Episode 20 Synopsis

In a dream, Mathias Ephelthine shows Normandy the ancient Syphus Order sealing the thousand-foot Dio Ostium after stealing a fragment of the Ithelion from the heart of Tyve. The company included Eho Zyltrix, Eirin Melosis, Horatio Vinvese, Draxus Cale, Angelette Thedon, and Mathias himself. Mathias says Zyltrix deceived and abandoned the others, then orders Normandy to gather Helena's vial and the light atop Piln's lighthouse before reuniting both fragments with the Ithelion. He promises to restore Normandy's youth, depart from him, and leave his magic behind, but admits that the original theft was motivated by power and that he still has plans of his own.

In Malben, the black-clad Vey identifies himself as Bikthar Kaylin Moon and invites Torin to meet his mistress. Torin refuses to abandon his companions, and Bikthar's layered illusions vanish. The Plague Court confirms that Malben's illness is probably not the mainland plague, warns that darkness around the lips and eyes marks its progression, and sends birds to Piln and Gavra. Torin then turns the visibly marked Zharls over to the Court, whose earlier patients were permanently "assisted." The company leaves while Puck continues coughing blackness beside the burned mills. At Kalinky, Vyr secretly drains a hog to ease her ethomantic hunger, and Torin dreams that one of the four Vey statues holding the Dark Scepter has already cracked.

At the final bridge to Piln, the party encounters Wylas Velpa, who is seeking asylum and coercing travelers into surrendering writs of passage. Normandy creates a temporary tangible duplicate, gives it to Wylas, and dispels it after the group escapes. The real writs carry the caravan through the Piln barricade, where Ithelion light drives away Tyve's darkness and nourishes flowering land. During the final approach, Rue consumes Vyr's darkness-storing glint and a small packet of glister, while the companions exchange the personal motives drawing each of them toward the mainland and the Ithelion. They agree that removing Piln's light without a safe plan could condemn the island. Before they enter the city, the lighthouse's ancient radiance suddenly goes out.