Chapter Summaries

Lily pursued the Night Rabbit in a supernatural vision, transformed into a wolf, and woke in Iver’s study with a new ability she feared was dangerous. Meanwhile, Iver helped Sherlock prepare for a ritual to seek the gaze of the Constant Self, leaving Sherlock with astronomy books to study.

• Lily chased the Night Rabbit through a blizzard, shed her clothes and flesh, then transformed into a gray wolf after catching and devouring it.
• Gray threads bound Lily when she tried to cast off her shadow, and she awoke in Iver’s study beside the book, coughing up bloodstained rabbit fur.
• Lily discovered she could change back from wolf form but decided to suppress the ability because she feared losing control around Iver.
• Sherlock struggled to recall astronomy while preparing his ritual, so Iver offered to help him through the parts he did not understand.
• Iver told Sherlock to bring black pearls for the ritual seeking the gaze of the Constant Self.

Iver brought Sherlock beneath St. Genevieve Chapel to perform the Mithras ritual, explaining its astrological requirements and preparing a bull sacrifice. Sherlock entered the cramped wooden frame beneath the bull, and Iver prepared to begin the ritual.

• Iver took Sherlock to the church wine cellar, which he had chosen as a concealed ritual site.
• Iver explained the Great Year, the Age of Pisces, and the Aries requirements that made immediate, fearless action important to the ritual.
• Iver revealed the zodiac symbols and the rune-covered black bull he had prepared for the sacrifice.
• Iver instructed Sherlock to strip, curl up in a wooden frame beneath the bull, and pray while Iver killed it.
• Sherlock followed Iver's instructions, and Iver asked his birthday before telling him to prepare for the ritual.

Iver completed a bull-sacrifice ritual that freed Sherlock from the black cocoon and rejuvenated him into a thirteen-year-old boy. The two brothers began cleaning St. Genevieve Chapel’s cellar, while Sherlock warned Iver not to tell anyone about his changed appearance.

• Iver invoked Constant Self and carried out the bull’s death ritual alone, using his blood and an iron implement to kill the bull at sunrise.
• During the ritual, Iver saw the Three-Legged Crow pass its Sunfire to him and realized that he had become the new sun; golden words spread over him and faded, leaving a trace on his chest.
• Iver completed the ritual as the stars rotated and the sun moved from Taurus into Aries, shattering Sherlock’s black cocoon and freeing him.
• Sherlock discovered that he looked thirteen, and Iver explained how appearance changed across the levels of the Mitra Path.
• Sherlock asked Iver to buy him ordinary clothes for their journey, thanked him for easing his headache, and told him not to reveal the rejuvenation to Her Highness or Master Agnes.
• Iver and Sherlock scrubbed the walls of St. Genevieve Chapel’s cellar at dawn.

After Sherlock returned to the bishop’s residence in his magically rejuvenated body, he grew uneasy about Mina’s warnings and decided to take Edward’s equipment for protection. Iver visited Avalon’s griffin minister to get documents pecked and considered whether the revived Mithras Ritual could attract mages from the Narcissus Principality.

• Iver sent the exhausted, rejuvenated Sherlock back to the bishop’s residence after they finished work at the Ritual Site.
• Ms. Mina recognized Sherlock with her astral vision, praised Iver’s ritual, and warned that Iver’s fate was entangled with powerful beings.
• Sherlock decided to take Edward’s spare equipment and use his identity to access the Path of Authority during the journey.
• Iver visited Avalon’s griffin minister, who pecked the documents and encouraged him to do his best under the Crown Lord’s watch.
• Iver considered using the Mithras Ritual to recruit high-level mages from the Narcissus Principality, wondering whether Avalon could gain a powerful weapon by doing so.

Iver received Yulia’s alchemical supplies and accepted Isabel’s protective necklace before setting out. On a train to Mubay County, Hai Na met a suspicious passenger named Ye Zhi, who introduced himself as a poet.

• Yulia gave Iver bath powder, potions, and a suitcase packed with supplies and keepsakes for his journey.
• Yulia told Iver that Isabel had lent him her necklace, Isolde’s Tears, and Iver put it on.
• Hai Na woke on the train to Mubay County and spoke with a gaunt, well-mannered man whose appearance and voice suggested he might be a Wild Elf.
• Hai Na felt instinctively that the man was dangerous, but he introduced himself as Ye Zhi, a poet.

Hai Na traveled by train toward Mubay County and discussed her cautious approach to wealthy sponsors and suitors with Ye Zhi. After discovering they were both headed to nearby hometowns, she began questioning him, but stopped herself from revealing identifying details.

• Hai Na enjoyed Mubay County’s fresh air and compared it favorably with Glass Island.
• Ye Zhi asked why Hai Na preferred her hometown, and Hai Na explained that she avoided Glass Island’s entertainments and had rejected her suitors’ offers.
• Hai Na described how she stayed wary of merchants and political factions because she feared accepting gifts or advice could bring hidden costs.
• Hai Na learned that Ye Zhi was returning to Bagpipe Town, near her home in Eagle Cape Village, and grew more open with him.
• Hai Na nearly revealed a personal connection to Cow Bay News, but her spiritual intuition warned her against sharing identifying information, so she asked Ye Zhi whether he worked in Glass Island.

Hai Na met Ye Zhi on a train and sensed that he had used a mysterious ability on her before leaving without a confrontation. Elsewhere, Giant Prince Wolfram ordered Cassiem to keep searching for the Book of Law near Bagpipe Town while avoiding the Church and George.

• Ye Zhi spoke with Hai Na on the train, and she realized that his influence had twice made her unusually willing to talk.
• Hai Na decided not to arrest or fight Ye Zhi and left the train after memorizing his appearance.
• Ye Zhi examined Hai Na's scent, speculated about her connections and abilities, and sensed the presence of Mathers before vanishing and transforming into a crow and then a wolf.
• Giant Prince Wolfram told Cassiem that the Book of Law should be near Bagpipe Town and ordered him to search local hospitals and nearby village cemeteries.
• Cassiem agreed to rebury the disturbed coffins, conceal the excavation, and split the search between the town's morgues and the surrounding villages.

Hai Na returned to Eagle Cape Village and revisited a tree that preserved a childhood memory, while Iver learned how to care for Liz and prepared to travel with Lily and Sherlock. As the group arranged griffin transport, Iver began to understand how griffins and demons perceived humans.

• Hai Na returned to her unchanged hometown and found the roadside tree where she had carved a height mark with her dagger as a child.
• Hai Na remembered her old dagger and the years she had spent traveling to Bagpipe Town, then decided it was time to go home.
• Angelica taught Iver how to feed Liz and explained how commands and other actions related to different Paths.
• Iver stopped Liz from eating more, and she accepted his command without attacking him.
• Carmela arrived to help Angelica carry Iver, Lily, Sherlock, Liz, and their luggage on the journey.
• Angelica explained that griffins judged humans by their affinity for the Path of Authority, leading Iver to consider how he had tamed the shadow demon.

Hai Na returned to Eagle Cape Village and reunited with her family, telling them that Iver Moriarty and Sherlock were coming to visit. Her mother sent her back out into the cold to meet them before nightfall, worried they might be harassed by ghosts.

• Hai Na came home and embraced her brother Jack, who said he had quit school and was learning blacksmithing from their father.
• Hai Na gave Jack her damaged elven short sword to maintain and reunited warmly with her mother.
• Hai Na told her family that Iver Moriarty and Sherlock were coming to Eagle Cape Village, and Jack excitedly recognized them from the newspapers.
• Hai Na's mother insisted she go meet the visitors before nightfall, then pushed her outside without a coat.

Iver and Sherlock searched for Eagle Cape Village and concluded that its hidden forest path might lead to a Fairy Forest. They crossed into the darkness and found the village frozen in a beautiful, lively dusk.

• Iver pranked Sherlock by giving him Theocracy Whiskey, then lectured him for drinking without checking what was in the flask.
• Iver said their search from the air had failed, and Sherlock suggested that a barrier or a Fairy Forest concealed Eagle Cape Village.
• Sherlock described the legends and dangers of Fairy Forests, pointing out that the spotless path and dark woods fit the signs.
• Iver warned Lily and Sherlock that calling fairies by that name could offend them and advised them to use respectful terms.
• Iver, Sherlock, and Lily entered the forest darkness and crossed the mountain, emerging to see Eagle Cape Village beneath a golden sunset.

Iver and Sherlock discovered that Fairy Village was abnormal and met the Old Inspector, whom they recognized from Iver’s past. After Hai Na joyfully welcomed her griffin Liz, Iver told the Old Inspector that he was Jacob Alexander’s grandson and had come because of Jacob’s death.

• Iver and Sherlock concluded that the village’s strange effects might indicate powerful Fifth Level forces.
• Hai Na met the Old Inspector and initially failed to recognize Sherlock in his younger form.
• Iver identified himself as Avalon’s incoming Minister without Portfolio and said Hai Na was Meg’s disciple.
• Iver introduced Hai Na to her griffin, Liz, and Hai Na eagerly welcomed her.
• Sherlock introduced himself as Arthur Conan Doyle, and Iver revealed that his true name was Iver Alexander and that he had come to investigate his grandfather Jacob’s death.

Iver questioned Old William about Jacob’s death and realized that his grandfather may not have been curse-killed by either Aziz Ben Abdul or Giant Prince Wolfram. He concluded that Jacob’s death and the destruction of the Alexander family were connected to a hidden treasure, and that Wolfram had been fishing for information.

• Old William recalled that Jacob died in winter after suffering fever, chills, and difficulty breathing, and that every paper in his room had disappeared.
• Old William said the village priest’s Illumination Spell briefly restored Jacob’s consciousness, but Jacob relapsed and died days later.
• Iver compared Jacob’s symptoms with his own childhood fever and concluded that Jacob’s death did not fit the Typhoid Curse or Aziz Ben Abdul’s methods.
• Iver inferred that Jacob had likely been punished for possessing a treasure, and that his death had led to the attacks on Iver’s parents and the Alexander family.
• Iver remembered the threatening letter Julio received after Lisa’s murder and concluded that Julio had been blackmailed by someone other than Aziz.
• Iver realized that Giant Prince Wolfram had been trying to draw information from him.

Iver realized Giant Prince Wolfram had manipulated him into revealing what he knew about Jacob, and he suspected Wolfram was heading for Eagle Cape Village to find Jacob’s manuscript. In the village, Hai Na’s distorted sense of time helped the group notice night had fallen without their awareness, just as she warned them that the Night-walking Undead Legion might be near.

• Iver deduced that Wolfram had falsely claimed to curse Jacob to death to test whether Iver had met his grandfather and obtained his legacy.
• Iver connected Jacob’s death and manuscript to a series of events from more than a decade earlier, and suspected Wolfram and Professor Moriarty were seeking Jacob’s relics.
• After speaking with Old William, Iver and the others followed Hai Na to her home, though the sky still appeared to be at dusk.
• Sherlock checked his pocket watch and found that less than three minutes had passed, despite the group’s long conversation and walk through the village.
• Hai Na recalled that her sense of time had become distorted after she left her hometown, and the group realized everyone’s perception had been affected in Eagle Cape Village.
• A Deep Moon appeared overhead, and Hai Na urged the group to hurry indoors before they encountered the Night-walking Undead Legion.

Iver and his companions survived the Night of the Wild Hunt by staying completely still as Night Parade Knights swept past them. After Hai Na mentioned Hellerchein, Iver realized Eagle Cape Village was the Wild Hunt King’s starting point and that they were in danger from a Seventh Level boss.

• Hai Na warned everyone to find shelter and remain silent when the undead appeared, and Iver recognized the danger of the Night of the Wild Hunt.
• Black mist and unnatural darkness spread across the street as pale Night Parade Knights materialized around Iver and his companions.
• Iver took Lily’s hand, and the group stood motionless while the knights charged past and taunted them.
• The lights returned after the Wild Hunt passed, and Hai Na expressed relief that Sir Hellerchein was absent.
• Iver recognized Hellerchein as a Seventh Level World Boss and realized Eagle Cape Village was where the Wild Hunt began.

Iver explained the Night Parade Knights and the Wild Hunt to Sherlock, Lily, and Hai Na after they encountered the ghostly procession. He recognized the Wild Hunt King as the historic elven knight Hellerchein and left the chapter considering Eagle Cape Village’s hidden significance.

• Iver warmed the frostbitten Sherlock and explained that the Night Parade Knights would only take people who attacked or recklessly crossed their path.
• Iver told Sherlock and Lily how the Wild Hunt collected wandering undead, what restrictions governed the knights, and how villagers could stay safe.
• Iver explained that priests periodically held ceremonies to reduce the Wild Hunt and free the spirits through purification.
• Iver realized the Wild Hunt King was Hellerchein, a fallen hero who had once united humans and elves against the giants.
• Iver decided he could not challenge Hellerchein but resolved to remember the rare monster’s location and wondered what else lay beneath Eagle Cape Village.

Iver, Sherlock, and Lily followed Hai Na home and discovered that the village’s passage of time was disordered. At Hai Na’s house, they met her father, a dwarf whose hidden blacksmith inheritance raised questions about Hai Na’s family and past.

• Iver, Sherlock, and Lily realized that night had fallen far sooner than expected and confirmed that outsiders sensed the village’s distorted passage of time.
• Hai Na led the group into her family’s blacksmith shop, where Sherlock noticed that the furnaces were cold despite the pig iron and tools inside.
• Sherlock wondered whether Hai Na’s father was an extraordinary blacksmith who could summon Fire Essences.
• Hai Na’s father scolded her for staying out until nightfall, and Iver, Lily, and Sherlock were surprised to discover that he was a dwarf.
• Sherlock concluded that Hai Na’s father was an unlicensed dwarf blacksmith who had passed an illegal inheritance to her.

Iver and Sherlock learned more about Hai Na’s family as Magnetic Hammer explained how he had raised her and Jack after their biological father left. Iver sampled Magnetic Hammer’s unusual dwarven beer, while Sherlock considered asking him to forge a walking stick.

• Magnetic Hammer told Iver and the others that Hai Na and Jack were not his biological children and that their biological father had left before Jack was born.
• Sherlock asked about Hai Na’s father, and Magnetic Hammer described the man’s former master as a boastful, inferior blacksmith.
• Hai Na’s mother explained that she had found Magnetic Hammer unconscious in the swamp after he ran away, and Hai Na connected this to Grandpa William’s arrival.
• Magnetic Hammer offered Iver a cup of dwarven beer, and Iver recognized its charred flavor as coming from roasted malt or charcoal.
• Hai Na’s mother took Hai Na, Jack, and Sherlock upstairs while Iver stayed with Magnetic Hammer; Sherlock considered asking him to forge a walking stick as a gift for Edward.

Iver learned from Magnetic Hammer why dwarves invested their faith in Angels and why elves distrusted them, then discovered that many villagers had no names. The chapter left Iver stunned by the revelation that Hai Na’s mother was unnamed.

• Iver and Magnetic Hammer became close as they discussed the religious rivalry between dwarves and elves.
• Magnetic Hammer explained that dwarves deliberately supported weaker Angels in hopes of earning their favor and helping one rise to Pillar God status.
• Iver realized that Magnetic Hammer had taught Jack blacksmithing and opposed Hai Na going to the royal capital partly because of their shared Dedication Path.
• Iver asked Hai Na’s mother’s name, and Magnetic Hammer explained that many villagers had no names.

Iver returned to Sherlock after a night at Magnetic Hammer's place and learned that Sherlock had uncovered troubling clues about Eagle Cape Village. They planned to investigate the swamp and question villagers in separate groups, leaving the chapter with Iver uneasy about splitting up.

• Iver found Sherlock awake and writing notes, and Sherlock explained that he had questioned Hai Na, her mother, and Jack about the village.
• Sherlock noted that no one in the village was between twenty-six and roughly sixty years old, and that the older residents' ages and names were unknown.
• Iver argued that the villagers were living people but said their lack of names was especially alarming, explaining how names preserved a person's existence and comparing the village to the victims of White Punishment.
• Sherlock planned for the group to inspect the forbidden swamp together, then split up to question the elders, priest, Old Blacksmith, and Old Inspector about the village's history, Hai Na's father, and local burials.
• Iver agreed to Sherlock's investigation plan but worried that splitting up in the eerie village was a bad sign.

Iver and his companions entered the forbidden swamp to investigate its secrets, where they encountered headless undead and prepared to defend themselves. As Lily and Liz fought the undead, Sherlock summoned mud hawks from the swamp.

• Hai Na led Iver, Sherlock, Lily, and Liz through the Dense Forest toward the swamp, explaining the village's layout and her childhood curiosity about the forbidden area.
• White Mist rose around the group, and the ground turned to foul-smelling sludge as Lily warned that something was approaching.
• Several Second Level Headless Undead approached, and Lily used gray threads to lift and restrain them.
• Liz attacked one of the undead with a burst of wind, shattering it and embedding bone fragments in nearby trees.
• Sherlock summoned mud hawks from the swamp to protect the group.