Chapter 95

The narrator pursues Arkyn on his Elding Bird across the frozen wastelands while Rygun, weakened by cold and combat, fights through injury and exhaustion to help. After a brutal aerial battle where the Elding Bird mutilates Rygun's face and Arkyn stabs the narrator, the narrator and Rygun work together to crash the bird into the ground, where the narrator finally defeats and kills Arkyn in a prolonged, savage act of vengeance.

The chapter opens with Rygun chasing the Elding Bird carrying Arkyn deeper into the frozen side of the world, where moons continue to fall amid chaos and flame. The narrator realizes Rygun is severely compromised—too cold to breathe fire—but Rygun pushes forward despite his deteriorating condition. As they close in, the Elding Bird executes a sharp maneuver, slashing Rygun's belly and forcing them to pursue into the Moving Mists, a place that nearly killed Rygun before. Despite the narrator's pleas to wait, Rygun dives in after the beast. When they emerge, the Elding Bird uses Rygun as a perch and attacks his face, gouging out his right eye. The narrator climbs up Rygun's neck, embeds a sword in the bird's back, and grabs Arkyn, but Arkyn stabs the narrator in the abdomen. Rygun crashes down on the Elding Bird from the side and, recognizing his reserves are exhausted, plunges toward the ground with intent to drive both himself and the beast into it, showing the narrator through their bond that this is his final act. The narrator falls with Arkyn still in her grip and lands atop him. What follows is the narrator's methodical execution of Arkyn—a sequence of punches, broken bones, severed neck, and death by exsanguination—all while recounting his crimes against her family. After Arkyn dies, the narrator vomits as the reality of the act crashes over her.