Odium reflects on his strategy for breaking Dalinar. The visions serve more than one purpose, but in this moment Odium uses them to inflict pain, believing that overwhelming Dalinar with painful truths will strip him down so he can be remade.

When Dalinar briefly manages to seize some control of a vision and tries to escape his suffering, Odium responds by isolating him and intensifying the assault. Odium is confident that events are under control and that Dalinar remains trapped in the process Odium has designed.

That confidence shatters when Dalinar suddenly vanishes. Odium can no longer find him anywhere in the Spiritual Realm, and the disappearance is so complete that Odium realizes only the intervention of a Shard could conceal someone from him so thoroughly.

Investigating further, Odium concludes that the visions themselves—shaped from fragments of Honor’s power—are now hiding Dalinar. Those fragments have long been used because they are stable in this region of the Spiritual Realm, but Odium now sees a greater danger: Honor’s power has existed too long without a Vessel and is beginning to come alive.

The chapter ends with Odium contemplating a drastic response. Faced with hostless Honor becoming active and unpredictable, Odium considers whether he should destroy that power before it can interfere further.