The Forsaken Hero

I left Sari with Bethiv, getting a strict promise he would watch over her. It would have been nice to keep her with me on the skyship, but the tensions with the elves and the uncertainty of our arrival felt too dangerous for a young girl barely third level.

Fyren, Fable, and I traveled to the horde of the Devoted next, spread across the slopes across from the Last Light Company. Incinderus and Zephyriss met us at the front. They were both surprised when I addressed them through our mark instead of just words, but the language, which Fyren informed me was called Soulspeak, felt more and more natural every time I practiced it. It was almost refreshing to feel capable of something other than fate magic.

Our visit was short but useful, catching them up on our plans and intentions. Zephyriss left before our conversation was finished, taking a vanguard of storm and wind demons and setting off for Duskwood. It felt somewhat impulsive, not to mention the conflict that would arise should elves discover them in their airspace, but it was nice to know we’d have reinforcements in the skies should we need them.

”I’ve been thinking about your newfound skill with Soulspeak. It should be because of the scattering of your memories.” Fyren said as we returned to the city.

I tilted my head, looking at him, only to squeak as Fable took a particularly big jump, hugging him around the neck. Fyren smiled bemusedly.

”Demons use memories and feelings like words, breaking them apart into individual experiences. Humans, however, only have one experience. They don’t have memories, but a memory. Everything they’ve experienced is rolled into one, making up their personality and adjudicating how they respond to events, thus influencing their emotions. But your...accident shattered that whole, isolating each feeling and memory independent of each other.”

”I...that makes sense,” I said, squeezing my eyes shut as we jumped over the outer wall, startling a group of guards. When we landed, and I could breathe again, I continued, ”I’ve felt so detached from everything that’s happened. Like I read it in a book or saw it in a vision.”

”Then you must practice using Soulspeak as much as possible, while you still process memories like a demon. As your mind stabilizes and you make new memories, your experience, your story, will become seamless and complete. It’s a good thing, in truth, as mortal minds aren’t meant to hold memories at a distance, but take advantage of this time of hurt and confusion to grow, preparing for the day you will be whole again.”

”You mean it won’t always be this easy?”

”It can be, if you develop the skill now. Like how studying an attribute is easier in an environment saturated with that attribute.”

”Like having a vision in Fate,” I murmured, though I hardly understood the comparison myself. I just remembered how relieved I was to be there, and how clear the visions had been.

The day was old by the time we made it back to the keep. Pushing my soul in the morning and traveling around in the afternoon had left me exhausted, so I turned in for the night, falling asleep almost instantly. The next morning, after dressing, R’lissea brushed my hair.

Together, we met Korra and Selena in the courtyard. The elf mage had procured a carriage for us, escorted by my friends of the Star Guard. Even Kahlen was there, nodding respectfully to me as I accepted Luxxa’s hand into the carriage. Fable and Borealis joined us as soon as we left the keep. Fable strolled beside Jenna while the ice demon darted through a gap in the window, settling into my lap. I shrieked in surprise before collapsing into giggles, hugging him to my chest.

”You call them skyports?” Korra asked, leaning out the window, craning her neck to look ahead as the city rolled by.

”Well, it’s more of a skydock, here in Brackencliff. A skydock is the name for a pier where a skyship rests, while a port is a complex with multiple skydocks. Right now, the Tribunal’s plan is to have a skyport at every major city. There’s only one dock here, but there are almost ten docks in Duskwood, with over five active ships,” Selena explained.

”I remember the Empire having a few skydocks. They hid them on the backside of mountains,” I said.

”I hear they’ve upped production since then, and will likely have over twenty functioning skyships by the end of the year,” Selena said.

”Twenty?” I tried to imagine that many skyships filling the sky, each loaded with mana cannons. A shiver ran down my spine.

”War’s going to be pretty different now, isn’t it,” Korra muttered.

”It is. Skyships are incredibly expensive to make, which will only widen the gap between strong powers and weak ones. If we elves hadn’t pioneered the prototypes, we would be lucky even to have one ship.”

”The elves made the first one?” R’lissea asked.

She nodded. ”Yes, though the church quickly commandeered it. I believe they sent it to Brithlite, actually, in an attempt to hold back the demons.”

”Yeah, I remember,” I said, looking out the window, a massive structure drawing my eye. It looked like a warehouse, towering above the surrounding city by over fifty feet. The building had to be over a thousand feet long and at least three hundred feet wide. A small wall surrounded it, with guards standing at the gates controlling access to a reasonably vast, if empty, courtyard around it.

”Sorry about that ship,” I said, not meeting her gaze. ”It really surprised us and, um, Borealis kind of destroyed it.”

She looked at Boreais, lips pursed. ”He’s a little small to leave those massive claw marks on the deck. The demon that did that must have been over a hundred feet long, at the very least.”

”He’s like Fable,” I said.

She glanced out the window, her frown deepening. ”The wolf? Sure, twenty feet is pretty big, but–”

”You don’t know?” Korra interrupted, grinning ear to ear. ”That’s their small form. Like, really small.”

”Really?” Selena looked genuinely surprised. ”I can sense their power, but I never suspected they had alternate forms. I bet you’ve given some enemies a really nasty surprise with that before.”

”I hope so,” I muttered, absently stroking Borealis. For the most part, I felt like we were typically the ones on the receiving end of nasty surprises.

”I’m interested to see their capabilities in full.”

”Hopefully not too soon,” R’lissea said. ”We’re supposed to be on a diplomatic mission, remember?”

”Speaking of that, where’s Elise?” Korra asked.

”She was with Aerion, discussing some of the politics of Duskwood, I’m sure,” Selena said. ”He’s very invested in the happenings of the nation, particularly the noble families that rule the Tribunal. I only hope he doesn’t overly bias her perspective, or getting their respect will be all but impossible.”

”He doesn’t like the Tribunal? I kind of got that feeling earlier,” R’lissea said.

”Not even a little. He resents the fact that he’s among the strongest elves in the world, yet it’s meaningless in our society.”

”Like how that captain lectured you,” I said, realization making my tail curl. ”I’ve never seen anyone lecture an eighth-level mage like that. Well,” I hesitated, lips twitching, ”except for in Blacksand. Elaine lectured everyone, even Avant.”

Selena smiled bitterly. ”Yes, I suppose a ninth-level being would command that kind of respect. But the elves are different. We strive to maintain equality despite differences in power and kind. Age and wisdom, not power, demand respect in Sylvarus.”

”And bloodlines, apparently,” Korra said. ”I don’t really see how you can have noble families based on heritage, but then claim having strength is a symbol of inequality.”

Selena’s lips drew in a firm line. ”Even so, that is our people’s way. All nations and races have inherent contradictions, like the gods’ promises of equality to all who serve them. Please, respect the traditions of the elves, especially while in Sylvarus, or you will have no chance of negotiating a surrender.”

”We understand, right?” I asked, glancing at Korra.

She frowned, folding her arms, before reluctantly sighing. ”Fine. Whatever.”

”It’s not so bad. Really,” R’lissea said. ”I lived here for like six months, and everyone was always courteous.”

”You were a hero, and an elf at that,” Korra said.

R’lissea gripped her skirt. ”Even so, I’d like to believe in them.”

The conversation quieted as we arrived at the gates of the massive warehouse. The door opened, revealing Aerion waiting for us, Elise at his side.

”What’s a pleasure, seeing three beautiful girls dressed and packaged for me like this,” He said, smirking as he looked at his sister, his face twisted in an exaggerated expression of disgust. ”Three beautiful girls and an old hag.”

”Hag?” Selena’s voice was sharp enough to cut steel. ”I think I misunderstood you, dear brother.”

He ignored her, shooting me a wink and offering his hand. I gingerly accepted, consciously aware of Selena glaring right through me at him.

”One lady,” he said as I touched the ground. ”And two, then three,” he added as he offered Korra and R’lissea a hand next.

The moment’ R’lissea’s boots touched the ground, he stepped back, sweeping in a grand gesture at the warehouse.

”Behold, the Brackencliff Skyport! It’s–”

”Forgetting someone?”

He turned smoothly, brow synched together, to look at Selena. ”I’m in the middle of grandstanding right here. Could you be patient for a bit?”

”That’s it,” Selena muttered, stepping out of the carriage herself. ”You’re walking to Duskwood.”

”You wouldn’t dare!” he said, putting a hand on his chest, eyes wide with shock. ”I procured the material for the Windserpent’s core, remember?”

Her eyes narrowed to slits. ”And I’m the one who enchanted it.”

Elise took my arm as they continued to bicker, giving Borealis, who perched on my other shoulder, a friendly pat. Her eyes shone with excitement.

”I just saw the skyship. You’re going to love it!”