Chapter Summaries

Lorne left Bayam aboard a ship bound for Backlund, where he met Kalu, who tried to introduce him to the Sea God, and the sharp-tongued adventurer Anderson. That night, fog shrouded the ship, and a panicked passenger warned Lorne that pirates were attacking.

• Lorne bought a second-class ticket to Backlund after a stranger bumped into him at the ticket hall, leaving his spiritual intuition unsettled.
• A Chestnut-haired Lady entered Lorne's former hotel room by climbing down pea vines, but found it empty.
• Lorne met Kalu aboard the ship and learned that Kalu worshipped the Sea God Kalvetua, but declined the offered statue.
• Anderson mocked Lorne for refusing Kalu's statue and introduced himself as an adventurer.
• Thick fog covered the ship that night, and a fleeing passenger told Lorne that pirates were aboard.

Lorne found himself aboard a passenger ship threatened by pirates, while Anderson revealed he was a bounty hunter and Kalu prayed to the Sea God Kalvetua. A sudden storm disrupted the pirates’ attack, but Lorne realized two storms were colliding around the ship, leaving everyone caught in the clash.

• Lorne left his cramped cabin and went to the deck, where he met Anderson and learned that Anderson was a bounty hunter seeking a wallet.
• The pirate captain Tracy prepared to attack the passenger ship after her crew took advantage of the thick fog.
• Lorne returned below deck and found Kalu praying to Kalvetua to protect the ship from the pirates.
• A Calamity Priest panicked over a sense of impending danger, tried to escape, and passed out when the ship lurched.
• A violent storm scattered the fog and disrupted the pirates’ attack, but Lorne saw strange spirals in the rain and realized two storms were colliding around the ship.

A violent storm wrecked Lorne’s passenger ship and Tracy’s pirate ship, leaving Lorne stranded at sea. He found a life raft, collected a Beyonder Characteristic from a corpse, and finally spotted Lucky atop a crystal containing a black-haired girl.

• Lorne tried to reach the lifeboats as the passenger ship broke apart, and he was swept into the sea while throwing Lucky toward safety.
• A Calamity Priest woke in the wreckage, realized his potion had digested, and was knocked into the sea by a broken mast.
• Tracy ordered her crew to fight the storm, but lightning struck her ship and hurled her into the water.
• The Calamity Priest clung to Lorne’s leg, and Lorne shot him three times before a wave swept him away.
• Lorne found a damaged but seaworthy life raft, collected a Beyonder Characteristic from a nearby corpse, and prayed for the dead man.
• Lorne heard Lucky’s meow and swam toward her, where he discovered her perched on a crystal containing a black-haired girl.

Lorne found an unconscious woman sealed inside a crystal coffin and decided to keep her on his life raft rather than leave her to die. The woman, Tracy, woke and remembered being struck by lightning, while Lorne pretended to sleep nearby.

• Lorne found a woman in a crystal coffin and wondered whether she was alive or dangerous.
• Lorne debated rescuing the woman, and Lucky pointed toward the coffin and the life raft; Lorne chose to keep her with him.
• Lorne realized his suitcase had been lost when the ship sank, then used the Three of Diamonds to retrieve supplies and start a small fire.
• Tracy woke inside the crystal coffin and recalled that lightning had struck her during a storm after she set out to raid a passenger liner.
• Tracy noticed Lorne nearby and wondered if he was an enemy, while Lorne detected movement and pretended to fall asleep.

After a storm left Lorne and Tracy stranded at sea, they shared a life raft and tried to make their way toward Bayam. Two days later, they were still adrift, and Lorne refused to be swayed by Tracy’s attempts at seduction.

• Lorne shot a fishman that had climbed onto the raft and discovered it had been trying to reach the crystal coffin.
• Tracy emerged from the coffin, told Lorne that fishmen were good food and useful materials, and asked him for his coat.
• Lorne cooked the fishman for himself, Lucky, and Tracy, then recognized Tracy’s powerful seductive charm as a sign that she was a Beyonder.
• Tracy said the storm had stranded her near Bayam and suggested they paddle north, while Lorne introduced himself as Brando.
• After two days of paddling without finding land, Tracy tried to avoid taking her turn at the oar by seducing Lorne, but he tossed it aside and said he was no gentleman.

Lorne shared supplies with the wounded Tracy, while Alger investigated rumors about a missing passenger ship and received orders from the Wave Church to look into it. Tracy remained stranded and injured, relying on her mother to find her as Lorne wondered about her state of mind.

• Tracy asked Lorne for food, and he offered her a can of Wolf Fish canned food, but Lucky brought her a different can of meat.
• Tracy cuddled Lucky while Lorne watched, concerned by the cat's agitated tail.
• In a Bayam bar, Alger heard conflicting accounts of a missing passenger ship and learned that a storm and two waterspouts had sunk it.
• Bishop Jogori ordered Alger to verify a rumor that Vice Admiral Iceberg had obtained Death's Key and to prepare for an investigation into the passenger ship's accident.
• Tracy worried that her wounds would leave her vulnerable to pirates and her fellow Demonesses, and hoped her mother would come for her.
• Lorne watched Tracy fall silent and wondered whether she had psychological issues.

Lorne rescued the badly wounded Tracy while they drifted at sea, treating her injuries and giving her food. Tracy woke and questioned his motives, and Lorne insisted she owed him two lives and was not allowed to die before repaying him.

• Lorne stopped Orange Cat from attacking Tracy after his intuition warned him against it.
• Lorne discovered Tracy was feverish and had a severe infected burn, then rinsed and treated the wound with medicine.
• Tracy woke to find her wound bandaged and Orange Cat beside her, then accepted food from Lorne.
• Tracy asked why Lorne had helped her, and he declared she owed him two lives and could not die until he decided the debt was repaid.
• Lorne privately blamed his unusually forceful display on Brando, separating Brando from himself.

Lorne and Tracy drifted on a life raft after surviving a storm, with food and water running low. When a pirate ship spotted them and approached, they both recognized the danger and prepared to respond.

• Lorne dreamed that Schemer offered to help him against Narcissist and the old woman, then woke on the raft beside Lucky.
• Tracy thanked Lorne for bandaging her wounds and awkwardly asked whether he had seen her body.
• Lorne urged Tracy to eat while she recovered, and she developed a strange, flustered feeling toward him.
• A pirate ship spotted the raft, and its captain ordered the crew to approach after learning a beautiful woman was aboard.
• Lorne and Tracy exchanged a knowing glance as the pirates headed toward them.

Lorne and Tracy captured a pirate ship, but their uneasy conversation about Edwina was interrupted by an island appearing ahead. Elsewhere, Alger arrived at his destination with a bad feeling.

• Tracy and Lorne boarded the Blood Shark, where Tracy knocked out the pirate crew while Lorne searched the cabins.
• The captain recognized Tracy as Disease, but she knocked him unconscious before he could reveal more; he then attacked Lorne and was shot dead.
• Lorne found a Rose School symbol on the captain and worried about sailing the ship, while Tracy said she could handle it.
• Tracy grew jealous and defensive when Lorne admitted he knew Edwina Edwards, then fell silent after he defended the captain.
• After Lorne replenished food and water, Tracy noticed an unfamiliar island ahead of the ship.
• Alger rubbed his itchy nose, then prepared to move after his subordinate reported they had arrived.

Lorne and Tracy, lost at sea, landed on a mist-shrouded island and explored ancient ruins. Inside a church, Lorne found a mural depicting a radiant cross and thought of God Almighty.

• Lorne woke from a strange dream aboard the ship and found Tracy acting unusually while steering.
• Tracy told Lorne that faulty charts and strange winds had left them lost, so they docked at a nearby island.
• Lorne and Tracy prepared to explore the island, where Tracy sensed many Beyonder creatures despite seeing none.
• They found overgrown ruins, and Lorne identified the architecture as an early Fourth Epoch church.
• Lorne and Tracy entered the best-preserved building and discovered a mural of a huge cross atop a mountain, which made Lorne think of God Almighty.

Lorne discovered a mural depicting God Almighty and the Blasphemy Slate, photographed it, and found stairs leading deeper into the ruins. As he prepared to descend despite Tracy’s objections, an unseen observer sensed danger approaching the island, while Klein’s divination showed something had gone wrong.

• Lorne recognized the mural’s cross, angels, and Blasphemy Slate, then wondered whether it depicted God Almighty or a powerful Transmigrator.
• Lorne photographed the mural for Edwina, upsetting Tracy, who objected to him sharing their discovery with the captain.
• Tracy raised the lantern while Lorne finished photographing the mural, and she privately planned to keep him with her as a pirate.
• Lorne found stairs leading underground, gave the injured Tracy Lucky to hold, and took the lantern to investigate despite Tracy’s warning.
• An anonymous observer sensed a malicious presence approaching the island and then felt a gaze from the endless void.
• Above the Gray Fog, Klein found that his divination had gone wrong despite encountering no danger.

Klein joined the Guild, received the Magician potion, and was assigned Ilyin and Falsa as live-in bodyguards while owing the organization twenty years of work. Meanwhile, Charles arranged the Intis ambassador’s assassination and its cover-up, and Klein’s awkward domestic life continued when Sergeant Fasing arrived at his door.

• Five of Clubs told Klein the Guild had spent 20,000 pounds cleaning up his earlier mess, said he owed the organization twenty years of work, and gave him the Magician potion after Klein confirmed he had digested his Clown potion.
• Klein became a Magician and learned that Ilyin and Falsa had been ordered to live in his house and protect him from an impending accident.
• Five of Clubs discussed the Intis ambassador operation with Charles, who said the cleanup would make the death look like a clash between the Aurora Order and Intis spies.
• The Desire Apostle killed the Intis ambassador by detonating his desires, and Charles agreed to help the assassin find requested materials.
• Ilyin praised Klein’s cooking, flirted with him, and leaned close until a knock at the door interrupted them; Klein opened it to Sergeant Fasing.

Klein survived Rosago’s ambush with Ilyin’s help and a Sun Flame charm, then agreed to keep the attack secret in exchange for splitting the spoils. He later reassured Xio that he was pursuing Lorne Dysenk, while Fors prepared to meet a new client: Audrey Hall.

• Rosago disguised as Sergeant Fasing entered Klein’s home and used his Seer ability to slow Klein’s thoughts, while Ilyin attacked him with spirit body threads.
• Klein used a Flaming Jump and an Air Bullet against Rosago, then blinded him with a Sun Flame charm and killed him.
• Ilyin proposed hiding the encounter and dividing Rosago’s belongings; Klein agreed, and she took a Notary Mystical Item and the money while Klein kept a Marionettist characteristic.
• At the Truth Society, Klein told Xio he had found a lead on Lorne Dysenk and persuaded her to leave, then decided to use divination himself.
• Xio returned to Fors, who told her Audrey Hall seemed to have a commission for them.

Audrey hired Xio and Fors to find Lorne Dysenk for five hundred pounds, while Lorne explored an underground burial chamber on an unnamed island. He and Tracy escaped a collapsing ceiling, but a gigantic arm crashed into the chamber.

• Audrey met Xio and Fors at Philip Department Store and asked them to find someone discreetly.
• Audrey offered five hundred pounds for finding Lorne Dysenk, and Xio and Fors recognized the name.
• Lorne photographed strange statues and murals as he explored the ruins and reached a burial chamber.
• Lorne discovered a grisly floor painting depicting a figure's dismemberment and photographed it.
• Tracy found Lorne and warned him about nearby gargoyles before the chamber began to collapse.
• Lorne grabbed Tracy and dove aside as a ten-meter-long arm crashed through the ceiling.

Lorne and Tracy fled as a catastrophic force associated with the Rose School devastated the island, while Klein tried to divine Lorne’s location Above the Gray Fog. Cornered and unable to escape, Lorne remembered the Transmigration Guide and shouted “Leodero!”

• A giant, grotesque arm appeared in the burial chamber, and Lorne pulled Tracy toward the exit as the Rose School’s hostile presence pursued them.
• A gargoyle blocking the passage rotted into sludge, and Lorne and Tracy emerged to find the Black Forest withering as creatures across the island screamed in pain.
• Tracy’s abdominal wound suddenly worsened, so Lorne carried her and ran while she urged him to escape without her.
• Klein went Above the Gray Fog and repeatedly divined Lorne Dysenk’s location, eventually glimpsing a blurry image of an island as hidden presences stirred in the fog.
• Lorne realized his spirituality was locked down and that the disaster seemed aimed at him; as crimson moonlight appeared, he recalled the Transmigration Guide and shouted “Leodero!” in Ancient Hermes.

Lorne woke on a reef with Tracy and Orange Cat alive, then realized the lightning had erased the primeval island. As corpses of Beyonder creatures drifted toward him, he found one carrying a card and began searching it.

• Lightning from the Tyrant destroyed the giant hand and ravaged the island, while the anonymous individual escaped and left Lorne unconscious.
• Klein's divination briefly showed the lightning-wreathed island before a bolt struck through the vision and frightened him.
• In a strange expanse of nothingness, Lorne resumed playing cards with three companions.
• Lorne awoke on a reef, confirmed Tracy and Orange Cat were alive, and realized the island had been destroyed.
• Lorne recalled shouting a word from the Transmigration Guide but could not remember it, suspecting his memory had sealed away a dangerous incantation.
• Lorne found a dead Beyonder with a card among the wreckage, then saw more corpses drifting toward the reef.

Lorne discovered Roselle’s Card of Blasphemy among the wreckage of a supernatural battle and collected valuable Beyonder remains. He rescued Tracy and Lucky aboard the battered Blood Shark, but realized he had no idea how to sail it.

• Lorne found Roselle’s Card of Blasphemy, identified it as the Sequence 0 Tyrant card, and stored it in the Three of Diamonds.
• Lorne collected a Curly-Haired Baboon’s Beyonder Characteristic and pondered how to handle the many corpses and escape the rocks.
• Lorne spotted the battered Blood Shark drifting nearby and climbed aboard.
• Lorne found that the unconscious pirates had vanished, then brought Tracy, Lucky, and the Beyonder creatures’ remains onto the ship.
• Lorne reached the helm and realized he did not know how to sail the Blood Shark.

Alger recovered a hidden cache containing money, Roselle’s Diary pages, and a reference to the Antigonus Notebook from a suitcase in the shipwreck area. Meanwhile, Lorne sailed a damaged pirate ship while considering the Tyrant pathway, then found Tracy awake and told her she owed him three lives.

• Alger’s crew found an intact suitcase, and Alger discovered a hidden compartment after sending his subordinate away.
• Alger found about five hundred pounds, Roselle’s Diary pages, and the word “Antigonus,” which he connected to Mr. Fool’s will.
• Lorne used divination to steer the damaged pirate ship and studied the Tyrant apotheosis ritual from the Card of Blasphemy.
• Lorne wondered whether the Transmigration Guide’s seventh rule about honorific names granting advancement to Angel was true.
• Tracy woke aboard the ship, and Lorne told her she now owed him three lives.

After recovering aboard the seized pirate ship, Tracy learned that a high-sequence Beyonder had apparently intervened and that the island had been destroyed. Lorne shared the recovered Beyonder materials with her, while Tracy’s gratitude and attraction to him fed a dangerous fantasy.

• Tracy imagined how she might repay Lorne, then accepted a meal he brought her.
• Lorne told Tracy that he had also lost consciousness and suspected a high-sequence Beyonder had intervened before the island was destroyed.
• Tracy confirmed they were heading toward Bayam, though the ship’s damaged mast and sails left them drifting.
• Lorne showed Tracy the storeroom full of Beyonder creature corpses and offered her half of the valuable materials.
• After Lucky woke, Tracy watched Lorne leave and fantasized about tying him up and making him hers.

At sea, Lorne cared for Lucky and wondered whether someone had protected him during the disasters in Tingen and on Primitive Island. Tracy brought him food, questioned him about his name, and finally told him her name was Tracy, which Lorne thought he might have heard before.

• Lorne comforted Lucky and reflected on how he had survived the dangers of the voyage unharmed.
• Lorne suspected that someone had interfered to protect him and remembered seeing a mysterious figure he associated with a priest on Primitive Island.
• Tracy brought Lorne a bowl of bread mush, and he asked whether she had seen anyone else on the island before she passed out.
• Tracy explained that Spectators and Assassins could conceal themselves, and she laughed when Lorne said he had once considered choosing the Assassin Pathway.
• Tracy asked for Lorne's full name, and he claimed it was Monkey Brando before turning the question back to her.
• Tracy revealed that her name was Tracy, and Lorne said it sounded familiar.