Chapter Nineteen: Diamond and Shdow[edit | edit source]

Ivin and the wardens enter the Hall of Burdenis in the Crack of Burdenis, finding a sunlit shrine and a massacre of eyeless, marrow-sucked corpses. Diamond-dust wards litter the floor, and Ivin’s discovery of a locked book triggers a Shadow’s birth from the shrine, prompting a panicked retreat. Meliu claims the book, refusing to identify it, as Taken priests attack, killing Suvarn, who rises possessed. The group flees through tight tunnels and treacherous stairs, losing another to a Shadow’s wall ambush. Exhausted, they reach Ervinhin, finding Modan’s camp abandoned, with Colok tracks suggesting pursuit. In the house of the dead, Meliu identifies Loepus but notes Tokodin’s absence, hinting at Colok capture. Pikarn suspects a brewing conflict, and Ivin, drained, collapses into bed, pondering the Shadows’ year-long presence and Istinjoln’s failures.

EoS Chapter 18 — Smoke and Honey
EoS Chapter 20 — Blood in the Briar