Paul leaves the cul-de-sac near Otheym’s house with his shield activated and Bijaz beside him. Bijaz senses danger, but the approaching figure is Stilgar. Paul quickly explains Bijaz’s importance and gives the dwarf to Stilgar, who hurries away while Paul’s guards surround their Emperor and move toward Otheym’s area to seize prisoners.

The attack Paul has foreseen arrives almost immediately. A stone burner detonates near Otheym’s house, creating a pillar of fire and radiation that no one nearby can outrun. Paul understands that the weapon violates the Great Convention because it must be atomic-fueled, and he knows its destructive potential could be catastrophic if improperly fueled.

Paul and the soldiers wait as the stone burner burns downward. Some men begin crying out that they are blind, and Paul initially can still see through a haze. When the weapon dies, Paul rises, but his physical sight fades into darkness. He then locks himself into his oracular vision so completely that prediction replaces eyesight, allowing him to perceive the street, the people, and their movements.

Stilgar arrives with help and is devastated to see Paul’s ruined eyes. Paul insists that he is not blind because his prescient vision still functions, and he refuses to conceal his condition. When Stilgar invokes Fremen law concerning the blind, Paul overrides it with Atreides law and orders that neither he nor the blinded soldiers be abandoned in the desert.

Paul commands that the wounded men be rescued and fitted with new eyes at his expense, increasing the awe and fear around him. Moving unassisted to the command ornithopter, he issues orders, assigns a weapons specialist to trace where the illegal stone burner was made, and tells the communications officer to call Chani and say he is alive and will return soon.