The Forsaken Hero

The elvish fleet maintained position over the ruined city for several hours as our grand forces arrived and swept through the rubble, slaughtering the Risen left behind. I’d taken the burden of the Effulgent Dawn, allowing R’lissea a chance to rest, but it wasn’t long before she’d flown from the ship, joining the last Light Company in battle.

”How are you holding up?” Luke asked as the last Risen were purged.

I shrugged. ”It’s not much. I can probably sustain the light for a week at this rate.”

He raised an eyebrow. ”The Black Mist gives you that much mana?”

”Yeah, but only because of the curse woven throughout. And we’re surrounded by it.”

”And the range on it?”

”Zephyriss scouted the area and said it’s a little more than five miles across.”

”Lady Xiviyah,” Jenna called, ”Lady Korra said they’ve located the shard.”

”Good.” Luke straightened, looking at me for permission.

I nodded, lacing my arms around his neck as he swept me into his arms. My stomach did a little flip as we left the ship, the star guard and Fable following close behind as we descended to the ground.

Ash puffed beneath Luke’s feet as we landed, swirling in the air around us like snow. Fires flickered amid the skeletal remains of buildings, the stone foundations themselves crumbling after the bombardment. Soldiers and demons swarmed to our position, forming a defensive perimeter as we approached the ruined remains of a small cathedral.

”I’m surprised a city this small had a shard,” Luke mused as he rose a few inches off the ground, crossing a thirty-foot-wide crater before touching down again.

”It’s the other way around,” I said. ”When the divine gifts magic to a world, there’s rarely any cities to begin with. People naturally congregate to them, like rivers or harbors. It’s just...” I gestured around, ”This place is so remote, there wasn’t much reason to come here aside from the shard. Aerion said it was mostly an in-between Ornth and Sylvarus, and maintained a small garrison to police the trade routes.”

The entire front half of the cathedral was gone, reduced to an impact crater where a mana lance had struck. Half of a dome survived, but it was open to the air. Within, barely visible through the dust choking the air, was a Shard of Omniscience. The crystalline body was dark and shadowy. The mana radiating from it was fetid and gross. As it rolled over me, I gagged, tasting bile in my throat.

”Finally,” Korra called, standing before the shard with Gayron. R’lissae was a little distance away, Borealis on her shoulder.

The demon squawked as he saw me, flapping over and perching on my shoulder. He rubbed my cheek with his head. While still smooth, the cool, icy textures of his feathers had faded over the weeks, consumed by a gentle, pulsing warmth. There was more gold than blue in his features, each one glittering like crystalline starlight.

”Is he even still an ice demon?” Luke wondered, studying the demon.

I shrugged and scratched his head. ”Fyren said that the Devoted will develop new abilities once they’ve assimilated into fate. I don’t think that’s happened yet.”

”I can’t wait to see what happens when it does,” Korra said, coming up. ”Will they get your abilities, or maybe even Verity’s?”

”I hope it’s Verity’s. As cool as yours are, Xiv, they only really work for you. But could you imagine an entire horde of demons being able to predict the future as they fight?”

”Maybe they’ll be something else entirely,” I said.

Korra’s eyes narrowed. ”You know, don’t you. You’ve already seen it?”

I avoided her gaze. ”Let’s just focus on the shard. Luke, are you going to absorb it?”

”Hey, no changing the subject. Just tell me!” Korra said, hands on her hips.

Luke put an arm around me, frowning at her. ”If she doesn’t want to say, no reason to press her.”

”Come on. Are you telling me you’re not curious either?”

He hesitated, glancing down at me. ”Well...”

I groaned, my tail twitching irritably. ”It’s nothing like what you’re thinking. Fate in this world is tied to time, protection, and magic, but the divinity itself has little to do with those. Fate is about what was, is, and is to come.”

”That sounds exactly like time with extra steps,” Korra said.

”It’s not–ugh, Luke, can I have this shard?” I asked, looking up at him pleadingly.

He sighed, running his hand through his hair. ”I shouldn’t, but I suppose after all the shards we’ve surrendered in Sylvarus, one more one won’t make a difference,” he said. ”Just give it to something useful. The council will have my hide if it’s not going to be helping us in the war.”

I nodded and lifted my arm, sending the demon into the air. He circled us once before streaking to the shard. With a sharp beat of its wings, he killed his momentum, hovering before the dark, twisted hunk of crystal, and let out a shriek. His soul exploded, connecting with the shard and beginning to siphon off its power.

The last time Borealis had consumed a shard, it had undergone an evolution, taking the form it has today. The process had taken literal hours, his sixth-level soul gradually expanding to the seventh. But this time was different. Borealis drew more and more, charging the air around him. The corrupting undead and curse mana were broken down with the natural power of the shard, devoured without a second thought.

”Can he really handle all that?” R’lissea asked worriedly.

”He’ll be fine. All demons can consume any divine mana, regardless of its attribute,” I said.

”Then why are they turned to Risen in the Black Mist?” she asked.

I glanced at Luke, pursing my lips, not quite sure how to explain it.

He smiled faintly. ”It’s different, coming from a shard or a soul. It’s pure, concentrated energy. It’s like asking you to drink from a cloud. Sure, the water’s there, but not in a form you can consume.”

”Thanks,” I mumbled, nestling back against him.

Borealis’s aura grew stronger with every passing minute, until, at last, the shard was dull and lifeless. With the mana gone, it had no strength to resist the corrosion of Connor’s influence and dissolved like melting snow.

Borealis flapped backward, drifting whoozily through the air, like it was drunk. I didn’t blame him; his soul had expanded by a magnitude of ten, placing him well into eight-level. It was remarkable that he was still conscious at all. At least he hadn’t initiated another evolution. That would have ruined everything.

I caught him with both arms, hugging him to my chest, and studied him with the Oracle of Eternity. His aura was powerful, but familiar, like the astral winds of Haven.

”Good job,” I whispered, stroking his crystalline feathers. His eyes were fuzzy, but they sharpened as he looked at me.

”So what was the point of that? Just to make Borealis stronger?” Korra asked.

”I wanted to test something. Borealis?”

I threw him into the air, and he flared his wings, catching a current moving through the shattered cathedral. Kahlen, acting on my will, stepped forward, summoning one of his swords. He casually waved his hand, sending the blade shooting at Borealis.

Borealis screeched indignantly and let out a burst of mana. A glimmering gold sphere materialized around him, reflecting the light of the Effulgent Dawn in rainbow patterns, like a prism. The sword struck it hard and glanced off, failing to leave a mark behind. But as it flew toward a wall, it abruptly veered from its trajectory, streaking directly at Kahlen. The blade demon’s eyes widened, and it waved its hand, and the sword vanished, just feet from its chest.

”It’s like a mirror shield, but for swords?” R’lissea asked, tilting her head.

”Wait, I didn’t sense an art or spell there, nor did that look like anything it’s done before,” Gayron said, frowning thoughtfully. He turned to me, tail twitching. ”I thought you said that you hadn’t developed any fate abilities!”

I couldn’t help a small, satisfied smile. ”It didn’t. But that’s what I wanted to test. Assimilating an existing attribute takes a lot of time, but what about new, incoming power?”

R’lissae gasped. ”You’re saying all the power Borealis just absorbed...?”

I nodded. ”He assimilated it directly through the Primordial Mark, touched by the fate divinity. He has the same amount of ice attribute in his soul, but now, the balance has shifted. He’s far more fate than ice, with enough purity to access some of the attribute’s power. It looked like he was able to manifest a shield, of sorts.”

”You seem surprised,” R’lissea said. ”Didn’t you expect it?”

I shook my head. ”Evolved demons are unique and develop their own abilities. Like how Kahlen summons and controls his swords. Sure, all blade demons do that to some extent, but he has his own flavor. I’ve only seen some of the more general abilities.”

”Fascinating,” Luke murmured, staring at Borealis. ”If that’s true, it means that the more your demons engage in battle, the faster they will assimilate and gain new powers. I wonder if Fyren knows this.”

”I can’t imagine he wouldn’t, but then again, it’s been a long, long time since anyone’s given a primordial mark. Who knows what kind of knowledge was lost?” I said.

”You’re sounding a little too excited about that. We don’t have the time or resources to experiment,” Korra said.

”I know, it’s just fun to think about,” I said, letting out a long sigh. ”Maybe Emlica knows more. Or we can theorize together.”

”You’ll have to do that later,” Korra said. ”Now that we’ve taken care of the shard, it’s time we report back to Aerion. We’ve got several more cities to hit before we reach the capital. With a little luck, they’ll be just as easy to purge as this one.”