Chapter Summaries

The Investigation Bureau used a contract ritual to obtain the location of the Count of Green Forest's tomb, agreeing to transfer the Sothos Museum if the information proved valid. Meanwhile, Sarsrofi arrived to investigate Nicholas and told Gwen to prepare for a ritual to open the Third Primordial.

• A sick miner named Raul delivered a note to the Investigation Bureau, whose hidden writing offered the tomb's location in exchange for the Sothos Museum.
• Xisthos and Jacob agreed to the deal, and Raul's blood revealed the location as the outskirts of Wickhanno Racecourse.
• Xisthos verified that the location was genuine, and Jacob ordered the Investigation Bureau to prepare an operation.
• Gwen watched Nicholas leave the church with a group for a charitable event while monitoring the vendor who had been watching him.
• Sarsrofi told Gwen he would investigate Nicholas and the people watching him, then offered to guide Gwen through a ritual to open the Third Primordial.

Nicholas passed Yasuo’s warning about Aaron Sothoth’s tomb to Gwen, prompting Sarsrofi to head for the ruins while Gwen went to alert the Sunset School. At Sothos Ruins, the Investigation Bureau found the Lotus Eaters’ excavation site beneath a corpse-hung banyan tree, where a dead cultist revealed that the diggers had unearthed a taboo.

• Nicholas recognized Yasuo at the church relief station and received a note directing him to use news of Count of Green Forest’s tomb to draw attention away from himself.
• Nicholas sent Gwen intelligence about the Lotus Eaters’ discovery and excavation of Sothos Mausoleum.
• Gwen informed Sarsrofi, who decided to go to the tomb alone and ordered Gwen to hide and notify the school.
• Jacob, Fiona, and Caslow arrived at Sothos Ruins and found a huge banyan tree with corpses hanging from its roots.
• Xisthos questioned one of the corpses, which said the excavators had dug up a taboo.

Jacob, Fiona, and the Investigation Bureau discovered a mutated tomb beneath a colossal banyan tree and faced threats from the Lotus Eaters and other powerful factions gathering there. Meanwhile, Aaron returned to Lilliat’s safehouse and told her they would explore their ancestor’s tomb that day.

• Xisthos questioned a mummified corpse, which revealed that the ruins’ entrance lay inside the banyan tree.
• Xisthos exposed Savage Bone Spet, but a Ghoul swallowed him before Jacob could attack.
• A Lotus Eaters Ghoul blamed the ruins’ mutation on a mysterious intruder and proposed exploring them together with the Investigation Bureau.
• Sarsrofi of the Sunset School arrived, adding another powerful combatant to the gathering around the ruins.
• Aaron returned to Lilliat’s safehouse, put on Rapier’s mask, and told Lilliat to join him in exploring their ancestor’s tomb.

Aaron and Lilliat joined the many factions gathering to enter the Count of Green Forest's tomb, where they encountered Clark Das and learned the Investigation Bureau could not keep the other groups away. After the Investigation Bureau felled the bloodied Green Banyan, Aaron led Lilliat into the hollow beneath its roots with Clark and the others.

• Aaron and Lilliat traveled under martial law to the ruins and saw the Investigation Bureau, the Lotus Eaters, and numerous other mystics gathered beneath the Green Banyan.
• Aaron invited Clark Das to join him and Lilliat, and Clark warned that factions might use unaffiliated Beyonders as pawns inside the tomb.
• Jacob announced that the groups would enter the ruins together, and the Witch Sisterhood, Sunset School, and Lotus Eaters agreed.
• Jacob ordered agents to cut down the Green Banyan, which resisted the axes and bled as its hanging corpses wailed.
• Aaron, Lilliat, and Clark followed the other mystics through the hollow beneath the stump and entered the darkness.

Lilliat and Aaron entered Ancestor Sothos's tomb, where the Beyonders found themselves trapped and cut off from the outside world. As the groups began to move through the dark-red mist, Leanna died after using her extraordinary ability, revealing that the tomb contained a deadly taboo.

• Lilliat and Aaron entered the tomb plaza and found that the passage behind them had vanished.
• Clark, Chikatilo Maris, and the Investigation Bureau's members discussed the tomb's history, its three levels, and the isolation preventing contact with the outside.
• Chikatilo Maris sensed his Lord's presence and led the Lotus Eaters into the dark-red mist to hunt for sacrifices.
• Leanna approached Aaron and tried to seize him with her hair, but it transformed into snake mouths that devoured her.
• Clark warned the Beyonders not to use extraordinary abilities after Leanna died and the plaza absorbed her blood.

Witches and the Investigation Bureau entered the dark crimson mist, where Aaron, Lilliat, and Clark encountered a humanoid curse that reacted to movement. Meanwhile, the Lotus Eaters suffered heavy casualties and headed toward the Investigation Bureau, leaving the groups on course to converge.

• The Moon Witch discovered that the power of the Age Controllers lingered in the blood witch's bones and warned everyone not to use abilities or items associated with Crimson and Dark.
• Jacob led the Investigation Bureau and the other groups into the mist, while Aaron, Lilliat, and Clark followed behind.
• Aaron used light to reveal a mist humanoid that copied their movements, and the three froze until it passed them and attacked someone behind them.
• Aaron guessed that they needed to balance movement with stillness to avoid triggering the curse, and Clark and Lilliat agreed.
• Chikatilo Maris and the surviving Lotus Eaters fought waves of mist humanoids after their prayers and rituals failed, then decided to join the approaching Investigation Bureau.

Aaron, Lilliat, and the others discovered that the Cursed Humanoids attacked those who moved, while the blood of the dead flowed into the entrance to the tomb’s second level. After surviving the encounter, they faced accusations from the other Beyonders, and Aaron stirred up the crowd by warning that the major powers would sacrifice them.

• Lilliat realized that the flowing streams in the fog were blood from slain Beyonders, feeding the blood-wrapped doors to the second level.
• Lilliat warned a red-haired Beyonder not to move, and Jacob ordered the Investigation Bureau agents to stand still; those who moved were attacked by the Cursed Humanoids.
• After several minutes, the Cursed Humanoids merged back into the fog, and Lilliat told the others that they could move slowly without provoking them.
• Sarsrofi and other Beyonders accused Lilliat of withholding information, while Aaron defended her and claimed that the doors opened further whenever someone died.
• Aaron suggested that more deaths might open the passage, then backed away and shouted that the major powers would sacrifice the weaker Beyonders first.

Aaron Sothoth escaped the first level with Clark and Lilliat after provoking the wild Beyonders to flee, while the factions at the blood-red gate struggled to understand the curses. Three more deaths opened the passage to the mausoleum’s second level, where the curse seemed to vanish and Chikatilo regained his extraordinary abilities.

• Aaron led Clark and Lilliat away through the mist, predicting that the major factions would resort to capturing unaffiliated Beyonders if they lacked sacrifices.
• At the scarlet gate, Chikatilo proposed a plan, but Jacob refused to sacrifice Investigation Bureau agents.
• An Investigation Bureau agent and then a Lotus Eater ran toward the gate and died, leading Jacob and the others to realize that a second curse targeted those who stayed still.
• A third victim’s blood opened the gate, and Jacob led the group into the passage to the mausoleum’s second level.
• Jacob and the others arrived beside a burial pit, found the dark-red fog gone, and watched Chikatilo celebrate the return of his extraordinary abilities.

Jacob’s group encountered an army of resentful spirits on the mausoleum’s second level, where they destroyed Alice but heard more spirits calling from the darkness. Aaron, Lilliat, and Clark entered the same level and found a vast battlefield where Beyonders were dying in droves.

• Chikatilo revealed that resentful spirits remained on the second level, and one appeared when Spet attacked the ruins.
• Alice used Crimson’s power to give birth to countless dark-flamed spirits, which overwhelmed Spet until Chikatilo’s Ghoul servants rescued him.
• Caslow used the Mourning Bell to suppress the spirits, and Sarsrofi killed Alice with a spear of light, causing her offspring to vanish.
• More female resentful spirits called for Alice as Jacob’s group moved on.
• Aaron, Lilliat, and Clark entered the second level and faced an ocean of dark-flamed resentful spirits amid a deadly battle.
• Lilliat watched the red-haired girl who had betrayed her get torn apart, while Clark warned that everyone would die at this rate.

The group fought through the resentful spirits and opened the door to the third level by feeding it flesh and blood. They crossed into an underground rift, where a stark white bridge connected the passage to Auclair’s main burial chamber.

• Aaron, Jacob, Fiona, Caslow, and the other powerful fighters struggled to hold off the resentful spirits as Sarsrofi used 'Yao' attacks to find the door.
• Aaron argued that his Sothoth bloodline was too valuable to sacrifice before reaching the hidden treasure, and Jacob protected him from Sarsrofi.
• Sarsrofi revealed that the door required flesh by killing a wild Beyonder and feeding the corpse to it.
• Chikatilo summoned his Ghoul servants as more flesh and blood, and the door opened before the Mothers of Spirits returned.
• Jacob led the group through the passage, and they emerged beside an enormous underground rift crossed by the Bridge of the Dead.

On the Bridge of the Dead, the Beyonders used Auclair’s remains to suppress its curse and began crossing, but the plan risked drawing out the vanished evil spirit. Aaron realized the Non-Human Existences intended to use him and Lilliat, both descendants of Sothos, as bait.

• The Moon Witch tested the Bridge of the Dead with a straw man, which succumbed to a hunger curse and devoured itself.
• Jacob warned that the air might be more dangerous than the bridge and that the vanished evil spirit could be a formidable threat.
• Chikatilo used powder made from Auclair’s remains to suppress the bridge’s ill omen and curses.
• Aaron and Lilliat stepped onto the bridge, and Aaron used a mental suggestion that led Lilliat to voice her fear of being targeted as a Sothos descendant.
• Aaron inferred that the Non-Human Existences planned to lure the evil spirit with him and Lilliat, and Sarsrofi confirmed they meant to use them as bait.

The Bridge of the Dead collapsed, dropping the explorers into a gorge where Aaron pretended to sacrifice himself to Auclair’s evil spirit while secretly preparing his next scheme. As Spet fled the gorge, he witnessed the scarlet-cloaked Auclair kill Sarsrofi.

• Chikatilo’s spilled bone ash caused the Bridge of the Dead to crack apart, sending most of the group plunging into the gorge.
• Aaron explained that magic prevented the fall from killing them and suspected the gorge held the entrance to the next level and the real danger.
• Aaron lured Lilliat into believing he was drawing Auclair’s evil spirit away, then revealed the spirit was an illusion created with his Shadow Ring.
• Aaron entered a secret chamber and released the real Auclair, who vanished into the darkness.
• Spet found Sarsrofi engulfed in dark red mist and watched the scarlet-cloaked Auclair kill him before fleeing.

Aaron killed Sarsrofi and several other Beyonders with the power of Auclair’s evil spirit, while Clark escaped a deadly encounter in the cemetery. Outside Aaron Sothoth’s mausoleum, the survivors learned that Sarsrofi was dead and feared the evil spirit as they gathered before the pale gate.

• Aaron took Sarsrofi’s crimson core as a potential material for opening his Third Primordial, then used Auclair’s evil spirit to move through the cemetery.
• Aaron cast a greatly empowered Death Edict, killing the Witch Sisterhood members and other Beyonders he encountered.
• Clark transformed toward Chikatilo to defeat an enemy, then fled when a possessed group of investigators attacked him.
• Auclair’s evil spirit nearly pursued Clark, but Aaron restrained it and reflected on the danger of becoming intoxicated by power.
• Fiona and Jacob discussed the evil spirit’s appearance, and the Moon Witch reported that it had killed every witch except her.
• Spet arrived at the pale gate and told the survivors that the evil spirit had killed Sarsrofi, prompting the Moon Witch to demand that they open the gate.

Jacob and the others discovered that the third gate required bones, while a powerful evil spirit attacked Caslow and took the Mourning Bell. The group opened the Bone Gate by sacrificing Spet, and the way into Aaron Sothoth’s tomb lay open.

• Chikatilo revealed that the gates followed the Lotus Eaters' Three-Aspect Secret Rite, requiring blood, flesh, and then bones.
• A scarlet-cloaked evil spirit attacked Caslow and stole the Mourning Bell despite Xisthos's attempt to free him.
• The group learned that the Bone Gate required the remains of a Non-Human Existence, and the Moon Witch sacrificed Spet to meet the requirement.
• The gate's shriveled heads devoured Spet and announced that the ritual was fulfilled, opening the third Bone Gate.

Lilliat and the others reached Aaron Sothoth’s tomb, where a prophecy revealed that the Green Devil would be reborn through the Ritual of Flesh, Blood, and Bone. They found the coffin empty, and Chikatilo called for Lilliat’s blood to activate the ritual as Clark stepped forward to defend her.

• Xisthos led the group through the white door into an underground cavern, where Clark studied the ancient murals and Lilliat saw a vast stone pyramid.
• The Moon Witch read a prophecy saying that the Green Devil would be reborn on the fourth day, and Chikatilo realized the intruders were sacrifices in his ritual.
• Chikatilo, the Moon Witch, the Investigation Bureau members, Lilliat, and Clark reached the pyramid’s summit and found Aaron Sothoth’s coffin empty.
• Chikatilo proposed using Lilliat’s bloodline in a blood sacrifice, and the others accepted the plan.
• Clark stepped in front of Lilliat, determined to try to save his friend despite expecting to die.

As the pyramid collapsed and a sea of blood rose, Auclair’s evil spirit killed the Moon Witch and the survivors realized the Count of Green Forest’s mausoleum was a resurrection trap. The Blood Cup Archbishop emerged from Chikatilo and attacked the evil spirit to claim its essence, but Xisthos intervened with Brainstorm.

• The pyramid cracked apart and flooded the cavern with blood, while Auclair’s evil spirit possessed and killed the Moon Witch.
• Fiona connected the Lotus Eaters’ excavation to the mausoleums’ mechanisms and concluded that the Count of Green Forest had arranged the trap to gather sacrifices for his resurrection.
• Auclair’s evil spirit turned its attention to Lilliat, while the Blood Cup Archbishop emerged from Chikatilo’s body as a powerful flesh avatar.
• The Blood Cup Archbishop attacked Auclair’s evil spirit, hoping to devour its essence and approach the Seventh Primordial, Longevity.
• Xisthos revealed himself and unleashed Brainstorm, momentarily freezing the evil spirit with a flood of unrelated thoughts and inspirations.

Xisthos used the Sun King's Spear to destroy the evil spirit and the Blood Cup Archbishop’s avatar, but the Archbishop survived by swapping places with Caslow and tried to use Lilliat’s blood to locate Aaron Sothoth. Aaron secretly accelerated the evil spirit’s resurrection, leaving Xisthos and the Archbishop to face it again.

• Xisthos summoned the Sun King's Spear and blasted away the evil spirit and the Blood Cup Archbishop’s avatar, but the Archbishop survived by switching places with Caslow using blood.
• The Blood Cup Archbishop revealed himself in Caslow’s place and hypnotized Lilliat into preparing to give him her blood so he could locate Aaron Sothoth.
• Aaron, hidden as the Spirit of Void, used the Power of Secret Source to accelerate the evil spirit’s resurrection.
• The evil spirit reappeared, and the weakened Xisthos and the Blood Cup Archbishop agreed to join forces against it.
• Xisthos invoked the Truth Balance and chose occult and secret knowledge as the contest, intending to bind the evil spirit.

Aaron controlled Auclair’s evil spirit to defeat Xisthos and kill the Blood Cup Archbishop, while Jacob and Fiona concluded that Aaron had returned as a Longevity One. He sent Lilliat and Clark away, then let a blood-colored tide engulf the mausoleum as Xisthos apologized on behalf of the kingdom.

• Xisthos used the Truth Balance to challenge the evil spirit, but the balance judged him defeated and restrained him.
• Clark saw Aaron’s figure within the evil spirit, and Jacob and Fiona realized Aaron Sothoth was controlling it and might be immortal.
• Aaron targeted the Blood Cup Archbishop with a blood-colored spear, suppressing his substitute-death curse and killing him.
• Aaron took the Truth Balance and sent Lilliat and Clark through a fissure leading outside.
• After his restraints lifted, Xisthos bowed to Auclair’s evil spirit and apologized for the kingdom’s earlier actions.
• Aaron let a blood-colored tide rise and submerge the mausoleum.

Fiona, Jacob, and Xisthos realized Aaron Sothoth was a native Longevity Being whose power made him effectively invincible in the mortal world. Aaron destroyed the Sothos Mausoleum after collecting its treasures and appointed Lilliat as his recognized spokesperson.

• Fiona and Jacob considered placing the Count of Green Forest on the wanted list, but Xisthos warned that Aaron Sothoth was a present-world Longevity Being who could remain in the mortal world and was nearly impossible to oppose.
• Xisthos explained that the mortal world could not sustain powerful Spirit Realm beings for long, while Aaron was protected as an existence native to their world.
• Fiona, Jacob, and Xisthos saw the ground shake violently around the Sothos Ruins as Aaron gathered mystical items and remains beneath the mausoleum.
• Aaron tossed Auclair's skeleton into the mausoleum, causing it to collapse, and said he had destroyed the ruins to stop them from attracting more Extraordinary.
• Aaron gave Lilliat a scale as a reward and proof of identity, making her his spokesperson to the Investigation Bureau.

After destroying the Sothos Ruins, Aaron returned home with powerful loot and planned his next advancement. Elsewhere, Nicholas learned his teacher was fleeing the city after the death of the Sun Mentor, while Percy sensed unrest from his cell.

• Aaron returned to 33 Golden Rose Street, asked Sylvia to prepare a meal, and sent a message to Clark that he would visit the next day.
• Aaron inspected the spoils from the ruins, including three Non-Human-grade mystical items, Sarsrofi’s crimson core, and a Fifth Primordial flame crystal, and planned to trade items and advance to Forge-Maker.
• Nicholas confirmed that his watcher had withdrawn and learned from his teacher that the teacher was leaving the city because the Sun Mentor had died in Sothos Mausoleum.
• Percy asked Peter for a cigarette and questioned him about the unrest outside the Investigation Bureau’s underground holding cells.