Chapter Summaries

Dick and Xiya married in Noldor Forest and celebrated with their guests, but the morning after their wedding Xiya vanished into red starlight. Dick woke to find his Fire Signs had reached master level, then watched helplessly as his wife disappeared.

• At Xiya's request, Lady Diana arranged a wedding, and Dick and Xiya exchanged vows before the elves and dryads.
• The guests celebrated with food and festivities, and Lady Diana had a treehouse made for the newlyweds.
• Dick and Xiya spent their wedding night together, and Dick awoke from a dream to discover that Fire Signs had advanced to master level.
• Dick found Xiya bathing, where she hid her left hand as it crumbled into crimson grains of sand.
• Xiya kissed Dick and told him to live well, then transformed into red starlight and disappeared as Dick tried to hold her.

Queen Meve secretly survived and became Luca’s masked guardian, while Barbara learned that Xiya had died and the continent’s hunt for her ended. Deep beneath the sea, a colossal octopus awakened and devoured a sperm whale.

• Barbara adjourned the council after learning that Xiya’s rose had faded, and Queen Meve escorted Luca away as his masked knightly guardian.
• Barbara broke down after realizing Xiya was dead and carefully gathered the pieces of the jade earrings Xiya had given her.
• A Noldor elf announced Xiya’s death to the adventurers outside the forest, and they withdrew without seeking revenge.
• News of Xiya’s death spread across the continent, ending the hunt for her and leaving adventurers wary of Dick’s anger.
• A giant octopus awakened in the deep sea and dragged a fifteen-meter sperm whale into its mouth.

The imprisoned gods felt their bindings weaken as Alexander tortured Kayn in an elven ruin, until a strange stone-and-bone figure appeared. Dick, devastated over Xiya, watched a vision of their wedding collapse and threatened to kill himself to escape the being controlling him; the voice finally told him that Xiya was not dead.

• The runic chains in the Other Side of Deep Space cracked, and the King of the Gods urged the cheering imprisoned gods to stay calm and wait for their opportunity.
• Alexander tortured Kayn, boasting that he would make the witcher his loyal lackey, until a stone-and-bone statue appeared and spoke about being transported to the Panda Continent.
• Dick received notice that he had changed an important turning point, then fell into a vision of his wedding to Xiya as the scene shattered into fragments showing her across different times and spaces.
• Dick cursed the bald figure and threatened to jump into a volcano rather than remain its puppet, and the spreading rifts in space stopped.
• A deep male voice told Dick that Xiya was not dead.

After learning that Xiya might still be alive, Dick left Noldor Forest with enchanted armor and reunited with his Witcher Order companions on the road to Cez. He agreed to meet Emperor Marius and traveled with the group, while Little Yennefer recovered from the journey.

• A mysterious voice told Dick that he would see Xiya again if he grew stronger, and Lady Diana gave him enchanted Noldor runic light armor before sending him toward Cez.
• Dick encountered Tatum and reunited with Geralt, Little Yennefer, and Russell, who explained that the Witcher Order had sent them to find him.
• Tatum said Emperor Marius had summoned Dick after defeating Snake Cult bandits near Cez, and Little Yennefer assured Dick that Marius would not threaten the order.
• Dick and his companions accepted Tatum's carriage ride to Cez, and Geralt suggested that Little Yennefer rest after recovering some mana.

Dick and the Witcher Order met Emperor Marius in Cez, where Marius rewarded them for their help against the Snake Cult and proposed a commission concerning his heir, Jimmy. Dick accepted the commission but refused to help unify the continent, then asked to execute the captured Two-faced Priest himself.

• Dick and his companions arrived in Cez and were summoned to meet Emperor Marius.
• Marius praised the Witcher Order’s role in the battle against the Snake Cult and gave them ten thousand silver crowns in reward.
• Marius revealed that he knew Dick had once assassinated six nobles but said he did not blame him, then proposed a commission involving his heir, Jimmy.
• Dick accepted Marius’s commission but said he had no interest in helping unify the continent.
• Dick asked Marius to entrust him with the execution of the Two-faced Priest.

Dick executed Tes Wins after learning that the Snake God had withdrawn its power from him, leaving Dick with only 100 Energy Points and no Divinity Fragment. He then accepted a commission involving Prince Jimmy and Vivian, and headed with the other witchers toward the Lake of the Goddess, where they planned to look for news of Tyson’s family afterward.

• Emperor Marius agreed to have the two-faced priest executed and told Dick that Professor Seir’s family had disappeared after a Snake Cult riot, while Seir’s research site had been near the Lake of the Goddess.
• Tatum read Tes Wins’s crimes to the crowd, and Russell learned that people planned to collect the priest’s blood as medicine and protection against evil.
• Dick beheaded Tes Wins after Tes claimed the Snake God had withdrawn its power, and Dick received 100 Energy Points but no Divinity Fragment.
• The palace butler explained that Emperor Marius wanted Dick to investigate whether Vivian was cursed or had become a monster, and to help Prince Jimmy if necessary.
• Dick and the other witchers set out for a town near Cez and agreed to handle Jimmy’s situation before asking about Tyson’s missing family.

Dick, Geralt, and Russell reached a bloodied town and found Jimmy confronting a Cyclops beside a windmill. The witchers killed the monster, and Dick turned to confirm Jimmy’s identity as the frightened villagers watched.

• Dick and his companions found the town strangely deserted, and Dick sensed blood as they crossed its boundary.
• Geralt recognized Jimmy facing a Cyclops and left Little Yennefer in the carriage while the others went to help.
• Jimmy tried to persuade the Cyclops to reform, but his endless speech enraged it and it raised its bone club to attack.
• Dick, Geralt, and Russell struck the Cyclops with Mind Shockwaves, and Geralt cut its knee tendon.
• Dick killed the fallen Cyclops despite Jimmy’s wish to keep trying to reform it, then asked the knight if he was Jimmy.

Dick and Jimmy discussed Jimmy’s failed attempts to impress Vivian, who always leaves him at sunset, as they traveled toward Lady of the Lake Castle. They arrived in Lady of the Lake Town, where Dick learned Duchess Anna had an urgent monster-hunting commission for the witchers, while Anna also longed for the absent bard Sean.

• Jimmy admitted that he had tried and failed six times to win over monsters while seeking to prove his knightly virtues for Vivian.
• Dick learned that Vivian regularly leaves Jimmy at sunset, leading him to suspect she may be hiding a curse or another private difficulty.
• The party reached Lady of the Lake Town, and Jimmy said they would stay at the Cockatrice Inn before visiting his aunt Anna’s castle.
• Geralt told Dick that Duchess Anna had urgent business for him and had once played [Gwent] with his friend Sean, a bard who had not joined them.
• Jimmy told Dick that Anna remained single and missed Sean, and that she had also requested a monster-hunting commission.
• Dick agreed to ask Vivian about her nightly departures and welcomed the chance to take on another commission and grow stronger.

Russell confronted a Broom Witch who tried to eat Jimmy, but she escaped after distracting him with yellow mist. While Dick pretended to sleep, a woman tried to steal Jimmy’s purse before five blades suddenly attacked from behind.

• Jimmy and Russell drank at the inn until Jimmy passed out, and Dick fell asleep at the table.
• An old woman asked Russell for food, then demanded that he hand over Jimmy so she could eat him.
• Russell stabbed the woman, but she released yellow mist, revealed herself as a Broom Witch, and fled on a broom.
• Dick sensed a woman approaching the sleeping Jimmy and caught her reaching for his purse.
• The woman offered Dick a false explanation as five crescent-shaped blades came slicing toward him from behind.

Dick, Geralt, and Russell confronted the Higher Vampire Ralf after Syanna's attempt to steal Jimmy's purse led to a fight, then let the pair leave to avoid endangering the inn's guests. The group went to visit Duchess Anna the next day, but Little Yennefer stayed behind at the inn, and Anna turned her attention to Dick.

• Ralf attacked Dick when he found Syanna at the inn, and Geralt and Russell joined the fight after arriving.
• Syanna explained that she and Ralf meant no harm, and Dick agreed to let them leave after Geralt nodded his approval.
• Russell warned Dick that killing a Higher Vampire could draw out a legendary Unseen Elder, and the group returned to bed.
• Geralt invited Little Yennefer to play Gwent after she came downstairs, and everyone later headed to Lady of the Lake Castle to meet Duchess Anna.
• Jimmy hurried off to see Vivian, while Geralt told Anna that Little Yennefer had stayed at the inn to rest; Anna then fixed her gaze on Dick.

Duchess Anna asked Dick, Geralt, and Russell to find her banished older sister, Syanna, while also entrusting Dick with Jimmy and Vivian’s situation. Dick and Russell realized that a thief they had encountered at the Basilisk Inn looked just like Syanna, and Anna urgently demanded to know more.

• Duchess Anna asked Dick to handle Jimmy’s feelings for her attendant Vivian gently, and her guard Mien privately wondered at the witchers’ reputations and abilities.
• Geralt told Anna that Sean felt guilty for leaving her and still spoke of her fondly, while Dick backed up Geralt’s story.
• Anna commissioned Dick, Geralt, and Russell to find her older sister Syanna, who had been expelled from the Bacchus Empire over the supposed curse of the Black Sun.
• Dick remembered meeting a young thief at the Basilisk Inn who resembled Syanna, and Russell pointed out the likeness to Anna.
• Anna rose and urgently demanded that Dick and Russell explain when and where they had seen her sister.

After learning that her sister had been reduced to stealing, Duchess Anna asked the witchers to find her and hosted a banquet in their honor. Dick exposed a fraudulent snake charmer at the gathering, while Russell rebuffed a noblewoman who tried to flirt with him.

• Dick told Anna about the previous night's events but concealed the Higher Vampire, and Anna gave the witchers purses as a reward and asked them to find her sister.
• Anna held a banquet at her fortress, where Geralt and Little Yennefer wandered together while Dick and Russell explored separately.
• Dick and Russell spotted an old man floating above the ground with a python and recognized that his performance depended on an invisible support.
• Dick leaped above the performer, sliced through the concealed crystal slab supporting him, and exposed him as a fraud.
• The performer fled with his python, and Russell curtly rejected a noblewoman who asked whether he would stay at the fortress.

Syanna planned to use Ralf to kill the nobles who had persecuted her, while refusing to spare her sister Anna. Dick and Russell discovered them conspiring, and Ralf attacked after Syanna urged him to kill Dick.

• Dick and Russell peeked into rooms behind silk blinds and found Syanna and Ralf plotting together.
• Syanna planned to lure the nobles into a trap during the fireworks and have Ralf kill two barons and a knight.
• Dick told Syanna that Anna had sent him to bring her back, and Syanna urged Ralf to kill him.
• Ralf transformed his claws and lunged at Russell, but Dick blocked the attack with his sword.
• Ralf continued fighting Dick at high speed as the surrounding guests fled in panic.

Ralf fought Dick in the courtyard after Dick offered to let Ralf and Syanna leave if he won. Ralf revealed his domain, surrounding the courtyard with blood and grotesque horrors as the fight escalated.

• Anna arrived and had the guards escort her sister Syanna away, unaware that Syanna was behind the danger in the courtyard.
• Ralf tried to rescue Syanna, but Geralt, Russell, and Dick blocked him; the blonde noblewoman who seemed to know Ralf left without intervening.
• Dick challenged Ralf to a duel, and Ralf accepted while Geralt and Russell withdrew to watch.
• Ralf transformed into a monstrous winged beast and attacked Dick, who dodged his strikes and countered with a Fire Sign and sword cuts.
• Ralf returned to human form and invoked his domain, filling the courtyard with blood, reaching arms, grotesque growths, and a rising wall of blood.

Dick tested whether he could extend Blood of Madness and defeated Ralf inside the Higher Vampire’s domain, though Ralf survived and the fight left him too weak to defend himself. Duchess Anna refused to kill Syanna, while Dick raised his sword to strike Ralf.

• Ralf used his blood domain to restrain Dick and pierce his chest with tentacles.
• Dick unleashed Blood of Madness, broke free, and destroyed the domain’s heart, but another heart appeared and two Ralfs confronted him.
• Russell worried about Dick outside the domain, and Geralt reassured him that Dick had never truly lost.
• Dick shattered the domain, beheaded Ralf, and defeated him before the witchers and Russell.
• Ralf reattached his head and accepted the consequences of his defeat, but Duchess Anna said she would not kill Syanna.
• Dick approached Ralf with his sword raised as Ralf realized his blood loss had left him unable to block the attack.

Dick lost control to bloodlust and attacked Geralt, Russell, and the others in the castle courtyard. Geralt, Russell, and Jesse restrained him, and Ralf knocked him unconscious before the vampires vanished with Jesse.

• Geralt blocked Dick’s attack and struggled to evade his wild sword strikes as Mien led Duchess Anna and the guards behind the ruined walls.
• Dick kicked the Higher Vampire through a wall, exposing the nude painter and his model, then nearly struck Geralt and sent Russell flying when he tried to intervene.
• Jesse arrived, and he, Geralt, and Russell surrounded Dick and worked together to restrain him.
• Dick began breaking free of their hold, but Ralf struck his neck and knocked him unconscious.
• Russell confirmed Dick was breathing and no longer had a bloody haze in his eyes, while Jesse took Ralf away in black mist.

After recovering from his battle with the Higher Vampire, Dick learned that his [Blood of Madness] talent had improved and returned to Duchess Anna’s castle. He found Anna arguing with Geralt over Syanna’s punishment and warned her that meeting Syanna without precautions could endanger her and Emperor Marius.

• Duchess Anna learned that Dick had defeated the Higher Vampire and ordered him taken to a clinic to recover.
• Dick woke after three days, learned that Anna had imprisoned Syanna, and heard that Ralf had kept his promise not to harm anyone.
• Dick discovered that completing Anna’s commission had earned him 200 Energy Points and extended [Blood of Madness] to five minutes of use once per day.
• Dick went to Anna’s castle, where Geralt urged her to take precautions before meeting Syanna and Anna ordered him to leave.
• Dick arrived as Geralt was leaving and warned Anna that her safety mattered to the people of Bacchus and Emperor Marius.

Duchess Anna rewarded Dick and Geralt for resolving the crisis and told them that Tyson had been seen near Lake of the Goddess. After settling at Dick’s new vineyard estate, Dick and Geralt rode out at midnight to seek the Lady of the Lake, but encountered Ralf, Jesse, and a mysterious noblewoman blocking the road.

• Duchess Anna awarded Geralt and Russell two thousand K'Juda each and granted Dick a white grape vineyard estate, which Dick asked to give to Geralt.
• Anna revealed that Tyson had reportedly appeared near Lake of the Goddess and promised to investigate his whereabouts.
• Dick, Geralt, Little Yennefer, and Russell traveled to the vineyard estate, where they arrived in the evening and spent the night.
• Dick set out at midnight to find the Lady of the Lake, and Geralt joined him after admitting that he had met her before and played Gwent with her.
• Dick and Geralt rode toward Lake of the Goddess and came upon Ralf, Jesse, and the noblewoman who had stood beside Duchess Anna at the banquet.

Dick and Geralt reunited with Jesse, who introduced them to Ralf and Orianna and explained how Ralf had helped restore him. After Ralf gave Dick a set of bloodkin armor, Dick and Geralt continued their journey with the armor stored in Dick’s spatial badge.

• Geralt embraced Jesse and recalled how Jesse had saved his life twenty years earlier.
• Jesse told Dick that Ralf had spent ten years using his origin blood to reconstruct Jesse’s body.
• Dick challenged Orianna over her blood drinking, and Jesse and Ralf explained that she had not killed any of the orphans and could learn to control her bloodthirst.
• Ralf demonstrated his blood manipulation domain and gave Dick a set of armor that had belonged to a companion who went mad.
• Dick offered the armor to Geralt, then stored it in his spatial badge when Geralt said he had no spatial bag, and they rode on.

Dick met the Lady of the Lake and learned that he had passed all five chivalric virtue trials, but Geralt already possessed her sword. The Lady offered to answer three questions as a reward, and Dick began by asking where his partner Xiya was.

• Geralt led Dick across the lake to meet the Lady of the Lake.
• The Lady recounted Dick’s deeds and declared that he had passed the trials of honor, generosity, wisdom, compassion, and valor.
• The Lady explained that she could not give Dick her sword because she had already given it to Geralt, who had kept that from him.
• Dick declined Geralt’s offer of the sword, and the Lady explained that Dick’s twin swords had begun to undergo spirit awakening.
• The Lady offered to answer three questions, and Dick asked where his partner Xiya was.