The Forsaken Hero

As we left the inn, I blinked in the bright sunlight. The storm had broken sometime during the morning, letting blue sky peek through cracks in the heavy clouds. My boots sank a full inch into the ground, leaving distinct prints in the snow behind us. It blanketed the village, making everything white and pure. I didn’t like snow, but I loved how beautiful and serene it made everything look.

”No prints,” Luke said, looking around. ”Guess that means no one else wandered across the village.”

He suppressed a yawn, and I glanced at him, my tail twitching thoughtfully. I hadn’t found it strange when I’d awoken, but looking back, it was odd he’d slept so long. He was a ninth-level being, with a body that barely required food, sleep, or even rest. Just how tired had he been? Oblivion must have taken a greater toll than I realized. Maybe that was why he was so quiet and calm lately.

A flash of silver caught my eye, and I turned to the center of the village square. My aura had regained its strength alongside my soul, and now populated the entire village with golden stars. But there, glimmering between glittering sunbeams, was a spray of silver light bobbing up and down.

”What is that?” I asked, frowning slightly.

”Where?” Luke’s hand was at his sword.

My brow furrowed, and I drew on the Oracle of Eternity. The light sharpened into visible stars, stirring slightly as my aura probed it. A faint hint of fate clung to them, and alarm spiked through me. Had he found us? Was this some sort of scrying spell?

But no, there was no reaction, nor could I detect any actual magic. Something about the scene did itch in the back of my mind.

”What is it, Xiv? Do you see something?”

A vision. I had a vision of this place once. I hadn’t recognized it before, nor remembered it until now. But in the afternoon light, from this perspective, I was sure of it.

”Luke, um, would you give me some space?” I asked, clasping my hands together.

He nodded slowly, wearing a deep frown. ”I’ll scout around. See if any of the Fire Hero’s companions survived.”

I knew they hadn’t, but just nodded. Perhaps that should have bothered me, but it didn’t. Even when he had cast the begging Marge aside and driven his sword through the helpless Rochelle, no pity had stirred in my breast.

”Don’t leave her,” Luke said to Fable and Borealis. Then, he was gone, flying into the tree line.

Fable approached the silver flurries, his tail swishing curiously across the snow. He circled it once before flicking his tail, signaling me to approach.

”Thanks,” I said, giving him a wry smile. I hadn’t exactly been waiting for permission. If I was right, there was nothing to fear here.

”Verity?” I called, sitting across from the snow in a cross-legged position. My staff appeared, settling it across my lap. I rested my hands on it, drawing on the Oracle of Eternity. Enusia unraveled in my eyes, the weave of fate becoming apparent.

The knot of silver starlight took on shape and coalesced into a single flickering soul. It was untethered to any shape or form, appearing as a small, flickering core with a glimmering corona. It bobbed about a foot above the ground and was about the size of my fist.

The presence attached to it was faint, but unmistakable.

”Verity?” I tried again, this time reaching out to the wandering soul with my own.

I gasped as a connection was established, cold tingles racing through my body. It was a strange sensation, somewhere between the weightlessness of my soul form and the cumbersomeness of flesh.

”Xiv...yah?” Verity’s voice floated in my mind, small and wavering. ”You...you came. Just like....promised.”

”I’m sorry I didn’t understand before. You tried to warn me,” I whispered, looking down at my lap. I twisted my staff, then gripped it tightly. ”What happened to you?”

”Gone. Soul...frayed. Barely holding...together.”

I nodded slowly, biting my cheek to stop a welling tide of tears. Verity’s soul drew on the mana I offered, and slowly, the sphere expanded, growing brighter, until it took on Verity’s soul form. It wavered constantly, barely holding together, but it was her. She still floated in the air and wore her armor, with her slender sword at her side. Her long, gleaming hair strayed in an invisible breeze. Her eyes were big and sad, and filled with stars. She looked just as she had in my vision. From her words, she remembered that, too, but for her, it might have been days ago. Or even minutes.

”I was afraid you wouldn’t find me,” she whispered, looking down at her newly formed body. She sounded more present than before. ”When you stumbled in here last night, I tried to call out, but you didn’t hear.” Her hands closed into fists, and she met my gaze. ”But that doesn’t matter now. Xiviyah, you can’t confront Fate. You can’t defeat him.”

I flinched, gripping my staff a little tighter. ”Too late, I’m afraid. When he descended, he broke Luke’s horde and scattered my allies. He pushed us to the brink of annihilation, and even....” I bit my lip, shaking my head. ”How much do you remember?”

”Everything, until I initiated the ritual. It’s all a blur past then,” she said. ”I wandered in the darkness for an eternity, or maybe longer, until I felt someone calling to me. It was warm and kind, and...when I came too, I was in the mountains. I wandered, slowly losing strength, until I reached this village. I’ve waited ever since. This, right now, is the clearest my mind has been since the ritual. It’s your mana, isn’t it? But I can’t understand how you’re affecting me when I’m just a soul.”

”It’s a long story.”

”You’re right. There’s no time for that. I’m fading, Xiviyah. He tore me from my body, and cast me out into Fate. With nothing binding me, no tether, I don’t know how long I can hang on. It’s already been so long, and I’m so cold...” she shivered, hugging herself. ”You already saw how powerful he can be, but there are limits. His mana is finite, and won’t regenerate like a normal soul. He must have used an extraordinary amount to do everything you said.”

”I believe so. I’ve glimpsed him in visions, and--”

”You can’t! That’s what he was counting on!”

”I know, and I’m being more careful now. But he’s refused to leave the Divine Throne for any reason. He even sent a vessel after us, but was content to let us be when I told him I would come to him.”

”He must be weaker than I thought,” she mused, pursing her lips. ”His only goal is you, Xiviyah. He’ll stop at nothing to acquire the Divinity. That’s what I meant before, when I said I wasn’t called to be a hero. They didn’t need a replacement for you. They needed someone who was properly attuned with fate to handle a descent of that magnitude. They placed me here, fed me power, and forged my body into a tool. And the rest of me...” She gestured down at herself. ”Discarded like the packaging. It came in”

”I’m sorry,” I said quietly. I wasn’t sure what else there was to say.

”No, I’ve had enough time to think, and come to peace with it. It’s what I deserve, for allowing myself to be deceived by their lies for so long. By the time I realized all wasn’t right, it was too late. They began restricting my freedom bit by bit, until they cursed me with that terrible crest. I remember everything, Xiviyah. I remember how desperate they made me to please them. I...I did terrible things to earn their praise, to earn his.”

She didn’t need to say his name. I already knew.

”Fate. Do you know how we can defeat him?” I asked.

”You can’t, not directly. You’ll never be able to survive against him long enough to wear down his mana and make him discorporate.”

”When you say ’directly?’”

She nodded. ”His soul might be an avatar of a god, but his body is still mine. At the end, I wasn’t growing fast enough, so they artificially inflated my power through some forbidden ritual. I honestly don’t remember much beyond how much it hurt. They reached the threshold needed to perform the descent, but there are cracks in the foundation, you could say. Fate was banking on capturing or killing you in the initial battle, before you had a chance to escape, so they didn’t think it would matter.”

”What does that mean? His–er, your–body seemed stable and strong. Not even Luke at ninth-level could force him back.”

”That’s what I mean. It was strong enough for one engagement, but after this long, it will begin to show its flaws. Every time he fills it with mana to use an art or a technique, it stresses his body. Especially if it’s one strong enough to contest a ninth-level attack. I was only eighth level, after all.”

”I see,” I said slowly, my tail flicking back and forth. As I thought about it, I could see what she was saying during the battle. Fate had been strangely reluctant to engage Luke in melee combat, despite obviously being stronger. He kept using spells and arts that didn’t require physical strength. Whenever he did use his sword, it was only after he stopped time, trying to slip past without confrontation.

”I don’t know if that’ll be enough to make a difference, but targeting his body is your only chance,” she affirmed. ”Push it far enough, and it’ll collapse beneath the weight of his soul. Long before he even runs out of mana. It’s your only chance to win.”