Chapter Summaries

A modern mind awakened as Diakum Zastinus, an injured Eredar spy on Argus, and realized he was caught in the events leading to the Burning Legion’s rise. After revealing that Sarkir was preparing a coup, he watched Archimonde consider his next move.

• Diakum woke on a stretcher after surviving an attempted assassination and learned that he was an Eredar on Argus.
• Diakum discovered his identity, injuries, and abilities through a magical status screen, then recognized Archimonde when he entered the room.
• Archimonde asked Diakum what he had uncovered while infiltrating the Awakeners' Cult, and Diakum wrote that Sarkir was about to launch a coup.
• Archimonde reacted with shock and paced before appearing to make a decisive, secret plan.

Dick survived Archimonde’s interrogation and learned that Archimonde planned to gather physical evidence against Sarkir before taking the rebellion allegations to Velen and Kil'jaeden. After Archimonde left, Dick resolved to change Argus’s fate and find a way to secure his own future, but he went to sleep without a concrete plan.

• Archimonde used mind magic to inspect Dick’s memories, confirming that Sarkir and the Awakeners' Cult were preparing a rebellion involving fel and demons.
• Archimonde decided to collect physical evidence before accusing Sarkir and planned for Dick to testify to Velen and Kil'jaeden once the evidence was ready.
• Dick flattered Archimonde by urging him to become the third Grand Executor, and Archimonde rebuked him while privately enjoying the suggestion.
• Dick warned Archimonde that he might have been betrayed and asked to choose trusted Vindicator guards, naming Malderan as his deputy and ally.
• Archimonde agreed to summon Malderan, then left Dick in the Academy safe house under guard.
• Dick considered his poor prospects if either Archimonde or Sarkir prevailed, resolved to alter history for his own survival, and fell asleep without a plan.

While recovering from his injuries, Dick recruited Guard Malderan to help counter Sarkir’s planned coup and protect the Arcane Academy. Malderan agreed to secretly contact trusted allies and report to reliable leaders, while Dick remained behind to recover and investigate his sealed abilities.

• Dick summoned Guard Malderan and explained in writing that Sarkir and the Awakeners' Cult were planning a coup, while Archimonde intended to wait for proof before acting.
• Dick persuaded Malderan to report the danger through trusted contacts and bring his family from Oronaar City to the academy under the pretext of protecting them.
• Malderan revealed that he had long suspected Sarkir was secretly spreading fel and demon teachings at the academy, and agreed to seek help from Ms. Vilara and other allies.
• Malderan named Guard Quaram’s arcane golems and Champion Vorusk’s thunder-elephant cavalry as forces that could defend the academy.
• Dick asked Malderan to keep the effort secret, arrange a memorial service declaring Dick dead, and recommend guards to protect him while Malderan was away.
• After Malderan departed, Dick assessed that his first step had succeeded and planned to recover while investigating his sealed guard abilities.

Archimonde and Galasum planned to exploit Sarkir’s looming coup to raise Archimonde’s political standing, while arranging for Dick to serve as a witness. Dick met the young recruits assigned to guard him and began guiding them, urging Imira to consider the Holy Light as a new path.

• Galasum reported that Malderan planned to fetch his family from Oronaar City, and Archimonde discussed using Sarkir’s coup to pursue a seat as Eredar’s third Grand Executor.
• Archimonde agreed to join The Awakening as an infiltrator and ordered Galasum to protect Dick until his testimony could be recorded.
• Malderan left for Oronaar City, while Fareeya, Tramon, Sovos, Imira, and Barat arrived to guard Dick.
• Dick recognized the recruits’ future importance and used Mind Vision to speak with them, then reassured them about their mission.
• Dick encouraged Imira, who had repeatedly failed to graduate, to consider serving the Holy Light and asked whether she trusted him or her instructors.

Dick baptized Imira as a Holy Light priest and trained her and four other recruits for an approaching demonic threat. When Malderan and Talgas arrived, Dick proposed using himself to ignite a conflict between Archimonde and Sarkir, leaving the recruits stunned by the dangerous operation.

• Dick baptized Imira into the ranks of the Faith Walkers, and she chose the Holy Light doctrine of salvation and healing.
• Dick assigned combat roles to Imira, Sovos, Fareeya, Tramon, and Barat, then drilled them against waves of simulated demons.
• The Five Little Powerhouses improved over two days and defeated a simulated Doom Lord while Dick coached them.
• Malderan arrived with Talgas, the leader of the Assassin Court, and sought Dick’s information and operational advice.
• Dick proposed turning Archimonde and Sarkir against each other and declared that he would serve as the fuse for their conflict.

Dick told Talgas and Warden Malderan that Archimonde had secretly enabled fel teachings at the Arcane Academy and was likely a powerful warlock, then proposed alerting Sarkir so the master and student would turn against each other. As Talgas agreed to report the plan to Kil'jaeden, two students sent by Archimonde arrived with a suspicious potion and forced Dick to take it.

• Outside the room, Fareeya, Barat, Sovos, Tramon, and Imira discussed Dick's claims and decided to keep training while following orders.
• Dick presented Talgas and Warden Malderan with evidence that Archimonde had sheltered the Awakeners' Cult and allowed fel knowledge to spread among students.
• Dick argued that Archimonde had secretly mastered fel magic and proposed telling Sarkir that Archimonde planned to betray him, hoping the two would kill each other.
• Talgas agreed to report Dick's claims and plan to Kil'jaeden, while Malderan objected to Dick risking another assassination attempt.
• Fareeya warned that students sent by Archimonde had arrived with suspicious potions, so Talgas and Malderan hid while Dick pretended to be weak in bed.
• Saloras and Oreses entered with a healing potion and insisted that Dick drink it, restraining him and bringing the bottle to his lips.

Dick and the Five Young Heroes captured Saloras and Oreses as they attempted to poison him, exposing Archimonde’s efforts to silence Diakum. While Priestess Ishana treated and secretly interrogated Dick, he learned that he had to choose a new personal vow before the Holy Light would answer him again.

• Talgas and the Five Young Heroes stopped Saloras and Oreses from poisoning Dick, and Talgas identified the potion as an Assassin Court poison.
• Malderan condemned Archimonde’s betrayal of Diakum, while Talgas arranged for Diakum’s protection and reported the matter to the Grand Executors.
• Imira explained the twins’ misconduct and their ties to Archimonde, and Dick ordered them imprisoned rather than executed.
• Malderan brought High Priestess Ishana to treat Dick, and Dick’s interface confirmed that she was using Mind Control while the Veil of the Afterlife protected his secrets.
• Ishana questioned Dick under hypnosis, then explained to Malderan that Dick had lost the Holy Light’s favor and needed to find a new vow and path for himself.
• Dick realized that the Holy Light required a heartfelt lifelong purpose and began considering what goal he should pursue.

After recovering, Dick trained the five young prodigies and learned from Talgas that Kil'jaeden had secretly authorized him to deal with Archimonde before official forces intervened. Armed with intelligence about warlocks and soulstones, Dick prepared to question his two prisoners and pursue his revenge.

• Dick recovered from his throat wound, challenged the five young prodigies to spar, and used unorthodox tactics to train them throughout the day.
• Dick told the young prodigies that his Holy Light Doctrine had shattered, then taught them to use Holy Light carefully in combat.
• Talgas delivered Kil'jaeden's secret order, which gave Dick permission to deal with Archimonde before General Elodus's forces took over.
• Dick warned Talgas that warlocks could preserve their souls in soulstones, gave him a report on fel energy, and received a device for contacting the Assassin Court.
• Dick entered the storage room with Fareeya and offered his two bound prisoners another chance to choose before he acted against them.

Galasum arranged for Saloras and Oreses to support Archimonde’s plan, unaware that the sisters had already decided to help Dick and the Grand Executors instead. Dick prepared to infiltrate the Awakeners’ Cult with the Assassin Court, leaving the Academy and its young defenders behind as the coming coup drew near.

• Galasum ordered Saloras to testify about Commander Diakum’s poisoning and promised the sisters positions at the Seat of the Triumvirate, while threatening to conceal their attempt on his life.
• Saloras returned to Dick’s courtyard, where she and Oreses accepted Dick’s mission to contact Ms. Vilara and help protect the Academy’s students during the coming conflict.
• Dick told the five young heroes to remain at the Academy under Commander Malderan, gave them his collected weapons and armor, and rode toward Oronaar City.
• Malderan warned Dick not to rely too heavily on the Assassin Court, and Dick asked him to host a dinner if he returned alive.
• Dick activated the Assassin Court’s contact device while fishing by Eredath Lake, then met Neri, who invited him to join her unit and set out for the mission.

Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• Dick learns about the Eredar's history, population issues, and dual governance system.
• He meets with Captain Neri and her team, discussing their plan to infiltrate the Awakeners' Cult and turn Enlightener Sarkir against Archimonde.
• Dick prepares for his mission, equipping himself with weapons and poisons, despite Neri's warnings about the Holy Light's disapproval.
• Neri reveals that Archimonde has reported Sarkir under a false name, and they have less than four hours to act.
• Dick decides to go alone, refusing Neri's offer for protection.

Character Developments

• Dick:
  • Struggles with his shattered Holy Light Doctrine and the loss of his warden identity.
  • Shows a newfound understanding of the Holy Light as a tool rather than a commandment.
  • Demonstrates determination and resolve in his mission.
• Captain Neri:
  • Shows concern and respect for Dick, considering him a comrade.
  • Reveals her past as an orphan and her rise through the Assassin Court ranks.
• Archimonde:
  • Is exposed as a traitor and hypocrite, reporting Sarkir under a false name.
  • Is targeted for assassination by Dick and the Assassin Court.

Significant Themes

• The nature of the Holy Light and its relationship with the Eredar.
• The consequences of blindly following a doctrine or faith.
• The struggle between light and shadow within individuals.
• The importance of personal choice and responsibility.

Character Interactions

• Dick and Captain Neri:
  • Develop a mutual respect and understanding, with Neri considering Dick a comrade.
  • Discuss their pasts and the mission at hand.
• Dick and the Assassin Court team:
  • Engage in banter and debate, with Dick challenging their views on the Holy Light.
• Dick and the Awakeners' Cult guards:
  • Dick confronts the guards, revealing his true identity and demanding an audience with Sarkir.

Dick exposed Archimonde’s betrayal to Sarkir, who chose to turn Dick into a fel vanguard and set a trap for his former disciple. Archimonde attempted to assassinate Sarkir, but the decapitated figure proved to be a succubus, and Sarkir confronted him as a traitor.

• Dick told Sarkir and the Awakeners' Cult that Archimonde planned to attack the Great Lecture Hall, and admitted he wanted the two factions to destroy each other.
• Sarkir ordered Dick prepared for a sacrificial ritual and declared that Archimonde would become the night’s offering.
• Archimonde led his followers into Oronaar City, gave Galasum instructions, and entered the Great Lecture Hall alone to meet Sarkir.
• Archimonde offered Sarkir the Mark of Awakening, then seized his wrist and beheaded him with a runeblade.
• Archimonde discovered that the head was a succubus’s, while Sarkir emerged from the shadows and condemned his disciple for betraying him for power.

Dick escaped the Awakeners' ritual, killed Grand Chancellor Galasum with help from Oreses and Saloras, and entered the battle at the Great Lecture Hall to confront Archimonde and Sarkir. Elsewhere, Malderan defied Talgas’s warning and set out to support Dick, while the academy’s forces fought the cultists and summoned demons.

• Four Man'ari ritual priests prepared Dick to become a fel vanguard, but an explosion outside interrupted their ritual as Galasum and the Twins entered the laboratory.
• Dick convinced Oreses and Saloras to free him and turn against Galasum, and the three killed the Grand Chancellor together.
• Dick urged the Twins to take Galasum’s head as proof of their allegiance, but they chose to stay and fight alongside him for a chance to redeem their reputations.
• Dick retrieved his armor and weapons, then led Oreses and Saloras toward the battle at the Great Lecture Hall, where he vowed they would fight until dawn.
• Malderan prepared to support Dick, but Talgas warned him that Dick had knowingly accepted a dangerous trial and might die to protect the truth about the Awakeners' Cult.
• Malderan rejected Talgas’s reasoning and left to help Dick, while the academy’s defenders and the Five Little Powerhouses battled cultists and demons.

Archimonde’s attempt to kill Sarkir failed, and after a brutal duel he was killed by Diakum Zastinus with help from Saloras and Oreses. Dick and the twins survived the destruction of the Great Lecture Hall as a golden barrier stopped the demons and the Naaru’s song announced the Holy Light’s arrival.

• Sarkir overwhelmed Archimonde with curses and fel magic, but Archimonde unleashed his unfinished Finger of Death, wounded Sarkir, and escaped the Great Lecture Hall.
• Archimonde ran into Saloras and Oreses, who betrayed him and drove him back into a dark passage with fire and frost.
• Diakum Zastinus ambushed Archimonde with poisoned throwing knives, then killed him and claimed his head for Argus.
• A fel beam erupted from beneath the Great Lecture Hall, destroying it and releasing demons as Dick shielded Saloras and Oreses.
• A golden barrier blocked the demons, and Dick recognized the Naaru’s song as a sign that the Holy Light had arrived.

Dick awakened the Holy Light and forged the Hand of Fate doctrine during his battle with Sarkir, gaining the power to face the Enlightener. Aboveground, Velen joined the defense of Oronaar City as Kil'jaeden worried that his brother might embrace the Holy Light.

• Neri and her surviving comrades fled the collapsing Great Lecture Hall after Sarkir sacrificed the Assassin Court team and unleashed demons from the Fel Well.
• Malderan rescued Neri's group, then led the Five Young Champions into the ruins to find Dick; the Champions later joined forces with the Twins and teleported away from a Doomguard.
• The Twins warned Velen that Sarkir's demon invasion had overwhelmed the lecture hall, so Velen teleported to Oronaar City and attacked the demons with a meteor barrage.
• Kil'jaeden saw Velen's spell and rode toward the battlefield, fearing that the Holy Light might change his brother while vowing to protect him.
• Sarkir captured Archimonde's soul in a soulstone and overwhelmed Dick and Malderan, but Dick answered Malderan's plea by awakening his Holy Light powers and declaring his Hand of Fate oath.
• Dick's new Holy Light power freed Malderan and purified the fel corruption as Dick advanced on Sarkir with a blazing warhammer.

Dick and Malderan fought Sarkir and the demons to stop a summoning ritual that threatened Argus, while Velen arrived and purified the Fel Beam with the Holy Light. Dick fell into a coma after Sarkir wounded him, and Sarkir survived the ritual’s destruction.

• The Holy Light empowered Dick, who wounded Sarkir with a devastating attack before Malderan struck the old wizard with a leaping cleave.
• Dick and Malderan killed four of the five demon witches, weakening the ritual, while Sarkir returned in a transformed state and attacked Dick.
• Doom Lord Kazzak approached through the Fel Beam, so Dick crushed Archimonde's soulstone and destroyed the final demon witch, causing Kazzak to be expelled back into the Twisting Nether.
• Sarkir impaled Dick and restarted the summoning ritual by using himself as its node, but Velen arrived and converted his arcane power into Holy Light to purify the Fel Beam.
• Dick hurled an axe at the weeping Sarkir before falling into a coma, while Malderan and Velen remained at the ritual site.

The Eredar crushed the Awakeners' Cult coup, and Kil'jaeden rewarded the survivors while ordering preparations for a future demonic invasion. After voicing his concern that the Holy Light might cloud Velen's judgment, Kil'jaeden accepted Velen's trust in him and vowed to defend their people.

• General Elodus's thunder-elephant cavalry routed the cultists and demons after Velen purified the Fel Well.
• Kil'jaeden praised the Five Young Champions and offered Saloras and her sister positions in the Assassin Court.
• Kil'jaeden arranged for the wounded Malderan to govern the Antoran Wastes and promoted Dick while sending him away from the Arcane Academy investigation.
• Kil'jaeden ordered Sarkir taken to the Assassin Court for interrogation and called for Eredar experts to study Fel energy and prepare defenses.
• Velen told Kil'jaeden that he trusted him to keep him rational, and the brothers agreed to rely on each other.
• Kil'jaeden vowed to resist any force that threatened to conquer Argus or destroy Eredar civilization.

Dick woke in the Temple of Lura after the battle and discovered that his Holy Light abilities had grown, including a new class slot. He learned that his companions had been rewarded, then arranged to visit the imprisoned Sarkir while beginning priestly training with Ishana.

• Dick checked his status panel and found enhanced Exarch abilities, a larger Radiant Energy pool, and an additional class slot, along with a cryptic warning about the Dark Titan.
• Ishana explained that the battle had inspired a surge of baptisms across Mac'Aree, while Malderan and the five young survivors received promotions and honors.
• Dick learned that Sarkir was imprisoned beneath the Temple of Lura and asked Ishana to help him arrange a visit.
• Dick told Ishana he wanted to study the priestly path, then challenged her understanding of Holy Light doctrine with ideas about cosmic forces, discipline, and shadow.
• Neri arrived to take Dick to Sarkir, while Ishana sat stunned by their doctrinal debate and Dick gained the class of Priest Apprentice.

Dick visited the imprisoned Sarkir, who revealed that Argus possessed a hidden power capable of resisting the Dark Titan and directed Dick to seek it in Krokuun. Dick realized Sarkir had tried and failed to use Argus’s star soul, leaving him to reconsider his plans as the Grand Executors summoned him.

• Captain Neri explained that the authorities had begun purging Arcane Mage organizations and that the Twins had joined the Assassin Court.
• Dick entered Sarkir’s heavily guarded cell with Saloras and Oreses to record their conversation.
• Dick questioned Sarkir about his swift corruption, and Sarkir confirmed that he knew of Argus’s hidden power and urged Dick to visit the Petrified Forest in Krokuun.
• Sarkir warned that the Holy Light, arcane power, and fel energy were all outsiders, then said he would die that night and be reborn when Argus faced its desperate hour.
• Dick concluded that Sarkir had tried to use Argus’s star soul but had found it insufficient, and a Naaru priest summoned him to meet the Grand Executors.

Dick met with Talgas and the two Grand Executors, warning them that Argus’s World Soul drew the attention of the Dark Titan and other cosmic powers. He left the audience having challenged Velen to distinguish the Holy Light from the Naaru and put Argus’s people, civilization, and world first.

• Dick told Talgas that Sarkir believed a sacred stone in Krokuun could connect its bearer to Argus’s World Soul, and Talgas appointed Dick an Honorary Commander of the Assassin Court to investigate it.
• Dick asked Talgas to assign Captain Neri and her team to work with him on the investigation, and Talgas agreed.
• Dick met Velen and Kil'jaeden, who awarded him the title of Vindicator Commodore and discussed reclaiming the Mark of Awakening.
• Dick warned the Grand Executors that the Dark Titan would continue targeting Argus and that Sarkir had identified it as a threat to the World Soul.
• Dick cautioned Velen that the Holy Light, the Naaru, and the arcane powers might all have agendas involving Argus, and urged him to prioritize the Eredar people and their world over personal faith.

Dick earned Velen and Kil'jaeden's trust, then challenged Naaru K'ure's influence over Davenius and received a powerful blessing and priest skills. After reuniting with Malderan's family, Dick resolved to fight Argus's dark fate and left his friends with a warning about the coming storm.

• Dick left the Archon Hall with a new rank and a secret order to find the Holy Stone in Krokuun, then was summoned by Davenius to meet K'ure.
• Dick broke Davenius's spiritual connection to K'ure, helped her regain her reason, and urged her to keep her faith guided by principle and reason.
• K'ure blessed Dick with a new mark, increased Holy Light abilities, priest skills, and knowledge of the Naaru language.
• Dick returned to Oronaar City, told Malderan that he would leave for his mission the next day, and warned him to train his troops for the coming storm.
• Dick gave Maraad a radiant sword and urged him to protect Lelan, then resolved to prevent Argus's dark future.