Cellus draws the sleeping Harbingers into the dream where Vyr stands before him. The Dragon of Dreams claims them as his champions, reveals that he has placed the Crystalline Order into a forbidden slumber, and asks them to restore balance by returning light to the Ithelion. He warns that Vyr's journey between realms has attracted the attention of the Starving Darkness, confirms that Kypheron remains in twilight rather than fully awake, and identifies the Dark Scepter as a phylactery. When Whisper asks for aid, Cellus dissolves his crossbow into starlight, though no magic can be detected upon it after waking. The Harbingers then use Horatio's Oblivion Orb to surrender their memories of the green eyes so the Crystalline Order can awaken without pursuing them. Whisper nearly loses every memory of Lily, Graham, and the people he loves, but he refuses to let them go and breaks free from the orb.

Torrin's compass reveals a hidden entrance beneath the Arcanium, and Horatio accompanies the Harbingers into the Catacomb of Silence. An acid trap burns Bjorn's armor and badly injures Nixon before the group reaches a vast chamber filled with floating shards of glass containing living, silently screaming prisoners. At its center waits Silence, a winged Argylus who still retains part of her original light. She identifies herself as the forgotten keeper of the place and recognizes the Harbingers as people marked by those she serves. Bjorn crosses her maddening light and accepts the Crystallic fragment hanging from her neck. Silence releases the fragment without a fight and asks the group to tell her order that Silence still shines with light. The Harbingers leave her prisoners behind and return to the Arcanium, where the compass points south by southwest from below but turns toward Felsis's experimental portal, the Tear, from the upper chamber.

Felsis opens the Tear and carries the Harbingers to a northeastern coast beyond their known map. They travel through dark pine woods toward Felonor, a prosperous city raised upon a coastal plateau beneath perpetual twilight. When the city's guards see Whisper's wolf-marked ring and dagger, they proclaim that Lord Valdemar has returned and escort the Harbingers into the city. Whisper and Ernan experience fragments of familiarity among Felonor's people, creatures, and lavender-colored sacred tree. A royal advisor refuses them immediate access to Lord Elseron Valdemar but grants them lodging until morning. Inside the House of Thedon, a priest welcomes Whisper as the lost Valdemar child who was cast into the sea during the Day of Longing. Behind him stands a statue of the Tangled One, revealing that the city's faith, Whisper's forgotten family, and Angela Thedon are bound together.