At Narak, Sigzil holds his wounded squire Deti in the middle of a collapsing battle as enemy singers surge through a breach in the defenses. Deti has no Stormlight left after fighting Heavenly Ones, and Sigzil cannot save him because his own gemstones are drained. Deti dies uttering a Death Rattle about the coming Night of Sorrows, and Sigzil, furious and grieving, grabs a stolen anti-Light lance and throws himself back into the fighting.

Vienta warns Sigzil that rage will ruin his command, and Sigzil forces himself to act like a leader instead of a mourner. He cuts through Regals, frees trapped soldiers, and realizes too late that nearby Edgedancers could not have saved Deti because they did not know. Accepting that the plateau cannot be held, Sigzil gathers Stormlight from rationed gemstones, confers with General Winn, and orders a retreat rather than lose more lives.

Sigzil then spends his limited Light to defend the withdrawal from the air, giving the retreating soldiers courage while Edgedancers recover the wounded. The human forces fall back across Narak Two to the Oathgate plateau, and the Stonewards drop the bridge once enough troops are across. Although the enemy does not press the attack, Sigzil cannot take comfort in the maneuver because the defenders are still losing ground and Stormlight remains scarce. When Skar and Leyten report in, Sigzil tells them Deti died speaking a Death Rattle, concludes that Moelach is nearby, and warns that other Unmade may also be involved.

The chapter then shifts to Shallan, who stands with Pattern, Testament, Renarin, Rlain, and their spren inside the strange Spiritual scaffolding Renarin and Glys have created so they can observe Dalinar and Navani moving through past Desolations. Through a cloudy window into one ancient battle in Shinovar, Shallan sees more advanced human warfare and early Radiants, leading the group to conclude that civilization is finally developing continuity between Desolations. Renarin believes Dalinar is approaching the Recreance, and the scene matters because everyone hunting for ancient truth, including the Ghostbloods, may be converging on the secrets revealed there.

As they watch, Shallan and Rlain argue over the meaning of the ancient war. Shallan frames the conflict as a struggle against Odium and the worst impulses of both peoples, while Rlain insists that humans broke promises, invaded singer lands, and helped create the cycle that produced the Fused, the Heralds, and eventually singer enslavement. After locating Dalinar and Navani on a nearby hill, Shallan notices a shadowed area that Renarin identifies as Ba-Ado-Mishram's presence within the historical reconstruction. Deciding this is too important to ignore, Shallan abandons the safer plan of sending only illusions, wins Rlain's support, gets Renarin's reluctant consent, and steps into the vision herself.