Apophis and Duat

Seeking healing after Skye's losses leads the allies beneath the Sandsea, where Apophis reunites with Neith and a promised sanctuary becomes a struggle against the Light.

After the losses in Skye, Zhoom comes to Termina Temple for help against the escaped Shadows poisoning the Tomb of the Blue Lotus, source of the Sandsea's healing river. Tara persuades Gravelyn that its waters might also help her wound. In the tomb, you encounter Ginx with a hooded Drakath, who is still recovering from the Mana Crisis and seeking both healing and an old reckoning with Sek-Duat.

You help Zhoom and Ginx clear the way to the inner chamber, where a Chantress is corrupting the spring. After the fight, Sek-Duat emerges from the water, having sought healing himself while the serpents pursue the memories he carries. The spreading power is Umbral Chaos from the condemned Shadows, not Drakath's work. Elsewhere, Apophis prepares to reclaim the throne beneath Duat.

You return to Duat with Sek-Duat captive and find the Lightguard and Shadowscythe close to fighting one another. Astero offers support on terms that imply Zhoom's legitimacy depends on the Light. As Sphinxes appear inside the palace, Crulon evacuates the people sheltering there. Drakath uses the throne's response to his royal blood to expose a stair beneath it: the attack is coming from the buried city below.

The descent brings back the forgotten name Neith as Dryden challenges you with Clarent, still answering his parents' demands until Ouroboros swallows them to silence their complaints. In the inner chambers, Neith recalls turning to Chaos when the gods ignored her struggle against invasion. Apophis recognizes the Pharaoh who had once found him as a small asp and become his Champion, and their reunion unleashes another surge of Umbral power.

Tara saves part of your group from the collapse but remains trapped with Gravelyn. The Mysterious Stranger emerges from your shadow, having escaped the fortress it claimed to have built, and offers help. As you advance through Hidden Duat, shed scales preserve memories of Neith's bond with Apophis and their defeat by Sek-Duat and the Light. When Astero again offers Zhoom effortless victory and legitimacy, the Pharaoh refuses to exchange his people's future for that dependence.

Neith intends to destroy Sek-Duat's line and the Sandsea that had replaced her. To protect his country without accepting Astero's bargain, Zhoom allows Drakath to draw power from the captive lich and temporarily empower him with Chaos. With your support, he fires the decisive arrow, but Neith sacrifices herself to let Apophis and Dryden escape. Blue lotuses gather around Zhoom afterward, a sign you and Astero recognize as the Sandsea choosing its ruler. Drakath asks that Neith's remaining spirit be allowed to rest.

During the retreat, Astero attacks Ouroboros with the jaws of a far greater form, admitting that Zhoom might have made a suitable vessel had despair broken him. Apophis recognizes the being behind the emissary as Asteroth, the Titan of Light.