Chapter Summaries

Neph followed Mithor King to an inn and confronted her own uncertainty about witnessing exploitation, then formed a distant hope of recreating her homeland in this world. She planned to learn about the Black Death and sneak aboard, while Klein asked her about Arrodes and she revealed that it was a bathroom mirror.

• Neph followed Mithor King to an inn, where she saw him accept the proprietor’s offer of a room with Chameli after learning Jasmine was ill.
• Neph wrestled with her anger and helplessness, questioned whether leaving Backlund had been a way to avoid suffering, and decided she wanted to recreate her remembered homeland in the present world.
• Neph resolved to wait until nightfall and gather information about Mithor King before trying to sneak aboard the Black Death.
• Klein summoned Neph to Sefirah Castle and told her the Church of Steam and Machinery was exploring Amon’s mausoleum with heavy bombardment.
• Neph explained that Arrodes was a bathroom mirror.

Klein asked Neph about Arrodes, the Primordial Moon, and the curse behind Talim Dumont’s death, then learned that the culprit was connected to Trissy Cheek and the Primordial Demoness’s descent. Neph warned Klein to keep away from the royal family and leave Backlund after advancing to Faceless, while revealing that her catastrophe paintings would soon become a newspaper headline.

• Neph told Klein that Arrodes could be trusted, identified Lilith as the former owner of the Moon Pathway, and warned him to avoid the Primordial Moon.
• Klein described Talim Dumont’s suspicious death and showed Neph his divination vision of a hand with a sapphire ring cursing a wooden doll.
• Neph revealed that she had sent her catastrophe paintings to the Backlund Morning Post, which would publish them on its front page the next day.
• Neph identified Trissy as Trissy Cheek and linked the sapphire ring to the Demoness Sect and the Primordial Demoness’s descent.
• Neph warned Klein that Trissy and 0-08 had likely noticed him, advised him to stay clear of the royal family and leave Backlund after advancing to Faceless, and Klein worried about finding an agent for his bicycle.

Neph arranged for Cattleya to send her share of the Singing Sunflower profits through the Fool and encouraged her to seek him out. When Cattleya peered at the Fool through the gray fog, Klein exposed her to the True Creator’s corruption, leaving her writhing in pain.

• Neph calculated her dwindling funds and contacted Cattleya to claim her 450-pound share of the Singing Sunflower proceeds.
• Neph taught Cattleya the Fool’s prayer and sacrificial rituals, telling her to seek permission before sending the money.
• Klein received Neph’s warning and suggested that Cattleya could be invited to the Tarot Club for her resources and access to Roselle’s Diary.
• Klein used Sefirah Castle to let Cattleya glimpse the True Creator’s corruption when she tried to peer at him.
• Cattleya suffered intense pain and began convulsing as her skin split and black worms and white moths writhed beneath it.

Klein welcomed Cattleya into the Tarot Club as the Hermit and asked her to keep the gathering secret. Elsewhere, Neph read that Duke Negan had died, while Klein prepared to advance to Faceless by drinking the potion.

• Klein suppressed the True Creator's influence on Cattleya and invited her to introduce herself as the Admiral of Stars.
• Klein allowed Cattleya to join the regular gathering, assigned her the code name the Hermit, and told her to ask before bringing someone to him again.
• Neph read that Duke Negan had drowned and suspected the Twilight Hermit Order had found a Winner to carry out the assassination.
• Klein assembled the Faceless Potion ingredients, prepared the potion, and drank it.

Klein asked Neph about the sacred staircase in Sefirah Castle and learned that ascending it would reveal a culture medium connected to the fate of transmigrators. He accepted that he might have to kill the being at the end of his path or become him, then noticed Neph had comforted him like a mother.

• Klein showed Neph the sacred staircase and asked what waited beyond it.
• Neph explained that transmigrators existed in the past, present, and future, and that Klein would encounter a culture medium rather than Sefirah Castle’s former owner.
• Klein understood that his fate might lead him to kill the being ahead or become him, and Neph confirmed that past transmigrators had tried to escape similar fates through death.
• Klein connected the deaths of the past Sun God and Roselle to attempts to escape their fates, while Neph warned that some truths were dangerous for him to know.
• Klein told Neph that her comforting pat reminded him of his mother, and Neph awkwardly agreed.

Neph reflected on her feelings for Klein and learned when his siblings would arrive in Backlund, then considered how to infiltrate the Black Death. At the Tarot Club, Derrick reacted fearfully to his fate loop as the new member, Cattleya, was introduced.

• Neph told Klein that his brother and sister would arrive in Backlund by steam train on the afternoon of January third, and asked him to listen for reactions to her paintings.
• Neph recalled probing Silver Tongue Mithor King's memories and learned that he hoped to control Tracy and Helene, but worried that Katarina Pelle might detect her if she infiltrated the Black Death.
• Neph waited until the next Tarot Club gathering, while Klein stayed busy finding a proxy and avoiding Trissy Cheek.
• At the gathering, Neph recognized that Derrick had become aware of his situation and calmed him while Mr. Fool introduced Cattleya as Madam Hermit.
• Audrey greeted the Tarot Club members in turn and welcomed Cattleya, telling her she could be called Miss Justice.

Derrick described the repeated explorations of the ruined city, and the Tarot Club discussed how Ouroboros’s power might have trapped Jack in a cycle. The meeting ended with Neph identifying the six gods of the Fourth Epoch and confirming that the God of Steam and Machinery had been forced to become a god.

• Derrick told the Tarot Club that his group had explored the temple five times, each time returning to their camp after meeting Jack.
• Neph explained that Ouroboros’s power could create the cycle and suggested Derrick test whether Jack reacted to mentions of the Sonia Sea, the Loen Kingdom, and port cities.
• Derrick showed the club images of the ruined city, the temple murals, and Jack, prompting Neph to ask for more details and Alger to examine a mural depicting the True Creator confronting six gods.
• Alger recognized that one of the figures in the mural resembled the Lord of Storms, and Neph warned him not to call his god evil.
• The World showed statues and sacred emblems from Fourth Epoch ruins, and Neph confirmed they depicted six gods and said the God of Steam and Machinery had been forced to become a god.
• Derrick asked Neph whether the painting was the key to breaking the cycle.

At the Tarot Club, Neph linked the words “Rose Redemption” to a mural and revealed that her paintings depicted a coming catastrophe. After Fors found a bounty on Neph, the Fool named Edessak Augustus as a possible source of information.

• Derrick confirmed that the mural’s Jotun-derived script resembled the ancient form of the language Alger conjured, and Alger urged him to investigate its contents when he returned.
• Cattleya explained that Beyonder abilities could let Jack rapidly acquire languages and other knowledge.
• Audrey offered three pages of Roselle’s Diary, and Fors promised to bring more pages to the next meeting, drawing Cattleya’s interest.
• Audrey bought news of Mirror Dragon eyes for 1,000 pounds, while Fors ordered two Spirit Eater’s Stomachs from Neph.
• Fors reported finding a bounty for Neph Dumbledore and said Neph’s four newspaper paintings had given her a bad feeling; Neph confirmed they showed the future catastrophe.
• Neph suggested asking the Fool’s Blessed in Backlund, and the Fool identified Edessak Augustus.

At the Tarot Club, Neph explained that Prince Edessak had become involved in a Descent Ritual and warned Klein that Amon might have released Medici to investigate the Ancient Sun God’s fate. She revealed the history of Rose Redemption, while realizing she had developed genuine faith in the True Creator.

• Audrey asked Neph about the two evil gods’ descent, and Neph said Cheek’s Divine Descent Vessel was ready while Mr. A was unlikely to stop without Church forces confronting him.
• After the Tarot Club ended, Klein asked Neph about Rose Redemption, and she questioned him when he revealed he had reported Baronet Pound’s underground ruins to the Church instead of meeting Medici.
• Neph suspected Amon had released Medici to verify the truth about his father and warned Klein that Amon was still searching for the Fool without knowing Klein’s identity.
• Neph explained that Dark Angel Sasrir had been one of the Ancient Sun God’s Kings of Angels and had founded Rose Redemption after being tempted.
• Neph realized she had developed genuine faith in the True Creator despite feeling clear-minded and free of coercion.

Klein asked Neph about Rose Redemption and the True Creator before telling her about a nightmare involving two white snakes. Neph suspected the Fate Pathway’s Uniqueness had changed hands, leaving Klein to watch for further nightmares and wait to see what fate would bring.

• Klein confirmed that Neph still opposed the Apocalypse, and she explained that true names of Gods could carry power and should not be spoken carelessly.
• Neph told Klein that Rose Redemption had been founded by Sasrir and Amanises to assassinate the Ancient Sun God, after which Sasrir revived as the True Creator and took the Hanged Man Pathway.
• Neph explained that Emlyn’s psychological suggestion only made him volunteer at the church, and that Roselle had tried to help Bornova become an Angel but cared more about his son retaining his humanity.
• Klein described his nightmare of a giant white snake watching a frail one that seemed to beg him for help, and connected it to Doctor Aaron’s concerns about his wife’s health.
• Neph suspected the Fate Pathway’s Uniqueness had changed hands and advised Klein to observe events rather than intervene before he was able to help.

After the Backlund Great Smog Incident, Klein told Neph how he escaped Ince Zangwill and Mr. A, while Neph explained that the Evernight Goddess had intervened. Neph urged Klein to digest his Faceless potion and suggested he seek mermaids kept by the Church of Evernight.

• Panatiya took Neph's four paintings from the newspaper office, and the official Beyonders later investigated them and placed Backlund under martial law.
• Ikanser Bernard told a colleague that Arrodes had revealed a bank of white fog when asked about Neph's origins.
• Neph laughed at Klein for being intercepted by Trissy Cheek, and Klein recounted how Mr. Azik saved him from a meteor strike and Ince Zangwill.
• Klein told Neph he had found Mr. A's Descent Ritual and thrown the Master Key to stop it, and Neph said Mr. A had never truly intended to descend.
• Klein described fleeing Mr. A until the Evernight Goddess appeared and made him vanish, and Neph revealed the Church's angel had been the Goddess herself.
• Neph advised Klein to digest his Faceless potion, prepare to find mermaids, and consider approaching the Church of Evernight's mermaids.

Klein asked Neph why the Evernight Goddess would help him, and Neph explained that the Goddess wanted his support in the contest between adjacent pathways. They discussed how Neph could help with Klein’s ritual, Amon’s presence in Leonard, and the changes Neph had made to the story’s timeline.

• Neph told Klein that the Evernight Goddess would help him because she wanted him on her side in the pathway fruit contest, and admitted she had once helped him because he was part of the story’s overall picture.
• Klein and Neph realized she could help him complete his ritual by receiving and answering prayers, so Klein decided to focus on finding an acting method and removing corruption from his Beyonder Characteristics.
• Neph said Leonard could help Klein find a Mystical Item from the Marauder pathway, then revealed that Amon was the Archangel of the Marauder pathway living inside Leonard.
• Neph told Klein that wearing a monocle over his left eye would not attract Amon, while wearing one over his right eye would create ripples in fate.
• Klein confirmed that Emlyn White’s arrival matched Neph’s remembered timeline, and Neph revealed that she had recruited Cattleya earlier than expected.

Neph drank the Memory Collector potion and advanced to Sequence 5, reliving memories that revealed how much her family meant to her. She began exploring her new abilities and planned to test them after stabilizing.

• Klein told Neph that Cattleya had used her Eyes of Mystery Prying on him, and Neph recalled nearly confronting the descended Lord before Ouroboros glared at her.
• Neph performed a ritual and received the Memory Collector potion in an ice bowl, then drank it.
• As the potion took effect, Neph relived memories of Klein, Cattleya, Bernadette, Moon City, Amon, the True Creator, Ouroboros, and her family.
• Neph emerged with light gray hair and realized her family mattered more to her than the book she had once treasured.
• Neph considered her new Memory Collector abilities, including altering memories and borrowing Beyonder Abilities through collected memories, then meditated before planning to sample Amon's memories.

After advancing to Sequence 5, Neph absorbed and organized the memories of Amon's avatar, then used a staged collision to steal a lawyer's wallet and spend the money on an extravagant meal. She invited Mr. Fool to watch her eat at Treasure in Bansy Harbor.

• Neph swallowed the Worm of Time and used the Memory Collection Hall to sort through Amon's avatar's memories, deleting much of the repetitive material.
• Neph concealed her complexion and let a little boy run into her, then took the wallet he had lifted from a man chasing him.
• Neph found more than a hundred pounds in the lawyer's wallet and spent some of it at Treasure on the Sunken Laurel and a set meal.
• Neph recited Mr. Fool's honorific name and invited him to watch her lavish meal at Treasure in Bansy Harbor.

Neph enjoyed an elaborate fine-dining meal and recognized that making her own memories was an important part of acting as a Memory Collector. After finishing, she sensed cracks in her potion’s barrier and considered how to obtain a Traveler-related item.

• Klein declined Neph’s prayer to watch the meal live and suggested she share a replay or memory with him.
• Neph tasted a multi-course meal featuring caviar pastry, cuttlefish ink soup, tuna shaped like a ship, and vanilla mousse with truffles.
• Neph called the meal a memory worth collecting and left the restaurant with the money remaining in her wallet.
• Neph realized that her own experiences mattered to acting as a Memory Collector, and she felt her potion barrier crack as digestion progressed.
• Neph considered acquiring a Traveler-related item or borrowing Mr. X’s Creeping Hunger, but worried about its cost and how to make it forget its use.

Neph showed Klein how to share memories and then suggested a way for him to reconnect with his family by changing their memories. Klein remained unsure, but promised to think carefully before deciding.

• Klein let Neph lift Sefirah Castle's restrictions, and she inserted memories of their meal into his mind.
• Klein asked Neph how she had afforded the meal, and she explained that she had stolen a pickpocket's loot after he tried to rob her.
• Klein considered canceling the next Tarot Club meeting because of his trip to Tingen City and worried about Little Sun and Emlyn.
• Neph suggested changing Klein's family's memories so they would believe he was alive and away on assignment, allowing him to visit them.
• Klein refused to decide immediately, citing the danger to his family, and asked Neph for time to think it over.

Neph tested her ability to receive prayers in the Pure White Space and learned that Cattleya had passed along the Queen’s message about the official investigation and Neph’s mother. In Bansy Harbor, Neph explored using Heavenly Secret Theft to obtain a response from Eternal Winter for her demigod advancement ritual.

• Soest told Leonard Mitchell to stop investigating the girl who had tipped off the newspapers because the matter involved information he was not cleared to know.
• Klein canceled the Monday Tarot Club gathering after learning that little Sun had escaped safely, while Neph’s proposal left him conflicted.
• Neph heard Cattleya’s prayer and answered that she did not mind her mother’s name becoming known.
• Neph shopped in Bansy Harbor for white robes, a wizard hat, and a monocle, then considered how Heavenly Secret Theft could help with her demigod advancement ritual.

Klein watched Benson and Melissa arrive in Backlund without revealing himself, then buried a substitute corpse in his grave to protect against divination. Later, he spoke with Neph, who planned to remain in Bansy Harbor as a Memory Collector despite fearing an incident involving Medici.

• Klein spotted Benson and Melissa at the Backlund station but left before they recognized him.
• Benson hurried Melissa through the crowd, and Melissa wondered if she had seen someone familiar.
• Klein and Mr. Azik placed a decomposed corpse in Klein's grave and restored it to foil anyone who might dig it up.
• Klein spoke with Neph in Sefirah Castle and learned she feared Medici could be in Bansy Harbor ahead of a possible incident.
• Neph decided to stay in Bansy Harbor as a Memory Collector and joked with Klein about the names and abilities of their Pathways.

Neph investigated the planned Bansy Harbor ritual and painted a disturbing image that she placed on the Church of Storms entrance. After Bishop Miller removed it, Neph appeared to Pastor Jess and warned him not to trust the bishop.

• Neph searched Bishop Miller's memories and visited the mountaintop altar where the ritual was planned.
• Neph painted a headless figure in a black cloak and placed the image on the Church of Storms entrance.
• Bishop Miller found the painting with Pastor Jess, took it down, and said he would report it to the Lord.
• Pastor Jess left to investigate the revived sacrificial rites, then encountered Neph, who warned him not to trust Bishop Miller before vanishing.

Neph met Donna Blanch’s family at the Green Lemon Restaurant and warned them that Bansy Harbor’s violent wind would not die down that night. As Neph left with the family, Elland discovered that Priest Jess had been decapitated, and Neph prepared to respond to Enlake.

• Neph entered the Green Lemon Restaurant and spoke with Donna after the girl claimed she had seen a headless Zombie outside.
• Neph told Donna’s family about Bansy Harbor’s warnings against going outside or answering knocks, and said the night would be exciting.
• Elland and Harris entered the church, where Elland’s greeting caused Priest Jess’s severed head to fall to the floor.
• Neph failed to get more blood curd, followed the Blanch family out of the restaurant, and noticed it was nearly time to respond to Enlake.