Chapter Summaries

Yavi learned that Sicco Jett had secured support for his case at the Academy of Sorcerers, but Kaer Morhen had been attacked and Sicco had died defending the surviving witchers. Peter planned to take Yavi to the academy, while warning him to spend time with his family in case events took a turn for the worse.

• After Peter and City Lord Liz left, Yavi comforted his worried family and spent the next few days enjoying the royal capital with them.
• Peter summoned Yavi to the laboratory, where he reported that Sicco Jett had reached the Academy of Sorcerers and Loriess would soon follow to help secure the fifth vote.
• Peter told Yavi that Kaer Morhen had been attacked and Sicco Jett had sacrificed his life to protect the School of the Wolf.
• Peter said most of the witchers had survived but had been scattered and forbidden to return to Kaer Morhen for ten years.
• Peter told Yavi he would take him through a portal to the Academy of Sorcerers and urged him to spend the next few days with his family.

Yavi left his family to travel with Peter through a teleportation portal, determined to become a true warlock. They arrived at their destination, where Yavi collapsed and vomited from the journey.

• Peter warned Yavi that Sicco Jett had been the one to help him and that no one would be left to clean up his messes.
• Yavi spent seven quiet days with his family, then received a magical message, packed his belongings, and left them a letter before returning to Peter's laboratory.
• Peter prepared a portal and told Yavi that Liz would escort his family safely back to their territory.
• Yavi chose to leave without seeing his family again and stepped through the portal with Peter.
• Peter guided Yavi through the disorienting teleportation passage, and Yavi vomited after they landed.

Peter brought Yavi to Aretuza Academy of Sorcery and showed him its wings before taking him to meet Sicco Jett. Yavi discovered that Sicco was Professor C, now gravely weakened by an excessive use of magic.

• Yavi recovered from the portal journey and saw Aretuza Academy of Sorcery for the first time.
• Peter showed Yavi the academy’s buildings and explained the purpose of its wings.
• Peter brought Yavi to a room in the Emerald Wing to meet Sicco Jett.
• Yavi recognized the frail old man as Professor C, who said his condition came from using magic too powerfully.
• Professor C tried to reassure Yavi that he had a few years left, but a coughing fit left the room silent.

Yavi was brought before the sorcerers of Garstang Palace to face judgment for his role in Kovir’s war against Poviss and to seek admission to Aretuza as an apprentice. Sicco Jett, Loriess, Peter, and an unfamiliar man vouched for him, but the council still needed one more supporter.

• Professor C sent Peter to settle Yavi in the Emerald Wing while he went to negotiate with the council.
• Peter warned Yavi to stay in the Emerald Wing until he passed the review, and Yavi spent a sleepless night worrying about Professor C and his uncertain future.
• The next morning, Peter escorted Yavi to Garstang Palace, where Auntie Susan and the council’s sorcerers scrutinized him.
• A sorceress formally accused Yavi Morgan of using magic to aid Kovir and harm Poviss, then asked five sorcerers to vouch for his apprenticeship at Aretuza.
• Sicco Jett, Loriess, Peter, and an unfamiliar man in black robes stood to support Yavi, but the council announced that one more sorcerer was needed.

Francesca intervened to delay Yavi Morgan’s execution and proposed divining his future because he might be the witcher in a prophecy. After the spell caused a violent magical surge, Francesca supported Yavi’s admission to Aretuza Academy, leaving Tissaia asking what she had seen.

• Tissaia de Vries sentenced Yavi Morgan to immediate execution, but Yavi accepted the judgment and thanked his mentor and Peter.
• Francesca stopped the enforcement sorcerers and argued that Yavi might be the witcher named in a prophecy about repelling the Wild Hunt.
• Tissaia and the other high-ranking sorcerers agreed to let Francesca cast a divination spell on Yavi.
• Francesca’s spell triggered a magical rampage, and Loriess and the high-ranking sorcerers contained it before Tissaia caught the exhausted elf.
• Francesca declared that she supported Yavi becoming a full-fledged student at Aretuza Academy, and Tissaia asked what she had seen.

After Francesca’s vision revealed a future Yavi wielding three supreme laws and threatening the mages, the council debated who should teach him. Francesca volunteered to become his mentor, while Yavi left with Vilgefortz unaware of the full discussion.

• Tissaia dismissed everyone except the twelve seat holders, then sent Yavi away with Vilgefortz.
• Francesca showed the council a vision of a future Yavi using life, spatial, and time magic and warning the mages not to interfere.
• The council discussed Yavi’s extraordinary potential and worried that the future version of him might be observing them.
• Sicco Jett said he could no longer teach Yavi, and the mages debated whether Vilgefortz or Peter should take over.
• Francesca volunteered to mentor Yavi, stunning the other council members.

The sorcerers decided Francesca would mentor Yavi, though Fringilla challenged the choice and offered to teach him instead. Yavi chose Francesca, and Sicco Jett revealed he had long believed Yavi was the one foretold in a prophecy.

• Francesca persuaded the sorcerers that guiding Yavi could change his dangerous future, and they agreed she should mentor him.
• Yavi spoke with Vilgefortz about the witcher order, magic, power, and politics before Loriess summoned him to the meeting room.
• Tissaia announced that Francesca would mentor Yavi, but Fringilla offered herself as an alternative and framed the choice as one between elves and humans.
• Yavi chose Francesca because she had seen his future and still supported his admission to the academy.
• Sicco Jett told Yavi he had once thought Vilgefortz was the subject of a prophecy, but had come to believe Yavi was, and promised he would have risked his life to protect him.

After Yavi survived his trial, Sicco Jett, Peter, and Loriess wondered whether a mysterious source of power explained his hostile future and feared fate. Yavi began studying magic under Francesca, then met Vilgefortz at lunch and admitted that sorcery felt unlike anything he had studied before.

• Loriess, Peter, and Sicco Jett speculated that Yavi's future power might come from an ancient demonic pact, and hoped their choices could change his fate.
• Sicco Jett saw Peter and Loriess off, then wondered whether the threads of fate could be rewritten.
• Yavi returned to his room, accepted that his path was changing from witcher to sorcerer, and fell asleep.
• The next morning, Francesca began Yavi's magical instruction in a classroom filled with female students.
• At lunch, Yavi met Vilgefortz and told him that the magic lessons felt like a completely different world from his previous studies.

Vilgefortz offered to teach Yavi swordsmanship and tested him in the academy’s training room, easily countering his attacks. After a long sparring session, Vilgefortz praised Yavi’s skill and said he would teach him to channel magic through his body in combat.

• Vilgefortz told Yavi that he had been asked to instruct him and offered to teach him swordsmanship.
• Yavi told Vilgefortz that Master Kharkov had taught him, but he had lost contact with Kharkov and feared he had fallen.
• Yavi attacked Vilgefortz with the School of the Wolf’s swordsmanship, but Vilgefortz disarmed him and explained how his offense left openings.
• Yavi and Vilgefortz sparred until Yavi was exhausted, while Vilgefortz remained composed.
• Vilgefortz praised Yavi’s performance and explained that he used magic to push his body beyond mortal limits.
• Vilgefortz told Yavi that he would teach him to channel magic into his movements starting the next day, then sent him to rest.

After months at Aretuza, Yavi struggled with whether to become a sorcerer or return to the witcher’s path, but resolved to focus on his studies and strengthen his powers. After training with Vilgefortz, he heard a fight in a secluded underground passage and stealthily went to investigate.

• Yavi reflected on his longing for witcher life and his uncertainty about his future, then decided to finish his sorcerer training before choosing a path.
• Yavi reviewed the talismans he had strengthened and unlocked through his studies, including Dragon Shout, enhanced laser beams, and new healing and combat abilities.
• Yavi recognized the strengths and limits of his talismans and gained confidence in the power they gave him.
• After sword training with Vilgefortz, Yavi heard scuffling and curses from a secluded passage beneath the academy.
• Yavi followed the sounds quietly, using his Witcher Senses to approach the fight unseen.

Yavi rescued Yennefer from a group of bullying apprentices and offered her kindness despite her appearance. After recognizing her name, he composed himself and resolved to become her friend.

• Yavi struck the ringleader with a piece of stone, driving the apprentices away from the injured Yennefer.
• Yavi healed Yennefer and reassured her that her appearance did not define her.
• Yennefer told Yavi her name, and his shocked reaction made her fear he was frightened of her.
• Yavi apologized, offered his hand, and firmly shook Yennefer's scarred hand as he welcomed her as a friend.

Yavi rescued Yennefer from a group of students who were bullying her in the dining hall, then brought her food and urged her to stand up for herself. Yennefer listened and straightened her hunched back a little.

• Yavi noticed Yennefer being surrounded and insulted by several students in the dining hall.
• Yavi offered to pay for the stained robe, negotiated the price down to 150 crowns, and paid the students.
• Yavi led Yennefer to a secluded garden bench and gave her honey bread and water.
• Yennefer ate and thanked Yavi, who encouraged her to lift her head and fight back in her own way.
• Yennefer listened to Yavi and straightened her back slightly.

After a year of training at Aretuza, Yavi had become a capable all-element sorcerer and improved his swordsmanship. Sicco Jett warned him about the dangers of second-year missions, and Francesca announced that the apprentices’ missions had begun, with groups of ten to assemble the next day.

• Yavi spent a year studying magic with Francesca, training with Vilgefortz, visiting Sicco Jett, and growing closer to Yennefer.
• Sicco Jett told Yavi that second-year apprentices had to complete at least four missions annually and warned that missions could be deadly.
• Yennefer told Yavi she hoped they would be assigned to the same mission group, but Yavi dismissed the possibility.
• Francesca gave each apprentice a letter with mission details and announced that groups of ten would assemble the next day.

Yavi received his first academy mission: investigate unusual incidents in Saize near Kaedwen’s northern border. After seeking Sicco Jett’s advice and preparing potions, bombs, and equipment, he rested for the mission’s dawn departure.

• Yavi read his mission letter, which ordered him to meet at the Tidal Wing teleportation hall at dawn and investigate incidents in Saize.
• Yavi visited Sicco Jett, who advised him to prepare witcher potions, expect inexperienced spellcasters, and protect himself first.
• Yavi replenished recovery potions and prepared modified Grapeshot and Dragon’s Dream bombs at the alchemy workshop.
• Yavi tried to contact Yennefer but received no response, then ate alone and checked his equipment for the mission.
• Yavi went to bed and entered deep meditation ahead of the next morning’s departure.

Yavi and Yennefer joined Senior Sorcerer Alfred Raven’s apprentice team for an investigation mission in Saize Village, Kaedwen. After traveling through a portal together, they emerged in a neglected stone hall, where Yavi was hurt in the landing and the team found its exits shut.

• Yavi arrived at the Tidal Wing assembly point for the Saize Village mission and met Yennefer among the departing apprentices.
• Senior Sorcerer Alfred Raven, who asked the apprentices to call him Red, ordered the team to act together and obey his commands.
• Yavi hesitated at the portal, so Yennefer took his hand and led him into it.
• Yavi and Yennefer steadied each other during the journey, and Yavi told her to stay by his side and prioritize her safety.
• The team was thrown out of the portal into a stone hall, where Yavi struck his face on the floor and Yennefer helped him up.
• Yavi surveyed the moldy, torchlit hall and saw that its rusted iron doors were all shut.

Red and the Aretuza apprentices arrived in Saize and learned that repeated monster attacks had destroyed the village and driven its survivors into a hillside camp. The refugees welcomed the sorcerers as their hope for rescue as Yavi took in the extent of their suffering.

• Red ordered the team to stay together and follow his lead as they left the ruined teleportation hall.
• Chief Brand Huixu greeted the sorcerers and led them toward Saize Village.
• Brand told Red that monsters had attacked twice, killing villagers and devastating the settlement.
• Brand explained that the survivors were living in a crude hillside camp because the village was unsafe.
• The refugees cheered and thanked the Aretuza sorcerers when Brand announced their arrival.
• Yavi looked over the refugees and noticed their injuries, exhaustion, and poor condition.

Red led his sorcerers into the ruined Saize Village to investigate the threat, where Yavi sensed Ghouls near the village center. The squad swiftly destroyed them, and the surviving villagers saw the sorcerers as their hope.

• Red told Brand to find villagers who could guide the squad through Saize Village.
• Red, Yavi, Yennefer, and the others entered the devastated village and confronted its grisly remains.
• Yavi activated his Witcher Senses and detected five or six Ghouls near the village center.
• The Ghouls charged the squad, and Red ordered the sorcerers to attack while protecting the villagers and ruins.
• Yavi cut down two Ghouls with wind blades, and the apprentices' spells destroyed the rest before they reached the villagers.
• The survivors watched the sorcerers defeat the Ghouls and began to hope they could dispel the darkness.

Yavi and Yennefer investigated the village’s untouched church, where Yavi’s medallion detected a hidden monster that his Witcher Senses could not find. As the monster awakened, it burst from the church tower and attacked a female student in the square.

• Red ordered the students to investigate the village in small groups while he questioned the guides.
• Yavi and Yennefer examined the destruction, and Yennefer suggested several monsters or magical causes that could explain it.
• Yavi’s medallion began vibrating toward the intact church, though his Witcher Senses detected nothing there.
• Yavi approached the church as the medallion’s vibration grew stronger, and nearby students gathered to inspect the building.
• A dark, feathered monster opened its eyes in the church tower, then dove at a female student before she could raise a magical shield.

Yavi and Red’s group fought a swarm of Bruxae at a village church, where the monsters drained the surrounding magic and forced the mages to retreat. Yavi stayed behind to protect the others, and Yennefer revealed that he was holding off the pursuers alone.

• A Bruxa lunged at a female student, but Yavi killed it with his silver sword before it could attack her.
• Dozens of Bruxae poured from the church tower, and Red ordered the mages to attack as Yavi protected Yennefer and the guides.
• Yennefer sensed the area’s magic rapidly draining, so Red blasted the Bruxae back and ordered everyone to retreat.
• Yavi gave Yennefer three Grapeshot Bombs and stayed behind, using Aard Signs to knock pursuing Bruxae out of the air.
• Yavi fought off diving Bruxae with his Quen shield and silver sword while Red’s group escaped the village.
• At the village entrance, Yennefer told Red that Yavi had stayed behind to stop the monsters from catching them.

After Yavi fought the monsters alone, he returned alive to the sorcerers, who had retreated when their magic ran out. The group made it back to their hillside camp, where Brand welcomed them and Red and Yennefer rested.

• Red struggled with guilt over leaving Yavi behind while the sounds of battle faded in the village.
• Yavi emerged alive, and Yennefer used a Cleaning Spell before checking his injuries.
• Yavi told Red that the sorcerers would only have hindered him without their magic, easing Red's guilt.
• Yavi and his companions returned to camp, where Brand welcomed them and Red conjured chairs for himself and Yennefer.