"What do you want?" the voice asked. "You come into my home, you invade it, you kill my guards, my friends that I have carefully crafted and constructed, all for… what?"
"I'm sorry that it has come to this," Sonder said. "But I have come here for a greater purpose other than myself."
"Greater purpose?" the voice mused. "What greater purpose can that be?"
"It's to save someone."
"Save someone? What can this dead land offer anyone in need of life?"
"Not this land," she said. "And not you. At least, not directly."
"Then speak," he said. "If you have already decided to stain my halls with ruin, you may as well justify it."
"There are shards," she said. "Fragments of something very powerful and dangerous. If you have seen one of them, you know what I am speaking of."
The voice didn't answer.
"There is someone hurt that I care about," Sonder continued. "An even greater force is twisting them, eating away at what they are. I don't know how to undo it, but I think that if I can gather the shards and remake what they are, I will have the power to heal him. Other than that, leaving them scattered will only spread misery. They shouldn't be in anyone's hands."
"Except for yours."
Silence.
"You believe collecting them will save this person," he said. "And you believe destroying them afterward will cleanse the world of their influence."
"Yes."
"…And what if I told you that I would help you in your wholesome pursuit?"
"You would?"
"Yes," the voice said. "I would. I know all of this land, down to its very last detail. You expected a shard here, but there is none. Not now, and not ever. I will not allow that evil to enter."
Sonder lowered her staff completely and frowned. "Then this place…"
"It is not the way it is because of them," he said. "This land died long ago. What you see here is the aftermath of a different calamity, one that did not leave fragments behind."
For the first time, the man on the throne shifted slightly. Sonder sensed not hostility, but a deep, binding weariness.
"I remain because I am bound to it," he went on. "King, warden, remnant, call it what you wish. When the land withered, so did I. When it refused to pass on, neither could I."
"And the knights?" she asked.
"The sheriffs. I made them to keep others out, not because they were unwelcome, but because of what still sleeps beneath this land. There may be unpleasant things that also refused to move on."
"Then you can't tell me where a shard is," she said, a bit disappointed.
"No," the man replied. "If I could, I would."
He paused.
"Do you have a way of finding them?"
Sonder shook her head. "No. I follow what little I can. But as you can see, it isn't always the right way. There is a way, Dico words. A sorceress named Grimalkin used them. But I can't cast the words."
"Dico? If you wish, I could try a method that may give you a word or two, if you are willing to take it."
"Take it? How?"
"By force," he said simply. "Not violence, but still a cruel thing. It often fails. It is your decision."
"What if it fails?"
"Seeing your strength, little will change."
Their eyes met. The man studied her with his obsidian eyes that reflected the light of the throne room.
"Very well," he said. "Prepare yourself."
Sonder took the little dust creature and put it a safe distance away from her, then returned to stand before the throne.
The throne room darkened.
A pillar of red light descended from above, slamming into Sonder like a falling star.