Chapter Summaries

Saruman and Karg opened the sealed stone door and entered its dark portal with the corrupted, unconscious Lina, choosing the unknown over certain death in the Infinite Corridor. After they vanished, the ancient beings they had fought reappeared outside the door, revealing that their apparent deaths and the trials may have been part of a plan to lure the trio through.

• Saruman deciphered the stone door and opened a portal of darkness with his Magic Power.
• Saruman told Karg that staying would doom them and Lina, while the portal was their only chance to escape the ruins.
• Karg trusted Saruman's decision, and the two agreed to face whatever lay beyond the portal together while keeping Lina safe.
• Saruman and Karg stepped into the portal with Lina on Karg's back, and the door sealed itself after they disappeared.
• The Faceless Wizard, Tide Chanter, Dreamweaver, Abyssal Balrog, and other beings reappeared outside the door, celebrating that the trio had entered the trap.

Saruman revealed that the ancient beings had manipulated his group into opening the stone door, then explained to the Black Robed Woman the horror beyond it. Their conversation was interrupted by a disturbance in the prison, and the Black Robed Woman went to stop the escapees.

• The corrupted figures vanished after Saruman, Karg, and Lina entered the stone door, and Saruman's memory ended with them disappearing into darkness.
• The Black Robed Woman questioned Saruman about how his memory showed the ancient beings celebrating after the group entered, and Saruman blamed the detail on a hazy memory and his own deductions.
• The Black Robed Woman asked what lay beyond the door, and Saruman described it as a place that destroyed reason and corrupted existence.
• The Black Robed Woman admitted he was dying from corruption and wanted to know what he had guarded, but a crash and magical fighting erupted above them.
• Saruman ordered the Black Robed Woman to ensure no escapees survived or carried the site's secrets outside, and the Black Robed Woman hurried toward the prison.

The Black Robed Woman hunted down two groups of escaped prisoners as they tried to find a way out of the underground prison. He killed them all, insisting that none could be allowed to escape because they threatened the world.

• Grayson, Mora, Croft, and other prisoners failed to open the magically sealed Bronze Door at the surface checkpoint.
• The Black Robed Woman returned, killed Croft, and defeated the others as they attacked or tried to flee.
• The Black Robed Woman killed Grayson and the remaining prisoners in the first group.
• The Black Robed Woman found a second group of fugitives and killed them in a fierce battle.
• The Black Robed Woman surveyed the dead and warned that their escape would have caused an irredeemable catastrophe for the world.

The black-robed woman slaughtered the remaining prisoners in the African Ministry of Magic’s underground prison, then faced a group of powerful criminals who sacrificed themselves to summon abyssal magic. The abyss recoiled from her, and after the prisoners perished, she continued searching the prison, knowing it was being used for the last time and that this was the last day of her life.

• The black-robed woman killed the last two injured prisoners and discovered roughly thirty hardened criminals hiding in a side passage.
• The prisoners tried to bargain with the black-robed woman, then turned against her when she refused to let them leave.
• The one-eared Wizard rallied the others to cast the forbidden Abyssal Pact, sacrificing their lives and souls to attack her.
• The abyssal shadows stopped before reaching the black-robed woman, and her attackers’ magic failed as their sacrifice consumed them.
• The dying one-eared Wizard saw the woman’s scaled, inhuman face and called her nonhuman before he was annihilated.
• The black-robed woman reflected that part of her was still human, then began a final, thorough inspection of the underground prison.

The Black Robed Woman finished cleansing the prison and returned to Saruman, who resumed showing him the past through memory magic. Saruman, Karg, and the unconscious Lina escaped the Infinite Corridor into a dead world, but their teleportation failed, and they found a terrifying city before hearing Ian Prince cast a spell.

• The Black Robed Woman suppressed the prison’s lingering contamination, ensured no threats remained, and descended to meet Saruman.
• Saruman told the Black Robed Woman that the final day was approaching and resumed the memory magic that revealed Saruman and Karg taking Lina through a portal.
• Saruman, Karg, and Lina emerged from the portal into a barren, lifeless world, and Saruman’s Location Teleportation Spell failed.
• Saruman and Karg carried Lina across the black wasteland toward a city that filled them with dread.
• Saruman approached a shattered stone stele to look for clues, but Ian Prince’s voice suddenly rang out with “Avada Kedavra!”

Saruman and Karg encountered a deadly green spell cast by a young-sounding wizard somewhere in R'lyeh. Saruman became convinced the caster’s extraordinary power might come from an ancient form of body seizure, rejuvenation, or alchemical life creation, but the caster’s identity remained unknown.

• A green Avada Kedavra streaked into the depths of R'lyeh, and Saruman and Karg realized it was not aimed at them.
• Karg welcomed the spell as evidence that another person was in the city and that escape might be possible.
• Saruman sensed that the spell’s caster was extraordinarily powerful and was startled that the voice sounded like a boy.
• Saruman considered whether the caster had seized a child’s body or used forbidden alchemy to rejuvenate himself.
• Saruman recalled the ancient pursuit of life alchemy and wondered whether the caster had been created through magic rather than born.

Saruman deciphered the tablet and learned that R'lyeh was a forbidden realm outside time, while Karg guarded the unconscious, mutating Lina. When a vast green spell erupted from the city, Saruman recognized the unknown fighter as a Legend.

• Saruman speculated that the unseen voice belonged to a creation of Life Alchemy, and Karg proposed following the powerful fighter through the dangerous area.
• Karg cared for Lina while Saruman studied the stone tablet and heard signs of an ongoing battle in R'lyeh.
• Saruman used references from Raven's Ruins to decipher the city's name as R'lyeh and translated warnings about a realm outside time and the Great Old Ones.
• Saruman realized that he and his companions had entered a far more dangerous prison than the one they had escaped.
• A flood of green magic surged from R'lyeh, and Saruman declared that the unknown Wizard was a Legend.

Saruman and Karg watched the battle in R'lyeh and concluded that the wizard unleashing a vast plague of death magic was a true Legend, though neither could explain who he was. As their theories failed, Lina's delirious muttering grew more urgent.

• A torrent of green magic erupted across R'lyeh, and Saruman recognized its power as the work of a Legend.
• Karg questioned Saruman's judgment, but Saruman explained that the spreading death magic had crossed from spells into the authority of a Legend.
• Karg suggested the wizard might have found a new Proof of Legend, but Saruman doubted that the world's waning magic could support one.
• Karg wondered whether the wizard was one of the Four Founders, but Saruman ruled this out after comparing the voice and circumstances with their records.
• Saruman dismissed the possibility that an ancient Legend had survived unnoticed, and the pair were left without an explanation as Lina muttered more urgently.

Saruman and Karg debated whether the Legend in R'lyeh came from another point in time, while the battle inside the city grew increasingly violent. The chapter left them watching from outside as Saruman sought clues on the tablet and tried to understand what powerful enemies the Legend was fighting.

• Saruman proposed that R'lyeh distorted spacetime and that the Legend might come from another era, and Karg struggled to grasp the idea.
• Saruman concluded the Legend must have come from the past and decided to keep observing him while deciphering the tablet for clues.
• The youthful voice from R'lyeh expressed impatience, making Saruman wonder whether the Legend was young rather than ancient.
• The battle inside the city intensified, with rapid Avada Kedavra spells and Avada Plague devastating the surrounding towers.
• Saruman sensed multiple formidable enemies fighting the Legend, while Karg guarded the unconscious Lina and both stayed outside the city.

Saruman and Karg waited outside R'lyeh after a legendary figure unleashed a devastating attack that temporarily silenced the city. Saruman deciphered warnings that R'lyeh was corrupting them and urged Karg to leave immediately, but the chapter ended with Karg realizing that he and Lina were already changing.

• Saruman identified the attackers as ancient, alien forces and warned Karg that the battle might continue indefinitely unless they found its source.
• A voice within R'lyeh chanted in an unknown language, drawing on the world's power to unleash a torrent of death magic that halted the battle.
• Saruman and Karg stayed outside the silent city while Saruman resumed deciphering the stone tablet and Karg guarded Lina.
• Saruman deciphered warnings about a Sleeping God, the Eternal Dream, and the corruption of anyone who remained in R'lyeh too long.
• Saruman told Karg they had to leave immediately, and Karg saw that Lina's scales and the markings on his arm showed their corruption was already advancing.

Saruman and Karg decided they had to enter R'lyeh and used Mental Imprinting to copy a potentially dangerous map from the stele. They entered the city carrying Lina, wary that the map and everything within R'lyeh could be a trap.

• Saruman decided that he and Karg had to enter R'lyeh and search for Ian or a way out, since remaining outside would leave them to die or become monsters.
• Saruman used Mental Imprinting to read the stele and drew an abstract map of R'lyeh's spatial structure.
• Saruman identified a likely route and the suspected location of the Sleeping God, but warned Karg that the map could be a deliberate trap.
• Saruman prepared protective spells and concealment barriers while Karg secured Lina on his back and readied his greatsword.
• Saruman and Karg crossed into R'lyeh, where the air turned briny and the whispers of mental pollution grew clear again.

Saruman and Karg searched R'lyeh City for the vanished Legendary Wizard and found only the aftermath of his battle. Guided by a map, they chose a dangerous route toward the city's gate, where mental pollution intensified and hostile voices reached their minds.

• Saruman and Karg followed the battle's destruction through R'lyeh City but found no trace of the Legendary Wizard.
• Saruman examined the map and chose the first route toward the gate despite its marked danger.
• Saruman and Karg traveled through the city's distorted passages while Saruman used magic to protect their sanity and Lina remained on Karg's back.
• As they advanced, the city's pollution grew stronger and malicious voices began urging them to surrender.

Saruman and Karg struggled through R'lyeh’s corrupting passages, fighting a slime creature and surviving an acid ambush that poisoned Karg. As they continued, the city’s shadows gathered around them and hostile whispers began to fill their minds.

• Saruman and Karg resisted the city’s whispers until a slime creature attacked them and pale eyes unleashed mental shocks.
• Karg wounded the slime with his enchanted greatsword, and Saruman destroyed it with Holy Light Judgment.
• Saruman and Karg crossed a corridor where gelatinous growths rained corrosive and toxic acid on them.
• Karg was splashed with acid and neurotoxin, then treated his wounds with Saruman’s antidote and healing powder.
• As Saruman and Karg passed a mural of twisted stars and tentacles, shadows gathered and resentful whispers invaded their minds.

Saruman and Karg survived attacks by wraiths and monstrous flying insects as they fought through R'lyeh City toward the gate. They found Ian, who looked like a boy, studying a magic formation in the plaza and heard him say he had found Cthulhu.

• Saruman used a mural's vortex symbol to drive away the wraiths after Karg spotted it.
• Saruman and Karg fought a swarm of winged monsters until Saruman blinded them with a Dazzling Light Spell and Karg cut them down.
• The two men endured more attacks and Saruman deciphered ominous inscriptions about sacrifice, life and death, and assimilation.
• Saruman and Karg heard a mysterious voice say, "So you were here," and cautiously followed it toward the plaza.
• Saruman and Karg saw a boy in a black robe examining a magic formation, and Ian declared, "Got you! Cthulhu!"

Old Saruman explained that Ian’s appearance in R’lyeh a thousand years earlier and his return to the ruins formed a closed loop in time. He suggested he was seeking a variable that could break the cycle, then directed the Black Robed Woman to keep watching the memory.

• Young Saruman and Karg saw Ian turn toward their hiding place and felt the overwhelming pressure of his Legend power.
• The Black Robed Woman recognized Ian as the same young man who had recently entered the deepest part of the ruins.
• Saruman confirmed that he had met Ian in R’lyeh a thousand years earlier and explained how the ruins could create a closed loop in time.
• Saruman said Ian was a fifteen-year-old Legend and that age and ordinary rules did not constrain beings like him.
• The Black Robed Woman asked whether the Department of Mysteries existed only to preserve the loop, and Saruman replied that fate might be changed by a variable.
• Saruman told the Black Robed Woman to watch the rest of the memory to learn what role they had played and why he needed him.

Elderly Saruman continued recounting how Ian Prince deciphered a formation in R'lyeh City, intending to kill the sleeping Cthulhu rather than escape. When Cthulhu's defenses summoned powerful polluted creatures, Ian unleashed his newly created Avada-Withering spell while continuing his work on the formation.

• Elderly Saruman revealed that the young Legend in his memory was Ian Prince, who ignored Saruman and Karg and studied the formation.
• Saruman told Karg that Ian had noticed them but regarded them as insignificant, while the two watched him examine the teleportation formation and identify Cthulhu's weakness.
• Saruman overheard Ian resolve to kill Cthulhu before it awakened and end the danger in R'lyeh City.
• As Ian reached for a key symbol, a soul-rending howl summoned high-level polluted creatures from the city's shadows and void.
• Ian calmly continued deciphering the formation and cast his newly developed Avada-Withering spell against the attacking creatures.

Ian Prince annihilated the monsters in the plaza and then studied the magic formation while Saruman and Karg watched from hiding. Saruman recognized that Ian’s magic and knowledge surpassed anything he could understand, and the two remained concealed, trying to learn from him.

• Ian Prince used withering magic, Fiendfyre, and other powerful spells to erase the monster tide without being harmed.
• Karg asked Saruman whether he could withstand one of Ian’s attacks, and Saruman admitted that Ian’s command of magical rules was beyond his comprehension.
• Saruman and Karg stayed hidden, unable to approach or leave, and watched Ian examine the magic formation.
• Ian traced the formation’s energy paths and generated complex runes to analyze its structure and operating rules.
• Saruman told Karg that Ian’s methods seemed at least a thousand years beyond his own knowledge and speculated that Ian might be a true genius who could surpass his era.

Saruman and Karg watched Ian Prince withstand R’lyeh’s corruption and a renewed assault while continuing to study the magic array. As the city unleashed a vastly stronger attack from every direction, Ian finally raised his free hand to deal with it.

• Saruman told Karg that ancient records from the Raven Ruins described Wizards who wielded laws and hunted gods, and wondered whether Ian was still human.
• Ian briefly glanced toward Saruman and Karg after Saruman mentioned the Raven Ruins, then returned to analyzing the magic array.
• R’lyeh’s blasphemous hymn, warped light, and corrupting mist overwhelmed Saruman and Karg but could not affect Ian, whose domain repelled them.
• R’lyeh launched a fiercer attack, turning the plaza stones into monsters and sending mental amalgamations and corruption vortices after Ian.
• Ian continued studying the array as the attacks converged, then raised his free left hand as if the assault had become noisy.

Ian Prince repelled R'lyeh's attacks with Absolute Prohibition and erased its pollution with the Law of All Things Returning to Silence while he analyzed the magic array. As R'lyeh turned the entire city against him, Ian completed the array and opened it with a fabricated key and dream-gap, leaving Saruman and Karg to watch.

• Ian Prince invoked Absolute Prohibition, destroying or deflecting R'lyeh's monsters, acid, psychic aggregates, and pollution vortices.
• Ian cast the Law of All Things Returning to Silence, purifying the plaza and its surroundings as Saruman and Karg watched in awe.
• R'lyeh intensified its hostility through animated buildings, psychic whispers, spatial distortions, and an oppressive sense of malice, but Ian's domain kept him safe while he studied the array.
• Ian fitted the final three-dimensional rune into the magic array and declared it complete.
• Ian used the stars' positions and a gap in dreams as a supposed key and gate, then opened the array.

Ian Prince activated the magic circle, sending himself and Saruman, Karg, and Lina into a chaotic spacetime passage before the memory abruptly ended. Saruman warned that the destination could not be viewed safely and urged his student to complete his mission, including dealing with him, as part of a plan to break the closed loop.

• Ian Prince opened the magic circle, vanished into it, and its uncontrolled power dragged Saruman, Karg, and Lina into a spacetime storm.
• The memory ended before the Black Robed Woman could see what happened next, and Saruman said the place beyond the circle contained corruption too dangerous to view in memory.
• Saruman explained that he, Karg, and Lina had only been caught at the edge of Ian Prince's attempt to confront Cthulhu, and said the rest of the answers remained in his mind.
• Saruman told the Black Robed Woman to search his mind after completing his mission, which required protecting the ruins' entrance and eliminating threats to the seal, including Saruman himself.
• The Black Robed Woman struggled with the duty to act against her teacher, while Saruman said it was his choice and part of a plan to break the closed loop.