After arriving on Onuna, Liam spends a day overwhelmed by unfamiliar people, modern technology, new languages, politics, and centuries of history he missed. Logan brings Liam ill-fitting mortal clothes and tries to reconnect with him as a brother, but Liam feels emotionally numb and insists he only wants to identify the threat that killed Zekiel before returning to Rashearim’s remains.

Vincent leads Liam and Logan to a chamber where Liam asks what The Hand has learned. Vincent reports that ruins and temples made from fallen pieces of Rashearim have been attacked by unknown creatures searching for old texts or objects. Liam reacts harshly, questioning how anything in Etherworld could kill one of The Hand when most dangerous Otherworld beasts should be sealed away by his blood and his father’s.

Vincent presents images of a mysterious dark-haired woman, her sister Gabriella Martinez, and two male companions. The woman has no traceable identity, but Gabriella appears to be an ordinary mortal hospital worker. When Liam sees a photo showing red-eyed figures near the woman, Liam recognizes them as Ig’Morruthens, a species he believed dead or imprisoned, and the discovery triggers memories of the Gods War and the destruction of Rashearim.

On the way to meet the mortal council, Liam feels a strange burning awareness but finds only mortals in the crowd. The council demands answers about missing people, attacks, destroyed towns, rumors of red-eyed monsters, and the destruction in Ophanium. Liam, struggling with panic and fury, reassures them that the seals are intact and Onuna is safe, though he knows the photographs make that only partly true.

A young man called Henry interrupts the meeting, mocks Liam as the World Ender, and accuses the celestials of being a curse on Onuna. Henry then reveals the disguise by dissolving into black mist and becoming the mysterious woman from the photos. She taunts Logan about Neverra, hints at harming her, mocks The Hand’s vulnerability, and when Liam asks whether she killed Zekiel, she answers with provocation before summoning fire and setting the council chamber ablaze.