Geralt, attempting to protect Ciri, faces the powerful sorcerer Vilgefortz. In a brutal duel, Geralt is soundly defeated and nearly killed, leaving him broken and hospitalized in the forest of Brokilon for much of the subsequent events.

After a traumatic journey through the desert, Ciri is captured by bounty hunters but eventually joins a gang of young outcasts known as The Rats . It is during this time she begins using the alias "Falka" and experiences her own "time of contempt" as she hardens into a survivor.

Yennefer brings Ciri to Gors Velen, intending to enroll her in the magical academy of Aretuza. During a grand conclave of sorcerers on the island of Thanedd, a long-simmering coup erupts. Different factions within the brotherhood, some allied with the North and others secretly serving Nilfgaard, turn on one another in a bloodbath.