He realizes there's more to the pitch‑black rock when he notices it has polka dots.

The polka dots fade in and out. When he reaches out to touch the pitch-black thing, the rock-like object disappears entirely.

He then realizes he needs to go back to the kitchen and murmurs to himself, “I need to go back and apologize to John.” He then starts moving back toward the place he had run from.’

He arrives at the door he had run through and reaches for the handle.

When he opens it, he is met with a scowling John. John then asks, “Where were you, Zorin!?”

Zorin then replies, “I needed to calm myself down.”

John acceptingly says, “Okay, that's understandable and reasonable, but you seem to be spacing out.” Zorin explains, “I found a pitch‑black rock‑looking thing with white polka dots. I found it under some shrubbery, and it disappeared when I touched it.”

John surprisingly says, “Well, that.”

A knock at the door interrupts John. A maid says, “Any and all eligible for the Metal Rite, immediately come with me.”Zorin walks up to the maid, and she leads him to the ceremony. Zorin, now at the ceremony, sees many people.

He stands off to the side and sees the young prince surrounded by people, some in strange garments, others in clothing he recognizes.

Zorin then sees a familiar face and goes up to him and asks, “Why do some of the men near the prince look so strange?” 

The man quietly told him “that he was a noble, and that many of them looked like that, and that their clothes varied, but all were extremely costly clothing.”

The strange man then says, “Call me Thomas.”

Before Zorin could ask more, a soldier walked up to both of them and told them to “ stay quiet. The young prince had begun opening his gifts. The atmosphere changed as people gathered closer. There was a sense that something important was about to happen, something really important besides the gifts.

As the gifts were being opened one by one, Zorin noticed an older man, surrounded by guards, approach the king. The two stood together, and soon both the king and the elder looked as though they were talking.

The king then interrupts the birthday after all the gifts were opened and says, “Today is the metal rite and my son Xyro's birthday, and as we just celebrated his birthday, it's time we begin the metal rite.