Time distortion intensifies as Gregory and Bryce approach the citadel. They confront the emotional horror of losing time - loved ones living through days they'll never share, grief hardening in their absence. They enter the citadel and descend to the vast cavernous heart of the network.

Gregory and Bryce cross the Dulmat mountains. During fireside confessions, Gregory reveals killing Corvin, Bryce reveals his healing abilities and his love for Abigail. Bryce shares how their bond was forged in mutual vulnerability - sitting with each other through grief without flinching.

Gregory and Bryce flee Mulrich. Bryce reveals his fear for Abigail specifically and clutches the falcon token. They cross the western plain toward the Dulmat mountains and discover a smooth black circle on the plain - a scar where something tried to breach the network from below.

Gregory and Bryce find Mulrich consumed by unnatural purple fire. Gregory connects the purple flames' wrongness to the warm river stones from their escape and the humming cellar crack from Marisburg. They rescue survivors and learn Queen messengers fled before the fires.

Gregory and Bryce escape from the Otagin camp, wade upstream to lose pursuers. In the river they pass ancient stone outcroppings warm from within, carved with spiral patterns Bryce recognizes from his grandfather's drawings of old boundary markers.

Gregory walks beside Bryce and notices the prince's injuries have healed impossibly fast. They discuss their situation, Bryce reveals his betrothed Abigail, and Gregory devises an escape plan.

Gregory reveals Bryce is a prince, earning his own freedom but not Bryce's. Days of marching east with the Otagin follow. They discover an abandoned hamlet where every door stands open and meals sit uneaten on tables - the inhabitants simply vanished.

Night attack on the caravan - Gregory tries to escape during the chaos but is captured by Otagin soldiers. He saves Prince Bryce from execution by revealing his identity to the Otagin leader Mahkinson

Gregory recovers from his wounds while being transported. The caravan passes through a dead stretch of the Northern Pass where trees are gray and split, and a patrol vanished without trace three winters ago. He overhears soldiers discussing the prince's unnatural resilience.