Darrow and his strike team board the Society's flagship and rescue the captured pilot Orion, losing a soldier named Tongueless in the fight.

Lysander volunteers to join the Society's Iron Rain assault on Mercury to earn a battle scar and prove his loyalty to Atalantia.

Atalantia launches the Iron Rain, sending thousands of Gold soldiers crashing onto Mercury's surface in a massive coordinated invasion.

Orion disobeys orders and activates the Storm Gods beyond agreed limits, generating catastrophic hypercanes that devastate Mercury.

Darrow activates a remote override to kill Orion and shut down the runaway Storm God, ending the storm at a devastating personal cost.

Darrow's forces ambush Lysander's unit in the Ladon desert; Lysander survives but is severely burned and left for dead.

Republic forces led by Darrow and Thraxa repel the Society's assault and successfully defend Heliopolis.

Virginia addresses the Republic Senate, announcing Darrow's victory at Heliopolis and demanding aid fleets be sent to Mercury.

During the Day of Red Doves, assassins kill Dancer and Daxo at the Senate; Virginia is stabbed multiple times but survives.

Darrow's high command refuses Atalantia's offer of surrender and votes to keep fighting despite dwindling supplies.

Lysander, posing as a prisoner named Cato, passes interrogation and is released into Darrow's camp under Glirastes's custody.

Darrow rechecks Cato's DNA and discovers the prisoner is actually Lysander, but his warnings come too late to stop the betrayal.

Glirastes detonates the electromagnetic pulse device, collapsing the Republic's shield and disabling the armor of Darrow's forces mid-battle.

In the final battle at Heliopolis, Lysander and Darrow clash and Lysander shatters Darrow's legendary slingBlade.

Cassius arrives and rescues Darrow from the fallen Mound; Lysander watches from the city knowing Darrow has escaped.

Pool 1 follows the central military and political arc of Dark Age, from Darrow's daring rescue of Orion to the catastrophic fall of Heliopolis. Darrow battles to hold Mercury against Atalantia's overwhelming forces while Lysander gradually becomes entangled in the Society's invasion and earns a place in the war. On Luna, Virginia fights political enemies to send aid, but the Day of Red Doves assassinations tear the Republic apart before she can act. Back on Mercury, Lysander's infiltration of Darrow's camp as a prisoner named Cato leads to a devastating betrayal that collapses the Republic's last defenses. A climactic confrontation in the streets of Heliopolis ends with Darrow's legendary slingBlade shattered and the city lost. Though Darrow survives thanks to Cassius, the Republic is left broken and scattered across the solar system.

Darrow meets with Harnassus and Orion to plan Operations Voyager Cloak and Tartarus, using the hidden Storm Gods buried on Mercury.

Lysander proves his identity to Ajax aboard the Society's flagship by undergoing a DNA-triggered poison test.

Atalantia agrees to a truce with the Rim Dominion and announces plans for an Iron Rain assault on Mercury.

Atlas devastates the city of Angelia, leaving mutilated bodies rigged as booby traps for Darrow's approaching forces.

Sefi recruits Ephraim to train her elite skuggi fighters in guerrilla tactics in exchange for paying Volga's ransom.

Virginia uses a psychoSpike memory device to extract the Syndicate Queen's location from the captured Duke of Hands.

Darrow holds a funeral for the fallen on Mercury, including Orion, whose body Colloway retrieves from the storm wreckage.

Lysander survives the desert under a false identity but is captured by Atlas's brutal Gorgon forces.

Atlas reveals that Atalantia plans a chemical attack on Heliopolis and frees Lysander, allowing him to escape with Alexandar.

The Ascomanni attack Victra's ship; Lyria and Victra escape in a pod and crash-land on Mars.

Victra gives birth to a son named Ulysses in a farmhouse; members of the Red Hand later murder the infant.

Ephraim rescues Lyria and the escaped girls from the Red Hand; Volga and Ephraim reunite after their long separation.

Sefi refuses Ephraim's warning about Xenophon's betrayal; Volsung Fá then reveals himself and challenges Sefi for the Obsidian crown.

Lysander is crowned in a Triumph ceremony and proposes marriage to Atalantia to escape her planned assassination of him.

Virginia arrives on Mars to massive public support, reunites with Pax, and reveals her battle scars to Victra.

Pool 2 covers the strategic planning and behind-the-scenes developments that shaped the larger war. From Darrow's preparations with Harnassus and Orion to Lysander's political maneuvering aboard the Annihilo, the pool traces the buildup to Mercury's fall through less visible channels. Ephraim's reluctant recruitment by Sefi introduces the Obsidian storyline, while Virginia's interrogation of the Duke of Hands begins to unravel the Syndicate's conspiracy. The Ascomanni's assault on Victra's ship fractures the Mars storyline, leading to Victra's devastating loss of her newborn son and Ephraim's bittersweet reunion with Volga. As Sefi's Alltribe collapses under Volsung Fá's brutal coup, Lysander ascends to uneasy power through marriage and ceremony. The pool closes with Virginia regrouping on Mars, scarred but resolute, surrounded by the surviving remnants of the Republic's forces.

Alliances, betrayals, and the cost of survival.

Darrow secretly shows Rhonna a remote override switch he carries as insurance in case Orion misuses the Storm Gods.

Lysander learns that Atalantia plans to betray Scorpio au Votum by seizing control of Mercury during the Iron Rain.

Darrow kills Scorpio while advancing his forces through the sandstorm toward Tyche.

Virginia confronts Dancer with evidence from the Duke's memories, clears him of suspicion, and identifies Publius as the true traitor.

Lyria, imprisoned by Victra, discovers a secret note from Volga hidden inside the vent of her isolation cell.

Freihild is found dead, killed by Volsung Fá, who sends a message through Ephraim warning that Sefi is now prey.

Sefi reveals to Ephraim that she is dying from a fatal poison infection that has been slowly destroying her arm.

Lyria is infected by a mysterious parasitic intelligence that crawls into her nose after the crash-landing on Mars.

Virginia is captured by Atalantia and tortured with a psychoSpike device while Sevro's attempted rescue is intercepted.

A ten-year-old clone of the long-dead Adrius emerges and captures Virginia and Sevro, declaring himself Virginia's brother.

Virginia escapes captivity by giving Adrius a flower laced with poison spines, then fleeing through a hidden chute to Kavax's ship.

Lyria kills her assigned Red Hand husband Duncan with acid hidden in a false tooth, sparking a rebellion among the captive girls.

Ephraim sneaks into Xenophon's quarters and catches him watching a hologram of Atlas, exposing the full depth of the Ascomanni conspiracy.

Sefi loses her duel against Volsung Fá and is executed; Ephraim sacrifices himself by detonating a bomb in a failed attempt to kill Fá.

Kalindora confesses on her deathbed that she and Atalantia planted the bomb that killed Lysander's parents and that Octavia erased his memories.

Pool 3 focuses on the key decisions, discoveries, and emotional ruptures that shifted the course of the war and transformed its characters. Early revelations — Darrow's secret kill-switch against Orion, Atalantia's plan to betray Scorpio, and Publius's true role as a Syndicate puppet — expose how hidden agendas are shaping every front of the conflict. Lyria's infiltration of the Red Hand and the parasitic intelligence she unknowingly carries mark her transformation from isolated prisoner to fierce protector. The Obsidian arc pivots on the exposure of Xenophon's treachery, Sefi's fatal refusal to believe Ephraim, and Ephraim's final self-sacrifice to strike at Fá. Virginia's capture by Atalantia and her escape from Adrius's clone mark the lowest and most defiant points of her arc. The pool closes on Kalindora's deathbed confession, which shatters Lysander's last illusions about loyalty, legacy, and the people who shaped him.

Pierce Brown

Novel

Fiction

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