Lyria carries Darrow’s message for Volga through the crowded Heraklion sealift, amid fraught tensions between House Kalibar Grays and Daughter militia managing waves of refugees. Determined to win Volga back to the Republic, she joins six Black Owls before being intercepted by a Gray officer.

Cassius and Sigurd arrive and overawe the blockade, escorting Lyria to a shuttle. En route, Cassius admits he has been lobbying skeptical sealords, while Sigurd outlines the plan: rendezvous with his Obsidian allies Gudmund and Fenrir, who will guide Lyria to Volga. Sigurd also warns of Fá’s brutality, recalling the failed Krypteia assassination and its grisly aftermath.

As the lift reaches the surface station, the trio heads across a packed courtyard toward their guarded shuttle. Lyria notices a shadow near a coastal gun emplacement, then hears a strange warble moments before a towering figure materializes among refugees—an assassin Sigurd identifies as a Harbinger.

The Harbinger, ghost-cloaked and shark-helmed, carves through civilians with twin blades in seconds, then vanishes. Grays scramble to respond as panic spreads. Sigurd fears more Harbingers have infiltrated by sea, underscoring the peril of the mission and the vulnerability of Heraklion even under heavy guard.