Dalinar opens a glowing rift that joins the three Realms, holding the perpendicularity open with his hands while Wit tells Dalinar and Navani to step into the light and seek the Spiritual Realm. Navani takes Dalinar’s hand, hears Roshar’s tones calling to her, and the two begin pushing forward together toward a vision-forming space beyond the Physical Realm.

At the same time, Shallan realizes the supposed guards outside are actually Mraize, Iyatil, and Lieke in disguise. She warns everyone to protect the spren, and the room erupts into a close, chaotic fight involving the two Windrunners, Renarin, Rlain, Radiant, Pattern, and Testament. Iyatil quickly proves deadly by slashing Isasik across the neck, but the opening of Dalinar’s perpendicularity floods the chamber with power, allowing Radiant to fully manifest in armor and engage Iyatil directly.

As Shallan fights, she realizes Iyatil carries anti-Light weapons that could kill her and destroy the parts of herself and her spren tied to Lightweaving. Using the knife skills Adolin drilled into her, Shallan avoids Iyatil’s feints long enough for Radiant to force one anti-Light dagger loose, and Shallan grabs it. Iyatil counters with a blowgun dart to Shallan’s eye, but Shallan recovers behind illusions while Renarin heals Isasik, Rlain and an honorspren help defeat Lieke, and Breteh leaves Mraize Lashed to the ceiling.

Once the Ghostbloods appear beaten, Iyatil and Mraize reveal that the real guards are being held hostage at the base of the pillar and will die unless rescued immediately. Because the Windrunners cannot ignore that threat, Isasik and Breteh rush away, leaving Shallan’s side weakened. Shallan still believes victory is secure with Iyatil cornered and Mraize trapped, until Iyatil reminds her that Mraize still holds an anti-Light dagger.

Mraize throws the dagger into the center of Dalinar’s perpendicularity before Shallan can intercept it. The impact causes a devastating blast that shatters the room and sabotages the experiment. Inside the forming Spiritual vision, Dalinar and Navani feel their Connection to the Physical Realm suddenly snap, and a rush of power, wind, and screams bears down on them.