Valerius took the ring. His hands, scarred from a thousand battles, trembled.
He held it up to the torchlight. The Star-metal didn't reflect the fire; it absorbed it, glowing with a cold, internal starlight.
"The Seal," Valerius whispered. "He never took it off. Not even to sleep."
He looked at Kael. "If you have this... he really is gone."
"He didn't Ascend," Kael said, his voice carrying to the soldiers gathering on the ledge of the pit.
"The Spire lied. They chained him to a throne of rust at the bottom of the world. Used him as a battery to keep the Void out. For three hundred years."
A shockwave of murmurs went through the crowd.
"They sacrificed him," Kael said. "Just like they sacrificed us. Just like they sacrificed my House."
"Why?" Valerius asked.
"Because they are afraid," Kael said. "The barrier is failing. And they need fuel. They don't want heroes, Commander. They want wood for the fire."
Valerius closed his fist around the ring. He looked at his soldiers—starving, rusted, forgotten men and women who had given everything for a Kingdom that wished them dead.
"What do you want us to do?" Valerius asked. "We are three hundred starving men. The Spire has thousands."
"We have the Truth," Kael said. "And we have the Ring."
He walked to the center of the pit.
"The Spire claims the Ashlands are dead," Kael shouted. "They claim we are broken. But the First Sword didn't give this ring to the King. He gave it to us."
Kael raised his Obsidian arm. He let it flare. The red veins glowed, casting long, monstrous shadows against the cave walls.
"I am done being a shield," Kael said. "I am done holding the line."
He looked at Valerius.
"It's time to be the sword."
Valerius looked at the ring. Then he looked at the tattered Spire banner hanging from the command tent—the golden sunburst faded and torn.
Valerius drew his sword. He walked over to the banner and slashed it down.
"Paint it," Valerius ordered Horg.
"Paint it what color, sir?"
"Black," Valerius said. "Black as the Ash. Black as the Void."
He knelt before Kael. Not as a subordinate, but as a soldier joining a cause.
"Command us, Lord Kael."
The rest of the soldiers hesitated, then drew their swords. Steel rang out across the mine. One by one, they knelt.
Kael looked at them. The Broken Branch. The Army of the Ash.
"Rise," Kael said.
"We have a Spire to burn."