Location: Nightbound HQ, War Room, Silver City
Zara before the map screen, tracing with her fingers the coordinates. Shards had infiltrated her, each in turn pulling her one way—fire, frost, shadow, lightning. They infused her with power, but with the more of them she was able to consume, she could feel something in her breaking apart, reforming.
"You don't have to do this," Helena's voice pierced her mind. She stood with arms crossed in the doorway.
Zara didn't turn yet. "The Shards aren't tools, Helena. They're remnants of something… something far older than us."
"They're corrupting you," Helena stepped forward, reaching out to her. "I can tell. The presence in your eyes. How your aura has changed. This isn't just a matter of saving the world anymore."
Zara faced her at last. Her expression was unreadable, but her tone was unyielding. "I'm trying to preserve it, Helena. But there's a larger war looming. I can feel it."
Helena's hands were balled into fists. "I know you're struggling, Zara. We all are. But these Shards… they're too much for anyone to endure. Even you."
Zara's hand drifted naturally to her chest, where the Shards rested, waiting patiently within her, a beat of energy humming beneath her skin. She caught for an instant fraction of a second the smell of fire, the taste of ice, the rush of lightning, and the persistent summons of shadow.
"I won't let it get to me," Zara declared, though she wasn't so sure that she was convincing Helena—or herself. "I need to reach the others before the Eclipsed Order does."
Helena did not respond, but the terror in her eyes was evident to see. She had been Zara's most loyal supporter from the beginning of this entire quest, but now even she could not hide her fear. Not for the world—but for her friend.
---
Location: Obsidian Fortress – Stronghold of Eclipsed Order
Vael glared before the holographic display of Shard locations, his face crinkled with frown. The High Herald of the Eclipsed Order, wearing her crimson robe, remained unsmiling in darkness. Uneasiness lay thick in the air of the war room.
"You were right," Vael said, his eyes narrowing. "The Nightbound found the Thunderheart. That means they'll be looking for the next one in no time."
The High Herald stepped out into the light. "Then it's time we got ready."
She yanked open a concealed panel in the wall, revealing an ancient relic—the first Shard, the Shardkiller. A black, jagged crystal pulsed with an otherworldly energy, its form shifting like a living thing.
Vael's gaze settled on it. "You want to use it?"
The High Herald's lips curled into a cold smile. "Not use it. Release it."
Vael stepped closer, the magnitude of the plan heavy on his mind. The Shardkiller had rested in captivity for centuries, a tool of unimaginable potential that had previously been employed to track down the Shards and slay their hosts. It was said to be a piece of the original work—a shard that devoured all others.
Nobody knew, though, what it would do after all these centuries.
"No," Vael shook his head. "You can't. If it's awakened, we have no control. It might destroy everything."
"The Shardkiller will not be controlled," the High Herald said, her voice cold. "It will destroy Zara Kane. And once that is dealt with, we'll finally have the Shards to ourselves."
---
Location: Neo-Tokyo Ruins – The Shardheart
Zara standing alone at the center of the Shardheart, her eyes closed. The Shards that resided within her hummed with a single harmony, each a voice which seemed to call out to her, urging her to take more power, to release more potential.
But with each beat, its weight added. A storm brewed inside her—one she refused to trust would unleash at any second. She had been warned by the Nightbound, by her own intuition, but the power enticed her. It vowed to give her what she desired.
And something else, more sinister, whispered undercurrent. Something that felt. ancient. An echo of someone who'd been there before.
The tempest around her intensified. Clouds writhed black overhead, lightning illuminating with growing ferocity. The whole sky seemed to answer the Thunderheart being awakened.
Zara stretched towards the Shard once more, her arm trembling. It was demanding that she let it go. It was calling to her, like a storm, inviting her to be its vessel in full, to be the channel it had sought for all time.
And then, as the storm raged with fury, a new voice spoke in her mind—deep, gravelly, and full of power.
"You are the final piece."
Zara gasped, the world spinning. Her heart pounded, and for a moment, she could see a figure—tall, standing in darkness—standing before her. His eyes blazed with the same power as the Shards themselves.
"I am the first bearer. I am the Shardkiller."
---
Location: Silver City – Nightbound HQ
The earth shook. The lights flashed as alarms wailed across the base. Helena burst into the operations room, her face pale.
"Myles! What is it?"
Myles furiously pecked at his terminal, his fingers flying a mile a minute. "There's a seismic event—gigantic. A spike in the Aether. It's coming from Neo-Tokyo."
Helena's heart skipped a beat. "Zara… "
She grabbed the comms headset. "Zara, can you hear me? Zara!"
But there was no answer.
The storm on the horizon was growing.
---
Location: Neo-Tokyo Ruins – The Shardheart
Zara's legs gave way as the voice of the first bearer resonated in her mind. It wasn't a flashback. It was true.
The man in front of her glowed, semi-transparent, like a ghost, but he existed. He was the first to bear the Shards—the first who had been corrupted by them, hunted by them, and lost everything at the end. His shape, a twisted imitation of the Shard's power, stood before her now as an omen.
"You can't flee from it," the voice boomed, shaking through the tempest. "The Shards are your cell. You will be me."
Zara's breath came hard as the power inside her mounted to its peak, a firestorm of fire, ice, lightning, and darkness thrashing wildly out of control within her. She was pulled back, her mind to chaos.
"I will not be you," Zara whispered, her voice thin as a breath above the storm's roar.
But the figure smiled. "Then you will be the one to kill them all."
The storm around her grew louder. And Zara felt the last Shard—the Shardkiller—awakening.
---