Postlude to the Stormlight Archive

Kaladin engages in a desperate combat with Nale, a Herald, in a ruined monastery. Despite initial success using his spear training and newfound Shardplate armor, Kaladin discovers that Nale possesses vastly superior combat abilities as a true Herald and systematically overpowers him, ultimately battering him into submission. As Nale prepares to execute Kaladin, both Syl and Szeth's spren attempt to intervene.

Kaladin faces Nale in single combat within a broken monastery. The Wind (Nale's associate) tells Kaladin a critical storm is coming tomorrow and needs him alive. Kaladin fights using traditional spear training without access to his powers, managing to hold his own initially. When Nale's strikes threaten to overwhelm him, Kaladin summons his Shardplate armor—a unique set bonded to him through windspren at the Fourth Ideal—and continues the fight. Nale reveals he sent Helaran Davar years ago to kill Amaram and inadvertently Kaladin, on orders from Ishar, believing that killing potential Radiants could prevent the Desolation. Kaladin counters that the Desolation came anyway because Syl sensed it through Shadesmar and sought him out regardless. Nale justifies his past murders through rationalization and law, unmoved by Kaladin's moral arguments about the innocents killed, including the child Cenn. Kaladin enters a state of clarity, reconnecting with his identity and purpose—protecting others through love rather than callousness. He nearly lands a killing blow but Nale moves with impossible speed, revealing his true Herald abilities. Nale systematically dodges Kaladin's attacks with casual indifference, then overwhelms him physically, smashing him repeatedly against the monastery wall until his armor shatters and he collapses, utterly defeated and in pain. As Nale approaches to finish him, Syl manifests to block his path, followed by Szeth's spren, both attempting to protect Kaladin. The chapter ends with a distant flute sound as Kaladin struggles to rise.