Several tribes form a coalition to pursue the raiders with D'Leh as their leader. They find the ships holding Evolet and their families but fail to reach them before the raiders cast off. The war party nearly dies out while journeying through a treacherous desert, but D'leh learns to use the North Star to navigate the dunes. On the other side of the desert, they discover an advanced civilization, ruled by an enigmatic god-king known as the "Almighty". Here it is discovered that the kidnapped Yagahl are used as slave labor. The warlord who kidnapped Evolet tries unsuccessfully to win her love, only to be arrested by the Almighty's priests when they find he has taken her without permission. During a night scouting raid, D'Leh learns of the Almighty and the fate of his father, who perished as a slave. The party is spotted by the guards, who are killed by Tic'Tic before he succumbs to his wounds. Meanwhile, the Almighty's priests believe that Evolet is destined to kill The Almighty, based on the whip scars on her hands matching the stars they call the "Mark of the Hunter" and an ancient prophecy foreseeing their civilization's downfall. The Almighty deduces that Evolet is merely the herald of the true Hunter, which leaves him and his priests unsettled. D'Leh starts a rebellion among the slaves, killing many of the Almighty's forces, though Ka'Ren is killed.