Livira warns of fire and urges immediate movement. The group heads for Chamber 7 despite its forbidden status, prompting Master Synoth to confront Yute about the locked chambers. Yute deflects with wry familiarity, and Yamala takes the lead.

As they hurry through aisles of tinder-dry books, Livira asks why the assistants cannot simply prevent burning. Yute explains the library’s equilibrium between Irad and Jaspeth: knowledge is accessible but perilous, and fire is part of the compromise. He cautions that doors stop people, not the inferno, and corridors can channel flames into adjacent chambers.

Pressed for alternatives, Yute says Yamala cannot open another portal so soon, and he cannot either. He reveals that he and Yamala were once assistants who made themselves human through sacrifice. Urged by Arpix, Livira admits that she and Arpix drew a portal to the Exchange in Chamber 16 using an assistant’s blood, stunning Yute and Yamala.

At first the fire is invisible, then a breeze builds, dust eddies, pages lift, and the blaze’s roar grows. Explosions sound; gunfire and screams close in as the arsonists outrun the flames. Fear mounts as the wind dies abruptly, replaced by ominous stillness and heavy detonations.

Nearing the wall for Chamber 7, Livira sprints to the clearing. Meelan climbs to scout and spots scattered fires, a towering smoke front rolling toward them, and sabbers racing across the shelf tops. Soldiers and civilians also converge along the aisles.

Livira drives Yute toward the door and funnels people into the corridor, scanning for those missing, including Salamonda. Before order can take hold, a sabber drops into the crowd, shots and screams erupt, and the surging smoke pours over the clearing, choking the scene in chaos.