The Forsaken Hero

The tranquil warmth of Haven was a breath of fresh air after the stifling oppression of the thick infernal mana that smothered the skies of Enusian around the demon hordes. I took a deep breath, filling my lungs as I took my first few steps into the realm, before turning and catching R’lissea’s hand as she tumbled through after me.

"Gods, I missed this place," she breathed, squeezing my fingers as we separated.

Haven’s stars twinkled brightly as we made our way down toward the city. The apostles had continued to argue long after Luke had put forward his plan, bickering about some detail or another. At some point, I’d grown weary of it all and slipped away with R’lissea, letting the Star Guard out of the realm to guard the portal as we rested inside. There was no way I could have gotten a lick of sleep with so much infernal mana in the air. I was even more averse to it than before, though whether that was because I’d been in the clean air of Sylvarus for so long, or my soul was just more sensitive to it now.

"I’m going to find Korra and let her know what’s going on," R’lissea said, leaving me as she took the sky bridge toward the city.

I bid her good night and went the other direction, passing beneath the looming slopes of Starfall Keep, to the Library of Fate. Once, the building had seemed grand and imposing, but after seeing the beauty of the Keep’s architecture, it was no more impressive to me than the Divine Throne. I’d passed by the powerful enchantments warding the island so many times that I barely noticed them, slipping through the slightly ajar gates and entering the main lobby.

One of Emlica’s clones sat at the desk, scratching away on an old parchment with a feathered quill. She looked up as I entered, and wrinkled her nose.

"You made the jump, did you?"

"Is it that obvious?" I asked, my tail flicking self-consciously.

"I sensed it the moment you set foot in the realm. And here I thought your demons were bad."

"Where is Emlica? I need to speak with her."

"I’m right here."

I sighed, rubbing my horn. "Please?"

"Alright, fine."

The clone grumbled something more under her breath, and though I couldn’t hear her, whatever it was made my horns itch. A moment later, there was a flash of light, and Emlica materialized. I spared her soul a glance, feeling a wave of relief at finding it solid.

"What is it?" she said crossly. "Nithalee and I were rather engaged at the moment. This had better be--" She cut off, her nose wrinkling. "Gods, I really need to improve my clones’ senses. I didn’t realize they were so...dull."

"I’m sorry to bother you," I said, dropping a small curtsey. "But it really is important."

"Then stop wasting my time and spit it out already."

"R-Right, sorry."

I took a breath, gathering myself. Something more must have shown on my face, or perhaps it was the swish of my tail, because her face softened.

"Um, Emlica, I was wondering how many rifts you could cast at once."

She was quiet for a moment, regarding me with a look that made me squirm. At last, she shrugged. "Five, six, maybe? With your mana, no more than four. But if I needed to open a portal to that many places at once, I’d never resort to using a rift. Do you have any idea how inefficient it is to cast so many iterations of high-level spells at once?"

"Is there another way?"

She smiled faintly, folding her arms. "Who do you think you’re talking to? The only reason I taught you Spatial Rift was because it’s the simplest teleportation spell to learn, not because it’s the most effective. So tell me, what need have you of going to so many places at once?"

Her amusement faded as I outlined Luke’s plan, and by the end of it, she wore the same displeased scowl she had when she first appeared.

"Gods, I hate this," she muttered, stamping her foot in a rather childish pout. "It feels so dirty, aiding demons take over a world like this. They should fight, bleed, and die for every step!"

"You won’t do it?" I asked, gripping my skirt.

"Frankly, this strategy is a little too effective. Mortals have always had the homefield advantage, being able to gather supplies and redistribute forces through shards. When one kingdom is attacked, the others rally. They’re stronger than the demons man for man, and so even if the hordes outnumber them, working together, they can defeat them. But dividing their resources like this, and crippling their shards in one fell swoop...it’s diabolical." She let out a huff. "No wonder the Emperors stooped to calling mortals to their aid. No demon would ever come up with something so...devious. They’re content to stick with what’s worked in the past."

I hesitated, but when she didn’t add anything else to the rant, I said, "I...I didn’t think of it like that. But what do you mean by the shards? After our raid on Port Vesna, the church posted priests protecting the rest, shielding them from the Oracle of Eternity. I couldn’t teleport there even if I wanted to."

She snorted, shaking her head. "You don’t understand anything, child. The method I have in mind isn’t constrained by knowledge or visualization. Every shard is linked together in an array that shields the world, touching every soul and being within. They’re like vertices in a spiderweb, connected by something called Leylines."

"Leylines? I...I don’t think I’ve heard of those," I admitted.

"Obviously, otherwise you never would have come to me with this dilemma in the first place. They’re a closely guarded secret enforced by the God of Magic himself. Even Lady Fate didn’t understand them fully until she began tampering with the Shard you brought her. That’s just how much of a selfish prick that god is."

"You shouldn’t speak of him like that," I said, cringing under her sharp look. But I swallowed, mumbling, "He’s going to be our ally, isn’t he?"

"Doesn’t mean I have to like him. But look here," She waved her hand, and a dozen stars appeared around us, drifting in three-dimensional space. Lines of glistening gold shot between them, forming a geometric web in the air. "As you know, magic requires more mana the further you propagate the spell. To extend Divine Mana across the entire world from a single World Shard would be a waste on a level even I can’t fathom. Thus, in designing the shards, Magic created relay points, or what you call Shards of Omniscience, across the realm. Mana is sent directly to these through Leylines, which are then distributed throughout their locales.

"Like a river of mana," I said, my voice soft with wonder.

"Exactly. But, as you see here, no one shard is connected to every other shard. Sustaining a framework like that would be too inefficient. But, if you follow the Leyline to one shard, it leads to several more, like this." A pulse of mana erupted from one of the stars, traveling along the shining spider-web-like thread of mana to another, and then splitting, going to each star it connected to, and then onward. "When one teleports with a shard, the spell draws on these Laylines, creating a single cohesive path it then sends the caster through. Even you should be able to do it unaided."

"But I thought teleporting through shards took an enormous amount of mana!" I protested. "I could barely support you when you teleported us to Port Vesna."

"That’s only because you were an eighth-level attempting what only ninth-level mages should. But with the improved version of the spell I developed, it should be possible to do it with much less effort. The burden comes from the difficulty of wielding the shards’ mana, requiring immense output from the caster to act as a catalyst to get it going. But that can be subverted by penetrating deeper into the shard’s network, drawing the mana from the Leylines themselves. They’re filled with raw, flowing mana, with little inertia to overcome. I’m afraid the spell is still mostly theoretical, as I haven’t had a live Leyline to test it on, but if it works as I believe it will, teleporting demons to a dozen places at once won’t be impossible."

"But millions?"

A pause.

"It would be...strenuous. Not something I’d recommend before you broke into the ninth level."

"But I don’t have time for that. I’ve only barely scratched the ceiling of eighth. It might take me months to break through. Luke wants to attack in a few days!"

She let the stars disperse into nothingness. "I didn’t say impossible, though, without that Soulbinder, it very well might be."

"Could we practice? With the shards in Sylvarus/" I asked, shifting my weight from foot to foot.

"I’m afraid that would be meaningless. There aren’t enough shards in that realm to get an idea of what we’ll be attempting."

A hint of desperation crept into my voice."But we can teleport from there, right? We won’t actually have to go to the southern continent." I really didn’t like the idea of exposing myself when I was so vulnerable.

"Are you forgetting the world barrier? Never mind that, the Leylines that connected those shards to the Southern Continent were mostly severed by the demons. A few old channels remain, but I wouldn’t dare attempt to use them even if I were fully confident in the spell. No," she said, shaking her head. "There will be no practice runs for us. You’ll have to invade this Darkreign Keep, destroy the world barrier, and then tap into the shard there to initiate the teleportation."

"But how are we going to get all the demons there? I won’t let them into Haven."

"I...hmm, that is a problem." She pursed her lips, thinking hard, but then shook her head. "I’ll ponder that more and come up with a solution. While my experience may be lacking in this specific scenario, I’m certain one of the other remnants has an idea or two. If I can convince them to help with this insane plan, that is."

"You’ll really do that?"

"Oh, don’t give me that look. I swore to help you, did I not? And Lady Fate requires the World Shard. I’ll not withhold my aid now."

"Emlica, thank you." I threw my arms around her, hugging her tight as she stiffened.

"Yes, well, thank me by surviving," She muttered, awkwardly patting my back. "And by breaking through to the ninth level. The sooner you do that, the sooner this realm will finally be freed."

I wondered what she meant by that, but I was too excited to ask, pulling away before she’d properly hugged me back and giving her another curtsy. "Thank you. I won’t let you down."