Chapter 56: The Price of Power

The Shard of Eternity burned in Kael's palm, its crystalline surface pulsing with an eerie light that seemed to sync with his heartbeat. Each throb sent another wave of visions crashing through his mind—fragments of forgotten empires, dying stars, and a darkness so profound it threatened to swallow him whole. He clenched his jaw, forcing himself to focus on the present, on the dead forest surrounding them and the weight of his companions' stares.

Aurelia's fingers closed around his wrist, her touch startlingly cold against his feverish skin. "You're shaking," she observed, her usual sharp tone softened by something that might have been concern. 

Kael tried to pull away, but his muscles refused to cooperate properly. "It's nothing. Just need a moment—"

"You're lying worse than a Veil informant," she cut in, her dark eyes narrowing. "That thing is eating you alive, and we both know it."

Across their makeshift camp, Lucian looked up from sharpening his blade, crimson eyes glinting in the firelight. "Problem?"

Before Kael could respond, the world stuttered—a half-second glitch in reality where the campfire flames froze mid-flicker and the wind died mid-whisper. When time snapped back into place, both Aurelia and Lucian were on their feet, weapons drawn.

"That's the third time tonight," Lucian growled, his fangs flashing. "How much longer before you lose control completely?"

Kael wiped at the blood trickling from his nose, his fingers coming away stained crimson. "Long enough," he muttered, though the Shard's whispers in his mind suggested otherwise. 

Aurelia crouched before him, her movements unnaturally precise. "Let me see it." When he hesitated, she added, "Unless you'd rather collapse mid-battle when the Veil catches up to us?"

Reluctantly, Kael uncurled his fingers, revealing the Shard's pulsating glow. The moment Aurelia's skin brushed against it, her entire body went rigid. Her pupils dilated until her eyes looked nearly black, and when she spoke, her voice carried an echo that didn't belong to her: "The price will be paid in blood and time."

She recoiled as if burned, nearly dropping the artifact. Lucian was at her side in an instant, one hand steadying her shoulder. "What the hell was that?"

"The Shard remembers," Aurelia breathed, rubbing her palm as if it ached. "It's not just a weapon—it's a prison. And the key." Her gaze locked onto Kael's. "You've been seeing them too, haven't you? The ones who came before?"

Kael didn't need to ask who she meant. The ancient faces that haunted his visions—the previous wielders—all shared the same hollow-eyed stare in their final moments. "They all died holding this," he admitted quietly.

Lucian's grip tightened on his sword. "Then we get rid of it."

"And let the Veil claim it?" Aurelia shook her head. "There's a reason Selene led us to this thing. We need—"

A sudden snap of branches cut her off. All three turned as one toward the tree line, where the darkness seemed to ripple unnaturally. Kael's stomach dropped as the Shard flared brighter in his hand, its light revealing dozens of glowing eyes reflecting back at them from the woods.

"Too late," Lucian murmured, shifting into a fighting stance. "They're already here."

The first Veil assassin emerged from the shadows, their featureless mask gleaming in the Shard's light. Then another. And another. Within seconds, their camp was surrounded.

Aurelia bared her teeth in something too sharp to be a smile. "Well," she said, drawing twin daggers from her boots, "looks like we get to test your theory after all, Kael."

As the Veil forces charged, Kael closed his fingers around the Shard and felt time slow around him. The world narrowed to the pounding of his heart, the weight of the artifact in his palm, and the terrible certainty that none of them would walk away from this unchanged.

The Shard pulsed once, twice—and then the battle began in earnest.