Max and Aphillion stop at a tavern in Tannon to send a letter to the King of Nod, but a paranoid group of men from their hometown mistake them for feared demonic figures from old rumors; after a series of completely innocent actions—made worse by a red icicle, a borrowed mug, and an unexpected llama costume—the terrified men convince themselves they’re dealing with shapeshifting monsters among them and rush out into the night to warn the kingdom, believing they alone have uncovered a great and hidden evil.

Eric introduces Johnny to an old friend that introduces them both to an invention that nearly got him destroyed!

On a bitterly cold morning at Sunnybrook Ranch, Johnny is pulled from his bed to help his father tend to the animals as frost grips the land in silver stillness. What begins as routine farm work turns into something deeper when Johnny notices his father’s old Sax knife and the scar on their horse, Bramble—both remnants of a past long unspoken. As questions about the War of Tannon surface, Eric is forced to confront memories of battle he has tried to leave behind. The chapter closes with father and son riding into the winter cold to visit a mysterious old friend known only as “Inventor,” hinting that Eric’s past may not be as buried as Johnny once believed.