Sky: Children of the Light runs two different Shard Eruptions on a rotating schedule — a common black shard and a rarer, more dangerous red shard. They land in different places, pay out different currencies, and one of them actively tries to knock you off the shard. Here's exactly how they differ. For today's live schedule, check the Sky Shard tracker.
Black shards are the frequent, low-risk eruption. They run on two schedule groups that together cover most even-numbered days of the month, each skipping two fixed weekdays. Every black shard pays a flat 4 Wax — the amount doesn't change by realm or location, unlike red shards.
There's no wax monster on a black shard. It's safe to collect solo, which makes it the reward type most players farm casually while doing dailies.
Red shards run on the odd-day cycle, split across three schedule groups. Instead of Wax, a red shard pays Ascended Candles — and unlike black shards, the amount depends on which realm it lands in that cycle: it ranges from 2 to 3.5 AC (see the table below).
Red shards also spawn a wax monster guarding the shard piece — a hostile that will knock you off if it catches you mid-collect. Because of that, most players wait for a group before going for a red shard rather than soloing it.
| Realm | Black Shard | Red Shard (Ascended Candles) |
|---|---|---|
| Daylight Prairie | 4 Wax | 2 – 3.5 |
| Hidden Forest | 4 Wax | 2.5 – 3.5 |
| Valley of Triumph | 4 Wax | 2.5 – 3.5 |
| Golden Wasteland | 4 Wax | 2 – 3.5 |
| Vault of Knowledge | 4 Wax | 3.5 (always) |
Ranges reflect the three red-shard schedule groups that rotate through each realm — Vault of Knowledge happens to land on the same reward tier in all three, so it's always 3.5 AC.
Both shard types follow the same clock structure: a tremor warning starts about 8 minutes 40 seconds before landfall, and each eruption stays open for roughly 3 hours 51 minutes before closing. Black shards land three times a day, 8 hours apart. Red shards land three times a day too, but only 6 hours apart.
Neither shard type is randomized on the spot — both follow a fixed pattern keyed to the day of the month in Sky time (America/Los_Angeles). Odd days run the red-shard groups, even days run the black-shard groups, and a rotation decides which of the five realms is active. thatgamecompany has never published this pattern; it was reverse-engineered and verified by the Sky community over time, the same data Sky Shard computes live in your browser.