Chapter Summaries

Aaron bound Eilistraee to himself with a reincarnation spell while she slept, then entered her soul to persuade her that he truly needed her. Eilistraee accepted his reassurance, and the dreamscape of Arvandor shattered as Aaron carried her away.

• Aaron branded the sleeping Eilistraee with golden lotus marks and completed the spell that bound their lives and powers together.
• Selûne used Halisstra’s residual connection to Lolth to show her Lolth’s torment in Khorne’s domain, and warned Halisstra not to interfere with Eilistraee.
• Aaron entered Eilistraee’s soul and found her grieving in an imagined Arvandor with phantoms of Corellon, Araushnee, and Vhaeraun.
• Aaron told Eilistraee that he needed and wanted her, and she confessed that she had felt abandoned by everyone.
• Eilistraee believed Aaron’s reassurance, and he lifted her into his arms as their dream surroundings shattered.

Eilistraee awoke and accepted Aaron’s transformation, while Laduguer and Deep Duerra pledged themselves to Aaron and joined the new Black Moon Pantheon as subordinate deities. Eilistraee then emerged from her transformation and asked Aaron where she stood.

• Eilistraee awoke inside Aaron’s golden sphere and willingly accepted the changes he had made to her divine body.
• Laduguer arrived with Deep Duerra and asked to join the new pantheon Aaron and Selûne were preparing.
• Aaron required Laduguer and Deep Duerra to surrender half their divine souls and become his vassals, and Laduguer agreed despite Deep Duerra’s objections.
• Moradin told Laduguer to take responsibility for the Duergar, and Laduguer swore allegiance to Aaron alongside Deep Duerra.
• Aaron accepted their oath, renamed the Duergar as Chaos Dwarfs, and brought Laduguer and Deep Duerra into the Black Moon Pantheon.
• Eilistraee emerged from the sphere after completing her transformation and asked Aaron, “What about me, darling?”

Eilistraee became Aaron’s subordinate deity and joined the Black Moon Pantheon, then transformed Halisstra into her immortal servant. After Eilistraee accepted Aaron as her consort, Corellon sensed that his connection to his daughter had been severed.

• Aaron modified Eilistraee’s divine body, and she ascended to intermediate deity status with a new Masked Shrine Maiden aspect.
• Eilistraee punished Halisstra by remaking her as an immortal Masked Singer tasked with spreading the news of the new pantheon.
• Aaron and Selûne discussed establishing Aaron’s church and the difficulty of choosing his high priest.
• Eilistraee told Aaron she wanted to serve him as his consort, and the two went to bed together as her transformation reached completion.
• Corellon realized he had lost his connection to Eilistraee and slammed his pen onto his desk in fury.

After Eilistraee fully succumbed to Aaron’s corruption, Corellon struggled with his grief and redirected his fury toward Gruumsh, while deities across the Multiverse reacted to Aaron’s growing reputation. In Avernus, Asmodeus punished Bael for the losses caused by Zariel’s return to Mount Celestia, then ordered reprisals while backing away from a direct conflict with Aaron and the Chaos Gods.

• Aaron’s corruption severed Eilistraee’s bond with Corellon, and Eilistraee surrendered herself completely to it.
• Corellon raged over Eilistraee and Araushnee, then welcomed news that Gruumsh had come to the border and prepared to fight him.
• Moradin accepted Laduguer’s departure, Silvanus warned his gods not to make Aaron enemies, and the Three Gods of Justice celebrated Aaron’s victories and assigned Reynard to communicate with him.
• Asmodeus arrived in Avernus, learned that Zariel had become Aaron’s angel and that Bael had lost most of the layer’s army, then struck and berated Bael.
• Asmodeus ordered Bael formally recognized as Avernus’s archdevil, commanded fresh troops and an inquiry into Zariel’s redemption, and planned reprisals against Lathander and Corellon while avoiding a direct attack on Aaron.

Aaron reviewed the wealth and Artifacts taken from Menzoberranzan and Lolth, assigned divine power and domains to Grudge, Buer, and Eilistraee, and prepared to make Zariel the recipient of Khorne's Power. Zariel agreed to become Aaron's angel, leaving him poised to begin her transformation.

• Aaron gave most of the 274,000,000 Golden Lions in spoils to Cormyr and examined the Artifacts, including the Shield of the Hidden Lord, Kyrashar's Rose, Lolth's Egg, and the Dark Tome of Aham.
• Aaron destroyed Kyrashar's Rose and gave its six pieces of Divinity to Grudge so she could rise toward Quasi-Deity status, while Buer absorbed the life force from Lolth's Egg.
• Aaron moved Buer's and Grudge's domains into his Divine Realm and considered the Dark Fluid Destruction Orb before leaving Eilistraee to visit Zariel.
• Eleanor urged Zariel to stay with Aaron, and Aaron persuaded her that accepting his help was her only choice and that she was the only suitable recipient for Khorne's Power.
• Zariel agreed to become Aaron's angel.

Aaron accepted Zariel’s oath and bound her to his Divine Realm, then met Silvanus, Mielikki, and Lurue to restore Eldath from her ruined state. After Eldath was saved, Silvanus gave Aaron a World Tree seed intended to balance his divine authority with the power of new life and growth.

• Aaron pressured Zariel into swearing allegiance, and golden law recognized her as a Solar in his service.
• Aaron placed Zariel’s essence in his Divine Realm’s Pool of Chaos, where she could be reborn if she died.
• Aaron met Silvanus, Mielikki, and Lurue, and revealed that Eldath had survived Be’lakor but had been reduced to a helpless gelatinous form.
• Aaron dispelled the spell imprisoning Eldath’s divine soul while Silvanus, Mielikki, and Lurue restored her body.
• Silvanus gave Aaron the Seed of the Age Oak, nurtured from the World Tree to strengthen his authority over life and growth.

Aaron received the World Tree Seed from Silvanus and prepared his forces for the coming war with the Chaos Gods. In Baldur's Gate, Charlotte told him that Imoen wanted to become his high priest, leaving him doubtful about the choice.

• Silvanus gave Aaron the World Tree Seed, planted it in his Divine Realm, and warned that the gods might offer only limited aid against the Chaos Gods.
• Aaron ordered Laduguer to expand Life Cola and arms production, tasked Eilistraee with establishing the Masked Singer, and asked Eleanor to supervise Zariel, Buer, and Grudge.
• Aaron intervened at the Lathander Monastery and destroyed the attacking Devil Army with a black sun before continuing to Baldur's Gate.
• Aaron read a newspaper and learned that his old acquaintances Sarevok and Abdel were doing well.
• Aaron found Charlotte at the Witchcraft General Store, where she revealed that Imoen wanted to become his high priest; Aaron questioned whether she was a reliable choice.

Aaron appointed Imoen as his high priestess and empowered her with his divinity, then learned that Bhaal’s high priestess Melissan was plotting to resurrect him. Seeking to buy time before the Chaos Gods’ forces arrived, Aaron agreed to help Midnight rescue Elminster from Baator in exchange for making Charlotte her Chosen and granting her access to the Weave.

• Aaron met Imoen at Sorcerous Sundries and agreed to make her his high priestess after she asked him to protect her from Bhaal’s resurrection plot.
• Aaron bestowed divinity on Imoen, transforming her into a legendary high priestess whose life and return to the mortal world depended on him.
• Imoen told Aaron that Bhaal’s divine throne lay in the Abyss and that Melissan was plotting to resurrect him.
• Aaron and Charlotte traveled to Dweomerheart to ask Midnight to make Charlotte her Chosen and give her access to the Weave.
• Midnight offered to grant Charlotte those powers if Aaron rescued Elminster from Mephistopheles in Baator, and Aaron agreed, hoping the conflict would divert the Chaos Gods toward the Blood War.

Aaron prepared to rescue Elminster from Mephistopheles’s Eighth Hell with Zariel’s help while the Chaos Gods learned that he had gained several divine allies and planned to take their authorities. Enraged, Khorne summoned Archaon to lead the Chaos armies against Aaron.

• Aaron returned to the Lands Between, invested eight points of divinity in Imoen, and prepared her to build up his Divine Realm.
• Zariel told Aaron about Mephistopheles’s Hellfire project and proposed attacking Cania through his followers’ portals to rescue Elminster.
• Khorne and Slaanesh discussed Aaron’s hidden Gray Elf souls, his new divine allies, and his plan to divide the Chaos Gods’ authorities among his women.
• Khorne flew into a rage over Aaron’s gains and summoned Archaon, then warned him not to repeat their previous defeat by the Realms Overgod.
• Archaon arrived before the Chaos Gods, who entrusted their armies to him to wage war on Aaron.

Archaon accepted the Chaos Gods’ command to invade Aaron’s universe and set his sights on Cyric as an opening. Aaron planned a raid on Cania while Grudge attacked Avernus, but the gods severed their connection to him before he could prepare fully; meanwhile, Archaon reached Cyric in Pandemonium.

• Khorne and Slaanesh sent Archaon to test Aaron, and Archaon learned that Aaron’s universe had an Overgod and a fifth Chaos God.
• Archaon sensed Cyric’s hatred and madness after the Chaos Gods revealed Realmspace’s coordinates, and he decided he had found an opening.
• Aaron and Zariel planned to infiltrate Cania to rescue Elminster while Grudge led an assault on Avernus.
• The Chaos Gods severed their connection to Aaron, who realized the Chaos Everchosen and his army were coming.
• Archaon entered Pandemonium, killed a demigod Frost Wight with Kingslayer, and met Cyric.

Cyric summoned Archaon and formed a pact with the Chaos Everchosen, while Aaron answered the Chaos Gods’ hostility by creating the Lands Between as a prosperous divine realm and investing new gods. The chapter ended with mortals across the Realms acclaiming Aaron as the Lord of Reincarnation.

• Cyric met Archaon in Pandemonium, and the two secretly planned to use each other while agreeing to unleash chaos on Realmspace.
• Aaron appeared across Realmspace and transformed the Lands Between into a golden, flourishing divine realm for his followers.
• Aaron crowned Buer as a god of the Lands Between and invested Grudge as Goddess of the Succubus Nuns, granting her Slaanesh’s power.
• Aaron invested Zariel as the God of the Duel, appointed Eleanor presiding judge of the Court of Love, and welcomed Eilistraee’s blessings into the realm.
• Aaron invited mortals to join the Lands Between, and High Priestess Imoen led them in praising him as the Lord of Reincarnation and Fifth God of Chaos.

Grudge returned to Alagathoo as a newly ascended goddess, crushed the forces besieging her city, and declared that she would become the Abyss’s overlord by fighting in the Blood War. In Cania, Zariel descended with an orbital invasion force as Hell’s defenses faltered.

• Grudge returned to Alagathoo with the powers Aaron had given her and forced its demons to submit to her rule.
• Eleanora reported that enemy forces had besieged the city, and Grudge defeated their champions with her divine powers.
• Grudge spared the surviving enemies to carry her declaration that she would become the Abyss’s overlord and wage a Blood War; the demons cheered her decision.
• Demon armies devastated Avernus while Tiamat’s forces held the passage between it and the Abyss, and the Archdevils gathered in Nessus.
• Hundreds of thousands of Orbital Drop Pods landed in Cania, and Zariel descended as a Solar with more pods arriving behind her.

Zariel’s feigned invasion of Cania drew the devils’ attention, allowing Aaron’s secret operation to proceed, though she was forced to retreat after being trapped at Pain’s Peak. Aaron then turned to rescuing Elminster, who was being tortured in Mephistopheles’s court, and revealed himself to the imprisoned mage.

• Bephron fled while Hutijin charged Zariel and was killed, after which the Helldivers broke through Cania’s ice walls.
• Zariel was trapped at Pain’s Peak by Baalphegor’s forces and Hellfire Engines, while Eleanor was held off by Mephistopheles’s Mist Mosquito Devils.
• Miss Cleric ordered a withdrawal, and Zariel reluctantly pulled her army out of the Eighth Hell after Bephron and the devil wizards overwhelmed the Helldivers.
• Aaron explained that Zariel’s attack had been a feint to divert the Canian devils and prepared to save Elminster.
• Mephistopheles imprisoned and tormented Elminster while seeking the secrets of silver fire, until Aaron spoke to him and Elminster begged him for rescue.

Aaron rescued Elminster from Cania and devastated Mephistopheles’s tower, prompting Asmodeus to mobilize the Nine Hells. Meanwhile, Archaon invaded Avernus with a vast Chaos army, defeated Focalor, and challenged Asmodeus.

• Aaron touched Elminster’s Blasphemous Chains, triggering a trap that brought Quagrem and pit fiends to the cell.
• Aaron’s Cube of Torment struck the devils with reflected spells and golden lightning as Chaos forces bombarded Mephisto’s Tower.
• Aaron freed Elminster and used Mass Recall to withdraw, after which Asmodeus ordered the Nine Hells to mobilize against a level-ten enemy threat.
• Archaon brought more than a hundred thousand Chaos troops into Avernus and marched on Knucklebone Fortress despite Cyric’s objections.
• Focalor’s devils fought Archaon’s army along the River Styx, but the Chaos troops broke their formations and Archaon’s beast killed Focalor.
• Archaon declared to Asmodeus that the Lord of the Nine Hells was the challenger.

Archaon and Grudge’s allied forces overwhelmed Avernus, and Archaon killed Bael after defeating him in single combat. With the devils retreating to Dis, Aaron prepared to end the War in Heaven before facing Archaon and completing his ascension.

• Bael’s forces ambushed and crushed three Chaos armies at Knucklebone Fortress, but Archaon’s larger forces and Grudge’s reinforcements joined the battle and broke Avernus’s defenses.
• Arkhan led Tiamat’s Ashabi Dragon Devil Legion off the battlefield, leaving the Bronze Citadel surrounded as Bael deployed the Nessus Guard.
• Archaon rode Delga into the Bronze Citadel and fought Bael, who conceded defeat before Archaon killed him.
• In 1371 Dalereckoning, Avernus fell, and the devils withdrew to Dis as Asmodeus convened an emergency Baator Expanded Council.
• Aaron realized Archaon would come for him next and resolved to end the War in Heaven between Selûne and Shar before completing his ascension.

Aaron brought Elminster back from Hell, learned that Shade Enclave had become Cormyr’s vassal, and obtained Karsus’s Crown. He concluded the Crown could help resurrect Karsus and considered taking it to the Emperor before the group headed for the Temple of Time to gather the Heaven Pantheon’s final pieces.

• Asmodeus mobilized the Nine Hells’ armies, restored Bael and Baalzebul to command, and pardoned Baalzebul after Archaon’s forces drove the devils from Avernus.
• Aaron returned Elminster to the Realms, where Elminster revealed Shade Enclave had ambushed him and said he intended to settle accounts with them.
• Aaron told Elminster that Shade Enclave had surrendered to Cormyr, and Elminster left to answer Midnight’s summons and recover.
• Raphael arrived to claim the reward for helping Aaron find Karsus’s Crown, and Aaron gave him three heavenly tribulation spells while backing his bid to rule Avernus.
• Aaron determined that Karsus’s Crown was designed to gather power and enable Karsus’s return, then considered giving it to the Emperor to help seal the Webway breach and escape the Golden Throne.
• Aaron told Eilistraee and the others to prepare for the Temple of Time, where they would gather the Heaven Pantheon’s sun and eternal night.

Aaron met the Emperor in a vision on ancient Terra, where a Golden Giant Tree had appeared, and helped him change the Webway disaster that had trapped Magnus. The Emperor returned to lead humanity, while Aaron became his destined enemy, the Lord of Reincarnation.

• Aaron found the Emperor beneath the Golden Giant Tree and discussed their pact to become opposing powers.
• Aaron rewound the scene to the Webway disaster and used Karsus's Crown to bind Magnus and repair the breach.
• The Emperor hesitated before sealing Magnus and Karsus into the Webway wall, then poured his power into completing the repair.
• The Emperor gave Aaron a golden mark and asked him to kill him if he ever became an obstacle to humanity.
• Aaron parted from the Emperor as the Fifth Chaos God, returning to the temple of Chaos as the Emperor's eternal adversary.

After returning from the Emperor’s dream, Aaron prepared to enter Amaunator’s Temple of Time with a small group of allies and help the fallen Sun God reclaim the [Time] portfolio and awaken as a Greater Deity. The group learned that their first challenge was to travel into the past and fight Mystryl, the First Goddess of Magic.

• Aaron reflected on how the Emperor had used him as a tool, even though Aaron had carried out the Emperor’s plan and become the Fifth Chaos God.
• At the beginning of 1372 Dalereckoning, Amaunator opened the Temple of Time to Aaron, Eleanor, Zariel, Aegir, Laduguer, and Charlotte, while Selûne and the other unsuitable allies stayed behind.
• Aaron and his companions entered the River of Time, and Aaron predicted that Shar would come after learning about the plan and gaining a way into the Temple through Charlotte’s blood.
• Amaunator revealed that his contract with Mystryl gave him dominion over [Time], and explained that he needed his portfolio and Divine Realm restored before he could become a Greater Deity.
• Aaron explained that the group had to fight Mystryl, and that they would need to travel backward through the River of Time to reach her.

Aaron led his companions back to the Netherese era and entered a Flying City by revealing his identity as the Lord of Reincarnation. As they headed for the Temple of Time beneath the city, Shar’s statue stirred with a plan to begin a new chapter in the War in Heaven.

• Aaron and his companions traveled through time to the Netherese Empire, where he revealed that the Temple of Time lay beneath a Flying City.
• Aegir tried to make Charlotte identify the Temple’s location, but Aaron pointed out the Flying City above them.
• Netherese Archmages confronted the group, then recognized Aaron and welcomed him after he presented the Heavenly Tribulation Spell Soul’s Elegy as the TI’s grand prize.
• Aaron explained that, as a Chaos God, he existed across timelines and had always been the Lord of Reincarnation once he attained godhood.
• Aaron’s companions boarded an arcane carriage toward the Temple of Time beneath the Flying City.
• Shar’s statue awakened, and Shar declared that she would extinguish the sun, end the War in Heaven, and reunite with her little brother.

Aaron entered the Temple of Time with Zariel to negotiate for the [Time] portfolio, but Mysty ambushed them on Shar’s orders. Shar then confronted Aaron and challenged him to a battle that would decide whether she killed Amaunator and extinguished the sun.

• Aaron and his companions arrived at the Flying City, where Archmages welcomed them and Charlotte used Karsus's Magic Box to open the grand temple of Netheril's eight gods.
• Aaron explained that he would obtain the [Time] portfolio from Mystryl and leave it in the Temple of Time so Amaunator could reclaim it in the future.
• Aaron took Zariel into the Temple of Time, where Mysty bound Zariel with rainbow threads and attacked them.
• Aaron freed Zariel and fought Mysty, who drew on the temple's power and overwhelmed his Chaos Fire Storm with Magic Missiles.
• Aaron restrained Mysty with his [Darkness] portfolio, and Shar emerged to reveal that she intended to kill Amaunator and extinguish the sun.
• Shar challenged Aaron to defeat her, declaring that Heaven and Amaunator's survival depended on their battle.