# Short Fiction — Chapters explained

> Chapter companions for Short Fiction by Manly Wade Wellman.

- [Back to the Beast](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_37_se/chapters/back-to-the-beast.md): Dr. James Lawlor's journal details his experiment with a serum designed to reverse evolution, allowing him to witness his ancestral forms. Initially successful, he regresses from a primitive man to a beast-like creature.
- [The Invading Asteroid](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_37_se/chapters/the-invading-asteroid.md): A mysterious asteroid hurtles toward Earth, sparking global panic and scientific debate. As governments scramble to respond, a small group of astronomers and military officials uncover evidence that the asteroid may be a
- [I](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_37_se/chapters/i.md): Three young Terrestrial soldiers—Neil Andresson, Bull Mike Tishinev, and Sukune—take an unauthorized space-launch from St. Louis in 2675 during the Interplanetary War with Mars. They journey past the Moon and encounter a
- [II: An Incredible Story](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_37_se/chapters/ii-an-incredible-story.md): Neil, Bull Mike, and Sukune capture a Martian scout who reveals that an artificial asteroid, built from four joined Martian ships, is hurtling toward Earth with 600,000 troops and 2,000 raiding ships. After using jiujits
- [III: The Deserter](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_37_se/chapters/iii-the-deserter.md): Yaxa, a Martian prisoner, is freed by the Terrestrial Neil Andresson, who defects to the Martian cause. Together they escape in Yaxa's spaceship, taking Sukune and Bull Mike as prisoners. After a journey to the Martian a
- [IV: The Great Battle](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_37_se/chapters/iv-the-great-battle.md): Neil Andresson, having been freed by Yaxa, is taken to the Martian pleasure city of Pulambar where he attends a drama and a dinner with Martian officers. As a Terrestrial attack looms, Neil volunteers to guard Terrestria
- [The Golgotha Dancers](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_37_se/chapters/the-golgotha-dancers.md): The narrator, haunted by a terrifying painting of crucified figures and dancing pink creatures, experiences a series of supernatural attacks where the painted dancers come to life. After a failed attempt to dismiss the e
- [The Hairy Ones Shall Dance](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_37_se/chapters/the-hairy-ones-shall-dance.md): The chapter explores the intersection of supernatural evil and occultism with themes of transformation and duality, as characters confront werewolf lore and the moral corruption inherent in their encounters with the mons
- [I: “Why Must the Burden of Proof Rest with the Spirits?”](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_37_se/chapters/i-why-must-the-burden-of-proof-rest-with-the-spirits.md): Talbot Wills and Doctor Otto Zoberg debate the existence of psychic phenomena in a Washington hotel room after a public debate. Zoberg challenges Wills's skepticism, and Wills demands a controlled materialization as proo
- [II: “You Can Almost Hear the Ghosts.”](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_37_se/chapters/ii-you-can-almost-hear-the-ghosts.md): Talbot Wills and Doctor Otto Zoberg travel to a remote, old-fashioned town for a psychic investigation. Zoberg demonstrates telepathic abilities during the drive and describes the town's ancient character and a 'Devil's 
- [III: "That Thing Isn't My Daughter—"](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_37_se/chapters/iii-that-thing-isn-t-my-daughter.md): Talbot Wills takes Susan Gird for a drive, learning about the town's peculiar governance, the Devil's Croft, and Susan's family history. Upon returning, a séance is conducted with strict precautions, but a monstrous enti
- [IV: “I Don’t Know What Killed Him.”](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_37_se/chapters/iv-i-don-t-know-what-killed-him.md): Talbot Wills, Doctor Zoberg, and Susan Gird are found handcuffed in a sealed room with John Gird's brutally murdered body. Constable O'Bryant arrives and, noting Wills's profession as a magician, suspects him of escaping
- [V: “They Want to Take the Law Into Their Own Hands.”](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_37_se/chapters/v-they-want-to-take-the-law-into-their-own-hands.md): Talbot Wills, arrested for John Gird's murder, is locked in a cell by Constable O'Bryant. A mob forms outside the town hall, demanding vigilante justice. Wills escapes through a window, flees across the square, and heads
- [VI: “Eyes of Fire!”](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_37_se/chapters/vi-eyes-of-fire.md): The narrator awakens in a dark, warm grove after escaping from prison and a mob. He explores the area, discovering a small stream and lush vegetation. While striking a match to observe his surroundings, he glimpses stran
- [VII: “Had the Thing Been So Hairy?”](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_37_se/chapters/vii-had-the-thing-been-so-hairy.md): The narrator confronts a monstrous creature in the forbidden grove, believing it to be the killer of John Gird. After a desperate struggle, he knocks the creature unconscious with a rock. As he examines it by matchlight,
- [A Trick That Almost Killed You](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_37_se/chapters/viii-a-trick-that-almost-killed-you.md): Talbot Wills meets Judge Keith Pursuivant, who rescues him from the mob and takes him to his home. They discuss the supernatural events Wills experienced, including the creature in the Devil's Croft. Pursuivant reveals h
- [IX: “To a Terrified Victim He Is Doom Itself.”](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_37_se/chapters/ix-to-a-terrified-victim-he-is-doom-itself.md): Talbot Wills and Judge Pursuivant discuss lycanthropy and ectoplasm, with Pursuivant presenting books by Charles Richet and Montague Summers to argue that werewolves are real and can be explained through materialization.
- [X: Bloodlust and Compassion](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_37_se/chapters/x-bloodlust-and-compassion.md): Talbot Wills, sheltered by Judge Pursuivant, learns of the town's manhunt for him and the mob's intent to lynch him. Susan Gird visits, discussing her hazy memories of the séance and her father's death. Judge Pursuivant 
- [XI: "To Meet That Monster Face to Face!"](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_37_se/chapters/xi-to-meet-that-monster-face-to-face.md): Judge Pursuivant, Talbot Wills, and Susan Gird prepare to confront the werewolf in the Devil's Croft. The judge shares his day in town, including a visit to Doctor Zoberg, who is determined to prove Wills innocent, and t
- [XII: “We Are Here at His Mercy.”](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_37_se/chapters/xii-we-are-here-at-his-mercy.md): Talbot Wills and Susan Gird are left alone in a forest clearing by Judge Pursuivant, who claims to be preparing to confront a monster. As they wait by the fire, they begin to suspect that the judge himself may be the wer
- [XIII: “Light’s Our Best Weapon.”](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_37_se/chapters/xiii-light-s-our-best-weapon.md): After Susan's near-transformation, the group gathers around a fire to discuss the supernatural events. Doctor Zoberg, Judge Pursuivant, and Constable O'Bryant arrive, and they debate the nature of lycanthropy, ectoplasm,
- [XIV: “I Was—I Am—A Wolf.”](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_37_se/chapters/xiv-i-was-i-am-a-wolf.md): Talbot Wills searches the woods for the creature's tracks, finding strange round prints. He returns to the clearing to find Doctor Zoberg hypnotizing Susan Gird and covering her with ectoplasm. Wills attacks the creature
- [XV: “And That Is the End.”](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_37_se/chapters/xv-and-that-is-the-end.md): Doctor Zoberg confesses to his crimes, revealing his lifelong embrace of evil, his ability to control his lycanthropic transformations, and his plan to use a supernatural 'ectoplasm' to transform Susan Gird into a beast 
- [The Black Drama](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_37_se/chapters/the-black-drama.md): The chapter explores the dark and occult influences surrounding a theatrical performance, drawing on themes of supernatural evil and the power of belief and ritual. It delves into the mysterious events and character inte
- [I: Drafted](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_37_se/chapters/i-drafted.md): Gilbert Connatt, a down-on-his-luck former film star, is eating at a Times Square hamburger stand when he is found by Jake Switz, the press agent for actress Sigrid Holgar. Jake persuades Gib to meet the mysterious produ
- [Byron's Lost Play](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_37_se/chapters/ii-byron-s-lost-play.md): Gilbert Connatt arrives at Varduk's suite for a dramatic reading of a lost play by Lord Byron, 'Ruthven.' Varduk reads the two-act play, which tells the story of the vampire Lord Ruthven and his curse on the Aubrey famil
- [III: Enter Judge Pursuivant](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_37_se/chapters/iii-enter-judge-pursuivant.md): Judge Keith Hilary Pursuivant, an occultist and antiquary, arrives and authenticates a manuscript of the play 'Ruthven' as being in Lord Byron's handwriting. Varduk reveals that he is Byron's great-grandson and that the 
- [IV: Into the Country](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_37_se/chapters/iv-into-the-country.md): The narrator travels to the Lake Jozgid Theater, meeting Judge Pursuivant on the train. They discuss Lord Byron's life and the play 'Ruthven'. The narrator researches Pursuivant's background and receives travel funds fro
- [Jake's Story](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_37_se/chapters/v-jake-s-story.md): Jake recounts his journey with Sigrid to Lake Jozgid Theater, where Varduk awaits them. After dinner, Sigrid wanders to the lakeside under the full moon, ignoring Varduk's warning to carry a lantern. Jake sees a glowing,
- [VI: The Theater in the Forest](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_37_se/chapters/vi-the-theater-in-the-forest.md): The narrator, Mr. Connatt, arrives at the Lake Jozgid Theater with Jake Switz. The theater is a remote, dark lodge that feels ominous and isolated. Varduk greets them and explains the small cast: Connatt, Sigrid Holgar, 
- [VII: Rehearsal](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_37_se/chapters/vii-rehearsal.md): The chapter details the rehearsal of Lord Byron's play 'Ruthven' on a narrow, deep stage. Varduk directs the cast, including Gilbert Connatt as Aubrey/Swithin, Sigrid Holgar as Malvina/Mary, and Martha Vining as Bridget.
- [Pursuivant Again](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_37_se/chapters/viii-pursuivant-again.md): Connatt dreams of Sigrid and Judge Pursuivant leading him to a mysterious hatchway beneath the earth. He reconciles with Davidson, swims with Sigrid, and learns that the final line of the play 'Ruthven' is missing from a
- [IX: Davidson Gives a Warning](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_37_se/chapters/ix-davidson-gives-a-warning.md): Davidson recounts his college encounter with Varduk, describing how Varduk's mysterious influence led to the death of a football player named Schaefer and how Davidson himself became Varduk's sworn vassal. He warns Pursu
- [X: That Evening](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_37_se/chapters/x-that-evening.md): Judge Pursuivant and the narrator discuss the dangerous situation involving Varduk and Sigrid Holgar, concluding that the evil must be confronted rather than avoided. During dinner, Pursuivant reveals his sword-cane with
- [XI: Battle and Retreat](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_37_se/chapters/xi-battle-and-retreat.md): The narrator, Jake Switz, and Judge Pursuivant are attacked by amorphous, glowing non-shapes that exude terror. Pursuivant wields a silver sword forged by Saint Dunstan to drive them back, and they retreat to safety. Pur
- [XII: Return Engagement](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_37_se/chapters/xii-return-engagement.md): The chapter describes a period of calm and preparation before the opening of the play 'Ruthven'. Gib and Sigrid reconcile their past estrangement, confess their love, and decide to marry. Jake Switz is let in on their se
- [XIII: The Black Book](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_37_se/chapters/xiii-the-black-book.md): On the night of the final rehearsal, Varduk draws a chalk circle around Sigrid Holgar on stage, marking the exact spot for the climactic scene. The next day, Judge Pursuivant arrives and is asked to give a pre-curtain sp
- [Zero Hour](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_37_se/chapters/xiv-zero-hour.md): Pursuivant reveals to Connatt that the flyleaf of a witch's book contains a pact pledging the infant Lord Byron to a coven for 150 years, explaining Byron's unnatural longevity and his current identity as Varduk. They de
- [XV: “Whither? I Dread to Think—”](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_37_se/chapters/xv-whither-i-dread-to-think.md): The climactic performance of 'Ruthven' reaches its peak as Varduk dominates the stage, eclipsing Sigrid and Connatt. With the silver sword from Pursuivant's cane, Connatt stabs Varduk during the play, causing Varduk to c
- [Fearful Rock](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_37_se/chapters/fearful-rock.md): The chapter 'Fearful Rock' continues the narrative of supernatural occurrences and the struggle against occult forces, focusing on the characters' encounters with evil entities and the moral corruption that follows.
- [I: The Sacrifice](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_37_se/chapters/i-the-sacrifice.md): Enid Mandifer learns she is adopted and is being groomed as a bride for a nameless, ageless entity worshipped by Persil Mandifer and his son Larue. Under the hypnotic influence of a strange talisman, she is commanded to 
- [II: The Cavalry Patrol](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_37_se/chapters/ii-the-cavalry-patrol.md): Lieutenant Kane Lanark, a Union cavalry officer with Southern sympathies, leads a patrol into southern Missouri in April 1862, seeking to confront the guerrilla leader Quantrill. The patrol discovers a deserted house nea
- [III: The Image in the Cellar](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_37_se/chapters/iii-the-image-in-the-cellar.md): Lieutenant Lanark and Sergeant Jager interrogate Enid Mandifer, a young woman who was bathing in a stream and speaking ritual words to summon the 'Nameless One.' Lanark brings her to the house, where she reveals her name
- [IV: The Mandifers](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_37_se/chapters/iv-the-mandifers.md): Lieutenant Lanark and his troopers encounter the gaunt and sinister Persil Mandifer, who claims responsibility for the mysterious death of the sentry Newton. Mandifer's stepdaughter Enid, whom the soldiers rescued, defie
- [V: Blood in the Night](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_37_se/chapters/v-blood-in-the-night.md): Lanark and his men are ambushed by Quantrill's guerrillas. In the chaotic battle, Lanark kills a rider and captures his horse. The house burns with strange blue flames, frightening the guerrillas into retreat. After the 
- [Return](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_37_se/chapters/vi-return.md): In the spring of 1866, Kane Lanark returns to the Fearful Rock country to check on Enid Mandifer, fulfilling a promise made years earlier. He first encounters his former sergeant, Jager, now a self-styled preacher living
- [VII: The Rock Again](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_37_se/chapters/vii-the-rock-again.md): Lanark returns to Persil Mandifer's house and finds Enid Mandifer living alone in a desolate, silent landscape. She reveals that the slaves have fled, crops will not grow, and she feels the haunting presence of her stepf
- [VIII: The Grapple by the Grave](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_37_se/chapters/viii-the-grapple-by-the-grave.md): Lanark returns to the site of a former battle, where he discovers two empty human skins in a grave. He is attacked by a reanimated corpse of a man he had killed years earlier, but manages to subdue it with the help of a 
- [IX: Debate and Decision](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_37_se/chapters/ix-debate-and-decision.md): Lanark seeks counsel from Jager after his harrowing encounter with a demonic entity. Jager, a frontier preacher, debates the morality of using occult charms from the 'Long Lost Friend' and 'The Secrets of Albertus Magnus
- [X: Enid Mandifer Again](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_37_se/chapters/x-enid-mandifer-again.md): Lanark and Jager visit Enid Mandifer to investigate her stepfather's occult activities. Enid recalls his teachings about fear ruling over love and 'Those Below,' and reveals a mysterious box that can only be opened in a 
- [XI: Return of the Sacrifice](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_37_se/chapters/xi-return-of-the-sacrifice.md): Lanark and Enid Mandifer return to the clearing where they first met, as part of a plan devised by Jager to draw out the supernatural forces by having Enid repeat the ritual of sacrifice. Lanark stands guard while Enid u
- [XII: Jager](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_37_se/chapters/xii-jager.md): Jager approaches Fearful Rock on horseback, tethers his horse, and proceeds on foot. He observes a blue light and six figures performing a counterclockwise dance, which he connects to the six dead guerrillas of Quantrill
- [XIII: Lanark](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_37_se/chapters/xiii-lanark.md): Captain Kane Lanark confronts undead Confederate guerrillas in a moonlit gully near Fearful Rock. Despite his military training and courage, he discovers that his saber and revolver cannot kill the reanimated corpses. Af
- [XIV: Enid](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_37_se/chapters/xiv-enid.md): Enid Mandifer, instead of fleeing, follows Lieutenant Lanark into the woods, armed with a hand-mirror and a Bible. She encounters the transformed Persil Mandifer and other grotesque undead creatures, including a headless
- [Evil's End](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_37_se/chapters/xv-evil-s-end.md): Lanark, Enid, and Jager confront the supernatural remnants of Persil Mandifer's evil. They bury the stolen skins in a grave, and Lanark retrieves a hidden box containing the burned ashes of a secret writing, the destruct
- [The Valley Was Still](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_37_se/chapters/the-valley-was-still.md): Joseph Paradine encounters the witch-man Teague, who has used a corrupted book of charms to put an entire Union force to sleep. Teague offers Paradine a pact with a dark power to win the war for the South, but Paradine u
- [The Witch's Cat](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_37_se/chapters/the-witch-s-cat.md): Jael Bettiss, a woman who pretends to be a witch, lives in a dilapidated house in a hollow with her gaunt black cat, Gib. She uses fear and superstition to manipulate the villagers, selling charms and love philtres. Gib,
- [The Song of the Slaves](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_37_se/chapters/the-song-of-the-slaves.md): Gender, a Charleston planter in 1853, leads a slave raid in Africa, capturing forty-nine men. The slaves sing a threatening song about bewitching and killing him, which he tries to suppress through brutal whipping. The s
- [The Dreadful Rabbits](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_37_se/chapters/the-dreadful-rabbits.md): Judge Keith Pursuivant travels to Crispinville to investigate the local custom of greeting rabbits. He lodges with Morgan Pitts and meets his friend Ransome, who is recovering from a nervous breakdown. Ransome challenges
- [Bratton's Idea](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_37_se/chapters/bratton-s-idea.md): Ben Gascon, a ventriloquist and former radio star, is kidnapped by two gunmen working for Tom-Tom, the criminal alter ego of his dummy. He is taken to a suburban cottage where he confronts the mob. Meanwhile, old Bratton
- [The Devil's Asteroid](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_37_se/chapters/the-devil-s-asteroid.md): Fitzhugh Parr is exiled to a small asteroid by Martians under treaty, where he discovers a community of degenerating Terrestrial exiles and a hidden plot involving a device that reverses evolution. He eventually helps re
- [It All Came True in the Woods](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_37_se/chapters/it-all-came-true-in-the-woods.md): Clay takes his young daughter Helen for a walk in the woods, where he tells her stories about giants to entertain her. To her delight and his horror, three actual giants appear and capture Clay. Helen, remembering her fa
- [The Half-Haunted](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_37_se/chapters/the-half-haunted.md): Judge Pursuivant visits Alvin Scrope's new home, built on the site of the haunted Criley's Mill. They attempt an exorcism against a malevolent Hessian spirit, but the spell requires three recitations. During the second a
- [The Liers in Wait](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_37_se/chapters/the-liers-in-wait.md): King Charles II, in hiding after the Battle of Worcester, recounts his flight and disguise as a woodcutter named Will Jones. While seeking shelter in Spring Coppice, he is drawn to a strange hut where a coven of witches 
- [Venus Enslaved](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_37_se/chapters/venus-enslaved.md): Planter confronts Disbro, who tries to coerce him into betraying a group of wild girls to the Skygors. A physical fight ensues, and Planter is initially outmatched but adapts his tactics. Max intervenes, choking Disbro i
- [Coven](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_37_se/chapters/coven.md): The chapter explores the historical concept of the coven, drawing from Montague Summers' 'History of Witchcraft and Demonology' to describe witches' midnight assemblies and their structured, disciplined companies of men 
- [I: The Cursed Damozel](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_37_se/chapters/i-the-cursed-damozel.md): High Private Cole Wickett, a young Confederate cavalryman captured at Shiloh, is taken in by Union Sergeant Jaeger and a chaplain. They question him about his age and lack of a sweetheart, then have him swear on the Bibl
- [II: The Flying Horned One](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_37_se/chapters/ii-the-flying-horned-one.md): Cole Wickett, a starving and weary former Confederate soldier, recalls a night in 1876 near Welcome Rock on the Missouri-Arkansas border. He witnesses a monstrous flying creature with bat-wings and horns, then intervenes
- [III: The Night Side of Preaching](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_37_se/chapters/iii-the-night-side-of-preaching.md): Cole Wickett listens to Reverend Jaeger's account of a vampire attack and the ongoing battle against a coven of devil-worshippers in the Welcome Rock country. Jaeger explains that the coven meets at full moon, led by a w
- [IV: The Gathering of the Vultures](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_37_se/chapters/iv-the-gathering-of-the-vultures.md): In the outer night, a whickering cry rises. Jaeger explains it is the witches' Christmas, a heathen festival tied to Halloween but reckoned by the full moon. Susan Gird, under a hypnotic spell, attempts to recite a bindi
- [V: The Rout of the Witches](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_37_se/chapters/v-the-rout-of-the-witches.md): The coven attacks Jaeger's home, but Jaeger and Wickett fight back, killing or wounding seven of the eleven attackers. Jaeger reveals the witches' charms are ineffective against them, and after interrogating a survivor n
- [VI: The Five Silver Bullets](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_37_se/chapters/vi-the-five-silver-bullets.md): The narrator, armed with a revolver loaded with five silver bullets by Jaeger, ventures out into the night to confront the Flying Horned One. He witnesses the monster beating his worshippers with a stick and using a magi
- [VII: The Grave-Digging](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_37_se/chapters/vii-the-grave-digging.md): Jaeger and the narrator dig a grave for the seven victims of the Flying Horned One. Jaeger explains his plan to bury them without public inquiry, reflecting on the wildness of the land and the nature of demons as beings 
- [Warrior of Two Worlds](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_37_se/chapters/warrior-of-two-worlds.md): The chapter likely explores the dual existence of a character navigating between two distinct worlds, possibly involving supernatural elements and personal transformation.
- [I](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_37_se/chapters/i.md): The protagonist awakens on the alien world Dondromogon with no memory of his past, guided by a mysterious voice that tells him he was brought from Earth for a destined leadership. He seeks shelter from a dust storm and i
- [II](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_37_se/chapters/ii.md): Yandro is introduced to the Council of Dondromogon, learns about the history of the Fifteen, the population limit of seven hundred, and the war against the Newcomers. He witnesses a televised battle where a scout is sent
- [III](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_37_se/chapters/iii.md): Yandro is introduced to the people of Dondromogon as their prophesied champion. He speaks to them, promising peace and victory over the Newcomers. Gederr issues a challenge to the Newcomers, and Yandro is led to a pavili
- [IV](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_37_se/chapters/iv.md): Yandro (the amnesiac protagonist) is forced into a duel with Rohbar, whom he defeats but is then executed by Gederr. Afterward, Doriza reveals that the Council has been lying to him: he is not Yandro but Barak of the New
- [V](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_37_se/chapters/v.md): Barak regains his memory with Doriza's help, recalling that he is actually a Newcomer warrior named Barak who was captured, hypnotized, and manipulated by Gederr and the Council to be used as a tool. They escape an assas
- [VI](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_37_se/chapters/vi.md): Barak, amidst a chaotic battle between the Newcomers and the forces of Dondromogon, attempts to broker peace by appealing to both sides. He faces Gederr, who threatens to detonate a mine. Gederr is killed by an explosion
- [All Were Monsters](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_37_se/chapters/all-were-monsters.md): A lone farmer encounters an alien named Provvorr, who has studied Earth from afar and plans to colonize it after humanity's predicted self-destruction. The alien is horrified by Earth's animals—dogs, cats, moths—which he
- [Half Around Pluto](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_37_se/chapters/half-around-pluto.md): Lieutenant Wofforth, stranded on Pluto with Jenks and Corbett after their scout rocket crashes and the mother ship departs, leads a desperate sled journey across the frozen surface toward Base Camp. Tensions erupt when J

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