Chapter Summaries

Shade asked Miss Galina to find Marylin Handel and send her to Randall River Valley, then visited Earl Granger to discuss his family history. He told the Earl that Thomas Granger had investigated the family’s origins and sought the tomb of an ancestor named Lyman, and the Earl asked whether Shade had found it.

• Shade asked Miss Galina to locate Marylin Handel and send her to the Bountiful Earth Inn in Randall River Valley City as part of his preparations to deal with a dangerous soul.
• Shade spent the morning with Leisha and Miss Galina, visited the restored Forgotten Church, and then went to Earl Granger’s manor.
• Shade greeted the newlywed Enriques couple while they waited to meet the Earl, and Mr. Enriques told him about hearing of Shade’s help recovering the family’s medals.
• Shade told Earl Granger that Thomas Granger had researched the family’s origins and sought the tomb of a man named Lyman.
• Earl Granger asked Shade whether he had already found the tomb.

Shade bought an ancient key from Earl Granger and discovered that an Earth Runestone awakened its hidden Miracle Element. He concluded that the key opened a nearby lock connected to the Heart of the Earth, and began planning how to find it.

• Shade learned that the Granger Family's old Graveyard had been destroyed in the Randall River Valley Earthquake of 1498, and Earl Granger offered him access to the family's timber grounds where it once stood.
• Shade bought the antique key from Earl Granger and studied it at the Wilde Opera House while Miss Benanis and Miss Lathers searched for Mr. Lathers's safe house.
• Shade tested the key with the Earth Runestone, causing its carved patterns to glow and revealing its connection to Miracle Element.
• Luvia, Miss Benanis, and Miss Lathers explained the key's discovery in an ancient underground Temple and its later release into the market.
• Shade said the key must open a nearby lock connected to the Heart of the Earth and noted that many of his clues pointed to the Granger Family.

Shade told Luvia, Miss Benanis, and Miss Lathers about the Ancient Evil Spirit he was investigating and urged them to prepare Miss Lathers to master Earth Power. The next morning, he consulted Miss Danist about choosing Thaumaturgy and revealed he had gained two Spirit Runes in a week.

• Shade explained that he had identified an Ancient Evil Spirit and planned to search the Granger Family's old cemetery for clues about the key.
• Shade asked Miss Benanis to help Miss Lathers retrace Mr. Lathers's path and urged Miss Lathers to master an Earth Power within half a month.
• Miss Lathers explained the functions of the two Holy Grails: one enhanced memory, and the other helped stabilize pregnancy.
• Shade offered Miss Benanis wine and promised to call her if danger arose in Randall River Valley.
• On Wednesday morning, Shade visited Miss Danist and revealed that he had acquired the Miracle and Blasphemy Spirit Runes since their previous meeting.

Shade chose the passive thaumaturgy Miracle Technique Praise the Sun, which Miss Danist offered to teach him, and selected two candidates for library assistant positions. Miss Danist prepared to leave on a business trip and offered to pass Shade’s greetings to Luvia Annette, who was in Randall River Valley.

• Miss Danist praised Shade’s progress and offered to cover the information and ritual materials for a thaumaturgy linked to Blasphemy - Pride.
• Shade declined the offensive thaumaturgy Evil Breaking Slash and chose Miracle Technique Praise the Sun for its passive recovery and Sun-power benefits.
• Miss Danist said the Academy would send Shade the learning materials and that he would need a Ring Arcanist with Sun Power to help with the noon ritual.
• Shade selected Kanna Messiah and Emilia Sinode as candidates for the two remaining Library Administrator Assistant positions.
• Miss Danist said she was leaving on a business trip, reminded Shade to keep studying carefully, and offered to convey his good wishes to Luvia Annette.

Shade visited Margaret at the Wilde Opera House, agreed to attend her Friday gathering and help with a private meeting at the Stone Masons Association, then uncovered useful clues in Military Intelligence Section Six’s confidential plans for Randall River Valley. He returned to the Opera House for lunch with its young ladies, leaving the story poised for his afternoon meeting with Margaret.

• Margaret told Shade that the Academy had sent people to inspect the overseas Silver Mine and invited him to a Friday gathering for nobles involved with the Southern Second Shipyard; he agreed to attend and accompany her to a private Stone Masons Association meeting.
• Shade went to Military Intelligence Section Six’s waste disposal center and received a sealed top-secret document bag from Mr. Johnson.
• Shade read the Sixth Office’s plans for Randall River Valley and found several clues that he believed could help Margaret resolve the Stone Masons Association matter.
• Shade returned to the Wilde Opera House and ate lunch with the young ladies, Miss Lathers, and Miss Benanis.

Shade accompanied Princess Margaret to meet Stone Masons Association Chairman Calvin Pigman, while he secretly contacted a Sixth Office spy embedded in the association. The spy warned that Prince William had enlisted Vice Chairman Giles to obstruct Margaret’s peace talks, leaving Shade with a clearer picture of the threat to her efforts.

• Shade traveled with Margaret to the Stone Masons Association, where she met Chairman Calvin Pigman and other officials.
• Shade left the meeting and used a coded exchange at a stone-carving shop to contact an undercover Sixth Office agent known as the Old Stone Mason.
• Shade told the Old Stone Mason that he could retire from the organization with severance pay once his work in Randall River Valley was complete.
• The Old Stone Mason reported that Margaret wanted to broker peace between the royal family and the association, but Prince William opposed her success.
• The Old Stone Mason revealed that Prince William had met Vice Chairman Giles through local businessman Stone Osenfott and likely promised him something to obstruct Margaret Anjou’s negotiations.

Shade questioned the Old Stone Mason about Stone Osenfott, then confronted Osenfott and learned that the answers he sought might lie within a Stone Heart. He returned to the Stone Masons Association and interrupted Margaret’s meeting by aiming a revolver at Vice President Giles.

• Shade learned from the Old Stone Mason that Stone Osenfott had once studied sculpture at the association and was talented but bad-tempered.
• Shade met Osenfott outside the shop, followed him into an alley, and pressed him about Wosente Manor, the ancient evil, and the missing sapphire Pendant.
• Osenfott confirmed he was born in spring, warned Shade about the ancient evil, and told him the answers lay within a Stone Heart.
• Shade ordered Osenfott to appear outside the local Dawn Church on Friday morning with specific items so Luvia could observe him.
• Shade returned to the Stone Masons Association and gave Margaret new information during her meeting with President Pikeman.
• Shade drew his revolver on Vice President Giles, who sprang up and raised his hands.

Shade helped Princess Margaret expose Giles’s attempt to sabotage negotiations with the Stone Masons Association, allowing her to begin discussing reconciliation with Chairman Pigman. As Margaret and Shade left, an elderly gentleman passed them on the stairs and suddenly fell forward.

• Shade accused Giles of taking benefits to disrupt Margaret’s negotiations, and Giles admitted that someone had paid him but refused to identify who.
• Margaret had Giles taken away for questioning and assured Pigman he would return to work if he was not connected to Military Intelligence Section Six.
• Margaret presented Mr. Fleming’s old share document and discussed repairing the royal family’s relationship with the Stone Masons Association through an apology and compensation.
• Pigman agreed to cooperate cautiously, and Margaret asked the association to keep their meeting confidential while she sought her father’s approval.
• Shade predicted Margaret would arrange a private apology, and she confirmed she would speak to her father after the shipyard opening.
• An elderly gentleman passed Shade and Margaret on the stairs, paused, and suddenly fell forward.

A sudden wave of near-petrification cases spread across Randall River Valley, and Shade learned that the earth's madness was worsening into what the Church called the Petrification Plague. After collecting Elven Pure Water from Emilia, he heard an Elven prophecy that the plague marked the land's growing instability and chose to remain in the valley to help confront the crisis.

• Shade discovered that an elderly man at the Stone Masons Association showed signs of petrification in his right leg and learned of another similar case in the city.
• Miss Benanis and Miss Lathers told Shade that more than two hundred people across Randall River Valley had developed abnormal hardening in their limbs, prompting the Church to call it the Petrification Plague.
• Luvia told Shade that the Association would hold a Divination Ritual and that the earth's madness could only be suppressed through the Chosen One Ritual for now.
• Shade traveled alone beyond the city and received the Elven Pure Water from Emilia, who sensed that the land felt wrong.
• Emilia explained an Elven prophecy that the earth would gradually fall into madness and its inhabitants would begin merging with it through near-petrification.
• Shade decided to stay in Randall River Valley to see how the Church would address the disaster and urged Emilia not to return before spring.

Shade said goodbye to the Elf Girl until spring, then returned to Tobesk and learned that Dorothy and Leisha had arranged an honorary history degree for him. He planned to help Professor Manning prepare a paper while continuing his work in Randall River Valley.

• Shade gave the Elf Girl poems and Unicorn hairs, and she left for the woods on her Unicorn after agreeing to meet him in spring.
• Shade rode toward the woods, reflecting that he needed to focus on the mysteries in Randall River Valley before spring.
• Shade told Dorothy he would take Mia to Randall River Valley, and Dorothy showed him a gossip item about his supposed secret date with Vanessa Benanis.
• Dorothy told Shade that Saint York College of Liberal Arts would award him an honorary degree in history, funded anonymously through Leisha.
• Dorothy explained that Professor Manning would help Shade publish a paper using materials from Randall River Valley, and Shade said he had already discussed the plan with him.

Shade returned to the Black Night Spirit Temple with Luvia, Miss Lathers, and Miss Benanis while the petrification plague worsened across Randall River Valley. As the group investigated the temple and its surroundings, they found the ritual matrix Shade had left behind during his time travel, but the chapter ended before they uncovered the temple’s hidden spaces or extracted the Time Key.

• Dorothy asked Shade whether he would enter the Tobesk Spring Horse Racing and teased him about a reward if he placed in the top three.
• Miss Lathers and Luvia told Shade that the petrification plague was spreading randomly among long-term residents, while Miss Benanis agreed to test whether a diluted Holy Grail elixir could help.
• Shade, Luvia, Miss Lathers, and Miss Benanis rode into the eastern mountains and reached the Black Night Spirit Temple with Little Mia.
• Shade and Luvia searched the cave beneath the temple for a hidden space, but found no passage despite hours of searching.
• Miss Benanis and Miss Lathers found a location suitable for sensing the earth’s memories, and the group returned to the temple clearing, where Shade discovered the ritual matrix imprinted beneath the snow.

Shade searched the Cedar Forest for the statue of the Space Old God while Miss Lathers prepared a ritual to extract the land's memory. After Mia confronted a tiger and Shade subdued it, he let it go and turned back along the path, surprised by something behind him.

• Miss Lathers said the Sun, Moon, and Stars Pattern was an ideal place to extract the land's memory and planned to perform the ritual after dinner with Vanessa's help.
• Luvia and Miss Lathers prepared for the ritual while Luvia sent Shade to continue searching for the statue of the Space Old God.
• Shade entered the Cedar Forest with Mia and encountered a tiger, which fled after Mia roared at it.
• Shade chased the tiger across the frozen Ailong River, wrestled it down with Red Dragon Force, and subdued it with Mind Blast.
• Shade drew a Flower 12 card, fed the tiger holy water, and let it escape before turning back along the path.
• Shade raised an eyebrow and looked behind him after walking less than five minutes.

Shade met Benjamin Elford, a scholar who had remained a ghost after accidentally dying in the mountains, and agreed to help publish his unfinished folklore article. After recovering and burying Elford’s remains, Shade prepared to send him on, but first agreed to play one final game of Rhodes Cards.

• Shade learned that Benjamin Elford had died in a fall and had stayed with the tiger, which followed his instructions through the mountains.
• Elford asked Shade to submit his completed article, and Shade agreed to publish it under his own name with Elford acknowledged and an elderly professor listed as corresponding author.
• The tiger led Shade to Elford’s hidden remains and shoulder bag, and Shade buried the bones before examining the surviving research materials and belongings.
• Shade burned Elford’s personal letters and belongings as requested and kept the pocket watch, while Elford gave him the rest of the bag’s contents.
• Shade suggested one last game of Rhodes Cards before sending Elford on, and Elford offered him a special card afterward.

Shade played two rounds of Rhodes Cards with Mr. Elford, a dead traveler who had searched the nearby mountains for an ancient Temple. After helping Mr. Elford’s spirit depart and letting his tiger return to the forest, Shade decided to investigate the mountain summit himself.

• Shade and Mr. Elford played a two-win Rhodes Cards match, and Shade won both rounds, receiving Mr. Elford’s Ancient Fairy Tales card.
• Mr. Elford told Shade that he had found a cave at the mountain’s foot but had seen no Temple or archway from the summit.
• Mr. Elford asked Shade not to kill his tiger, then urged it to return to the forest with a raw meat toy.
• Shade opened a Black Rift so Mr. Elford could depart, and Mr. Elford mentioned finding interesting traces on the mountain summit.
• Shade added Moon 3, Ancient Fairy Tales, to his deck and resolved to investigate the summit.

Shade discovered an ancient stone slab on the mountain summit and activated a hidden passage beneath the cave. The passage ended at a magically sealed double stone door, and the antique key from Earl Granger began to glow.

• Shade climbed to the summit, uncovered a buried stone slab, and read its inscription about the Sun and the Chosen One of the Earth.
• Shade illuminated an ancient Earth Mother emblem with Sunlight Ray and pressed its palm-shaped hollow, strengthening his Earth Power and improving his eyesight.
• Shade returned to the cave and found a newly visible rift leading to an underground passage.
• Shade followed the passage to a double stone door decorated with butterflies and the Earth Mother’s holy emblem.
• Shade tried Door Key on the sealed door, and the antique key from Earl Granger began to glow.

Shade explored the hidden passage beneath the Black Night Spirit Temple, found Fred House Lehmann's memoirs and a crimson gemstone, and established his seventh spatial landmark. He returned to the camp with clues about the graveyard's secrets, while the group discussed the Guardians and the Chosen Ones of the Earth.

• Shade failed to open the stone door, then used his Spacetime Spirit Rune to reveal a hidden passage and found an Old Gods Statue and Fred House Lehmann's memoirs.
• Shade discovered a crimson gemstone beneath the memoirs, turned Mia into a toy, and established his seventh spatial landmark.
• Shade returned to the camp filthy and carrying the book, and Luvia helped him change and clean up before dinner.
• Shade showed the group the items he had found and explained his theory that Lehmann's graveyard held clues to the stone door and the Heart of the Earth.
• Miss Benanis asked whether Shade and Luvia were certain the Guardians were the Chosen Ones of the Earth.

Shade and Miss Lathers performed a ritual that revealed Maggie Blatcher had left an Earth Power Thaumaturgy hidden in the land, though Shade’s sought-after memory remained beyond reach. As the group prepared to return to the city, Luvia reassured Shade and reminded him about Twilight Dust.

• Shade warned Miss Lathers not to give up her life before the events in Randall River Valley were over.
• Miss Lathers performed the earth-memory ritual and extracted a Memory Crystal, but could not reach the extraordinary memory Shade sought.
• Miss Lathers read the Memory Crystal and discovered that Maggie Blatcher had left the Thaumaturgy Earth Power - Land Memory for the Order of the Forgotten.
• Miss Lathers said she could learn the Thaumaturgy after contacting the power of the earth, and Shade realized her father’s traces could guide her.
• Shade and Luvia waited beneath the stars while the others erased the ritual traces, and Luvia reassured him before reminding him about Twilight Dust.

Shade spent the night with Luvia in Randall River Valley, where Luvia confronted the mysterious other self she believed had hurt him. The next morning, as the Petrification Plague worsened, Shade donated potions for testing and went with Luvia to Dawn Church before his meeting with Stone Osenfott.

• Shade agreed to let Luvia hypnotize him so he could sleep deeply, and she spoke privately to the voice she called another self, accusing it of hurting him and receiving an apology.
• A transparent version of Luvia appeared beside the sleeping Shade, but a silver-lit hand stopped her from touching him before she merged back with Luvia.
• Miss Benanis told Shade that 492 new Petrification Plague cases had appeared in Randall River Valley, and that the illness often began in the lower limbs and worsened with travel around the region.
• Shade gave Miss Benanis the Holy Grail of Sweetness to prepare as potions for The Church and asked her to test whether the Holy Grail of Recovery could help against the plague.
• Shade, Luvia, and Mia traveled through the thick fog to Dawn Church, where Shade planned to attend worship and meet Stone Osenfott.

Shade met Stone Osenfott at the Dawn Church to ask about a gemstone connected to the Stone Mirror Demon-Goth. Osenfott revealed that he had found a White Gem and offered it, along with details of his contract, in exchange for Shade's help.

• Shade and Luvia went to the Dawn Church hoping to meet Father Murphy, but learned that Bishop Morpheus was away visiting believers at the hospital.
• Shade waited at the church entrance for Stone Osenfott, who arrived carrying a black rose instead of the requested red one.
• Shade showed Osenfott a sketch of a hexagonal gemstone, and Osenfott said the Demon-Goth had once sent him to search for four gems in different colors.
• Shade asked Osenfott about the merchant and the Demon-Goth's plans, while Osenfott asked about Shade's weapon and proposed trading a White Gem for Shade's help.
• Osenfott offered to reveal his contract with the Demon-Goth and explained that his soul would belong to it only if someone broke the immortality it had granted him.

Shade learned that Stone Osenfott’s contract with the Demon concealed more than he had revealed, but Osenfott agreed to give him the White Gem if he retrieved old photographs and letters from Captain Allen Woody. After confirming Osenfott was the second Earth Chosen One and hearing that Iluna would soon leave for Randall River Valley, Shade learned the Sun thaumaturgy Awe the Sun with her help.

• Osenfott told Shade to find Captain Allen Woody and retrieve his photographs and letters in exchange for the White Gem, then left without explaining the full terms of his contract.
• Shade told Luvia that killing Osenfott could give his soul to the Demon, and Luvia confirmed that Osenfott was the second candidate among the Earth Chosen Ones.
• Iluna told Shade she had orders to leave for Randall River Valley on Sunday, and Shade invited her to lunch and told her about their discoveries there.
• Shade asked Iluna to help him perform the noon ritual for Awe the Sun, and she drew a sun emblem on his chest with Night Watchman before the ritual flames consumed the matrix.
• Shade successfully learned the thaumaturgy and felt the sunlight strengthen his spirit and body, while Iluna grew embarrassed at seeing him without a shirt.