The Dark Gods

The Midnight Kingdom

After the disastrous events of Godsnight, the heirs find themselves split up. Taesia and Julian are trapped in the Bone Palace, which was dragged into the realm of eternal night, Noctus, via the magic of Conjuration. Phos, the god of light, has taken over the body of Rian Cyr, Nikolas’s younger brother whom everyone believed to be dead. Phos also uses his influence to put Nikolas in a thrall and do his bidding. Fin, Taesia’s surprise cousin and the unknown crown prince of Vaega, is also imprisoned with them. Taesia vows to do whatever she can to free them.

While in Noctus, they discover that Phos wants them all so that they can provide blood to fuel Conjuration circles for him. Meanwhile, Julian hears a faint voice that encourages him to use the power he has at his disposal. Julian has recently learned that he was descended from a demon—specifically, the demon that Dante summoned, Azideh—but the voice assures him that he has another power to call upon. Confused, Julian uses it to try and wrench Nikolas’s mind from Phos’s thrall, even though the mysterious voice is telling him to kill Phos/Rian instead. It backfires, and Julian shies away from this strange, new power.

Taesia starts to experience dreams that summon her to the consciousness of Nyx, the god who started her bloodline. Nyx urges her to accept his power so that they can defeat Phos for good, but Taesia knows this will end up actually killing Rian, so she tells him to fuck off. However, much like Julian, Taesia says she’ll use more of Nyx’s power—only to facilitate their escape. She and Julian manage to escape the Bone Palace, but Nikolas isn’t so lucky.

In retribution, Phos orders Nikolas to remove one of Fin’s eyes. Nikolas yanks back just enough of his own consciousness to avoid hurting Fin and gouging out one of his own eyes instead.

Now on the run, Taesia and Julian run into three Noctans. Their leader, Lilia Lunari, turns out to be the only surviving member of the Noctan royal family, as the rest were crushed underneath the Bone Palace. The reason why she wasn’t among them is because she was born under the Malum Star, which in their culture is considered a harbinger of extreme misfortune, so she was exiled. She’s joined by her two aides, Kalen—an astrologer who reads the stars and their meanings—and Marcellus, a soldier. Once Taesia and Julian share their story, the five of them agree that they must join forces to thwart Phos and get him out of Noctus before he destroys any more of the realm.

In order to get an advantage on Phos, they break into the Sanctuary of Nyx to steal the crown of the Noctan royal family. It was forged with the fangs of a beast called an astralam, a wolflike creature made up of constellations. The spinal column of a similar beast was used to make Taesia’s sword, Starfell. Taesia gets more dreams with Nyx, and Julian keeps sensing the voice from the Bone Palace, which they assume to be the voice of Orsus, the fifth god who was killed at the hands of the others. Orsus was the original god, the one who facilitated the creation of the realms and the gods that would look over them, and Julian has no idea what they want with him.

In the Sanctuary, Julian experiences a chamber inlaid with a stone that makes him experience visions of different versions of his life. He gets so worked up that the demon blood within him rises and he lashes out at Kalen and Marcellus, the former eyeing him suspiciously now. However, they eventually manage to find the planetarium, where Kalen determines that something terrible is going to happen: the Malum Star, under which Lilia was born, is going to soon go supernova. Considering its proximity to another black hole, this could be disastrous for the realm.

Meanwhile, Taesia and Lilia go after the crown. But once they get there, Phos arrives and fights them. Taesia grabs the crown and Phos grabs her, dragging them up above the city as they fight over the astralam fangs. The crown breaks and some of the astralam fangs go flying. Taesia fends him off—injuring Rian’s body in the process—and loses consciousness, falling. Julian sees this and taps into the strange power Orsus encourages him to use, making a Conjuration circle that creates a stairway Julian uses to catch Taesia.

In the aftermath, they realize that Starfell and the one fang they have from the crown resonate with each other, and come to the conclusion that they must have come from the same astralam. Taesia can use her sword to locate the other fangs, and even though Phos made off with the rest, it’s all they can do to increase their power for the eventual showdown with the god.

Traversing the cold, dark landscape of Noctus, the group encounter obstacles during the search for the other fangs. Nyx keeps urging Taesia to invite him in, and she keeps denying him. During this time, it comes to light that Julian has demon blood, which makes the others distrust him at first. He and Taesia have a meaningful conversation about how they each see themselves as monsters, but there’s some comfort in knowing they’re not alone in that feeling.

Eventually they find the other astralam fang, which is being guarded by a creepy creature. Julian volunteers to go down and get it, but the creature triggers the demon blood within him, and he briefly loses himself. Taesia follows to snap him out of it, but they end up fighting brutally until she’s able to get him back. They share a charged, exhausted kiss as Julian finally calms down from the demonic rage that overcame him.

Julian is terrified of this power, and of the power Orsus drags out of him, and he doesn’t know what to do with either. Later, he and Taesia have another earnest conversation in which she says he can choose what to be, and that it’s all right to be more than one thing. Taesia uses this same mentality to convince Lilia—who’s been struggling with grief and guilt over the death of her family and her possible role in it, because of the unlucky star she was born under—that none of this was her fault. Fates can be changed. The stars won’t dictate their lives.

MEANWHILE: Nikolas has been struggling against the thrall that Phos has him under. But considering the enormous amount of grief and pain he’s feeling, and the memory of killing his own father during Godsnight, he finds solace in the numbness that it provides. Phos helps heal his now empty eye socket, and it’s unclear what has happened to Nikolas’s eye, but he has the feeling that Phos consumed it—just as Phos consumed part of Orsus’s flesh a long time ago, giving him some Conjuration ability, which he then planted in Rian.

During this time, Fin has been looking over the few unfortunate servants who were also dragged to Noctus in the Bone Palace. Fin attempts to drag Nikolas out of his thrall and is somewhat successful. They share a tender moment together in which Fin admits that they have met once before, when they were much younger. Fin had been watching Nikolas shadow his father and ended up falling off a wall. Nikolas had helped him, and Fin has been smitten with him ever since.

But the tender moment doesn’t last, as Phos is fueling yet another Conjuration circle and requires their blood. Nikolas pretends to still be under the god’s thrall and attempts to thwart him, but is unsuccessful. What comes through the Conjuration circle is a column of destructive light from the realm of Solara, which crushes some of the city below.

MEANWHILE: Back in the realm of Vitae, Angelica leaves the city of Nexus to travel to the empire of Azuna across the sea, hoping to gain their assistance after the devastation of Godsnight. Political tensions are high now that King Ferdinand is dead, and she’s hoping to use her stepmother’s ties to the imperial family to strengthen Vaega’s standing. But there’s another, stronger reason she wants to go: she and Dante believe that the source of Deia’s power—the crux of a god, called a fulcrum—might be hiding in the large volcano in Azuna called Mount Netsai. If Angelica can find this fulcrum, she might be able to use Deia’s powers as her own, or at least stabilize her errant magic and control her fire obsession.

Cosima, realizing that Angelica is going to Azuna, convinces Angelica to bring her along, as Cosima’s brother was conscripted in their military a long time ago and she wants to search for him. To Angelica’s utter annoyance, her younger stepsister, Eiko, also manages to steal aboard the ship taking them there. The ships gets attacked during the voyage, and Angelica knows this is because Deia, her god, doesn’t want her to get closer to her fulcrum.

In Azuna, they make their way to the imperial capital. On the way, they see a death parade, in which the souls of the departed—unable to go to Mortri, the realm of the dead—are driven to the Godan Mountains to the south. There, the souls are contained until the barriers to the realms can be broken. During this time, more comes to light on the current state of religion in Azuna. They used to worship Deia, but after the Sealing, they developed an alternative approach called Kiyonoism, which is the practice of conservationism and taking care of nature and resources. Angelica figures Deia isn’t too happy about this.

Angelica meets the imperial family and practices her role as the Mardova heir, establishing a relationship with them. Eiko is happy to reunite with her family, but also feels oddly disjointed from them. Cosima tries to find clues as to where her brother may have ended up, but can’t find any useful information. Eventually, Angelica joins a meeting between the young empress and the four warlords of Azuna, who each control their own state within the empire. One of these warlords is Nanbu Daiji, of the fire state, who is accompanied by a pet snake. But Angelica quickly realizes the snake is actually Deia in disguise.

Even though Angelica is panicking about what this supposed alliance between Nanbu and Deia means, the matriarch of the imperial family is desperate for Angelica to help them. For the young empress, Akane, is not the actual empress by blood; that would be her sister, Asami, who is kept hidden away at all times. Angelica and Cosima are appalled by this, and realize the reason is because Asami cannot speak without breaking something around her. Her voice—much like Angelica’s—contains the power of aether, and Asami is unable to wield it. Angelica is asked to tutor her so that she might better control it. But Angelica is still trying to get the hang of the element herself, and is unsure how helpful she will be.

Nanbu Daiji speaks with Angelica alone. He claims that Kiyonoism is an affront to Deia, alluding that the old order should be reinstated and that if it is, he will back up the Mardovas’ claim to the throne of Vaega. Angelica is uneasy about this, especially at the thought of Deia controlling him in some way. However, she ultimately refuses to join his cause. On the same night, as the imperial family is having dinner, they are besieged by assassins. Angelica saves the false empress, Akane, but spiriting her away through a portal. Asami—hidden behind a screen—screams and kills the assassins using her vocally-controlled aether.

While they’re hidden, Nanbu Daiji arrives with two of this righthand soldiers. He is the one who facilitated the attack. As one of his soldiers removes their mask, Cosima realizes that it’s her older brother, Koshi, and she can’t believe that he’s working for such a terrible man. Angelica gathers Asami, Cosima, and Eiko and escapes the imperial city once she realizes that Nanbu Daiji is going to pin the massacre on the Mardovas.

On the run, Angelica does whatever she can to take care of the others, even though they are grieving and stunned and have no idea where to go. She’s also struggling with her usual desire for fire, the addiction in her blood that harms the rest of her magic. Despite this, she attempts to teach Asami how to better control aether, and teaching herself in the process. They both use their voices to some extent to shape the mysterious fifth element—also known as quintessence, and the basis for Conjuration. In this way, Angelica realizes that they can work together to create portals.

They meet an ex-soldier of Nanbu Daiji’s named Kenji and learn that although he grew up in service to Nanbu and even trained alongside Koshi, he fled due to racking up an insurmountable debt because of his own addiction (not to fire, but to alcohol). He’s been living as a humble rice farmer ever since, but at the empress’ plight, Kenji devotes himself to protecting her and saving her sister. He leads them to the fire state, where Nanbu Daiji resides. During travel, Angelica and Eiko grow closer, with Eiko revealing that she’s worried about Angelica’s safety and that she doesn’t want to lose any more family.

As Kenji leads them through the underground tunnels that’ll lead into the city, something feels off. Angelica and the others are startled to realize that Nanbu is waiting for them, and he has Akane, the fake empress. Kenji is mournful as he explains that he didn’t want any harm coming to Akane, and had to follow Nanbu’s orders to bring them here. Cosima and Koshi properly reunite, and while Koshi is surprised to see her, Cosima is enraged by what he’s doing.

Now Nanbu’s prisoners, Angelica and Cosima are thrown into a cell to await Angelica’s execution. Koshi visits and tries to convince Cosima to join them, but Cosima is pissed that he’s working so loyally for their colonizers and refuses. Koshi is genuinely hurt by her rejection. Angelica and Cosima share a moment together in which Angelica shares her fears about her desire for power, and Cosima tells her that unlike Nanbu, Angelica doesn’t want power to control others—she wants it so that she can finally feel like she’s enough.

Before Angelica’s execution, Kenji visits them and apologizes for his role in this. But Angelica gets an idea, so that when she’s brought out and sees Asami, the two of them use their voices to activate aether and create a portal. They jump through it—along with Cosima, Akane, and Kenji—and arrive at the base of Mount Netsai. Dragon-like beasts called sorankun are drawn to Asami’s use of aether, and they ride the beasts higher to the mouth of the volcano. Before anyone can stop her, Angelica kisses Cosima and dives into the volcano to seek Deia’s fulcrum.

Within the heart of the volcano, Angelica encounters a wyvern named Yvri. She’s shocked to learn that the living beast is Deia’s fulcrum, and that Deia has kept him chained up in the volcano for centuries. Angelica frees him, forming a tentative partnership, and together they burst out of the volcano just as Nanbu Daiji arrives with his troops. Deia transforms into a wyvern herself, and she and Nanbu fight Angelica and Yvri across the landscape. Kenji and Koshi fight one another below, and even though Koshi once more tries to convince Cosima to join him, Cosima claims she’s already chosen her side—Angelica’s. Eventually Asami breaks Nanbu’s hands and he’s forced to retreat.

But Deia isn’t done with Angelica. The god tries to break her upon the volcano, but Angelica, remembering how Phos consumed part of Orsus, rips out the eye on Deia’s chest and eats it. Deia, badly hurt, flees into the volcano while Angelica is inundated with a terrible, beautiful power. The power of a god. It nearly eats her whole, her fire out of control, but Cosima and Eiko are able to help her snap out of it.

MEANWHILE: Dante, freed from the Gravespire, is still a wanted man. But he knows he has to do something about the mess Godsnight left in its wake, and finding the gods’ fulcrums is his new goal—along with bringing Taesia back from wherever she’s been portaled to. While Angelica searches for Deia’s fulcrum at Mount Netsai, he wants to check the volcano in southern Vaega called Deia’s Heart. He travels south with his sister, Brailee, and Risha’s sister, Saya, hoping to find out more about Conjuration and Deia’s fulcrum. The demon he summoned to escape prison, Azideh, gives him the power to read other peoples’ moods. More than that, it also gives him the power of compulsion, which he tries to use sparingly.

In the city of Seniza, Dante and Brailee learn that the grave of Marcos Ricci—the discoverer of Conjuration and the author of the grimoire—is located here. But when they visit it, a group of people break into the mausoleum and steal Marcos Ricci’s body. Dante is stunned to find his aunt Camilla among them, the very person who taught him about the grimoire, how to summon demons, and who murdered Prelate Lezzaro while making sure the blame was pinned on him.

Dante and Brailee use Brailee’s powers of dream walking to find out that Taesia and the others have been spirited to Noctus. It’s also through these powers that Brailee finds Camilla. They corner her and demand to know what she plans to do with Marcos Ricci’s body, and Camilla, as flippant as ever, reveals that she’s working with the Revenants to bring Marcos Ricci back to ask him questions about Conjuration. Dante thinks he can use this to his advantage to learn how to make a portal to Noctus and save Taesia.

However, they realize that the body is a fake. The real body is in the estate of Seniza’s overseer, Baron Alma. Dante and Camilla sneak in to exchange the bodies, but something about Baron Alma bothers Dante. When he goes to get a better look, he discovers that the baron has a demon of his own. His compulsion doesn’t work on the baron, so he’s forced to flee.

When they speak to the actual Marcos Ricci, Dante learns that portals to the other realms can be made with the proper sacrifice: magic and blood. This disturbs him, but what disturbs him more is that Baron Alma’s family has been sacrificing citizens for decades in order to keep the power of their demon, and Alma is planning to sacrifice one shortly. Dante knows this is the moment when they can confront him and hopefully force open a portal to Noctus.

During this confrontation, Dante is disgusted when Baron Alma begins to fuse with his own demon. Azideh explains that the twisted construct they become is due to how much Alma depended on the demon’s power, tying them together without hope of separation. Dante, who has been leaning on Azideh’s power of compulsion more and more, is horrified that something like this could happen to him, too. In fact, when the baron threatens to kill the helpless citizen he brought as a sacrifice to Deia’s Heart, Dante compels her to fall off the plateau—killing her and the baron both.

MEANWHILE: Risha has been thrust into Mortri, the realm of the dead. Even though Jas’s body was burned before her eyes, his spirit has managed to travel there with her, and together they begin to carefully scope out the realm. Risha is sorry to see that Mortri is dying like all the other realms, its vistas sickly and terrifying. But the most worrying part is that Risha is a living thing amongst the dead; not only will creatures be drawn to her and hunt them, but she herself won’t survive for long. She and Jas barely manage to find shelter in a mausoleum before she succumbs to exhaustion.

Stuck in the mausoleum while a skeletal beast searches for them outside, they’re shocked when a severed head suddenly starts speaking to them. When he realizes Risha is a Vakara, he reveals that he knows about her ancestor, Leshya, from the time Leshya traveled to Mortri to fight the kings of Mortri. He claims that he was Leshya’s guide when she was here, and that’s why he’s stuck in this mausoleum: the kings punished him helping her. Leshya was able to stop her mortal body from dying, and that Risha can do the same. But when Risha attempts to shut down her own body, it isn’t enough, and Jas helps by funneling some of his own spiritual power into her. Risha is upset that he’s done this, since she wants him to stay whole, but it allows her to better survive Mortri and its dangers.

The talking head, who introduces himself as Val, leads them past the skeletal creature and further into Mortri. He tells them about Leshya’s long lost weapon, Samhara, which is a double chain scythe forged out of the bones of the Mortrian kings. He explains that there are four kings in Mortri, each relegated to their own city whey they process and/or torture souls. Risha decides she has to get Leshya’s weapon to better their chances of getting out of Mortri, and because if Thana finds and attacks her, she wants to be ready.