Chapter Summaries

Saint Byrens announced the year-end evaluations and rewards for Bill Schneider’s group, with Shade receiving the Feliana Medal after breaking the Academy’s low-ring advancement record. The examinations ended with the Academy ordering Bill and Shade to report on their contact with academic spy Legenes Presia.

• Professor Garcia announced that Bill advanced to the sixth year with an Excellent evaluation and received the Outstanding Student title and academic rewards.
• Dorothy and Luvia advanced a year, while Luvia revealed she had reached the fifth ring and requested early access to the Canon of Sublimation.
• Priest Augustus received an Exceeded Expectations evaluation and a free Thaumaturgy for his academic work and contribution to the Middlesburg Incident.
• Professor Garcia announced that Shade advanced to the fourth year with an Excellent evaluation, broke the Academy’s low-ring advancement record, and would receive the Feliana Medal.
• Professor Garcia announced identity verification for correspondence students and ordered Bill and Shade to submit reports about their contact with Legenes Presia.

After exam week, Shade shared a powerful arrow with Priest Augustus and Doctor Schneider, gaining them new abilities and helping the Priest complete his two-ring Spirit Runes. Shade planned a trip to Randall River Valley and then prepared to travel with Mia to Saint Byrens by the contained Midnight Nightmare Carriage.

• Shade gave Priest Augustus and Doctor Schneider the dark gold arrow, which granted the Doctor a new Thaumaturgy and completed the Priest’s two-ring Spirit Runes.
• Shade said he expected to visit Randall River Valley, and Priest Augustus asked him to repay Father Murphy ten pence on his behalf.
• Shade celebrated the end of exam week with the Priest and Doctor at a tavern while Mia stayed home.
• Shade learned he would travel to Saint Byrens on the Midnight Nightmare Carriage and decided to bring Mia.
• At eight o’clock, Shade heard the carriage bell and told Mia they were leaving.

Shade traveled by a supernatural carriage to Saint Byrens Comprehensive College, where he was welcomed by a student and entered its ancient library. He met Miss Danist, Professor Garcia, and Professor Odias, who were waiting for him beneath the library’s armillary sphere.

• Shade and Little Mia rode a creaking carriage through a disorienting journey and arrived safely at Saint Byrens Comprehensive College.
• A fourth-year History College student welcomed Shade and showed him the Academy City beneath the starry northern sky.
• Shade entered the grand library with Little Mia and followed the student through its vast shelves.
• Shade reached the library’s meeting place and found Miss Danist, Professor Garcia, and Professor Odias waiting for him.

Shade received two Academy medals and agreed to remain in the History College while minoring in Library Management, with Miss Danist set to mentor him later. After revealing he had reached the Fifth Ring, he watched the Academy bring in the imprisoned, memory-stricken Legenes Presia, who recognized him and called him a fiend.

• Miss Danist awarded Shade the Outstanding Student Medal and the Feliana Medal, explaining their benefits and the honors they represented.
• Miss Danist arranged for Shade to remain in the History College and minor in Library Management, and Shade signed the supplementary agreement after reviewing it.
• Shade learned the details of his training plan and tuition reduction, then told the professors he had advanced to the Fifth Ring.
• Miss Danist explained that Saint Byron's had borrowed Legenes Presia from The Church to try to restore his memories.
• Legenes Presia spotted Shade, fought against his escorts, and shouted that Shade was a fiend from the Outer Realms.

Shade visited the Academy and met the mad Sir Legenes Presia, whose strange ravings included warnings directed at Shade and praise for Mia. Shade and Miss Danist then used the Source of Chaos with the Wordless Black Book, which revealed the complete information about the Silver Moon Library.

• Sir Legenes Presia raved, recognized Shade, and warned him that he would not meet a good end before mistaking Mia for the Sun and praising her.
• Miss Danist told Shade that the Academy had considered whether he was the God Summoner, but Presia’s reaction gave them no reason to suspect him.
• Shade and Miss Danist discussed Presia’s madness and his apparent access to knowledge beyond mortal understanding.
• Shade gave Miss Danist the bright yellow pearl and placed the Source of Chaos before the Wordless Black Book.
• The Black Book absorbed the Source of Chaos, and its pages projected the complete information about the Silver Moon Library.

Shade and Administrator Miss learned how to summon the Silver Moon Library Door and agreed to prepare the ritual at Shade’s home, while Shade postponed choosing his Mid-Ring Words of Sublimation. He later saw Miss Galina and Tifa off to Saladir County after a playful farewell in her private carriage.

• Administrator Miss explained that the Silver Moon Library ritual required a Moon Sanctuary, ritual materials, and one piece of the Moon Key, and Shade revealed that he had one of the key’s stone slabs.
• Shade and Administrator Miss agreed to perform the ritual at Shade’s home once she gathered the materials, a process expected to take half a month to a month.
• Shade chose Silver Moon for his eventual Mid-Ring Words of Sublimation but decided to wait until he reached the fifth ring and acquired two Spirit Runes before making a choice.
• Miss Danist offered to show Shade around the Academy library, and Shade planned to rest while under Tree Father’s punishment.
• Shade went to Tobesk train station, where Miss Galina invited him to demonstrate what he and Tifa had done in her bedroom before she departed for Saladir County.
• Tifa returned to the carriage and gently pushed Shade toward Miss Galina, and Shade waved goodbye as the train departed.

Shade spent the first half of Newborn Moon handling detective cases, receiving honors, and enjoying time with Dorothy, Helen, and Grace. By the fifteenth, he had returned to his peaceful life in Tobesk, where Leisha invited him and her sister to the opera.

• Shade investigated three cases, exposing murders and fraud, uncovering a centuries-spanning crime, and stopping thieves who planned to break into Yodel Palace.
• Shade received the Kingdom Special Contribution Award and a promotion to lieutenant colonel, while Captain Rades became a battalion commander.
• Dorothy won the Best Popular Literature Award and attended the ceremony banquet with Shade, where they spent the night together.
• Shade toured Tobesk with Helen and Grace, then introduced them to Luvia, who revealed herself as his lover.
• On the fifteenth of Newborn Moon, Leisha invited Shade and her younger sister to a private box at the Maria Empress Opera House.

Shade watched an opera with Leisha and Angelina, discussing money, trade, and the political situation surrounding Kasonlik’s naval expansion. He planned to resume his search for the Time Key in Randall River Valley City on Sunday, while the next Red Butterfly Day was postponed until Angelina’s birthday.

• Leisha offered Shade a broker’s commission, but he refused the money and explained that he had earned funds through detective work and antiques.
• Leisha told Shade that she and Angelina would invest in a trade venture using the Spring City–Randall River Valley City route, and Shade offered to help when he traveled there.
• Angelina explained that Margaret Anjou and William Anjou would attend the opening of Kasonlik’s Southern Second Shipyard amid political tensions over the Pantanar Area.
• Shade said he would use his Time Key on Sunday and seek the key hidden in Randall River Valley City.
• Leisha said the next Red Butterfly Day was postponed until Angelina’s birthday, and Angelina later asked her sister to include her if their group gathering needed another person.

Shade arranged to buy Oak's Lucky Potion from Old John, trading a sample of his desire-based perfume essence toward its cost. The next morning, Dorothy brought him a commission from Professor Martin, whom Shade met at Saint York College of Liberal Arts as the professor prepared to explain the case.

• Shade visited Old John's pawnshop and learned that Oak's Lucky Potion briefly increased luck but could lead to a visit to the Emerald Dream.
• Shade agreed to buy a bottle of the potion for 132 pounds and offered Old John a sample of perfume essence in a barter.
• Dorothy visited Shade and asked him to investigate a matter for Professor Martin, a friend of her father.
• Shade brought Mia to Saint York College of Liberal Arts and met Professor Martin, who said he needed the detective's help.

Shade investigated the disappearance of Herbert Martin, who had run away from home for Miss Norma, and traced her to an empty apartment. There, he found blood traces and a hidden compartment behind a strange painting, then an evil spirit seized his ankle.

• Professor Martin hired Shade to find his seventeen-year-old son Herbert and persuade him to return home discreetly.
• Shade learned that Herbert often visited the Good Gentleman Club and had recently discussed returning from the dead with his companions.
• Shade found Miss Norma's apartment unattended and entered after discovering that her mail had gone uncollected for several days.
• Shade used Blood Echo and found accumulated blood traces on the bedside table and the frame of a strange mountain painting.
• Shade removed the painting and uncovered a locked wall compartment; its inscription turned red, blood flowed from the frame, and an evil spirit grabbed his ankle.

Shade investigated Miss Norma’s disappearance and encountered an unusual spirit made of resentment tied to the earth. His search led him to Mr. Franco, who was wasting away after recurring nightmares, and Shade found the same strange earth in a potted plant in his bedroom.

• Shade drove off the spirit that rose from beneath Miss Norma’s floor, then used Echoes of the Past to hear her leave with an unfamiliar man.
• Shade found bloodstained objects in a hidden compartment, letters to several men, and a notebook bearing the phrase “I shall eventually merge with the earth.”
• Shade met Baron Lavend outside The Club and learned that Miss Norma had been missing for days and that Mr. Franco had recently fallen gravely ill.
• Shade visited Mr. Franco and learned that his illness began after a nightmare about a woman crawling out of the earth and dragging him underground.
• Shade searched Mr. Franco’s bedroom and found unnaturally cold soil in a potted plant that carried the same feeling as the spirit that had attacked him.

Shade investigated Miss Norma’s connection to the ailing Mr. Franco and learned that she had planned to return herself to the earth, while several of her other male acquaintances had vanished or become ill. He later ambushed the evil spirit emerging from her gifted flower pot, capturing its severed arm for further investigation.

• Shade questioned Mr. Franco, who confessed that he loved Miss Norma and revealed her plans to return herself to the earth when the time was right.
• Old Franco Mr. paid Shade to find Miss Norma or bring news of her death, and Shade continued visiting her other acquaintances.
• Shade learned that two of Miss Norma’s acquaintances had disappeared and that men with her potted plants were often dangerously ill.
• Shade returned to Mr. Franco’s home at night and waited for an evil spirit to emerge from the flower pot.
• Shade attacked the spirit with Imprisoning Halos, but it escaped, leaving its severed blackened arm in his hand.

Shade traced Miss Norma to an abandoned manor, where he found the three missing men and her evil spirit. After learning through Guiding Death that Norma had willingly chosen to be buried and join the land that had called to her since childhood, Shade left her secret revealed but the land’s nature unexplained.

• Shade used the Soul Cemetery to learn that Miss Norma’s soul could not be repaired from its severed arm and discovered where she had died.
• Shade traveled to the abandoned manor and found Mr. Martin and two other missing men camping there, with freshly turned earth beside them.
• Shade drew his revolver to stop the men, but Miss Norma’s evil spirit emerged from the earth and knocked them unconscious.
• Shade subdued Miss Norma with Moonbeam Greatswords and used Guiding Death to uncover her memories.
• Shade learned that Miss Norma had willingly chosen the three men to bury her so she could join the land that had called to her since childhood.

Shade learned that Miss Norma had sacrificed herself to suppress the madness in Ridgewich Field, then sent her soul to the afterlife after promising to investigate the land. He later told his companions what happened and planned to monitor the place while beginning a new course on Mizzle.

• Shade questioned Miss Norma's soul, learned she had offered blood and sacrificed herself to keep the land from going mad, and promised to address the danger.
• Shade opened a passage to the afterlife, and Miss Norma crossed through it, leaving behind a valuable Soul Tear Drop.
• Shade returned to Ridgewich Field and told the three young men that Miss Norma would not be resurrected; they broke down after learning the truth about her death.
• Shade recounted the case to his companions at Doctor Schneider's Clinic and said he would keep inspecting the land for signs of danger.
• Shade enrolled in Professor Garcia's Mizzle Basics Introduction course and agreed to work on a paper about Multiple Mizzle Nesting.

Luvia announced that she would travel to Randall River Valley for a month to seek Words of Sublimation, giving Shade a reason to follow her there. After preparing for the journey ahead, Shade planned to use the Time Key and begin another adventure.

• Miss Danist invited Shade to her Moonlight Spell elective, and she arranged to perform the Silver Moon Library ritual at his home next weekend.
• Luvia told the Study Group that she would leave for Randall River Valley next Monday to obtain Words of Sublimation with help from the local Seer Association.
• Shade kissed Luvia after the meeting and offered to help her pack, while keeping his own plan to travel to Randall River Valley secret from her.
• Shade traded pink essential oil to Old John for Oak's Lucky Potion, then took Dorothy to see the opera White Heart Empress.
• Dorothy told Shade that she had chosen Grey's Crystal Shoes for her Mid-Ring Words of Sublimation, and Shade offered to help her obtain the Spirit Rune Time.
• Shade decided that Saturday night was the time to use the Time Key he had acquired in Coldwater Port.

Shade entered the Time Corridor and arrived in the Fifth Epoch at Wormhole Cave, where he was tasked with helping mortals complete a ritual for the Old God Thousand-Eyed Phantom Butterfly. After fleeing a passage filled with insects, he emerged before three people gathered around a wooden table in the cavern.

• Shade received a trial from Father of Infinite Tree to help mortals complete the Thousand-Eyed Phantom Butterfly ritual and earn an attendant’s favor, with Thaumaturgy and Mermaid information as rewards.
• Shade entered Wormhole Cave and found its narrow passage filled with holes crawling with worms and insects.
• Shade fled the passage, transformed into Red Butterflies, and flew out into a vast underground cavern.
• Shade descended to the cavern floor and found a witch, a clergyman carrying Alchemy Items, and a formally dressed man with an alchemical musket beside a huge wooden table.

Shade emerged into a strange cave and joined three competitors preparing a ritual to summon the Earth God. He agreed to help them leave, but first questioned their motives and identities.

• Shade drank a worm-based potion that let him speak with Maggie Blatcher, Aoli Perry, and Fred Lyman, who mistook his butterfly transformation for the power of the Butterfly God's follower.
• Maggie, Aoli, and Fred explained that the ritual's God-Favored One would lead them out of the Wormhole Cave, and Shade offered to help conduct it.
• Aoli explained that the feast at the table would summon the Earth God, whom Shade connected to the Earth Mother God.
• Shade asked each competitor to account for their motives, and Maggie said the cave was a god's church where killing was dangerous and cooperation could help them escape.
• Aoli revealed that she was a nun of the Church of the Sun and Earth, sent by the Church to seek the power of a witch.

Shade joined Miss Blanchett, Nun Perry, and Mr. Lehmann in summoning the Butterfly God at an underground feast. The god appeared and invited them to reveal themselves to the butterflies, leaving the meaning of the three petals placed beside each person unclear.

• Shade learned that Mr. Lehmann had come hoping to marry a woman with animal traits and that his distant aunt had lent him a musket.
• Shade confirmed his companions were ordinary people and helped them prepare a God Summoning ritual at the round table.
• Nun Perry recited the poem “Song of the Butterfly,” transforming the barren cave into a flower-filled feast ground as the Butterfly God descended.
• Shade faced the Butterfly God and asked how the mortals could earn the favor of its followers.
• The Butterfly God invited the group to join the feast and show themselves to the butterflies, then placed three pink petals beside each person.

Shade learned that the Butterfly God required each banquet guest to perform a song, then briefly returned home to gather supplies and ask Dorothy about the deity. He left with the task of preparing a song and finding a way to sing well for his next adventure.

• The Butterfly God announced a three-round singing contest and warned that It could deny everyone's request if the performances were unsatisfactory.
• Shade agreed to participate, then asked Mr. Lehmann, Ollie Perry, and Miss Blanchett what ordinary items they wanted him to bring; Miss Blanchett promised to explain the ritual for calling the Butterfly God.
• Shade left through the White Fog, while the others waited at the banquet and considered what songs to perform.
• Back home, Shade washed off the insects from the Worm Cave and told Dorothy about the Butterfly God and his upcoming singing task.
• Dorothy recommended that Shade seek a Thaumaturgy to master singing and offered to discuss it with Leisha.

Shade said goodbye to Luvia as she left for Randall River Valley, and he planned to follow her there to pursue the Time Key. He spent Monday investigating a case and meeting Dorothy’s father, then woke Tuesday to find the Princess in Dorothy’s body.

• Shade spent Sunday with Luvia and Iluna, and Iluna kissed him before they parted for the night.
• Luvia left Monday morning after reading Shade’s Tarot card, Feast, which she interpreted as a positive sign that they would meet again in Randall City.
• Shade delivered Professor Martin the investigation report about his runaway son, then met Professor Louisa and accepted his offer to arrange an honorary degree.
• Shade joined the Louisa family for dinner, and Dorothy later visited him, pleased that her father had taken a liking to him.
• Dorothy stayed at Shade’s house, but Shade discovered on Tuesday morning that the Princess’s soul was inside her body.