Kaladin is lashed by the stormwall, battered against the barrack roof, and nearly torn free by chaotic winds as he hangs by the ankles. At Syl’s urging, he clings to the roof ring, enduring freezing rain and debris while his strength and sense of time slip away.

In brief lulls of lightning, Kaladin sees Syl standing against the wind, as if splitting it, before he is slammed down again. The storm abruptly falls silent and dark, and Kaladin rises to find his pain gone. In that unnatural quiet, a colossal, inhuman face appears before him, smiling. His sphere flares with sapphire light; when the lightning returns, the pain crashes back and he collapses into unconsciousness.

After the highstorm passes, Rock rushes out with Bridge Four while Teft, skeptical yet compelled, follows. They expect a corpse, but Kaladin’s eyes snap open and he gasps for breath. The sphere he had clutched drops to the wet stones, now dun despite the storm that should have infused it.

Confronted with the impossible—Kaladin’s survival and the emptied sphere—Teft orders a ladder, a knife, and Kaladin’s salve, driving the men to cut him down and bandage him. Quietly, Teft vows to get answers, recognizing that something beyond ordinary explanation has touched Kaladin.