? Xiviyah? Where did you guys come from?”

I giggled, unused to seeing her on the back foot like this. Normally, it was the other way around.

”We just got out of the gate,” R’lissea said.

”I see you saved her in time,” Elise said, looking the white-horned demonkin up and down. ”And because she’s still here, I suppose you’re not a threat.”

”Oh, I’m plenty dangerous. But even apostles have principles, and I won’t turn on someone who risked their life for me,” Evla said.

Elise shrugged. ”Well, I don’t see much reason to believe you, but if you can convince Xiviyah you’re okay, I have no reason to complain.”

”I suppose that’s fair,” Evla said with a small smile.

I flushed, my tail curling around my feet. ”I’m right here.”

They laughed, and we set about putting up the spatial tent. Once inside, I collapsed on a cot, wishing I had the strength to argue with R’lissea about letting Fable in. I needed a cuddle.

None of the other girls seemed too interesting in sleeping right away, murmuring in low voices around the table in the corner. I sighed and rose, changing into a nightdress before searching my spatial ring for something to eat. R’lissea carried most of our provisions, but I didn’t feel like bothering her for anything, so I left with a slightly stale roll to nibble on. I perked up at hearing a curious question.

”What are the other apostles like?” R’lissea asked.

Evla thought for a second, leaning back and rubbing her horn. ”Hmm, I only really know the ones on the northern continent. You know Constance and Edrin, the blade and wind. Then there’s Luke and Jessia, of course. I haven’t seen the Fire apostle for the longest time, but I suppose he’s making chaos in one corner of the world or another. If he’s not dead.”

”he’s not,” I muttered. ”He’s with Korra.”

”Korra? You mean, like the water hero?” The surprise in Evla’s voice was apparent, even without looking at her.

I finished the roll and lay down, yawning. ”They’re...close, or something. He doesn’t seem to care much about ending the world anymore.”

”Hmm, that’s so weird. He was always so passionate about fighting.”

”Oh, he’s still passionate,” I muttered.

”I miss her,” R’lissea said softly. ”I can’t believe you two got to travel together the whole time until the battle at Brithlite.”

”She is very kind, and...forward. She teased me even more than you guys,” I said. ”I don’t think I would have had the courage to leave Heartland if she weren’t with me.”

”I’m glad you did,” Elise said, shivering.

”Now, about those apostles on the southern continent,” R’lissea said. ”At the last war council I went to, Soltair mentioned something about battling apostles. He didn’t seem that concerned.”

Evla shrugged. ”There were only three apostles down there, and one of them died to the sun hero. The other two are the Insect and the Earth Apostle. I don’t even remember their names.”

”Insect?” Elise shivered, hugging herself. ”Why couldn’t it be life? Like R’lissea?”

”Bugs aren’t too bad, don’t tell me you’re afraid of them?” R’lissea giggled.

Elise glared at her. Their eyes are so creepy. And nothing should have that many legs.”

They all broke out into laughter. I relaxed on my cot, pulling the blanket tight. The sound of their voices was soothing, drawing the fear and tension from my body. I wasn’t sure exactly when, but at some point I drifted off.

I woke once in complete silence, the other three sleeping around me. I was hugging my tail, shivering uncontrollably as the remnants of a nightmare faded away. A profound sense of loneliness overcame me, and I buried my face in the blanket, crying gentle tears. It took everything I had not to call Fable or wake R’lissea for a hug.

It took me a few minutes to relax, the feeling slowly subsiding, and drift back to sleep. The next time I awoke, the canvas ceiling was gray with the light of the coming dawn. I stared it for a while, tail twitching with curiosity. How exactly did it work? This was a spatial tent, so why could we see light across the whole ceiling? Did it just take the light that fell on the physical tent and project it across the inside?

I shook my head, sitting up and stretching. The base of my tail ached from how tightly I’d tugged on it, hugging it all night. I cast a healing spell, easing the pain, and yawned. R’lissea and Evla were already gone, so I quickly dressed and shook Elise awake.

”Morning already?” she said, yawning wide.

She rolled out of bed, fully awake by the time she hit the floor. I frowned at her enviously. Waking up must be so much easier when you have enough strength to run across an entire mountain range.

”Want me to help with your hair?” she asked.

I hesitated, glancing furtively at the door.

”If you want R’lissea to do it, I can find her,” she offered.

”It’s alright, you can do it. Just...gentle, please.”

She smiled. ”It’s not that bad. R’lissea just spoils you.”

I blushed, kneading my hands in my lap. ”Even so...”

The sun had broken over the hills when we left the tent. I rubbed my head once, wincing at my sore scalp.

”If you don’t want tangles, don’t have such long hair,” Elise said.

I ignored her, looking around at the demon horde. The scions had kept a respectful hundred feet from the flap of our tent. Their numbers were staggering, spreading out over the hills and prairies like a swamp. Flares of fire, wind, lightning, and every other attribute danced over their heads, and the occasional monstrosity broke up the skyline.

A surge of divine mana over the nearest hill caught my attention. Elise and I made our way over, finding R’lissea and Evla standing on opposing ridges, casting spells at each other. Evla carried a long, fluted wand with an amethyst at the tip. I was surprised to find it was only a fourth-level magic item.

”Gravity Well!” Evla cried.

A purple sphere shot out from her wand. Mana flowed toward it like light into a black hole, forming a violet swirl that warped the very air itself. The earth collapsed beneath it as it moved, the long grasses flattening like falling leaves.

”Bulwark!” R’lissea conjured a glowing sphere, the sixth-circle equivalent of the aegis spell.

The moving blob of purple light struck her hard, sending a shiver through the Bulwark. R’lissea gritted her teeth, pushing more mana into her wards as cracks began to form. The ridge collapsed under her feet, creating a crater nearly thirty feet across.

Moments before the Bulwark broke, the purple light lost its luster and broke apart. R’lissea lowered her staff, panting lightly.

”I’ve never faced anything like that,” she called across the distance.

Evla grinned. ”Few have. I’m honestly still surprised you guys even know what gravity is in the first place. The demon emperor himself had to explain to me that there was a reason people walked around on the ground and couldn’t fly.”

”It was common knowledge in my world,” R’lissea replied. ”But that doesn’t make your magic any less powerful. Even without its combat potential, just altering weight on a battlefield could make all the difference. And have you thought about using it on goods? You could reduce the weight of an entire wagon.”

Evla laughed, stowing her wand in her spatial ring. ”Honestly? No. I’ve been so focused on this war that it’s never crossed my mind.”

”There’s more to life than war,” R’lissea said, smiling at me. ”But it seems they’ve finally awoken. I guess that means it’s time to leave. Perhaps we’ll have the chance to see your magic for real, today.”