Chapter Summaries

Annan and Fiona captured Vaughn, whom Annan suspected of knowing where Irilanze was, and escorted him toward Dark Night. Prince Aidan learned of Vaughn’s capture from a mysterious Bard and began considering how to rescue him before he revealed anything.

• Vaughn was caught in the Garden Corridors when Fiona’s squad trapped him with a weakening aura and vines.
• Annan demanded that Vaughn reveal Irilanze’s whereabouts, threatened him, and found only scrolls and a Stone Tablet among his belongings.
• Annan rejected Fiona’s shortcut to Dark Night and chose a different route to avoid a possible ambush.
• Prince Aidan spoke with Leona in a Dark Night treehouse until a Bard arrived and warned him that Vaughn had been captured.
• The Bard questioned Prince Aidan’s desire to break the shackles of Order, then vanished after predicting that they would meet again.
• Prince Aidan resolved to find a way to rescue Vaughn and worried that he was about to lose Annan’s trust.

Prince Aidan tracked the captured attacker but found only a dropped Magic Ring and a fleeing Black Rat. Annan brought the disguised Kael'thas and the prisoner to Dark Night, where he accused the Elven Royal Court of sheltering the attackers and negotiated with Samael Night Song.

• Prince Aidan ordered the King to move the other Ideal Kingdom leaders, then used a Magic Power Map to search for the captured steward.
• Annan asked Leona about her feelings for Kael'thas and offered to help her court him while the group escorted their unconscious prisoner.
• Prince Aidan followed the Map to an alley, where he encountered a Black Rat carrying a Magic Ring; the Rat fled and Aidan picked up the ring.
• Annan told Leona to seek Samael Night Song or Elder Theron, but Elder Ares and the Elf Guards arrived before she could leave.
• Annan refused to hand over the attacker and accused the Elders' Council of protecting the attackers, prompting Elder Ares to order his arrest.
• Samael Night Song stopped Elder Ares, and Annan agreed to trust him one last time, but demanded a condition.

Annan joined the elves’ interrogation of the captured Attacker using a feather from Lord Emerald that replayed his memories. The vision exposed the Attackers’ infiltration and ended with a mysterious will destroying the Attacker’s soul as they watched.

• Annan insisted on witnessing the interrogation, and Samael Night Song explained that Elder Ares’s hatred of humans stemmed from his lover’s death.
• Lord Emerald could not come to Dark Night, but sent a feather that could reveal the Attacker’s past.
• The feather showed Annan explaining how he had used his Magic Ring to divert the Attackers, then revealed a Wind Elf addressing the Attacker as “King” and ordering him to continue setting traps.
• The vision showed eight figures meeting in a Treehouse, including the missing Dark Night member Rydell, and Samael Night Song realized the Attackers had been hiding among them.
• A cold eye with vertical pupils appeared in the vision, and Elder Ares said a vast will had sensed them watching and torn apart the Attacker’s soul.

Annan learned the Attacker’s soul could only be restored by the Moon Pool, whose waters the elves refused to spend, and questioned the dying Vaughn about Irilanze. Vaughn revealed that Irilanze was still alive, then recalled how Prince Aidan had once offered him shelter and spoken of overturning the Kingdom’s oppressive system.

• Samael Night Song explained that only the Moon Pool could restore the Attacker’s soul, but its precious waters were reserved.
• Vaughn resisted Elder Ares’s interrogation as his soul faded.
• Annan questioned Vaughn about Irilanze and told him he wanted to save his friend, not pursue the attackers’ schemes.
• Vaughn told Annan that Irilanze was still alive, though he did not know where she was.
• Vaughn remembered meeting Prince Aidan, who gave him food and shelter before condemning the Kingdom’s unjust system.
• Vaughn’s life ebbed away as he wished he could see the day Prince Aidan had described.

After Vaughn died without revealing much, Annan returned to Envoy Village to question Prince Aidan about the Paem Kingdom and its history. Aidan explained how the kingdom’s founding drive for survival and order had hardened into rigid rules that fixed everyone’s place.

• Vaughn died, and Annan and Elder Ares learned that Irilanze was alive and the attackers were connected to the Paem Kingdom.
• Annan decided to investigate the kingdom and returned to Envoy Village with Kael'thas and the elven squad.
• During the journey, Annan asked Kael'thas whether he liked Leona and encouraged him to propose after the attackers were defeated.
• Annan visited Prince Aidan and asked him about the Paem Kingdom’s history, noting that Vaughn had left him with a complicated impression.
• Prince Aidan recounted how the kingdom’s founder led people to safety and established order, then described how later generations turned rules into a rigid system that fixed people’s roles.

Annan questioned Prince Aidan about the Kingdom and gradually realized Aidan was tied to the attack and Irilanze’s disappearance. As the Elves moved to seize the Kingdom’s Third Prince, Aidan left Annan a warning that the people of Losthome were coming to take revenge.

• Annan challenged Prince Aidan’s view of the Kingdom’s rules, and Aidan denied that the Kingdom was connected to the attackers.
• After Annan left, Aidan told an unseen ally that his brothers would either blame him or secretly arrest him, then ordered the Ideal Kingdom to meet at Hideout No. 13.
• At the Elf Flower Court, the Kingdom’s Third Prince denied responsibility for the attack, but the Elf Elders decided to capture him after receiving a mysterious command.
• Annan recognized Prince Aidan’s damaged Divine Artifact as the Eye of Rudolf and suspected Aidan was connected to Irilanze’s disappearance.
• Annan found Aidan’s note saying he would return Irilanze after everything was over and warning the Executioners to stay until dawn, when the people of Losthome would arrive for revenge.

Annan learned that Prince Aidan’s attack on the Elven Royal Court was tied to the tragedy of Losthome and suspected Aidan had a larger goal. Waldo Hernandez later revealed that Aidan founded a secret organization and might be trying to start a war between the Elves and the Kingdom.

• Waldo Hernandez contacted Annan, asked him to find Prince Aidan before the Elves, and secretly placed a tracking spell on his robe.
• Elder Ares’s guards searched the Wooden Cottage, and Samael Night Song explained that the Elves had destroyed Losthome after its Half-Elves joined the Kingdom.
• Annan suspected Aidan was targeting the Elders responsible for Losthome, while Samael Night Song said the Elven Royal Court had already mobilized.
• Waldo Hernandez introduced himself as the Kingdom’s Third Prince and told Annan that Aidan had founded the Ideal Kingdom Organization.
• Waldo Hernandez said Aidan might be trying to ignite a war between the Elves and the Kingdom so a new order could rise from the old one’s destruction.

Waldo Hernandez gave Annan a Mithril Necklace and asked him to find and bring back Prince Aidan. Annan followed its signal toward Aidan, but after Aidan’s group moved hideouts, Aidan used the Eye of Rudolf to bring Annan and his Elf Dragon crashing to the ground.

• Waldo Hernandez admitted he had covered for Prince Aidan and gave Annan a Mithril Necklace that could sense the Eye of Rudolf, asking him to bring Aidan back.
• Annan left Envoy Village on an Elf Dragon and followed the necklace’s bearing without asking Kael'thas and the others for help.
• Prince Aidan ordered Ideal Kingdom to move to hideout fifteen after learning that the steward had been captured and their cover might be exposed.
• Annan’s necklace shifted direction, and a giant tree behind him erupted in flames as he continued pursuing Aidan.
• Prince Aidan sensed that Annan had contacted his brother, sent Ideal Kingdom to hideout fifteen, and stayed behind to confront Annan.
• Prince Aidan used the Eye of Rudolf to dispel the Elf Dragon’s wind Spell, causing it to crash with Annan inside its wings.

Annan confronted Prince Aidan, who destroyed the Mithril Necklace and vanished after declaring that Annan must stop following him. Annan realized Aidan’s stated desire to avenge Losthome might conceal another target, and rushed to warn the Elven Royal Court.

• Annan emerged from beneath the Elf Dragon’s wing and tried to persuade Prince Aidan to return with him, but Aidan said it was too late because his plan had already begun.
• Annan argued that Aidan’s ideals were too extreme and asked him to hand over Irilanze, but Aidan refused and said he would keep her hostage.
• Prince Aidan crushed the Mithril Necklace, warned Annan not to follow him again, and vanished using the Eye of Rudolf.
• Annan gathered the necklace fragments and began to suspect Aidan was not truly seeking revenge for Losthome, since it had no connection to him.
• Annan forced his way into the Elf Flower Court and warned the Elders that Losthome was a smokescreen and that Prince Aidan had another target.

Annan warned the Elven Elders that Prince Aidan was pursuing a goal beyond revenge, but they initially dismissed him. As attacks spread through the Elven Royal Court, Tadel summoned Annan to the Flower Court, where she revealed that Lord Emerald’s child had been stolen.

• Orian Whisper brought Annan to the Flower Court, where he warned the Elven Elders that Prince Aidan was after something whose consequences could rival the Lost Village Incident.
• A High Elf Elder challenged Annan’s evidence and ordered guards to remove him, but Orian Whisper and other Elders agreed that they should tighten security.
• Annan escaped the Dark Night Dungeon, resumed his disguise as Kael'thas, and saw that Ideal Kingdom’s frequent attacks were keeping the Elven Royal Court distracted.
• Tadel summoned Annan to the Flower Court, where guards searched him and took his Talisman before she told him that Lord Emerald’s child had been stolen.

Annan met Lord Emerald, who revealed that Prince Aidan had used the Eye of Rudolf to steal the soul of his young Elf Dragon child. Lord Emerald restored Annan’s tracking necklace and asked him to find the prince, leaving Annan to follow its guidance with the Elven Royal Court’s support.

• Tadel told Annan that Prince Aidan had stolen Lord Emerald’s child and brought him to meet Lord Emerald.
• Lord Emerald showed Annan and Tadel a vision of Prince Aidan using the Eye of Rudolf to capture the young Elf Dragon’s soul.
• Annan explained that Prince Aidan had controlled him and destroyed the Mithril Necklace, and Lord Emerald restored it.
• Lord Emerald promised that the Elven Royal Court would help Annan face the Divine Artifact as he pursued Prince Aidan.
• Annan asked why Lord Emerald would not catch Prince Aidan personally, and Lord Emerald answered that the river ended in a waterfall.

Annan assembled a small team of Legends to rescue Lord Emerald’s child from Prince Aidan and the Ideal Kingdom. As Annan prepared to move, Prince Aidan realized the elves had reacted suspiciously and ordered the child’s soul sacrificed to the World Tree after sunset.

• Annan confirmed that he could give reasonable orders to any elf, including the Elders, and asked Tadel to assemble a small team with a Legendary Mage, a Ranger, and the Skeleton King.
• Annan rejected the first Legendary Elf Ranger as too hostile to follow orders, and Tadel replaced him with a more cooperative Ranger.
• Annan told Tadel not to withdraw the guards and explained that the team would approach Prince Aidan without alerting him, then strike the Ideal Kingdom all at once.
• Prince Aidan concluded that the elves had discovered the Ideal Kingdom’s hideout, but dismissed the King’s suspicion that one of them had betrayed the group.
• Prince Aidan ordered the Ideal Kingdom to sacrifice Lord Emerald’s child to the World Tree after sunset.

Annan’s group evacuated nearby Elves after discovering the Ideal Kingdom had buried Magic Scrolls around its hideout. Prince Aidan detected the evacuation and triggered the attack, while Annan’s group extinguished the resulting fire and rescued a dying attacker; Aidan watched from afar and remained at large.

• Annan ordered the Elven residents near Prince Aidan’s hideout evacuated after the group found buried Magic Scrolls.
• Prince Aidan noticed the streets were unusually empty, woke his followers, and ordered them to advance their plan while the Gardener stayed behind.
• Annan realized the Ideal Kingdom had spotted them and sent the Elven team to attack the giant tree.
• The Gardener activated a Trap, but an arrow pinned him as the remaining Magic Scrolls erupted in flames and injured or killed about ten people.
• Ellia called down the World Tree’s life-giving rain to extinguish the fire, and Annan ordered the rescuers to save the mortally wounded attacker for questioning.
• Prince Aidan watched from a distant tree as the fire was put out and the Gardener died, then said Annan would lose because he feared sacrifice.

Annan and his allies pursued Prince Aidan through the Emerald Capital, but Aidan used Magic Scroll traps and sacrifices to slow them down. After Shiro was captured, Aidan confronted Annan and forced him to choose between three endangered targets.

• Prince Aidan returned to the Ideal Kingdom after the Gardener's death and used the Eye of Rudolf to teleport away with his companions.
• Annan's group survived a Magic Scroll explosion beneath a giant tree and continued pursuing Aidan as he repeatedly left followers behind to detonate traps.
• Aidan's companions fled from another platform, but Shiro stayed behind and was captured by Annan before he could activate a trap.
• Aidan appeared as an illusion and challenged Annan to choose whether to save the Elf Dragon soul, the Elves above a hidden pile of Magic Scrolls, or Irilanze.

Annan traded the “King” for Irilanze, but found her lifeless and without her soul. He pursued Prince Aidan through the Emerald Capital and realized Aidan was heading toward the World Tree.

• Annan exchanged the “King” for Irilanze, and Prince Aidan released her location at the Treehouse.
• Annan found Irilanze dead and carried her body back to Free City, while the “King” later killed himself.
• Prince Aidan repeatedly teleported away, leaving companions and traps to delay Annan and the Elf reinforcements.
• Annan confronted Aidan about Irilanze’s soul, but Aidan vanished again using the Eye of Rudolf.
• Elliana mapped the pursuit route, and the Legendary Elf Ranger realized Aidan was approaching the World Tree.

Annan and his companions pursued Prince Aidan into the Elves’ Forbidden Grounds, forcing their way past the Treefolk with Elliana’s help. They encountered High Elf guards led by Loshim, who refused to let them pass without authorization despite Aidan’s abduction of Lord Emerald’s child.

• Annan realized Prince Aidan was heading toward the World Tree, and Tadel agreed they had to stop him.
• The Treefolk barred Annan’s party from entering the Forbidden Grounds without authorization from a High Elf Elf Elder.
• Annan ordered the group to force their way in, and Elliana restrained the Treefolk with vines while the Skeleton King carried the others over them.
• A distant horn sounded as Annan’s party advanced, and Prince Aidan vanished after saying he wanted to see whether he and Annan would remain friends or become enemies.
• High Elf guards led by Loshim intercepted the party, but Loshim refused to let them proceed without authorization and revealed he was courting Tadel.
• Tadel called Loshim an idiot.

Annan, Tadel, and the Legendary Elf Ranger escaped Loshim’s attempt to stop them and continued pursuing Prince Aidan. After Annan urged Tadel to change the Elven Royal Court rather than merely complain about it, he and Tadel reached the World Tree’s Emerald Plains and continued on foot.

• Tadel accused Loshim of letting the real culprit threaten the World Tree, and the Legendary Elf Ranger shot Loshim and pinned the other guards to let Annan and Tadel pass.
• Annan explained to Tadel how once-effective systems could become rigid, urging her to find ways to change what she disliked.
• Annan recorded his arguments for Prince Aidan on a Magic Stone and said he still hoped to persuade him to change his mind.
• The Skeleton King warned that an Anti-Magic Field ahead would weaken him, and Tadel explained it could suppress even a Divine Artifact.
• The Skeleton King stopped at the forest’s edge, and Annan and Tadel set out across the Emerald Plains toward the World Tree.

Annan and Tadel fought through Prince Aidan’s guards beneath the World Tree and pursued him as he used the Eye of Rudolf to escape. Aidan collapsed after teleporting, where the Bard confronted him and promised to show him the future he had created.

• Annan and Tadel found their Magic Scrolls unusable in the Anti-Magic Field, so Tadel fought Prince Aidan’s two subordinates with a Crystal Short Sword and improvised arrows.
• Tadel killed both subordinates after they pursued Annan, then joined him in chasing Prince Aidan.
• Prince Aidan used the Eye of Rudolf to teleport several miles away, but the effort left him coughing blood as the Scepter cracked.
• The Bard appeared beside Prince Aidan and said he would show him what the future he had created would look like.

Aidan dreamed of a future in which his actions sparked a devastating war between the Paem Kingdom and the Elves, followed by a Demon invasion that ruined Wilhelm. After waking, he rejected the Bard’s offer and continued toward the World Tree with the Eye of Rudolf.

• Aidan used the Eye of Rudolf to absorb the Bard’s soul, then fed the sleeping Young Dragon’s soul to the World Tree and returned Irilanze’s soul to Annan.
• Annan told Aidan they were no longer friends, returned the Mithril Necklace, and left with Tadel.
• The Third Prince took Aidan through a Magic Gate, but the Elves blamed the Paem Kingdom and launched a war that spread across Wilhelm and enabled a Demon invasion.
• Aidan awoke from the vision, refused the Bard’s offer, and threatened him with the Eye of Rudolf.
• The Bard faded away, and Aidan continued toward the World Tree without faltering.

Annan and Tadel caught up with the wounded Prince Aidan near the World Tree, where Aidan defeated Tadel with the Eye of Rudolf and spoke with Annan about changing the world. Aidan died after revealing where the captured souls were and warning Annan about the Elves and the bard.

• Tadel fought Prince Aidan while Annan kept his distance, and Aidan used the Eye of Rudolf to knock Tadel unconscious.
• Aidan threw away the Eye of Rudolf and offered to return the souls if Annan could convince him to abandon his plan to destroy the Rules and start a war.
• Annan described his ambition to transform society and give ordinary people access to education and new opportunities.
• Aidan agreed with Annan's vision but died after telling him the souls were in the Eye of Rudolf and warning him not to trust the Elves or the bard.