The hall of vaults dissolved around Cyrus, replaced by a wasteland he did not recognize. The air stank of smoke and iron, the sky burning red as if the heavens themselves were aflame.
He stood upon cracked earth, the shard fused to his palm glowing faintly. Before him, a pack of figures emerged from the haze. Their forms were twisted, their bodies bound by jagged chains of shadow. They moved like men, yet their faces were hollow masks of grief, mouths frozen in eternal screams.
The figure's voice echoed in his mind. "These are Remnants — sorrow left unclaimed, festering until it rots into hatred. If you falter, they will claim you as their own."
The Remnants surged forward.
Cyrus's body screamed to flee, but the shard burned against his palm. Instinct guided him — sorrow coursed through his veins, shaping itself into form. From the shard extended a blade of translucent light, jagged as shattered glass.
The first Remnant lunged. Cyrus swung clumsily, the blade tearing through it. But as it dissolved into smoke, its memories surged into him — a soldier who had died clutching a banner, never seeing the home he fought for. The grief nearly crushed him.
More came. Each strike brought victory, yet each victory burdened him with another soul's despair. A mother weeping for her lost child. A king watching his city burn. A child abandoned in silence. Their sorrow became his own, threatening to drown him.
Cyrus staggered, his chest burning under the flood of borrowed grief. "I can't… carry this… it's too much…"
But then, he remembered the figure's words. If you wield it, you will become its weapon.
Clenching his teeth, he steadied his heart. He did not reject the memories — he accepted them. He bore them not as wounds, but as truths. The sorrow of many became the edge of his blade.
With a cry that tore from his very soul, Cyrus swept his weapon in a wide arc. The remaining Remnants shattered, their screams fading into silence.
When the smoke cleared, Cyrus stood trembling but unbroken. His sorrow was no longer his alone.
He had made it a weapon of the fallen.