The Forsaken Hero

An impossibly thick tide of life mana converged on R’lissea’s staff, flowing from all across the mountain range. It wove together into a lance of brilliant green energy, containing more strength than belonged in a seventh-circle spell. She thrust her staff, and the spear disappeared.

The meadow exploded. There was no other way to describe it.

The ground bucked violently in a spreading wave of disaster. Great plumes of earth rose into the air, displaced by the immensity of an attack I hadn’t even seen land. The effect spread quickly, traveling on the heels of a devastating shockwave. In the blink of an eye, the entire meadow had been disrupted, and the plumes of debris and blinding green light rose over a mile into the lower atmosphere. A literal mountain torn from the earth and cast into the sky.

It wasn’t just dust, ash, and mana. Boulders and chunks of earth rained back down, striking the ground for miles in all directions in a storm of meteors. More craters, more smoke, more death amongst the demons.

The dust began to clear, revealing the extent of the destruction. The meadow was gone, replaced by a cavernous mass of chasms and broken ridges. A single silhouette appeared within the exact center. It was Kislee, returned to her human form, hanging in the air on the spike of life energy R’lissea had thrown. It ran through her chest, dangling her corpse a few feet in the air at the bottom of a quarter-mile-wide crater. Blood dripped down her body, running off her toes into the ground.

”She’s dead?” Jill gasped, covering her mouth. ”An apostle? Just like that...?”

”Brutal,” Kirla whispered, shuddering.

The land didn’t stay dead. Trees, vines, and brush sprouted from the shattered landscape, feeding off of the overflowing residual life magic. Entire forests spread across the mountains and valleys, warm and verdant despite winter’s chill. Ponds and streams of shimmering violet waters filled the hollows, and every leaf and blossom held that same soft purple tint. A remnant of the poisons Hag had spread across the region.

Tendrils of green light rose from every plant, root, and vine, drawn toward the epicenter of it all. There, bathing in the confluence. R’lissea descended slowly, parting the smoke and dust with her aura. She looked exhausted, streaked with sweat and blood, and yet her soul burgeoned with power.

”Where is she?” She spoke softly, and yet her voice echoed.

”R-R’lissea?” I gasped, struggling against the magical bonds. That did nothing except cause more burning, more pain. We were over a mile away. My whisper barely made it to the ones who held me captive.

But she hadn’t been talking to me. She flew forward, and the new forest parted. Trees literally bent out of her way, opening a clearing atop a newly formed hill. Hag crouched in the middle of it. Blood streamed from a thousand cuts. She knelt atop a deathbloom, her claws sunk into its fibrous flesh. R’lissea hovered in front of her, staring at her coldly.

”What did you do?” Hag hissed, standing slowly. She tried to take a step toward R’lissea, but her leg buckled. It was almost fully severed at the knee, and her regeneration didn’t seem to be functioning. She glared up hatefully. ”How? This power is mine?”

”Was,” R’lissea replied, descending to the ground. The grass thickened beneath her foot to cushion her step as she touched down. ”It was yours. But then you came to my world, hurt my friends, and used my magic.” She raised her hand, and a stream of virulent acid rose from a nearby puddle, fusing with the soft green light of her aura in a sphere above her hand. ”I’m not the plant hero, nor the healing hero. I am the Life Hero. Life and death, poison and purity. This magic, your magic, is mine.”

She clenched her fist, and the magic bubble burst. The Death Bloom beneath Hag shuddered, glowing faintly, the awful tears in its stem and petals mending. Hag staggered away, readying what remained of her aura, but her leg gave out, and she plunged to one knee. The flower rose, looming over her, with jaws large enough to swallow a horse in a single bite.

”I won’t ask again. Where is she?” R’lissea asked, a low menace in her voice.

Hag spat. The grass sizzled and turned black before the glob melted away and color returned.

”You assume too much, hero. You might appear strong, but in my eyes, you’re just a child. A small leaf about to drop to the mercy of the wind. You don’t have the power to slay one of my strength, not even as you are. Your soul is seconds away from collapsing under the weight you’ve placed it under. And once you’ve fallen, I shall be there to ensure you’ll never get up. The power you command shall become mine, and I shall use it to reclaim the oracle.”

”Reclaim?” R’lissea’s eyes wavered. ”He...he took her? Alex did? She’s...gone?”

Hag cackled and stood. This time, her knee held. R;lisesa took a small step back, uncertainty flickering through her eyes. The demon lord’s lips twisted in a confident sneer.

”It seems you see the truth of my words. But too late, now. You should have run while you had the chance.”

The brush rustled beside us, and Alex staggered out of the bushes. He had come out of the fight worse off than Hag, with a trio of deep, ugly scratches across his chest. The blood that welled out was thick and filled with pus, blacker, even, than my own.

”Gah,” he gasped, gritting his teeth. ”Marge, do something about this.”

”Master!” Marge cried, letting Kirla’s body slip from her arms and running to Alex. She cupped his face with her hands, pouring life magic into him. His breathing hitched and then eased, every wound but the one on his chest fading away.

”Thank you,” he said, absently pushing her away and walking toward me. He still had a limp, but there was no weakness as he stared down at me. ”Look at you, all tied up. Just like I always wanted.”

I shuddered, suddenly conscious that most of my clothing had been torn away, or melted off. I barely wore the scraps to preserve my modesty, and even that hung by a thread.

”My Lord, we should make haste. We’re still far from the throne, and we must make it there before dawn,” Rochelle said. ”Kirla needs healing.”

”Kirla’s dead,” Alex said flatly. ”One look at her will tell you that. But yeah, we should probably get out of here. I can sense thousands of those starry bastards converging on us now. In a minute or two, the entire area’s going to be swarming with hostiles, and I’m not really in the mood to pick af ight with Korra or Grace right now. And well, there’s something else coming. I don’t know what it is, but I’m not sticking around to find out.”

I didn’t know either, but the fact that something was coming to my aid that made Alex shiver like that made it even worse knowing it would be too late. Even falling to Rash’alon would be better than this, being taken by Alex and surrendered to the church. At least the demon just wanted my soul, and wouldn’t–

I squeezed my eyes shut, struggling to breathe evenly. I was already on the edge of panic. Dwelling on what the future, my future, held would change nothing.

But still, my chest tightened with every step as we fled away from what had once been a meadow, dropping through ravines and gulleys, hiding in groves whenever Fatesworn or infernal demons passed overhead. Once, I was certain I had seen Borealis’s glimmer, but it was headed the wrong direction.

Less than five minutes later, before we had left the mountains of High Valley, a sudden shockwave tore across the sky. It ripped through the forest with hurricane-force winds. It carried a mana I couldn’t recognize in my current state. All I felt was the pain and wrath it bore. We paused for a second to brave its winds before continuing again. I grew fainter as we moved further from High Valley, the pain and emotion of the battle seeping in with every step. Had R’lissea and my guard survived? Had Luke won? What would happen to the Fatesworn if he hadn’t?

Darker and colder than all else, a single question burned. Why? Why, when I needed my mana most, had he taken it? Why had Luke forsaken me?

Against the weight of that question, and the anguish in my breast, Rochelle’s fiery bonds barely burned. I’d endured blisters; I knew what it felt like when skin blackened and sloughed off. I even knew what it meant to be powerless in Alex’s care. But I also knew what it meant to be betrayed and abandoned by the one I trusted more than anyone else. And that pain was so much scarier. It was the pain that filled the hollow in my chest, where a cold, callous presence loomed, drawing the chains tight around my soul.

An hour passed, and then another. The trees blurred together, hidden in tears and dim through my fatigue. I must have dozed, because I jolted awake at the sound of Alex’s voice. I blinked blearily, looking around through vision dimmed by fatigue and blurred by tears. My bonds were gone, and I lay curled up on the ground, cold snow against my cheek. Was this the Divine Throne? Had we already arrived?

”This is far enough. We rest here until dawn.”