Vis drifts in and out of consciousness in the infirmary, haunted by images of Emissa, Belli, and Callidus, and by the memory of the Iudicium. In a vivid dream, Vis’s father appears, comforts his grief, tells him that death is a doorway and they will meet again, and urges Vis to remember who he is and to have courage. The parting leaves Vis raw and aching, but steadied by his father’s love.

Waking, Vis finds Veridius at his bedside and realizes he is restrained. Veridius reveals Vis’s left arm was amputated due to a spreading rot and warns that Vis’s blood is tainted—fatal if discovered by the wrong people. Pressed for honesty, Vis admits he ran the Labyrinth in the ruins and that the writing on his arm helped him escape; he tells Veridius Belli is dead. Veridius insists Emissa did not try to kill Vis but thought him past saving, and implores Vis to request a Religion assignment under Magnus Tertius Pileus to help avert another Cataclysm.

Eidhin arrives briefly, relieved and compassionate. Vis grieves that Callidus’s death felt meaningless; Eidhin counters that death only becomes meaningless if it does not change them, promising they will honor Callidus when Vis is well.

A committee of senators enters, led by Magnus Quartus Vaesar, who demands Vis’s immediate post-graduation preference and warns he’ll otherwise be assigned to Military service. Learning five days have passed, Vis considers fleeing responsibility but resolves to act. Rejecting Religion and Military, he chooses to work for the Censor; the senators witness and seal the assignment.

After they leave, Vis confronts Veridius for using students and failing to protect them, refusing to collaborate for now. Alone, struggling with phantom pain and exhaustion, he notices a roughly carved wooden ship at his bedside. He opens its hidden catch to reveal the name “Diago” inside, a relic from his childhood that echoes his father’s dream-visit and the call to courage.