( i. ) He’s too young, I thought. This Darkling had been commanding the Grisha since before I was born, but the man seated above me on the dais didn’t look much older than I did. He had a sharp, beautiful face, a shock of thick black hair, and clear gray eyes that glimmered like quartz. I knew that the more powerful Grisha were said to live long lives, and Darklings were the most powerful of them all. But I felt the wrongness of it and I remembered Eva’s words: He’s not natural. None of them are.

( ii. ) The Darkling slid from his mount and threw his hands wide, then brought them together with a resounding boom. Skeins of darkness shot from his clasped hands, snaking through the glen, finding the Fjerdan assassins, then slithering up their bodies to swathe their faces in seething shadow. They screamed. Some dropped their swords; others waved them blindly.
I watched in mingled awe and horror as the Ravkan fighters seized the advantage, cutting down the blinded, helpless men with ease.

( iia. ) ... I glimpsed the Darkling, his arm slashing through the air in front of him. I heard another crack like thunder and then … nothing... the man on top of me had been cut in two. His head, his right shoulder, and his arm lay on the forest floor, his white hand still clasping the knife. The rest of him swayed for a moment above me, a dark wisp of smoke fading in the air beside the wound that ran the length of his severed torso. Then what remained of him fell forward.

( iib. ) ALINA ; I’m not used to people trying to kill me.
THE DARKLING ; Really? I hardly notice anymore.

( iii. ) ALINA ; “How old are you?”
THE DARKLING ; “One hundred and twenty. Give or take.”

( iiia. ) THE DARKLING ; “When a fire burns, it uses up the wood. It devours it, leaving only ash. Grisha power doesn’t work that way... The length of a Grisha’s life is proportional to his or her power. The greater the power, the longer the life. And when that power is amplified …”
ALINA ; “And you’re a living amplifier. Like Ivan’s bear.”
THE DARKLING ; “Like Ivan’s bear.”
ALINA ; “But that means—”
THE DARKLING ; “That my bones or a few of my teeth would make another Grisha very powerful.”
ALINA ; “Well, that’s completely creepy. Doesn’t that worry you a little bit?”
THE DARKLING ; “No.”

( vi. ) THE DARKLING ; “Now you answer my question. What kind of stories were you told about me?”
ALINA ; "… our teachers told us that you strengthened the Second Army by gathering Grisha from outside of Ravka.”
THE DARKLING ; “I didn’t have to gather them. They came to me. Other countries don’t treat their Grisha so well as Ravka,” he said grimly. “The Fjerdans burn us as witches, and the Kerch sell us as slaves. The Shu Han carve us up seeking the source of our power."

( via. ) ALINA ; “[An old serf] said that Darklings are born without souls. That only something truly evil could have created the Shadow Fold.”
THE DARKLING ; “My great-great-great-grandfather was the Black Heretic, the Darkling who created the Shadow Fold. It was a mistake, an experiment born of his greed, maybe his evil. I don’t know. But every Darkling since then has tried to undo the damage he did to our country, and I’m no different... I’ve spent my life searching for a way to make things right. You’re the first glimmer of hope I’ve had in a long time.”

( vib. ) THE DARKLING ; “The world is changing, Alina. Muskets and rifles are just the beginning. I’ve seen the weapons they’re developing in Kerch and Fjerda. The age of Grisha power is coming to an end.”
ALINA ; “But … but what about the First Army? They have rifles. They have weapons.”
THE DARKLING ; “Where do you think their rifles come from? Their ammunition? Every time we cross the Fold, we lose lives. A divided Ravka won’t survive the new age. We need our ports. We need our harbors. And only you can give them back to us.”

( v. ) "The Grisha claims the amplifier, but the amplifier claims the Grisha, as well. Once it is done, there can be no other. Like calls to like, and the bond is made... The horse has speed. The bear has strength. The bird has wings. No creature has all of these gifts, and so the world is held in balance. Amplifiers are part of this balance, not a means of subverting it, and each Grisha would do well to remember this or risk the consequences.'

Another philosopher wrote, “Why can a Grisha possess but one amplifier? I will answer this question instead: What is infinite? The universe and the greed of men.”

( vi. ) ALINA ; “How could anyone use the Shadow Fold as a weapon?”
BAGHRA ; “By expanding it. The land that the Unsea covers was once green and good, fertile and rich. Now it is dead and barren, crawling with abominations. The Darkling will push its boundaries north into Fjerda, south to the Shu Han. Those who do not bow to him will see their kingdoms turned to desolate wasteland and their people devoured by ravening volcra.”

( via. ) ALINA ; “Finding the stag is a good thing. It means I can help the Darkling destroy the Fold.”
BAGHRA ; “No! He never intended to destroy it. The Fold is his creation. He is the Black Heretic.”

( vib. ) Darkness was pooling in Baghra’s palms, the skeins of inky blackness floating into the air... I saw the ghost of what must have once been a beautiful woman, a beautiful woman who gave birth to a beautiful son.
ALINA ; “You’re his mother.”
BAGHRA ; "... I am the only person who knows what he truly is, what he truly intends. And I am telling you that you must run.”
ALINA ; “It’s not possible,” I said. “The Black Heretic lived hundreds of years ago.”
BAGHRA ; "He has served countless kings, faked countless deaths, bided his time, waiting for you. Once he takes control of the Fold, no one will be able to stand against him.”
ALINA ; “He told me the Fold was a mistake. He called the Black Heretic evil.”
BAGHRA ; “The Fold was no mistake. The only mistake was the volcra. He did not anticipate them, did not think to wonder what power of that magnitude might do to mere men.”
ALINA ; “The volcra were men?”
BAGHRA ; “Oh yes. Generations ago. Farmers and their wives, their children. I warned him that there would be a price, but he didn’t listen. He was blinded by his hunger for power. Just as he is blinded now... Only the volcra have kept the Darkling from using the Fold against his enemies. They are his punishment, a living testimony to his arrogance. But you will change all that. The monsters cannot abide sunlight. Once the Darkling has used your power to subdue the volcra, he will be able to enter the Fold safely. He will finally have what he wants. There will be no limit to his power.”
ALINA ; “He wouldn’t do that. He would never do that... He said he wants to make Ravka whole again. He said that—”
BAGHRA ; “Stop telling me what he said! He is ancient. He’s had plenty of time to master lying to a lonely, naive girl... Think, Alina. If Ravka is made whole, the Second Army will no longer be vital to its survival. The Darkling will be nothing but another servant of the King. Is that his dream of the future? ... But with the Fold in his power, he will spread destruction before him. He will lay waste to the world, and he will never have to kneel to another King again.”

( viii. ) ALINA ; “You didn’t give me much choice.”
THE DARKLING ; “Of course you had a choice. And you chose to turn your back on your country, on everything that you are.”
ALINA ; “That isn’t fair.”
THE DARKLING ; “Fairness! Still she talks of fairness. What does fairness have to do with any of this? The people curse my name and pray for you, but you’re the one who was ready to abandon them. I’m the one who will give them power over their enemies. I’m the one who will free them from the tyranny of the King.”
ALINA ; “And give them your tyranny in return.”
THE DARKLING ; “Someone has to lead, Alina. Someone has to end this. Believe me, I wish there were another way.”
( He sounded so sincere, so reasonable, less a creature of relentless ambition than a man who believed he was doing the right thing for his people. Despite all he’d done and all he intended, I did almost believe him. Almost. I gave a single shake of my head. )
THE DARKLING ; “Fine. Make me your villain.”

( ix. ) I saw a long reach of blanched sand, hulks of what looked like shipwrecks dotting the dead landscape, and above it all, a teeming flock of volcra. They screamed in terror, their writhing gray bodies gruesome in the bright sunlight. This is the truth of him, I thought as I squinted in the dazzling light. Like calls to like. This was his soul made flesh, the truth of him laid bare in the blazing sun, shorn of mystery and shadow. This was the truth behind the handsome face and the miraculous powers, the truth that was the dead and empty space between the stars, a wasteland peopled by frightened monsters.

( x. ) People were streaming from the village and crowding onto the drydocks, pointing at the light that had split the Fold open before them. I saw children playing in the grass. I could hear the dockworkers calling to each other. At a signal from the Darkling, the skiff slowed, and he lifted his arms. I felt a spike of horror as I understood what was about to happen.

“They’re your own people!” I cried desperately. He ignored me and brought his hands together with a sound like a clap of thunder. It all seemed to happen slowly. Darkness rippled out from his hands. When it met the darkness of the Fold, a rumbling sound rose up out of the dead sands. The black walls of the path I’d created pulsed and swelled. It’s like it’s breathing, I thought in terror. The rumble grew to a roar. The Fold shook and trembled around us and then burst forward in a terrible cascading tide.

A frightened wail went up from the crowd on the docks as darkness rushed toward them. They ran, and I saw their fear, heard their screams as the black fabric of the Fold crashed over the drydocks and the village like a breaking wave. Darkness enveloped them, and the volcra set upon their new prey. A woman carrying a little boy stumbled, trying to outrun the grasping dark, but it swallowed her, too.

... The drydocks were gone. The village of Novokribirsk was gone. We were staring into the new reaches of the Fold. The message was clear: Today it had been West Ravka. Tomorrow, the Darkling could just as easily push the Fold north to Fjerda or south to the Shu Han. It would devour whole countries and drive [his] enemies into the sea.

( xi. ) The Darkling turned to the ambassadors. “I think you understand me now. There are no Ravkans, no Fjerdans, no Kerch, no Shu Han. There are no more borders, and there will be no more wars. From now on, there is only the land inside the Fold and outside of it, and there will be peace.” “Peace on your terms,” said one of the Shu Han angrily. “It will not stand,” blustered a Fjerdan.

The Darkling looked them over and said very calmly, “Peace on my terms. Or your precious mountains and your saintsforsaken tundra will simply cease to exist.”

With crushing certainty, I understood that he meant every word. The ambassadors might hope it was an empty threat, believe that there were limits to his hunger, but they would learn soon enough. The Darkling would not hesitate. He would not grieve. His darkness would consume the world, and he would never waver. The Darkling turned his back on their stunned and angry expressions and addressed the Grisha and soldiers on the skiff. “Tell the story of what you’ve seen today. Tell everyone that the days of fear and uncertainty are over. The days of endless fighting are over. Tell them that you saw a new age begin.”