Darrow speeds into the desert with Rhonna and bodyguards, guided by Colloway’s drones that trace gravBike tracks and Gorgon boot depressions toward the axeblade mountains. He scales the escarpments to Alexandar, who appears exhausted and haunted after weeks tracking the Fear Knight. Rhonna needles him, but Alexandar can barely muster a response, and leads Darrow to Thraxa.

On a ridge facing Angelia, Thraxa lies with Obsidian pathfinders, the Howlers cloaked and scattered across the rocks. Through optics, Darrow sees an all-too-familiar, macabre forest-like display erected before the city, likely the work of Atlas. Thraxa admits they lost Atlas crossing a death valley beyond the shield chain; fatigued and hallucinating, Alexandar even crashed his bike. Darrow recognizes he pushed the hunt too hard.

As Thraxa suggests calling medships, Darrow refuses, judging the display a lure rather than an end in itself. He prepares to move in and hails Orion, who has just reached BlueReach One, to ask if the Storm Gods can be spooled without revealing their hand. Orion warns the system can’t cool once heated—clouds in about an hour, electrical activity in two—making timing critical.

Weighing the risk of alerting Atalantia against missing the strike window, Darrow recalls his father’s lesson about striking at the precise moment. He resolves to commit and orders Orion to initiate Operation Tartarus, beginning the storm’s buildup as he pushes his team toward Angelia.