Saeris wakes in the snowy Wicker Wood after trading a year of Hazrax supervision for transport there. Edina's page is gone, but Saeris remembers its instructions and uses the tiny quicksilver thread still trapped in Fisher's eye to sense his location. The Hazrax silently follows while Saeris runs through the haunted forest and sees the tormented shades of the damned.

Saeris stumbles into a hidden camp of Belikon's warriors. They attack with null blades and null-tipped arrows that resist her metal magic, forcing Saeris to fight physically with Erromar and Selanir. Driven by rage over Fisher's capture, Saeris kills several guards, then unleashes a quicksilver-powered shield blast that obliterates more of them.

Belikon De Barra reveals himself and becomes fascinated by Saeris's layered Alchemist power, declaring it must either be destroyed or bound to him. Orious steps forward and shows Saeris that Fisher has been imprisoned inside a cursed dryad tree. Belikon explains that Fisher was tried in absentia for the destruction of Gillethrye, sentenced to life in an oubliette, and will remain there unless Saeris swears herself Oath Bound to Belikon before the Firinn Stone.

Orious explains that the trees of the Wicker Wood were once dryads cursed into living prisons that feed on suffering and keep their captives alive. Belikon also reveals that once the dryad fully consumes Fisher, the bond between Fisher and Nimerelle will break, allowing Belikon to claim the god sword. Saeris counters by revealing Nimerelle's iron nature and Merelle's spirit within it, proving Belikon cannot wield it.

Saeris reforms Solace from Erromar and Selanir, then calls Nimerelle to her bare hand. Nimerelle accepts Saeris despite not being bonded to her, apparently because Saeris has come to save Fisher. Saeris attacks Belikon with both god swords, but Orious reaches the dryad and orders it to take Fisher; Saeris throws Solace through Orious, yet the tree begins closing around Fisher.

Belikon punches through Saeris's chest and grips her heart, demanding submission, but Saeris refuses and gives him a message from his dead wife: never. Saeris impales Belikon with Nimerelle and recalls Solace through him, wounding but not killing him. As Saeris heals, Saeris reaches the dryad, senses Fisher inside, and invokes the power of his true name to void his oaths: Khydan Graystar Finvarra.