Six gargoyle mechanicoids attack the exhausted Harbingers inside the Gate of Sethis. Brill encounters the fleeing nameless wizard in the jungle and forces him to return, while Whisper carries the unconscious Aronin away from danger. Mundane weapons prove nearly useless against the constructs, but Vyr discovers electrical pedestals linking each guardian to the temple. Torrin, Bjorn, Helena, Vyr, Normandy, Brill, and Aronin attack those mechanisms while the wizard's stones summon a hawk, conjure a swarm of mice, disintegrate one pedestal, and release a shattering spell powerful enough to damage the guardians. Destroying each pedestal weakens or disables its construct, allowing the Harbingers to defeat all six. During the recovery, Bjorn and Normandy cauterize their severed arms, while Aronin, Brill, and the wizard return to the shore camp for help. Ned accompanies them back but finds himself cut off from Azran's light within the temple.
The Harbingers descend beneath Sethis's statue and enter a chamber dominated by a lifelike Veyan image of the goddess holding a lantern. Inside floats a shard that alternates between pure and dark glint, while supernatural darkness consumes the party's torchlight. Helena opens her vial and allows the lantern to take both its stored Ithelion radiance and all the light accumulated through the group's choices. The sacrifice connects her to Sethis, illuminates the temple, restores Normandy's and Whisper's missing arms, and opens a living cartography chamber and a library of ancient knowledge. The party learns that light and darkness can be offered to unlock fourteen sealed rooms, including opposing final chambers. A spectral librarian, whom the party calls Simply, says the Vey created her but is prevented from explaining them. She identifies Azran as a being born from the Ithelion, describes Sethis as death in a deathless land who was destroyed by the true gods, and explains that Sethis's exiled followers either removed their light to hide from the Starving Darkness or removed their darkness to become immortal beacons. The temple becomes a protected base for the Maelstrodomus's passengers, while further exploration reveals ancient recasting slabs, used prison cells, Ilk's new chamber for the Black Worm, and an inactive lift leading toward the Eye of Sethis.
After a night's rest, Zandra proposes sending a small reconnaissance party through the temple's active portal while the others secure the island. Torrin reads the recovered portal rune as Beklar. When it approaches the arch, the rune attaches itself and water rises from the pool to form a passage. The Harbingers choose Aronin, Rue, and Th'Marck to accompany them, leaving the ship, pirates, Zandra, and the others at the Twilight Temple. As Brill enters last, the old wizard finally remembers and announces his name: Tamarack. The party emerges horizontally through water into an exposed ruined temple high above the mainland. For the first time, they see Tyve stretching across mountains, valleys, crags, and a glaciated plateau beneath the distant radiance of the Ithelion. Its pale light feels hollow but warm upon them, and the shadows within the travelers stir with hunger as the Harbingers begin their journey across mainland Tyve.