Prologue

At a forest campfire, Daji hesitates as Riga prepares a ritual using knives looted from Ketreyid corpses and a drugged, bound deer. Haunted by guilt over betrayals and murders committed to obtain the incantation, Daji fears Tseveri’s warning that the ritual will doom them. Riga pressures her, arguing their war is too large and that Ziya’s instability demands this bond.

Ziya arrives erratic but lucid enough to taunt them. When Riga’s recitation fails, Ziya—prodded by Riga’s jab about Tseveri—speaks the words correctly. At Riga’s cue, they complete the sacrifice, entering the void and returning with their souls bound together.

Reeling from the power and the intimate fusion of thoughts, Daji senses Ziya’s terrified relief at being restrained from madness and Riga’s exultant ambition, envisioning conquest and rule. Daji, both protected and trapped by the bond, feels only dread despite Riga’s triumph.

Afterward, Daji fixates on Tseveri’s dying prophecy—“One will die. One will rule. And one will sleep for eternity.” The anchoring secures their shared power and survival, but also seals a blood-bought fate that will divide them and exact a terrible cost.