Kensington, Zoltan and Wynona make their way out of the Fire-Pits near the gateway from Sinai, and take shelter in a ruined citadel. Inside, they find signs of a battle – with lots of broken weapons and pieces of armor – but no sign of bodies. They search deeper into the citadel and intrude upon a chamber in which an armored Vartan appears to be keeping vigil. The armor collapses at Zoltan's touch, however, revealing itself to be empty of anything but dust.

Our heroes camp the night in the citadel, then set out the next day for the distant Life Dome. They hitch a ride on a coal-powered steam engine, and find evidence of some prisoners being taken to the Life Dome on this train. One of them, at least, speaks Rephidim Standard. Once inside the Life Dome, our heroes leave the train, and witness a strange city populated with fliers, and utilizing all manners of oversized insects as vehicles and beasts of burden. Zoltan confers with a Vartan worker and finds out that Cambio Herbir is not only known of here … but that he's considered a hero!

Zoltan heads to the palace of the Overseer to find out his father's whereabouts. There, he, Kensington and Wynona are treated as honored guests, a banquet set out in their honor. Some prisoners are brought in, including a Naga (snake) Lancer, five cheetahs, and a human. When the human hears that Zoltan is from Sinai, she tries to plead with him to tell something to the Knights there, but she is silenced. The prisoners are to be sacrificed to the Progenitor – a gigantic insectoid creature with an oversized brain – by means of being fed to the Huskers – insectoid constructs that resemble thrones.

Zoltan, overwhelmed by all of this, makes his move: He attacks the Progenitor with the spirit-sword he had originally acquired for use against Necropolis. Kensington joins in the fray, as Wynona makes a vain attempt to cast a spell, then seeks cover. At last, Zoltan fires the weapon he found in the Templar Citadel at the bug-brain … resulting in a large explosion.

(to be continued… )