As the seventh moon completes the thousand-year alignment, Lir falls into moonless darkness. Dragons grow agitated around Aktamasok while violet Voidfell rises from the volcano. Alaric and Talasyn summon Shadowgate and Lightweave shields, and with Ishan and the Enchanters channeling the metalglass amplifiers, the two monarchs merge their magic into a vast eclipse sphere over the volcanic peak.

The Void Sever erupts upward with far more force than Alaric expected, battering the barrier and rocking the yacht. Talasyn quickly lashes the vessel to the sphere with ropes of Lightweave, preventing it from being thrown loose. Alaric and Talasyn then spend grueling minutes reinforcing weak spots, but the impact drains them rapidly, and cracks of amethyst Voidfell begin appearing through the black-and-gold shield.

A wisp of Voidfell breaches the barrier and strikes the left side of Alaric's face, sending him to his knees in agony. When a larger current rushes toward him, Talasyn shields him by controlling the eclipse barrier alone, but the effort burns red, blistering marks into her arm. Alaric forces himself back up, determined not to let Talasyn destroy herself, and together they seal the cracks with another amplified wave of combined magic.

The attack changes shape: the lower half of the barrier bends upward as if something beneath the volcano is deliberately fighting back. Alaric and Talasyn realize the force feels almost sentient, and Ishan reports restless dragons and strange noises from inside the volcano. Then the Void Sever abruptly retreats, thirty minutes before the eclipse should end, leaving Alaric and Talasyn injured and confused on the deck.

The temporary relief ends when rumbling resumes. Alaric sees a massive fanged mouth rising from the crater and drives the yacht upward while ordering Ishan and the Enchanters to flee. A colossal white-scaled dragon emerges from Aktamasok: Bakun the World-Eater, the first dragon, whose roar of rage and grief shakes the earth and sky.