5. Hearthstone

Kaladin arrives in his hometown of Hearthstone after a grueling four-day journey, desperate to reach it before the Everstorm transforms the parshmen into Voidbringers. He discovers the town destroyed and apparently empty, but finds light in the citylord's manor and encounters a human guard, suggesting some survivors remain.

Kaladin trudges through fertile grasslands toward Hearthstone, exhausted after expending his Stormlight mid-journey and walking the final ninety miles over three days. He fails to outrun the Everstorm, which arrives at noon and forces him to shelter in a hollow. As he approaches his hometown, he finds debris scattered across fields—evidence of the storm's destruction. Kaladin reaches Hearthstone as evening falls and discovers much of the town in ruins, with no visible signs of life. The buildings are collapsed or roofless, and no lights shine in the darkness. Rather than immediately checking his family home, Kaladin heads toward the citylord's manor on the hill, where the town's parshmen were housed and would have begun their rampage as transformed Voidbringers. As he approaches the manor, he notices light flickering inside despite the building's damaged state. Shadows move behind boarded windows. Kaladin cautiously investigates, preparing for combat with Voidbringers. Near the parshmen's quarters, the manor's back door suddenly opens, and a human guard emerges holding a lantern and a mace. The guard is weathered but alive—the first sign that someone has survived the catastrophe. Kaladin surrenders peacefully and allows himself to be escorted inside.