The journey to Thornwood took them through Eldrath's wilderness. Ancient forests gave way to rolling hills, then to farmland that had been tended by countless generations of peasants living under the shadow of Varen's rule.
Ren noticed the changes as they traveled. The deeper into Varen's territory they went, the more fearful the people became. Farmers who saw them coming would duck inside their homes. Travelers on the road would avert their eyes and hurry past. Even the children played quietly, as if afraid that too much noise might attract unwanted attention.
"This is what he does," Kira said, her voice low as they passed another village where every door was shut despite the midday hour. "It's not just the violence. It's the constant threat of it. People learn to make themselves small, invisible, unthreatening. They police themselves because they know what happens to anyone who stands out."
"And no one challenges him?"
"Who would? He has the Obsidian Order, dozens of knights enhanced by stolen fragments. He has the tacit approval of the regional lords, who prefer a stable tyrant to the chaos of revolution." Her jaw tightened. "And he has thirty-two fragments worth of power that makes him virtually impossible to kill."
"Until now."
"Until now." Kira's smile was thin. "I hope."
They made camp that night in a copse of trees overlooking the main road to Thornwood. From their vantage point, Ren could see the village in the distance, a cluster of maybe fifty buildings surrounded by fields of wheat and barley. Simple structures, simply maintained. A community of farmers and craftspeople who wanted nothing more than to live their lives in peace.
Instead, they lived in fear.
"He'll come from the east," Kira said, pointing to where the road emerged from a line of hills. "Standard formation. Varen in the center, three knights in front, three behind. They'll enter the village at dawn, make their demands, and leave with whatever they can carry."
"And if the villagers can't pay?"
"Then Varen picks a few examples. Burns a house or two. Kills anyone who looks like they might resist." Her voice was flat, professional. "It's efficient. The village always manages to find the money after that."
Ren felt something cold settle in his chest. Not fear. He'd died enough times to be past fear. This was something else, something that felt like anger but colder. More focused.
"Your village," he said. "How long ago?"
"Three years." Kira's storm-cloud eyes remained fixed on Thornwood. "I was away when it happened. Trading in a neighboring town. By the time I got back, there was nothing left but ashes and bodies."
"I'm sorry."
"Don't be sorry. Be effective." She turned to look at him, and in the fading light, her expression was unreadable. "When you absorb Varen's fragment, you're going to experience everything he is. Every memory, every cruelty, every victim. My village will be in there somewhere, a moment he probably barely remembers in a lifetime of moments just like it."
"And you want me to feel it."
"I want you to understand what we're fighting." She reached into her pack and produced a small flask. "Here. Local spirits. Strong enough to knock out a horse."
Ren took the flask, eyeing it warily. "Is this traditional before a suicide mission?"
"It's traditional before everything in Eldrath." She took a long pull when he handed it back. "The plan is solid, Ren. Simple plans are the best kind. Fewer things to go wrong. I create a distraction, you get close to Varen, you absorb your fragment, we escape in the chaos. In and out before anyone realizes what's happened."
"What kind of distraction?"
"Fire, mostly." She smiled. "I've been stockpiling alchemical compounds for months. When they go off, every knight in the area will be too busy fighting flames to notice one man getting close to their lord."
"That sounds dangerous."
"It is. But not as dangerous as fighting Varen head-on." She took another drink. "The key is timing. I need to set off the distraction after Varen enters the village but before he finishes his collection. That gives us a window of maybe fifteen minutes."
"Fifteen minutes to absorb a fragment, escape a burning village, and evade six knights."
"Seven, if you count Varen. But yes." She handed him the flask again. "You see the problem."
Ren drank. The liquor burned going down, spreading warmth through his chest. "We need a backup plan. What happens if the distraction fails? If I can't get close enough?"
"Then we improvise." Kira shrugged. "I've been improvising for three years. It's gotten me this far."
"That doesn't sound like a plan."
"Plans are for people who have time and resources. We have neither." She lay back on the grass, looking up at the stars. "Tell me about your world. Before you died."
The question caught him off guard. "What do you want to know?"
"Everything. Nothing." Her voice was softer now, some of the edge worn away by exhaustion and alcohol. "I've never met anyone from another realm before. I've heard stories about Collectors, but no one ever talked about where they came from."
Ren thought about Earth. Ambulance sirens and traffic jams and the smell of hospital disinfectant. It already felt like another life, even though it had only been days since his death.
"It was ordinary," he said finally. "No magic, no monsters, no fragment systems. Just people living their lives, trying to get by. I was a paramedic. Someone who helped injured people, took them to healers."
"A healer yourself, then."
"Not really. More like a transporter. The people who knew how to actually fix things were at the hospitals. I just kept people alive long enough to get there." He paused, remembering the weight of a stretcher, the panic in a patient's eyes, the relief when they made it in time. "I was good at it. Not great, but good. I saved lives."
"And now you're learning to take them."
"Funny how things work out." He took another drink. "What about you? Before Varen, what were you?"
"A thief." Kira's smile was audible in her voice. "But a good thief. I only stole from people who could afford to lose things. My village was my cover. Respectable farmer's daughter by day, shadow in the night." She laughed softly. "I thought I was so clever. Dancing between worlds, playing games with people's lives. Then Varen came and showed me what real power looked like."
"Is that when you decided to kill him?"
"No. That came later, after the grief. After the drinking. After I spent six months trying to find a way to destroy myself that would actually stick." Her voice was matter-of-fact, like she was discussing the weather. "Eventually, I realized that dying wouldn't hurt him. Only killing him would. So I stopped trying to die and started trying to murder."
Ren didn't know what to say to that. The casual way she described her trauma, her suicidal period, her transformation into a weapon of revenge. All delivered with the same flat tone she used for tactical planning.
"I'm sorry," he said again, knowing it was inadequate.
"Stop apologizing." She sat up, taking the flask from his hands. "Save your sorrow for after. When we've done what we came to do and you're carrying Varen's memories inside your head." Her eyes met his in the darkness. "Then you'll understand why I am what I am. And maybe then you can be sorry for real."
They sat in silence after that, passing the flask back and forth, watching the stars wheel overhead while Thornwood slept peacefully below.
Tomorrow, everything would change.
---
Ren dreamed of fire.
Not the warm, comforting fire of Kira's camp. This was a wall of flame consuming buildings, consuming people, consuming everything in its path. He could feel the heat on his skin, smell the smoke in his lungs, hear the screaming of those too slow to escape.
But the dream wasn't from his perspective. He was watching from horseback, looking down at the destruction with something that felt like satisfaction. Like pride.
*They should have paid*, a voice whispered. His voice, but not his voice. *They knew the rules. They knew the consequences. This is their fault, not mine.*
A woman ran from one of the burning buildings, carrying a child in her arms. Soldiers intercepted her before she could reach safety. The child was torn from her grasp. The woman's screaming joined the chorus of the dying.
*Necessary*, the voice continued. *Discipline must be maintained. Without examples, there is no fear. Without fear, there is no order. Without order...*
Ren woke gasping, the phantom heat of the fire still prickling his skin.
"Bad dream?" Kira was already awake, packing her gear in the pre-dawn light.
"A nightmare." Ren wiped sweat from his forehead. "I was... I think I was seeing through Varen's eyes. Watching him burn a village."
Kira paused in her packing. "That's not possible. You haven't absorbed his fragment yet."
"I know. But it felt real." He looked down at his hands, half-expecting to see blood on them. "It felt like memory."
"The fragment system works in mysterious ways." She resumed her work. "Maybe your fragment and his are close enough to share some kind of connection. Or maybe it was just a normal nightmare, and you're reading too much into it."
"Maybe." But Ren didn't believe that. The dream had been too vivid, too specific, too *personal*. He'd felt Varen's emotions. The cold satisfaction, the casual cruelty, the absolute certainty that his actions were justified.
Is that what he would become? When he absorbed the fragment, would he carry those feelings inside him forever?
**[FRAGMENT PROXIMITY ALERT]**
**[FRAGMENT #2 DISTANCE: 12.3 KILOMETERS]**
**[APPROACHING TARGET ZONE]**
**[WARNING: EXTENDED PROXIMITY TO FRAGMENTS MAY CAUSE RESONANCE EFFECTS]**
**[RESONANCE CAN INCLUDE: SHARED DREAMS, EMOTIONAL BLEEDING, PERSONALITY OVERLAP]**
Ren dismissed the notification, but its words lingered in his mind. *Emotional bleeding. Personality overlap.*
The closer he got to Varen, the more he would become like him, even before absorption.
"We need to move," Kira said. "I want to be in position before sunrise."
Ren pushed himself to his feet, ignoring the way his hands trembled. "What about the dream? If Varen and I are connected somehow, won't he know we're coming?"
"Resonance usually only works one way, from the fragment to the Collector. Varen won't feel anything until you're touching him." Kira shouldered her pack. "But it's another reason to move quickly. The longer you're in proximity, the worse the resonance gets."
"Great. More things to worry about."
"Welcome to Eldrath." She started down the hill toward Thornwood, her footsteps sure despite the dim light. "Come on. We have a tyrant to rob."
Ren followed, the Compass on his palm pulsing in time with his heartbeat, the golden thread pulling him toward a confrontation that had already begun to change him.
Twelve kilometers.
By tonight, he would either have his fragment or be dead. Possibly both.
And in the distance, barely visible in the pre-dawn darkness, a column of mounted riders emerged from the eastern hills.
Lord Varen had arrived early.
**[ALERT: TARGET DETECTED AHEAD OF SCHEDULE]**
**[ESTIMATED TIME TO VILLAGE ARRIVAL: 47 MINUTES]**
**[CONTINGENCY PLANNING RECOMMENDED]**
**[CURRENT STATUS: NOT READY]**
Kira cursed under her breath, her eyes tracking the distant riders. "So much for careful preparation. We do this now, or we don't do it at all."
Ren's grip tightened on his staff. "Let's do it."
And they ran toward the waiting flames.
