Chapter Summaries

Shade won two Special Rule Cards from Viscount Gra and Herman Wood, then used a pistol relic to recover Herman's erased memory. The memory revealed a hidden prison-like section of Moon Bay City's sewers and ended with a dragon-like eye, while Miss Belinder thwarted a magical countermeasure and prepared to mislead the diviner behind it.

• Shade won Stars 7, Words of the Era · Terrarell River News from Viscount Gra and Moon 1, Ancient Fairy Tales · Mermaid's Song from Herman Wood, bringing his collection to 34 Special Rule Cards.
• Shade privately stopped Herman Wood's time and used a holy emblem to extract a memory he had lost.
• Shade, Miss Belinder, and Miss Matilda watched Herman Wood's memory, which showed Georgia Black, Freeman Hawthorne, and Herman entering a guarded, prison-like area in Moon Bay City's sewers.
• The memory ended when a door opened and a pair of bright yellow vertical pupils appeared; Miss Belinder destroyed the magical countermeasure that emerged from the image.
• Miss Belinder contained the tracking method and planned to feed false information to the opposing diviner, while Shade noted that the eye resembled that of a dragon beast.

Shade and Miss Belinder investigated clues suggesting the Dragon Devouring Order and local nobles had experimented on a dragon beast beneath Moon Bay. After returning home, Shade joined Luvia and Dorothy for an evening of stargazing and gained insight into stellar transference, while the investigation remained unresolved.

• Shade and Miss Belinder concluded that the Dragon Devouring Order may have worked with local nobles to create a dragon beast in the sewers, and agreed to investigate further.
• Shade tested the relic’s stored memory again, found it blurrier, and decided to ask Siris to restore it.
• Bella Belinder secretly watched Shade leave and used Tarot Cards to ask where he would go, drawing The Diviner.
• Shade returned home, where Luvia and Dorothy were waiting, and learned Dorothy was practicing Laguerre’s Leap so she could help him.
• Luvia, Dorothy, and Shade watched the stars on the roof, and Shade realized he had mastered part of Adele’s Regression Principle.
• Luvia and Dorothy later challenged Shade without the Youthful Immortality Leaf, but they eventually reached for it.

Shade spent a quiet Saturday at home and at Doctor Schneider’s meeting, where he learned that Priest Augustus’s mental health had improved. During Leisha’s evening lesson, Shade and Leisha affirmed their love while Angelina watched from the sidelines.

• At breakfast, Shade told Galina that Moon Bay was full of Alien Creatures and that its Chosen One might already have appeared, while Galina explained she had to meet Kasonlik’s ambassador about the Green Lake Border Conflict.
• Shade stayed in Tobesk, discussed exam week with Dorothy and Luvia, and attended Doctor Schneider’s meeting, where Schneider said Priest Augustus had improved.
• Leisha brought Angelina to the Saturday lesson and had her join a discussion of the Mermaid Princess’s persistence and the story’s changing interpretations.
• Shade described his firm personal boundaries and admitted his former hopes for a monogamous life had changed; Leisha teased him about Luvia and embraced him.
• Leisha and Shade exchanged declarations of love by the window while Angelina sat apart with the Cat.

Shade, Mr. Bernhardt, and Mr. Ptolemy Albert compared their findings and concluded that an experimental egg from a sewer laboratory may have caused the dead woman’s death and hatched into the Vampire Beast now attacking citizens. They planned to locate the laboratory and alert the Church, while learning that the Church had taken Bruce in as a suspect.

• Mr. Bernhardt revealed that he had found a secret passage from the Crowley Steam Bathhouse to riverside buildings, along with the dead woman’s blood trail leading to the Tatton River.
• Shade described Herman Wood’s recovered memories and proposed that an egg-like specimen entered the woman’s body in the sewers before she escaped into the river and drifted downstream.
• Mr. Ptolemy Albert reported that the Vampire Beast had killed four people and seriously injured one, leading the three to suspect that the egg had hatched and was growing by feeding on life.
• Mr. Bernhardt and Mr. Ptolemy Albert warned against pursuing the monster and agreed that they needed to find the secret laboratory and inform the Church.
• Mr. Bernhardt told Shade that the Church had taken Bruce away as a suspect after finding him near the crime scene and learning he sold prohibited Luku Bird eggs.

Shade asked Miss Belinder to help him investigate traces from the Fifth Epoch in the Dock Area that evening, and she agreed after warning him that the Five Gods Church and the Dragon Devouring Order were both active there. Before they set out, Shade accompanied her to a noblewomen’s salon, where Miss Belinder’s divination led her to suspect that Princess Margaret Anjou had taken an interest in him.

• Shade and Mr. Bernhardt paused their investigation until Shade could obtain a map of the sewers near the Steam Bathhouse, and Mr. Bernhardt shared rumors about Viscount Gra cheating at cards.
• Shade reported his findings to Miss Belinder, who asked him to bring evidence of Georgia Black’s ties to the secret laboratory and promised a sewer map on Monday.
• Miss Belinder used Tarot Cards to advise Shade to be careful, then agreed to accompany him to the Dock Area that evening after mentioning the Church and Dragon Devouring Order’s activity there.
• Shade agreed to attend Marquise Ankara’s salon with Miss Belinder so he could meet the last person on his Bloodkin friend’s list, and she connected the woman’s identity to the werewolf they had discussed.
• After Matilda remarked on Shade’s unusually fine formalwear, Miss Belinder divined that Princess Margaret was connected to it and concluded that Emma and Vanessa had introduced Shade to the princess.

At Marquise Ankara's Literary Salon, Shade warned Mrs. Dubois that Bloodkin were under suspicion and learned how Mr. Alber's teaching career had ended after a false rumor sparked a student protest. The salon's guests discussed fashionable stockings, and Miss Belinder revealed she had obtained superior goods through her connection to Princess Margaret.

• Shade warned Mrs. Dubois that a suspected Bloodkin killing and a Vampire Beast had drawn the Church's attention, and she asked him to deliver a letter to Mr. Alber about herbs arriving at the docks.
• Mrs. Dubois told Shade how Mr. Alber had supported a student protest after a female student disappeared, then left teaching when the student returned from a family trip and the rumors died down.
• Shade rejoined Miss Belinder at the salon and concealed his worry about the approaching storm and whether he might need to spend divinity that night.
• The salon guests discussed the sudden popularity of Chemical Fiber stockings, which had sold out in Weilun Dai'er City.
• Miss Belinder said the Belinder Family's ties to Princess Margaret had helped her obtain superior goods, then sent her maid to fetch the boxes.

Shade and Miss Belinder confronted Marquise Ankara about her inherited werewolf bloodline and her connection to Marika Frost. The Marquise revealed that Marika had disappeared after enduring family deaths and growing increasingly isolated.

• At the salon, Shade and Miss Belinder presented Sylvia’s fabric goods to the noblewomen, and Shade admitted he had seen them at Miss Sylvia’s place.
• Miss Belinder took Shade and Marquise Ankara to a study to discuss the werewolf family, where Shade revealed he was a Ring Arcanist and had investigated Marika Frost’s ancestry.
• Shade told Marquise Ankara that her maternal grandmother had been a Frost, and threatened to expose her recessive werewolf bloodline; Miss Belinder then comforted the sobbing Marquise.
• Marquise Ankara explained that she and Marika Frost shared a great-grandfather and had stayed in contact after meeting as adults.
• Marquise Ankara said Marika withdrew after her father died by suicide and her husband died of illness, and had already been missing for a long time when she went to visit her.

Shade and Bella Belinder learned that the wraith controlling Marika Frost resembled her late husband’s grandfather, while Marquise Ankara agreed to help them investigate the Wolson family belongings. Shade then uncovered an abandoned underground passage and evidence of the Dragon Devouring Order’s earlier experiments beneath the Ankara estate.

• Marquise Ankara identified the wraith as resembling Jason Wolson’s grandfather, a lumberyard manager, and confirmed that Jason had been the Wolson family’s last descendant.
• Marquise Ankara agreed to let Shade and Bella investigate Marika’s belongings and asked Bella for help with a separate strange occurrence; she also bargained for fabric in exchange for confidential information about her husband and the King’s orders.
• Marquise Ankara explained that her estate had experienced brief nighttime tremors since winter, prompting Shade to investigate its underground spaces.
• Shade broke through the Root Cellar’s eastern wall and found a secret passage leading to Moon Bay City’s sewers, where he discovered old bloodstains and an abandoned underground laboratory.
• Shade concluded that the Dragon Devouring Order had conducted illegal biological experiments in Moon Bay long before its recent search for Chosen Ones.

Shade prepared for a dangerous night in Moon Bay and gained an idea for using Adele's Regression Principle after watching Little Mia deflect sparks with her tail. At the Clock Tower, Miss Belinder told him that three dragons were flying toward Moon Bay Wharf and the city was under curfew.

• The Marquise refused to let the Church search her house, and Miss Belinder agreed to investigate Shade's discovery underground herself.
• Shade returned home, prepared relics, and realized Little Mia's turn and tail flick might inspire a way to reverse an attack through a casting medium.
• Shade left Little Mia behind, packed the Night Watchman and Dragon Scale Sword, and headed out into a sudden storm.
• Shade met Miss Belinder at Belinder Big Ben, where she explained that the citywide curfew was imposed because three dragons were approaching Moon Bay Wharf from the Outer Sea.

Shade and Bella Belinder prepared to search Moon Bay’s waters for traces of an ancient divine war as three dragons approached during a storm. They expected the Dragon Devouring Order and the Church to clash at the wharf, and Bella insisted on joining Shade despite the danger.

• Shade learned that three dragons were advancing toward Moon Bay and that the Church had prepared its forces for a confrontation at the wharf.
• Bella Belinder insisted on accompanying Shade, and she told him that recurring nightmares of a beautiful woman’s eyes had been troubling her.
• Shade and Bella traveled through the storm to the Dock Area, avoided the Church’s rituals, and sheltered in an unlit tavern.
• Shade revealed that he was searching for traces of an ancient battle between the Ocean Gods and the Dragon Devouring Demon, which appeared only during thunderstorms.
• Shade expected the Dragon Devouring Order to arrive and planned to search the sea after the dragons and Church began fighting, but Bella grew angry when he told her to leave if danger arose.

As a Dragon approached Moon Bay, Shade and Miss Belinder waited in a tavern and discussed their abilities, resources, and the Church forces stationed nearby. The Dragon neared the shore, but its identity remained unknown, and a clash with the Church was expected within minutes.

• Shade reassured Miss Belinder that he trusted her and demonstrated how he could take her with him in a short-range Space Jump.
• Shade revealed his Philosopher’s Stone, and Miss Belinder recognized its immense value as Shade explained he had brought it in case he needed it during the night’s search.
• Miss Belinder described Moon Bay’s Church forces and identified its Thirteenth Ring Warlock as Joshua Brooklyn, the Hand of Radiance.
• As the weather worsened, Miss Belinder divined that the Dragon had reached the nearshore waters and would clash with the Church in about ten minutes.
• Miss Belinder said her divination could not identify the Dragon, which might be an alchemical creation or an unknown variety.

Shade and Bella Belinder infiltrated the docks to witness the clash between The Church and the Dragon Devouring Order, but a Blood Mist creature attacked them on the way. After driving it off and escaping the Church’s Ring Arcanists, they reached the shore and saw Dragons fighting the Arcanists above a Divine Ritual.

• Shade and Bella Belinder used her Illusion Spell and divination to evade Church defenses as they made their way toward the docks.
• A Dragon-like roar signaled that the battle had begun, and Shade and Bella hurried toward the shore to see its outcome.
• A black-cloaked stranger attacked them in an alley, turning into poisonous Blood Mist and revealing scales and bat wings.
• Shade struck the creature with his Dragon Scale Sword and Black Moon Rune, destroying its arm before it escaped as Blood Mist.
• Bella led Shade away from the Church Ring Arcanists, and the two reached the dockside, where three Dragons fought dozens of Ring Arcanists above a Miracle Element Divine Ritual.

Shade and Bella Belinder sailed into the storm to investigate the divine power resonating beneath the sea, where Shade confronted the Dragon Devouring Order’s Hal Wesley. As Hal prepared to attack, Shade’s attempt to draw Night Watchman stirred the divine seal and unleashed a terrifying force, leaving the boats facing a deadly blast.

• Shade heard Dragon Roars beneath the sea and took Bella Belinder with him in a summoned Small Wooden Boat to search for the source.
• Shade sensed divine power resonating with the seal of the Ocean Gods and told Bella to wait on the boat while he went into the sea.
• Shade’s boat encountered Hal Wesley, an Eleventh Ring Dragonborn Arcanist of the Dragon Devouring Order, who prepared to attack.
• Shade gripped Night Watchman and began drawing it as the divine power awakened within him, causing black lightning to tear across the sky.
• Hal’s seven manifested dragon heads fired a sphere of light toward Shade and Bella’s boat as golden radiance blazed around Shade’s sword.

Shade mastered Adele's Regression Principle during a battle at sea, turning the Dragon Devourer's attack back against him before using Black Thunder to destroy the enemy boat. He then dived beneath the sea and found the ancient battlefield remnant, where the holy emblems of three Evil Gods resonated around him as the Dragon Roar vanished.

• Shade deflected the Dragon Devourer's Dark Black sphere with the Regression Principle and wounded the Eleventh Ring Warlock with its returned power.
• At Shade's request, Miss Belinder launched him back into the air, where he drew down Black Thunder and destroyed the enemy boat; the two injured Warlocks escaped with help from a Bone Dragon.
• Shade celebrated mastering Adele's Regression Principle, and Miss Belinder helped him stand and kissed him before he dived to retrieve something beneath the sea.
• Following a divine summons, Shade passed into the dark remnant of an ancient battle and recognized that his power resonated with the seal.
• Shade summoned the holy emblems of the Lord of the Scarlet Spiral, the Raging Storm, and the God of Drowning in the Deep Sea; they resonated as the Dragon Roar disappeared and strange bubbling sounds filled the water.

Shade absorbed the divinity of the Dragon Devouring Demon and the flesh of the Nameless Dragon beneath Moon Bay, gaining a new Spirit Rune before suffering a dangerous Divinity Overflow. Meanwhile, Bella Belinder discovered that the boat carried a power tied to the dead and gained the Spirit Rune Miracle-Nether Moon.

• Shade absorbed the rotten flesh and divinity of the Dragon Devouring Demon, then inscribed the Spirit Rune Dragon on his Destiny Ring.
• Shade entered a Divinity Overflow state as his heart raced and his body grew unbearably hot, sinking deeper into the sea.
• Bella Belinder watched Shade dive into the water and used the boat to shelter from the storm while reflecting on their farewell kiss.
• Bella Belinder sensed a still sea, saw souls walking toward a half-submerged silver moon, and nearly left the boat to follow them.
• Bella Belinder recovered when her bracelet and relic reacted, then discovered the Spirit Rune Miracle-Nether Moon on her Destiny Ring.

The Witch witnessed cultists summon the Seven-Tailed Player’s phantom, and The Church’s Hand of Radiance temporarily drove it back. As the phantom advanced again, Shade emerged from the sea as a gigantic silver dragon and confronted it, leaving the battle poised to continue.

• Bella Belinder watched cultists combine the blood and remains of three dragons in a ritual that summoned the Seven-Tailed Player’s phantom from the deep sea.
• The Hand of Radiance unleashed a Miracle of holy light that weakened the phantom and its music, but could not banish it.
• The Witch stayed aboard her boat instead of fleeing because Shade was still beneath the sea.
• Shade burst from the water as a powerful silver dragon, silenced the phantom’s music with his roar, and rose between it and the docks.
• The silver dragon deflected the phantom’s sonic attack with a sweep of his tail.

A silver dragon destroyed the summoned deep-sea evil at Moon Bay, then carried Bella Belinder out to sea before transforming uncontrollably. Bella stopped the transformation with her golden bracelet and found Shade exhausted but alive, though he warned that the power he absorbed had made the spell dangerous.

• The silver dragon unleashed Silver Moonlight and shattered the deep-sea evil, then seized Bella Belinder and flew away from Moon Bay.
• Joshua Brooklyn urged The Church to send more forces to Moon Bay as the Church Ring Arcanists questioned the dragon and the coming prophecy.
• The dragon vanished over the sea, leaving Bella and Shade to fall into the water, where Bella searched underwater for him.
• Bella found Shade shifting between dragon, cat, and butterfly forms as the surrounding water grew dangerously hot.
• Bella wrapped her golden bracelet around the silver cat's neck, halting the transformation and stopping it from assimilating her body.
• Shade regained consciousness and told Bella that absorbing an incredible power had caused his Transformation Spell to go out of control.

After Shade’s transformation into a dragon left him trapped in cat form, Angie Illustrious helped Miss Belinder return him to Belinder Manor. Shade woke with new transformation abilities and increased strength, then prepared to seek someone who could restore his human form.

• Shade remained weak and stuck in cat form after his dragon transformation, and Miss Belinder carried him away from the sealed harbor.
• Angie Illustrious offered them passage on her cruise ship and asked Miss Belinder to gather information about the Dragon Devouring Order’s summoning ritual.
• Miss Belinder brought the sleeping Shade back to Belinder Manor, where she fed him diluted Pink Essence from a baby bottle.
• Shade woke and learned that the Nameless Dragon’s flesh had strengthened him and elevated his Cat and Dragon transformation spells into Thaumaturgies.
• Shade produced his Crystal Shoes and told Miss Belinder he would leave to find someone who could restore his human form.

Shade said goodbye to Bella Belinder after she told him Illustrious Miss had rescued them and brought back information about the Dragon Devouring Order. Unable to return to human form, Shade went out with Little Mia to seek help from Dorothy, and Mia unexpectedly climbed up to join him at her window.

• Shade learned that Illustrious Miss had rescued Bella and delivered information about the Dragon Devouring Order’s ritual.
• Bella told her maid Matilda that she had kissed the Moon aboard the ship.
• Shade returned home in cat form, where Little Mia eagerly greeted him and followed him outside.
• Shade took Little Mia through Tobesk’s night fog to Dorothy’s apartment on Quill Street.
• Shade flew to Dorothy’s third-floor window as Red Butterflies, then became a silver cat again.
• Little Mia climbed a steam pipe and joined Shade on the windowsill.

After Shade became a cat, he returned to Tobesk with Little Mia and asked Luvia to help him find a way to change back. Luvia offered three possible methods, and the group went to the Three Cats Inn to ask Emilia before resorting to the Philosopher’s Stone.

• Shade and Little Mia tapped on Dorothy’s window, and Dorothy let them in before carrying them to Luvia.
• Luvia used coin divination and described three ways Shade could return to human form: a Philosopher’s Stone ritual, a painful ritual requiring a full Red Moon, or asking Emilia for help.
• Shade rejected waiting until the next week and chose to seek Emilia’s advice at the Three Cats Inn.
• Dorothy, Luvia, Shade, and Little Mia traveled to the inn and knocked on Emilia’s door, where a voice quickly asked who was there.