Within the Blood Keep, a weakened Acuras honors his agreement with Helena by allowing the Harbingers to pass beyond Keph's territory, then demands that she fulfill her side of their bargain. His lifeless blood has transformed her into a Bloodmarked ranger: an undead and humanoid being with pale skin, ruby eyes, an intensifying hunger for the power within blood, and sanguine abilities that can strengthen her attacks at the cost of her own vitality. Acuras orders Helena to guide Arthas Ventrex Elutharis and the Blood Sorcerers into Venfallas, assassinate Ylvis, and mix Ylvis's blood with a vial of Acuras's blood before pouring it into the Moon Pond. Corrupting the water should weaken the magic protecting the Evenari. Arthas secretly expands the mission by ordering the extermination of every Evenari and authorizing Helena's death if her loyalties falter. While Aris Lantrosa assembles approximately fifty warriors, Arthas leads Helena and the infiltrators Geordi, Tareth Morgus, Jade, Harkin Rivas, and Eleonora toward the hidden realm.

Helena pretends to flee her pursuers, calls upon the remaining light within her vial, and is pulled through Venfallas's veil by an Evenari guardian. The guardian removes an arrow deliberately fired into Helena's shoulder, explains that the realm answered Helena's own connection to it, and offers to bring her to Ylvis. Bound by her promise to Acuras and threatened with the lives of her friends, Helena attacks and restrains the woman before inviting the waiting Blood Sorcerers inside. Shadowy hands tear open the veil, Helena's light goes out, and Arthas signals the larger force. Helena immediately regrets the scope of the attack and tries unsuccessfully to revoke the invitation, while Arthas and his followers slaughter the unprepared defenders and advance upon the central spire. Arthas reveals pointed ears, condemns the Evenari for abandoning him, and declares that his father's actions allowed Acuras to escape imprisonment. Ylvis emerges as an archdruid and blasts the invaders from the spire, then forbids their entrance and begins closing the veil. The defense comes too late to prevent Aris and approximately half the waiting army from entering Venfallas. Arthas throws Helena aside and advances toward Ylvis, declaring that he has a meeting with his father.

Meanwhile, the Harbingers cross the first bridge of the Dragdah pilgrimage, an immense stone span suspended over a chasm filled with freezing mist and the voices of the dead. The rising wind forces each traveler inward, confronting them with their choices and the unanswered question of why this particular group was drawn together. Near the far side, they discover the frozen body of a traveler who was stabbed and clawed while attempting to escape. Normandy casts Speak with Dead, but finds no soul within the corpse. A different presence answers through sickly green eyes, says the traveler was not welcome, and points back toward Ilanar before animating the body. The creature resists ordinary weapons, attempts to invade Normandy's mind, and is finally decapitated by Whisper after Bjorn nearly severs its head with Helvegen. A bloodied journal reveals that the traveler fled after an attack in a tower killed the rest of his companions. Beyond the bridge, the Harbingers enter a glacier illuminated by yellow-green sconces and climb past marks left by thousands of years of Nornian pilgrims. They rest at an ancient waystation, where Torrin finds no remaining sign of Whisper's blood-beetle infection and Vyr privately reveals the forbidden history shown to her by the Tome of Stars. Bjorn sleeps with Helvegen in his grasp, silently aware that the all-blade has never completed this pilgrimage, while far away Arthas enters Ylvis's spire.