Episode 40 Synopsis

Deep within Dragdah, Torrin brings Rue's lightless and shadowless halves together with the Crystallic. Rue returns as a living Veyan boy, the companions' recognition of Torrin stabilizes, and Torrin becomes fully corporeal for the first time in their journey. The restoration also returns a small section of Veyan art and architecture, including a living prismatic rose whose scent can help recover a memory. Rue retains little of either divided existence, but chooses to keep the name the Harbingers know. Unwilling to abandon him, the group leads Rue farther into the frozen stronghold.

In a black hall masked by illusory ice, Bjorn accepts a challenge from the Forgotten Dead of Dragdah and defeats the first guardian of Helvegen. The guardian's scythe joins the all-blade, strengthening it and granting Bjorn a new weapon form, but the broken illusion exposes both shadowless undead and an enormous Dredged creature beneath the ice. Kiera recognizes the beast as one of the creatures tied to the sacrifices of her people and dives after it, only to be killed in the struggle. Torrin activates an ancient Veyan mechanism that channels light through the chamber and destroys the Dredged. Kiera's departing soul tells Bjorn that the barbarian remains in his heart and that she will always be with him. After Torrin performs a funeral rite, Bjorn commits her body to the water and asks Cellus to receive her among the honored dead.

The survivors recover relics from the chamber, including a statue of Sethis, a Tooth of Kypheron, and an Orb of Power, then descend into a sealed death chamber containing broken soul-siphoning chalices, the corpse of a colossal sea creature, and a hooded bearer of chartreuse flame. The ancient figure claims to be Dragdah's last heir and tests the Harbingers through the faces and voices of people they have known. He offers the Deathless Flame as a weapon against the Lifeless Blood and produces a golden apple said to cure the Walking Rot afflicting Bjorn's niece Dalia. Normandy accepts the flame in hopes of breaking Mathias Ephelthine's control. Mathias drains away his life, but the chartreuse fire consumes Normandy before his soul can depart. The former bearer fades, the dead sea creature begins to rise, and the episode ends with Normandy engulfed by the Deathless Flame.