Chapter 209

A prologue set 4,550 years in the past depicting Honor, the god, reflecting on millennia of warfare against Rayse (Odium) across multiple Desolations. Honor and Rayse clash directly near Natanatan, accidentally destroying a grand city and revealing the existence of hidden watchers and strange technology beneath it. The encounter results in the creation of Anti-Light and opens a diplomatic channel with Ba-Ado-Mishram, one of Rayse's Unmade.

Honor surveys a battlefield after another Desolation, acknowledging the stalemate that has persisted for thousands of years despite his godly power and the Radiant Knights system he created. He notes that Rayse's Fused become stronger with each cycle while his own forces must reset, and that the Unmade in particular have grown unnervingly powerful. When Rayse appears to gloat about nearly winning, he threatens that in future Desolations he could slaughter children rather than wage war. Enraged, Honor attacks Rayse directly, and their collision causes catastrophic damage—vaporizing an entire capital city in seconds. The clash reveals hidden structures beneath the city, including pieces of a fourth moon and watchers previously concealed from Honor's sight, made possible by technology beyond aluminum. The direct combat also produces Anti-Light, something dangerous even to gods. Horrified by the tens of thousands dead, Honor withdraws. Rayse departs in anger, and Ba-Ado-Mishram, one of the Unmade, approaches Honor as a shadow offering the possibility of peace. Honor agrees he would accept peace from her if she could achieve it independently. Recognizing an opening suggested by Kor, Honor decides to empower his Heralds more fully and grant them greater access to Rosharan powers, trusting his oaths will prevent them from destroying the land.