falls into a trance and comes dangerously close to being burned alive, accidentally destroying the egg in the process. Eglantine recovers and the Guardians return to the Great Tree. The Burning The Guardians seek help from the Northern Kingdoms, Ezylryb's hatching place, to defeat the Pure Ones once and for all. After brushes with pirate owls and polar bears, and most dangerously Ezylryb's treacherous younger brother Ifghar, the Guardians return to the Southern Kingdoms and Twilight kills Kludd in battle. The Hatchling After Kludd's death, Nyra, blinded by vengeance, raises their only hatchling, Nyroc, to take his place, and brainwashes him to hate Soren, blaming him for Kludd's death. During Nyroc's Final Ceremony, which entails the burning of his bones, the smith owl Gwyndor discovers that Nyroc has firesight (the ability to see visions in fire). This gives Nyroc the ability to see who actually killed his father. Despite being their leader's heir, Nyroc has only one real friend: a sooty owl named Dustytuft. However, Nyroc helps him recover his old name, Phillip. During the early parts of the book, Nyroc awaits the tupsi ceremony that will make him a true Pure One, which it turns out is the murder of his dearest friend, which he must perform himself. When Nyroc refuses to kill Phillip, Nyra does it herself, making her son declare his hatred of her and flee. While refusing to kill Phillip, Nyroc is given a scar on his face similar to Nyra's, causing others to fear him on sight. A rabbit who can see visions in spiderwebs tells him to go to the place his firesight visions showed him: Beyond the Beyond. The Outcast Nyroc casts off his old name and his old life, vowing to use his free will despite his father's scroom telling him otherwise. He is then found and brought to Mist, the old seeing owl once known as Hortense. From her, he learns to read and write and is told the stories of Hoole and the wolves of the Beyond, and even renames himself by turning his old name backward, giving himself the new name Coryn. On his way to Hoole he hears that a burrowing owl family has had their egg stolen by the Pure Ones and is determined to return the egg to them. Disguising himself as his mother's scroom, he rescues the egg and returns it to the family, in