Chapter 17 – The Fallen Shard
The crater stank of ozone and iron. Broken resonance shimmered in the air like sparks of dying stars, drifting slowly to the ground. The last of the Harbingers' twisted forms dissolved into fragments, carried away on a wind that should not have existed.
Kael stood in the center of the devastation, chest heaving, eyes still burning with the storm of Infinity. His fists trembled—not from weakness, but from the raw, unyielding power still coursing through him. For a moment, he couldn't even feel his own heartbeat. He was nothing but the rhythm of thunder.
"Kael…
Elara's voice cut through the chaos like a lifeline. She stood at the edge of the crater, her face pale, eyes wide—not from fear of the enemy, but from what she had seen in him.
When Kael turned toward her, the storm flared. Lightning crawled across his skin, flickering in his irises. Her Keeper's sight revealed threads of infinite resonance spilling out of him, lashing the air, threatening to tear reality apart.
"Stop—" she whispered, stepping forward, ignoring the ringing in her head. The echoes of the shard were still screaming inside her mind: thousands of voices begging, cursing, warning. But louder than all of them was Kael's.
She reached him. Without hesitation, she pressed her hand to his chest. The storm roared against her touch, threatening to consume her, but she didn't flinch.
"Kael. Look at me."
His gaze flickered, lost in the tide. For a heartbeat she feared she had already lost him to the Infinite, that the boy she knew had been drowned in the power he now held. But then, slowly, his eyes found hers.
"Elara…" His voice was broken, as though he hadn't spoken in centuries.
Her hand glowed faintly, not with her own light but with the resonance of countless souls she bore as Keeper. She pushed that into him—not force, not power, but memory. Warmth. Humanity. Anchor.
The storm relented. Lightning dimmed. His shoulders sagged. And at last, Kael drew a breath that belonged to him, not to infinity.
He fell to his knees.
Elara caught him before he hit the ground, her arms tight around him. "You came back," she whispered fiercely, her forehead pressed to his.
His lips curved in the faintest, exhausted smile. "Because you called me."
Behind them, Lyra collapsed onto the ground with a groan. She wiped sweat and soot from her brow, flicking ash from her fingers. "If anyone's keeping score, I want it noted that I roasted six of those shadow freaks before Kael went all god-mode."
Aelric sheathed his blade silently, his eyes fixed on the crater. His jaw was tight, his face unreadable. "That wasn't victory."
Lyra scowled at him. "We're alive, aren't we? I'd call that victory."
"No." His voice was calm, but hard. "They didn't fight to win. They fought to stall us."
That drew a heavy silence. Even Lyra didn't joke.
Darius, who had been leaning on his staff to catch his breath, finally spoke. His usually steady hands shook. "He's right. The shard… it wasn't just a weapon. It was bait."
Elara's heart clenched. The Keeper's voices within her had told her the same, though she hadn't wanted to believe it. The Sovereigns hadn't sent the Harbingers to defeat them. They had sent them to test Kael.
Kael, still leaning against her, clenched his fists. His voice was hoarse but steady. "Then they know."
Elara tightened her grip on him. "Know what?"
"That I'm no longer bound by limits." He looked down at his trembling hands, the memory of lightning still etched into his skin. "And they'll come for me."
The crater pulsed faintly, as though mocking him. The shard itself was gone, dissolved into resonance when the masked leader had tried to claim it—but its echo lingered, a scar on the world. The corruption would spread again.
"We can't stay here," Aelric said at last. "The longer we linger, the more danger we draw."
Elara helped Kael to his feet, though he swayed like a man recovering from fever. She searched his face, seeing the weight he now carried. Infinite strength, yes—but also infinite burden.
She brushed ash from his cheek with trembling fingers. "Then we'll face whatever comes. Together."
Kael looked at her, and for the first time since the storm had taken him, he allowed himself to believe it.
Above them, the sky cracked with distant thunder, though no storm brewed. The Sovereigns were watching. And the war for the future of their world had only just begun.