Chapter Summaries

Shade questioned Durut Giles about his grave-robbing expedition to the Edwardz family cemetery and learned how Lust Edwardz had saved him and followed him from Devil's Island. Giles revealed that Lust had been killed by her father, leaving Shade and Professor Manning stunned.

• Shade brought Durut Giles to Professor Manning's home and warned Giles that grave robbing was wrong.
• Giles explained that an old notebook had led him to the Edwardz cemetery and that the expedition was overwhelmed by fog and lost its way.
• Giles described how Lust appeared after he touched her corpse, protected the group from monsters, and helped survivors escape the island and Water Ghosts.
• Giles said his Core Ling Runes let him shelter souls, and that Lust had followed him for two years while helping ease the curse he brought back from the island.
• Giles warned Shade not to investigate the Edwardz Family further and revealed that Lust's father had strangled her to death.

Shade obtained a crystal key and learned that Durut Giles’s ancestor feared a place connected to the island’s mysteries. After arranging help for Giles’s curse, Shade and Doctor Schneider discovered it came from a Demon, adding another threat to the dangers on Green Lake Central Island.

• Durut Giles gave Shade a crystal key and revealed that Lust’s soul had warned him that her father still possessed a half skull.
• Shade learned the key was useless to Giles and promised to spare him from being reported in exchange for the key and a pledge to stop tomb-robbing.
• Shade agreed to find help for Giles’s curse, provided Giles signed a contract never to rob tombs again, and Professor Manning agreed to witness the arrangement.
• Shade brought Doctor Schneider to the Three Cats Inn, where the Doctor identified Giles’s curse as a concealed Demon Curse and offered to prepare a potion.
• Shade told Doctor Schneider that the Mirror Society’s one-eyed twin brothers were in the Green Lake Region, and the Doctor recognized them from a past encounter with a Demon.

Shade warned Durut Giles that the dead girl following him was likely destined to return to her father’s island, then returned to Green Lake Inn to collect blood samples from Megan. Megan learned about the girl and the island’s ancient Evil Spirit Demon, while the Church’s blockade delayed their trip there.

• Shade told Durut Giles that the girl’s Thirteenth Ring Diviner father had prophesied the family would reunite, and warned Giles that she might have to return to the island.
• Shade gave Giles a way to contact him and cautioned him against keeping the underage dead girl as a companion.
• Shade returned home, then took Mia to Green Lake Inn to retrieve four blood samples and spoke briefly with the boy living in a garbage bin.
• Shade found Megan waiting in his room with the samples and learned that the Church had sealed off Green Lake’s waters, delaying their journey to the island.
• Shade showed Megan the third crystal key and recounted how he had obtained it from Giles, including the story of Lust Edwardz’s soul.
• Megan focused on Shade’s revelation that an Evil Spirit Demon from the Third Epoch lived on the island.

Shade reassured Megan that he could handle the suspected demon and learned that the Edwardz family’s bloodline bore the mark of Human Transmutation. Back home, he met two Winter Maiden Believers who confirmed that the Cult possessed a valuable Fifth Epoch card-related item, and Aisha Eisberg arrived to speak with him.

• Shade showed Megan his Demon Hunting Seal and said his demon-hunting expert friend could deal with the suspected demon on Another Island.
• Megan treated Shade to dinner, gave him a takeaway meal, and reminded him to return Saturday to obtain the Ring of Emotions.
• Shade’s blood test showed that Alphons Edwards shared the Edwardz bloodline and that all four samples contained unknown components.
• Shade welcomed Will Hammer and Sonia Feller, who contacted their Cult and confirmed it possessed a valuable Fifth Epoch item matching his prophetic dream.
• Shade summoned a giant Snowball so Aisha Eisberg could arrive through her Ice and Snow Avatar method, and she stepped out to meet him.

Shade returned to the Lost Forest in Fifth Epoch 923 for the final stage of the Travelers’ Story Gathering, hoping to meet Chloe and learn what awaited at the end of the Seven-Day Trip. He reunited with Areira, Clara, and Dika, who described their frightening encounter with a Soul Reaper.

• Aisha Eisberg told Shade that the ancient sealed item could be claimed by whoever opened it with the correct card, and Shade arranged for her to bring it to the Academy Library.
• Luvia noted that the item might give Shade a seventh Myriad Aspects of Impermanence Card, and Shade set out for the Lost Forest with Mia.
• Shade entered the Time Corridor and learned that the gathering would last fifty minutes and that the Father of Infinite Tree promised Enhanced Space Perception and information about a Dragon.
• Shade ran through the hostile Lost Forest and reached the camp, where Areira, Clara, and Dika welcomed him back.
• Areira told Shade that a shadowless Soul Reaper had taken strange souls from the camp and left the group overwhelmed by terror.
• Dika said that playing his lute had soothed the others after their encounter with the Soul Reaper.

Shade and his companions continued the fifth day of their journey through the Snow Mountain, enduring a blizzard with help from Little Mia and Shade’s golden bracelet. They discovered three ice crystals that might contain the witch’s missing apprentice, Lakes, and Andrea Na chose to open them.

• The God of Journey explained that the Lost Forest held a passage to True Death and invited Shade’s group to continue their campfire story.
• Andrea Na told Shade that her maid Clara felt guilty because Lakes, her elder sister and Andrea Na’s apprentice, had disappeared.
• A blizzard struck the Snow Mountain, and Little Mia glowed warmly while Shade used Iluna’s golden bracelet to protect the group from the cold.
• Andrea Na uncovered three enormous ice crystals containing a box and two women, and she agreed to break them open in hopes of finding Lakes.
• Andrea Na asked Shade not to attack the person inside if she was the one they sought.

Shade and Andrea Na broke the ice crystals on the Snow Mountain, freeing an Angel and an evil Humanoid Relic before finding a note from Lakes. The note revealed a hidden map, giving Andrea Na a new clue in her search even as Lakes had warned her not to look.

• Andrea Na transformed into a Unicorn and shattered an ice crystal, freeing a devout witch whose soul ascended as an Angel and who told her to make the traveler her companion.
• The Unicorn broke another crystal, releasing an old woman Humanoid Relic who attacked the group with a blizzard before Shade and the Unicorn drove her away.
• The group returned to the Lost Forest, where the Unicorn gained a key and used it to open the final ice crystal's copper box.
• Shade found a note from Lakes reading, “Don't come looking for me,” and Andrea Na explained that Lakes had sought a way to help Clara become a witch.
• Andrea Na's tears revealed a map hidden on the note, and Shade questioned whether Lakes had arranged the discovery through divination.

Shade and the travelers followed the map toward the Snow Mountain’s destination, where a hot spring cleansed their souls. That night, red-eyed phantoms forced each traveler to face a fear, and Shade confronted an apparition of the body’s former self.

• Shade agreed to follow the map after learning the destination would take about two days to reach, and the travelers could arrive before their journey ended.
• Shade used Little Mia’s paw to draw a card that led the group to a Snow Mountain hot spring, whose healing power the Witch tested with her horn.
• The travelers entered the spring in turn, and its warmth eased their burdens and cleansed their souls.
• Mr. Enriques drew a card showing red-eyed figures surrounding the campsite, and the travelers each saw an apparition embodying their fears.
• Shade faced a phantom resembling his body’s original appearance, which accused him of occupying its body, and Shade demanded to know who it had been.

Shade spoke with the Traveler under the Moon about his unknown starting point and received hints to seek answers from more senior travelers and rely on companions. On the sixth day of the trip, the group encountered a silver white dragon guarding the only route up the mountain, and it demanded they leave behind the Unicorn and Parrot.

• Shade identified the Bard as the first companion to break free from the forest illusion, and the Traveler under the Moon advised him to ask more senior travelers about his starting point and to rely on companions.
• The Witch and Maid awoke from their illusions, and the group continued the Seven-Day Trip into its sixth day.
• Clara drew a card leading the travelers to a mountain cave, then Shade chose the left path when the group faced two routes through the blizzard.
• A silver white dragon landed near the campsite and told Shade that the path up the mountain passed through its territory.
• The dragon asked Shade to leave the Unicorn behind, then offered gemstones for the Parrot, prompting the Loyal Dog to bark furiously.

Shade and his companions passed a Dragon by invoking the scent of Fiona, then encountered Chloe at their snowy campsite. Chloe recognized Shade when she saw Mia and embraced him, ending their twenty-year separation.

• Shade refused to abandon his companions, but the Dragon let them pass after smelling Fiona’s scent on him.
• The Dragon revealed that a Witch had beaten it up before, and Shade’s group returned to camp as the story narrated their passage.
• A new event brought another camp into view, where Chloe approached Shade and his companions through the blizzard.
• Chloe initially failed to recognize Shade, but Mia’s meow and name made her realize who he was.
• Chloe hurried to Shade and embraced him, while Mia squeezed between them and climbed onto his shoulder.

Shade reunited with Chloe Marquez during the Seven-Day Trip and invited her to join his party for its final day. The travelers survived a supernatural avalanche and returned to the Lost Forest camp, where Chloe said they should leave the mountain’s history unexplored.

• Shade told Chloe that his dangerous journey was nearing its end, and she kissed him and asked to travel with him again.
• Shade invited Chloe into the party, and she joined the travelers in the Lost Forest camp as the sixth day ended.
• Chloe drew the avalanche card, and the party transformed into animals as the final day’s snow-mountain scene began.
• Shade, Chloe, and the unicorn combined their powers to shield the party, while Shade summoned a Great Snowball against the avalanche.
• The avalanche buried the travelers, but they returned to the camp unharmed, where Chloe explained that the phenomenon came from a terrible event on the mountain.

Shade and the travelers found the ruined Temple of Fate on Nameless Snow Mountain and learned that Clara’s sister had become stone after trading herself for the wishes of her sister and Lakes. The temple’s gatekeeper refused to undo Destiny’s choice, even as Clara and the Unicorn offered to take her place.

• Chloe told Shade that she had come to investigate an ancient temple linked to Lord of the Ring, where Destiny could be changed at a price.
• Alela Andrea Na chose to search the ruins, and the travelers used their senses to investigate the temple and found a stone table and a statue resembling Clara.
• Clara embraced the statue, and the Unicorn confirmed that Clara’s sister’s soul remained inside; Shade briefly restored part of her arm with Active Mud, but it turned back to stone.
• The travelers cleared dust from the table, revealing a pattern and a dust figure that identified itself as the gatekeeper of Destiny.
• The gatekeeper said Clara’s sister had sacrificed herself so Lakes could gain strength and Clara could cross into the supernatural, and declared that Destiny’s choice could not be changed.
• Clara and the Unicorn each offered to take the sister’s place, but the gatekeeper rejected their pleas.

Shade and the travelers offered the destinies of their seven-day journey to the dusty figure in exchange for a chance to revive the petrified girl. When the figure demanded that Clara remain behind as the price, the Witch refused to sacrifice either sister and turned to the guidance that had brought them there, seeking another way to defy Destiny.

• Chloe used Spirit Communication to let the petrified girl's spirit briefly speak with the Unicorn and Clara, but the spirit soon returned to the statue.
• Shade asked how they could save the girl, and the dusty figure said they must offer destinies of value to match hers.
• The Unicorn and her companions placed their identity cards on the table, then Shade added the twenty cards representing their seven-day journey.
• The dusty figure declared their destinies equivalent and demanded that Clara remain behind to bring back her elder sister.
• The Witch refused to choose between Clara and her elder sister, and Shade urged her to consider the power that had guided her journey.
• The Witch took out Myriad Aspects of Impermanence as everyone focused on the card.

Shade and his companions witnessed Clara and Miss Lakes return as two souls sharing one body, then completed the Seven-Day Trip by making wishes for one another. The god granted them leave from the lost forest, and Shade departed believing he would reunite with his beloved at the far end of time.

• Chloe used Myriad Aspects of Impermanence, and a gale swept away the card as Clara vanished into ash.
• Miss Lakes emerged from the forest, and Shade realized that Clara and Lakes now shared one body.
• Andrea Na accepted the sisters’ new state, and the travelers gathered around the campfire to hear the god conclude their journey.
• The god asked Shade, Mr. Enriques, and Chloe to write wishes for companions, and each made a wish for someone else.
• Shade and Chloe asked the god to grant Mr. Enriques’s wish, and the god allowed the travelers to leave the lost forest.

Shade completed his journey through the Lost Forest, said goodbye to Chloe and the others, and returned to the present with Mia and two leaves from the Tree Father. Back home, he reunited with Luvia and Leisha, who invited him to a palace banquet and arranged to celebrate Red Butterfly Day the following night.

• Shade received a farewell card from the god, who told him that his journey had taught him about Two-in-One, severance, and Rebirth.
• Shade said goodbye to Chloe and departed through the White Fog with Mia, carrying two leaves from the Tree Father.
• Shade returned to the present, where Luvia sensed that he had met Chloe and then left for work.
• Leisha gave Shade an invitation to a banquet at Yodel Palace and told him she and Dorothy wanted to celebrate Red Butterfly Day tomorrow.
• Shade agreed to prepare for the celebration and gave Leisha the negotiation materials she would need before leaving for Green Lake.

Fiona Drago used her Power of Time to contact Chloe Marcus in the Fifth Epoch and explain that future Witches were seeking Shade Hamilton amid echoes of spacetime. Chloe agreed to cooperate and prepare for Shade’s eventual role, while both women anticipated meeting and pursuing him again.

• Fiona Drago appeared before Chloe Marcus in the Lost Forest, and Chloe recognized Shade Hamilton’s blood and the temporal disturbance that had brought Fiona there.
• Fiona told Chloe that Feliana and Olanord sought contact with the Fifth Epoch Witches because Shade faced a looming danger and the future Witches had failed to care for him properly.
• Chloe learned that the Fifth Epoch would end and agreed to link its Witches with the future to prepare Shade, though she warned that the responsibility would weigh heavily on him.
• Fiona admitted that she and Shade had kissed, and Chloe said Shade deserved a reward if he fulfilled his responsibility.
• Chloe agreed to the cooperation and promised not to tell Shade they had met, but said she would still pursue him when they met again; Fiona shared that intention before returning to her own time.

After completing a Time Key, Shade gained Dragon knowledge, Enhanced Space Perception, and two Youthful Immortality Leaves. He discovered that the new Thaumaturgy greatly improved his spatial powers, then planned to ask Iluna whether she needed the extra leaf.

• Shade examined the rewards from completing the Time Key and learned Dragon knowledge and Enhanced Space Perception.
• Shade tested the Thaumaturgy and found it expanded his spatial awareness across much of Saint Derain Square, though Yodel Palace's protections blocked it.
• Shade discovered Enhanced Space Perception let Laguerre's Leap reach unseen locations, reduced its cooldown, and strengthened his other spatial powers.
• Shade found that holding a map greatly reduced the cost of using Cinderella to return home.
• Shade decided he would offer the extra Youthful Immortality Leaf to Iluna if she had already used hers, then put away a card and hoped to meet its figures again.

Shade opened the Winter Hymn Choir’s ancient Ice seal with the Traveler under the Moon and found a metal piece bearing a passage linked to the Fifth Epoch God of Love. He then updated Miss Danist on his Green Lake investigation and planned to pursue Another Island and the surviving early-generation Edwardzes.

• Shade used the Traveler under the Moon to open the Ice Block and retrieve a metal piece inscribed with Ancient Writings and a cat.
• Miss Danist identified the inscription as scripture associated with the Fifth Epoch God of Love, and Miss Eisberg gave the metal piece to Shade.
• Shade told Miss Danist that eight fifth- and sixth-generation Edwardz descendants remained and knew nothing of the family symbol.
• Shade reported that Klein Edwards was alive and Lust Edwardz was dead, then said he would investigate how to reach Another Island and which early-generation Edwardzes survived.

Shade discussed the dangers in Green Lake with Miss Danist, who warned him to stay safe and avoid the Church and Seer Association during his investigation. After Luvia divined how to find knowledgeable believers of the God of Love, Shade learned they belonged to the Rosicrucian Order and were the Follen Brothers, leaving him to plan cautiously around the Green Lake investigation.

• Miss Danist warned Shade about the evil god believers, urged him to carry her red-covered book, and advised him to stay home on the coming Night of the Moon Eclipse.
• Shade told Miss Danist he had gained another Spirit Rune, and they discussed his studies and the God Summoner before ending their conversation.
• Shade asked Luvia to divine how to find a knowledgeable believer of the God of Love, and she revealed that the believers had merged into the Rosicrucian Order.
• Luvia explained the Rosicrucian Order's background and told Shade that its core members in Green Lake were the Follen Brothers, whom he already knew.
• Shade decided not to spend the last Nether Iron Coin on another divination and chose to wait until he and Megan had landed on Another Island for the third time.

Shade learned that the Follen Brothers were half-elves and arranged to meet a Rosicrucian Order member about a prayer to the God of Love. At the Yodel Palace banquet, Angelina helped Shade slip away to meet Dorothy and Leisha in the garden before his planned evening with Leisha.

• Shade showed Eric and Charles their bloodline assessment, confirming they were half-elves, and asked them to arrange a meeting with a Rosicrucian Order believer in the God of Love.
• Eric promised to contact Shade through Megan when the Order's representative arrived, then asked about Shade and Megan's relationship; Shade said they trusted each other completely and would soon become more intimate than close friends.
• Shade attended the Yodel Palace banquet with Dorothy and watched the guests while Miss Galina and the royal family were occupied.
• Queen Diana summoned Shade and asked him to accompany Angelina on a garden walk, allowing Angelina to lead him away from the banquet hall.
• Dorothy and Leisha met Shade and Angelina in the garden, thanked Angelina for helping, and went toward Leisha's bedroom with plans for Shade to join Leisha at eight twenty.