Chapter Summaries

Aaron used the Green Banyan’s power to seize control of Sothos Castle, punish Feli, and awaken his poisoned father, Theodore. The Green Forest hailed Aaron as its king, while he reassured Ginny and showed her a small display of magic.

• Aaron stopped the lords’ shouting, ordered them to restore order and arrest Colin’s accomplices, then left the banquet hall to handle the remaining threats.
• Feli escaped toward Elaine’s villa, but Aaron trapped him with Green Banyan roots, revealed that the kingdom’s hatred would bring back the Green Disaster, and left him to die as the villa burned.
• The next morning, townspeople gathered to worship the Green Banyan, and Aaron told the awakened Theodore that he had saved him from poison and that Colin was dead.
• Aaron comforted Ginny, explained that she could think of the banyan as a magic trick, and transformed a flower seed into a tulip for her.

Aaron agreed to become Count of Green Forest after Theodore abdicated, while promising to avenge Colin and arrange a peaceful home for Sylvie and Xia Ya. At the public ceremony, Theodore handed Aaron the signet ring, and the lords acclaimed him as the Son of Green Banyan and King of Green Forest.

• Aaron told Theodore he had to take authority as Count of Green Forest to prevent division and another civil war, and agreed to avenge Colin against the Kagash Kingdom.
• Aaron agreed to bring Colin's body down from the Green Banyan for burial and proposed granting Xia Ya a knight's fief where Sylvie could live with him.
• A guard reported that Sonia had killed herself, and Theodore went to see her while Aaron reflected on the Crimson spirituality draining from him and the desires he could sense.
• Theodore gave Aaron the signet ring and declared him Count of Green Forest before the gathered lords at Sothos Castle.
• The lords acclaimed Aaron as the Son of Green Banyan and King of Green Forest, and Theodore stepped aside as Aaron took the platform.

Aaron rallied the Green Forest lords to war against the Kagash Kingdom and led five thousand warriors into the north, defeating Marquis Arnold’s army. After Arnold refused to submit at Frost Wolf Castle, Aaron’s men used granular gunpowder to blast open the gate and part of the wall.

• Aaron declared war on the Kagash Kingdom and called on the Green Forest lords to muster their forces.
• Aaron’s five thousand warriors routed Marquis Arnold’s three thousand soldiers at River Valley Beach and pursued them to Frost Wolf Castle.
• Aaron rejected Arnold’s offer of compensation and demanded that the marquis surrender and join his rebellion.
• Arnold refused to submit, and the castle defenders wounded Green Forest warriors with arrows and stones.
• Sanchez’s men planted granular gunpowder by the gate, and the explosion shattered the doors and collapsed part of the wall.
• The Green Foresters cheered and charged toward the breach.

In Kagash, Anthony II’s court prepared to face Aaron Sothoth’s Green Forest army, while Aaron advanced through the kingdom and planned to defeat its main force by cutting off its supplies. The armies met on Windbell Plain, where Aaron left Viscount Bury in command and set out to attack the royal army’s supply lines.

• Anthony II’s council learned that Aaron Sothoth had succeeded Theodore as Count of Green Forest, and the Grand Duke of Bauhinia volunteered to lead a thirty-thousand-man royal army against him.
• Aaron took Twin River Castle, ordered Sanchez to hold the former count hostage and recruit surrendered vassals as auxiliary troops, and considered the difficulties of governing conquered territory.
• Half a month later, Aaron’s army of seven or eight thousand faced the royal army on Windbell Plain, and Aaron called the Green Forest lords together to plan their response.
• Aaron assigned Viscount Bury to hold the position with Knight Yiman as his deputy while he led men on a back route to attack the royal army’s supplies.

Aaron used his supernatural powers to capture and burn a key food warehouse, then entered Kagash disguised as a bard to pursue a plan to end the war by targeting the kingdom’s leaders. He reached the capital safely and prepared to move within the city.

• Aaron led a cavalry raid on a guarded town, using his powers to break through its defenses and kill the soldiers.
• Aaron found the town’s grain warehouse, ordered it burned, and left the reinforcements with only a smoldering ruin.
• Aaron told Sanchez he would head to Kagash’s capital and allowed at most two cavalrymen to accompany him.
• Aaron entered Kagash disguised as Yasuo, a Northland bard, after passing the gate guards’ inspection.

Aaron entered Kagash and claimed to be a wizard to answer the King's call for people with mystical abilities. After demonstrating fire magic, he was brought to the palace, where he waited among other supposed practitioners to be summoned.

• Aaron found the King's notice seeking gifted people and heard the crowd spread rumors about the Count of Green Forest.
• Aaron introduced himself as a wizard and produced a flame, convincing a soldier to take him to Lord Dean Alexi.
• Dean tested Aaron's apparent fire magic, then escorted him to the palace to meet the royal court.
• Aaron saw the heads of suspected frauds displayed outside the palace and entered a room with three other applicants.
• Aaron spoke with the Witch, who claimed to be cursing the Green Devil, then learned that the old man with the crystal ball was a celebrated divination master.

Aaron entered the Kagash royal palace as a supposed fire mage and met Prince Theon, who threatened to test him by throwing him into a bonfire. At the banquet, Aaron revealed his violet eyes to Vivian of House Bauhinia, then was summoned by Anthony II to demonstrate whether the Count of Green Forest wielded mysterious power.

• Prince Theon mocked Aaron and ordered guards to prepare a bonfire, but a servant summoned him away before the test.
• Aaron joined the witch, the fortune-teller, and the middle-aged man at the royal banquet, then left them to serve himself food.
• Vivian of House Bauhinia spoke with Aaron about the Green Devil and recognized his resemblance to Aaron Sothoth, then became terrified.
• Dean summoned Aaron to meet Anthony II, who asked him to convince Prime Minister Mason that the Count of Green Forest possessed mysterious power.

Aaron revealed himself at Anthony II’s banquet and massacred the king, Prince Theon, ministers, nobles, and guards in retaliation for the bloody banquet at Sothoth Castle. He spared Vivian and sent her to deliver his ceasefire terms, then left the palace as the survivors faced the aftermath.

• Aaron claimed he could divine futures in fire and predicted that Prince Theon would die by fire.
• Aaron killed Theon with black flames, then used roots and earth magic to slaughter the palace guards and seize the banquet hall.
• Aaron tortured the Prime Minister, Minister of Intelligence Caston, and Anthony II, while declaring that the royal bloodline would be wiped out.
• Aaron spared Vivian and demanded Northland and a million Nar in reparations within a month, threatening to raze the nobles’ estates if the terms were refused.
• Aaron gave the Witch advice for making Witch Soup Pasta, left the palace, and a guard discovered that Anthony II and his ministers were dead.

Aaron returned from the Kagash capital after destroying the royal palace, while the news of the massacre threw the kingdom’s army into chaos. Green Forest’s forces routed the retreating army, leaving Viscount Bury to learn that Aaron had killed the king and countless nobles.

• Aaron left the Kagash capital and learned that the opposing armies were locked in a war of attrition on Windbell Plain.
• The Grand Duke of Bauhinia and Lord Yunisis struggled to control their starving troops as supplies dwindled and Green Forest’s attacks continued.
• A letter reporting the destruction of the royal palace reached the Grand Duke of Bauhinia, who ordered his forces to retreat and preserve what remained of House Bauhinia.
• Knight Yiman spotted the enemy camp’s disarray and rode to alert Viscount Bury, prompting Green Forest’s forces to attack.
• Green Forest’s army routed the Kagash forces, killing over ten thousand and capturing over ten thousand more.
• Knight Yiman told Viscount Bury that House Bauhinia had fled after learning Aaron had stormed the royal palace and killed the king and countless others.

Six years after the Battle of Windbell Plain, Aaron ruled the Green Forest and Northland from Frost Wolf Castle while the region prospered in peace. Troubled by the dwindling spirituality that powered his abilities and his inability to contact his dream consciousness, he resolved to keep pursuing the extraordinary.

• Lord Yunisis survived, succeeded the Grand Duke of Bauhinia, placed Vivian on the throne as queen, and accepted Aaron's terms for peace.
• Aaron returned to Sothoth Castle, ordered a feast for the warriors, and planned to reward Knight Yiman with a title and land.
• Theodore recognized that Aaron's rule had made his own era come to an end.
• Six years later, Aaron ruled from Frost Wolf Castle as the Green Forest and Northland prospered under his administration.
• Aaron realized his spirituality was nearly gone and that using his powers had cost him years, while he still could not contact his dream consciousness.
• Aaron reaffirmed that he would avoid marriage and children and continue seeking the extraordinary before entering the dream world.

Lin and Olivia learned that disasters were spreading across the world as they investigated reports of a drifting ship carrying refugees from another continent. Lin set out to examine the ship, while the gray-haired captive aboard it hoped to find a miracle in the New Continent.

• Abner reported that the nothingness in Laya Grand Canyon was expanding and survivors there were becoming spiritualized.
• Lin and Olivia discussed worsening disasters across the west, south, and Black Sun Cult territory, then their offering to the Spirit of Void failed again.
• A follower reported that the Black Sun Cult had captured a ship carrying more than a hundred refugees from another continent and planned to use them as kindling.
• Lin decided to investigate the drifting ship, drawing on her reputation as the Undying Witch.
• At an abandoned harbor, Black Sun followers drove the ship's captives away while a Dark Beast watched, and a gray-haired man hoped to find a miracle in the New Continent.

Lin and Olivia defeated a Black Sun Cult Dark Beast and met Ymir, a supernatural from another continent who sought redemption. After Ymir was purified at the Spirit of Void’s altar, he recognized Aaron as the being he had been searching for and prepared to share confidential information.

• Ymir secretly observed the Black Sun Cult as a disguised prisoner while Lin killed cultists and fought a Dark Beast during the rescue.
• The Dark Beast warned that the Black Sun Festival was coming, and Lin vowed to destroy the cult before it began.
• The Dark Beast killed Ymir’s apparent body, but Lin and Olivia captured and defeated it; Ymir then revealed his identity and his search for redemption.
• Lin and Olivia brought Ymir and the surviving exiles to Diat to be purified before the Spirit of Void’s altar.
• Aaron purified Ymir, who sensed the Spirit of Void’s power and told Lin and Olivia that he had confidential information to report.

Ymir warned Lin and Olivia that the Fate-Ruling Gods were encroaching on the world and would destroy it by controlling fate. Aaron used his mysterious energy to plant a rumor in fate that the gods had to seize the Crimson Sun’s authority to grow stronger, prompting uncanny beings across the world to stir.

• Ymir told Lin and Olivia that the Fate-Ruling Gods were binding fate and would leave humanity without free will, and he believed a miracle at the altar could stop the destruction.
• Aaron realized his remaining mysterious energy could let him interfere with the dream world, while Lin and Olivia prayed for help against the coming calamities.
• Aaron told his believers he would require a price, then declared that defeating the Black Sun Cult required dealing with the Black Sun and destroying the Crimson Sun.
• Aaron spent his accumulated mysterious energy to make it a fate-born rumor that the Fate-Ruling Gods had to seize the Crimson Sun’s authority to advance.
• Transcendents across the dream world felt their Paths stir, as Lin saw a blood moon and a Mother Tree of Flesh reach toward the Crimson Sun while mighty beings roared across the land.

Aaron returned to Sothoth Castle after learning that Theodore was critically ill, but Theodore refused Aaron’s offer to extend his life and died the next day. At the family graveyard, Aaron granted Xia Ya the barony of River Valley, exiled Sean, and appointed Ginny Duchess of Frost Wolf.

• Aaron hurried to Sothoth Castle after Scholar Albert told him Theodore was critically ill.
• Aaron visited Theodore and offered to perform a ritual that could give him another ten years, but Theodore refused and quietly apologized to Aaron.
• Theodore died, and Aaron, Ginny, Sean, Sylvie, and Xia Ya gathered at his grave.
• Aaron appointed Xia Ya Baron of River Valley beneath the Green Banyan.
• Aaron sentenced Sean to lifelong exile from the Sothoth Family lands.
• Aaron appointed Ginny Duchess of Frost Wolf.

Aaron named Ginny his heir and prepared to abdicate as Count of Green Forest. In the dream world, he guided four believers through visions of the occult war and ordered them to pray to the Crimson Sun, but it did not answer.

• Aaron told Ginny he would pass her the Ring of Green Forest and abdicate within a month, leaving her to prepare to rule the Northland.
• Lin and Olivia reported that darkness had engulfed Diat and that their supplies would last only two weeks.
• Aaron strengthened Lin, Olivia, Ymir, and Abner, allowing them to witness colossal occult beings fighting at the source of the occult.
• Aaron told the four believers to perform a ritual and pray to the Crimson Sun, whose true name they had sensed during their visions.
• The four Beyonders and their followers completed a blood-filled Solar Ritual Array and prayed, but the Crimson Sun did not respond, so Olivia continued.

Aaron witnessed the Crimson Sun die and watched the Fate-Ruling Gods divide its remnants, while the [Black Sun] split and gave birth to the [Dawnbreak] and a Pure White Sun. A fleck of Unmelting Ice appeared at the Church of Redemption, and Aaron’s believers struggled to contain it as they faced the transformed sky.

• Aaron sent ordinary believers away and left the Shelter as a rift opened in the Dark Canopy.
• Aaron saw the Crimson Sun die, its remnants become several new mysteries, and the Fate-Ruling Gods plunder what remained.
• A fleck of Unmelting Ice appeared on the Church of Redemption’s ritual altar and froze much of its headquarters, killing several believers.
• Aaron used mystical energy to help seal off part of the headquarters and told his believers the [Crimson Creator] and [Black Sun] had fallen.
• Lin, Olivia, Ymir, and Abner saw the Pure White Sun in the sky and considered what the Crimson Sun’s death meant.

Aaron prepared to leave his position and pursue a way to fuse the dream world with reality, while the occult forces destabilizing the world continued to grow. After warning his followers that he would save the world and then sleep, he began calculating the energy needed to start the fusion.

• Aaron recorded his theory that grafting the dream world onto reality might let supernatural abilities persist in the real world, then gave Ginny notebooks on inventions and the occult.
• Three days later, Aaron transferred his signet ring and authority to Ginny at the Green Forest celebration, publicly claiming he would practice in seclusion while keeping his destination secret.
• In Diat, Lin offered Aaron the Secret Lore of 'Yao,' which she had begun deciphering from a fragment associated with the sun.
• Olivia, Abner, and Ymir warned Aaron that terrifying beings were fighting more often and that life itself was changing as the world's occult nature deepened.
• Aaron promised to save and stabilize the world before falling into a deep slumber, then asked how much occult energy it would take to fuse the dream world with reality.
• Aaron learned the energy cost was immense but decided to invest gradually and began preparing to act.

Aaron prepared to freeze himself underground so that his daily mysticism would gradually fuse the dream world with the real world. As Lin and the believers sacrificed the frozen building, Aaron’s tomb became sealed in an expanding mass of ice, and he sank into a deep sleep.

• Aaron chose a remote wasteland and wrote notes describing his plan to sleep while mysticism transformed the real world.
• Aaron burned his notes, used his remaining Crimson spirituality to bury himself, and carved an underground tomb.
• Lin, Olivia, Abner, Ymir, and the believers performed the sacrificial ritual to send the frozen building to their Lord.
• Aaron felt the Sun’s purified power spread from his stone coffin and freeze the tomb into a sealed mass of ice.
• Aaron’s body, soul, and thoughts grew sluggish and froze as he sank into darkness.

Ginny studied Aaron’s writings and decided she might need the power of the extraordinary path to protect the Northland, while Sean fell into poverty after being cast out and accepted a secret noble title. The chapter ended with Sean abandoning the Sothos name and founding the Soren Family as Krien Soren.

• Ginny read Aaron’s notes on inventions and the extraordinary path, then considered using the Dark Meditation Method to safeguard her rule.
• Sean traveled through the Kagash Kingdom as a wandering knight, but pickpockets and bandits robbed him until he became a beggar.
• Sean collapsed from hunger and cold, and Phili Atoya rescued him and offered him a secret barony and a marriage tied to inheriting lands.
• Sean accepted the offer and chose to found the Soren Family under the name Krien Soren.

In 1026, laborers Lowell and Bill broke into an underground ruin while searching for treasure and discovered a young man preserved inside a glowing block of ice. When Bill struck the ice, it vanished and released a deadly chill, leaving both men frozen as Aaron awakened.

• Lowell led Bill to a newly exposed ruin outside Green Forest City, hoping to find treasure.
• The two men dug through a vast passageway and fell into a hidden underground chamber.
• Lowell and Bill found a glowing ice block containing a richly dressed young man in an open stone coffin.
• Bill struck the ice with his shovel, and the ice vanished as a supernatural chill froze him and Lowell to death.
• Aaron opened his eyes inside the coffin.