Chapter XLI

Summary

• The protagonist awakens on a platform moving downwards, surrounded by darkness and lit only by a tinted crimson railing.
• When the platform lands, the protagonist is in a large hall, carved into the mountain and decorated with an enormous symbol of the Hierarchy on the far wall.
• Feeling both fear and curiosity, the protagonist explores the large, cathedral-like space.
• A stranger named Artemius Sel appears. He reveals that he was condemned to servitude for trying to gain "synchronism" and remove the seal to Obiteum during a rebellion.
• Artemius offers the protagonist a stone-studded bracer and says it is needed to reach an entrance across the hall.
• Just after the protagonist puts on the bracer, the hall transforms into a labyrinth, and Artemius explains that it is a test.
• Artemius demonstrates the consequences of failing the test by allowing himself to be killed by dark, glass-like creatures called Remnants.
• A second servant, Elia Veranius, appears in Artemius's place. She offers another bracer but the protagonist refuses, having seen Artemius's fate.
• With no other options, the protagonist returns to the entrance using the platform and leaves the hall to return to their mission.
• The protagonist is unsure of how to report this experience, having learned about the labyrinth test, but not understanding the larger concepts of synchronism, Obiteum, Luceum or the commandment of isolation.