From concealment in Jupiter’s rings, Darrow waits three days until the Pandora and three Volk dreadnaughts depart Io toward Callisto. He then orders an approach, observing Io’s defenses shattered, cities razed, and Demeter’s Garter preserved under fleets of Ascomanni warships and cosmosHaulers. The strategic loss threatens all Rim civilization, and Darrow recognizes in Fá a ruthless shadow of his own methods.

Needing to contact Athena, Darrow decides the only path is to light Aurae’s omega torch in Sungrave. To avoid missiles and patrols, Cassius sets the Archimedes down in volcanic terrain near the south pole. Cassius stays aboard with Lyria, Aurae, and the mute prisoner Diomedes, while Aurae urges caution. Sevro, withdrawn since his clash with Cassius, chooses to join Darrow and helps him don the Godkiller armor.

Darrow plots a route skirting mountains and volcanoes: west to the Waste of Karrack, then back along the seam toward Sungrave near Darkfall. He emphasizes the lethal environment and limited suit power, opting for stealth. The pair move by alternating low flights and gravity-boot hops, masking their entry through a volcanic plume as Io slips into nivalnight, when Jupiter eclipses the sun and sulfur frosts the surface.

Under Stygian darkness lit by volcanoes and auroras, Darrow and Sevro see no sign of Rim resistance—only Ascomanni patrols aloft. They note the superiority of Quicksilver’s stealth armor but conserve power. Passing the ruins of Darkfall’s shattered paradomes, they infer that the transports they observed carried civilians into bleak exile. The sight deepens Darrow’s resolve and sorrow even as they continue toward Sungrave.