In abandoned Qabr, Vis searches the rooms near the gardens for anything useful before night falls. He finds clothes, a stone knife, and a little water, but the search is emotionally difficult because he is handling the belongings of people he watched die. He keeps hoping for evidence that Caeror survived, finds none, and is briefly shaken by memories of Nofret and her fear of the mutalis door.

Vis returns through the dark tunnels to the golden door. The mutalis pressure and the memory of the naumachia nearly overwhelm him, but he forces himself onward because he now believes contact with this power will not destroy him. When he touches the door, it opens without harming him, and he enters a great golden chamber where a violently unstable pool surrounds a submerged sarcophagus.

Vis avoids the pool and studies the only other notable objects in the room: a golden crook and flail on the far wall. When he takes the crook, he is hit by a vivid experience that feels like his own life: he is bound, in pain, missing an arm, and near an older, frightened Aequa. The vision makes Vis suspect the implements are tied to his Synchronous nature, but he cannot trigger it again, so he leaves the chamber with the two objects.

In the corridor, Vis tests the implements and realizes the glyph for blood is marked on them. He cuts his finger and smears blood on the crook, activating it; when he reflexively throws it against the obsidian wall, the hallway explodes and knocks him unconscious. After waking, he retrieves the crook and understands that Caeror and Yusef were right: these weapons can channel mutalis strongly enough to break Qabr's black stone.

Vis spends another hour experimenting. He learns that both weapons activate by absorbing blood, stay active longer with more blood, and can remain potent while pressed to an open wound. Once active, they destroy whatever they touch, including obsidian, stone, metal, cloth, and bone, while leaving Vis himself unharmed. Satisfied that he has gained exactly the weapon he needed, Vis hides the crook and flail beneath his cloak, climbs out into the cold desert night, and heads for Duat.