Chapter 69: Lyria: Hour of Hunger

Summary

• Lyria, the narrator, likens her experiences to watching a Violet drama.
• A grandiose ritual is taking place where Jarl Gherala is pointing his spear at the sea as a massive gravskiff rises, chained to a colossal, thrashing leviathan.
• The leviathan is a gargantuan creature described with black and gold colors, a shark-like central face, and other smaller faces with beaks on its back.
• Even the strong character Sigurd shows a sign of flinching at the beast’s power.
• Jarl Gherala declares that kings may only kill kings, giving the honor of killing the leviathan to his lord Fá.
• Fá, showing no sign of his age, skillfully climbs the beast and, amidst chants from shamans, proceeds to frenziedly stab it with his trident until the leviathan lies dead, its final cries emitting immense sorrow.
• Lyria feels a profound sense of sorrow and wrongness about the leviathan's death, which she considers an integral part of Europa's soul.
• Following the kill, Fá is drenched in blood and guts, indifferent to the life he's taken, leaving the task of harvesting the beast to enslaved Reds and directing Browns.
• Fá then approaches Volga in front of twelve captives, one from each Color except Reds and Obsidians, with Sigurd and Lyria being forced to join them.
• Sigurd indicates to Lyria that their deaths are imminent due to them being abandoned by their companions.
• Fá delivers a speech on strength, sacrifice, and worth, then commands his granddaughter, Volga, to undergo the "Passage of the Stains," which involves killing the captives.
• Volga is reluctant, internal conflict visible as she stares at the dreadful gauntlet she's given as well as her only friend, Lyria.
• Fá labels each captive with their alleged sin, calling Sigurd a traitor and Lyria a rat, as he initiates the process for Volga to perform her violent rite.
• Volga questions the need for her participation and expresses her loyalty, but Fá insists, reasoning that the act she must perform is one of a dark but necessary nature to serve her people.
• Fá convinces Volga by comparing her with her father's past actions and pushes her to follow through, activating the gauntlet that she hesitantly wears.
• The chapter ends with a tense moment where Volga's resolution seems fortified, leaving Lyria to expect the worst outcome.