Chapter Summaries

Shade and Miss Lathers defeated the Forest Giant and the Evil Warlock in the puppet city, gaining a ruby and a ring that strengthened them. As they headed toward the castle, Shade revealed that he knew about the Witches and Golden Dawn, while Miss Lathers warned him that Vanessa was ill.

• Miss Lathers removed the ruby from the Forest Giant, and Shade rescued her as the giant collapsed.
• Shade and Miss Lathers entered the Royal Capital Ruins, where Miss Lathers defeated most of the City Thugs and they advanced toward the Clock Tower.
• Shade drew the Evil Warlock's fire and endured a fireball while Miss Lathers cut off its ring, disabling the puppet.
• Shade and Miss Lathers agreed that she would keep the Red Bronze ring, which let her cast fireballs using Spiritual Power.
• Shade told Miss Lathers that he knew Vanessa, the Witch Council, and other Great Witches, and said he planned to rescue Miss Benanis.
• Miss Lathers warned Shade not to underestimate Vanessa because she was sick, and Shade wondered whether an Eleventh Rank Witch could fall ill.

Shade and Miss Lathers fought through the castle puppet stage to reach the Royal Knight, whose shield reflected spells. They defeated it and opened a shortcut to the castle’s highest floor, while Mia left the neighboring box after catching Shade’s scent.

• Shade and Miss Lathers entered the castle stage, fought their way past wooden knight puppets, and followed scattered notes to locate the hidden hall.
• The Royal Knight reflected Shade’s Silver Moon Slash and Miss Lathers’s Fireball with its shield.
• Shade engaged the knight in close combat while Miss Lathers struck it with repeated fireballs, weakening its defenses.
• The Royal Knight charged Miss Lathers, but Shade blocked it with Heaton Seal and bound its sword with chains.
• The defeated knight triggered a collapse in the east wall, revealing a shortcut to the highest floor.
• Mia heard a noise, escaped her private box, and followed Shade’s scent toward the neighboring box.

Shade and Miss Lathers reached the castle’s highest floor, where they faced a puppet Dragon and found Miss Benanis bound. Shade summoned Fiona Drago to defeat the Dragon, leaving Miss Lathers to free Miss Benanis while he argued that the Puppet Show was over.

• Shade and Miss Lathers used the Heart of the Forest Giant, the Ring of the Evil Sorcerer, and the Longsword of the Royal Knight to open the doors to the highest floor, where they found Miss Benanis bound to a chair.
• A puppet Dragon burst into the hall and attacked Shade and Miss Lathers with flames, shattering Shade’s golden shield.
• Shade cast Mystic Lock—Sleeping Princess and summoned Fiona Drago, who breathed fire and defeated the Dragon puppet.
• Miss Lathers ran to free Miss Benanis while Shade stalled the puppet outside and declared the Puppet Show complete.
• The puppet objected that another Princess had defeated the Dragon, but Shade insisted Fiona was part of his soul and argued that a Princess saving the knight made the story fair.

Shade fought the puppet Demon King to rescue Miss Benanis and Miss Lathers, then faced the Dragon while trying to escape the model castle. Mia suddenly entered the stage and disrupted the battle, leaving Shade riding her as he ordered her to chase the Dragon.

• Shade chose to save both women, using his cards and chains to catch them as they fell toward the lava.
• The puppet Demon King trapped the group inside the stage and forced Shade to fight the Dragon while Miss Benanis and Miss Lathers tried to escape.
• Shade struggled against the Dragon and used his cards to catch the two women when an invisible barrier stopped them from leaving.
• Mia climbed over the stage wall, resisted its puppet transformation, and crashed into the Dragon, damaging the model forest as she landed.
• Shade climbed onto Mia and commanded her to chase the Dragon, recognizing the scene from a prophetic dream.

Shade and Mia battled the Puppet’s Dragon in a magical spectacle that briefly darkened Randall River Valley City, then defeated the Puppet in its model world. Shade remained transformed into a Puppet after the others returned to normal, and the chapter left Miss Benanis puzzling over the scene.

• Shade followed the Puppet’s challenge into the model city with Mia, and they fought the Dragon-riding Puppet.
• The battle appeared as a clash of gray-mist giants above Randall River Valley City, where Luvia and President Angie witnessed it before the spectacle vanished.
• Shade knocked the Puppet from the Dragon and defeated it, ending the Puppet Show.
• Miss Lathers and Miss Benanis returned to normal size, but Mia held onto Puppet Shade until Miss Lathers gave her the Fish Training Ring and lifted her away.
• The Puppet explained that Mia’s Metamorphosis Ring interfered with restoring Shade, while Miss Benanis watched with a puzzled frown.

Shade completed the Puppet Show, secured help for Vanessa Benanis’s Mystic Lock, and gained a new Spirit Rune from the Mad Puppet Theater. The chapter ended with Vanessa discovering that Shade was a man unaffected by the Witch Curse.

• The puppet healed Shade, restored him to human form, and promised to free everyone else it had turned into puppets.
• Shade declined the puppet’s three Relic gifts and asked it to strengthen Vanessa Benanis’s Mystic Lock, so it gave him her puppet and its disc.
• The puppet revealed that the Mad Puppeteer’s notes had appeared in the city before the Mad Puppet Theater vanished, and Shade gained the Black Iron Whisper Spirit Rune—puppet.
• Vanessa touched Shade’s wrist and confirmed that he was a man who fell outside the Witch Curse’s effects.

After Shade rescued Miss Benanis from the Mad Puppet Theater, he learned that her soul had been contaminated by the same Mad Earth phenomenon he had encountered in Randall River Valley and Tobesk. He left with her promise to help investigate and sing for his ritual, then told Luvia the danger might threaten the entire Material World.

• Shade showed Miss Benanis letters from four Great Witches, and she accepted that he was Galina's man and agreed to keep his existence secret.
• At Miss Benanis's manor, Shade described his relationships with the other Great Witches and learned that she and Golden Dawn would help him in Randall River Valley.
• Shade sensed that Miss Benanis's soul had been contaminated after she performed a ritual to listen to the earth, and they connected her condition to the Mad Earth phenomenon.
• Miss Benanis agreed to investigate the spreading Mad Earth, help Shade find a black deadwood key, and sing his ritual prayer after the Golden Dawn performance on Sunday.
• Shade visited Luvia and warned her that the Mad Earth could threaten the whole world; she told him to be careful and stabbed him twice at his request.

Shade and Miss Danist completed the ritual to summon the Silver Moon Library Door, using the Source of Chaos and the Yellow Moon slab. They entered the library together, with Shade carrying Mia, and heard that he had arrived at the Silver Moon Library.

• Dorothy told Shade that Miss Danist had sent word she would arrive at nine to perform the ritual.
• Miss Danist and Shade prepared the ritual in Room Two, using costly materials and the Yellow Moon slab as the key.
• Shade and Miss Danist summoned the silver doors and recited the incantation, causing the Yellow Moon slab to open a crack in the door.
• Miss Danist entered the Silver Moon Library first, followed by Shade carrying Mia.
• A voice welcomed Shade to the Silver Moon Library.

Shade and Miss Danist entered the Silver Moon Library, where Shade learned that an ancient ritual performed by the Chosen Ones could cure Mad Earth. The library left Miss Danist injured after she consulted her own book, and Shade helped her leave.

• Shade discovered that the library denied access to records about the apocalypse, the Past World Epoch, and the Murmuring Chapters, but allowed him to borrow a book about Mad Earth.
• Shade gained the Moon Library Thaumaturgy and learned that Mad Earth was a natural illness whose black mud corrupted souls and could not be cured by merely burning it away.
• Shade read that Earth Power could slow Mad Earth and that an ancient ritual combined with the Chosen One Ritual could eradicate it, so he planned to seek the Chosen Ones while using Earth Power - Healing Aura.
• Shade noticed a vision of a sleeping female figure within the Yellow Moon before Miss Danist suddenly spat blood after reading her chosen book.
• Shade used Cindyia's Silver Moon Gift to heal Miss Danist, and she asked him to help her leave the library.

After the Silver Moon Library ritual, Miss Danist told Shade that her former teacher had gone to the collapsed tower ruins on Kalas Mountain and died there while searching for a trace of the Silver Moon Sage. Shade connected the tower to clues about his own past and decided to pursue the mystery, then welcomed Dorothy home.

• Shade helped the weakened Miss Danist recover after the costly ritual ended, and she explained that she had sought the library to learn what happened to her missing teacher.
• Miss Danist said the library had shown her that her teacher went to the Kalas Mountain tower ruins, found something, and died, though she could not remember what happened afterward.
• Miss Danist connected the tower's collapse to The Truth Society, forbidden resurrection research, and the former owner of Shade's Source of Chaos, and promised to share what she learned.
• Shade linked the tower's collapse in spring 1853 to prophecies that he had died there and recalled the Keeper of Secrets saying he had fallen from a tower and made a willing sacrifice.
• Shade questioned whether his body's past had been misunderstood, and the voice within him assured him that she had no memories from before he awakened.
• Shade picked up Little Mia and went to meet Dorothy as she arrived at Saint Derain Square.

Shade learned that Ollie Perry, the Nun he met in a Fifth Epoch adventure, had later been canonized as Saint Perry and was buried near Randall River Valley. Her connection to the Earth and the Church’s Sun-and-Earth doctrine strengthened Shade’s suspicion that the Chosen One of the Earth was in Randall River Valley.

• Shade used Thaumaturgy to summon the Silver Moon Library and showed Mia and Dorothy a book depicting Vanessa Benanis.
• Iluna arrived at Shade’s home, met Leisha, and enjoyed breakfast with her before Leisha left for the Doctor’s place.
• Iluna told Shade that Ollie Perry had become Saint Perry, a powerful Witch whose approximate burial place was near Randall River Valley City in Kasonlik.
• Shade connected Saint Perry’s possible Earth power to his suspicion that the Chosen One of the Earth was in Randall River Valley.
• Iluna explained that the Church of the Sun and Earth viewed the Sun and Earth as equally important, corresponding forces unified by the Old Man with the Lantern.

Shade and Luvia learned that the Feast of the Earth Mother God could summon the Earth’s Chosen One and calm Mad Earth, but required three ancient rituals to be reunited. With only two months to prepare, they set out to find the rituals and contain the spreading disaster.

• Shade told Iluna about Mad Earth and the approaching Earth’s Chosen One, and Iluna agreed the land needed to be restored before kissing him goodbye.
• Luvia divined that the Feast of the Earth Mother God was held around the transition from winter to spring and had been divided into three rituals.
• Shade planned to obtain the Thousand-Eyed Phantom Butterfly ritual from Miss Blanchett and the Earth-Shaking Worm ritual from Miss Aurora’s records of Old Woman Ilal.
• Luvia agreed to investigate the Stone Heart Demon ritual through the Seer Association, while Shade planned to alert the Witches and Church about Mad Earth.
• Luvia accepted Shade’s invitation to the Wilde Opera House and promised to stay by his side when danger arose.

Shade learned the Puppet Manipulation Thaumaturgy and tested it on Leisha and Little Mia. He then joined Luvia at the Wilde Opera House in Randall River Valley City, where they watched Golden Dawn perform and planned to meet Margaret afterward.

• Shade chose Puppet Manipulation as his free Academy Thaumaturgy and learned it with Dorothy and Leisha's help.
• Shade tested Puppet Manipulation on Leisha, who resisted it, and made Little Mia perform a backflip.
• Shade sought information about contacting the Earth-Shaking Worm, informed the Witches about Mad Earth, and collected urban legends and Ring Arcanist rumors from Miss Lathers.
• Shade and Luvia attended Golden Dawn's performance of 'Orphinino' at the Wilde Opera House, while Margaret and Prince William Anjou were also in the opera house.
• Shade planned to introduce Luvia to Margaret after the opera, and the performance proceeded without any disturbance.

After Shade and Luvia met Witch Vanessa Benanis backstage, they learned that healing her Earth-tainted soul required a Clay Holy Grail and discovered that Shade’s curse had created one. The chapter ended with Benanis and Siris failing to recognize the mysterious man Shade had seen in the Emerald Dream.

• Shade and Luvia heard that stonemasons were peacefully protesting unpaid wages from the Kasonlik Royal Family over a ruined Colossus and damaged mausoleum.
• Shade and Luvia met Vanessa Benanis backstage, where she explained that Earth pollution had tainted her soul and that an Omnipotent Earth Elixir could heal it.
• Benanis said the elixir required a Clay Holy Grail, and Shade revealed that his Earth Power - Healing Aura curse had created one.
• Shade used Moon Library to show Benanis an image of the mysterious man from his dream, but neither she nor Siris recognized him.

Shade helped Miss Benanis brew the Omnipotent Earth Elixir, then reunited with Princess Margaret and watched Miss Benanis perform her Mystic Lock, Ode to Glory Golden Stage. The performance continued beneath a transformed starry sky as Benanis sang to Shade and his companions.

• Shade gave Miss Benanis the Clay Holy Grail, and she used it with Luvia to brew the Omnipotent Earth Elixir, curing the damage to her soul.
• Princess Margaret arrived at Miss Benanis's office, embraced Shade, and kissed him.
• Miss Benanis formally met Margaret and invited her, Shade, Luvia, and Miss Lathers to watch a private performance.
• Miss Benanis transformed the hall with her Mystic Lock, Ode to Glory Golden Stage, and began singing as golden lights and butterflies filled the stage.
• Miss Benanis continued her song beneath the stars while Shade watched, captivated.

After the Butterfly Festival performance, Shade returned to the Fifth Epoch with Miss Benanis’s song to offer the Butterfly God. He rejoined the feast and questioned Nun Perry and Maggie Blatcher about the Mad Earth phenomenon and the Order of the Forgotten.

• Shade watched Miss Benanis finish her song in the Mystic Lock, and Margaret decided to become her apprentice.
• Margaret met Luvia on the carriage ride and learned that Shade and Luvia had confirmed their relationship during the Year-End Festival.
• Shade returned home, reassured Mia, and opened the Time Key to travel to the Fifth Epoch’s 4791 Butterfly Festival.
• Shade raced through the bug-filled tunnel and emerged at the feast, where he presented the Butterfly God with a song.
• Shade asked Nun Perry and Maggie Blatcher about Mad Earth and learned that the Church relied on the Old Man with the Lantern while the Order of the Forgotten had heard rumors of it.

At the banquet before the Thousand-Eyed Phantom Butterfly, Shade listened as Mr. Lehmann and Nun Perry offered songs and discovered the butterflies’ hallucinogenic scales threatened the other guests. As Miss Blanchett began her performance, Shade resolved to make sure all three mortals left alive.

• Shade learned that Mr. Lehmann had no connection to Randall River Valley and arranged the order of the banquet songs.
• Mr. Lehmann sang his original song, “Path of Seeking Butterflies,” about his journey and longing for companionship.
• Nun Perry sang the “Song of the Earth,” and Shade realized the butterfly scales carried Miracle Element and could trap the guests in a fatal Dream Illusion.
• Shade decided to ensure that Nun Perry, Mr. Lehmann, and Miss Blanchett all left alive, whatever the song contest’s outcome.
• Miss Blanchett planted fresh leaves as spellcasting materials, grew a sapling, and revealed twelve levels of the Golden Staircase as she prepared to sing.

At Butterfly God's Banquet, Shade used Thaumaturgy to sing a song from the future and won the first round, earning the god's praise. When offered a choice of blessings, he asked about Mad Earth, but Butterfly God appeared to grant him the third option instead: an interesting gift he would have to seek out himself.

• Blanchett performed a ballad with a miniature orchestra, then Shade sang a future song while butterflies swirled around him beneath a conjured moon and stars.
• Shade gave his first petal to Blanchett, while the other guests voted for him and Butterfly God awarded two petals to Mr. Lehmann, making Shade the round's winner.
• Butterfly God rewarded Mr. Lehmann with health, Nun Perry with clear sight, and Blanchett with a gemstone that granted beauty.
• Butterfly God offered Shade three blessings: a butterfly-related power, hints about his future, or a gift he would have to seek out in the Sixth Epoch.
• Shade rejected the first and third options and asked to learn about Mad Earth, but Butterfly God said it was wise of him to want Its gift, leaving Shade unsure what he had chosen.

Shade learned that the Butterfly God's gift was the Butterfly Summoning Flute, lost with one of the banquet guests, and set out to investigate Saint Perry Cemetery in Randall River Valley City. He began his search by asking Miss Benanis about the cemetery's legend.

• The Butterfly God told Shade to search the city they had discussed for his gift, then asked the mortals to prepare poems praising Him, the earth, and butterflies.
• Grace and Helen told Shade that the gift was the Godly Creation - Butterfly Summoning Flute, which strengthened butterfly powers or could summon butterflies, including a god's dependent rivaling a Thirteenth Order Witch.
• Grace and Helen said the flute had been buried with one of the three mortals who attended the banquet, but they did not know which one.
• Shade decided to investigate Saint Perry Cemetery first because Nun Perry had been buried in Randall River Valley City.
• Shade traveled to Randall River Valley City and asked Miss Benanis about the legend of Saint Perry Cemetery.

Shade and Miss Benanis set out to find Saint Perry’s rumored tomb in Eldron Creek, racing their horses along a snowy road on the way. Shade narrowly won, and they continued toward Eldron Lake to investigate the area.

• Shade explained why he believed Saint Perry’s tomb was in the area and asked Miss Benanis to guide him through Eldron Creek.
• Miss Benanis agreed to accompany Shade and challenged him to a horse race, wagering stories about the Witches.
• Shade and Miss Benanis raced through the snowy woods, and Shade reached the dock first by a narrow margin.
• Miss Benanis accepted her loss and promised to tell Shade her story after they returned to the city.
• Shade and Miss Benanis led their horses east along the frozen river toward Eldron Lake, where they planned to search for the tomb.