Murtagh falls into a drugged nightmare of a black sun, a black dragon, and a vast hostile mind sleeping in an endless void. The vision shifts between cosmic despair and a possible future in which Murtagh stands crowned with Zar’roc, Thorn, Bachel, and a conquered world at his feet, echoing the tyranny of Morzan and Galbatorix.

The nightmare then forces Murtagh back into memories of imprisonment in Urû’baen. Murtagh relives the moment Thorn hatches and the later torture Galbatorix uses to break him: Galbatorix threatens to strip Thorn’s scales unless Murtagh swears fealty. Murtagh cannot bear Thorn’s pain, so Murtagh submits, first in ordinary speech and then in the ancient language, after which further oaths and the discovery of Murtagh and Thorn’s true names complete their enslavement.

Murtagh regains partial awareness beneath Bachel’s cave, confused and mentally dulled. Bachel commands him to rise and follow, using dream-vapor from a crystal vial to keep him compliant whenever his thoughts begin to clear. Grieve accompanies them, carrying Zar’roc, a club, and Murtagh’s cloak, while Murtagh struggles to understand his surroundings or speak.

Bachel leads Murtagh to Thorn, who is agitated but equally vulnerable to the vapor. Bachel drugs Thorn until the dragon collapses, then wakes him as a “slave of dream.” With seven crows gathered around her, Bachel brings Murtagh and Thorn into the temple courtyard, where grey-robed followers stand with torches; Bachel orders Thorn secured and leads Murtagh into the temple.

In the cells below the temple, Grieve locks Murtagh behind iron bars. Bachel orders Murtagh to drink a burning pearlescent liquid, gives instructions that he receive his cloak because she considers him her child, and commands him to sleep and dream. Murtagh falls back into helplessness as the drug takes hold.

The next dream returns Murtagh to Galbatorix’s arena, where the king forces the newly hatched Thorn to fight wolves for food. Murtagh tries to protect Thorn through mental guidance, but Thorn must kill to survive, and Galbatorix frames the brutality as a lesson in the nature of dragons and Murtagh’s supposed destiny. The dream expands into repeated memories of Thorn being forced to fight and of Murtagh’s own trials, all underscored by the same void and the slow madness of the unknown presence within it.