Chapter 21

Zevander awakens in a dark, misted space with a single candle and meets the hooded Alastor, a figure from an old dream. Alastor explains he has swapped consciousness with Zevander to witness the abuses in his place while protecting Zevander’s mind. He insists Zevander’s dormant power must be awakened and trained.

Alastor shifts the scene to a mortal village where a bullied girl is accused of witchcraft and panics until a blonde sister calms her. They follow the girl into a Red God church, where Sacton Crain belittles her plea for acceptance. Despite warnings about breaching the Liminal, Zevander provocatively disturbs objects, testing the boundary while Alastor stresses restraint and purpose.

For the first lesson, Alastor transports Zevander to a field of black roses and reveals a glyph, exitiusz, instructing him to memorize it. When Zevander invokes it, all the roses wither, proving a destructive power distinct from his blood magic. Alastor warns this control is easier in Caligorya, then sends him back to waking.

Zevander returns to the dim room, battered and in pain from recent sexual assault orchestrated under General Loyce. He grapples with shame and denial, fighting the urge to break, until he feels warmth in his palm. A faint scar of the exitiusz glyph confirms the training is real and that his power endures beyond the dream.