Chapter Summaries

Andlao announced the return of his serialization and described the extensive planning behind his new book. He also reflected on his anxiety and the difficulty of finding purpose, ending with a more optimistic outlook and a promise to get back to writing.

• Andlao apologized for delaying the book’s release and said he was nervous about its reception after a year away from writing.
• Andlao explained that the new book had a larger world, detailed settings, and a lengthy outline intended to keep its plot and characters coherent.
• Andlao described years of anxiety, restlessness, and difficulty being alone, and said he had not found a definite answer to how to live.
• Andlao recalled that writing had helped turn his anxious thoughts into stories and hoped the new serialization would connect him more firmly to reality.
• Andlao said his state had improved somewhat, recognized that he had been placing severe limits on himself, and concluded by returning to work.

Separated from Nuen in the Wilderness, Xilian Soflova struggles to survive the night as Demons close in and his Soul Marrow runs low. He fights back when the firelight fades, leaving his fate uncertain.

• A sandstorm separated Xilian from Nuen, leaving him stranded in the Outer Flame Frontier as night approached.
• Xilian recalled how Nuen had found and adopted him, then taught him to survive the Demons that emerged after dark.
• Xilian sheltered in ruins, burned Soul Marrow to create a protective white fire, and held off Demons lurking in the Grey Fog.
• As his Soul Marrow dwindled, Xilian reduced the fire and faced Demons reaching through its weakening light.
• Xilian rejected suicide, struck a Demon with his sword, and fired his gun as the firelight dimmed.

Xilian fought demons through the night as the Grey Fog of Chaos threatened to corrupt him, and a mysterious serpent tattoo awakened just before dawn. After Nuen arrived and saved him from a final demon, Xilian collapsed unconscious.

• Xilian fought off demons with his sword, gun, torch, and burning Soul Marrow while trying to keep the Grey Fog at bay.
• Xilian spotted dawn on the horizon but was struck by a demon’s tail and lost the torch and Soul Marrow.
• As Chaos corrupted him, Xilian saw hallucinations of Nuen, Tim, Mick, and Ava approaching.
• A serpent tattoo appeared on Xilian’s palm, shattering the frost covering his body and restoring his ability to move.
• Xilian struck at the hallucination of Nuen as the first sunlight reached him, then a burning demon attacked.
• Nuen arrived and killed the demon, and Xilian collapsed into the sunlight unconscious.

Xilian woke in White Cliff Town's Armory two days after surviving the Grey Fog, shackled and unsure whether Chaos had corrupted him. When Nuen arrived, he held a sword to Xilian's neck and ordered everyone else out.

• Xilian woke on a blanket in the Armory, found himself chained to a wall, and searched his body for signs of corruption.
• Xilian remembered a molten-gold Ouroboros Mark shining in his palm before Chaos released him, but found no mark on his skin.
• Tim and Mick entered with Ava and argued about whether Xilian was alive or corrupted, while Xilian confronted them for speaking as though he were dead.
• Ava showed relief at seeing Xilian, but Tim stopped her from approaching him.
• Nuen entered, examined Xilian in silence, pressed his cruciform longsword to Xilian's neck, and ordered everyone out.

Xilian told Nunn that the Grey Fog had surrounded him and that he had fought off a Demon, but Nunn found no signs of Chaos corruption and released him. Nunn left Xilian to recover, and Tim, Mick, and Ava gathered around him.

• Nunn questioned Xilian about surviving the night and whether the Grey Fog had touched him.
• Xilian recalled how Nunn taught him that mercy toward the corrupted could endanger others, and admitted he had been surrounded by fog and had seen a Demon take Nunn's shape.
• Xilian told Nunn he had fought the Demon until dawn, and Nunn removed his shackles after finding no signs of Chaos corruption.
• Nunn explained that he had tested Xilian's convictions and said he was glad his student had been honest and responsible.
• Nunn excused Xilian from night patrols for a week and left him to recover.
• Tim, Mick, and Ava rushed to Xilian and piled around him affectionately.

Xilian maintained the Torchlight Lighthouse and reflected on White Cliff Town’s isolation and mysterious origins before sharing breakfast with Ava and the Soflova Brothers. He continued working toward his goal of reaching the outside world by restoring a motorcycle from discarded parts.

• Xilian checked the Beacon Array and kept the Torchlight Lighthouse running through the night, then shut it down at dawn.
• Xilian surveyed White Cliff Town and wondered why it had been founded so far from the outside world, while suspecting Nuen knew its history.
• Xilian returned home to find Ava making breakfast, and he shared roast meat with her after Tim and Mick came back from patrol.
• Xilian tidied the house and reviewed his books, notes, and photograph of the Soflova Brothers, Ava, and Nuen.
• Xilian entered his workshop and reflected on his longing to leave town, having restored most of a motorcycle from discarded parts.

Xilian repaired the motorcycle but realized that leaving White Cliff Town would require him to become a Transcendent. Tim revealed the disaster that had killed his brothers and Mick’s parents during an earlier failed ritual, while Xilian remained determined to take the risk.

• Xilian showed Ava the repaired motorcycle and explained that its remaining repairs, supplies, the Wilderness, and Grey Fog still made leaving town difficult.
• Ava encouraged Xilian and told him that her father had invited him and Nuen to dinner, prompting Xilian to suspect the invitation concerned his survival in the Wilderness.
• Xilian and Tim considered whether Nuen intended to make Xilian a Torchbearer because White Cliff Town’s Soul Marrow supply depended on Nuen.
• Tim recalled that a ritual to make him and his two older brothers Transcendents had failed, turning one brother into a Demon and contaminating the other, while also killing Mick’s parents and other townspeople.
• Xilian accepted the danger and told Tim he intended to become a Transcendent so he could see the world beyond White Cliff Town.

Xilian agreed to attempt the dangerous ritual to become a supernatural, hoping to help White Cliff Town and reach the world beyond. Mayor Boll revealed that Nuen had lost his first student in a similar attempt, leaving Xilian’s preparations and fate unresolved.

• Xilian met Ava at the ruined Town Hall, where she embraced him and wished him well before he went inside.
• Nuen and Mayor Boll told Xilian that White Cliff Town’s dwindling Soul Marrow and isolation made a supernatural necessary to help save the town.
• Xilian volunteered to undergo the ritual, believing his resistance to chaos might let him survive despite the risk of corruption or death.
• Boll offered Xilian the ritual materials and explained that the attempt would also test Nuen, who had once lost a student to the process.
• Boll urged Xilian to succeed for White Cliff Town and Ava, who cared deeply for him.

Xilian underwent the ritual to become a Transcendent, awakening in the Origin Sea despite the danger of Chaos. He broke free of his Soul Dream and stood apart from the sea’s currents, ready to seek the shattered Sourcebinding Long Stair.

• Xilian met Nuen in the Wilderness, where Nuen explained the Origin Sea, the Silent River, and the path to transcendence.
• Nuen warned Xilian that without a scholar’s guidance, Chaos could corrupt him, then gave him a potion and instructions for the ritual.
• Xilian drank the potion, and Nuen lit the Soul Marrow ring to contain any corruption that reached his body.
• Xilian’s consciousness entered the Origin Sea, where he drifted among sleeping souls within the Soul Dream.
• After hearing a voice urge him to wake, Xilian affirmed that he was Xilian Soflova and tore free of the invisible cocoon.

Xilian entered the Origin Sea to reach the Sourcebinding Long Stair, but encountered chaos creatures and nearly died in the depths. He escaped a tentacle’s grasp with a strike empowered by the Ouroboros Mark, then heard chains tightening far below as he lost consciousness.

• Xilian climbed through the Origin Sea on sleeping souls’ cocoons, until the Ouroboros Mark burned and a colossal moray eel appeared.
• The eel devoured a woman who had awakened from the Soul Dream, while Xilian hid from it among the cocoons.
• The eel lunged at Xilian, but a giant tentacle pierced and tore the chaos creature apart before sinking into the darkness.
• Xilian resumed climbing, but another tentacle seized him and dragged him into the depths, where pressure and corruption overwhelmed his senses.
• Xilian’s Ouroboros Mark glowed as he struck the tentacle and commanded it to let go, forcing it to release him.
• A howl of rage surged through Xilian’s mind, and he heard countless chains pull taut on the seabed before losing consciousness.

Xilian awoke in the Origin Sea, where Randolph Frank explained the Sourcebinding Long Stair and sacrificed himself to raise its foundation stair. After Xilian stepped onto it and calmed a deadly wave, he received the Torchbearing Path blessing, Cultivation of Ten Thousand Forms, and woke in the real world.

• Xilian woke in the Origin Sea and met Randolph Frank, a Modian Society scholar repairing the Sourcebinding Long Stair beneath the Whispering Tree.
• Randolph explained that he planned to bind the Long Stair with his flesh and blood as his final sacrifice, then learned Xilian Soflova belonged to the Sunflower Clan and was destined for the Torchbearing Path.
• Xilian climbed out of the Origin Sea onto Randolph's repaired stair, and the Ouroboros Mark helped calm a towering wave around him.
• Randolph submerged himself and lifted the stair above the sea, sacrificing his body to support Xilian and asking him to remember who had raised him.
• Xilian saw the Immaculate Torch and received the blessing Cultivation of Ten Thousand Forms before waking in the real world.

Xilian returned from the Origin Sea and successfully became a Transcendent, but Nuen explained that the achievement did not free him from the sacrifices demanded by their world. Xilian learned he still had to complete a final Torchbearer ritual, which Nuen said he would discover that night.

• Xilian awakened in the real world after absorbing the potion, and Nuen confirmed that he had become a Transcendent.
• Xilian told Nuen about his experience in the Origin Sea and Randolph Frank's sacrifice to repair the Sourcebinding Long Stair.
• Nuen described the Torchbearers' traditions of sacrifice and warned Xilian that Transcendence only made him qualified to sacrifice himself for the world.
• Xilian recognized Nuen's worry and understood that his teacher feared what awaited him in the wider world.
• Nuen told Xilian that he still needed to complete a final rite to become a true Torchbearer and would learn what it was that night.

Nuen explained how the Torchbearers' legion fell into rebellion during the Twelfth Great Expedition, ending the Renaissance Era and dividing the surviving Torchbearers. He told Xilian that their Sofluowa Clan had fallen.

• Nuen explained that Xilian needed a Torchbearer's blood to unite and control the Source Energy within him.
• Nuen described the Torchbearers' history and said the Expeditionary Pathfinder led the legion on expeditions into the Dark World.
• Nuen recounted how the Twelfth Great Expedition lost contact with the outside world and later returned with news that the legion had rebelled.
• Nuen said the thirteen-year Year of Rebellion devastated the reclaimed lands and ended with the Torchbearers divided between the Ember Remnant and the Firekeeping Cult.
• Nuen told Xilian that their Clan had fallen.

Nuen told Xilian how the Sunflower Clan was destroyed and gave him the clan’s blood, awakening Xilian as a Torchbearer. Xilian said he had no dream beyond helping White Cliff Town survive, and Nuen clarified that rebuilding the clan was his own dream, not Xilian’s.

• Nuen recounted how Commander Frey sacrificed himself so some Torchbearers could escape, and how Nuen returned to the Civilized World as the last survivor of the Sunflower Clan.
• Nuen gave Xilian the blood Commander Frey had entrusted to him and used it to awaken Xilian’s sacred bloodline; Xilian alone saw a strange vision of eyes, giants, and a whisper that the fire still burned.
• Xilian’s wound healed, and Nuen explained that he had become a first-rank Torchbearer with the Resilient Body and Soul Marrow traits.
• Xilian said he wanted to cross the Wilderness, resolve White Cliff Town’s troubles, and help its people live safely, but did not consider those responsibilities a dream.
• Nuen told Xilian he did not expect him to rebuild the Sunflower Clan because that was Nuen’s dream, not Xilian’s.

Nuen explained the Torchbearing Path and White Cliff Town’s growing danger, then tested Xilian’s new strength against Demons. After Xilian revealed his Ouroboros Mark, Nuen said he had seen its design on the iron coffin where Xilian was found.

• Nuen described how the Interstice Gray Domain was expanding and asked Xilian to travel to Confluence City Hel for supplies and support.
• Nuen and Xilian leaped from the wall and fought Demons, with Nuen demonstrating his power by burning a wolf-like Demon to ash.
• Nuen explained that Torchbearers were meant to resist Chaos and cull Demons before they could form into larger threats.
• Xilian felt the Ouroboros Mark activate despite his new resistance, then showed it to Nuen and told him how it had saved him.
• Nuen admitted he had concealed details about Xilian’s origins and said the mark matched a design on the iron coffin where Xilian was found.

Nuen told Xilian that he had found him as a child inside an iron coffin that emerged from the Spirit Realm during a Source-Energy Tide, leaving open the possibility that Xilian came from centuries or millennia in the past. As Xilian fought Demons, his Ouroboros Mark awakened the Blessing: Nurture Myriad Forms, which urged him to slaughter Chaos, and he ended the chapter wondering what it was nurturing.

• Nuen recounted finding Xilian, then about six or seven years old, inside an iron coffin that surfaced in the Interstice Gray Domain during a Source-Energy Tide.
• Nuen explained that Xilian might have been preserved in the Spirit Realm for centuries or millennia, and told him to keep the Ouroboros tattoo and his connection to the Sunflower Clan secret.
• Nuen and Xilian returned to fighting the Demons, and Xilian felt the Ouroboros Mark’s burning pain turn into a craving as he killed them.
• Xilian recognized the Mark’s power as Blessing: Nurture Myriad Forms, which granted no obvious ability but urged him to destroy the forces of Chaos.
• At dawn, Xilian returned to the high wall as the Demon corpses burned away in the sunlight, and wondered what Cultivation of Ten Thousand Forms was nurturing.

After becoming a Torchbearer, Xilian returned home and told Ava, Tim, and Mick about his success and his plans to seek help for White Cliff Town. He then began repairing his motorcycle so he could travel to Her City.

• Xilian returned from night patrol and told Ava he had become a Torchbearer, alarming her because he had kept the dangerous ritual secret.
• Ava accepted Xilian’s apology and congratulated him, reminding him that he was not alone.
• Tim and Mick joined them, and Xilian described his plans to reach Her City, bring back scholars, and help White Cliff Town gain more Torchbearers.
• Ava left to tell her father the news, while Tim joked about her affection for Xilian and Mick teased Tim about his appearance.
• Xilian went to his workshop and worked on his battered motorcycle, preparing for the journey to Her City.

During a night patrol, Xilian and Tim discussed White Cliff Town’s changing fortunes and Xilian’s hopes of exploring the outside world. Their patrol was interrupted when the Grey Fog surged over the town, overwhelming the Torchlight Lighthouse’s protection.

• Xilian told Tim that becoming a Transcendent was an ordinary job in the great city-states and promised White Cliff Town would change once they contacted Her City.
• Xilian and Tim patrolled the wall while Demons climbed through its defenses, and they noticed the Torchlight Lighthouse’s light had weakened as Soul Marrow dwindled.
• Xilian told Tim he hoped to leave for a larger city-state someday and would entrust him with the night watch, while Tim asked him not to stay away long.
• Xilian sensed the Grey Fog crossing the light, and he and Tim saw it engulf White Cliff Town as the torches flickered and Soul Marrow burned away.
• Xilian recognized that the Grey Fog was rising, and a red flare launched from the gate and burst above White Cliff Town.

As Tidal Night flooded White Cliff Town with Grey Fog and Demons, Xilian, Nuen, Mick, and the Guard fought to protect the town. Xilian slaughtered nineteen Demons at the eastern wall, but the tide of danger remained.

• Xilian recognized the red flare as the start of Tidal Night and ordered Tim to gather the townspeople at Town Hall and keep them in the light.
• Nuen went beyond the gate to face the Demon horde while the Guard held the entrance.
• Mick replenished the Torchlight Lighthouse’s Soul Marrow, spotted Demons climbing the eastern wall through a darkened section, and fired a flare to warn Xilian.
• Xilian raced to the eastern wall and found Demons pouring over it into the illuminated ground below.
• Xilian invoked his Blessing and fought with his longsword, torch, and shortsword, killing nineteen Demons before pausing amid their remains.

Xilian fought through the night in White Cliff Town, discovering that killing demons raised the Soul Marrow concentration in his blood through the Ouroboros Mark. After entering a darkened building to kill the demons inside, he defeated them at the cost of his remaining strength as dawn approached.

• Xilian noticed that the Ouroboros Mark had increased his Soul Marrow concentration after he killed demons, and he wondered whether killing Chaos purified his Soul Marrow.
• Mick fired a signal flare toward a building in town, where Tim told Xilian that demons had entered and townspeople might still be inside.
• Tim asked Xilian whether he could kill the townspeople if they had turned, and Xilian admitted that killing Bell had awakened a terrible feeling that pleased him.
• Xilian entered the dark building, fought the demons inside, and killed the final demon that had brought in the Grey Fog.
• Xilian emerged exhausted and said the demons were dead as dawn neared and the tide retreated into the Spirit Realm.