r/skulduggerypleasant

Hi everyone, so this past year I've reread the entire series (currently on Phase 2). I read Phase 1 as a kid and decided I wanted to reread everything to catch up to Phase 2.

So, early on in the series (Book 3) we found out that Valkyrie was descended from the Last of the Ancients, but when Serpine had the Sceptre and Valkyrie approached it didn't warn him, which means that she must have Faceless One blood in her, as it warns users of the presence of enemies of the Faceless One. Does that mean she has both Faceless One and Ancient blood in her? Or are the "Ancients" actually Faceless Ones? Surely that isn't possible, however, because the Ancients fought the Faceless Ones and sent them packing.

&gt;!In, Midnight (Book 11), Chapter 25, Abyssinia reveals that she's a direct descendent of the first Faceless One who ever turned human - not to possess a human body but actually become human. Valkyrie has a hard time believing this and Skullduggery says, "You’re descended from the Last of the Ancients – why can’t she be descended from the Faceless Ones?". !<

This confuses me because if she really is descended from the Faceless Ones, that Faceless One Sceptre would also not alarm a user about Abyssinia's presence, like it hadn't alarmed Serpine about Valkyrie because they both has Faceless One blood.

This leads to five questions:

1. What exactly is Valkyrie's ancestry?
2. Who exactly were the Last of the Ancients? Are they possible Faceless Ones that branched off from the rest due to certain circumstances and eventually fought each other, thereby sharing blood? (I feel like I would've remembered any important detail like that, although I am quite infuriatingly forgetful.)
3. Is this a slight error (probably intentional) in worldbuilding by Mister Derek?
4. I'm pretty sure Desmond is also a descendent of the Last of the Ancient, in fact all of Valkyrie's dads' side is, so does that mean Melissa and her side of the family are descended from the Faceless Ones? If so, that would be so cool.
5. If being a descendent of the Last of the Ancients is so rare, where exactly are all these sorcerers descended from? Wouldn't they also be descendents of the Ancients?

I sincerely apologise if this has been asked 1000 times and if it's a stupid series of questions, but I'm quite confused now as you can imagine. I thought my knowledge of the lore was secure until Abyssinia showed up lol.

Edit: When I mention Abyssinia with the sceptre I'm just making a hypothetical! She isn't in any scene with the sceptre!

They probably have a official name but I can't remember but I've had this thought for a while and rereading playing with fire got me more confused with Stephanie but why do people not use mirror version during wars like mevolent could have doubled his force if everyone just used a mirror version as well as the other side hell during any conflict in the books they could have doubled there forces by just pulling out the mirror copies unless I'm missing something is there a reason they don't or just cause it's a book?

so I’m hearing all of this hate on phase 2 and random quotes like “Books should ended with dying of the light” and I just don’t agree.

when I read them for the first time I have no idea that there were phases so I just read them and was like “oh these are cool” and got on with it and the books kinda grew up with me.

i honestly understand people have individual opinions but my individual opinion is that those individual opinions are wrong.

bub-bye

:D

So I’ve just finished book 8, i’m pretty sad cause most of my favourite characters are dead, Anton shudder, kenspeckle and ghastly to name a few. Unfortunately the ending for book 9 has sort of been spoiled for me. But like I don’t know how the series can be great with so many dead characters, but who knows, everyone died in got season 3 and it was still good.
I’m sure this has been asked before.

So i started learning unreal engine some time ago and yesterday i thought it would be fun to work on a little Skulduggery Pleasant Game. At the moment i added fireballthrowing and also „air pushing“. Im currently thinking about kinds of magic i could add next. Any ideas?

Which isn't much but it is kind of weird (cadaverous, cadaver, caelen, charivari, crepuscular, creed, crux, caisson)

(First half can be found here)

Part 8 - What The Deuce?

More Sanctuaries turn over the globe, with the Kith swarms being dealt with one by one. Several of Ravel's supporters had been ingrained in the Sanctuary so long that they'd already elevated themselves to high positions, with some even being Elders. Ravel's politician friends would smooth over mortal relations as best they could, whilst his friends in the Sanctuaries who'd taken up high positions over the years acted to further Ravel's agenda. He was revealing magic to the world in a way even better than his original plan, and with magic exposed, the Children of the Spiders could come out of hiding, satisfying Mist.

A meeting is held between him and the Spiders to discuss their success, and Deuce and Ghastly find themselves near it, having tailed Ravel since Deuce felt something was off with him. During their meeting, Portia makes a snide remark about Marr and how she'd never suspected she was lying with the traitor she'd been searching for all along, causing Ravel to punch him. Stunned, Deuce and Ghastly move to back away, but are revealed, causing an emotional battle to break out.

Portia, Syc, and Vizor attack whilst Mist hangs back, and Ravel, not wanting to hurt them but unwilling to let Marr's death be in vain, goes for Deuce. Deuce is outraged, asking why he betrayed them, and Ravel argues right back, saying he was stuck in the past. Always telling people to limit themselves for the sake of mortals, but magic wasn't something which should be pushed down. It should be allowed to thrive, open and without shame, no matter the cost. When Deuce asks if that meant his own lover, Ravel says yes. And he'd do the same to his mentor if needed.

Ghastly fights well against two Spiders, but barely manages to keep up. Deuce fights fiercely and manages to kill Syc in an elemental display, though is shortly beaten by Ravel and goes down. Ravel tells him that he'd always been charismatic, and if he escaped, then he couldn't say for sure there wasn't a chance he'd undo all Ravel's work. He couldn't allow that.

"You were like a son to me."

"I know... and I'm sorry."

Ravel ends Deuce. Portia and Vizor are about to kill Ghastly as revenge for Syc, but Ravel stops them, saying he'd be kept prisoner until mortal-magic relations had stabilised and it was too late to do anything. Mist, knowing it wasn't worth it to make enemies of Ravel now, orders them to stand down. Reluctantly, they obey, and when Ghastly demands to know how he could do this, Ravel just says all of them had to make sacrifices for the sake of a better world. He was just making his.

Part 9 - Rising Armaggedon

Darquesse has been feeling unhappy since the confrontation at the pyramid. She sneaks into Roarhaven, knowing she'd be attacked immediately if sighted, and goes to Argeddion's prison near the Accelerator. She couldn't find the Obsidian Blade, but wanted to make sure all threats to her were gone. She meets the Engineer, who is refreshingly unafraid of her, and learns that it was due to explode in mere days. After everything that's happened, she briefly considers entering the Accelerator, since she didn't seem to have anyone left. But the thought is quickly cast aside. She didn't come here to die. She goes to Argeddion, one of the few people who could kill her. He'd let Kitana and her friends run amok, taking countless innocent lives, and with the Accelerator about to explode, his prison wouldn't hold for long. Feeling justified in his death, she burns him up, ending the one person who could stop her once and for all.

Elsewhere, Elsie is in Dublin with the Necromancers, Fletcher, and Razzia, having been tasked with helping slay the Kith forces with her. She's charging a fire stream when suddenly her magic leaves her, and she's swarmed by Kith. Argeddion had died, taking her powers with him. She's about to be torn apart, but is saved by Melancholia at the last second, who shreds every Kith in the area.

Skulduggery goes to the reflection, wanting to know how to stop Darquesse, but she is quick to correct him. He speaks of them like they're different personalities, and Valkyrie just needed to wake up again, but he's wrong. At one point, they were separate, but time and Darquesse's repeated awakenings had caused them to fuse. He asks the reflection how they can save Valkyrie, and the reflection says she doesn't know.

With Sult, he'd returned to America with Brate, only to find his position in the Sanctuary undermined by Zefira Kerias, who was acting under Ravel's orders to end him and take control of the American Sanctuary. She tries to ambush him, but he manages to flee with Whisper's help, leaving her behind as he escapes to Dublin with Brate. However, upon learning that Sult had more-or-less been usurped, Brate realises there was no money in it for him anymore and teleports away. Sult, suspecting that Ravel set things up, steals a car and drives to Roarhaven to confront Ravel himself.

Scapegrace's group, having seen Deuce die and Ghastly be captured, comes forward to the reflection, and thus Skulduggery, who'd been feeling suspicious about Ravel himself. As this is being declared, Sult arrives, having lost everything and wanting to take Ravel down. He makes a deal with Skulduggery to stop Ravel and leaves with Tanith and Sanguine to save Ghastly, jibbing them over the death of Bisahalani. They sneak in to get Ghastly out, reaching his cell. But Ravel had been cautious, and kept Carol on hand along with Vizor just in case Skulduggery put the dots together, counting on his fellow Dead Man's intellect.

Threatened by the Sceptre, Sanguine retreats with an unwilling Tanith, leaving Sult and Skulduggery on their own. Skulduggery tries to reason with Carol, to tell her about Deuce and Marr's deaths, but she knew about his history as Vile, and when added onto what happened with her cousin, she doesn't take his word for it. Sult loses his cool and tries to attack, but is no match for Ravel and a Spider at the same time. He's stabbed in the heart with a dagger made of ice, calling Ravel a filthy bastard before he dies. Ravel doesn't repute him.

Ravel throws Skulduggery in a cell with Ghastly, saying they could leave once things had stabilised. After enduring their verbal wrath, he leaves.

Part 10 - Falling Low

In the cell, Skulduggery tries to make a joke, but Ghastly isn't laughing. The two speak, and everything that Ghastly had been holding back at Skulduggery comes out, until the reflection appears and frees them. She'd snuck in with the help of Weeper, who was enraged by the death of Deuce and Marr, and wanted to help. Along the way, they also reunite with Sanguine and Tanith, who'd come back at her insistence, and even nabbed the Obsidian Blade from its storage in the process. They make to leave and find the other Dead Men to come back and handle Ravel, but find themselves obstructed by Portia, Vizor, the Black Cleaver, and Nye.

Weeper is angered and tries to throw himself at the Black Cleaver, but is swatted aside. Ghastly, Sanguine, and Tanith strike at the Black Cleaver together, who defends Nye, whilst the reflection and Skulduggery handle the Spiders. At first, things are even, but the commotion is great and Ravel soon appears with Carol and Mist at his back. He tells Skulduggery to stand down, and naturally he refuses.

Nye flees and Ghastly, Sanguine, and Tanith engage the Cleaver together in a gnarly three-way duel. It more than holds its own now that it doesn't have to worry about Nye, shadow-walking the three of them away, and once again proves to be too much for them to handle. It beats them all back, the Obsidian Blade leaving Tanith's hand. She says that she loves them, the target of her affection dubious, but for a moment Ghastly sees his Tanith, and not the Remnant-possessed madwoman who'd indirectly started a war. The woman he fell in love with. And then her head is taken off by the Black Cleaver, and his heart breaks all over again.

Ghastly picks up the Obsidian Blade and, with help from Sanguine, shoves it through the Cleaver's chest, absorbing its soul and turning it into a shell that Ghastly burns to ashes. Nye tries to run off, but Sanguine catches up to it with Ghastly. Left cornered, it begs for its life and Ghastly tells it to explain Ravel's plan, recording the whole thing. Ghastly keeps his word, but Sanguine never promised anything, and tunnels his hand into Nye's chest, scrambling its inner organs and leaving it to die slowly.

Skulduggery and Ghastly is with the reflection again Ravel, Carol, and the Spiders, and were losing. Badly. The reflection tries to reason with Carol, who actually hesitates and starts to doubt Ravel, though she's disrupted by Portia, who injures and is about to kill the reflection. In seeing the image of Valkyrie about to be killed, Skulduggery's internal conflict comes to a peak, and he unleashes his shadows, skewering Portia and saving the reflection. Vizor tries to do the same, but is killed, and the same happens to Mist. Carol tries to fire the Sceptre, but the reflection gets in the way of it, and it does nothing.

Vile tries to attack Carol, but Ravel saves her and gets injured himself, forcing the two of them to retreat. The reflection is approached by Vile, but then a grim Sanguine and Ghastly emerge. Ghastly gets in Vile's way, staring him down.

"Will you kill me like you killed my mother, Skulduggery?"

Vile's shadows withdrawn and Skulduggery comes back. He tries to apologise, but Ghastly just tells him to get up. He does, and all of them go after Carol. Whilst this is going on, Carol is dragging Ravel through Roarhaven. As they're running, she questions him. He hesitates, but ultimately lies again. Carol isn't completely fooled, but she also isn't able to accept the mentor she'd been following was a ruthless killer. She chooses to believe him and returns with Ravel to the house where the Edgleys had been staying to recover. She enters to find Darquesse.

Part 11 - Judgement

After killing Argeddion, Darquesse felt low. She wanted reassurance that she was still loved. She sneaks around and goes to see her father, who's with Alice, Beryl and Fergus. Echo-Gordon is there too. She tries to be normal with them, but it's no use. Desmond pleads for her to come home, Fergus and Beryl unleash the anger at her for keeping the death of Crystal from them, and Gordon tries to calm the situation to no avail. Things only gets worse when Carol and Ravel arrive at the house, the both of them wary of Darquesse, adding to her inner turmoil. The arrival of Skulduggery and the others, with him having deduced where Carol was heading, wasn't helping anyone. Everyone is speaking at Darquesse, all in different tones, until she's overwhelmed and black fire starts to creep.

Carol fires a black lightning bolt on reflex, but because it can't harm an Ancient, it does nothing. Nothing except set Darquesse off, that is.

Darquesse takes the Sceptre away from Carol and erases it from existence in a display that destroys the house. The commotion draws attention to Fletcher and many of their other allies, including Saracen and Dexter, the Monster Hunters with Elsie and Razzia, plus Melancholia and Solomon, who'd returned to Roarhaven via teleportation shortly before this. The Kith were largely handled, so they'd left their remaining forces behind to handle the stragglers, wanting to investigate what happened to Argeddion. They see Darquesse and a crowd of citizens forms against her. A hostile one.

Faced with so many people, all of them wanting to attack her, Darquesse reveals that she'd destroyed all the God-Killers and slayed Argeddion, hoping they'd fear her enough to stand down. And this does get the smarter ones to submit, but several citizens of Roarhaven are only enraged further by this and crowd at Darquesse whilst spitting venom, attacking as one. She strikes right back, unwilling to take their resentment lying down, and people start to die as she unleashes a wave of black fire.

Dozens of people are killed. Everyone is looking at Darquesse like she's a monster, and she hates it. She makes this dislike audible, and gets a hole blasted through her by Dexter, who acts in response to her aggression. Orders are being yelled as he moves, the Monster Hunters following, and Fletcher starts to teleport people away, wanting to get them away from Darquesse. As she regenerates, she is hurt. She thought they were friends, but looking around, she realises she had no one left. No one except enemies. She has another outburst that kills Dexter and Donegan, and almost kills Gracious, however Fletcher is able to teleport him out just in time. But his arm was grazed by those flames. Once lit, that fire would spread until it consumed him. He couldn't put them out. Not without a sacrifice. He uses a portal to sever his own arm, leaving him mutilated.

Something inside of Darquesse snaps. She tries to apologise to Fletcher, but he pulls away, and she sees the hatred in Gracious' eyes. When the reflection's group arrives, she sees the looks her family was sending her. That her dad was sending her. Unable to stand them, she feels like the world is against her and wants to teach it a lesson. To teach them never to so much as look at her wrong again. She screams and unleashes an explosion of light follows that flattens Roarhaven.

Part 12 - Remains

Darquesse flies off after destroying Roarhaven, leaving the survivors to pick up the pieces. Melancholia managed to shield those closest to her with a dome of darkness, but hundreds of people were dead. Over a thousand. Ghastly and Sanguine reunite with the main group at last, showing Nye's confession to Ravel's betrayal to the group, causing Carol to realise he'd just been using her. She leaves his side and goes to her parents.

Left alone, Ravel's explanation of having built a city in secret to replace this destroyed one is cut off by Skulduggery shooting him in the chest. He's about to finish the job, but is stopped by Saracen. His betrayal and the death of Deuce is explained, but even then, Saracen still won't let Skulduggery kill Ravel. He'd just lost Dexter, and the idea of losing another Dead Man today was more than he could take. He tells Skulduggery that if he kills Ravel, that was it for them, then leaves to go find Dexter's family and tell them what happened. Skulduggery is about to kill Ravel anyway, but is surprisingly stopped by Ghastly, who tells him that Ravel could still be of use to them with his contacts and the replacement city for Roarhaven. Too much was at stake to just off him. Besides, killing Ravel after all this would be a mercy. Skulduggery puts his gun away.

A clean-up takes place, amongst which is Scapegrace's group. Their pub had been destroyed, but they were eager to help and bring the wounded to Clarabelle, who heals all her patients as best she can. The Necromancers led by Melancholia are also there to offer their aid, and Solomon even thinks about what to do with all of them, given many of them had betrayed their home countries to flock to their Death Bringer's side. He thinks about opening a Temple. High Priest Wreath did have quite a nice ring to it. The mortal ambassadors also arrive to find the city destroyed, and in seeing the hard times their fellow human beings were coming across, call humanitarian aid.

Fletcher is dealing with his loss of limb, though Gracious manages to offer some comfort since he'd lost an eye. He apologises for not saving Donegan too, but Gracious just hugs him. He tells Fletcher that sometimes the best way to help yourself is to help someone else, encouraging him to help with the cleanup, and the two head out to do their part. Elsie joins, despite being mortal again, and Razzia does the same because she doesn't want to be left out. She asks if some of the corpses can be fed to Hansel and Gretel, and gets a resounding no.

The reflection is found by Desmond. Alice is with him. He's not sure how to process what Darquesse had just done, and neither can the reflection. It was a living nightmare. Skulduggery approaches them and says that he was going to handle Darquesse, then goes to Ghastly, who'd assumed command given all the Elders were dead and Ravel was a traitor. He tells Skulduggery that he was going to face punishment for his crimes, both as Vile and for keeping Darquesse a secret. Skulduggery doesn't argue, but instead asks for a chance to fix the mess he'd created, and to give his life to the Accelerator once it was done. He tells Ghastly his plan and is begrudgingly allowed, with Ghastly even giving him the Obsidian Blade for the job. He goes to the Accelerator Room, pushing it to its absolute limit. The Engineer tells him just a few hours were left on its countdown, but he wasn't worried. By then, he planned on being back to offer his own soul.

Part 13 - Until The End

It wasn't hard for Skulduggery to find Darquesse. He knew her too well. He arrives at Gordon's mansion and finds her in the living room. It looked exactly the same as on the day they'd met. The two have one final conversation, where they're almost like normal asides from the building tension, but the illusion comes crashing down when Skulduggery unsheathes the Obsidian Blade. He reminds Valkyrie that he wished he stayed dead when Serpine killed him, before he became Lord Vile, and he was sorry, but he had a promise to fulfil. She is silent, then asks if he hated her like everyone else, and he shakes his head. He could never hate her. She'd always be his partner, right up to the moment he killed her.

"Until the end."

"...until the very end, partner."

Skulduggery transforms into Lord Vile, his armour and magic supercharged by the Accelerator, and with an explosion of shadows that obliterates Gordon's mansion, the two begin a battle to the death. The ground crumbles and shatters, exposing the entrance to the caves below, and during their fight they dive into it, killing countless magical creatures in their proceeding struggle. It was a glorious battle where Vile's undead nature works in his favour, as Darquesse's black flames were useless, and his Necromancy is stronger than ever before. During their fight, a hidden section of the cave is destroyed, and a massive dragon emerges from it and flies into the sky, halting them both for a moment. Magic truly was incredible.

But with an explosion of light, Lord Vile's shadows are tamed, and a battered, bare skeleton is all that remains. Darquesse had beaten Skulduggery. With the Obsidian Blade kicked aside, Darquesse approaches a downed Skulduggery, who asks if she could really destroy the world. She says that at first she didn't think so, but considering all that she'd managed to do at this point, she thinks she could if pushed. And everyone seemed intent on pushing her. If they died, it was their own fault.

She makes to kill him, but before then, the reflection arrives with the help of Fletcher. She picks up the Obsidian Blade and approaches Darquesse, but when their eyes lock, she sees how little light there was inside them. It had been buried by all this destruction, pain, and power. She drops the Obsidian Blade and chooses to hug Darquesse, who is confused, but doesn't push away. The reflection says that she forgives Darquesse, and that she doesn't hate her or want to fight her. They were still friends, despite everything. Darquesse, in looking at Fletcher who'd been mutilated because of her, and Skulduggery who'd tried to kill her, tries to bury the guilt. She tries to push the responsibility onto other people, even blaming 'Darquesse', but the reflection corrects her. They didn't kill those people. Valkyrie did.

Anger flares, but Darquesse quickly breaks down, crying. Realising what she'd done, and as an act of self-loathing, she uses her powers to target the dark power she absorbed all those years ago and destroy it. Along with her magic.

Valkyrie collapses, being left magicless and mortal. Skulduggery asks for Valkyrie to take him to the Accelerator, since it was on the brink, but she leaves him. She goes to Fletcher, who's beyond simply hating her at this point, and asks for him to take them to the Accelerator. She wanted to do something right for once. Wanting to be rid of her, he complies and takes Valkyrie, defying Skulduggery who wanted to go there in her place.

As they go, the reflection links up with them and arrives in the Accelerator room. Knowing that Fletcher would try to stop what she was about to do, the reflection apologises and knocks him out, leaving her and Valkyrie alone. She tells Valkyrie that she wasn't lying when she said she didn't want to let Valkyrie die, and wanted to save her friend no matter what. She planned on being the one to sacrifice herself. Believing she had a soul, she declares that she was no longer just a mere reflection of Valkyrie, but her own person now. A person named Prism.

Valkyrie was touched that the reflection- no, Prism, was willing to save her even after all she'd done. But she also wasn't about to let her only friend and sister die in her place and a magicless brawl breaks out. The two are desperate to save the other, and fight with a brutal lack of restraint, perfect equals. It ends when Valkyrie gets a lucky shot and gets Prism down for the count, limping towards the Accelerator with broken ribs, intent on ending her own and everyone else's torment. But then Desmond emerges.

Desmond tells Valkyrie that Edgleys never took the easy way out. It was unlike them. Yes, she was technically not an Edgley anymore, but semantics. He wasn't letting any of his daughters die. She desperately tries to move him, but she was left too weak. Desmond tells Valkyrie that he loved her, and he'd say hi to their mother for them, and tells Prism she was as much a real person as anyone else, then walks into the Accelerator, shutting it down at the cost of his own life.

Part 14 - Dawn Breaks

The 'death' of Darquesse was spread throughout Roarhaven, but it was a cold comfort. Over a thousand people remained dead. Mortals were working alongside Sorcerers to help the survivors, and the ambassadors were looking for a representative of the Sorcerers to collaborate with and smoothen things over. As a mortal that had close ties to the magical community, Elsie steps up to become that representative, speaking on behalf of both mortal and Sorcerer, given she'd been one for a time.

Guild once more shuts down the Exigency Program, this time permanently, discharging Serrate from service to follow his own path. He's offered to take up the position of Grand Mage again, as he was the only one with experience in this department, but time alone with his daughter, Iris, had tempered him. He declines, wishing to live a quieter, less violent life and be there for his daughter.

With a heavy heart and with nobody else to shoulder the burden, Ghastly steps up as Grand Mage, choosing to install Saracen and Shudder as his Elders, since they were the only Dead Men left alive who he could trust. Their reputation was exactly what was needed to create some order. Creyfon Signate is imprisoned, but like in canon he was oblivious to Ravel's actions and, horrified by what he'd done, cooperates with them and shunts the city they'd been constructing into the Prime Dimension. It was deemed New Roarhaven, and Signate earns his freedom, becoming a Sanctuary agent. A grave is made for Tanith at Ghastly's request, and Sanguine visits it, where him and Ghastly speak about her. After trading insults, he tells Ghastly that if he ever needed a Hitman Deluxe, he was open for business, then tunnels away.

Ravel is shoved into a cell for his crimes, but not executed. His supporters were too numerous to count, and many were in high places. Everything could fall apart if he was killed. Even just his imprisonment angers them, but Ravel orders them to cooperate with Ghastly for the greater good. He'd made his bed, and he deserved to lie in it, even if that bed was in a prison cell. He's visited by Carol, who slaps him and demands to know if he was using her, and with some pushing, he reluctantly answers yes. He tries to assure her that he did care, but Carol leaves, though not before telling him that if people he cared about all ended up like Deuce and Marr, then she preferred just being a pawn to him.

It's not only Ravel that's thrown in prison. Ghastly's conflicted feelings meant that he didn't want Skulduggery dead, but people had been asking for him to be punished for a while, and Ghastly was one of them. Tanith's death had embittered him. He makes good on his earlier words and throws Skulduggery into a cell next to Ravel, saying the traitors could talk amongst themselves, denouncing them as his friends and shutting the door. Skulduggery doesn't resist, though does refuse any and all olive branches offered to him by Ravel.

Following this, Fletcher finds Ghastly. Ghastly assures him that no expense would be paid to get him a prosthetic hand. But it's not that. He wonders how he could have ever loved Valkyrie when she was so twisted deep down. In response, Ghastly states that bitterness and hatred didn't suit him, and Fletcher asks why not, since being considerate had never gotten him anything. Ghastly tells him that was the thought process of a weak man. People like Valkyrie and Skulduggery, despite all their power, were weak because they gave into their darkness. He tells Fletcher not to be weak, and they hug, both shedding tears over their losses.

A funeral is held for Desmond in Haggard, one where Prism is present with Alice, knowing she'd have to take care of her sister on her own from now on. Echo-Gordon is even in attendance, acting as emotional support. Beryl assures Prism that they didn't hold her accountable for Darquesse's actions, stating that Melissa was her best friend. Only friend, since she wasn't really very likeable. Hearing this causes Prism to cry, and she hugs Beryl.

Valkyrie is there too, albeit watching from a distance. She couldn't face her family, but had to be there. But Carol notices her. Valkyrie tells Carol that she was going somewhere far, far away from here, and they'd never have to see her again. Carol, knowing she had little room to judge too harshly given she'd helped Ravel, lets her go and returns to the funeral, choosing not to say anything.

AN: And that's a wrap for the first nine books! Oh man, oh man, what a journey this has been, though I'm not quite done yet. I've had too much of a blast writing this for it to end, and there are still so many loose ends to tie up. No rest for the wicked, and all that.

Book 1(The Last of the Ancients)
Book 2(Dancing with Darkness)
Book 3(The Cursed One)
Book 4(Desolation)
Book 5(Divine Judgement)
Sidestory(Tanith Low)
Book 6(Requiem)
Sidestory(Fletcher Renn)
Book 7(Rise of the Wicked)
Book 8(Fall of a Dead Man)
Sidestory(China Sorrows)
Book 9(Burying the Light)

Alright, this is the end of the 'Judgement Day' trilogy, incorporating elements of LSoDM where I can because I love that book. Whilst there will be one more trilogy after this one, this is technically the canon 'rewrite' since everything after this will be more-or-less original material. A good number of OCs will feature, mostly to spice things up at certain points and to fill roles that aren't there in canon characters, plus a decent bit of Phase 2. Hope you enjoy both parts!

Book 9 - Burying the Light(2013)

(Main Villain: Darquesse)

Part 1 - Goldeneye

The book kicks things off over a month after the end of Fall of a Dead Man, and starts the prologue with a chapter from Ravel's perspective for the first time as himself, and not the man with golden eyes. Ravel is with the Children of the Spiders, led by Mist, and they're discussing their new plan, one which might actually work better than the original. With the Warlocks in no condition to fulfil their role after Charivari's death, they've decided to substitute them with the Kith, and with some help from Nye, they'd managed to track down more of the Kith clusters whilst rigging them to awaken with the flip of a switch. He didn't see Sorcerers as superior, but knew that with advancing technology, the reveal of magic was a question of when, not if, so he hoped that by engineering it himself, he'd at least be able to control and mitigate the fallout. But the Sorcerer world was in no condition to be exposed right now, as the image of war wasn't what needed to be given to them for optimal mortal-magic relations. He planned on fixing that.

The conflict between Ireland and the other Sanctuaries has been simmering, with Darquesse's arrival and Skulduggery being Vile acting like a constantly fog over everyone's mind, on top of the War of the Sanctuaries which had been raging for months now. Instead of being out there in the action, Skulduggery was confined to house arrest. Instead of seeing him, we follow a series of battles between Ireland and the Supreme Council, which mostly consists of European Countries and America, along with some from Africa. General Mantis was as unrelenting as in canon, if not more so, forcing Corrival Deuce to take up the mantle of General once more to counter him.

Saddled with leadership, in some ways above even Ravel, Deuce made the call to pardon Guild from his house arrest and bring him back into the fold, as they needed every asset possible. Guild was a bit hesitant, since being left to raise his daughter by himself for a few years had softened him, and he wasn't looking forward to a life of violence again. He'd lost his spark. But he knew what was at stake and reluctantly gathers whatever scraps remained from the old Exigency Program together. There weren't many given how many years it had been disbanded for, most were dead or had found other lines of work as assassins or mercenaries, but amongst the available was his old second-in-command, Uriah Serrate, a cold, ruthless glaive-wielding Necromancer. With Skulduggery's secret coming out, and Ravel as Grand Mage, Ghastly starts acting as the Dead Men's field leader, corresponding with Guild to sabotage the Supreme Council's efforts behind the scenes.

Fletcher is a central part of Ireland's tactics within the War of the Sanctuaries much like in Last Stand of Dead Men, but in addition to Mantis' forces, an American Teleporter by the name of Adam Brate was hired by Sult to help them, much like he did Whisper. He escaped Batu's Teleporter culling because he was in prison whilst it went on, but after experiencing numerous losses at Fletcher's hand, Sult offered immunity to Brate if he helped the Supreme Council counter Fletcher. Brate accepts for freedom, money, and possibly the chance to kill Fletcher. It was nothing personal, but being the only Teleporter in the world would make his services priceless.

Through Guild's spies, an attack is made on a harbour in New York, where the Supreme Council wanted to dispatch their forces to land in Ireland. Fletcher, Razzia, Dexter, and Saracen sneak by with the aid of Serrate, who helps them by shadow-walking them into the ships with Saracen's help to plant the bombs. It's revealed that Saracen's Discipline gave him X-Ray vision here. He was just a Lynceus. Dexter is a bit underwhelmed, but Fletcher thinks it's kind of cool and pretty handy, earning a high-five. Razzia tactlessly asks if he can see people naked whenever he wants and Saracen refuses to answer that one.

With Saracen's help, they plant the bombs in vulnerable spots to sabotage and sink the ships, but end up being caught in an ambush. Brate is amongst them, along with Whisper, but also Gepard, Adrasdos, and several others. Gepard was put in charge, and tells Dexter to hand over the detonator and escape whilst he had the chance. When he refuses and blows the ships up, setting the council back, Gepard goes for Dexter, who's backed by Saracen and Razzia. Whisper and Adrasdos double-team Serrate, who proves his skill by handling them both single-handed. Brate does his job and engages Fletcher in a Teleporter bout.

"You should know, this is nothing personal kid, just good business."

"And you should know that's not original."

Despite his portal powers and immense talent, Brate's experience shows and he grapples Fletcher. The two of them return to the harbour, and he's about to have his neck snapped, but is saved last second by Razzia, whose Gists bite off a few of his fingers. He teleports away in a rage, swearing to pay her back. Serrate slays Adrasdos, forcing Whisper to retreat, whilst Dexter and Saracen wound and incapacitate Gepard and the rest of his men, but don't kill. It was unnecessary. They manage to escape with Fletcher, but the worst was yet to come.

Part 2 - The Night of Knives

With the reflection, she's been living quietly with Desmond and Alice in Roarhaven as the war raged, even meeting with Scapegrace's group at some point when they went to his pub when she showed him around Roarhaven. He/she joked about having tried to kill Valkyrie once, and Desmond isn't amused. The Engineer is at the pub, working as a bartender in its spare time, though has the nasty habit of asking everyone it meets if they'd like to offer their soul to the Accelerator, putting them off. The reflection believes she has a soul and contemplates offering her own, but is dissuaded from Desmond, who'd grown attached to the reflection and couldn't bear to lose anyone else.

After this, the reflection decides to come clean about another matter that Valkyrie had kept hidden from them: Echo-Gordon. She brings the Echo Stone containing Gordon to her father and Fergus, with him and Beryl having been brought to Roarhaven so the council didn't use them to get to Carol for the Sceptre. The Edgley brothers reunite, and Gordon even gets to finally meet Alice. It's sweet, but the heavy matter of Darquesse is brought up, and Desmond becomes distraught. The reflection promises that she'll do everything she could to bring Valkyrie back to him, not because she was a servant to Valkyrie, but because she was family.

With Brate's help, a mass-attack is orchestrated on the Sensitives of Ireland via assassins, and they manage to do so with the help via a group of Sensitive-linked septuplets called the Seven-As-One, who cause a widespread wave of magic across Ireland that scrambles the powers of all Sensitives temporarily, making them vulnerable in an event which would become known as the "Night of Knives". Finbar, whose an especially powerful Sensitive, manages to survive via a poisoned mug of tea, but the same cannot be said for Cassandra. She's assassinated by Whisper. This was the first time she'd come back to Ireland since she left the Temple. Since she left her despicable father, Craven. In her final moments, Cassandra asks for her eyes to be closed so that it just looked like she was sleeping. Once dead, Whisper complies with that request and leaves.

In light of these losses and the council's additions, Deuce is trying to think of a solution to give them an edge. With China Sorrows missing, he needed the help of a Signum Linguist to stop Roarhaven from being infiltrated, so at the very least an army couldn't just appear in their back garden. He gets into contact with Uther Peccant, who was a sigil master, and after being brought to Roarhaven, Peccant taps into the barrier to create a perimeter that bans Teleportation directly into the city. However, if the barrier was destroyed, all bets would be off. Peccant also goes to Fletcher and carves a sigil onto him that would stop the barrier from keeping him out.

Whilst Peccant is working his magic, Deuce learns that Clarabelle has been secretly supplying Moloch and his Vampires with serum and had built up a bit of a rapport with them. This incites him to go to Moloch, where he strikes a deal to gain the aid of the Vampires by offering them another block of flats once Roarhaven was rebuilt. If that wasn't enough, Mist brings the Children of the Spiders out to help out. Of them is Syc, a Spider who possesses poisoned nails and claws, Portia, who can extend four spider leg-like limbs from her back, and Vizor(OC), who can eject webs from her wrists. Ravel goes over Deuce's head and promises the Spiders that, if they help, they could take residence in Roarhaven out in the open, and given there weren't many options, Deuce is convinced to agree.

Solomon is with Melancholia, routinely checking up on her like had become usual, both out of guilt and her connection to his teacher. But whilst there, Darquesse visits. He's on guard, but it turned out that she was weighed down by the guilt of what she'd done to Melancholia, feeling like her past actions were on her head. She wakes Melancholia up, and after a brief reunion where she explains what happened, she's disappointed to see that even the Death Bringer can't understand her and leaves. Now alone, Solomon apologises to Melancholia and, after a bitter conversation where she learns of her heritage, Solomon comes up with a plan to keep the Irish Sanctuary off her back.

Part 3 - The Darkness of Warfare

The Midnight Hotel is struck by Mantis, but Tanith and Sanguine had infiltrated the American Sanctuary and learn of their plan beforehand. But they're discovered by Sult, who easily recognised his teacher's killers. Tanith is captured whilst Sanguine manages to escape and warn Ireland of Mantis' plans. Mantis was also laying a siege on Roarhaven as this was happening with Brate's help, aiming to attack the Irish from both inside and outside Roarhaven to take the city in a seamless pincer. This forces the Irish to divide their forces.

Fletcher rendezvous with Sanguine along with Shudder, Razzia, and the Monster Hunters, their aim being to take the Midnight Hotel back in America. Gracious brought a bomb in case worse came to worse and they needed to destroy the hotel, but Shudder is vehemently opposed to the idea. Although the circumstances were grave, Shudder takes an interest in Razzia and her Gist-based abilities, though she herself finds his words on restraint and self-control boring. He might've chosen the Discipline and adapted to it, but she was a Natural, born into Gisting, and didn't see an issue with her murderous impulses. This opinion earns the disapproval of Fletcher, and she tries to brush him off, but his words still sting.

Mantis' forces had managed to take control of the Midnight Hotel's shifts with the help of NJ Maverick, who is not China's student like in canon, but a Signum Linguist under the Supreme Council's command. Acting as NJ's bodyguard is yet another mercenary, a rare Arborkinetic named Toxin(OC) who demonstrates the understated power of her Discipline by turning the inside of the hotel into a fortress of vines, thorns, and other fauna. Cadaverous Gant is also being held hostage, and isn't a murderous old man, but a middle-aged receptionist at the Midnight Hotel who had a family back in Roarhaven. Sigils are how the Midnight Hotel shifts to different locations, and NJ managed to hack it, so if the Supreme Council captured it, they'd have a direct path into Roarhaven. With sheer numbers and time against them, Shudder plants and arms Gracious' bomb, heart heavy.

"Goodbye, old friend."

After linking up with Gant and the rest of the group, Fletcher teleports them out a moment before the bomb went off and destroyed the Midnight Hotel.

Roarhaven's barrier is up, but the Supreme Council's numbers, comprised of mages from multiple Sanctuaries, were too great. There were thousands of them. When night fell, Moloch is there with the rest of the Vampires, who enter their true forms and jump off the wall to strike back against the Supreme Council in a vicious rampage. Many of the Supreme Council are killed, but they hold out and several of the Vampires die, though Moloch makes it out. Nobody except Clarabelle is very sad about it. It takes every last bit of strength the Irish have to defend the wall, but eventually the barrier breaks and all hell breaks loose.

A huge battle takes place, with some of it spilling into Roarhaven itself. All the Dead Men, Deuce, Elsie, a Sceptre-wielding Carol, Fletcher, the Monster Hunters, and Peccant, are there and fighting for their lives, with the Spiders joining them back-to-back along with whatever Vampires had chosen to remain in their human forms. But whilst this is going on, a group of enemy mages breach Roarhaven and head for the Accelerator Room with orders to seize it and supercharge themselves, but the reflection and Scapegrace's group get a hint. Desmond leaves Alice with his brother and rushes there with the reflection, unwilling to leave his daughter alone again. They arrive just in time to find the Engineer standing in the way of the council's soldiers.

"Did you know my creators invented me not only to monitor the Accelerator, but also defend it?"

Then, the Engineer arm transformers into a magic-powered cannon and it unleashes a barrage of attacks, alongside pre-programmed karate skills. Once joined by the rest of the group, they manage to defend the Accelerator together, though Desmond is hurt protecting the reflection. He has to be taken to Clarabelle, but regrets nothing.

Elsie is on the battlefield. She's fighting, but very defensively, as despite everything, she couldn't bring herself to take another life. But her hesitation costs her, and in the chaos, Saracen is captured. Brate teleports in a second wave of Sorcerers, and it seems that all hope is lost.

Then, men and women start to drop and Melancholia arrives in a wave of darkness with hundreds of Necromancers at her back. They were from across the globe, rallied together under the name of their messiah and Solomon Wreath. In a valiant, devastating assault that decimates the Supreme Council's forces, they turn the tide and save the day, increasing Melancholia's rapport with the Irish and ensuring that none of the Elders could act against her unless, of course, they wanted every Necromancer in the world out for their blood.

Deuce approaches Solomon after the battle to tell him he knew what he was doing, and would allow it, but warns that if Melancholia proved dangerous, there would be no amount of politics large enough to stop them from cutting her down. After the battle, Melancholia tries to speak with Fletcher, but he makes it clear that he's not forgotten what she did to him and walks away.

Part 4 - Impending Darquesse

With Darquesse, who's been reflecting over the months on whether to destroy the world or not, she decides to visit Skulduggery out of loneliness, and to ask where the Obsidian Blade was being held. But Skulduggery believes that Valkyrie was being suppressed by Darquesse, like all the other times she'd taken control, and asks for his partner back. She tries to tell him that Darquesse was no longer an alter-ego, but he won't listen. He says that if Valkyrie truly was gone, then he knew she wouldn't want this, reminding her that he wished he'd died before he became Lord Vile. He knew she'd be the same.

His words cause Darquesse to have flashbacks to Valkyrie's vision of him killing her when Nye sealed her name. Scared, she reveals that she'd snuck around and destroyed all the God-Killers except for the Obsidian Blade, even teleporting in their shattered remains as proof. She warns him not to act against her, then teleports away.

The next stage of the war involves less all-out warfare Ireland has proven themselves too powerful to handle in a direct confrontation, especially with the backing of the Death Bringer, but Mantis was nothing if not adaptable. Saracen is interrogated and, despite his resistance, he's ultimately not able to keep the Sensitives out. They learn everything, which wasn't much because the Dead Men were very spontaneous, but they learn about Dexter's family before throwing Saracen in a cell. Tanith is his cellmate.

Mantis changes its approach to something more ruthless- it was taking hostages to hold leverage over Ireland's forces. It orders that Dexter's family be taken. When the agents come, Ebony resists with surprising effectiveness, giving Ida and Louise the chance to escape, but is ultimately beaten, captured, and thrown in with Tanith and Saracen, who she bonds with over their connection to Dexter.

After a call from Ida that had Fletcher picking them up, Dexter reunites with his daughter and granddaughter, learning of Ebony's capture. Dexter goes to Ravel and demands they mount a rescue and Ravel, knowing that Dexter won't take no for an answer, has Deuce organise one with the other Dead Men. But just as they're wondering how they'll find Dexter's family, Skulduggery walks in, stating that it sounded like a job for a detective.

Part 5 - Blood-Stained Trickery

The Dead Men finally confront Skulduggery about his lies and actions, and he doesn't defend himself. He was a hypocrite, a liar, and a murderer, but not a coward. When he tells them about Darquesse and shows them the destroyed God-Killers, then offers up the Obsidian Blade, plus with Saracen, Tanith, and Dexter's wife at stake, the Dead Men are delicately willing to accept his help. But they make it clear nothing has been forgotten, let alone forgiven. He doesn't push, instead helping them come up with a plan to save their hostages.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Council is wavering. Many Sanctuaries had lost a lot of people in the siege at Roarhaven, and being reminded of the cost of war, started to cut their losses and withdraw their forces. Sult, having been pressured to enter war by some of them, decries them as cowards. Deuce, in seeing the council's weakness, sends Fletcher and the Monster Hunters to some of the Sanctuaries who'd backed out, one of which is Mozambique, who send a representative. Little do they know, this representative was killed and replaced by Ajouga, who blatantly comes onto Fletcher in an attempt to enamour him.

Witches specialise in laying curses on others, so when Ajouga made casual contact with the three of them, she unknowingly cast a spell on them which muffled their ability to use their magic. Using this, she takes the Monster Hunters off-guard and knocks them out, but Fletcher had his guard up the whole time due to his experience with Myra. When he realises he can't use his powers, he engages her in a magicless brawl, which with his experience and training under Ghastly, was surprisingly effective. It's not enough though, and he goes down after getting Ajouga's veil knocked off and bloodying her nose. Rather than be mad, she just gives him a manic, blood-stained smile, telling him that she liked that he could resist before knocking his lights out.

The Dead Men, Skulduggery, and Sanguine are trekking through Europe with Skulduggery towards the French Sanctuary, knowing where their hostages are being held because Finbar, fuelled by the deaths of his fellow Sensitives, aggressively pushed his powers and gained a vision of the Eiffel Tower. He remained behind with Dexter's family, offering to take them to have a wicked curry with Sharon to take their mind off things. Amazingly, Sanguine isn't the one who's singled out. Several heated discussions about Skulduggery's betrayal are told, with him trying to apologise to Ghastly, but he's not hearing any of it. Skulduggery had killed his mother. There was no letting that go. Even when they wander into a ghost town and Skulduggery manages to save Ghastly's life, he gets no thanks from him.

After heading to Paris, they find Mandat, who is initially mocking of their predicament, but Dexter proceeds to instil the fear of God into him. He agrees to take them to the hostages, though Dexter threatens to blow a hole through his torso if he was deceiving them.

Donegan and Gracious call from Mozambique, informing the Sanctuary of Fletcher's kidnapping. With the other Dead Men gone, Elsie and Razzia decide to hold a rescue mission themselves to get Fletcher back, planning to rendezvous with the Monster Hunters. But before they leave, they're joined by the reflection, who wants to help Fletcher because he'd really helped her during their talk about Valkyrie, and she wanted to return the favour.

In Roarhaven, Nye is finished with its preparations and can place Scapegrace's group into their cloned bodies. It came with a catch, however, because the bodies Nye had given them were technically dead, their magic was just preventing their bodies from rotting and keeping them alive. It was an odd state of being, not too dissimilar to Skulduggery's. They'd be able to continue on as normal for the most part, however, and so they celebrate, with Crux even deciding to stick around at the pub and shave his beard off. He was no longer ashamed of his lacking jawline.

With the other Dead Men gone and the war cooling down for a bit, Ravel decides that it's time to make his move. He gets into contact with Frightening Jones and asks if the English Sanctuary, as neutral ground, could be used as a meeting place for him and Sult to speak, claiming he wanted to get their hostages back and possibly end the war. He promises there won't be issues, nearly begging, and after playing to Jones' righteousness, he gets a yes. Perfect.

Part 6 - Bon Voyage

In Paris, Dexter forces Mandat to bring them to Mantis' prison, which laid under the Eiffel Tower. There, Sanguine sneaks into the prison and lets them slide in, but Mantis' best forces are there to get in his way: Ashione, Regis, and Metric are there, and so is NJ with Toxin as a bodyguard. Mantis threatens Ebony and tells Dexter to turn against the Dead Men or it would kill her. Left with no choice, he reluctantly turns on his friends.

Metric and Regis go for Skulduggery, who isn't backed by the others, and whilst he holds his own for a bit, their teamwork is impeccable, and Metric catches one of his fists and snaps his arm in half. Desperate and alone, he ruthlessly shoves his arm through Metric's eye, then impales Regis. NJ is using several sigil traps to stall Shudder and Ghastly, who are against Mandat and a half-hearted Dexter, but in the chaos Sanguine managed to free Tanith, then free Saracen. Toxin tries to defend NJ, but Saracen and Sanguine manage to beat her back and knock NJ out, forcing her to flee. Mantis moves to threaten Ebony to get Dexter to fight harder, but Tanith is clinging to the wall behind it and slices both its hands off, saving Ebony and kicking the Crenga down, screeching.

Dexter goes to Ebony, and after making sure she was alright, goes to a pained Mantis and blows a hole through its chest. No quips or lightheartedness, just ice-cold rage. But before he could end Mandat in his wrath, he's stopped by Skulduggery because killing a foreign Grand Mage would only lead to further issues. They spare Mandat and leave with a captured NJ in tow as a POW.

Donegan and Gracious lead the reflection and the others to the pyramid where the Brides gathered to rescue Fletcher. After entering, they split up to find him, with the reflection finding Darquesse there, relaxing and trying to lay low after destroying the God-Killers. When the reflection asks for her to come home and gets a negative, she then asks her to at least help save Fletcher, and again, Darquesse is dismissive. He'd made it clear he wanted nothing to do with her, so why would she bother to help him?

Frustrated, the reflection leaves, choosing to keep Darquesse's presence a secret for everyone's sake. The Monster Hunters had been neutralised, captured, and shackled next to Fletcher, and Ajouga reveals her breeding plans for him. He's flattered by the offer, but says no. Ajouga laughs and asks why he thought he had a choice, moving to take off her top, about to ravage him in front of Donegan and Gracious to prove a point. But the reflection emerges and attacks Ajouga before she could finish, winning after a minor tussle because curses couldn't be laid on reflections. She frees the three of them, but they can't use their magic because Ajouga's magic remained in their systems. After reuniting with Elsie and Razzia, they make to leave, but get lost in the pyramid and find themselves surrounded by hundreds of Brides. It was over for them. But then Darquesse reveals herself.

She asks the Brides to step back or she'd kill them all. Slowly. When they don't take her short warning, she mercilessly kills every last Bride with her black flames, arguing she wouldn't be taken seriously if she didn't make good on her threats. She turns to her 'friends' and is confused to see them fearful. Those Brides had been willing to hurt or even kill them, just like Kitana or Glee or Catalysmic, so why was she the bad guy for killing them first?

Razzia tries to lighten the mood with a joke, but it doesn't land. Elsie is horrified. The Monster Hunters condemn Darquesse for her actions, and she gets irritated. Fletcher gets in her way, talking and stalling for time, then tries to teleport them all away the first chance he gets, but Darquesse blocks him. She gets more agitated, asking why they're so afraid of her when she saved them, citing that she didn't want to destroy the world. She just wanted to keep herself safe. The reflection asks her to let them go, and Darquesse reluctantly does. As they leave her behind, she feels well and truly alone.

Part 7 - Reveal of Magic

Ravel arrives in London with Carol at his back and meets up with Jones and Ivy at the English Sanctuary. He's confronted by Sult and several other Grand Mages, standing before them, with Sult not bothering to hide his distain. It was Ravel who'd started this war, and now he claimed that he wanted to end it? During their meeting, a wave of Kith are awakened by Ravel's followers and set on London. A modest batch, a few hundred, but people are terrorised and their attack is public. Too public.

The English Sorcerers are forced to reveal themselves to cut the rampaging Kith down, with Jones and Ivy leading the charge through London. Ravel is fast to join them with Carol by his side, helping quell the threat he'd engineered himself. Lives were lost, yes, but his plan to show the Sorcerers as a positive force was set in motion.

His decades of planning were coming together as magic is revealed to the world, though unlike in canon, Ravel wasn't only friends with Sorcerers. He'd allied with several mortal higher-ups to smooth over magic-mortal relations, and even journalists, so that when his plan came to fruition, he'd be able to control how the news spread. With the help of said allies, a news broadcast at the BBC is held throughout the UK, where Ravel explains magic society to the world on his own terms, telling his fellow Sorcerers that they could hide no longer.

The Dead Men return to Ireland just in time to find Dublin being attacked by Kith. It wasn't only Dublin. All over the world, dozens of Sanctuaries were experiencing these attacks, which were too numerous to cover up, and with horror they realise that magic had been revealed to the mortal world. They fight nonetheless, defending civilians out in the open. The same was happening all over the world.

Ravel is confronted about recent events when he returns along with his news broadcast, since he'd given up any chance of them covering the reveal up, but he fiercely argues that this was a chance for them to come out of hiding. They were out in the open now, and needed to change with the times, or die with the past. He leaves, wanting to prepare for a group of mortal ambassadors that he'd arranged to come to Roarhaven in a few days time.

(Part 2 can be found here)

Hello, so I’m sorta new to this came back to the series after a long time. I read what I think is phase 1 when I was younger and I think the first one or two afterwards I don’t remember much. I am listening to the audio books atm during work and I am enjoying them about to go onto kingdom of the wicked. Going back to like the faceless ones trilogy obviously now years later I do find the tone very YA which is fair that’s what the books are. I am just wondering with so many new books now that I honestly don’t have a clue about does the kinda tone of the books change at all like as Valkyrie grows up do we see a more adult side of things. I assume the books are still mainly YA teenager as the main target audience so I’m not expecting like a big shift I am just a hit curious there’s a few others books I’d like to give a go but I do usually like to go through series in one go.

And why? It can be in dialogue or from a character's POV, go nuts. Bonus points if you can come up with one for each book. I don't know what's possessed me that I'm posting this many weeks in a row, but it feels good to be contributing regularly again. Regardless, this is a fairly low-effort post - at least compared to the gargantuan writeup I did last week - and probably one that's been done before, but I'm curious, especially since my co-writer Willboss27 and I have been experimenting with more explicit profanity on our Phase 2 rewrite project (an example of which can be read in our Midnight rewrite that you can read here).