Chapter Summaries

Shade collected a sailor’s diaries from Mrs. Lemmer and prepared for his next time-key task, which required helping three Witches contact the Old God Radiance Doorway. After Captain Rades visited, Shade entered the past through his bedroom door, leaving Mia to wait for him.

• Shade accepted the sailor’s diaries in place of part of Mrs. Lemmer’s commission fee, advised her to move somewhere safer, and gave her Old John Pawnshop’s address.
• Shade reviewed what he had learned about the Old God Radiance Doorway, whose powers included time, space, and nature, and worried that the ritual involving three Witches would bring unexpected dangers.
• Captain Rades visited Shade, shared news of his new apartment and return to the front lines, and warned him about recent killings in the city.
• Shade said goodbye to Mia and entered the White Fog doorway at midnight to travel to the year 3002.

Shade returned to the Thousand Tree Forest to assist the Witches with the God-Summoning Ritual, but found himself isolated in its strange darkness. The Moon Witch found him and led him back to the clearing beneath the giant tree, where the other Witches waited.

• Shade entered the Thousand Tree Forest and found no sign of the Witches or their bonfire.
• Shade used Silver Moon to weaken the forest’s oppressive whispers and repel some of the eyes watching him.
• The Moon Witch appeared, recognized Shade, and showed him her chained Moonbeam Greatsword.
• After drinking a potion that let her understand Shade, the Moon Witch shook his hand, and Shade confirmed she was alive.
• The Moon Witch led Shade through the forest to the bonfire, where the other two Witches waited.

Shade returned to the Witches in the Thousand Tree Forest with documents about Radiance Doorway and learned that their summoning ritual was missing crucial components and information. He offered his powers of time and space as one solution, then Miss Feliana began asking carefully limited questions to learn about his era without directly manipulating time.

• Shade returned to Miss Feliana and gave her the documents he had found, but neither side could determine how much time had passed because the forest distorted time.
• Miss Feliana explained that the Witches were trapped in the forest and needed to summon Radiance Doorway to escape, but their ritual was missing lost symbols, a forgotten final step, and substitutes for time and space powers.
• Shade revealed that his Destiny Ring gave him powers over time and space, resolving one of the ritual's three requirements.
• Miss Feliana warned Shade not to reveal the future or let her manipulate time, explaining that any action defying time had to be carried out by him.
• Miss Feliana asked whether Shade belonged to an ancient organization, then asked him to name an organization from the Fourth Epoch or earlier that existed in his era.

Shade learned that the Guiding Light Hermitage might possess records about the ritual for contacting a god, and Miss Feliana explained how he could search for the ancient organization. He agreed to look for it while considering other ways to uncover the ritual’s conditions.

• Miss Feliana ruled out the Seer Association and Blood Spirit School as likely sources of records about the ritual.
• Miss Feliana identified the symbol Shade had found on medicine bottles as belonging to the Guiding Light Hermitage.
• Miss Feliana explained that the Hermitage believed in Doomsday and might trade with Shade if their goals did not conflict.
• Miss Feliana suggested Shade search for ordinary academic groups whose Doomsday arguments seemed unnaturally perfect.
• Shade agreed to search for the Hermitage and said he might seek other methods, while planning to find more Blood Money or similar relics.

Shade spent his remaining time with Miss Feliana and the Witches discussing his search for the Ancient Gods and reflecting on their different lives. Before Shade returned to his own time, the Witches shared a divine relic’s story, granting him the Miracle spell Door Key.

• Miss Feliana explained that Shade was not responsible for helping them and asked about his encounter with the evil god for her novel.
• Shade asked the Witches about the Ancient Gods, but they knew little beyond the White Fog spaces he described.
• The Moon Witch told Shade she envied his peaceful life, and Shade replied that he envied her having Miss Feliana as a teacher.
• Miss Feliana and the other Witches offered Shade relics inscribed with a god’s story and sang the tale of Radiance Doorway.
• Shade learned the Miracle spell Door Key, which allowed him to open locks, as he was pulled back to his own time.

After returning from the past, Shade drew an ordinary apple from God's Gift Box and sought Professor Manning’s help finding scholars who studied Doomsday theories. He left the professor with an urgent request to gather information about the Guiding Light Hermitage within a week.

• Shade returned from the Thousand Tree Forest and reflected on the Witches’ song and his plan to help Miss Feliana.
• Shade removed the Metamorphosis Ring from Mia’s tail and placed it beside the Hidden Wall in his basement.
• Shade opened God's Gift Box and received a red apple after brushing his teeth carefully for three nights.
• Shade decided he needed academic contacts to find the Guiding Light Hermitage and contact the Old God, Radiance Doorway.
• Shade visited Professor Manning and discussed the recent cultist murders and the professor’s complaints about public safety and taxes.
• Shade asked Professor Manning to discreetly find information about Doomsday scholars within a week and offered him ten pounds.

Shade returned to Coldwater Port City to search for Leimer’s Safe House and another Blood Money, after reassuring Professor Manning that his recent dream was not supernatural. He confronted the Safe House’s landlord and revealed his Military Intelligence Section Six identification.

• Shade checked Professor Manning for traces of the Whisper Element, reassured him that his dream was only psychological, and gave him Doctor Schneider’s address.
• Shade left Mia with Dorothy Louisa and traveled through the hidden sea-cliff cave to Coldwater Port City.
• Shade checked into the Golden Rose Inn under the name John Watson and waited to see whether the authorities had traced the previous Mermaid Statue incident to him.
• Shade went to 41 New Denton Street to investigate Leimer’s Safe House, whose owner claimed that everything inside belonged to him.
• Shade showed the landlord his concealed pistol and Military Intelligence Section Six identification.

Shade entered Leimer’s attic to retrieve his belongings and found a Mermaid Statue that appeared to carry a deadly curse. He avoided touching it, gathered Leimer’s notes and letters, and learned how the abandoned Ring Arcanist had discovered the curse before dying.

• Shade forced his way past Leimer’s landlord and used Door Key to open the attic’s three locks.
• Shade found a runic illusion guarding a wardrobe and broke its handle to dispel the trap.
• Shade spotted a cloth-covered object resembling the Mermaid Statue and carefully shut the wardrobe without touching it.
• Shade searched the attic and collected cash, a book about the Wind Spirit Rune, and Leimer’s notes and letters.
• Shade learned that Leimer belonged to the Sea Wind Club, which cut ties with him after he sought help with the curse.
• Shade learned that Leimer had investigated the Mermaid Statue after realizing it was a Relic, but he ultimately died from its curse.

Shade searched Leimer’s apartment, killed the landlord after discovering him armed, and prepared to report the Mermaid Statue to the Church. While crossing Coldwater Port City to find a carriage, Shade was unexpectedly handed a paper bag by a fleeing girl as police chased her into an alley.

• Shade found Leimer’s notes suggesting the Mermaid Statues were connected to pirates, then gathered the books and money he could carry.
• Shade confronted the landlord in his basement workshop, and the landlord drew Shade’s revolver before the Gun of Kindness killed him.
• Shade left the apartment, changed clothes, and wrote a letter reporting the Mermaid Statue’s location to the Church.
• Police stopped carriages on the street, so Shade walked toward another street to find a ride.
• A girl in a black-and-white gauze dress shoved a paper bag into Shade’s arms and fled into an alley, followed by a group of police officers.

Shade received a paper bag from a fleeing young woman and discovered it contained Zaras Academy of Literature documents about a local Relic bounty. The woman returned to reclaim it, and after Shade questioned her, she suddenly asked who he was.

• A young woman fleeing the police forced a paper bag into Shade's hands, and he took it into an alley.
• Shade found Zaras Academy of Literature's crest on the bag and read a bounty notice seeking clues about the Sage Level Relic Mermaid's Dream.
• The young woman returned within minutes, apologized, and took back the bag from Shade.
• Shade questioned the woman about the police and her school, and she refused to reveal her name or academy.
• When Shade denied looking through her things, the woman met his eyes and asked who he was.

Shade met Nobela Princess, a local Ring Arcanist, and enlisted her help reporting the Mermaid’s Dream relic to the Church. She agreed to guide him around Coldwater Port, and their lunch conversation revealed that Princess Leisha remained in the city after reportedly falling ill.

• Shade resisted Nobela Princess’s attempt to make him reveal his origins, introduced himself as John Watson, and learned she was a five-ring Arcanist.
• Shade told Nobela Princess he had found the Sage Level Relic Mermaid’s Dream, and she arranged for a black-market broker to pass the information to the Church.
• Nobela Princess agreed to act as Shade’s guide in Coldwater Port in exchange for lunch and payment.
• At lunch, Nobela Princess told Shade that Princess Leisha had stayed in the city because she was reportedly seriously ill, while rumors blamed her delay on fear of the evil god incident in Tobesk.
• Shade described his life as a writer and detective’s assistant, then reflected that he hoped his clever cat might someday awaken a talent.

Shade learned that Miss Princess wrote occasional social commentary and that her noble father held a demanding, lifelong social-work position. He hired her to guide him around Coldwater Port City, and she brought him to her rented room to prepare disguises and discuss the fee.

• Miss Princess told Shade about her journalism, noble status, and her father's work as a Social Worker.
• Shade judged Miss Princess trustworthy enough to hire her as his guide for the day.
• Miss Princess complained that a restaurant had passed off cheap Roselle wine as an 1845 vintage, then offered to take Shade to a better place for dinner.
• After lunch, Miss Princess took Shade to her rented room on Robin Hood Street so they could change their appearances before visiting sensitive places.
• Miss Princess put away her books, invited Shade to sit, and asked what places he wanted to visit before they settled on her fee.

Shade hired Miss Princess to guide him to Coldwater Port’s black markets, and she disguised them both with makeup before they returned to the Dock Area. They entered the Seven Broomsticks Tavern, where Shade paid the fee to follow her inside.

• Shade and Miss Princess agreed that he would pay her ten pounds to introduce him to trustworthy black markets and special-goods traders.
• Miss Princess disguised Shade with makeup, and Shade spotted a troubling entry in her diary before she finished preparing herself.
• Shade asked Miss Princess whether she had lost control, and she assured him that she had not.
• On the carriage ride back to the Dock Area, Shade discussed Coldwater Port’s dependence on maritime trade and proposed diversifying its industries.
• Miss Princess led Shade into the Seven Broomsticks Tavern and paid her entrance fee, while Shade paid five shillings as a stranger.

Shade and Miss Princess entered the Seven Brooms’ hidden gathering place for Ring Arcanists, where they learned that the Mermaid’s Dream curse was spreading and heard a local nursery rhyme might point to a ritual called Sea Burial. The chapter left Shade connecting the rhyme’s mention of pirates to a clue he had found earlier, while the bartender warned against speaking of dangerous things at sea.

• The bartender admitted Shade and Miss Princess to the Seven Brooms’ hidden Ring Arcanist tavern, where Shade paid for a token to become a regular.
• Shade and Miss Princess heard that the Church had recovered fifteen Mermaid Statues and that seventy-two people had been cursed, while five statues remained missing.
• Miss Princess said that the Church was investigating a connection between Mermaid’s Dream and a ritual called Sea Burial.
• Miss Princess hummed a Coldwater Port nursery rhyme about mermaids, pirate ships, the Red Sea, and a young lady walking into the deep sea.
• Shade remembered a pirate-related matter he had seen in Leimer’s Safe Room, and the bartender stopped himself from mentioning an evil god, fearing a seafarers’ superstition.

Shade met a seller in a Coldwater Port City tavern who offered the Poet Level relic Omnipotent Currency, and the two agreed to settle its price with a Rhodes Cards game. The game was about to begin with Mr. Darkness’s special Moon 9 card in play.

• Shade asked the tavern bartender to post a commission for currency-type relics and learned that Mr. Darkness was selling Omnipotent Currency.
• Shade offered to buy the relic for 9 pounds, but Mr. Darkness demanded 20 pounds or a barter.
• Shade proposed a Rhodes Cards wager: he would pay 9 pounds if he won and 20 pounds if he lost, and Mr. Darkness accepted.
• Shade and Mr. Darkness agreed to play a twenty-one variant, with the tavern bartender witnessing and holding their stakes.
• Miss Princess stood behind Shade as both men exchanged and shuffled decks, and Shade saw that Mr. Darkness’s deck contained a special Moon 9 card.

Shade played Rhodes Cards against Mr. Darkness, discovered that his opponent was cheating, and won after Miss Princess used her Ruby Earring to stop the trick. He claimed the Omnipotent Currency and ended the chapter asking Miss Princess to tell him about his Rhodes Cards experiences over fruit juice.

• Shade won the first two rounds, then sensed that Mr. Darkness had used Thaumaturgy to switch his hole card in the third round.
• Shade planned to counter the cheating with Origin · Balance, but Mr. Darkness stopped switching cards until the eighth round.
• Miss Princess touched her Ruby Earring and warned Shade not to change his card, allowing him to reveal twenty points while Mr. Darkness busted.
• Shade won the game by twenty-three points, and Mr. Darkness collected his nine pounds without protesting.
• Shade received the Poet Level relic Omnipotent Currency and asked whether Dice of Destiny could reflect its Misfortune.
• Shade and Miss Princess chose a secluded table for fruit juice, where she asked him to share his Rhodes Cards experiences.

Shade accompanied Miss Princess through Coldwater Port City to meet Mr. Edmund, the elderly keeper of a lighthouse that formed part of an ancient protective ritual. After hearing about the lighthouse network, they reached the sea cliff and began discussing business with him.

• Miss Princess described her travels and advised Shade to buy small, useful accessories for his female friends instead of decorative souvenirs.
• Shade bought a gift at the dockside souvenir shop, then followed Miss Princess north from the harbor to a lighthouse on the sea cliff.
• Miss Princess explained that twelve lighthouses around Coldwater Port City had once anchored a protective ritual built by the Orthodox Church and the Arcane Academy.
• Shade and Miss Princess masked themselves and waited at the lighthouse, where they met its keeper, Mr. Edmund, returning from fishing.
• Miss Princess reminded Mr. Edmund that she had bought a Magical Conch from him two years earlier, and he recognized her before they began discussing business beside the sea.

Shade and Miss Princess learned that her curse from a mermaid statue had advanced rapidly, and she arranged to buy a ring that could resist curses. Mr. Edmund interpreted the nursery rhyme “Sea Burial” as an evil-god worship ritual, leaving them concerned that someone might be preparing a summoning in Coldwater Port.

• Shade asked Mr. Edmund for a currency-type relic, but Mr. Edmund had none available.
• Miss Princess revealed that she had acquired a mermaid statue and begun dreaming of an undersea abyss within a week and a half.
• Mr. Edmund offered Miss Princess Saint Roland’s Ring for 1,300 pounds, and she agreed to inspect it and pay by Bill of Exchange.
• Mr. Edmund explained that the nursery rhyme “Sea Burial” described a ritual involving a mermaid, pirates, a red sea, and a girl’s sacrifice.
• Shade and Miss Princess suspected a cult might be using the scattered statues to summon something, and Mr. Edmund named three evil gods linked to the old fishing-village ritual.

Shade and Miss Princess visited the lighthouse, where she bought two books and he sold Windy Abyss before Shade sensed the powerful curse bound to her soul. They prepared for a masked auction aboard a cruise ship, while Shade grew suspicious that Miss Princess’s familiarity with him was more than coincidence.

• Miss Princess bought two books from Mr. Edmund, and Shade sold him Windy Abyss for 41 pounds and 4 shillings.
• At the sea cliff, Shade touched Miss Princess’s forehead and sensed a powerful Whisper Element curse that her ring and ruby only restrained.
• Shade learned that he could not help Miss Princess lift the curse, and she invited him to a local Ring Arcanist auction that evening.
• Miss Princess lent Shade formalwear that fit him perfectly, prompting him to wonder whether she was connected to Miss Galina or the Duchess.
• Shade and Miss Princess dressed for the occasion, put on masks, and boarded a cruise ship hosting a masked banquet and an auction at sea.

Shade and Miss Princess boarded a masked banquet aboard a cruise ship heading out to sea for an illicit auction of Ring Arcanist items. While they waited for the auction to begin, Shade began telling Miss Princess a story about a ship, an iceberg, and a jewel called the Heart of the Ocean.

• Shade and Miss Princess boarded the cruise ship by cargo platform after the Boatman brought them from the pier.
• Miss Princess told Shade that around ten Ring Arcanists were aboard and warned him that The Church used fake black-market jobs to catch lawbreakers.
• The cruise ship set sail, and Shade told Miss Princess he felt uneasy being out on the dark sea.
• Miss Princess threw her empty goblet into the sea and challenged Shade to tell an entertaining story or drink with her.
• Shade named the jewel in his story the Heart of the Ocean.