The Forsaken Hero

The Arbiter’s form flickered, and for a heart-stopping instant, I saw him as he truly was—a being of pure, incandescent light, a sun given humanoid shape. The mortal shell he wore, the angelic form with its wings and armor, was just a veneer. And then, as quickly as it appeared, it was gone, replaced by a far more terrifying presence.

He rose, and with him, the world itself seemed to bend to his will. My breath caught in my throat, every instinct screaming at me to flee, to hide, to do anything but face what flew in the air before us.

”You’re too dangerous, life hero,” the arbiter said.

Without the slightest tell, not even a flicker of mana, he vanished, reappearing behind R’lissesa with his sword raised. Before she could react, the blade blurred, and she screamed, scarlet blood spraying the air.

I screamed, covering my mouth as she fell, her wings dissolving as she tumbled head over heels, crimson blood trailing her like rain. Fable left my side, his own wings gone, lunging from the deck with enough force to rock the ship. He caught her mid-air, carrying on like a silver meteor, cratering the ground when they finally landed almost a mile away.

The archon moved before they did, blitzing to Gayron and Korra. The apostle barely managed to raise his sword before the arbiter’s blade came crashing down. He successfully parried, but the subsequent explosion of sun mana knocked him from the sky, sending him careening into the scorched husk of a great tree. Korra screamed his name and flew after him, but the arbiter was faster, raising his hand and summoning a miniature sun over his head. He threw it forward, catching her in the back as she fled.

I cried out as, again, Adaptive Resistance flared, my vision white with the pain. My body burned as if I’d been dipped in molten lava, a scream tearing from my throat. Never before had Adaptive resistance reacted such before today. Was it because of the True Nexus? Had we made an error somewhere in designing it?

”Xiviyah!”

Fyren’s shout cut through my haze. He caught me as I collapsed, my body slumping against his arms. Through the tears, I could see my suffering wasn’t in vain, as Korra dropped from the starburst explosion, limp but alive.

”You’ll pay for that!” Luke shouted, coming at the arbiter from behind.

At the same time, Selena finished another barrage of sixth-level spells, all that she could muster in her current state. But the arbiter just flapped its wings, summoning a shimmering barrier of light that deflected both their attacks with ease.

”Xiviyah, stay here. Don’t do anything foolish,” Fyren said, leaving me in Luxxa’s arms.

He turned, assuming his demon form in a crackle of fire, and leaped from the deck, flying toward the arbiter.

”A demon? Against a servant of the sun god?” the arbiter asked, twisting the words with mockery. ”And here I thought you fiends enjoyed your time in mortal worlds. Allow me to send you back!”

He slashed his sword, releasing an eighth-level art. It expanded as it shot toward Fyren, a crescent that filled the sky. Fyren waved a split second before it struck him, conjuring a hemisphere of flames that seemed almost dark in comparison to the blinding sunlight.

And yet, he shot right through, piercing the light like an arrow through a sheer curtain. His eyebrows rose, but even surprised, his reflexes were beyond comprehension. He brought his sword down, meeting Fyren’s outstretched claw with a deafening ring, releasing a shockwave that shook the heavens.

”Luxxa, let me go,” I half sobbed, struggling in her armored arms. ”Please, I have to help them!”

”What can you do? We should flee while we have the chance. He might not care about this lone ship, but if you draw his attention--”

”I don’t care!” I cried, ”Please!”

Luxxa looked to Jenna, who gave a slight shake of her head. But then she looked over my shoulder to where Fyren and the Arbiter clashed. Her jaw tightened, and she let me go.

”Fine. But stay near us, and don’t do anything rash.”

The Arbiter and Fyren fought at a speed I could barely comprehend, their forms little more than blurs of light and shadow. Several times a second, they connected in a clash of power, and a new shockwave would rock the ship through my wards.

”Captain,” I cried, running up the stairs to the upper deck. ”Please, take us higher. We have to get above them.”

Captain Melvet’s face was grim, but he nodded, ordering the helmsman to bring the ship about. As we rose, the view of the battlefield spread out below us. I could see them all now, the Arbiter’s golden light, Fyren’s shadowy flames. I could see Fable with a small, green shape on his back running toward us, and Borealis digging through the ashes of the ruined city below, looking for Korra. Luke and Selena fought as they could beside Fyren, but they were next to helpless before the arbiter’s fury.

”Please, hear me,” I whispered, raising my staff.

The star atop the glass haft lit up, releasing a pulse of light. The stars of my aura responded, curling into the air like mist. A shape took form in the golden light, rising a half-head above me. When the stars cleared, Emlica stood beside me. She tossed her hair, staff in hand, and looked around with a rapidly darkening expression.

”Quite the mess you’ve gotten us into,” she said, frowning slightly. ”An archon, is it? I’m not certain you have enough mana for me to kill it.”

”I just need you to stall it for a little,” I said, wringing my staff in my hands. ”Please, you have to protect them.”

”Fine, but what are you...” she trailed off, turning sharply to look at the doors of the cargo hold. ”A Prism? Fate favors you, child. Whatever you’re planning, do it quickly.”

With that, she glided to the front of the ship overlooking the battle. Raising her staff, she stole almost a quarter of my remaining mana, pouring it into a single eighth-circle spell.

”Meteor Shower!”

Her voice rang across the skies, and a titanic magic circle materialized in the upper atmosphere. What began as small motes of light, glittering like rain, rapidly swelled. They grew and accelerated, transforming into a storm of massive rocks the size of towers, wreathed in a crimson glow.

The arbiter noticed them immediately and sent a haphazard wave of sunlight at them. It struck the first one and promptly shattered, breaking before the might of its momentum. His eyes widened in surprise at the hardiness of the spell, a slight frown pursing his lips, his eyes sliding to the ship, locking on to Emlica.

But before he could act, the first meteor struck. It dwarfed him and Fyren, yet broke like a piece of pottery against a single flick of the Arbiter’s sword. The resulting explosion was so loud it set the ship rocking like a toy in a storm.

The Arbiter let out an annoyed sigh, raising a shimmering barrier of light to protect against the next one. Fyren and Luke both had to flee, taking respite from the storm of flame and rock beneath their own defensive arts.

”You finally reveal yourself, oracle!” the arbiter roared as the storm continued. ”Watching as your friends die for your sake...how fitting of a traitorous filthblood.”

I gritted my teeth, tears stinging my eyes. The accusation stung more than the arbiter could have imagined. R’lissea, Korra, Gayron...their souls flickered like dying candles in the Nexus. That they were all still alive was incredible already, but if I didn’t do something, that wouldn’t be the case for long. R’lissea, especially, was in dire straits, holding on by the grace of Selena’s Resurgence alone.

The storm of meteors finally ended, the arbiter alone remaining in the sky. I could feel his gaze sliding across the deck, searching for me. I ducked behind the door to the lower hold, but knew it a simple wood wall did little to conceal me now that he knew I was here.

Yet the arbiter hesitated, fixing on the remnant floating above the deck. ”And what kind of existence are you? That spell was not something a mage of this world could cast. To compress such power in a mere eight circles...who are you?”

”What makes you think you’re in a position to ask questions, child?” Emlica snapped, scowling at him. ”I was in the midst of developing my thesis on the causal interactions of the perception of true magic when you so rudely forced my presence here. Now I shall have to restart from the beginning. You’ve made me quite put out.”

”True magic?” The arbiter’s wings missed a beat, his grip on his sword tightening. ”To speak so casually of such, you’re no mortal. But neither are you a demon, arbiter, nor being of substance. Do you even have a soul?”

”How rude. Your manors are about as refined as your magical arts. However did you earn your wings with such a crude defense? Your world must have been truly pathetic if you were what they considered a hero.”

”What could you know of power? Your spell failed so much as to scratch me!”

Emlica snorted. ”Any child off their mother’s apron strings could block a meteor shower. But you seem to have absolutely no understanding of the principles of mana refraction, inverting your weave, or Soul Compression. Even this child,” she said, nodding to where I huddled, ”can do the latter, and she’s barely studied magic for a handful of years.”

The arbiter’s expression hardened. ”Such arrogance must be answered for. Be gone, or regardless of your knowledge, I’ll show you no mercy.”

Emlica clicked her tongue. ”So noisy. But if you’re that determined for a fight, I suppose I can oblige.”

She raised her staff toward the sky, and I gasped, stumbling as she siphoned every drop of mana I had available. My legs buckled, and if Luxxa hadn’t been right there to catch me, I would have collapsed.

”What are you doing?” I whispered hoarsely. What could possibly require so much mana?

A ring of fate mana swirled above her, spreading a hundred feet across. But instead of a magic circle, it hardened, the middle filling with a swirl of golden stars. A crushing aura descended from within, nearly matching that of the arbiter himself.

”What manner of witchery is this?” the arbiter asked, taking his sword in both hands.

”You seem discontent to battle eighth-level opponents. Perhaps this one will entertain you.”