ASHES OF THE SUNDERED STAR

Kael's Path: The Healer's Price

The Ashen Wastes gnawed at Kael's resolve. Lira's weight slumped over his shoulder grew heavier with every step, her breath shallow and icy against his neck. The meteorite shard, tucked into her belt, pulsed faintly, casting jagged shadows on the black sand. Soulbrand's glow dimmed to a smolder, its whispers drowned by the howling wind.

"She dies, you die," the hammer had warned him in the vision. "The Star cannot fall."

Kael gritted his teeth. Ahead, the Ghost Road's twisted fungal forests loomed, their canopy blotting out the bloody eclipse. Umbralis lay beyond—if they survived the crossing.

Lira stirred, her fingers clawing weakly at his arm. "...Tyrus?"

"Gone," Kael said, adjusting his grip. "Bought us time."

"Should've... left me." Her voice frayed. "The shard—it's changing me."

He didn't argue. The black veins now spiderwebbed up her neck, her pupils dilated into starless voids. Whatever the meteorite was doing, it was winning.

A low growl rumbled behind them.

Kael spun, Soulbrand raised. Three Voidspawn jackals emerged from the dunes, their forms flickering between wolf and shadow. These were smaller than the general—scouts—but their jagged teeth gleamed wetly in the dark.

"Stay back!" he barked, swinging the hammer in a wide arc.

The lead jackal lunged. Kael smashed its skull, golden light erupting on impact, but the creature dissolved into smoke before hitting the ground. The other two circled, snarling.

Clang.

One pounced. Kael sidestepped, hammer crushing its spine. The last jackal hesitated, its form blurring—then it shifted.

Bones cracked. The creature stretched into a gaunt humanoid, its face a hollow mimicry of Kael's own.

"Herald," it hissed, "the General hunts your heart. We'll bring it to him."

Kael froze. The Voidspawn's voice was his father's.

"Pathetic," it sneered, stepping closer. "You let me die. You'll let her die too."

Soulbrand flared, searing Kael's palm. "Lies," the hammer's voice growled in his mind. "Strike now!"

He swung. The Voidspawn dodged, laughing with his father's laugh, and slashed his ribs. Pain exploded, hot and bright. Kael stumbled, blood soaking his tunic.

Lira slid from his shoulder, collapsing in the sand. The meteorite shard rolled free, its galactic swirls brightening hungrily.

"No—" Kael reached for it, but the Voidspawn seized his wrist, its grip crushing.

"Weak," it spat. "Just like him."

Then Lira's hand shot out, clamping onto the shard.

Her eyes flew open—glowing, liquid silver. The Voidspawn recoiled as her voice echoed, layered with a thousand whispers: "You do not speak for him."

Light erupted from the shard. The Voidspawn screamed, disintegrating, as the blast hurled Kael backward.

When the glare faded, Lira lay motionless, the veins receded to her wrist. The shard's glow dimmed, spent.

Kael crawled to her side, trembling. "Lira?"

Her eyelids fluttered. "...Told you… to leave me."

He choked out a laugh, raw and relieved. "Not a chance."

Tyrus's Gambit: Dagger's Truth

Tyrus had always hated heroes.

They died messy, left loose ends, and worst of all—they expected applause. Yet here he was, playing the fool for a blacksmith and a dying witch.

The Voidspawn general loomed, its molten wings casting hellish light across the cliffside. Tyrus flipped a dagger, its runes glinting. "Come on, big boy. Let's dance."

The creature lunged. Tyrus ducked, slashing at its talons. The dagger's edge sparked against shadow-flesh, releasing a shrill whine.

Not good.

He rolled as the general's beak snapped where his head had been. The daggers—his daggers, stolen from the Obsidian Spire's ruins—usually drank their fill with every kill. But this thing? It had no blood to spill.

"Varys," the general hissed.

Tyrus froze. That name—his name, from the life he couldn't remember—slammed into him like a blade.

The Voidspawn's eye narrowed. "The Eclipsed Veil awaits your return… High Priest."

Memories flickered: robed figures chanting, a woman with midnight hair laughing as he slid a dagger between her ribs—Selene.

No.

Tyrus staggered. The general struck, talons raking his chest. He gasped, blood soaking his tunic, and stumbled against the cliff.

"You betrayed her," the Voidspawn crooned. "Selene loved you… and you sacrificed her to the Old Dark."

"Shut up," Tyrus snarled, but the daggers hummed in agreement, their runes flaring crimson.

The general's form shifted, melting into a woman—pale, beautiful, with eyes like fractured obsidian. Selene.

"You promised me eternity," she whispered, reaching for him.

Tyrus's breath hitched. The daggers trembled in his grip. "I didn't—I didn't know—"

"Liar." Her touch froze his skin. "You craved power. You let the parasite into our world. And now… you'll watch your new friends die for nothing."

Rage ignited in his chest. Tyrus drove a dagger into her illusion. "I'm done with ghosts!"

The blade pierced her heart. Selene's form dissolved, but not before smiling. "See you soon, Varys."

The general reverted, screeching, as Tyrus's dagger sank into its eye. Black ichor sprayed, burning his hands, but he held on.

"You… cannot… kill me…" it gurgled.

"No," Tyrus agreed, teeth bared. "But I can distract you."

He yanked the dagger sideways, carving a jagged rune into the creature's flesh—the same symbol etched on his hidden tattoo. The general convulsed, its body collapsing into a vortex of shadows.

Tyrus fell to his knees, blood pooling beneath him. The dagger's hilt cracked, its power draining into the rune.

Just a few more seconds…

The vortex exploded, engulfing the cliffside.

Convergence: The Ghost Road

Kael half-dragged, half-carried Lira into Umbralis' fungal forest. The trees' bioluminescent glow cast eerie shadows, their trunks pulsing like diseased hearts.

"Healer…" Lira mumbled. "Look for… moth sigil…"

Kael spotted it—a hut nestled between towering mushrooms, its door marked with a silver moth. He pounded on the wood. "Open up!"

A wizened woman with milky eyes answered, her gaze locking on Lira. "Weaver," she spat. "You bring death here."

"She's dying," Kael snapped. "Help her!"

The healer hesitated, then gestured them inside. The hut reeked of decay and herbs, jars of preserved creatures lining the walls. She pressed a hand to Lira's forehead, hissing. "The shard's poison is in her soul. Remove it, and she dies. Leave it, and she becomes her."

"Her who?"

"The goddess. The fool." The healer grabbed a scalpel. "Choose."

Kael's grip tightened on Soulbrand. The hammer's voice returned: "The shard must stay. It's the only way to seal the parasite."

"No," he said. "We find another way."

The healer laughed bitterly. "Spoken like a knight." She sliced Lira's palm, pressing it to the meteorite. "Then let her see."

Lira's back arched, a silent scream on her lips. Kael reached for her—

And the vision took them both.

Vision:

*A temple in flames. Nyrisia, radiant and furious, clutches a bleeding knight—Vyrion, Kael's ancestor. "You stole my light!" she screams. Behind her, a shadowy mass coils, whispering.

Vyrion slams Soulbrand into her chest. "For humanity," he rasps.

The shadow laughs. "For me."

Nyrisia's light fractures. The shadow burrows into her, becoming the parasite.

"No…" Lira's voice echoes. "We were wrong. All of us."*

Kael jerked back, gasping. Lira's eyes met his, clear for the first time.

"The parasite… it made her betray us," she whispered. "It's been feeding on her pain. On all our pain."

Outside, a roar shook the forest.

The Voidspawn general emerged from the trees, half its body mangled, Tyrus's dagger still embedded in its eye.

"Sundered Star…" it rasped. "You… are… mine…"

Kael stepped forward, Soulbrand blazing. "No. She's ours."

Lira rose, the shard glowing in her hand. "Together."

The general lunged.