Murtagh wakes in Oth Orum amid smoke, cold, and weakness after killing Bachel. Bachel is dead beneath the crystal rubble with Ithring lodged in her skull, while Alín lies unconscious nearby. Thorn urgently tells Murtagh to heal himself, but Murtagh first retrieves Ithring and uses a spell to heal Alín’s head wound, spending more of his dwindling strength.

The mountain begins to shake violently, and smoke pours from the hole in the chamber floor. Murtagh, still bleeding from the Dauthdaert wound and unable to heal himself, crawls toward the abyss to discover what is causing the tremors. Through shared flashes of perception, Murtagh senses Thorn outside Nal Gorgoth, wounded and terrified of reentering the caves, while Uvek urges the dragon to overcome that fear for Murtagh’s sake.

Murtagh looks into the hole and reaches out with his mind. Beneath the mountain he finds no ordinary creature, but a vast, ancient, malevolent consciousness filled with hunger and rage. When the mind begins to notice him, Murtagh reacts instantly and casts a spell that bends all the cave’s light into a blazing lance, striking down into the abyss with explosive force.

The blast leaves the chamber cold, silent, and ash-filled, with the hole widened and no visible movement below. Murtagh is too weak to stand or think clearly, and he collapses as Thorn finally reaches him with Uvek. Uvek uses the blackstone to ease Murtagh’s pain but says Murtagh has too much blood in his lungs and too little in his body, so Thorn must carry him quickly to a healer.

Thorn, with Uvek carrying Murtagh, races through collapsing tunnels and caverns. They burn and fight through swarms of fingerrats, pass strange chambers and ancient carvings, and search for a way out while the mountain continues to break apart. Murtagh repeatedly tries to warn them about Alín, but his failing body prevents him from being heard.

At last Thorn reaches a stairway leading toward orange light and apparent freedom, but the cavern collapses around them. Falling stone strikes Thorn, the exit narrows, and Murtagh begins choking on blood. Thorn slips and falls as a boulder crashes ahead, and Murtagh loses consciousness while the cave comes down around them.