The shard wasn't just waking—it was becoming.
What once looked like a floating crystal now unfolded into a hulking shape—a twisted amalgam of weaponry and bone-like mist. It had no eyes, only a jagged face split by rows of blade-teeth. One arm was a jagged sword longer than a man, the other a hook forged from fractured memory.
Talin, watching it rise, muttered, "Is it too late to run?"
"Yes," Nira replied. "Far too late."
The beast howled. The sound tore at the sky.
Raen stood between it and the others, his blade trembling in his grip. It wasn't fear—it was resonance. The Veinblade on his back was humming through the seals, reacting to the beast.
It wants to feed.
Kavran's voice surged.
> "The shard beast is unstable. Born from corrupted memory and blood rituals—it has no mind. Only pain."
"Can I kill it?"
> "Not with steel alone."
Raen exhaled, drew his sword, and rushed forward.
---
⚔️ The Battle Begins
The beast slammed its massive blade-arm down—Raen barely sidestepped, the shockwave knocking trees flat around them.
Nira flanked left, hurling rune chains that exploded into blue fire. Talin darted forward from the right, slashing at its hook-arm. Sparks flew. The beast barely noticed.
Raen jumped onto a fallen shard and launched himself up, striking the beast's mask-like head.
His blade sank in—then stopped, wedged in the misty bone.
The beast roared, grabbing Raen mid-air and flinging him like a ragdoll. He slammed into a tree with a crunch.
Blood trickled from his lip.
"Raen!" Nira shouted, releasing a defensive ward just as the beast turned toward her.
The shard beast charged—
—and hit a wall of curved silver.
Talin had intercepted, sword glowing, eyes narrowed. "Back off, ugly. That's my alchemy nerd you're charging."
His blade rang out three times—spinning cuts that sparked against the beast's arm, finally severing part of its hook limb. It screeched and staggered.
Raen rose slowly.
His sealed blade pulsed.
"Use me."
The Veinblade's voice was no longer hollow—it was eager. Thirsting.
Raen hesitated.
Kavran whispered:
> "If you unseal it, you'll win. But you'll lose a piece of yourself."
Raen looked around—Talin barely holding the line, Nira bleeding and cornered.
And the beast, recovering.
He reached back—and tore the seal cloth free.
The Veinblade shrieked like a song of war as it left its sheath.
The mist around the beast faltered instantly, shrinking away from the black-steel blade as if it remembered the pain of being cut.
Raen stepped forward.
His voice was quiet.
"Let's end this."
---
🌪 Whisper Form: Severance Bloom
Raen vanished in a flash of crimson light.
The Veinblade cut through the beast's side—leaving not a wound, but a hole in memory. The creature staggered, unable to remember how to use its own limbs.
Another strike. Then a third.
Raen's form blurred—ghostly images trailing behind each motion.
Finally, he leapt high—blade overhead—and plunged the Veinblade into the beast's core shard.
The world paused.
Then—
Boom.
A silent detonation rocked the grove.
The shard beast collapsed in a swirl of broken mist, its core fading into dull glass. Its weapon-limbs crumbled, and the entire valley sighed with release.
---
📍 Aftermath
Raen fell to his knees, panting.
The Veinblade steamed, dark and gleaming.
Nira rushed to him, catching his arm. "You okay?"
Raen didn't speak.
Because something inside him felt… different.
A memory that wasn't his had latched onto his mind. A girl, holding a burning sword. A man, kneeling before a whisper god. Screams. A battlefield of red moons.
Talin looked at the shattered shard. "Two down. How many more?"
Raen looked toward the dark mountains beyond.
"Enough to drown the world if we fail."