Seventeen days after the avalanche at the Twins, Gabriel traveled between Aaron and Baptiste, with Greyhand trailing alongside soldiers of the Empress. They had been found on the mountain by Greyhand, Kaveh, and other initiates, then by the Golden Host with Khalid, who heard Astrid recount how a handful had driven an army of Dead into Talhost beneath an avalanche. The Golden Host and silversaints remained to hold the crossing, knowing the Endless Legion would eventually free itself; Fabién Voss withdrew to Talhost instead of invading Nordlund that year.

Driven by dread and guilt for having led Laure Voss to Lorson, Gabriel rushed home with minimal rest. Upon arrival, he found the village in ruins, bodies piled in the square, and familiar faces among the dead. He realized the townsfolk had sought sanctuary in homes and the chapel, only for Laure to burn the roofs, forcing them into her grasp or to die inside.

Inside the charred chapel, Gabriel discovered Father Louis’s burned corpse and, in his arms, the body of a candlemaid—Gabriel’s younger sister Celene. Overcome with grief and regret for unanswered letters, Gabriel then found his stepfather dead near his warsword and his mother slain in the yard, her hand outstretched toward the church and her face frozen in rage as she tried to reach her daughter.

As soldiers gathered and burned the dead, Greyhand sat with Gabriel, offering words about grief, faith, and true immortality residing in the memory of the living. Gabriel, shattered, declared that the boy he had been died with his family, calling himself the last son of Lorson, and vowed to love and avenge the dead.

Aaron and Baptiste approached and considered returning to San Michon. Greyhand stated the Testaments condemn their love, while Aaron affirmed he felt God’s light on the mountain and rejected any God who would name his love a sin. Baptiste proposed traveling south and invited Gabriel, but Gabriel refused, saying he had monsters to slay.

Before parting, Aaron took Gabriel aside and warned him to watch Seraph Talon. Aaron confided that on the night Empress Isabella arrived—when Talon exposed Aaron and Baptiste—he felt a feather-light touch in his mind, suggesting Talon’s involvement and intent to remove him. Gabriel acknowledged the warning as Aaron and Baptiste rode away together into the dark, leaving Gabriel questioning God, suffering, and sin, without answers.