The Book That Wouldn't Burn

As the insubstantial Evar watches, Clovis and her mother flee from the attack. When they reach the Mechanism, Clovis’s mother tells her to hide inside. Just before humans burst into the room, Clovis enters the Mechanism, and her mother faces the attackers, hoping to distract them, but is killed. Suddenly, the library’s defenders—the Assistant and the Soldier—emerge from the Mechanism in smoke-like forms, but they seem confused by their sudden presence there. While they cannot see Evar, they can feel his presence. They are soon dragged back into the Mechanism. Horrified and drained by the carnage, Evar retreats to the Exchange.

After the gas explosion at the laboratory, Livira soaks cloth with water to use as a makeshift mask, helping herself and Arpix to crawl out of the poisonous fumes. She then returns to drag Malar to safety. Once the alchemists provide them with emergency treatment, they are all taken to meet Hiago Abdalla, the senior alchemist, who suspects that they brought trouble with them. However, Livira counters that the explosion was caused by an apprentice who fled just before the explosion.

Released from the laboratory, Livira reflects on Abdalla’s warning about the dangerous alchemical weapons stored within, which could bring down the mountain itself.