The Non-Corporeal Presence
Tagg's bodiless occupation of Louis's organs, undetectable by location and reactive to any intrusion.
Story so far
Juice Box cannot say the presence is in any specific place. She can sense lungs and heart and can feel Epitome Tagg there — they are symbiotes, in a way. The chest could be opened and the organs taken, but no healing potion would fix that, Louis would instantly die, and the moment anyone moved in, the presence would react.
Mordecai confirms the trap from the other side: if Tagg is knocked out or disabled, the lungs and heart stop. The organs might be kick-started if Tagg dies — maybe, depending on how the system decides to kill him — but since Tagg can read the warlord page and see his own remaining time, he will take Louis out with him. Only Samantha's transplant of Princess Lunette's golem organs offers a way around it.
Role
The central medical and tactical problem of the chapter, closing off sedation, surgery, and negotiation alike.
Relationships
Sources — 2 recorded facts, by chapter
- Something incorporeal rising from beneath the naga castle, exactly as Rosetta's plan predicted.
- Tagg's bodiless occupation of Louis's organs, undetectable by location and reactive to any intrusion.