"You haven't answered the most important question," the Primate interrupted, his eyes calculating. "Where does the portal go?"

"Where the Evermen went, of course," Evrin said. "But, Primate, you should know the truth. The Evermen were no gods. They were evil."

"What makes you say such a thing?" Primate Melovar asked.

"Because once, I was one of them."

Dain Barden didn't appear to have heard the exchange. He was staring at the silver surface of the portal in awe. "The Lord of the Night? He is through there? He can return?"

When the Primate's gaze followed the Dain's, Evrin opened his mouth and spoke the words that would activate his final ward. The two men and the revenant were all standing on the gallery's bottom level. There would be no better time.

Symbols appeared on the white surface of the stone, flashing with angry crimson on the lowest tier. A purple haze welled up to the height of a man's knees, transparent like water, fading nearly as quickly as it appeared, but with a power that Evrin knew was deadly beyond belief.

Melovar Aspen screamed, a cry of pure agony that reverberated through the chamber, as first his feet, then his ankles, and finally his lower legs melted away, until the purple subsided and he fell down, staring down at the bloody stumps of his knees in horror.

As soon as Evrin started to speak, the revenant reacted, somehow aware of the nature of what was to come, its memories of life in the Dain's service telling it the Dain must be protected at all costs. The revenant grabbed Dain Barden, and with a surge of lore-enhanced strength, threw him up to the higher tiers of the gallery, before it, too, succumbed. In moments the purple haze had eaten through the draug's legs also, the revenant still and uncannily silent as it fell down face-first and looked up at Dain Barden with its blank-faced stare.

The Dain looked in horror at first the draug, and then the Primate's legs, which were now nothing more than stumps.

The chamber was silent.

Evrin slumped back against the stone in his corner of the room, while the Dain panted, sprawled on the stone steps, turning his wide-eyed gaze on the old man.

The silence was broken by an ear-splitting wail. "My legs!" the Primate screamed.

Evrin sighed. He had activated the last of his wards, yet the Akari was unharmed. "Leave this place, I beg you," he said. "Do not remove the essence, and do not remove the seals. Those on the other side will know the moment the portal is open."

"How will they know?" asked the Dain.

"A beacon on the other side will alert them that the way is open."

"Good," said Barden. "If the beacon's on the other side then you won't be able to stop it."