The dawn did not bring light to the valley; it only revealed the extent of the gray ash covering everything. Kaiden stood by the side of the road, watching the thin trail of smoke rising from the remains of the transport wagon. His body felt like it had been put through a meat grinder. The golden aura was gone, leaving behind a hollow ache in his chest that felt like a physical weight.
Elena sat on a mossy stone a few feet away. She had washed the soot from her face with water from a nearby stream, but the skin beneath was pale and drawn. She kept looking at Kaiden's right hand. The ring was a dull, obsidian black again, looking like a harmless piece of jewelry.
Elena said, "You shouldn't have hidden it, Kaiden."
Kaiden did not turn around. He was staring at the ruts in the dirt where the carriage had vanished.
Kaiden said, "I didn't hide it. I didn't even know it was in the house. I found it in the ruins."
Elena shook her head slowly. Her voice was trembling, but there was a sharp edge of anger beneath the fear.
Elena said, "Not the ring. I'm talking about you. I saw how you moved. I saw what you did to those men before you ever touched that ring. You didn't fight like a woodcutter. You fought like a ghost."
Kaiden finally turned to look at her. The silver streaks in his hair seemed more prominent in the harsh morning light. He wanted to reach out to her, to comfort her, but the memory of his own hands glowing with a heat that would have burned her skin stopped him.
Kaiden said, "The man I was is dead, Elena. He's been dead for seven years. I only brought him back because there was no other way."
Elena stood up, her green eyes flashing.
Elena said, "He isn't dead. He was just sleeping. And now he's awake, and our daughter is gone. That man in the suit... Voss. He knew you. He called you the Silent Shadow. He came for you, didn't he? All of this happened because of your past."
Kaiden felt the words hit him harder than Voss's kinetic blasts. It was the truth he hadn't wanted to face. His peace had been a lie, a fragile shield he had built over a pit of bodies.
Kaiden said, "It doesn't matter why it happened anymore. It only matters how it ends. I am going to Valerion."
Elena looked toward the mountain pass. The Trade Crown was a massive kingdom, a place of high walls and deep conspiracies.
Elena said, "You can't go alone. You're shaking, Kaiden. Your Spirit Core is flickering like a dying candle. Whatever that ring did to you, it took more than you can afford to give."
Solaris's voice rumbled in the back of Kaiden's mind, sounding annoyed.
Solaris said, "She is right, in a way. You are a leaking bucket, boy. You have the power of a king in your hand, but your body is a peasant's tool. You need to sharpen yourself, or the next time those Hollow Men appear, they won't just take your girl. They'll take your soul."
Kaiden ignored the king. He looked at Elena.
Kaiden said, "I have to. Every hour we waste, they get closer to the capital. Voss said her core was hungry. I don't know what that means, but I know it's bad."
Before Elena could respond, a rustle in the bushes across the road made Kaiden move. Despite his exhaustion, his instincts were instantaneous. He stepped in front of Elena, his hand going to the hilt of the stolen short sword.
Kaiden said, "Come out. Now."
The bushes parted. A young man stumbled out, tripping over a tree root and landing face-first in the dirt. He looked to be about nineteen, with messy black hair and a dark jacket that was torn in half a dozen places. He scrambled to his feet, holding a jagged piece of a broken spear like a club.
The young man said, "Wait! Don't kill me! I'm not with them!"
Kaiden didn't lower his sword. He scanned the boy. He was thin, covered in dirt, and his green eyes were wide with a mixture of terror and a strange, restless energy. He was breathing hard, and his Spirit Core was vibrating visibly—a pale, flicking light that suggested he was an Initiate who had just been through a fight.
Kaiden asked, "Who are you?"
The boy wiped sweat from his forehead. He kept glancing at the road, as if expecting the navy-clad mercenaries to reappear at any second.
The young man said, "My name is Rael. I'm from Oakhaven. Or, I was. I was out checking the traps when the smoke started. I tried to get back, but I ran into a group of those men near the river. I fought one of them off, but there were too many."
Kaiden lowered the sword an inch.
Kaiden said, "You survived a fight with Voss's men?"
Rael looked down at his broken spear. He laughed, a short, nervous sound.
Rael said, "I didn't win. I just refused to fall down. My core... it's weird. The more they hit me, the more I just wanted to keep standing. I think I annoyed them more than I hurt them. They left me for dead after the wagon moved out."
He looked at the ruins of the transport and then at Kaiden. Recognition sparked in his eyes.
Rael said, "I saw you. Last night. You were the one with the light. You were like a sun walking through the trees. Everyone else was running, but you were hunting them."
Kaiden said, "I was failing them."
Rael stepped forward, his grip on the broken spear tightening.
Rael said, "They took my sister, too. Mia. She was on that wagon. I followed the tracks as far as I could, but I don't have a horse and I don't have... well, I don't have whatever you have."
Elena walked over to the boy. Her healer's instincts took over the moment she saw the blood on his jacket. She placed a hand on his shoulder, her palm glowing with a faint, warm light. Rael winced as the Living Current began to knit the shallow cuts on his arm.
Elena said, "You're exhausted, Rael. You shouldn't be on your feet."
Rael looked at her, then back at Kaiden.
Rael said, "I don't care. I'm going to Valerion. If I stay here, I'm just waiting to die in the ash. If I go there, maybe I can do something. I saw what you did. You're strong. Teach me. Or just let me follow you. I can cook, I can scout, and I can take a hit better than anyone you've ever met."
Kaiden looked at the boy's eyes. He saw something there that he recognized. It wasn't just courage; it was the desperation of someone who had lost his anchor and was drifting in a storm.
Solaris said, "He's a stray dog, Kaiden. Feed him or kick him, but don't let him slow us down. He has a Will core. Rare, but useless if the body is weak."
Kaiden said, "Valerion is a war zone, Rael. If you follow me, you'll likely die before we reach the border."
Rael nodded, his expression turning grimly serious.
Rael said, "I'm already dead if I stay here. At least if I follow you, I'll die doing something that matters."
Kaiden looked at Elena. He saw the conflict in her eyes. She wanted to stay safe, but she knew Rael was right. There was nothing left in Oakhaven.
Kaiden said, "Fine. We move in five minutes. We need to skirt the main road. Voss will have scouts at the checkpoints."
They started walking. Kaiden led the way, his eyes constantly scanning the ridgeline. Rael followed close behind, his energy seemingly renewed by the mere fact that he wasn't alone anymore. Elena walked in the middle, her silence a heavy barrier between her and Kaiden.
As they walked, the landscape began to change. The lush green of the valley gave way to the dry, cracked earth of the drought-stricken plains. The Great Drought had been hard on the Seven Kingdoms, but Valerion had used its wealth to hoard water, leaving the border territories to rot.
Solaris spoke up again, his voice echoing in Kaiden's mind.
Solaris said, "You need to understand the Hollow Men, Kaiden. You felt it, didn't you? The way they sucked the light out of the air?"
Kaiden thought, They felt like nothing. Like a hole in reality.
Solaris said, "Exactly. They are remnants. Fragments of the things that existed before the Spirit Cores were ever forged. They don't have souls, so they hunger for them. That boy's sister, your daughter... they aren't just prisoners. They are fuel. The ring is a beacon to them. If you use me too much, they will find you again."
Kaiden thought, Then how am I supposed to fight them?
Solaris laughed.
Solaris said, "You don't fight them with light. You fight them with weight. The second seal, Kaiden. You need to unlock Veyros. He's the strategist. He knows the math of the void. But to wake him, you need to prove you aren't just a brute. You have to outthink an enemy you cannot overpower."
Kaiden looked at his hand. The ring didn't react.
They reached a small bluff overlooking the main trade route. Below them, a column of Valerion soldiers was moving toward the border. They weren't mercenaries; these were regulars, clad in gleaming silver plate with blue plumes. In the center of the column was a heavy iron carriage marked with the seal of the Trade Crown.
Rael whispered, "Is that them? Is Aria in there?"
Kaiden narrowed his eyes. He watched the way the soldiers moved. They were disciplined, but they weren't on high alert.
Kaiden said, "No. That's a tax shipment. Voss wouldn't travel with the regulars. He's too independent. He'll be using the backroads, the smuggler's paths through the Iron Woods."
Rael asked, "How do you know that?"
Kaiden said, "Because that's what I would do."
He turned away from the road, leading them toward the dark silhouette of the forest on the horizon. The Iron Woods was a place of massive, metallic-barked trees and dangerous predators, but it was the fastest way to Valerion's heart.
As the sun began to dip below the horizon, the air turned cold. They found a small cave to rest in for the night. Rael busied himself gathering dry wood, while Elena sat near the entrance, looking out at the stars.
Kaiden sat in the back of the cave, his eyes closed. He was trying to feel his Spirit Core. It felt bruised, the energy sluggish. Every time he tried to circulate his power, he felt a sharp tug from the ring.
Solaris said, "Stop poking it. You're like a child with a broken toy. Rest. Tomorrow, the Iron Woods will test you. And if you fail, I'll find a new host in that loud boy."
Kaiden opened his eyes and looked at Rael. The boy was trying to light a fire by rubbing two sticks together. He was failing miserably, but he wasn't stopping. His hands were blistered, and he was sweating, but he kept going.
Kaiden walked over and took the sticks from him. He focused a tiny, microscopic spark of solar energy from the ring into the wood. The fire roared to life instantly.
Rael stared at the flames, then at Kaiden.
Rael said, "That was amazing. Can you teach me to do that?"
Kaiden said, "No. You don't want this power, Rael. It isn't a gift. It's a debt."
Rael sat back, the firelight dancing in his green eyes.
Rael said, "Everyone has a debt, Kaiden. Mine is to the people who didn't make it out of the village. I'd pay any price to be strong enough to protect what's left."
Kaiden didn't answer. He looked at Elena, but she had her back turned to him. She was the only one who knew the true price of the power he carried, and she wasn't ready to forgive him for paying it.
He leaned back against the cold stone wall of the cave. He closed his eyes, but he didn't sleep. He saw Aria's face in the dark. He saw her grey eyes, so like his own, turning dull as her shadow was stolen.
He gripped the ring until it bit into his skin.
Kaiden thought, Voss. I'm coming.
In the distance, a wolf howled, but it didn't sound like a normal animal. It sounded metallic, like gears grinding together. The Iron Woods was waiting, and Kaiden knew that by morning, he would have to decide just how much more of his humanity he was willing to trade for the strength to move forward.
The fire crackled, the only warm thing in a world that was rapidly turning to shadow. Kaiden Valcrest waited for the light, knowing that for him, the sun would never truly rise again.