The Forsaken Hero

Borealis’s call came to me shortly after R’lissea, and I left the cathedral. A stream of soulspeak filtered through my mind, showing a single tattered figure stumbling from the storm of shadow that had hung over the cliffs.

"What is it?" R’lissea asked as I stopped short, my tail sticking straight out.

"Luke!"

Haven folded, whisking me away before she could ask what I was talking about. The second my feet stabilized on Haven’s entrance isle, I dashed through the portal.

It was nearing evening, but still, Fatesworn were everywhere in High Valley, scattered between healers’ tents, supply dumps, and everywhere in between. High bursts of power from beyond the mist wall rippled across the lake’s surface, and the occasional boom rolled like distant thunder, muted by the mists. I gathered a quick report from nearby demons through my mark, and sighed in relief. The second day of fighting was ending, but without their leaders, the demon horde was disorganized and largely crippled. An uneven battle line had formed outside the perimeter; the skyships helped, mostly by breaking up skirmishes instead of outright battles.

The Star Guard posted at the church leaped to attention, dispatching a few soldiers I didn’t know by name to follow after me as I scrambled away from the church.

"My lady!" called a rough-looking man with a fur-lined coat and a huge long-handled battle axe. His long legs quickly caught me. "Lady Luxxa and the others are still recovering. She assigned us as your escort in their place."

I acknowledged him with a flick of my tail, not the least bit concerned. I could feel Verity nestled somewhere in my aura, dragged from whatever she was doing in Haven the instant I left the realm. Fable found me before we made the walls of the fortress, and I climbed onto his back.

The Star Guard scrambled to keep up as he accelerated, passing through the small villages scattered around the lake. In the distance, I saw a shining dot against the gathering twilight, a star circling just beneath the looming cliffs. Fable adjusted his course, and Borealis swooped toward us.

"You saw him? Where?" I asked, ducking just in time.

His claws swooped past my horns, and he squawked indignantly, circling about to land on my upraised forearm.

"Stop that. Where’s Luke?" I berated him.

He cawed, pointing with a shimmering wing. There, a silhouette looked down on the valley from the top of the cliff. The setting sun was to his back, blotting out his face, but my heart skipped a beat. I grabbed hold of Fable, and he left the ground, leaping from ridge to ridge, occasionally digging his claws into the cliff face itself for purchase before lunging higher. In a few stomach-curdling seconds, we had reached the top.

The mountains were swallowed in the darkness, smothered from sight by roiling curse mana. The air was strangely still even though we should have been close enough to hear the roar of the war.

Fable crouched low enough for me to slide off his back. The Star Guard followed, trying to flank me as I ran toward the shadowy figure, but Fable’s growl stopped them in their tracks. Borealis flew a tight circle over us before settling on the wolf’s horn.

Luke stood still, staring silently over the valley, watching the sun slowly creep toward the horizon. His tattered cloak stirred in the breeze, forming around his sword, strapped to his hip.

I slowed to a walk, panting lightly as I caught my breath. He knew I was here, didn’t he? Did he just want to be alone?

"Xiviyah." His voice was soft, but it sent a shiver through me.

"Luke?" I asked, taking the last few steps, standing beside him.

He looked at me and smiled. It was small and sad, his violet eyes distant. My fingers curled into my skirt.

"You look beautiful," he said.

My heart fluttered in my chest. I stared up at him, my lips parted, but no sound came out. Where had that come from?

He lifted his hand, brushing my hair behind my ear, and then caressed my cheek. His hand felt rough against my skin, but his touch was soft, loving.

"Oh, Luke," I said, falling against him, unable to restrain myself any longer.

His arms encircled me, a hand wandering up my head, holding it to his chest. I could feel his heart beating through his tunic, slow and steady. His tail brushed against mine, or maybe it was mine against his. His fingers brushed my horn, making my heart beat a little faster.

"I missed you," I whispered, rubbing my cheek against him. "What happened? What took you so long? Is he, um..."

"Dead?" Luke’s hand wandered down my back, and this time, I was sure it was his tail on mine. "He’s gone. This time, I made sure of it."

"I knew you would."

He smiled faintly. "That made one of us."

His smile faded, and I looked at him. He didn’t meet my gaze. His violet eyes glittered in the dying light, staring at something only he could see.

"Xiviyah, what is a curse?"

I pondered his question quietly, the tip of my tail twitching back and forth. "I’m not sure I understand," I finally said.

"My curses are darkness. They weave and wind like living things, seeking life, warmth, and mana to steal away. They’re cold, Xiviyah." He shuddered. "I liked that about them. They brought despair to everyone they reached. Priests, inquisitors, demons, it didn’t matter. Everyone deserved to feel cold. It was my purpose, no, my duty, to take the light from them like the light had been taken from me."

He paused and lowered his head to rest on top of mine.

"But then I found you. They had taken your light, your warmth, just like they had mine. That’s what I believed for a long time.

"Luke..."

"For the first time, I didn’t want to take. I didn’t want to curse." He inhaled slowly, the air shuddering as he let it out. "Please, tell me. What is a curse? What is it for? What good is it?"

My fingers gripped his tunic tightly, holding myself to him. I didn’t understand. There had been something in his voice. Like...despair. No, not despair. Desperation.

"It doesn’t take, Luke," I whispered, feeling tears gathering. "Curses don’t take. They give. They give darkness instead of light, and cold instead of warmth." I touched my chest, where the slave crest had once burned. "They bring chains and anguish. They bring order. Obedience. And in the end, a curse is like any other magic. It’s just power."

"That power hurt you."

"Soltair hurt me. Lord Byron hurt me. The gods hurt me."

His eyes turned to me. "You don’t like curses. I’ve seen you recoil when my aura brushes you. I know what the slave crests did to you. They did it to me."

"It was a curse that first drove me from the divine, and a curse that let us meet." My hand closed around my ring. "It’s a curse that makes me yours."

He averted his gaze, quiet after that. Then he let out a breath, closing his eyes.

"I didn’t come back for them. Not the gods, not Rash’alon, not my curses." His lower lip quivered. "Not for Alara."

"I-I don’t understand."

"I thought I knew the shadows. I thought I understood the cold. But I was wrong. There is nothing so dark as seeing everything you’ve ever known, everything you’ve ever strived for, stripped away bit by bit until there’s nothing left. I saw everything clearly, maybe for the first time. This war, the gods, myself...and none of it mattered. On the edge of oblivion, almost nothing does. For no story survives its final Chapter. No sentiment persists beyond the last page."

My chest tightened as, slowly, I realized what he was talking about. Not Rash’alon, not the war.

"In the darkness, vengeance wasn’t bright enough to lead the way home. The horns of war were too distant to call me. But you weren’t. When I needed a path, you were the only one who came. Not my hatred, not my fear, not Elara. You. It was your warmth I felt, and your light I saw, and your voice I followed. Thank you, Xiviyah. I don’t think I’ve said that before. Thank you."

I pulled back to look him in the eyes. They were clear now and bright.

"I didn’t know that," I whispered, tears overflowing.

"You asked me how I defeated Rash’alon. I didn’t fight him, not with sword or magic. He asked me to show him my conviction, to draw on the power of what I fought for. He was prepared for me and my hatred. He knew of my vengeance and of my sister. But what I held most dear, what I wanted more than his death or my revenge...was you. And you are a light no curse could ever dim. That’s why I came for you, as you did for me. No war, no horde, no vengeance could possibly matter to me as much as you do."