Brother Diaz steps onto the top of the Pillar of Troy and is stunned by the contrast with the dry city below. In the Hanging Gardens, trees, lawns, flowers, birdsong, and flowing water create a near-paradisal setting, while ranks of guards receive Alex with full ceremony. Alex remains uneasy despite reaching Troy, and Jakob warns against assuming their trials are over.

As the group walks on, Duke Michael proudly explains the engineering of the Pillar and aqueduct. Water from mountain springs runs through hidden pipes and open channels, cascades down the Pillar, powers the lifts, and nourishes the city below. Diaz, Balthazar, and the others are overwhelmed by the scale of the place, and Diaz feels here the grandeur and divine presence he had hoped to find in the Holy City.

Michael points out the major landmarks: the Basilica of the Angelic Visitation, the Palace that now belongs to Alex, Saint Natalia's Flame, and the various noble and military buildings that make the Pillar a city in itself. The sight of Alex's future seat of power gives concrete form to her new position as Troy's heir. Balthazar is particularly struck by the Athenaeum, but Michael immediately frames it as a place damaged by Eudoxia's rule.

Michael and Lady Severa explain that Eudoxia expelled scholars from the Athenaeum, filled it with sorcerers and alchemists, and turned it into a center for Black Art. Severa says its library still holds well over a hundred thousand volumes, delighting Diaz, but she warns that dangerous remnants of Eudoxia's experiments remain sealed below. Jakob and Baptiste connect the place to the monstrous creations they have already encountered, including the source of Sabbas's wings. Severa, bitter and guilty over the imperial family's corruption, says she should have done more, and Diaz gently tries to comfort her as they move on toward the Palace.