Haunted by a memory of Lana, whose desperate sacrifice led to bloodshed, Darrow watches the HC and recognizes how the Society engineers hatred among the lowColors. Dancer insists the Sons of Ares are “nation-breakers,” not terrorists, and unveils the mission: Darrow must undergo a Carving to infiltrate as a Gold. Darrow fears becoming unrecognizable to Eo and learns that ninety-seven have failed or died attempting this transformation.

Dancer and Harmony take Darrow into Yorkton at night. He reels at the open sky and the city’s sensory assault—moving walkways, targeted advertisements, and stratified paths that yield to higher Colors. Dancer explains how small payments, entertainment, and consumer goods forge dependency, while Harmony brands it slavery masked as indulgence. Brothels, tech dens, and biomod shops reveal a market built on appetite and control.

In the crowded Bazaar, they enter a den guarded by Browns. After tension with armed doormen, Dancer shows the Ares glyph and Harmony reveals a bomb, forcing passage. Inside, amid smoke and music, Darrow sees “carved” humans—winged and modified—displayed as art and commodity.

They meet Mickey, a Violet artist with extra fingers and a shifting amethyst mask, who toys with them until Dancer knocks away his puzzle. Harmony slides him a box; at the sight of its contents, Mickey recoils. Two golden wings—the Sigils of a Gold—clang onto the table. With the stakes laid bare, Dancer demands the unthinkable: Mickey must make Darrow a Gold.