Heaven’s Chains Reader’s Guide

Recap of Rotten Gods

(WARNING: Contains major spoilers of Rotten Gods. Only read this recap if you have already read Rotten Gods. If you haven’t, go read it now!)

High-Level Overview and Setup for Book 2

Pyoshara Zanesh discovers the grim reality that the nightmarish beings known as the rotten gods were never defeated in the ancient wars. They continue to exist in the forgotten places of the world, feeding on the souls of their victims to grow in power. Pyoshara’s quest to understand the scope of the threat leads him to the Sorkarian Order, a secret order of assassin priests residing in the deep desert. Pyoshara takes the oath to join the order as an arbiter, and more specifically, as a dream stalker, one who can cross through the planes of existence and attack the rotten gods in the Astral Plane. 

As a dream stalker, Pyoshara receives a solar pearl, a mystical artifact that allows him to wield magic in the Astral Plane. He undergoes a surgical procedure to embed the pearl in his right hand to ensure that it is hidden from his enemies.

Under the tutelage of the master dream stalker Getayu, Pyoshara hones his abilities.

Three years later, Pyoshara is called to hunt a rotten god that is tormenting his friend, Zafira. He journeys to an oppressive swamp where a dangerous cult worships a being known as Lord Zakareoth. Pyoshara falls prey to the cult’s traps, and he succumbs to poisons and dark magics that rob him of his agency and cause him to forsake his original mission and join Zakareoth instead. Henathi, a mysterious warrior who appears outwardly loyal to Zakareoth but is really a double agent in disguise, helps Pyoshara to cast off these traps and restores him to his original mission.

Henathi and Pyoshara endure within the cult, slowly plotting to kill Zakareoth while doing their best to avert suspicion. When it becomes clear that a high-ranking priest named Headmaster Ornosh is on to them and that their time is running out, Henathi finalizes her plan to slay Zakareoth.

Henathi ousts Pyoshara as a traitor, betraying him, removing his solar pearl, and delivering him up for execution. However, this maneuver lands Pyoshara’s soul in the Crimson Isles, nearly close enough to attack Zakareoth. At the last moment, Henathi restores Pyoshara’s solar pearl so that he can destroy Zakareoth in the Astral Plane. When Pyoshara and Henathi cross back over into the physical world, they destroy Zakareoth’s physical body as well, utterly killing him.

Pyoshara and Henathi escape the cult’s domain and return to Sonanarth, the capital city of the nation of Sonan. Henathi seeks healing for her sick sister, Nayalen, while Pyoshara plans to return to the Sorkarian Monastery and report back on his mission. Pyoshara and Henathi part ways.

Although Pyoshara is happy to be made a full arbiter, he is suspicious of his mentor Getayu as well as the Sorkarian Order’s leadership, an unseen council known as the Table of Nine. During his hunt, Pyoshara discovered that six other arbiters had tried to slay Zakareoth but died during their mission. The order had withheld this information from Pyoshara, preferring to keep him in the dark. Because of this, Pyoshara suspects there is some form of corruption brewing within the order. Although it is just a hunch, he wonders if it’s possible for a rotten god to possess the Table of Nine and corrupt the Sorkarian Order from within.

Chapter Summaries

Prologue

Getayu Vartha, a master arbiter and hunter of rotten gods, sits at his lookout point atop the Arbiter Monastery and enters meditation. He senses that a rotten god is about to surface in Sonanarth, the capital city of the nation of Sonan. To confront the threat, Getayu mounts his camel and journeys across the Yuja Desert toward Sonanarth.

Chapter 1: The Invitation

Nineteen-year-old Pyoshara Zanesh arrives late to his morning studies. Recently confirmed as a member of the priestly Marazhen caste, Pyoshara studies various rituals to worship the creator goddess Aurya, otherwise known as the Radiant Mother. He is also permitted to learn the Agruvan, otherwise known as elemental magic.

Pyoshara is a loner and doesn’t get along with his peers, mostly because he doesn’t take his studies seriously, which holds the rest of the class back.

After his morning studies, Pyoshara returns to his residence at the edge of campus. As his father, Vashayatha, is the archpriest of Sonan, Pyoshara enjoys much more luxurious accommodation compared to his peers. His residence is a private apartment which he doesn’t have to share with anyone.

Soon after Pyoshara arrives home, his father’s secretary, Requeva, visits bearing bad news. Pyoshara is in danger of being expelled because his school performance has slipped so far. Requeva states that in addition to improving his grades, he needs to become friends with his classmates. By showing that he can integrate well with his Marazhen peers, the university staff will be more likely to restore him to good standing.

Requeva encourages Pyoshara to go to a party that is happening that night. Although Pyoshara wasn’t invited, Requeva managed to overhear about the party and swipe an invitation.

Chapter 2: The Long Night

Pyoshara arrives at the party, which is being held in a secluded glade in the middle of a large park within Sonanarth. At the middle of the glade stands a towering tree. His classmates as well as many other university students are already there. Pyoshara tries to converse with his classmates but they want little to do with him. Only one of his classmates, a woman named Zafira, acts friendly toward him.

Although everyone at the park is drinking alcohol, Pyoshara refuses when it is offered to him. Alcohol is forbidden amongst the Marazhen caste, so while everyone is technically breaking the rules, Pyoshara fears that if any teacher finds out he was drinking, that will be sufficient cause to finally expel him.

After some time, strange women arrive at the party and convince everyone to play a social game that requires everyone to divulge their secrets. While this is happening, Pyoshara notices men hidden among the trees, encircling the party. As the game continues, the partygoers’ behavior becomes increasingly erratic, which cannot be explained by the alcohol alone.

Finally, the woman leading the game reveals that she has renounced the goddess Aurya, claiming that she is a false goddess. She says she has found a new god to worship and that everyone at the party is invited to worship him too. She calls out to her god, and soon after a horrifying, eldritch creature surfaces from a hollow in the tree before disappearing back into the depths.

Rather than try to escape, many of Pyoshara’s peers simply laugh or fall asleep. Pyoshara realizes the alcohol must be poisoned, and as he didn’t have any, he’s coherent enough to attempt escape. But as soon as he tries, the strange men in the trees block him and tackle him to the ground. They force him to drink the poisoned drink, causing him to get dizzy.

Shortly thereafter, one man and two women in blue jackets arrive at the scene. They are war priests of some kind, as they use elemental spells to attack the strange people who poisoned Pyoshara’s classmates. The male war priest helps Pyoshara to vomit out some of the poison. Then the man ventures beneath the tree to slay the eldritch creature.

Terrified of being alone in the dark, Pyoshara follows the man in blue beneath the tree. As the man slays the creature, the poison in Pyoshara’s system takes root and causes him to faint.

Chapter 3: The Cerulean Feather

Pyoshara has no memory of what occurred at the party, as the poison that remained in his system causes him to forget. He and his classmates have been granted two weeks to rest, but now it is time to go back to school.

When he arrives at his class, only Zafira shows up as well. Pyoshara and Zafira’s teacher reveals that many of their classmates died that night, as somebody started a fire that got out of hand.

Pyoshara and Zafira leave class early and talk in the library. Zafira believes that the teacher is lying, that there was no fire and it’s just a cover story for what really happened. She believes that something darker and more sinister is afoot. She reveals that ever since the party, she has started to hallucinate, hearing strange voices whispering inside her head. She asks Pyoshara to return to where the party occurred so they can figure out what really happened.

Pyoshara and Zafira return and discover the secret passage leading beneath the tree. They do not find any eldritch creatures or strange cultists under the tree, but they do discover a cerulean feather. It was lying there as if someone had planted it for them to find.

Pyoshara takes the feather. He helps Zafira return home then heads home himself.

Chapter 4: The Sickness

That night, Pyoshara has a strange dream, in which the blue feather springs to life and leads him through the streets of Sonanarth to a bookshop hidden away in a quiet alleyway. The feather leads him to a book which contains pictures of eldritch monsters. Suddenly, Pyoshara’s memory returns to him. He remembers what really happened at the party, that one of these monsters was responsible for poisoning and killing his classmates.

Pyoshara is jolted awake. He immediately finds Zafira, and together they go looking for the bookstore that Pyoshara visited in his dreams.

In the waking world, the bookstore is in shambles. Despite this, Pyoshara and Zafira manage to find the book of monsters that Pyoshara saw in his dreams. Zafira has an episode, during which she acts like she is possessed by one of these monsters, but she eventually comes to her senses. She tells Pyoshara to put the book back, but Pyoshara, overcome with curiosity, takes it home.

Chapter 5: Dark Revelation

Pyoshara returns to his apartment and spends all evening reading through the book of monsters. He discovers that they are called rotten gods, or Napholok in the holy language. They were once human, but found a way to become immortal by feeding off of human souls. They create false religions or cults, presenting themselves as true gods and offering promises of eternal life to get unsuspecting victims to worship them. Although the rotten gods can live forever, they continue to rot and mutate without end, hence their horrifying appearance.

As Pyoshara reads the book, he also discovers that there is a secret order of assassin priests that is trained to hunt down the rotten gods. Pyoshara connects the order described in the book to the priests in blue that saved him the night of the party.

Pyoshara discovers a second blue feather waiting for him near the back of the book.

The book ends with an invitation to join the order. It states that whoever finds the book is currently being tested by the order, and that they may be invited to join it.

Intrigued and filled with a sense of purpose, Pyoshara begins to apply himself in all areas of his studies.

Chapter 6: Temptation

Several months have passed since Pyoshara discovered the book of monsters. He has continued to apply himself. He has excelled in his studies and has been restored to good standing by the university. He has also studied the book of monsters extensively and learned as much as he can about the rotten gods.

However, he is dismayed that the order of assassin priests hasn’t contacted him all that time. He worries that they are no longer interested in him.

Pyoshara waits in his father’s office. Since the school year is wrapping up, Pyoshara’s father has offered him a paid internship, and they are meeting to go over the details. Pyoshara hesitates to sign the contract, still hoping for the order to contact him.

When Pyoshara’s pen jams, Vashayatha’s assistant produces a quill for Pyoshara to sign with. But the quill is a blue feather. Pyoshara takes this as a sign that the order is still watching him.

Pyoshara refuses to sign the contract and instead goes to the paper store where the assistant got the quill from. He hopes to find more clues about how to find the order.

The shopkeeper at the paper store reveals that he is an informant for the order and leads Pyoshara to the roof of his store. There, he shows Pyoshara the migrating flocks of birds in the skies above. One of the birds is the yujani albatross. Pyoshara hypothesizes that the three blue feathers in his possession are that of the yujani albatross, and that he must follow the flock west into the Yuja Desert to find the order of assassins.

The shopkeeper affirms Pyoshara’s hypothesis.

Before leaving for the desert, Pyoshara visits Zafira, who has taken a turn for the worse. She is plagued by hallucinations and cannot focus on her studies. Pyoshara invites her to come with her into the desert, hoping that the order can restore her to good health. She accepts.

Chapter 7: Shifting Sands

Pyoshara and Zafira rent a camel from one of the desert nomads and venture out into the desert. As they follow the albatrosses, a sandstorm picks up. The shifting sands reveal ancient artifacts and buildings buried beneath, hinting that they are journeying over the ruins of some ancient civilization.

Not wanting to get caught in the sandstorm, the camel bucks Pyoshara and Zafira off then runs away, leaving them to fend for themselves. As the sands churn, Pyoshara and Zafira fall into the ruins of an ancient city. Then a large amount of sand crashes down on top of them. Pyoshara loses consciousness.

Pyoshara regains consciousness some time later. The camel that abandoned him licks his face to wake him up. It turns out that the camel went back to retrieve the nomad. The nomad helps dig Pyoshara out of the sand. The nomad thanks Pyoshara for finding this spot in the desert, as there are many buried artifacts here that the nomad can sell for lots of money.

Zafira is also fine, having been helped out of the sand by the nomad before Pyoshara woke up.

Pyoshara and Zafira continue their journey atop the camel while the nomad continues gathering treasure. They come to a large mesa in the middle of the desert where the albatrosses are flying into. They bid the camel farewell, then walk through the crevices in the mesa, searching for a way inside. Sure enough, they find a secret passageway leading into the mesa.

Inside, the man that saved Pyoshara at the party greets him, introducing himself as Getayu.

Pyoshara and Zafira are separated, as Getayu says they have different gifts and therefore will have different roles within the order. Pyoshara is invited to become an arbiter and Zafira is invited to become a witness.

Pyoshara is led to a secret village in the mesa called the Arbiter Village. There, he is brought to a longhouse where he is offered a bed and allowed to rest. As Pyoshara sleeps, other people enter the longhouse, other arbiter candidates, like him.

Chapter 8: The Silk Tomb

The next morning, Getayu and the other arbiters invite Pyoshara and the other candidates to become arbiters-in-training, or arbiter neophytes. If they join the order, they will learn the skills necessary to be able to assassinate the rotten gods. There is one challenge remaining.

The arbiters lead the candidates deep underground, where it becomes clear the arbiter base is built on top of an ancient city. As they descend deeper and deeper, they come to a great treasure vault filled with gold coins and artifacts. At the center of the vault is a large silk mound covered in Tarantulas.

Hidden within the silk mound is a rotten god named Tairanak, a massive, misshapen man with elongated limbs, resembling those of a spider. The arbiters awaken him then exit the chamber, leaving the candidates to fend for themselves. Although Tairanak’s wrists and ankles are bound in chains, he can still rampage around the room and attack the candidates.

Several students try to harm Tairanak with magic but his flesh heals instantly from any wound. Tairanak corners Pyoshara and spits on him, As the saliva touches Pyoshara’s lips he starts to hallucinate. He imagines that he has been transformed into a spider then passes out.

Chapter 9: The Oath

Pyoshara returns to his senses, lying on the floor of the treasure chamber. The arbiters have returned and subdued Tairanak, tightening his chains and forcing him back into his throne, where he sits comatose.

It is revealed that the arbiters set Tairanak loose on the candidates as a form of hazing ritual, to prepare them for the dark reality of what it is like to face these eldritch monsters.

Getayu explains that powerful rotten gods like Tairanak have gained mastery over the Astral Plane, another plane of existence. The rotten gods construct realms called “false paradises” within the Astral Plane to bolster their power. When Pyoshara imagined himself transformed into a spider, he was really transported to the Astral Plane, specifically to Tairanak’s false paradise.

Getayu reveals that they keep Tairanak imprisoned here because they use him for training.

The candidates are given the chance to leave and return to their former lives, or stay on and train as arbiters. Overwhelmed with fear, Pyoshara decides to leave.

Getayu catches up with Pyoshara before he exits the mesa. Getayu brings Pyoshara to the Hall of Witnesses, where Zafira is currently staying. There, Getayu explains that the witnesses are susceptible to possessions by rotten gods, but that they are trained to leverage this possession in order to acquire secrets from the rotten gods and find out where they are hiding. Once a witness locates a rotten god’s lair, an arbiter can be sent out to hunt them.

Pyoshara hears the cries and lamentations of the witnesses, as their existence is one of near-constant suffering. Getayu states that only an arbiter can bring a witness some measure of relief by killing the rotten god that torments them.

Pyoshara considers all that Getayu tells him and changes his mind. He takes the oath to become an arbiter.

Chapter 10: The Solar Pearl

Pyoshara and Getayu return to the rest of the candidates that also agreed to become arbiters, Pyoshara’s new classmates. Pyoshara receives a pale blue jacket marking him as a neophyte.

Getayu and another teacher, Elder Rahaz, lead the neophytes to a room called the Shrine of the Grandmasters. Here, the teachers explain that there are two arbiter specializations, two different ways of killing the rotten gods.

Elder Rahaz explains the first specialization, the Way of the Poisoner. As the name implies, poisoners gain an encyclopedic knowledge of various plant and animal poisons through years of study. They become masters of guile and deceit so they can go undercover and pretend to worship the rotten god they’re trying to assassinate. They ascend through the ranks of a rotten god’s cult so they administer poison while the rotten god feeds. Over several years of being slowly poisoned, the rotten god will keel over, dead. Rahaz explains that Grandmaster Sorka, one of the two founders of the order, was the first to discover that poisons could be used to kill rotten gods. Therefore, all poisoners see themselves as Sorka’s successors.

Getayu explains the second specialization, the Way of the Dream Stalker. Dream stalking represents the faster yet more dangerous approach to killing a rotten god. Dream stalkers cross over into the Astral Plane and attack a rotten god’s astral body with elemental magic. If they manage to kill the astral body, the rotten god’s physical body becomes vulnerable, unable to regenerate, and often falls into a state of brief torpor. Once a dream stalker kills the astral body, they must return to the Physical Plane and quickly destroy the physical body to permanently kill the rotten god. Getayu explains that Grandmaster Kari, the other of the two founders of the order, was the first to discover the art of dream stalking. Therefore, all dream stalkers see themselves as Kari’s successors.

The official name of the order, the Sorkarian Order, is a portmanteau of the two founders’ names.

The candidates are allowed to choose their path. Pyoshara chooses to become a dream stalker.

Getayu leads Pyoshara and the other dream stalker candidates to a surgical theater, where he explains that a dream stalker’s power comes from a small artifact called the solar pearl. The solar pearl allows one to wield elemental magic while in the Astral Plane. It also allows the dream stalker to retain their human form in the Astral Plane. Without the solar pearl, a person is completely defenseless inside a rotten god’s false paradise.

To conceal the solar pearl, the dream stalkers undergo a surgery to embed it in their right hands. Pyoshara and the other candidates all undergo the procedure, receiving a solar pearl into their bodies.

Pyoshara trains as a dream stalker for three years

Chapter 11: The Unending Web

Three years have passed since Pyoshara joined the order. The rotten god that was tormenting Zafira has been recently slain. As she is no longer currently possessed, Zafira has been allowed by the order to return to her family in Sonanarth for a time. She has been writing secret letters to Pyoshara. Early in the morning, Pyoshara receives a letter that indicates Zafira is returning that night. This means that another rotten god has started to possess her, and she needs to return to safety within the Hall of Witnesses.

Later that morning, Getayu leads Pyoshara and the other dream stalker neophytes to train against Tairanak. The dream stalkers all sit around Tairanak, meditate, and cross over into the Astral Plane. Tairanak’s false paradise in the Astral Plane is known as the Unending Web.

The dream stalkers try to defeat Tairanak’s astral body. They fight along a spider-infested tree, killing many spiders with their magic on their way to Tairanak’s throne. In the Astral Plane, Tairanak appears as a giant tarantula.

Pyoshara attempts to kill Tairanak but is impaled by one of his legs and encased in a silk cocoon.

Getayu and the other arbiters are watching over the neophyte class. Seeing everyone fail, they enter and destroy Tairanak, freeing everyone from the Astral Plane and returning them to the treasure chamber. Tairanak is not permanently destroyed as no one attacks his physical body, leaving him to heal for the next training exercise.

Getayu chastises Pyoshara for not defeating Tairanak, believing that after three years he should be able to do it.

Chapter 12: The Shallow Womb

That night, Pyoshara sneaks out of the longhouse under cover of darkness and heads over to the Hall of Witnesses. He hides as a procession of witnesses escorts Zafira inside. Pyoshara scales the Hall of Witnesses along the outside and finds the crevice in the rock that he has used to speak to Zafira in secret over the past years. The order forbids arbiters and witnesses from communicating directly.

Zafira explains that a new rotten god has indeed come to possess her. In the middle of their conversation, Zafira has an episode and faints.

Terrified, Pyoshara rushes inside to save her. When he gets inside, he sees that Zafira is having a seizure. Zafira’s roommate, Nikeeva, holds her steady until her seizure subsides.

Zafira’s Mother Superior and Getayu come to investigate the commotion and spot Pyoshara breaking the rules. Before Pyoshara can get in trouble, Zafira tells her Mother Superior that she is ready for the Seeing Ritual, which is the ritual where a witness reaches out to a rotten god to discover their lair.

Getayu allows Pyoshara to come along to view the ritual. They all go to a secret chamber within the Hall of Witnesses called the Shallow Womb. Zafira enters the water. The Mother Superior holds her while she confronts the rotten god tormenting her.

After the ritual, Getayu explains that he allowed Pyoshara to view the ritual because he wants him to slay Zafira’s tormentor. Getayu says that all the other arbiters are hunting and that Zafira might go insane or die while she waits for someone to help her.

Pyoshara protests, saying there’s no way he can defeat a rotten god in the wild if he can’t even beat Tairanak.

Getayu and Pyoshara enter Tairanak’s false paradise in secret. Getayu explains that the secret to defeating a rotten god’s astral body is to use the dream world they have created against them.

At last, Pyoshara accepts his mission to hunt Zafira’s tormentor.

Chapter 13: The Hunt Begins

Accompanied by Zafira and her guardian, Utham, Pyoshara journeys east into the swamp province of Lothakan. Zafira spends most of the time in trance, sniffing out where her tormentor’s lair is located.

When the wagon arrives, Pyoshara disembarks and Zafira and Utham turn around to head back to the monastery in the desert.

Pyoshara enters the oppressive, foreboding swamp. To his surprise, he is not the only one venturing into the swamp, as there are others he finds along the way making the journey with him. He comes across a lodge and meets the rotten god’s cult members. A woman named Tabia, who acts as the elder and chieftain of the lodge, explains that they worship a god named Lord Zakareoth. Hiding his true intent, Pyoshara pretends to be an outcast of society and pledges himself to Zakareoth. Tabia’s servants tattoo Pyoshara’s and the others’ shoulders, marking them as part of the cult.

The next day, Tabia escorts Pyoshara and the other new arrivals deeper into the swamp to an isolated village with absolutely squalid conditions. Tabia summons one of her servants, an elderly man named Rutan, to test the faith of Zakareoth’s newest devotees. Pyoshara and most others pass the test, but a few fail.

As Rutan wipes Pyoshara’s wounds with fresh water, Rutan hints that he knows more than he is letting on. He invites Pyoshara to a secret meeting at his cabin, taking place that night.

Chapter 14: The Remnant

Pyoshara arrives at Rutan’s secret meeting. Rutan reveals that he is a former arbiter who never managed to slay Zakareoth and has been trapped in the swamp for years. The others at the meeting are still faithful to the goddess Aurya and only pretend to worship Zakareoth. Rutan mentions some ‘operation’ that he needs to perform on Pyoshara that night, but Zakareoth’s guards come through the area. The meeting is cut short as everyone is forced to return home.

Chapter 15: A Near Perfect Prison

Just like all the other villagers, Pyoshara is forced into slave labor. The village overseers whip and beat anyone who doesn’t appear to be working hard enough. But Pyoshara quickly falls into a rhythm and adapts to his new life. He slowly forgets about his true mission as he works hard to impress Tabia and the overseers.

Later in the week, Rutan and his followers abduct Pyoshara in the middle of the night and bring him back to Rutan’s cabin. Rutan explains that Pyoshara’s mind has been poisoned by the tattoo he received when he first arrived in Zakareoth’s domain.

Rutan and his followers tie Pyoshara up against his will and surgically remove the tattoo by cutting out his skin. As they bandage him, he returns to his senses and realizes just how much the tattoo was affecting his mind.

Restored to his mission, Pyoshara returns to his hut.

Chapter 16: The Eye and the Wolf

Now that Pyoshara is no longer under the effects of the mind-numbing tattoo, he loses his patience. He wants to get on with hunting Zakareoth but he is trapped in the swamp.

When he is out working one day, the overseers whip his shoulder and discover he has had his tattoo cut out. Tabia and the overseers inspect the shoulders of all the villagers and find that Rutan and all his followers have had their tattoos cut out as well.

Tabia wants to execute them for their betrayal, but a mysterious woman named Henathi says not to. Henathi is a herald, one of Zakareoth’s elite warriors who lives higher up on the mountain. Henathi regularly visits the slave villages in the swamps.

Tabia cannot fathom why Henathi does not want to execute Pyoshara, Rutan, and the others. Tabia ties the traitors to stakes but Henathi cuts them free, beginning an all-out battle. Pyoshara unleashes his magic, killing Tabia and her overseers. Unfortunately, Rutan and his followers die during the battle. Pyoshara collapses from magical overexertion.

Chapter 17: The Offering

Pyoshara reawakens to find Henathi cremating the deceased. As cremation is the means by which souls are sent to Aurya, not to Zakareoth, Pyoshara infers that Henathi is also a double agent, outwardly loyal to Zakareoth but secretly working to plot his demise. Henathi rescued Pyoshara from Tabia because she knows he has come to kill Zakareoth.

The two agree to join forces.

Once the cremation is complete, Pyoshara and Henathi travel in her wagon, out of the swamp and up the mountain.

Chapter 18: Laughing Skulls

About halfway up the mountain, Henathi stops her horses and leads Pyoshara on foot to a copse of trees. Hidden within are six skeletons in various states of decay, all tied to stakes. Henathi tells him that these are all other arbiters that failed to slay Zakareoth.

Pyoshara is shocked. He had no idea that other arbiters had come this way. Getayu had withheld this information from him.

Pyoshara ruminates on this new finding and a dark thought comes to him. He suspects that a rotten god could secretly be in control of a Sorkarian Order. It was slowly sending the arbiters out to die, alone, one by one. Either Getayu is in on this conspiracy or perhaps he too is just another unwitting pawn.

Although it is just a hunch, Pyoshara vows that if he survives, he will work to uncover any corruption that festers within the order.

When Pyoshara and Henathi return to the wagon, a young woman is waiting for them. It is Henathi’s younger sister, Nayalen, wondering where they went. By Nayalen’s appearance, it is obvious that she is very sick. Pyoshara surmises that she is not long for this world.

Chapter 19: The Ascent

Pyoshara and Henathi continue their ascent up the mountain. Henathi deceives Zakareoth’s soldiers by making them think Pyoshara is her prisoner. The wagon ascends along mountain villages, through a great city, and up to a place near the summit called the Grand Pavilion, which contains many structures that are important to Zakareoth’s false religion.

Henathi brings Pyoshara to the school. She summons the leader of the school, Headmaster Ornosh, to collect Pyoshara. She reveals that Pyoshara is an arbiter, but that his skills and abilities may be useful to Zakareoth if he can be turned away from the goddess Aurya. Ornosh agrees, accepting Pyoshara into the school while making sure to keep a close eye on him.

Chapter 20: The Trial of Hatred

To prove his loyalty to Lord Zakareoth, Pyoshara must undergo two trials. The first trial, the Trial of Hatred, requires him to deface idols of his goddess, Aurya. Pyoshara goes along with it but is very shaken up inside as he destroys sacred statues.

Chapter 21: The Crimson Isles

As part of Pyoshara’s schooling, Headmaster Ornosh leads him and the rest of the class to a place called the Crimson Isles, which is Zakareoth’s false paradise. Through meditation, the class crosses over into the Astral Plane and enters the Crimson Isles. The class travels on a large raft through a seemingly endless red ocean. As they get to the central island, which is known as the Island of Pomegranates and is reserved for Zakareoth’s most faithful subject, Pyoshara beholds Zakareoth’s astral body. Inside the Crimson Isles, Zakareoth is a giant eye in the sky. The eye emits light and heat, acting as the sun of this false world.

As the raft gets closer to the Island of Pomegranates, a massive creature known as the wolf-serpent rises from the water and almost attacks the raft.

Pyoshara returns to the physical world, completely lost as to how he will defeat Zakareoth. The blazing eye is too high in the sky for him to attack. The eye hovers over the Island of Pomegranates, and there’s no way for Pyoshara to even reach the island as the wolf-serpent destroys anything that gets too close to it.

Chapter 22: The Trial of Adoration

Henathi escorts Pyoshara up the mountain to receive the Trial of Adoration. Henathi leads Pyoshara through a dark cave to Zakareoth’s throne room in the physical world. Here, Zakareoth appears human, although he conceals his skin beneath dark red fabrics and hides his face behind a golden mask.

Pyoshara bows before Zakareoth and the trial begins. Zakareoth plans to rewrite Pyoshara’s memories to make him loyal. If he senses Pyoshara resisting too much, he will kill him.

Without any recourse, Pyoshara submits and allows Zakareoth to rewrite his mind. Pyoshara is corrupted by this process, renouncing Aurya and proclaiming new faith in Zakareoth.

Chapter 23: The War Priest

Pyoshara becomes hailed as Zakareoth’s War Priest, one who will bolster Zakareoth’s armies by teaching his conscripts how to wield magic.

Headmaster Ornosh tasks Pyoshara and Henathi with abducting a caravan of merchants that have become lost in the swamp. The plan is to convert the abductees into conscripts to fuel Zakareoth’s war machine.

Chapter 24: The Harvest

Pyoshara and Henathi lead a small army of his newly-trained conscripts back into the swamp to find the merchant caravan. When they find it, they see it is protected by knights, which will pose a greater challenge than what they had initially anticipated. Zakareoth’s forces attack but many die to the knights in the process. Eventually, Pyoshara and Henathi gain the upper hand, and Pyoshara uses his magic to prevent the merchants from escaping.

With this first raid a success, Pyoshara and Henathi stay in the swamps for months, scouting and finding other caravans to raid and abduct.

Chapter 25: Child of the Sun

After several months, Pyoshara and Henathi return to the Grand Pavilion. A grand celebration is held for them, heralding them as two champions who will lead Zakareoth’s cult into a new age. Pyoshara and Henathi retire to Pyoshara’s apartment.

Henathi seduces Pyoshara, but while he is under her, she wields a form of thought-magic that reimplants Pyoshara with the memories that Zakareoth had destroyed. This process, though painful, restores Pyoshara to his true self.

Henathi needed Pyoshara to be corrupted for a while, to go through the Trial of Adoration and allow him to turn evil. Now that Pyoshara had passed the Trial of Adoration, she needed to restore him to his true mission of hunting Zakareoth. The two reaffirm their willingness to work together to slay Zakareoth.

Chapter 26: Vision of Fire

Pyoshara and Henathi are sent back into the swamps to abduct more caravans at the fringes of Zakareoth’s domains. Now that Pyoshara is faithful to Aurya once again, he is shocked by the atrocities that he is forced to commit. He wants to keep planning out how he and Henathi will destroy Zakareoth, but they are being too closely watched by the conscripts and the other officers.

During one raid, Henathi and Pyoshara come across young children. This is unprecedented, as Pyoshara has not yet taken children before, only adults. Instead of capturing them, Henathi and Pyoshara set them free, helping them to escape before the rest of Zakareoth’s army spots them doing so.

Later, back atop the mountain, Headmaster Ornosh invites Pyoshara to a banquet on the Island of Pomegranates, indicating that Zakareoth is so happy with Pyoshara’s performance that he has been welcomed into the innermost circle. Henathi had also been invited.

Chapter 27: The Island of Pomegranates

Henathi and Pyoshara journey to the mountain summit, where Zakareoth’s main temple, his ziggurat, stands. There, they are welcomed to be witness to a ritual in which an elderly woman crosses over into the Crimson Isles permanently.

Everyone in attendance enters the Crimson Isles, and a great barge takes them all to the Island of Pomegranates. The wolf-serpent surfaces, but, seeing this barge in particular, allows them to cross.

Headmaster Ornosh leads everyone through a vast jungle of overgrown trees to a clearing in the middle. There, a great staircase leads up to a large terrace overlooking the jungle. Below the staircase is a ring of fire, within which the souls of Zakareoth’s enemies are tortured without end.

The procession climbs the staircase and Headmaster Ornosh summons Zakareoth, the blazing eye in the sky, to come close and witness them. Zakareoth welcomes the elderly woman to be a permanent resident of the Island of Pomegranates.

With the ritual concluded, everyone except the elderly woman departs and reawakens in the physical world. Headmaster Ornosh carries the woman’s comatose body beneath the ziggurat.

Chapter 28: A Wish Granted

A letter under Pyoshara’s door summons him to one of the buildings on the Grand Pavilion. When he arrives, Ornosh, Henathi, and a host of soldiers are waiting for him. They detain him, binding him up and preventing his escape.

Henathi has betrayed him. She has revealed to Ornosh that Pyoshara is still loyal to Aurya and has allowed several abductees to escape.

Unsure of whether Henathi is actually trying to trick Ornosh, Pyoshara remains silent.

Using a knife, Henathi cuts Pyoshara’s hand and removes his solar pearl so that he will have no magic in the Astral Plane. The soldiers then knock him unconscious.

Chapter 29: The Ring of Agony

Pyoshara reawakens in the Crimson Isles, specifically, within the ring of fire in the middle of the Island of Pomegranates. There are many tormented souls around him. They appear as bodies in various states of decay.

Pyoshara explores the area and finds the souls of Rutan and the others that perished in the swamp. When Pyoshara approaches Rutan, six skeletons emerge from the ground and detain them, but Rutan convinces them to release him.

After an unknown amount of time, Pyoshara feels the solar pearl return to his hand. He assumes that someone, likely Henathi, slipped it back onto his body in the physical world, which is how he’s able to use it now.

The six skeletons are drawn to Pyoshara’s solar pearl. Rutan reveals that they are the revenants of arbiters, and Pyoshara connects them to the six arbiter corpses he found on the mountain.

With his magic restored, Pyoshara summons a blast of ice to create a temporary break in the ring of fire. The six arbiter skeletons follow him out, and together, they fashion traps in the jungle to destroy Zakareoth. They sharpen some of the trees into stakes that could puncture the great eye if he is brought close enough.

When Pyoshara and the six skeletons return to the ring of fire, Pyoshara finds that Headmaster Ornosh, Henathi, and a procession has returned to conduct another funeral ritual. This time, the ritual is for Nayalen, Henathi’s sick sister. Through all the merit she has obtained with Zakareoth, Henathi asked for her sister to be made a permanent resident of the Island of Pomegranates.

Ornosh summons Zakareoth, who descends to meet them.

Henathi looks down at Pyoshara, and from her expression, it becomes clear that she is definitely on his side. Her apparent betrayal was just to trick Ornosh and Zakareoth.

With renewed strength, Pyoshara summons another burst of ice, causing the ring of fire to vanish for a few seconds. In that time, Pyoshara, the arbiter revenants, and all the tortured souls escape. They climb the staircase and grab onto the eye of Zakareoth, weighing him down, pulling him closer to the sharpened stakes.

Pyoshara climbs onto the eye of Zakareoth and goads the wolf-serpent to attack him. This final strike pushes Zakareoth down into the stakes, causing his astral body to bleed endlessly and die.

With Zakareoth’s astral body defeated, the Crimson Isles ceases to exist.

Chapter 30: The Blood Field

Pyoshara reawakens in the physical world. Now that Zakareoth’s astral body has been defeated, Pyoshara has a small window of opportunity to destroy Zakareoth’s physical body. Only then will he be truly destroyed.

Pyoshara discovers that he is being held deep beneath the ziggurat. Strange needles are inserted into his arms, draining his blood into a large vat. Zakareoth has been feasting on his blood and the blood of others.

Pyoshara isn’t alone down here. As the Crimson Isles has been destroyed, other bodies awaken. However, these bodies were trapped in the Crimson Isles for much longer than Pyoshara was, and now they are barely human. Avoiding the zombie-like beings, Pyoshara makes his way to Zakareoth’s throne to kill him.

Henathi is in the throne room, thrusting her spear into Zakareoth’s human body over and over again.

Just when Pyoshara and Henathi think everything is over, Zakareoth awakens. Though he is technically mortal, he still has some power left within him. An orange tentacle lifts Zakareoth’s human body up to the ceiling, where it is revealed that Zakareoth has mutated into an array of thick, tentacle-like appendages covering the ceiling.

Pyoshara and Henathi battle Zakareoth. Eventually, Pyoshara summons a massive fireball, larger than anything he has ever conjured before. In his relative weakness and inexperience, the bones in his right hand break as he strengthens the spell.

Just when he cannot take any more, he sends the spell upward, burning Zakareoth alive. Pyoshara and Henathi confirm that he is truly dead, and not regenerating. Then they escape out of the ziggurat and into Henathi’s wagon, fleeing down the mountain in the midst of the chaos.

Chapter 31: The Wild Voice

Pyoshara, Henathi, and Nayalen escape Zakareoth’s domain in Henathi’s wagon. Henathi aims to journey to Sonanarth for the first time and seek out healing for her sister, while Pyoshara plans to return to the monastery to report that his mission has been completed.

Henathi reveals that a mysterious entity she calls the Wild Voice was the one to undo her brainwashing. The Wild Voice also prophesied that an arbiter would come, and that was why Henathi was prepared to enact her plan once she met Pyoshara. She was planning to kill Zakareoth for a long time and needed an arbiter to perform the killing blow.

After they arrive in Sonanarth, Pyoshara continues on foot through the desert toward the mesa. Getayu spots him and rides out to meet him. Despite Pyoshara’s injuries, Getayu leads him to the monastery where he receives his deep blue jacket, marking him as a true arbiter. Zafira is also there, looking much happier now that Zakareoth is dead and she has a respite from her torment.

Pyoshara is wheeled away so that his hand can be mended by the doctors, so that he is ready to hunt another day.