Deaglan hurries through the cold, water-slick streets of Fornax as dusk deepens, increasingly unsettled by how much the dead city resembles Catenan design and myth while remaining distinctly older and stranger. His father's sensed presence fades behind him. Along the road he discovers endless kneeling obsidian statues marked with the Hierarchy symbol and imbued with Will, then follows their path to a vast building inscribed in ancient Vetusian with the phrase For the safety of Luceum. After a disembodied woman's whisper tells him to go inside, Deaglan decides he cannot ignore what is clearly part of Lir's test and enters.

Inside, Deaglan reaches a huge atrium centered on a brightly glowing Aurora Columnae rising from a shallow pool. The hall contains rows of inert black statues and two silver spear-bearing statues that do carry Will. A whisper orders him to walk to the menhir, and as he wades forward he notices many weapons lying beneath the water, all marked like the segmented weapons used by Tara, Padraig, and Deaglan. He leaves them where they are, reasoning that such weapons seem personal to their wielders, and stops before the obelisk.

Deaglan hesitates because in Caten he resisted the Aurora Columnae for years and endured punishment rather than submit to the Hierarchy. Even so, he decides this is different from the Republic's coercion and finally places his hand on the stone. The contact immediately works: energy surges outward through Fornax, a woman's terrified scream of synchronous echoes in his mind, and Deaglan suddenly senses countless imbued presences throughout the city. The activation reveals that the hall is not dormant at all and that Deaglan has triggered an ancient response.

The two silver statues attack at once, and the entrance seals shut behind him. Forced to arm himself, Deaglan grabs one of the pool's weapons, but each one floods him with the same condemning impression: unworthy. He retreats through the hall, dodging spear thrusts among the columns and black statues while realizing the silver guardians move with intelligence and coordination. Because his father used the word synchronous for him the night before, Deaglan concludes that this place likely recognizes him as some kind of threat rather than a rightful initiate.

As the fight drags on, Deaglan reasons that the guardians are sustained by Will and may stop only if their forms are damaged enough to break the imbuement. He tries to batter and deform them, especially their distinctive heads, and eventually lands a powerful strike that caves in part of one guardian's silver symbol. The construct barely pauses before attacking again, proving the strategy insufficient or far too slow. Exhausted, increasingly panicked, and unable to find an escape or a decisive weakness, Deaglan realizes that Lir's test may simply kill him.