It has been about a week since the Battle of Fort Rachias. Aurean troops have since landed in Caputus Vigamius and are planning to cross the Starfall Sea. However, Mike has told Weasel that if he can travel to the Ruined Castle in the center of the Starfall Sea, he can continue learning Shadow Magic there. In response, Weasel and his friends have devised a plan: Weasel will go ahead of their army, sneak through the Tatian-controlled Rachias Beach, and find a way to sail to the Ruined Castle. The Aurean troops along with Weasel’s friends will then cross the Starfall Sea and begin landing at the city of New Wathinai. Once the day has arrived for Weasel to leave, King Arturius, Tristan, Daniel Rainbowmask, Ragnar Lothbrok, and Omar appear in astral form to deliver him some supplies. He then goes to Fort Rachias, where he finds Holland. Holland says he knows Rachias Beach very well and can help him get through there without incident. However, he finds the narrow path from Fort Rachias to Rachias Beach blocked by a Goatweaver Tarantula’s milkweb. Since the threads are too sticky to cut through, Holland tells Weasel to go to a nearby cave where he can find the Dragon Beetle. He will ten need to kill the beast and throw its flaming-hot shell at the milkwebs to melt through them. After a long fight, Weasel slays the Dragon Beetle and collects its shell, which he uses to melt the milkweb barrier and get through to Rachias Beach. Once him and Holland are there, Holland tells Weasel that the first thing he should do is go interrogate some of the White Razors, a band of white Wasps that are still loyal to Tate, for information on how to cross Starfall Sea. The White Razors say that the Tatians ride giant bugs parked at the docks at the bottom of the beach. However, they say that non-Tatians cannot ride them, and that if they want more information, they need to talk to a Hopper nearby named Steve Arwin, who, according to reports, stowed away on a supply convoy and ended up here. Weasel then goes to investigate this cave, and Arwin, mistaking Weasel for a Tatian warlord, attacks him. Once Weasel defeats him, Arwin is convinced that Weasel is not a Tatian warlord and tells him the story of how he snuck into New Wathinai from the Blue Desert, hid in a supply box, and soon found himself out in the middle of the ocean in the cargo hold of a Tatian giant bug. He then says the Hoppers are the Burrowers’ and Sugar Gliders’ allies on the opposite side of the Starfall Sea, and that he is an ambassador sent by the Hoppers to find the Burrowers. Weasel explains that a lot has changed since Arwin has last crossed the Starfall Sea, and that the Burrowers and Sugar Gliders now control everything from Fort Rachias to the Vardanian Wood. Weasel then thanks Arwin for his advice and tells Holland the news. Holland tells him to sneak into a box on the docks and kill any guards that may have seen him do so. Once Weasel is at the docks, he sneaks into a box of weapons bound for New Wathinai and uses Shadow Slicer to take out the nearby guards at long range. He soon feels the box being picked up and loaded into the Cargo Hold, but the Tatians checked for stowaways. Weasel used Shadow Invisibility, which allows him to turn invisible for up to ten seconds to hide his presence long enough to pass the check. He then heard the Cargo Hold door slam and felt the giant bug swimming out to sea. The whole time he was at sea, which felt like ages, he was using Shadow Sense, which allows him to feel the vibrations in the ground, water, or air below him, to search for an ocean current that could take him to the Ruined Castle. Once he found a suitable current, he used Shadow Invisibility to turn invisible before opening the Cargo Hold door, throwing the box out into the ocean, hopping back into the box, and closing the lid of the box. Due to the intense storms outside and the fierce pull of the rip current, he vomited several times during his journey. After a few days, the box washed up on a shore. When Weasel exited the box, he found himself in an island completely encompassed by the ruins of a castle. Daniel Rainbowmask then appeared to him in astral form and congratulated Weasel for finding a way across the Starfall Sea. He says that the Starfall Sea used to be a calm body of water, but when Tate arrived on the planet, he used Shadow Magic to bring this castle and the stars down from Vigam’s sky and wove them into a never-ending storm that would hover over the Starfall Sea and form a permanent barrier between the Burrowers and Hoppers. The Ruined Castle, where Weasel is now, is the center of the storm. He says if Weasel wants to learn how to restore the old Castle in the Sky, there are ghosts in the ruins of each of the four towers he can talk to. Daniel then disappears and Weasel investigates the first tower. In the first tower, he is forced to kill some Scorpion Guards to find the ghost of Charlie Lindsey. The ghost says the Castle in the Sky can only be restored when each of the four towers is purified. He says Weasel has purified the first tower by killing the guards, and tells Weasel to move on. In the next tower, Weasel scrubs poison off the floor. In the third tower, Weasel has to fight some Giant Whirligig Beetles from the depths of the ocean that have taken over the tower. In the last tower, Weasel slays another Dragon Beetle that has taken up residence there. Once the four towers are purified, a beacon of light shoots up into the sky that expands and solidifies into a levitating castle, which is the Castle in the Sky. Ragnar Lothbrok then appears in astral form and tells Weasel to meditate on cosmic energy, which will teleport him into the castle. He then says that once Weasel is inside, he must perform a task given to him by each of the Celestial Animals before he can learn the next part of Shadow Magic: Shadow Water. When Weasel talks to the first animal, the Celestial Crab from Sea World, the crab explains that these animals were the first non-Eaglyptians to learn Shadow Magic and that Vigam is the planet the first Shadowmancers went to when Shadow Magic was outlawed on Eaglypt. He then says if Weasel is to learn Water Shadow, he awaken the power of phase-changing water by being in the presence of absolutely no heat. He has Weasel walk into a room, locks the door, and adjusts the thermostat to zero degrees Kelvin. Just as Weasel’s bodily functions and vital processes are beginning to shut down, he feels something awaken inside him and uses this power to change the thermostat back to 72 degrees Fahrenheit. Once Weasel leaves the chamber, the Celestial Crab tells Weasel to go talk to the Celestial Stag from Arturia. The Celestial Stag explains that he is Arturia’s first Shadowmancer, and thus is the first Froudling. He is also the person who crafted the Horned Crown, the object that turned Weasel and King Arturius into the Pendragon. When Weasel tries to attack the Stag, Weasel almost kills him in battle, but cannot bring himself to do it. The Celestial Stag says that since water is the element of change, Weasel’s test is to accept that the Celestial Stag is a changed man and spare him, which he just did. The Celestial Stag explains that after he changed sides, he hid the Horned Crown in the deepest part of The Wyrd so nobody would find it. But Sir Michael Jones, one of Tate’s warlords, found it and used it for evil purposes. He then tells Weasel to find the Celestial Bison from Caput Tatiium. When Weasel finds the Celestial Bison, the Bison tells Weasel that, while he is the first Shadowmancer from the planet Tate uses as his capital, Tate did not originate from there. However, when Tate invaded Caput Tatiium, he found out about Shadow Magic from one of the Celestial Bison’s descendants, so he is technically indirectly responsible for starting the war. He says Weasel’s test is to prove he has the temperament to use Water Shadow by not harming the Celestial Bison, even though one of his descendants kind of started the war. When Weasel refuses to kill the Celestial Bison, he passes his test and is sent to the last Celestial Shadowmancer: the Celestial Raptor from Aztlan. When Weasel talks to the Celestial Raptor, he explains that he is the first Shadowmancer from Aztlan, the planet where Weasel watched Tate wipe out the inhabitants. He says since water is all about taking an opponent’s energy and using it against them, the Celestial Raptor has prepared a nearby room that is a replica of Xibalba, the asteroid that Tate used to destroy Aztlan. If Weasel can find a way to redirect the asteroid at Tate, he passes his final test. Once he is inside the room, Weasel easily defeats the Lords of Xibalba, and then uses Shadow Kinesis to temporarily absorb their energy, which he uses to shatter Xibalba. He then uses Shadow Kinesis again to throw the asteroids at Tate, defeating him and passing the test. Once Weasel returns to the Celestial Raptor, the Raptor anoints him in sacred oil that allows him to use Shadow Water, an ability that allows him to manipulate but not create ice, water, and steam. Once Weasel has this ability, Omar appears in astral form and tells Weasel that his friends, along with the Aurean Army, has made landfall at New Wathinai and are beginning their offensive to free the city. He also says that the Solar Arc, where Weasel needs to learn Shadow Fire, is in the Blue Desert, beyond New Wathinai. The last Shadow form, Shadow Death, requires the absorption of another Shadow Artifact to boost Weasel’s power. Weasel then returns to the Ruined Castle and finds the cardboard box he used to float here. He then uses Shadow Sense to find a current going from Ruined Castle that would take him to the giant bug he stowed away on. Once he found one, he threw the box in the water, hopped in, and put the lid on. After about two full days at sea, he felt the box being lifted out of the water and being put back in the bug’s cargo hold. After about another day at sea, he felt the bug stop swimming and being tied down to a dock. He then felt the box being unloaded and being put down on the dock. Realizing that he had finally reached New Wathinai, Weasel burst out of the box and disposed of the two Tatian legionnaires that unloaded him from the bug. A nearby Mantis named Nazar saw what Weasel did and said that if Weasel is here to fight the Tatians, he needs to catch up with his army, which is on the other side of the city. Once Weasel reaches his friends, he told them everything that happened since he left for Rachias Beach. Weasel’s friends say they have the Tatians in full retreat, and that they are leaving the city and heading into the Blue Desert in the north. Weasel says he needs to get to the Solar Arc there to learn Shadow Fire, but Nate says King Arturius appeared to them in astral form while Weasel was gone and they already have a plan: the Aureans will pin the Tatian army against the Blue Cliffs and fight them there, distracting them long enough for Weasel to go to the Solar Arc and learn Shadow Fire. They then all set out into the Blue Desert, with the Aurean Army and Weasel’s friends going down the path towards the Blue Cliffs. Weasel then went down the other path and ended up at a Hopper encampment. When Weasel arrives at the camp, he explains who he is and what he is doing. The Hoppers then take Weasel to their leader, Saul the Wise, who explains that the Blue Desert was once the Blue Forest before Tate burned it down in a failed attempt to exterminate the Hoppers. Tate also forces the Hoppers to work in a nearby mine to mine Blue Steel, a nearly indestructible material Tate builds his starcruisers with. Weasel says that Tate just tried to do something similar to the Burrowers and Sugar Gliders in the Vardanian Wood, which reminds Saul to ask Weasel if Steve Arwin made it to the Burrowers and Sugar Gliders safely. Weasel explains that he had an encounter with Steve Arwin on Rachias Beach, but he doesn’t know what happened to him after that. Saul then tells Weasel that the Solar Arc lies at the deepest part of the Blue Desert, beyond the lands of the Rat Barbarians. Saul says that since the Rat Barbarians have resorted cannibalism to survive out there, he should accompany Weasel to the Rat Barbarian Camp since the Rats know that eating Saul or one of his friends is an act of war. Once Weasel and Saul arrive at the Rat Barbarian camp, they walk into the tent of their leader, Cookabung the Strong. Cookabung told them in near-unintelligible speech that his people’s source of water has been poisoned and they cannot grow food, so that is why they have resorted to cannibalism in recent times. Weasel asks if they can take him to the Solar Arc, and Cookabung agrees to od os after Weasel cleans the water source. When Weasel and Saul investigate the water source and find out that two Tatian Waterbugs have infected the water. Once Weasel kills them, the water is cleaned and Cookabung agrees to tell Weasel and Saul where the Solar Arc is. Once Weasel and Saul are at the Solar Arc, Saul returns to the Hopper camp and Weasel goes inside. When Weasel goes inside, King Arturius is there in astral form. He explains that the person who would normally administer Weasel’s test was killed by Tate several years ago, so he is here as a stand-in. He says that fire is the element of life, rebirth, and destruction, so his tests will involve all three of these. Weasel then goes into a nearby room for his first test, which entails drawing on the power of the sun to produce flame. Once Weasel accomplishes this, his next test entails using fire to thaw out an organism that has been in suspended animation since Tate was there. Once Weasel accomplishes this, his last test is to control the destructive power of fire by destroying some targets while protecting others. Once Weasel finishes this, he returns to King Arturius, who rubs an ointment on him granting him the ability of Shadow Fire, which enables him to generate and manipulate fire and lightning. King Arturius then tells Weasel to leave the Solar Arc and get his friends together to enter The Hive, the last place between them and Tate. Weasel then goes to the bottom of the Blue Cliffs, where a victorious Aurean Army has defeated the Tatians. Weasel then finds his friends and says they need to go through The Hive to find Tate. Tristan then appears to them in astral form and says that The Hive is the a very dangerous and confined space, and the Aurean Army would only hinder Weasel and his friends in such an area. Tristan then says that The Hive is such a dark place that even the Knights of the Square Table can’t use astral form to appear in there, so Weasel and his friends must defeat and interrogate guards until they find a traitor who can help them. When Weasel and his friends climb into the caves in the Blue Cliffs and get to The Hive, they immediately attack and defeat some Scorpion Guards, who tell them that a nearby traitor named Scorpius Poisontail is about to be executed by being fed to a Goatweaver Tarantula. Once Weasel and his friends rescue Scorpius from death row, Scorpius tells them that to get past the gates that lead into the rest of The Hive, they need a Tatian Wristband from Chief Witko in his nearby tower, otherwise the Goatweaver Tarantulas will devour them alive. Once Taftenkhamun defeats Witko, he gives them the bands in exchange for sparing his life and accidentally lets something slip about a prisoner in the Pit of Despair. He said that the Pit of Despair is heavily guarded, and they will have to defeat some Delving Goliaths to get information out of them about where the Warden is. Once Weasel and his friends defeat the Delving Goliaths, they go to the Warden, who is defeated by Reshon. Once the Warden is defeated, they steal his keys and use them to unlock the cell Sorpius told them to go to. Inside the cell, they find some Rat Barbarians with cannibalism on mind. Once Weasel and his friends kill these, they report to Scorpius. They almost attack Scorpius after they assume he tried to kill them by leading them into the Rat Barbarian cell, but Scorpius admits he made a mistake and gives them the location of the right cell. Once Weasel and his friends are in that cell, they find an Arachna Inquisitor guarding none other than Noah, the prisoner Kira and Reshon mentioned at Fort Rachias. Once the Arachna Inquisitor is killed by Kira, Weasel and his friends free Noah and he joins their group. Noah says they need an unlocking band before they can find the last of Tate’s prisoners on Vigam, and an unlocking band can be found in the Goliath War Room. Once Weasel and his friends enter the Goliath War Room, Noah kills the Tatian general in there while Weasel and his friends kill some Pit Goliaths and take their unlocking bands. Noah then leads them to a pit known as The Black Hole. He then utters some magic words and two spiders make a web ladder going down to the bottom. Weasel and his friends find themselves in a gauntlet with a Sun Beetle, a Moon Beetle, and a Star beetle on the levels. Once Weasel and his friends get past these, they find Olivia trapped at the bottom. When Weasel and his friends ask how she got here, she says she was sent by the Knights of the Square Table to help Weasel out, but was captured in New Wathinai and brought here. Once they take Olivia out of The Black Hole, Olivia says they found some useful information while she was down there, and has them go to one of the Goliath Mutation chambers to try it out. She then tells Weasel and his friends to rough up a Pit Goliath and take its true essence. Once they do this, Olivia tells them to put it in the Mutation Chamber and the essence turns into a bee who says his name is Bumbler 24 and that he has been turned into a Goliath by the Tatians. Once they free Bumbler 24, he says he will make his way back to the Lunar Cliffs. Olivia then says that to get to the Shadow Palace, where Tate and his warlords are hiding, they need to get to the top of The Hive. Olivia then says that they need to defeat some Trapdoor Spiders and take their bristles so they can open the web door to the Palace of Fangs. Once Weasel and his friends have defeated the spiders and are in the Palace of Fangs, Olivia says they must go into the Skinner Chamber and kill the Arachna Skinners before they alert the rest of The Hive to their presence. Once the Skinners are dead, Olivia says that in the next chamber, there is a Weaponsmith who can help them. Once Weasel and his friends kill the Arachna Gladiators guarding the chamber, they talk to the Weaponsmith, who says Tate has ordered the construction of deadly Shadow Weapons in a nearby chamber. Olivia says that Weasel and his friends must sabotage these before they can be built, and they go into that chamber. Inside the chamber, they encounter ord Ombra and Lord Whelan, who are defeated by Cole and Shelby respectively. They leave behind the blueprints for the Shadow Weapons, which Weasel stashes away and say might be useful for the Aurean Army. Once Weasel and his friends are done here, Olivia leads them to the final chamber that leads directly to the Shadow Palace. Once Weasel and his friends are inside the chamber, they are faced with none other than Lord Etbo and the ghost of Sir Michael Jones. Once Taftenkhamun and Morgan defeat these enemies, Weasel and his friends find themselves on a path leading directly to the Shadow Palace. Once they are at the entrance of the Shadow Palace, Olivia warns them that Tate’s Chamber is at the back of a bunch of other chambers, each guarded by two of Tate’s Warlords. In the first chamber, they are faced with Inquisitor Rhys and Elliot, who are defeated by Weasel and Ryan. In the next chamber, they are faced with Santa Muerte and Macye, who are defeated by Morgan and Nate. In the next chamber, they are faced with Prince Lane of the North and Lord Etbo, who are defeated by Kira and Taftenkhamun. In the next chamber, they are faced with Lord Whelan and Lord Ombra, who are defeated by Cole and Noah. In the last chamber, they find Tate, who expresses shock and horror at the fact that Weasel is alive and no longer the Pendragon, as well as the fact that a planet as valuable as Vigam has now fallen to the Aurean Alliance. Tate then leaves through a trapdoor in the floor that leads directly to his emergency escape pod. Before Weasel and his friends could follow, the trapdoor closed and the escape pod blasted off. Out of another trapdoor came Tate’s last two warlords, Chief Witko and an Arachna Archmage named Matt Lemonbutter. Steve and Shelby easily defeated Lord Witko, but Weasel and his friends had a harder time with Matt Lemonbutter, who was only defeated when Weasel used Shadow Magic. Once these two were defeated, they boarded their emergency escape pods and left the planet. After these events, Weasel and his friends returned to New Wathinai, where they were paraded through the streets by the inhabitants. They then sailed back to Rachias Beach and returned to Caputus Vigamius, where they were paraded through the streets again. They made one last farewell before they went back to the TURDIS they used to arrive on the planet and left.