Chapter Summaries

Lumian Lee entertained Ryan Koss and his companions with a fabricated story about working in a hospital morgue, then revealed that his sister Aurora wrote the tale. Pierre explained that Aurora had brought Lumian to Cordu as a starving homeless child and adopted him, leaving his origins unknown.

• Lumian told Ryan Koss a story about discovering his former colleague's body in a hospital morgue, then admitted he had made it up from one of Aurora's stories.
• Ryan introduced his companions, Valentine and Lya, and bought Lumian absinthe after learning his surname was Lee.
• Pierre offered to explain Lumian's background in exchange for a drink and revealed that Lumian had arrived in Cordu with Aurora five years earlier.
• Pierre said Aurora had found Lumian homeless and nearly starving, adopted him, and given him the name Lumian Lee.
• Lumian said he had forgotten his original name and drank his absinthe without embarrassment.

Lumian took Ryan, Valentine, and Lya to the church, where his prank exposed parish priest Guillaume Béné with Madame Pualis. He returned home and spoke with his sister Aurora, who warned him to stop provoking the priest and then flew down from the roof using supernatural powers.

• Lumian befriended Ryan, Valentine, and Lya at the tavern, teasing them by calling them cabbages and mentioning that another elegant outsider had visited earlier.
• Lumian led the three outsiders to a side entrance of the Church of the Eternal Blazing Sun and opened a door to the confessional.
• Ryan, Valentine, and Lya found Guillaume Béné with a naked woman, while Lumian fled after revealing that they had found the parish priest.
• Lumian returned home and found Aurora sitting on the roof, where he told her about the outsiders and his prank.
• Aurora told Lumian to stop provoking the parish priest, then flew into the house using supernatural powers, leaving Lumian to wonder when he would gain such abilities.

Lumian worried that Aurora’s secrets and supernatural abilities could put her in danger, while his recurring dream of endless gray fog continued. After Aurora refused to help him become a Warlock, Lumian sought clues in a village legend about one.

• Lumian asked Aurora about her letter to a pen pal, and she explained that the correspondence gave her emotional support and useful knowledge.
• Lumian dreamed again of gray fog that always led him back to his bedroom, then told Aurora the recurring dream had returned.
• Aurora considered finding a hypnotist to investigate Lumian’s dream, but refused his request to become a Warlock and warned him that the path was dangerous and irreversible.
• Lumian met Raymond Klegg in Cordu’s village square and asked him to repeat a legend about a dead Warlock whose coffin had required nine oxen to pull.

Lumian persuaded Raymond to help investigate the village legend about a wizard and went looking for Raymond’s father. On the way, they met the shepherd Pierre Berry, and Lumian spotted the mysterious woman from the previous night in the tavern.

• Lumian convinced Raymond that the wizard legend might be true and suggested they search for the wizard’s secrets, while Raymond worried about the Inquisition and his future as a shepherd.
• Raymond agreed to accompany Lumian, and they set off to find his father before the Lent Festival.
• Lumian and Raymond met Pierre Berry, who had returned from shepherding to attend the festival and offered to buy them drinks.
• Lumian wondered why Pierre had traveled so far for the festival, then entered the tavern and noticed the outsider woman from the previous night.

Lumian and Raymond investigated the legend of a warlock whose coffin required nine cows, then Lumian met an outsider who knew about his recurring foggy dreams and gave him a Seven of Wands card. Aurora found no anomaly in the card and agreed to watch the woman, but Lumian saw the gray fog again in his dream.

• Raymond asked his father, Pierre Krag, about the warlock legend, and Pierre said Raymond's grandfather had witnessed the event when he was young.
• The orange-dressed outsider recognized Lumian's recurring foggy dreams and invited him to draw a Minor Arcana card.
• Lumian drew the Seven of Wands, and the outsider gave it to him before going upstairs.
• Lumian and Raymond planned to ask elderly villagers about the warlock and consider checking the church registry later.
• Aurora examined the card, sensed no curse or anomaly, and promised to observe the outsider while keeping watch over Lumian.
• Lumian went to sleep and woke within a dream where the gray fog remained.

Lumian used the Seven of Wands tarot card to enter a lucid dream and saw a ruined settlement around a towering peak, where he glimpsed a moving figure. After telling Aurora, he sought out the mysterious woman, learned the dream might offer supernatural powers but could kill him, and decided to investigate cautiously; she promised to explain herself once he unraveled the dream’s secret.

• Lumian explored his lucid dream from his bedroom window and saw a ruined landscape, a towering peak, and a figure moving among the buildings.
• Lumian fell asleep inside the dream to wake himself, then told Aurora what he had seen; Aurora planned to seek information and urged him to approach the woman carefully.
• Lumian asked tavern owner Maurice Béné which room the woman occupied, then waited outside her door until she came out.
• The woman told Lumian that the dream could grant supernatural powers, warned that dying there would kill him for good, and said leaving it alone might make it worse.
• Lumian decided to investigate the ruins cautiously and asked the woman who she was and why she had given him the tarot card; she said she would answer after he unraveled the dream’s secret.

Lumian and Raymond questioned Naroka about the Warlock legend and learned that the Warlock’s former home stood on the land where Lumian and Aurora now lived. The Warlock’s remains and belongings had been destroyed or removed, but the legend’s owl survived as a possible lead.

• Raymond asked Lumian to investigate the Warlock legend with him, and Lumian proposed involving Ava, Little Guillaume, and Azema later.
• Lumian and Raymond visited Naroka, who recalled that the Warlock had lived on the land where Lumian and Aurora’s house now stood.
• Naroka said the parish priest had taken the Warlock’s valuables, burned down his house, and later reduced his body to ashes before burying them.
• Raymond lamented that nothing remained to find, but Lumian focused on the owl from the legend and looked toward the wooded mountains.

Lumian and Raymond investigated old villagers’ memories of the Warlock’s owl, then Guillaume Béné and his thugs chased Lumian after confronting him about bringing outsiders to the church. Back home, Aurora trained Lumian in self-defense and suffered another bout of tinnitus, leaving him more determined to gain supernatural powers.

• Lumian and Raymond questioned elderly villagers, learning that the Warlock’s owl had been unusually large and had eyes that seemed able to move.
• Lumian told Raymond to consider another legend and promised to teach him fighting techniques, then encountered Guillaume Béné and Pons Béné on the road.
• Pons Béné and the thugs chased Lumian, but he escaped by running through a villager’s house and losing them in the lanes.
• Lumian returned home and watched Aurora exercise before she announced that she would teach him self-defense against perverts.
• Aurora tripped Lumian during a lesson, then asked about his conversation with the woman and approved his decision to wait for her friends’ reply before exploring the dream.
• Aurora’s tinnitus flared up as she discussed lunch, and Lumian offered to cook while she rested.

Lumian read a magazine about spirits with Aurora, then returned to his recurring gray-fog dream and decided to cautiously explore the ruins. He armed himself with a hatchet and opened the front door, leaving the house to begin his exploration.

• Lumian asked Aurora about the government-approved magazine Veil of Mystery, and she said its spirit-contact methods were mostly fictional and discussed the growing popularity of supernatural publications.
• Aurora reviewed Lumian’s education and asked why he had skipped the tavern; he said he wanted to read at home, and they sat together by the desk lamp.
• After going to bed, Lumian woke in the gray-fog dream and noticed that the chair’s position differed from reality, suggesting the dream house reflected his subconscious impressions.
• Lumian decided to explore the ruins cautiously, layered his clothes for protection, and found that he could not summon a breastplate or pistol by wishing for them.
• Lumian chose an iron-black hatchet over a long fork and quietly opened the front door.

Lumian explored a strange ruin in his dream, found a Gold Louis, and was attacked by a seemingly unkillable skinless monster. He escaped to his dream house, which the creature would not enter, then woke in reality and considered how to face it next time.

• Lumian entered a fog-covered ruin and found a Gold Louis bearing Lefvanks's portrait, but realized he could not bring dream money into reality.
• After spotting recent blood near a stove, Lumian was attacked by a skinless, blood-red monster and hacked it down with his axe.
• The monster sprang back up, and Lumian fled to his house, where it watched him through a window before retreating to the ruins.
• Lumian suspected his dream house was safe from the monster, then went to sleep from exhaustion.
• Lumian woke in reality without the Gold Louis and began considering how to deal with the seemingly undying monster.

Lumian discussed how to capture a tough beast with Ava Lizier and Raymond Klegg, who revealed a rumor that Madame Pualis was a witch. After spotting the visiting outsiders and recounting his dream monster to the Tarot card reader, Lumian was told to test other ways of killing it himself.

• Lumian asked Ava Lizier and Raymond Klegg how they would capture a beast whose hide resisted weapons, then asked which village legend they should investigate.
• Ava said Charlie had called Madame Pualis a messenger of souls who could speak with the dead and make potions and charms; Lumian warned them not to report her before confirming the rumor.
• Lumian told Ava and Raymond that Madame Pualis was the Parish Priest's mistress and urged them to keep quiet, promising they could report her to the Bishop if they confirmed she was a witch.
• On his way back to the village, Lumian saw Ryan, Lya, and Valentine questioning villagers and decided to tell Aurora about his uneasy suspicions.
• Lumian told the Tarot card reader about the monster he had encountered in his dream, and she advised him to try beheading, burning, or burying it before asking her for help again.

Lumian overheard Guillaume Béné warning Pons not to involve the Inquisition while outsiders investigated a secret matter tied to Madame Pualis. After Lumian told Aurora what he had learned, she advised him to investigate discreetly and prepare to leave Cordou Village if things worsened, naming Trier as their destination.

• Lumian overheard Pons Béné suggest abducting him, but Guillaume Béné said Aurora might have supernatural powers and warned against alerting the Inquisition.
• Guillaume told Pons to warn the people involved and keep them from revealing anything to the outsiders investigating the matter.
• Lumian returned home and told Aurora about Madame Pualis, the outsiders, and what he had overheard.
• Aurora told Lumian to avoid provoking Madame Pualis, investigate the outsiders, and begin preparing to leave Cordou Village if necessary.
• Aurora said she would settle in Trier if they left, quoting a prophet who said joy would remain in the world as long as Trier endured.

Lumian returned to the dream ruins, prepared to confront the skinless monster, and killed it after luring it into an ambush. He found no supernatural reward and began searching a collapsed house for useful items.

• Lumian confirmed that the dream continued from where he had left it and chose not to search Aurora’s bedroom.
• Lumian lit the stove, prepared torches, and wondered whether the dream connected to a real world.
• Lumian hid in a collapsed building and watched to see whether the light from his home attracted monsters, but none appeared.
• Lumian spotted the healed skinless monster carrying a pitchfork and ambushed it with a brick and axe.
• Lumian decapitated and further mutilated the monster, then confirmed it was dead and found no treasure or power within it.
• Lumian hid the corpse beneath rubble and began searching the collapsed house.

Lumian explored the dream ruins, encountered a terrifying Three-Faced Monster, and discovered that another armed creature was tracking his path. He escaped to his house and woke at dawn, where he spotted an owl watching him from a nearby tree.

• Lumian found coins and a Little Blue Book in a ruined building, then cautiously continued toward the reddish-brown peak.
• Lumian saw a Three-Faced Monster in a black robe and retreated after it seemed to sense his presence.
• Lumian returned toward the Skinless Monster’s burial place and found a half-human, half-beast creature with a hunting rifle inspecting the corpse.
• Lumian realized the rifle-bearing creature was following his earlier route, took a detour, and ran home before it could catch him.
• Lumian added coal to the stove and went to sleep, then woke at dawn without the coins he had collected.
• Lumian opened his window and saw an owl perched nearby, apparently watching him.

After an owl resembling the one in the Warlock legend appeared at Lumian’s window, he told Aurora, who warned him to stay in the village and avoid going out after dark. Lumian then approached Ryan, Lya, and Valentine and learned they had come to Cordou Village seeking the anonymous writer of a letter.

• Lumian saw a strange owl at his window, and it flew away into Cordou Village.
• Lumian told Aurora about the owl and the Warlock legend, and Aurora ordered him to stay home after dark while she investigated.
• Lumian visited Ryan, Lya, and Valentine outside the tavern and offered to help with their inquiries.
• Ryan told Lumian that the group had come to find the unknown person who sent them an unsigned letter from Cordou Village.
• Lumian asked whether the letter’s writer might still distrust them and wondered what the letter contained.

Lumian questioned Ryan and his companions about their mysterious plea for help, then warned Raymond about investigating local legends while hiding the owl’s real threat. Afterward, the mysterious lady told Lumian that his dream gave him special abilities he could use against the monster with the hunting shotgun.

• Lumian learned that the plea for help had been assembled from words cut out of a Little Blue Book, and Ryan said they were searching for signs of whoever was being harmed.
• Lumian explained the village slang behind calling Ryan and the others “my cabbages,” then watched them leave.
• Lumian joked to Raymond that the owl had threatened to take his soul, then warned him that investigating the legends could be dangerous and asked him to stay near the village and church.
• Ryan explained that Lya’s divination identified Lumian as someone who could help, and the group decided to watch him and see whom he contacted.
• Lumian told the mysterious lady about the three-faced monster and the shotgun-wielding monster, and she said his dream gave him special privileges he could use against the latter.

Lumian discovered that the little blue book used to assemble the plea for help belonged to his household, but Aurora denied cutting out its words. After considering who might have had access to it, he suspected Madame Pualis, and the chapter ended when she arrived at his door after dark.

• Lumian found numerous words cut from his family's little blue book and realized it was the one used to assemble the plea for help.
• Lumian asked Aurora if she had cut out the words, but she denied it and offered to help solve the mystery the next day.
• Lumian considered whether he had unknowingly cut out the words, then reasoned that Madame Pualis might have had the opportunity and motive.
• Lumian stopped himself from going out after dark to borrow another little blue book for comparison.
• Madame Pualis arrived at Lumian's door and announced herself.

Madame Pualis visited Lumian and Aurora, confronting Lumian about leading outsiders to the church and describing her affair with Guillaume Béné. After Pualis went into a private discussion with Aurora, Lumian recognized that his recent eagerness to gain supernatural powers had become dangerously reckless.

• Madame Pualis arrived at Lumian's home and asked whether he had deliberately taken three outsiders to the church.
• Lumian accused Pualis of having an affair in God's church, and she admitted it while defending her relationship with Guillaume Béné.
• Pualis teased Lumian with a suggestive advance before he hurried her upstairs to meet Aurora.
• Pualis told Aurora she wanted help preparing a celebration for Lent, and the two entered the study to talk.
• Lumian considered seeking supernatural powers from Pualis, then realized he had become impatient and resolved to choose his opportunities more carefully.

Lumian discovered that meditation in the dream brought out painful, fading markings around his heart, while the same practice in reality left no trace. After seeing the owl outside his window again, he spotted Naroka moving strangely through the night.

• Lumian learned that Madame Pualis had asked Aurora to lead the Praise Celebration, and Aurora had refused.
• In the dream, Lumian meditated on a crimson sun, heard a thunderous sound, and suffered intense pain as black and bluish-black markings appeared around his heart and back.
• After the markings faded, Lumian found himself exhausted and ended his exploration for the night.
• Before dawn, Lumian meditated in reality and confirmed that the strange sound, pain, and markings did not appear there.
• Lumian saw the owl outside his window, watched it fly away, then noticed Naroka walking stiffly near a grove beneath the crimson moon.

After seeing Naroka enter the grove before dawn, Lumian learned that she had died and suspected the owl was connected to her death. He warned Raymond and Aurora about the danger, then pieced together a hidden plea for help from two copies of the Little Blue Book.

• Lumian told Aurora that he had seen Naroka walking into the grove before dawn, and Aurora urged him to check on her after sunrise.
• Lumian learned from Raymond that Naroka had died before dawn, then used a made-up funeral custom to explain the villagers’ absence from her house to Lya, Ryan, and Valentine.
• Lumian viewed Naroka’s body, borrowed Raymond’s Little Blue Book, and told Aurora about the death when he returned home.
• Aurora warned Lumian to stay indoors after dark and cautioned him to warn the others who had investigated the Warlock legend.
• Lumian compared Raymond’s Little Blue Book with his damaged copy and reconstructed a plea for help saying that the people around them were becoming stranger and stranger.