The Forsaken Hero

Chapter 1109: Fear of the Skies

The sun descended, blazing against the night, and another thunderous roar shook the heavens. A calm descended over the battlefield, an awed hush from the armies of the Divine, and a fearful one from the demons. Heavy thuds marked the beat of giant wings, and slowly, a draconic body took form.

Massive wings stretched across the sky, shrouding the mountains in a terrible aura. They stretched hundreds of feet across, supporting a body even longer than Fable in his true form. It had four clawed limbs, a sinewy neck, and a lashing tail covered in spines. The dragon’s scales shimmered like a million glittering light crystals, glowing with inner sunlight. Its eyes were pools of molten gold.

A figure of silver, gleaming armor, sat atop the dragon’s back, nestled between its beating wings. He didn’t wear a helmet, letting his long, golden hair flow in the wind. He surveyed the battlefield with deliberacy, a drawn sword resting across his saddle.

"Is that Soltair?" Korra asked, letting Trithe drop to the ground.

Trithe coughed weakly, curling up in a ball, clutching her wounds.

I could only nod to Korra, a ball of ice forming in the pit of my stomach. Just seeing Soltair in the flesh made me feel weak. My hands shook, and my tail tucked between my legs. Just imagining. those eyes turning to me, filling with disappointment...

"You mentioned he found a pet, but a dragon?" Korra touched her chin, frowning slightly. "It’s strong, too."

"Eighth-level," I whispered, finally finding my voice. "Almost ninth."

Fable’s cry caused me to tear my gaze from the dragon, from Soltair. He’d trapped Verity against the base of a rocky formation. She gripped her sword loosely, her hand dripping with blood from a long gouge in her forearm. She swayed, barely keeping her feet.

"Two for two," Korra said, grinning. "And by the look of things, your Fatesworn finally silenced the rest of those cannons. Thanks for the help."

I nodded, turning to look around us. Every fortified position in the mountains now burned, their soldiers slain, and cannons nothing more than smoking craters of shattered crystal. The Fatesworn had rallied on our position and driven away the soldiers hemming us in. I let the barrier drop, and Bethiv approached, flanked by his guard.

"What now, my lady? The hero spells trouble," he said.

I glanced at Verity, then back, but before I could answer, Soltair’s dragon roared again. It beat its wings once and dove, flying low over the demon army. Its jaws opened, and holy energy began gathering in its mouth, forming a compressed sphere of radiant light. Space destabilized as it reared back, releasing a beam of sunlight that caved through the demon horde, vaporizing swathes of demons. Secondary explosions detonated in the trail of destruction, opening a gaping hole in the horde. Thousands perished, consumed in the light. Those that weren’t immediately slain erupted in sunpurge, writhing in agony as they were consumed from the outside in.

The shockwave reached us after a full second, ripping across the earth in a burning wave. Fable appeared in front of me, breaking the surging wind with his body. Eddies of sun magic swirled around us, but diluted by the distance, all they did was make my horns itch, and my skin break out in goosebumps. I could only watch as the devastation tore apart the demons, helpless to do anything.

The dragon soared up, circling the battlefield, waiting for its mana to recover before unleashing another attack. As it wheeled around, heading for the heart of the panicked horde, Luke made his move. His aura unfurled, matching SOltair’s in intensity, creating a violent pressure in the air. Tendrils of curse magic wove around him as he soared across the sky, departing from the mountain peak from which he’d observed the battle.

The dragon unleashed its breath directly at Luke. My heart leaped in my throat as it crashed onto him, a small cry escaping my throat. For a single, heartpounding second, it seemed to swallow him completely. But then, the torrent of light split apart, revealing a small mote of darkness. It streaked up the beam like a fish swimming upriver, sending rays of light deflecting in all directions. They fell across the earth, carving charred furrows in the earth and incinerating demons and mortals alike. One drew over the walls of Amberhold itself, sundering the wards and melting the stone. It broke over the top before spinning away, evaporating several city blocks in an instant.

Luke hit the dragon hard, his sword punching into its chest. An explosion of darkness burst from the impact, releasing dark tentacles that wove around the dragon’s body, groping at its limbs, wings, and head. Wherever they touched, scales dimmed. Luke’s aura surged, and he struck several more times, releasing veritable rivers of golden, ichorous blood.

The dragon let out a deafening roar, bucking its body and throwing Luke off. He surged toward it, and my vision flickered. I cried out as my soul brushed Verity’s, and a fiery blade stabbed into my skull. I clutched my head with both hands, squeezing my eyes shut. But that didn’t block the visions flickering through my mind.

There was Luke, cutting through the dragon, reaching Soltair on its back, and...nothing. A blinding flash of white saw him crash to the ground, trailing smoke and blood, covered in sunpurge.

And Luke dodging the dragon’s claws, using a curse to siphon its power and surge behind Soltair. His sword coming up, falling, and...more light, blood, and sunpurge.

Again and again, all paths led to the same conclusion. Swatted from the sky by the dragon, cut down by Soltair’s holy sword, or plummeting in a burst of sunlight. Evade, attack, charge, defend, it didn’t matter. Every path ended in white light and blood.

I broke free of the entanglement, calling Fable to me in an instant. My fingers curled into his fur, and we were flying. I barely noticed the ground dropping away beneath us, or heard Korra’s shout in my ears. The only thing that mattered was Luke, but already, we were too slow.

Luke’s curses stabbed into the dragon, and its wings faltered, dropping it mid-air. As they fell past him, Luke’s sword descended in an eighth-level art, sheathed in a curse meant to quench Soltair’s light. But Soltair raised his sword, a familiar, cocky grin twitching at his lips.

My stomach twisted so hard it hurt. Exactly as I’d foreseen. Even with all of Fable’s speed, Luke and Soltair were faster.

"No, Luke!" I cried, throwing everything into my staff. "Stop!"

The Oracle of Eternity burned in response to my prayer, lighting up my soul with fire. It didn’t matter if Verity felt it. It didn’t matter if Soltair was strong enough to break free of the star’s constraint. I had to get there, and if we were out of time, I would make more.

The entire world went silent, the screams and clash of battle fading between the stars of fate. The entwining darkness and light slowed to a crawl, yet its power and speed were such that it continued moving as if in slow motion. I felt the tug as every powerful soul fought against my power, gasping as something tore in my soul.

Multiple auras erupted in the stillness, shattering the peace. Verity, Korra, Gayron, and...yes, Luke and Soltair. Luke had. trained to sense my ability and respond to it, but Soltair...somewhere, deep inside, I’d hoped he wasn’t ready. But the two of them tore through fate, their swords scattering the stars.

They clashed in a violent explosion, nearly tearing me from Fable’s back. Somehow, I kept my grip, burying my face in his fur. Tears leaked from the corner of my eyes, the burden on my soul swelling with every heartbeat.

I braced myself, waiting for the clash that would cut Luke from the sky, but it never came. I looked up, blinking away tears, and found the two facing each other, hands gripping their swords. The dragon was frozen in the midst of grappling with Luke’s curse, and they stood across from each other on its back. Both hesitated, glancing around at the stars, clearly put on edge.

Hope blossomed in my heart. For some reason, I’d assumed that if they both broke through the Oracle of Eternity, that would be it. They’d continue moving. I hadn’t accounted for how strange the experience would be, how unnatural it would seem to their untrained minds. Every instinct would be screaming at them about the wrongness of this scenario. Even Luke was caught off guard, and we’d literally trained together. No wonder Soltair wasn’t eager to throw himself into the fight.

They were ninth-level, with the comprehension and accelerated thinking that accompanied such a powerful physique. It took them only a second to realize what was going on and determine that the other was still the greatest threat. They shifted their stances and mustered their auras, tensing as they prepared to fight.

Brief though the distraction had been, it was enough. But there was also no time to think, no time to plan.

That second was all I needed, but it alone wouldn’t be enough. I’d seen everything with Verity’s eyes. Well, almost everything. After all, there was always another possibility, always another path so unlikely it didn’t justify considering. And right now, I needed such a path.

There was no time to second-guess myself, no time to feel the fear rising in my gut. As we loomed over them, coming in fast, I let Fable’s fur slip through my fingers. His warmth vanished beneath me.

The Oracle of Eternity slipped from my grasp. The silence caved, and the sound of rushing wind filled my ears. I caught sight of Fable pouncing on Soltair, a sight I hadn’t seen with Verity’s foresight. Fable, his coat rippling with starlight, expanding to assume his true form.

That was the last I saw before I closed my eyes, my scream vanishing into the war. There was a time I wouldn’t have braved the skies for anyone. But what about Luke?

I didn’t need to wonder about the answer to that question anymore. Whatever fear I held, whatever terror I held of the skies, it was nothing compared to losing him.