A month passed.

Time became a blur of blood, mud, and magic. They hunted across the jagged peaks of the North, the ash plains of the East, and the forgotten catacombs of the old capital.

Three more shards found. Three more battles against monsters, possessed warlords, and the ever-encroaching hunters of Regent Valdric.

Kael now held five of the seven shards.

He was no longer just an executioner. His right arm was permanently stained black from the wrist to the elbow, veins pulsing with a visible golden light. He didn't sleep. He barely ate. He spoke less, communicating mostly through nods and the terrifying, oppressive aura that bled from his skin.

Sera watched him with growing unease. Every time he used the power, more of the man faded, and more of the "kings" stepped forward.

"We have a problem," Sera said, spreading a map on the table of a safehouse in the trade city of Oakhaven. "Our spies in the capital have confirmed it. Regent Valdric has the sixth shard."

Kael stared at the map. His eyes, now permanently flecked with gold, didn't blink. "Where is the seventh?"

"That's the problem. Valdric has it too. He found it three days ago in the Emperor's Vault. He holds two. You hold five."

"Then we go to the capital," Kael said simply.

"Kael, wait. Valdric isn't just holding them. He's absorbing them. He's declared himself the new God-King. He's preparing the Ascension Ritual at the ruins of the Bone Spire for tomorrow night. If he completes it, he'll lock down the power. He'll become a true God-King, and he'll have total control over the armies."

"He won't complete it," Kael said, standing up. The air in the room dropped ten degrees. "Because I will take them from him."

"You're talking about assaulting an army with two people!"

"Not two people. Just me." Kael turned to her. "You stay here, Sera. Your part is done. You kept me alive long enough to gather the power. I will finish this."

Sera stepped in front of him, shoving a finger into his chest. "Listen to me, you arrogant idiot. The shards are changing you. You think you're going there to save the world? I look at you, and I see the God-Kings. I see the tyrants. If you go alone, if you let the power take over completely to fight Valdric, you won't come back. A king will come back, but Kael the executioner will be dead."

Kael looked at her finger on his chest, then up to her face. For a fleeting second, the cold gold in his eyes receded, revealing the tired, graying forty-three-year-old man underneath.

"The world is dying, Sera," he whispered, pointing out the window at the sky. A massive, swirling void of nothingness had consumed a third of the horizon. The Hollowing was accelerating. "If Valdric completes the ritual, the cage stays broken. The world gets eaten. The only way to seal the throne is to bring all seven pieces together and reforge it."

"And who sits on it?" she challenged. "Who becomes the jailer?"

Kael didn't answer.

He walked past her, out into the rainy night, and began the long walk back to where it all started.