The foothills in the northwest corner of the Vale were a giant tangle of blind canyons, isolated mesas, and trackless forest. And that was only after Sai and Cuatete had managed to find passage under one of the mountains through a labyrinthine cave network. But finally, after what felt like it would have been days if there had been a sun or if he and the raptor ever needed to sleep, they came to the westernmost edge of the Shadowed Vale. Sai put a hand on the rough face of the void mountain and checked the compass again. "Almost due south," he told Cuatete. "I think we're finally getting close."

  "Grrr…" said Cuatete.

  "Don't be like that," Sai said. "We've searched the entire length of the Vale, and the only place with a way across the canyon is that ledge we saw against the western void mountains. So we can't be far now."

  Cuatete growled again, but Sai just tucked the compass back into its pouch on the outside of his pack and headed south. He only had to warn off a handful of wandering minotaur bulls with the Shadowed Voice before they reached the narrow ledge along the western edge of the canyon. Sai peeked over the edge. The starry depths of the void were still there, but something had changed. He shook his head and started walking again, which is how he noticed what was wrong.

  The stars in the canyon were too close. Before, they had the constant immobility of the stars in the sky. But here, the stars followed them as they walked.

  "Do the stars look closer here?" Sai asked.

  "Grrr…" said Cuatete.

  "I'm glad it's not just me then," said Sai. "I don't like it."

  They continued single file along the narrow ridge until it widened enough for a tree to grow beside the canyon. Sai sidled around the tree and looked back over the edge. "Syn's down there," he said. "Beyond the stars."

  "I am not beyond the stars," Syn replied. "I am the stars."

  The Eternal Nightmare's voice no longer frightened Sai like it used to. He almost looked forward to the times the god would whisper to him. Almost. "You are darkness and destruction," he said. "How can you be the light?"

  "There is so much you don't know," said Syn. "But think of them all as my eyes in the darkness, gleaming within every shadow. Reminders that I'm always watching."

  "Good," Sai said with a scowl. "Then you'll get to watch me walk straight out of this place."

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  "There is no path to freedom for you, orc," said the Eternal Nightmare.

  "I'll find a way," Sai insisted.

  "Have you tried jumping?" Syn asked.

  Sai stepped back from the ledge. "What?" he asked.

  "Jump," Syn repeated. "Right off the edge. Into the stars."

  "You want me to kill myself?" Sai asked.

  "Isn't that what you want?" Syn asked in return. "Freedom? From the Vale? From me? From everything?"

  "That's…" Sai fumbled to respond. "Not wrong…"

  "What then is stopping your flight to the stars?" the canyon asked.

  "Skree?" chirped Cuatete from farther back on the shelf.

  But Sai wasn't listening. He was staring down into the abyss. Syn would never let him go. Never. But the god wasn't wrong either. Death was no hindrance here. And what if it worked? What if, in the end, he did die? For real. For final. Was oblivion worse than what he was facing here? Was finally being free of the Eternal Nightmare worth the cost of true death? "Well…" he drawled, counting the nearby stars below. "Nothing's stopping me." And he fell.

  "SKREEEE!" Cuatete screeched. She rushed to bite him, grab him, pull him back. But she was too slow. He stared up at her as he fell, only to watch her jump straight after him.

  The fall was not as long as Sai had anticipated, though it was still enough to shatter his legs and hips on impact. He cried out as he heard and felt his bones snap and his shoulder crack against the stone floor of the canyon. The darkness around him roared with laughter. "You brilliant fool!" screamed a chorus of shadowy voiced. "You actually jumped!"

  Then Cuatete landed. She, unfortunately, had dived head-first off the edge and shattered her long neck upon impact. "Skre—" she whispered and was still.

  "Cuatete!" Sai called, his voice weak. He tried in vain to crawl to her side. "No… why did…"

  The shadows laughed, and an Avatar of Shadow materialized between Sai and Cuatete. The solid red eye burned within its shadowy body, and the candle clutched against its chest sputtered weakly. "You even managed to get your little friend killed," it said.

  "But…" Sai struggled to say. Blood rushed from dozens of wounds where his bones had pierced his skin.

  The Avatar loomed over him. "Did you think that death would free you?" the shadows asked.

  "You said…" Sai gasped.

  "I asked a question to which you already knew the answer," said Syn. "A question I knew would reignite that small spark of dead hope that you want to conceal. For hope always leads to you broken and bleeding, alone at the feet of your foes." The shadows laughed again. "Now I will consume that delicious emotion, and you will return to your cell." Sai's vision had already blurred to the point that he was barely alive when the Avatar of Shadow's crimson tendrils shot from its back, but he could see that the candle still had not gone out.

  Sai gasped and started so violently that he knocked himself out of bed and fell to the floor. His heart pounded in his ears, racing from a nightmare he could not remember. He pushed himself to his knees and looked around in panic.

  "Never forget that your hope will forever betray you," said a shadowy voice around him.

  Sai blinked, and what had just happened began to come back to him as though through a dream. Tears stung his eyes. "Just let me die," he whispered.

  "There is no path to freedom for you, orc," said Syn, and its shadowy presence departed. Sai sighed and began to push himself to his feet but found he could not. Instead, he collapsed to the floor and wept.