Résumé: On the Isle of Bones, Maika finally learned a key detail about her mysterious past: her mother, Moriko, deliberately conceived Maika with an eye-marked descendant of the Shaman-Empress so that Maika could inherit the Shaman-Empress's power- and the Monstrous that now lives beneath her skin.
That power and heritage proved to be both a blessing and a curse in the aftermath of Maika's trip to the Isle. After Zinn, the Monstrum inside her, slaughtered a ship full of Thyrian sailors, Maika and her companions were offered sanctuary from Thyrian forces in the city of Pontus - but only if Maika agreed to activate the famed Pontus Shield, a task only descendants of the Shaman-Empress can perform. Lacking any other options, Maika agreed, but when she stepped into the shield apparatus, it surged with overwhelming power that seemed to fuel Zinn but left the apparatus itself in shambles.
Elsewhere, representatives of the Arcanic Dusk and Dawn Courts continued their diplomatic negotiations, hoping for an alliance in the face of impending war - but true trust between the two factions remained elusive ..