The Forsaken Hero

Fate smiled kindly. ”See, I knew you had it in you.”

”Thank you,” I said, dropping a quick curtsey. I hesitated as I rose, composing my thoughts. ”I...I’m really glad you told me all this. I was feeling so lost and dark, but now...Thank you.”

She waved me away. ”Get going, child. You’ve waited long enough listening to us ramble about marks and demons.”

Feeling more optimistic than I had in a long time, I started to scurry off. Before I made it two steps, I turned with a sheepish look on my face. Fate smiled in amusement, already glancing through my thoughts.

”I, um...how do I get out of here?” I asked.

She waved at Arantius. ”Go, take her to the upper cathedral. Emlica’s already waiting.”

”As you wish.” Arantius gave her a salute. Then, to me, ”Come, little one. We must hurry.”

He lifted off the ground, hovering a few inches in the air. Without another word, he flew forward, down the hallway. I had to hurry to keep up, but he never moved so quickly I had to stop and rest.

It felt like it took much longer to retrace my steps than it had following Fate down. Every door we passed seemed to make my stomach tighten and my heart beat faster, until I wasn’t even sure if I was anxious and scared, or eager.

”Restless?” Arantius asked, taking note of my agitated tail.

I blushed. ”A little. After everything Fate said...I feel...excited, I think.”

”Oh? I’d think you would be intimidated, maybe even scared.”

”Every step I’ve taken has been in the dark. Every morning, I prayed I would be able to survive, free and unchained, to see the stars the next night. But now, for the first time, I feel like I can see the path.”

”How so?” he asked.

”Knowing the past has helped me understand so much of what’s going on. I have...hope, I think. Yeah, that’s it. Hope.”

”And yet you’re not smiling,” he said.

”Well, um, it’s heavy, too,” I admitted. ”You, the demons, Fate...everyone’s placed so much trust in me. The thought of letting you all down, of failing what you’ve waited so long for... I don’t know if I could carry that.”

I took a breath, stilling my tail. ”You’ve been alone for so long, fighting a war you knew you couldn’t win. I believe in Fate. I want you to have a reason to believe in me too. I want to give you hope again.”

”A tall order for a mortal,” he said.

I ducked my head. ”I-I know I’m not very strong, and I’m hopelessly young and naive. But a star doesn’t have to light the entire night sky. I...I want to be that light for you.”

He smiled, turning. ”I think you already are. It just took me some time to see that.”

His hand strayed, hesitating a hair’s-breadth from my head. I cringed, waiting for him to pat my head, but he didn’t. Instead, he pulled his hand away, so fluid it was hard to tell if he’d intended to pat my head at all.

I should have felt some relief, and yet... There was only a small twinge of regret. I didn’t like being treated like a child. I didn’t. Right?

We emerged from the corridors into hallways I recognized, and my step lightened again. I banished any lingering doubts and turned to Arantius, offering him a small curtsy.

”Thank you. I thought we’d never get out of there.”

”The Cathedral of Fate is bigger on the inside than it looks on the outside,” he said, not bothering to hide his bemused smile. ”Try not to wander around by yourself. It’s easy to get lost. But let us not linger on that any longer.”

He gestured down the hallway, and I looked past him to see the familiar rainbow sparkle of the Shard. Another remnant, Emlica, waited there, looking up at the colossal crystal. She turned as we entered.

”Ah, there you are. Haven informed me you were waiting, but it seems the other way around,” she said with a stern look.

”Sorry!”

I dropped an instinctive curtsey, feeling the pressure I always did before the wizened mage. No matter how helpful or kind she was, I always got the distinct impression she was disappointed in me.

”Goodness, child, you’ve been around long enough there’s no need for that,” she huffed.

I apologized again, straightening just as quickly. She looked me up and down, lingering on my face. A small frown crept across her lips. My tail twitched back and forth, heat creeping up my neck.

”You look worried.” She looked past me down the corridor we’d come from, eyes narrowing as she spotted Arantius. Her frown deepened. ”She showed you, didn’t she? The beginning?”

I nodded and explained everything Fate had told me, from the nature of my Primordial Mark to the looming deadline with the elves’ shards.

She listened quietly throughout, arms folded, tapping her finger restlessly. When I was done, she pursed her lips.

”A world barrier, eh? Not an easy thing to conquer.”

”Have you seen one before? Fate wouldn’t tell me what one was.”

”Seen one? Child, I helped invent them, some ten thousand years ago. A world barrier is the extreme of ninth-level protection magic. It covers an entire world, or in this case a continent, shielding it from all extradimensional travel with the sole exception of teleporting through the Shards of Omniscience. That includes demon gates. Furthermore, it acts similar to your Grand Aegis, reducing or preventing attacks from those bearing infernal blood within. As long as it stands, no demonic invasion can succeed.”

”Is it that strong? How could they possibly have enough mana to sustain that for any length of time?”

She shrugged. ”Usually, the world stockpiles as many mana crystals as possible and has a rotating crew of mages sustaining the core.”

”It has a core? Like a demon gate?”

”Exactly like one. The core, however, isn’t often an object, but a person. A mage, usually. They’re locked somewhere inside the formation and protected at all costs.”

”That’ll be on the southern continent, then. But if we can’t teleport there, what can we do? Could you break it?” I asked.

Emlica chuckled. ”Of course not, none of my spells would be so easy to overcome. Even if you called me into Enusia and had a ninth-level mana pool for me to work with, I wouldn’t be able to deconstruct it. Its greatest weakness is that it relies entirely on the mage sustaining the spell. Killing or disabling them is the only real way to take them down.”

”Oh.” I deflated slightly, tail drooping.

I thought for a moment, but the whole thing seemed far too daunting. The mage could be hiding anywhere, and even if we found them, they would be heavily protected. To make matters worse, none of the demons would be able to deal any damage within the barrier, myself included.

But even that was thinking too far ahead. Simply reaching the southern continent would be a challenge. Without the ability to teleport inside, the church would have all their defenses postured to the north. They’d been preparing for such an invasion for literal years, reinforcing the sea lanes and developing countermeasures to anything the demons might come up with. And once they made it, we’d have to break through the barrier itself, something that would require an exorbitant amount of force. All the while, the church would be throwing everything they had at us.

I groaned, rubbing my horn. No wonder Luke couldn’t compromise on the shards. He needed every ounce of power he could get. The death toll of simply reaching the continent, never mind overpowering the Divine armies, would be in the millions.

I looked up at Emlica, about to thank her for her help, only to find her staring at me. There was something in her expression that seemed...expectant. But why? Did she really think I would come up with something? She herself had just said how powerful her own spell was!

Suddenly, a thought struck me, and my brow furrowed.

”Emlica, you said you helped create the world barrier. Can you—”

”I won’t be able to break it, no matter how much you ask.”

I flinched at her tone, yet calmed the instinct to back down with a short breath. She’d said that quickly, too quickly. Was the glint in her eye brighter, or was I just imagining it?

”I don’t mean that...” I began hesitantly, monitoring her reaction. ”But is there really no other weakness? Such a spell must have taken years to develop and use millions of runes. Is there anything we can take advantage of? A way we could slip past it?”

She folded her arms, eyes narrowed. ”Are you saying you think there’s a flaw in my spell?”

I cringed, staring at the ground. ”N-no, just that...um...when I cast Grand Aegis, I had to designate every single soul I wanted to be protected. Does this spell work the same?”

”It’s a ninth-level spell, Xiviyah. That alone removes most of the limitations weaker protection magic have. A World Barrier automatically reads a creature’s mana signature and physical bloodline, separating based on infernal blood or infernal mana.”

I looked up, feeling a small tinge of hope. Her words were still harsh, but she didn’t attack the premise. There had to be a reason she explained that instead of rejecting it.

”If you made it,” I said, thinking out loud, ”then that means it’s based on Fate magic. As long as you’re connected to the stars of fate, you wouldn’t be able to just hide from it, or convince it you’re something else.”

”Of course I thought of that,” she said, scoffing. ”But your understanding of fate is impressive. As you say, there is no deceiving that which dictates reality as it was, is, and will be.”

”But what if you’re not in fate? What if the stars are quiet?” I asked, my tone lifting. I stretched out my hand, mustering my mana. ”Silent Stars!”