The Forsaken Hero

On the following day, we began a two-week-long march into the depths of Brithlite Kingdom. Spirits were high, and the soldiers moved quickly, far faster than we had in the rough, unscouted terrain of Blue Canyon. Occasionally, our column passed larger towns and villages, but Bethiv ordered the soldiers clear. I was grateful for the decision, as we would bring nothing but trouble to the innocent inhabitants of this land.

Travel was easy for me, as Elinore refused to allow me to do anything but ride on Fable’s back. It was soft and comfortable, and more than once I drifted off mid-march. The frequent rest was probably good for me, all things considered, as I pushed myself as hard as the healer let me whenever we stopped for the night.

On the third night of the second week, we stopped in a large cluster of hills in a light Brithlite forest. I sat on Fable’s back with my legs both dangling on one side, like a lady riding a horse. Korra and several sixth-level soldiers, including the martial combatants of the Star Guard, practiced in front of me. She’d been teaching any who could learn how to use Magic Arts and was now mid-lecture.

"Listen closely," she said, peering intently into the eyes of the soldiers. "You’re used to magical techniques, but those are just the foundation of magical arts. Arts take the principles of utilizing mana in your body and expand them to affect the world around you. Instead of just releasing raw mana in a burst of flame or defensive parry, Arts take that mana and manifest an actual shield, or fires that eat away your opponent’s defense. There’s a nuance to it, a depth and multitude of effects, where techniques only have one."

There was more to it, of course, but the soldiers couldn’t know about the research Korra and I were doing. That day a few weeks ago, Korra managed to synthesize a brand new art based on the Canyon Crawler’s defensive ability. It was a fifth-level art, yet capable of withstanding a peak sixth-level attack. She’d named it ’Water Guard,’ but the most interesting thing about magic arts is that they lacked any sort of attribute. They functioned similarly to the spell Summon Elemental Spirit, which could use any element as a focus. Each individual chose the specific effects of their arts, usually tailored to the magic they were most proficient with. The elements ended up as little more than flavor.

But Korra wasn’t the only one sharing her pioneered skills and abilities. Across from me, seated on the ground, was Jenna. Her long blonde hair stirred in the wind and her eyes were closed in concentration. Sarra, Elinore’s apprentice, sat beside her, similarly deep in concentration.

"Soulcasting is about condensing your mana and weaving within your soul," I said softly, more as a reminder than instruction. "Use only as much mana as you can control, and focus on weaving the shape of the runes, not perfecting the spell. Once you can confidently weave runes in your soul, it’s only a matter of time before you can soulcast entire magic circles."

Watching Korra share her skills with the Last Light Company inspired me, but deciding to teach others what had taken me so much pain and suffering to learn wasn’t easy. Even now, a week into instructing these two on soulcasting, I still hesitated. The church had stolen arrays from me, dragged them out through my screams in their horrible torture chambers. Could I really give away something like this for free?

"My lady," Sarah said, opening her eyes. There was a faint gold hiding in the mundane brown of her irises, the promise of stars drifting within her pupil. "How could you have done this all on your own? Even if you had your ability, creating something of this magnitude...not even the greatest mages in history dared to dream something so ambitious."