KAEL*
I sat in the silence of my old quarters, fingers wrapped tightly around the black crystal sigil.
The Oathshard.
It pulsed faintly against my palm, as if aware that its time had come again.
This shard wasn't just a relic. It was a tether, a symbol of command, lineage, and rebellion. The original Heir's token, passed down through blood and war, forged in the fires of the First Pact.
I hadn't returned it when I walked away from the Court all those decades ago.
Veyros had demanded it back. I'd ignored him.
Keeping the Oathshard meant I never truly gave up my claim. And it also meant I could still call upon those ancient contracts and powers tied to it... like Vaelith.
But more than that, the shard was reacting.
It hadn't done that in a century. Not since Tanya.
It had been during a raid on the demon stronghold at Blackridge Hollow, a mission gone violently sideways. Tanya and I had been surrounded by wraith-bound sentinels, their souls anchored to the nether realm. No blade or spell could touch them. Then Tanya screamed. It wasn't fear... it was fury. Her eyes bled silver light, her aura erupting in waves. The sentinels collapsed, writhing as their ethereal forms were sucked inward, drained. I tried to reach her, but the air bent around her like a whirlpool. When I touched her, a current slammed into my chest, stealing my breath. She nearly drained me. Her power... it devoured magic, immortality, essence. When she came to, she was terrified of what she had done. So was I. But I also knew, we both knew... that we had just witnessed something ancient. Something forbidden. A piece of Nyros reborn.
Now, every time I thought of Talia, every time I said her name aloud, the sigil pulsed. Not brightly, not violently... but with a steady heat, like an ember waiting for breath.
Could it be sensing her? The power buried within her bloodline?
The Void.
I rubbed my thumb over the glowing rune that surfaced for a moment, then vanished into the obsidian crystal. A symbol of fate, of power that could upend everything the Court had built.
I shouldn't be holding it.
But I was.
And I would use it, if that was what it took to keep her alive.
----
The Court was a beast with many faces.
I walked its veiled corridors, hearing whispers in languages long forgotten, nodding at those who still bowed out of instinct rather than respect. The halls hadn't changed. The politics hadn't either.
But I had.
In the war room, three members of the High Council were already seated. Elder Syros, grim and law-bound. Lady Renka, sharp-tongued and always watching. And Zho, silent, calculating, whose loyalty depended solely on advantage.
Veyros entered last, Saelis trailing behind like a shadow licking at power's heel.
"You've made your intentions clear, Kael," Veyros began smoothly, taking his seat at the head of the table. "But intentions are not legacy."
"I have the Oathshard," I said, placing it on the obsidian table. It pulsed faintly.
Even Renka leaned forward, eyes glinting.
"A relic," Syros muttered.
"No," Zho said quietly. "A claim. One that has not been extinguished."
Saelis stiffened.
"You gave it up," he snapped. "When you abandoned your post. When you..."
"When I mourned Tanya," I growled, eyes locking on Veyros. "After you orchestrated her death."
The room chilled.
Lady Renka arched a brow. "Those are strong words."
"Because they're true."
Veyros remained impassive. "The Council will vote in due time. But know this, Kael... blood may speak, but memory weighs heavier."
I nodded once. "Then remember everything."
---
That night, back in the privacy of my chambers, I summoned Vaelith again.
The air wavered, shimmered, and the Veilwalker stepped through. His robes fluttered like smoke, and his eyes were a dozen places at once.
"She bleeds through the future," he whispered without prompt. "Bright and broken and whole. A hundred endings curl around her feet."
"What did you see?"
"The Void sings in her," he hissed. "But it sings out of tune. Not yet complete. Not yet heard."
"And the Court?"
Vaelith's head snapped suddenly toward me, clarity cutting through the madness like lightning.
"If they learn too soon, they will kill her, out of fear. Or worse, they will use her."
My grip on the Oathshard tightened.
"Then they won't find out. Not until she's ready."
"She must choose," Vaelith said. "Power without choice is corruption. And corruption calls ruin."
I nodded slowly.
"Then we wait. And we protect her."
Vaelith twitched again, the moment of lucidity fading.
"The dream comes again. I will walk it. I will return. Unless it eats me first."
With a flicker, he vanished.
And I was alone again , with nothing but shadows, a relic of rebellion, and a name I couldn't stop whispering.
Talia.