The next morning, Zar awakens after a restful sleep and travels over the Hills of Hope, through the Grove of the Greeks, and into the Woods of Wisdom. 

He arrives at a natural amphitheater within the trees from which monkeys stare down. Zar makes his way to the Academy Director and Absolute Morality. The audience sits back against the trees, some of which are encircled in chains. 

The Academy Director calls the now hushed crowd to order:

today we leave foundations

and question how they grew

not what we call virtues

but why we call them true

The Academy Director nods to Absolute Morality for his opening argument. But instead of turning toward the audience, Absolute Morality faces Zar and picks up the challenge from yesterday:

you trace virtues backward

to fear and hidden will

as if each noble impulse

is cunning dressed as skill

yet conscience is no accident

no mask of subtle might

it rises from our reason

toward what is good and right

if virtue were invention

of tribe or wounded pride

it could not bind the tyrant

nor stay the murderer's stride

Applause emits from the crowd. Zar does not wait for the silence, but steps forward before it fully settles and responds:

i do not mock your virtue

nor call compassion fraud

i ask who first was broken

before they named it god

the meek who could not conquer

made weakness into crown

and sanctified submission

as strength turned upside down

see how the iron shackles 

no longer bruise the skin

they hang on bark as relics

while law has moved within

what you call holy conscience

was forged in hidden war

where wounded hands wrote virtue

to bind the strong once more

Murmurs ripple through the Woods. Some rise in applause, others scowl. TS does not blink. Absolute Morality delivers his rebuttal:

if all is born of grievance

then goodness is a mask

you sanctify resentment

and call it virtue’s task

As Absolute Morality utters the last word, Zar jumps in and says, defiantly: 

to name the root of virtue

does not make mercy weak

it frees us to create anew

not hide what we won’t speak

At first silence, then the crowd applauds unsure of its direction. Zar takes a bow and the audience’s recognition fills him with ecstasy. Absolute Morality nods to the guests which greet him more loudly but Zar does not hear. 

After several minutes, a judge hands a paper to the Academy Director who turns to the hushed audience and says:

the decision is close

both argued to the end

but a threshold was crossed

and thought must now ascend

The Academy Direct approaches Zar, hands him a letter, and says:

zar of modest origin

you have stirred this wood

the council extends an invitation

to dwell among the good

live among the masters

let your brilliance run

within this honored circle

your rightful place begun

Zar takes the letter, but his smile does not reach his eyes. Zar feels not merely brilliant, but necessary, even prophetic – and yet, for flicker, alone. Zar responds:

dear academic advisor

and this distinguished crew

i am humbled by the invitation

but accept it i cannot do

The audience gasps and Zar quickly leaves the Woods and heads back to the Academy. A few days later, he graduates. 

As Zar passes by the Academy gate for the last time, he takes a hammer out of his bag and stands in front of Form’s statue. Smashing it, he declares:

marble cracks cleanly

beneath my tempered hand

forms do not rule me

i now command

the woods are quiet

idols cracked and lame

to the sea i descend

to intensify my flame