Murtagh reaches a vast crystal-lit chamber beneath the Well of Dreams, where Bachel waits beside a deep central void with the Dauthdaert Niernen. She wears armor made from dragon scales and is flanked by twelve staff-bearing Draumar acolytes, who hold the captive Alín. Murtagh demands Alín’s release, but Bachel claims the chamber is Oth Orum, the hidden heart of the world, and insists that Murtagh must kneel to Azlagûr.

As black smoke erupts from the hole and tremors shake the mountain, Bachel reveals a deeper doctrine: the Draumar do not truly worship dragons as Alín believed, but Azlagûr, whom Bachel calls the Great Devourer. Alín denounces Bachel as a hypocrite, but Bachel prepares to sacrifice Alín. Murtagh attacks Bachel’s mind, only for the twelve acolytes to join against him and nearly crush his sense of self.

Bachel tries to drug Murtagh again, but his wards protect him. Alín then breaks free, steals a bird-skull amulet from one acolyte, survives Bachel’s fire because of its protection, and places it around Murtagh’s neck. Freed from the mental assault, Murtagh slaughters the acolytes in close combat while Bachel’s fire kills the unprotected man whose amulet Alín stole; Alín is struck down during the chaos.

When only Murtagh and Bachel remain standing, Bachel destroys the amulet and renews her mental attack. She wounds Murtagh with Niernen, piercing his mail and lung, and he realizes the injury may kill him unless he can heal it. Murtagh keeps retreating around the void to draw Bachel away from Alín, but Bachel’s wards and Dauthdaert make her nearly impossible to defeat by ordinary swordplay.

Murtagh and Bachel enter a savage magical duel. Bachel uses wordless magic with dangerous speed and creativity, while Murtagh counters in the ancient language and gradually recognizes that indirect attacks on the environment may bypass her defenses. He lures Bachel beneath a massive leaning crystal and casts a spell that breaks it free, crushing Bachel’s lower body and exhausting much of his remaining strength.

Even pinned, Bachel continues fighting with magic and Niernen. Murtagh forces himself close enough to get inside the lance’s reach, and with his last strength strikes Bachel on the head with Ithring, killing her. As Bachel’s resistance vanishes, Murtagh collapses unconscious from blood loss, exhaustion, and his lung wound.