In Batiara, three Antae noblemen plot to murder Gisel during the dedication of the sanctuary where her father is to be buried. However, on the day of the assassination, it is discovered that the woman believed to be the queen is her servant in disguise. Gisel, with Zoticus’s help, has fled to Sarantium. Zoticus, upon learning that the pagan god had not forgotten nor relinquished his right to the souls of the human sacrifices given to him, journeys to the forested area where Linon had sacrificed herself to the zubir. There he allows the remaining souls in his mechanical birds to be released back to the god and accepts his death from the zubir, a punishment from taking the souls of the sacrificed woman in the first place.