At Crucifix Bastion, The Golěm showers off the last dried clay and removes a tight skullcap, studying the face he wears in the mirror: Sasha Vesna’s. He whispers that he wishes Sasha could know him, while revealing that Sasha is mentally “locked away” in a sleep-like void as he controls their shared body.

The Golěm recalls his origin in a Russian psychiatric hospital, when Sasha’s unbearable abuse triggered a schism: he “awoke” mid-beating, killed a night nurse to stop the violence, and declared himself Sasha’s protector. He frames his dominance as protection, filtering what Sasha can see, remember, and understand so he can hold her pain and fight her battles.

In the foyer outside Sasha’s apartment, Katherine Solomon mentally revisits her lecture about dissociative identity disorder, including the concept of protective “alters” who can front, block memories, and run a “system.” Matching this to the blond hair and skullcap evidence, Katherine realizes Robert Langdon’s theory is plausible: The Golěm and Sasha are likely the same person, meaning “finding Sasha” may be impossible if the alter’s fate determines hers.

Back at the bastion, The Golěm dresses in Sasha’s clothes to appear pitiable, explaining he usually stays hidden but periodically takes over to keep Sasha safe. He identifies Sasha’s happiness as tied to Michael Harris—until The Golěm overheard Harris on the phone with the U.S. ambassador, exposing ulterior motives and suggesting Dr. Brigita Gessner’s help was also deceptive.

The Golěm describes how he then stayed near the surface to watch and wait, and finally seized his chance by isolating Gessner and recording her confession, which detailed implants, surgeries, Dmitri’s death, psychedelic drugs, Mr. Finch, the CIA, and Threshold’s Prague objective. He recounts key complications: encountering ÚSZI officers, finding Langdon over Gessner’s body, and suffering seizures that reboot the mind to Sasha’s vulnerable default until he can reassert control.

He explains how, at Sasha’s apartment, he used a simple illusion (the note and door knock) to send Langdon away before confronting Harris, and later survived an attack by a female operative who realized too late the “monster” had Sasha’s body. After another seizure in Threshold and refuge inside an EPR pod—echoing repeated near-death experiments he remembers even if Sasha does not—The Golěm resolves to leave the subterranean facility and head to the U.S. embassy, believing he is close to freeing Sasha and then vanishing.