Aris’s quest for vengeance is fueled by the memory of a goddess burning down her village of Silverside 10 years prior. After leaving the platform, she retrieves a pre-packed bag of supplies from a ruined temple. Back at the forge, she argues with Stellan, who refuses to help her prepare for the Questral. During their argument, he secretly takes back the Starside steel dagger she used, hoping to keep her from entering the Questral.

Armed with a lesser blade, Aris encounters Kira and another challenger, Zane, in the village square. They watch Harlan Raker; Aris calls him a monster, while Zane notes that Raker will likely kill one of them. When Aris returns to the forge, she finds Stellan mortally wounded, his dagger stolen. With his dying breaths, he tells her to find someone named Vander Evren and begs her to kill him so she can reclaim the stolen dagger, but she cannot. He calls her a “fool” and dies. The next morning, as the Watchman gathers the challengers, Aris vows to avenge Stellan’s death.

Aris, Kira, and Zane travel by cart toward the king’s castle for the Culling. The journey is harsh, and they witness the stark contrast between their meager supplies and the luxuries of Great House heirs like Cadoc Bolter. Zane reveals he is from House Sterling, a powerful family that owns Helmspeak mountain and its silver mines; Cadoc’s posture changes completely and he invites Zane to join his cart, though Zane refuses. Cadoc comments on Kira’s lack of clothing in the sweltering heat and tells Aris, who is completely covered to conceal her silver markings, that he “wouldn’t mind if [she] undressed” (29). Along the road, impoverished villagers give offerings to the challengers, praying they will return with magic to restore rain and save Stormside. An antagonistic challenger in their cart, Waldron, threatens Kira. The journey proves dangerous, with 10 challengers killed during the night.

The group’s convoy is halted at the edge of a forest. The Watchman reveals their carts are gone and announces the first trial of the Culling: 216 challengers must race to a distant hill where only 150 horses await.

The Culling begins in a flurry of violence. Challengers who run for the horses are immediately shot down by archers hidden in the trees. Zane charges into the fray with his silver ax. The powerful Ender family heirs use a chain coated in Starside steel to cut through challengers and trees alike. Aris defends Kira from an attack by Waldron, the man from their cart; her superior titanium sword fractures his iron blade, forcing him to retreat with a vow of revenge.

Aris and Kira manage to secure the last two horses. Harlan Raker, who was observing the chaos, throws his magical sword across the field, piercing Waldron through the chest; the sword then cuts back through Waldron before returning to Raker’s fist. Raker takes Waldron’s horse. As the 150 survivors look on, Zane grimly welcomes them to the Culling.

The 150 survivors arrive at the king’s castle for a pre-Culling feast. The opulent fortress, filled with hoarded silver, highlights the king’s greed while his people starve. Aris and Kira share a luxurious room where Aris, alone in a locked bathroom, privately examines the silver, root-like markings that cover her skin—a forbidden, god-touched trait she keeps hidden.

At the feast, the king announces the next stage of the Culling: A race at sunrise to the gates of Starside, with the first 50 challengers through earning a spot on the Questral. He offers the challengers silver swords in exchange for an oath to give him half of any magic they acquire. Most accept, but Aris, Zane, and Raker refuse. Later, Aris overhears the king giving Raker orders for the quest. She then confronts Raker in a hallway, where they have a tense, hostile exchange. He is surprised when she speaks to him without trembling, but she collapses in fear after he leaves.

Aris is haunted by her confrontation with Harlan Raker, which triggers an undisclosed memory of a traumatic incident involving him two years prior. After a restless night, she and the other challengers are woken by the Watchman. Aris and Kira acknowledge that although they have grown closer, the final trial will force them to compete against one another. After retrieving their weapons, the challengers assemble in the king’s garden. The king watches from a high balcony as the Watchman signals the start of the final race to the gates.

The race begins with an explosion of violence. Archers, including a skilled woman named Valen, fire on the runners. Aris survives a shot to the back when the arrow hits her titanium sword. The challengers enter a labyrinth of magical thorns whose walls shift and close in, killing many. Inside, Aris witnesses Pagnus Ender murder a challenger named Helra to steal her knives. To navigate the deadly maze, Aris secretly follows Harlan Raker, who carves a path through his opponents.

They enter a forest where ancient, powerful swords are tangled in the branches of trees. Valen and Kira each claim a silver sword that flies down to them. Aris is cornered by Cadoc and his allies. Cadoc shatters Aris’s sword and reveals he possesses Stellan’s dagger, implying he is responsible for Stellan’s death. As Cadoc moves to kill her, Aris prays for help, and a powerful Starside steel sword erupts from a grave beneath Aris and flies into her hand, shattering Cadoc’s blade.

Aris’s newly claimed sword makes her a target. The Culling continues as a stampede of horned beasts called Oryx tears through the forest, forcing the challengers to climb trees to survive. Weighed down by her heavy new sword, Aris nearly falls. Afterward, the survivors race across a long, narrow bridge toward the now-open gates of Starside.

Giant, eyeless beasts emerge from the gates, attacking the challengers. Raker cuts a path through, and others follow. After killing one and being drenched in its blood, Aris realizes the creatures hunt by scent, as other creatures ignore her. She covers Kira in the blood, rendering them both invisible to the monsters. As she is about to become the 50th person through, one of Cadoc’s men pulls her back. Zane shoves the man off the bridge to his death, securing Aris’s spot. Together, Aris and Zane claim the final two places in the Questral.

Inside the vivid, magical world of Starside, the gates close, set to reopen in 50 days. Aris, Kira, and Zane form an alliance. Their journey is quickly interrupted by an immortal scholar named Pelas, who warns them that night is deadly on Starside. He offers them shelter near the Tower of Knowledge in exchange for information about the mortal world. There, they meet another scholar, Ellis, and are questioned about their “simple” lives.

Aris feigns illiteracy to gain Pelas’s trust, and he shows her the Tower of Knowledge, which is only open to scholars. She steals his quill, which is a key to the Tower, and sneaks into the library at night. She discovers a book containing an account of a past Questral, along with a complete map of Starside. Before she can study it, she overhears Pelas plotting to poison and dissect her group for research. Discovered by the scholars, she rips the map from the book and creates a diversion by destroying magical texts with her sword. The magical texts release thick shadows. As she flees, Ellis notices her silver skin markings but lets her go without a word.Inside the vivid, magical world of Starside, the gates close, set to reopen in 50 days. Aris, Kira, and Zane form an alliance. Their journey is quickly interrupted by an immortal scholar named Pelas, who warns them that night is deadly on Starside. He offers them shelter near the Tower of Knowledge in exchange for information about the mortal world. There, they meet another scholar, Ellis, and are questioned about their “simple” lives.

Aris feigns illiteracy to gain Pelas’s trust, and he shows her the Tower of Knowledge, which is only open to scholars. She steals his quill, which is a key to the Tower, and sneaks into the library at night. She discovers a book containing an account of a past Questral, along with a complete map of Starside. Before she can study it, she overhears Pelas plotting to poison and dissect her group for research. Discovered by the scholars, she rips the map from the book and creates a diversion by destroying magical texts with her sword. The magical texts release thick shadows. As she flees, Ellis notices her silver skin markings but lets her go without a word.

Aris shows her new map to Zane and Kira. It reveals a landmark called the Beast Tree, where flying creatures can be claimed. They make a pact to work as a team and vote to travel there. Their journey is interrupted by three masked immortals, followers of the god of journeys and thieving, who demand a “face” as payment for passage. When they try to take Aris’s sword, they find they cannot lift it. An outside arrow kills the woman with the red mask; the gold-masked and green-masked thieves then duel, and Zane kills the gold-masked survivor.

They reach the village of Westwere and are granted entry by the innkeeper, Xara, a former knight impressed that they killed the thieves. She gives them food and shelter, warning them about the Beast Tree: to claim a creature, one must jump from its crown and hope to be caught, a leap that kills most immortals who try it. Aris asks why Xara is kind to them, and Xara says that she “trust[s] metal. A sword like yours is drawn not just to the strength of one’s abilities... but to the strength of one’s soul” (104). In the morning, Aris has another tense encounter with Harlan Raker, who is also staying at the inn. He asks her if she is “actively trying to find [her] death” before he saves her from falling down the stairs (105). Xara provides the group with an enchanted boat to travel north up the river, warning that at night, demons of the God of Death roam the land. Aris says that the gods don’t favor the immortals either, and Xara warns not to cross the gods, as they only serve themselves.

Traveling by river, Aris, Kira, and Zane share their motivations for undertaking the Questral: Kira wants to save her dying sister, Zane wants to save his mountain home, and Aris wants revenge. A violent storm hits, and in the chaos, Aris’s pack slips off her shoulder into the river. Kira’s sword slips from her hands overboard; she jumps into the raging water to retrieve it and is severely injured on a rock before being pulled back aboard.

With her leg badly wounded, Kira knows she will only slow them down. As they reach the riverbank near the Beast Tree, she invokes their pact and insists on being left behind. She makes Aris promise that if she completes the quest, she will deliver magic to her sick younger sister, Anise. Aris and Zane place the bleeding Kira back into the enchanted boat, which sails back upstream toward Xara’s inn.

Aris and Zane arrive at the colossal Beast Tree, where they find the corpses of challengers who have fallen to their deaths. After a difficult climb up treacherous, crumbling stairs, they are attacked by small, vicious creatures. Zane loses his balance and falls but is saved by Aris; he is forced to drop his ax so she can lift him.

At the treetop, they see a ring of flying creatures—including dragons and Helmhawks—circling above. They witness a challenger successfully bond with a dragon, only to be immediately killed by one of Cadoc’s archers, who then steals the creature: Cadoc’s group is ambushing successful challengers to seize their mounts. Zane goes back down the stairs unarmed to retrieve his ax and confront the archer. While Aris waits, Pagnus Ender attacks her. She wounds him, but Cadoc and his men corner her at the edge of the treetop. As Cadoc fires an arrow at her, Aris jumps.