The Weeping Woods earned their name not from the weather, but from the trees. Ancient willows with pale, sap-weeping vines hung down like dragging fingers. Locals said the sap was hallucinogenic. Smugglers said it was just sticky.

Kael realized the locals were right on the second day of their ride.

The shadows inside his chest had been restless since they entered the canopy. The shard beat a staccato rhythm, pushing dark energy into his blood. Every time a vine brushed his shoulder, his vision blurred, overlapping the damp forest with a grand, terrifying throne room.

"Keep your eyes forward," Sera warned, pulling her horse alongside his. "The woods mess with your head. Don't look at the shapes in the trees."

"I'm not seeing shapes in the trees," Kael muttered, rubbing his eyes. "I'm seeing a man in a golden crown ordering a thousand people to be thrown into a fire."

Sera reigned in her horse. "A memory?"

"From the shard." Kael grimaced as a spike of phantom pain hit his temple. "It's bleeding into my mind. The God-King... not Vareth. An older one. He's laughing while they burn."

"The Fourth God-King, Malakor," Sera said grimly. "History calls him the Sun's Wrath. He burned the western continent to glass."

"He's in here." Kael tapped his chest. "Sera, if I collect the other shards... do I become them? Do I become him?"

Before she could answer, a wet thud echoed through the trees. A horse screamed—not Kael's, not Sera's, but something further up the path.

Kael drew his broadsword. Sera unholstered her throwing knives. They slipped off their mounts, tying them to a sturdy root, and moved silently through the underbrush.

In a clearing ahead, three figures in gray cloaks stood over a downed horse. Ashblades. Valdric's elite trackers, known for their poisoned weapons and utter lack of empathy. They hadn't ridden ahead; they had set an ambush.

"They knew we'd take the smuggler's path," Sera whispered.

One of the Ashblades knelt, dragging a struggling figure out from under the horse. It was a young boy, no older than fifteen, clutching a bundled package to his chest.

"Where is the caravan?" the Ashblade hissed, pressing a pale green dagger to the boy's throat. "Where are the Unblinded?"

Sera moved before Kael could stop her. Two knives flashed through the damp air. Both buried themselves into the back of the kneeling Ashblade. He crumpled instantly.

The other two spun around, drawing curved blades. They didn't shout. They didn't banter. They simply dissolved into the shadows of the trees, moving with supernatural speed.

"Magic," Kael noted. "They've got a piece of Valdric's shard power."

"Watch the flanks!" Sera bolted toward the boy.

Kael closed his eyes. The physical world was too dark, too dense with trees. He stopped relying on his human eyes and listened to the shard.

King.<br> Command the dark.

Kael opened his eyes, and the world shifted into a spectrum of grayscale. The mundane shadows of the trees were static, but two moving masses of darkness were crawling along the canopy branches, preparing to drop on Sera.

Kael didn't swing his sword. He raised his left hand, visualizing the phantom memory of the mad king. He pulled the rage, the absolute authority of the throne, and forced it outward.

A shockwave of solid shadow erupted from his palm, ripping through the canopy. The branches exploded. The two Ashblades were thrown out of the darkness, crashing violently into the muddy forest floor.

Sera finished them before they could rise, her short sword precise and ruthless.

Kael fell to his knees, gasping for breath. Using the shard's power felt like running a marathon while bleeding out. It demanded a toll.

Sera helped the terrified boy to his feet, then walked over to Kael, offering a hand.

"You controlled it," she said.

Kael took her hand, wiping sweat from his forehead. "Barely. It wants me to hurt people, Sera. Every time I use it, it asks for blood."

"You're an executioner," she replied softly. "You of all people know how to hold an axe without letting the axe swing you."

He hoped to gods she was right.