Rhen

Intro Veilrend 19 – Rhen, Between Shadows Dars-Myel shimmered on the horizon, its ancient gates like fangs rising from the desert’s throat. Once a sanctuary of knowledge, now it looked half-buried, half-forgotten—just like the secrets they carried. Rhen’s eyes drifted to the satchel across Vael’s back. The shard was inside. Seris. Or what was left of him. Rhen felt it even now—calling out, whispering in buried grief. But not to her. To him. > “Because it knows what you are becoming,” came the silken thought. Ith’rael was always near now. Not with rage or demands like Thar’Zul. She invited. She nurtured. > “You were always small beneath Seris’s shadow. Let me show you how deep yours can grow.” He shook the thought away. Vael walked ahead, silent, rigid. She’d suggested Dars-Myel—a chance, she said, to consult the Warden-ritualists. To understand the shard before it slipped further into madness. But Rhen already knew. He could feel the shard’s heat pulsing with intention. It didn’t want to be understood. It wanted to be used. > “You hear it, don’t you?” Ith’rael whispered. “Even now, it listens. Because you are closer to him than she knows.” He hadn’t told Vael about the voice. About the dreams. About the small changes—black veins along his ribs, visions that bled into waking. She watched him differently now. With quiet suspicion. Hand never far from her blade. She didn’t trust him. Maybe she was right not to. > “Let her walk ahead,” Ith’rael cooed. “When the time comes, it will be you the shard answers to.” And as the gates of Dars-Myel groaned open, Rhen stepped forward—half a man, half a vessel—never more certain that the shard wasn’t the only thing changing.