The Children of Chaos Story So Far…

This is a summary of the events in The Children of Chaos, Book Two of The Cruel Gods series. It is meant to be a recap of the major plot points and events within the book for readers who would like a reminder. While this does not include every detail from the book, it does include MAJOR SPOILERS including THE ENDING of book two. Read at your own discretion!

For an explanation of the world and its characters, please see The Cruel Gods series page for character profiles, a list of the domains, the domain map, glossary, and pronunciation guides.

If you wish to avoid spoilers of The Children of Chaos and read the ending yourself, close this page.

When the saints call, the sinners answer.

Chaos stalks the steam-powered city of Chime and threatens the existence of the gods and their domains. Kayl swore to protect Chime’s mortals from their gods’ cruel whims, but when she agrees to represent the mortals of a god long thought dead, Kayl is thrust into a political role that goes against everything she’s ever stood for.

As the newly appointed ambassador to the god of time, Quen’s goal is clear – protect Chime and the domains by any means necessary. But as the gods make their demands, Quen is caught between his loyalties and his conscience.

To ensure a future for all mortals, Kayl and Quen must unite the gods against the threat of chaos and decide what they’re willing to sacrifice for Chime – before the gods choose for them.

For the gods are capricious and have their own divine plans.

The Summary…

Kayl and the Godless have abandoned the Undercity and are now hiding within the Mesmer temple. Jinx has her own body, and uses it to hunt down and tease both Kayl and Quen, informing Kayl that Quen is still alive. Now the ambassador for Dor, Quen has been tasked with destroying Chaos, but his first goal is to find Kayl, deciding that he cannot complete this task without her help. He places a coded message for Kayl in the local newspaper to draw her out while dealing with other responsibilities as Chime’s ambassador – including a cover up for Eventide’s destruction and a memorial that turns into a riot.

Kayl sees the message which leads to an invitation to an ambassador charity ball. Not sure if it’s a trick, she attends the ball disguised as an Umber member of staff and is reunited with Quen. They share a private conversation where Quen asks Kayl to join him in uniting the gods together so that they can provide their power to the city, replacing Corentine as its power source, and allowing Corentine to be banished to another domain where she and the Chaos mortals can live free from Chime.

Before Kayl can give an answer, they are attacked by Jinx and another Chaos male, Chance, thus revealing Chaos to the entire Council of ambassadors. Kayl confronts Jinx, forcing Jinx to flee as Chance is captured. Kayl’s show of bravado was planned by Quen to make Kayl look good in front of the ambassadors. Thus, Kayl agrees to partner with Quen once more, this time becoming ambassador for Chaos and thus Corentine. This means that Corentine speaks more often inside Kayl’s mind, though Corentine has no power to control Kayl’s actions due to remaining trapped in the clock tower.

Kayl returns to the Godless with this news. While initially surprised by these turn of events, Harmony believes it could be a good way to make change and agrees to support Kayl with intel as Dru becomes Kayl’s new bodyguard. The other Godless also help out in the Mesmer temple. However, Sinder is suspicious of their newest member – a male Glimmer named Joe who joined them after seeking sanctuary from the Glimmer. All this time, Kayl has also been having odd dreams where her past is being altered by a Future Quen.

Kayl then joins Quen on the Warden Council and meets each of the domain ambassadors, except for the Vesper. Quen explains what Chaos is and what his plans are to unite the gods. The ambassadors are split in their reactions, though Quen convinces most to allow Kayl to travel to their domains and meet with their god in order to negotiate compromise between the domains and avoid a war. By agreeing to supply their power to Chime, the gods and ambassadors could gain greater power in the city – power that was once reserved for the Glimmer and Diviner.

As Quen makes his plans, he is gifted with an assistant by Dor – a Diviner woman called Pendula Bezel AKA Penny, who Quen suspects has been sent to spy on him. As Dor’s ambassador, Dor speaks regularly inside Quen’s head and is willing to allow Quen to negotiate with the gods on his behalf.

Their first invitation comes from the Amnae. Kayl, Dru and Quen (with his bodyguard, Ben) meet in Central before Memoria opens. An incident happens where a tram derails and causes Kayl and Dru to mistakenly enter Memoria without Quen. Quen and Ben sense the presence of time manipulation, and believe it to be Jinx.

Kayl and Dru are trapped in Memoria alone. They meet with the Amnae ambassador, who drugs Kayl’s drink and forces her to meet with the Amnae god, Anima. Anima manipulates Kayl’s memories and hides Valeria’s powers within her subconscious, making Kayl forget about the Vesper close to her, including Malk, and her role in destroying Eventide. Anima does this to prevent Kayl from attempting to destroy other domains. She returns to Quen’s side twelve hours later with either none the wiser for this memory wipe.

Quen then visits Tempest alone with Ben the next morning to speak with Doctor Finch regarding his plan to remove Corentine from Chime, as he requires his knowledge to make it possible. Doctor Finch is traumatized from his encounter with Chaos previously and runs from Quen, leading him on a chase until Quen is able to catch up and convince him to help.

Quen and Ben return from Tempest and meet with Kayl and Dru. As Ben was injured in the previous chase, Quen and Kayl enter Obituary together to meet with Lionheart, god of the Leander. The ambassador, however, asks for their help as his sister, the Lioness, is being tortured by Lionheart. Kayl is appalled by Lionheart’s treatment of his own mortals and confronts the god, which results in a challenge to fight in a Leander arena. Kayl accepts. Quen is horrified by this, but agrees to fight by her side, even if their opponent is an abusive Leander from his past. They win as Kayl takes the Leander’s soul. Lionheart is offended by this, and the Lioness refuses to leave her god’s side.

Both Kayl and Quen are dejected by this. Kayl is once again warned by Sinder that he doesn’t trust Joe, as Penny places pressure on Quen. They choose to meet the next morning for a trip into Rapture, however Jinx accosts Kayl instead, knocking her out, and takes her place in an attempt to trick Quen into believing Jinx is Kayl and enter Rapture. Quen, however, is not easily fooled. Though as Jinx escapes, she is followed by Penny, who introduces herself with her own partnership proposal.

Kayl and Quen reunite for their delayed visit to Rapture. The Ember ambassador is not pleased to see them based on Kayl’s attack of him in book one, and arrests Kayl. As Quen leaves her in a cell to negotiate, Kayl is released by a Necro P.I named Gast, who wants intel on what happened to the Vesper. Kayl accidentally encounters Edana, god the Ember alone, until Quen shows up and they negotiate. They are forced to stay the night in Rapture, where Kayl and Quen share a bed.

Quen wakes up the next morning after dreaming of Kayl destroying his soul. He then has a vision of Jinx killing Diviner. They return to Chime and find Jinx’s base, which is full of soulless Diviner bodies. Kayl is horrified by this and realises she must deal with Jinx before she gets completely out of hands. At this point, Quen also learns that Kayl has forgotten Malk and the truth of Eventide.

Kayl lays a trap for Jinx and they fight inside the ex-Vesper temple. With the Mesmer’s help, they knock Jinx out and lock her inside the Mesmer temple. Kayl has another encounter with Future Quen and is told by Mesmorpheus, god of the Mesmer, that reality has fractured in the future.

Meanwhile, Quen travels back to Kronos, where Doctor Finch has been helping the Diviner create aether technology. Quen is punished by Dor for growing close to Kayl and refusing to pray and confess his sins. Quen is beaten, and then Penny is also tortured for Quen’s sins. Dor offers Penny to become Quen’s future wife in order to prevent Quen from straying and as a ‘reward’ for good behaviour. Quen is also given a deadline of a few days to finish uniting the gods. As Quen leaves the meeting shaken, he has a vision of Kronos’s destruction.

Quen then grows distant from Kayl, placing a barrier between them, as he makes decisions as ambassador that Kayl disapproves of. The Seren god, Serenity, demands Harmony’s remaining wing as part of their negotiations, which Kayl refuses, but Harmony agrees. Quen and Kayl travel to Arcadia and spend the night. Kayl informs Quen of her visits from Future Quen and she attempts to kiss him, which Quen rejects. Kayl is confused by this, and is frustrated when Quen leaves Arcadia early as Dru wakes up in a panic, having been recalled to Heartstone by her god.

Quen spends private time with Penny but is interrupted by an angry Kayl demanding that they go to Heartstone and help Dru. When in Heartstone, the Umber god Unghard decides to make Dru an immortal, thus removing her mortality. Kayl is outraged by this and is banished from the domain as Quen attempts to calm her down. Quen is also frustrated with Kayl as the Glimmer demand the return of Joe in exchange for their bargain, which Kayl refuses, thus jeopardizing Quen’s plans.

Kayl returns to the Mesmer temple upset and alone to discover that Vincent has disappeared and been dragged back to his domain. Instead of seeking Quen for help, she meets with P. I Gast, who agrees to travel into Witheryn with her. While there, she confronts the Necro god, The Nameless One, who takes both Vincent and Gast and refuses to release them unless Kayl returns with a Chaos mortal for The Nameless One to experiment on. Quen is horrified by Kayl’s visit into Witheryn alone, and as they argue over her recklessness, Quen admits he’s doing all of this to save her. They kiss, but it’s interrupted by Penny.

Quen is forced to return to Kronos, where he and Penny are punished once more. He learns that the Chaos mortal, Chance, had been dissected and tortured by the Diviner in his absence, and he is ordered to hand over Kayl to the Glimmer as part of their negotiation demands.

Upset by the loss of Vincent, Kayl plans to hand over Jinx to The Nameless One to get him back. She learns from Quen that the Glimmer also want to execute her, but that Quen would take Jinx instead to fool them. As Kayl goes to confront Jinx, she discovers that Sinder has released Jinx and had been spying for Jinx the entire time as Jinx promises to destroy the Glimmer and now rescue Vincent.

They capture and gag Kayl. As Quen comes to arrest Jinx, he fails to realize that Jinx has taken Kayl’s place – now Jinx has learned how Quen can tell them apart – and so they travel through to Solaris and meet with the Glimmer god, Gildola. Quen is horrified to learn that Gildola has a soul-splitting machine and has been using it to make soulless slaves from other domains and plans to do the same with Kayl. He realises that Kayl has taken Jinx’s place, but is prevented from saving her by Penny, who worked with Jinx to allow Jinx into Solaris.

Jinx then saves Kayl and attacks Gildola. They have a desperate fight, where Gildola rips off Jinx’s arms, but Jinx is able to take Gildola’s soul and heal herself. They all escape Solaris as it collapses and are confronted by Wardens in Central Station. Quen is ordered to arrest Kayl, who runs. As she escapes, every mortal in Chime suddenly pops out of existence as the gods recall their mortals, leaving Chime empty. Kayl witnesses Harmony disappear, and is confronted by a devastated Sinder who didn’t expect to lose everyone. Quen then shoots him and captures Kayl, bringing her to Kronos.

Dor reveals that he never expected Quen to unite the gods, but through Quen’s efforts, he now knows which gods are his allies and enemies. He allowed Penny to orchestrate the Glimmer’s destruction in order to rid him of a threat to his rule, though this may now mean war across Chime. Quen is ordered to destroy Kayl’s soul, but instead, he is able to block his connection to Dor using aether technology developed by Doctor Finch and free Kayl.

Quen and Kayl escape Kronos. Ben remains behind to try and save Chance, as Doctor Finch is killed. Upon entering Chime again, Jinx brings them to the Glimmer temple to hide from the Wardens hunting them down. She then reveals that with Gildola’s godly power, she can now rebirth the mortals who had died, and demonstrates this by bringing Joe back as a Chaos mortal. Jinx says that with Valeria’s power, Kayl can bring the Vesper back.

Quen realises that this moment is the vision of his death, and he begs Kayl to take his soul and rebirth him in order to free him from Dor. Kayl is encouraged by Corentine and Jinx, and so takes Quen’s soul, killing him. However, with Valeria’s powers still sealed, she doesn’t know how to bring Quen back and panics, believing she’d killed Quen. In a fit of rage, she slaps Jinx, also believing that Corentine and Jinx had tricked her, and she blocks Corentine from her mind. Jinx then abandons her to be attacked by Wardens.

Future Quen then appears and rescues Kayl. He brings her to the Mesmer temple and reveals that Quen’s soul is still inside Kayl. They use a soul-splitting machine to split Quen from Kayl, as Jinx was once split from her. However, as Quen is rebirthed as a Chaos mortal, Corentine claims his soul. Future Quen vanishes, leaving Kayl alone to face Wardens, however Mesmorpheus appears in Chime and opens a portal into Phantasy, allowing her to escape.

In Phantasy, Mesmorpheus reveals that the forces of time and Chaos will war, and the only way to protect Chime and its mortals is to take the gods’ souls before Dor or Jinx can destroy them and then remake the universe. Mesmorpheus gifts their own soul to Kayl in order to help her, which destroys Phantasy but allows Kayl to rebirth the Mesmer. Kayl returns to Chime with some of the Mesmer and tests out her new Mesmer abilities by putting the Wardens to sleep and escaping. Dor himself then partially enters Chime, forcing her to hide. She plans to bring the Godless back together and save Quen.

Meanwhile, Quen has been rebirthed inside the clock tower as a Chaos mortal, and is no longer a Diviner. He realises his soul is now owned by Corentine as she and Jinx task him with destroying Dor.