The Golden Crescent is full of palatial yachts and glittering, beautiful buildings, but it is empty of people. The companions split up, with Gum Baby accompanying Tristan. They move across the deserted city until Gum Baby accidentally activates a bronze statue of a girl that warns them to leave. Tristan suspects that the Maafa has kidnapped everyone. Something is watching them, and strange twittering noises come from a nearby ancient forest that radiates power. A giant sycamore towers over its edge. The companions reunite at the palace gate, which has a shimmering haze before it. The group chooses a reluctant Tristan to take the lead in entering the palace. Every surface is covered in adinkra.

The group enters a throne room, and at the end of the chamber is a gigantic statue of a man seated on the throne. He wears a crown circled by jeweled insects and sits between statues of a leopard and a python. The rest of the room includes life-like paintings and statues of brown-skinned people of all ages. Tristan and Ayanna exchange uneasy glances because getting into the throne room seems too easy. In front of the throne is a circular door in the floor, likely the hiding place for