Suspended and bound by invisible power on the battlefield, Xaden faces the taunting Sage, who coolly notes Xaden’s approach to burnout and declares himself a general. Xaden senses Violet beneath Basgiath preparing to sacrifice herself to raise the wards. When the general threatens to kill Violet, Xaden’s fury steadies his failing shadows, but he cannot move the general.

Desperate, Xaden feels a current of power beneath the ground. Despite Sgaeyl’s plea—“You cannot! I chose you!”—he reaches for it to keep Violet safe. The moment breaks with a jolt as Xaden awakens in bed, shaken but uninjured, watching an exhausted Violet sleep.

Haunted by what he did, Xaden leaves Violet, cloaks himself in shadows, and descends into Basgiath’s tunnels. He slips past guards to the rebuilt cell now holding Jack Barlowe, determined to learn if there is a cure for what he fears he’s become.

Jack greets him with relish and denies the existence of any cure, echoing the doctrine that there is only control. He asserts that once power is taken, it cannot be given back, only hungered for. Jack then delivers the blow: Xaden has already crossed the line by drawing that power—“Welcome to our family… brothers now.”