The Burning God

This chapter is a memorandum written about Nikan by Hesperian Major General Joseph Tarcquet. He details Nikara mining deposits and goods. He describes the Grey Company’s difficulty in converting people to Makerism. He reports that Vaisra has overthrown the remains of Daji’s Empire, and the Republic is weak and manipulable. He says their greatest threat is from the South’s “indigenous guerrilla movements” (203) led by Rin. She and Nezha are the only shamans Hesperia knows about, and they’ve been conducting research on Nezha to find out how to defeat Rin. Once she falls, they predict the South will fall.

Rin wakes up in a dirigible with Daji, who explains they’re going to Chuluu Korikh to free Jiang. A journey that would normally have taken weeks takes less than a day.

Republican soldiers carry Rin inside the mountain. She panics as she realizes Daji means to inter her. She’s enclosed in a stony plinth, which feels like drowning and being unable to die. She thinks over past memories and talks to the specter of Altan in her mind. He berates her for weakness, for wasting the opportunities she’d been given while commanding the Southern Army, and for loving Nezha.

Jiang breaks Rin’s plinth. With Jiang free, both he and Daji look younger and more powerful. As they make dinner, they catch Jiang up on Kitay’s kidnapping and the country’s political situation. Jiang wants her to kill Gurubai and Souji and take control of the Southern Army. Daji says that being hated, as the Trifecta was, isn’t detrimental as long as they become entrenched in the mythos of the country. She encourages Rin to cultivate a larger-than-life image among the public. Daji says they’ll find Kitay, then wake Riga.

Rin, Jiang, and Daji raft to the Republic’s headquarters to find Kitay. They pass signs of resistance against Vaisra and many slaughtered towns. Daji explains how Hesperia terrorizes people with their dirigibles and that Hesperia’s actions led the Trifecta to become shamans.

Rin is wary about the changes she perceives in Jiang’s character as the Trifecta’s Seals erode. He refers to the “Gatekeeper” as if he’s a separate person and says he experiences his memories as if living them for the first time.

They disguise themselves as refugees and enter New City’s walls. Inside, Rin sees electricity, miniature parcel-delivery dirigibles, and steam powered transportation for the first time. Rin carves the word “Where?” into her skin for Kitay, who will feel it because of their bond. While they wait for his response, they explore the city, Rin reckons with the “soft erasure” of her culture being expunged, compared to the “hard erasure” of military might and death (245). She’s shocked by the Nikara, who seem pleased by their new neighbors.

Kitay writes back. At his coordinates, they find a church.

They enter the church as congregants. Rin sneaks off to the basement, which is being used as a prison. She finds Kitay and starts to free him but hides when they hear a noise. It’s Nezha. Kitay asks him about being experimented on by the Grey Company. They discuss Nezha’s frustrations. Rin is jealous of Kitay’s ability to speak to him as a friend. Kitay and Nezha both acknowledge that neither the Hesperians nor Nikara generals believe in Nezha. Tarcquet in particular brings his racist stereotypes into their interactions. Kitay refuses to work for Nezha as a strategist. Nezha wants them to be a team again. Kitay has qualms with Nezha bombing civilians. He fears that if he and Rin join Nezha, they’ll be disposable again like they were the first time.

Once Nezha leaves, Kitay tells Rin he’s visited him every day. They escape the city in a laundry cart, and Daji and Jiang ply Kitay for information. They decide to go to Dog Province before Vaisra can attack them. Jiang is sure he can break Vaisra’s blockade and enlist the help of the Southern Army before going north.

Alone, Kitay confesses that all the technological marvels he saw in New City made him wonder if Hesperians really were innately superior. He thinks their scientific marvels “rewrite the script of the world” in the same way Rin’s powers do, but without needing to “sacrifice their sanity” (269). Rin thinks that Daji and Jiang’s plan to march the army north to Dog Province through Mount Tianshan means the Dragon Emperor Yin Riga is there, and they mean to free him, uniting the Trifecta.

Rin and Kitay sneak into the Southern Coalition’s forces in the Baolei Mountains. Venka helps them prepare the Southerners to flee; starving and unhappy with Souji and Gurubai’s leadership, they are ready to leave. Their exodus lines up with Vaisra’s arrival at the front to see his troops. As the Southerners flee to the underground mines, Jiang opens the gates to the Emperor’s menagerie, and the loosened spirits take down five dirigibles and the ground forces. Rin sees a dirigible fleeing, and Jiang makes it crash. Inside the wreckage, Rin finds an injured Vaisra. She breathes flame into his body via his mouth.

A dirigible cannon knocks out Jiang. Rin and Daji carry him to safety while he hallucinates.