After Mina's birth, Brad Village settles into a new rhythm, but reports elsewhere begin sharing the same pattern: black water, tremors, blood-rot, and movement under the earth. Cedric carries the burden until his hair turns white, while Marida reads the Empire's records and Bana sharpens her own way of seeing. Dagger, longer blade, animal differences, and tiny changes in the mountain all become pieces of the same preparation. The ancient mountain ox is not yet a demon beast, and the king beneath the earth has not yet appeared—but the roads are moving toward one another.