At sunrise, Vis wakes to Diago breathing over him; the alupi is alive, wary, and limps away into the forest. Vis evaluates his condition: the alupi bite aches and tingles beneath a makeshift bandage, and the cuts forming instructions on his forearm have stopped seeping. He reflects that someone or something helped him survive the Vetusian chamber and prevented the path beyond from opening, but he remains unsure what he truly learned. After swimming the river to wash and clean his torn tunic, he checks the stolen tracking plate and finds most stones have reattached and resist movement, even when he rotates the plate.

Vis returns east and meets Callidus and Aequa. He attributes his injuries to an alupi, and Aequa insists on cleaning and bandaging the bite, noting the arm looks infected. Vis avoids revealing the carved letters on his skin. The trio exchange updates: Callidus’s and Aequa’s days were uneventful; Aequa returns Vis’s white medallion. Vis recounts Borius confronting him over the tracking plate and mentions blood on a cloak; Aequa and Callidus discount it as bluster or hunting.

Together they study the plate. Callidus reasons the stones are Will-locked to a central broadcast point rather than the plate itself, the plate aligns by a scored north mark, and the map’s scale is too broad to show fine movement. Cross-checking with the golden marble, they infer most teams are clustered at the Heart of Jovan. Aequa identifies Indol’s grouping—bolstered by new Fourths—as uniquely positioned; they also note eliminations: Iro’s absence, Belli and Felix gone, and a blue Third indicated by a detached, spinning semicircle.

Given Vis’s condition, they adopt a cautious approach: let others attempt the Heart while they maneuver against a nearby team. As they close the distance, Callidus observes their target isn’t moving, likely watching the Heart. Recognizing that other teams will detect their approach on trackers, Vis proposes splitting up to preserve surprise and shape opponents’ routes.

They execute the plan: one of them must carry their medallions and the golden marble toward the Academy to suggest an ambush and monitor the Heart. After a coin toss, Aequa chooses to remain with Vis. Callidus takes both medallions and the Heart-tracking marble, agrees to act as lookout and feint near the Academy, and departs into the forest while Vis and Aequa continue toward Indol.