The Ashen Highlands were behind them now, a dead land once again at peace. But peace was fleeting in this world. Leon and Juno stood at the edge of a new frontier the Shifting Sands of Vael'Zorah.
An endless desert, known not for its heat or harshness, but for something far more dangerous: delusions.
Maps were useless. Landmarks changed. People who entered often emerged with their memories broken if they emerged at all.
And somewhere within it lay the fifth fragment of the Dominion Key.
Crossing the Threshold
The wind howled as the two entered the golden dunes, grains of sand slicing at their skin like tiny blades. A low hum filled the air like a whisper of voices just out of reach.
"This place is wrong," Juno muttered, scanning the shifting dunes. "It's like the ground itself moves when you're not looking."
Leon didn't respond. He felt it too.
The weight of something ancient, watching from beneath the sand.
But there was no turning back.
With each step forward, the path behind them vanished, swallowed by the ever-changing terrain.
Mirage of the Past
As the sun reached its apex, the heat became unbearable. And then the hallucinations began.
Juno saw her younger brother dead for years smiling and running toward her.
"Juno… you left me…"
She gasped, tears welling up before she realized it wasn't real. "No. You're not him."
She blinked and he was gone.
Leon, meanwhile, was facing a different kind of ghost.
He stood face to face with himself but not as he was now. This version of Leon wore a crown, eyes alight with cold fire, soaked in blood.
"You think you're different?" the illusion mocked. "You think you won't become the tyrant they all fear?"
Leon gritted his teeth. "I know I will. The question is who I bring with me."
And with that, he stabbed the mirage through the heart and it vanished in a cloud of dust.
The Sand Serpent
As night fell, the temperature dropped and the silence became suffocating.
Then the sand beneath them erupted.
A massive creature burst forth scales like obsidian, eyes glowing with molten gold. The Sand Serpent of Vael'Zorah.
Twice the size of a warship. Its screech shattered the air.
Leon pulled Juno back just in time as the creature's tail swept across the dunes, sending sand flying in a violent cascade.
"Split up!" Leon shouted. "We flank it!"
Juno sprinted left, weaving through the dunes. Leon moved right, sword in hand.
The Serpent dove underground, reappearing behind Leon too fast.
It lunged, maw wide.
But Leon had been waiting.
He leapt upward, using a shifting dune as a springboard, and drove his blade down between the creature's eyes.
[Skill Unlocked: Apex Predator Kill from Above]
The beast shrieked and thrashed, then fell still.
Sand swallowed its body leaving behind a single object.
A shard. Glowing faintly.
Leon approached and lifted it from the sand.
[Dominion Key Fragment Acquired: 5 of 7]
Juno stared. "That's five…"
Leon nodded, breathing heavily. "Two more."
The First Betrayal
They set up camp beneath the stars, the Serpent's body already reclaimed by the dunes.
As they rested, a sound echoed across the sands.
Boots.
Leon stood immediately, sword ready.
From the shadows stepped Darius a former ally they'd believed lost during the Siege of Stonereach.
"Leon," Darius said, voice flat. "You've come far. Too far."
Leon narrowed his eyes. "You're working with them now?"
Darius didn't answer. He just drew his blade.
Juno cursed. "Damn it. I trusted you."
"You still can," Darius whispered. "But you need to understand the final two fragments… they're protected by things far worse than you've seen. You need more than power. You need sacrifice."
Leon stepped forward. "Then I'll pay the price. Just not tonight."
Their blades met in a clash of sparks.
The desert watched.
---
The night air of the Shifting Sands had turned cold, stinging their lungs with every breath. Above, the stars blinked silently indifferent observers to the duel now raging beneath them.
Leon's blade clashed with Darius's in a flurry of steel and grit. Sparks erupted with each impact, illuminating their grim faces. Sand curled into the air with every step, their feet barely finding purchase as the ground trembled with every clash.
Darius was fast. Faster than Leon remembered. But more than that he was precise, deliberate. Every strike was measured, every dodge calculated.
"You were always too idealistic," Darius growled as he parried another swing and countered with a slash that nicked Leon's shoulder. "Still clinging to the idea of saving everyone."
Leon slid back, blood trickling from the cut, but his eyes were locked on Darius. "And you've clearly abandoned that idea entirely."
"I've seen what lies ahead. The truth." Darius's expression twisted with something between guilt and resolve. "You'll understand soon enough."
Juno aimed her blade from the dune ridge, uncertain whether to interfere. Leon had given her a look — Let me handle this.
She bit her lip and waited. Her hands trembled.
Echoes of the Brotherhood
They had once been comrades back when the rebellion against the Tyrant Lords was just beginning. Darius had been the first to swear fealty to Leon, the first to declare him a future Emperor. He had stood by Leon during the darkest days at the siege of Frostmere, even when the others had fled.
But now, here he was blades drawn, eyes haunted.
Leon deflected a vicious thrust and pivoted, slamming his shoulder into Darius's chest and sending them both tumbling down a slope of sand.
They landed hard, rolling apart.
Darius grunted, rising to a knee, his sword half-buried. "You don't get it. The Dominion Key... it's not a weapon. It's a test. One that breaks everyone eventually."
Leon's breath came hard. "And you broke?"
"No," Darius whispered. "I chose. To survive."
He stood fully now, raising his blade once more. "You'll have to kill me to go further, Leon. Or die here."
Hearts Under Pressure
Juno couldn't take it anymore.
She sprinted down the ridge, intercepting the duel just as Darius lunged for Leon. Her dagger caught Darius's sword mid-air with a sharp metallic ring.
"Enough!" she snapped. "We've all lost things. Don't you dare make this harder than it has to be!"
Darius stepped back, eyes narrowed. "Juno… you think this is about emotion? This is about survival. You've seen what the other fragment did to the Valley of Glass. You felt what it was like when Leon activated the third shard."
Juno winced. She remembered too well the screams of her own mind unraveling under the Key's pressure, Leon's hand shaking for hours afterward.
Darius continued. "The sixth fragment lies beneath the Tomb of Ten Kings. Guarded by the Eidolon Sovereigns not just monsters, but memories given form. The seventh… is worse. You think we've sacrificed already? We haven't even started."
Sacrifice Demanded
Leon slowly lowered his blade. "Then come with us. If you know what we'll face, help us."
Darius's gaze faltered.
"You're right," Leon admitted. "I haven't sacrificed enough. But I'm willing to. And if the Key is a test, then I'll beat it not by becoming a monster but by staying human."
A long silence.
Then Darius sheathed his sword. "You haven't changed."
He tossed a scroll to Leon. "The tomb is marked here. But the final fragment… I don't have a map for that."
"What then?" Juno asked, stepping beside Leon.
Darius looked at her, a strange sadness in his eyes. "To find the seventh shard… Leon will have to lose you."
Juno froze.
Leon's expression darkened instantly. "No."
Darius turned away. "It's not prophecy. It's pattern. The Key doesn't unlock the throne. It forges the one meant to rule. And what king ever rose without loss?"
He vanished into the dunes, his footsteps swallowed by the night.
Aftermath and Resolve
They sat silently by the campfire.
Juno stared at the flame, its reflection flickering in her tired eyes. "You believe him?"
"I believe that the Key is dangerous. And I believe we're not done paying for it."
She looked up at him, eyes searching. "Would you give me up, Leon? If it meant finishing this? If it meant winning?"
Leon turned his head slowly. "No. I'd burn the world down first."
Her lips trembled with the start of a smile. "That's a dangerous thing to say."
"Then it fits the man I'm becoming."
They slept that night, but uneasily the stars above seemed sharper somehow, as if watching with keener interest.
The tomb awaited.
And beyond that... the real cost.