Table of Contents
Summary of Adia Kelbara and the Circle of Shamans
Part One: The Curse of the Swamplands
The Swamplands and the “Year of Practicality” The story begins in the Swamplands, a remote and neglected region of the Zarian Empire that most maps dismiss as “not worth discussing”. Twelve-year-old Adia Kelbara is an orphan living with her aunt Ife and uncle Eric, along with her “ugly, dull, and brute” cousin Ericson. Adia’s life is defined by isolation; the village believes she is an ogbanje a child demon born to heap misery on their family and die young out of spite. This suspicion is fueled by her extraordinary, “unnatural” memory she never forgets anything she reads or hears and her historical bouts of sickness.
Adia’s favorite relative was her cousin, Eric Jr. (EJ), who was kind and smart but vanished a year prior while they were at a lake. The village missionaries claimed EJ was also an ogbanje who had returned to the realm of the dead, a claim that fueled Adia’s internal rage and guilt, as she felt she had failed to protect him.
The inciting incident occurs when Adia receives her placement letter for her “year of practicality,” a mandatory Zarian apprenticeship for twelve-year-olds. While most Swamplands children are apprenticed to their families to harvest agrias a creeping plant used to make the sedative tonic known as Drops Adia has secretly arranged a placement outside the village. With the help of her cousin Avery, she secures an apprenticeship in the kitchens of the Academy of Shamans in Chelonia.
The Missionary Influence and the Earthquake The Swamplands have been fundamentally altered by missionaries of the Bright Father, who converted the villagers from their traditional worship of the Alusi (guardian gods from the stars). The missionaries promote “obedience without question” and provide Drops as a “holy communion” to keep the population submissive. Aunt Ife is a fervent convert, viewing shamans as demons who worship the ancient evil, Olark.
When Adia’s aunt and uncle discover her plan to leave, they attempt to stop her by confiscating her savings and inviting Sister Claudia, a missionary, to force-dose Adia with Drops. During the confrontation, Sister Claudia pinches Adia’s ear, triggering a violent surge of power. Adia glows with purple light, and a massive earthquake levels the village, destroying mud houses and uprooting trees. Terrified that she has confirmed her identity as a curse, Adia flees the ruins of her home with her cat, Bubbles, and boards a ship for Chelonia, hoping a shaman can help her break her perceived curse.
Part Two: The Sentient Academy and the Noble Brats
Life at the Academy of Shamans Upon arriving at the Academy, Adia finds it is far from the “marvelous sight” she imagined. The school is a sentient, decrepit building made from the bark of ancient sea-trees, which “acts up” by slamming doors, flipping tables, and throwing loose boards at people it dislikes. The head chef, Maka Esiniri, and her cousin Lebechi explain that the Academy is in a “serious depression” because it is no longer a place of true learning; instead, it has become a playground for spoiled rich children from the Sunless Mountains to “play at being shamans” despite having no shamanic blood.
Adia begins her work as a kitchen apprentice, remaining “invisible” to the students. She meets Nami Watson, a talkative boy from the capital with a military apprenticeship training to be a Gold Hat (a royal soldier). Nami’s family has fallen into social disgrace due to his father’s gambling debts, and he is obsessed with making “connections” with the wealthy students to restore his family’s honor.
The Conflict with Mallorie Amber Adia’s attempt to remain invisible fails during an encounter with Mallorie Amber, the wealthiest and most arrogant student at the school. When Adia tries to warn Mallorie that she is sticking her face in a poisonous plant, Mallorie reacts with vitriol, offended that a “servant” would dare to think. Later, while delivering morning tea, Adia’s cat Bubbles vomits in Mallorie’s expensive face cream (which was actually plow mud Mallorie believed had bleaching properties).
An ancient shamanic rattle in the room hurls itself at Adia’s feet, and Mallorie, sensing Adia’s “dark energy,” accuses her of vandalism and witchcraft. Despite Maka’s attempts to defend her, the headmaster pressured by Mallorie’s influential father expels Adia.
Part Three: The Alusi and the Demon Emperor
The Secret in the Library Before she can leave the school in disgrace, Adia hides in the Academy’s restricted map library to avoid a Gold Hat patrol. While hiding in a cabinet, she witnesses three Alusi manifest in the room: Ginikanwa (Gini), the goddess of love and fire; Ikenga, the horned god of victory; and Mbari, the god of art.
The gods reveal a world-shattering secret: the demon Olark has returned and has been possessing Emperor Darian for over a year. Olark is the one responsible for the “burned lands” appearing across Zaria, as he is searching for Imo Mmiri, a mythic rain forest that cannot be touched by fire and contains the energy of a star. Olark has placed a confusion curse on Zaria: if anyone tells a mortal he is back, the mortal will either forget the information or think it is a lie.
Adia realizes she has found a loophole in the curse because she eavesdropped on the gods rather than being told directly. Gini plans to travel to the Horrorbeyond Olark’s old lair to retrieve the “blood-stained stone,” the shriveled remains of a star Olark once destroyed, which is the only object capable of containing him during an exorcism.
The Journey to the Horrorbeyond Adia follows Gini off her ship and convinces the goddess to let her assist. She uses her knowledge of maps and her “loophole” status to become Gini’s guide. They travel down the Serpentine Pass a river filled with eels and snakes into the Horrorbeyond, a dimension that purges sadness and pain from those who enter.
In this realm, they encounter Energy Thieves (wraiths that drain souls by feigning helplessness) and Headless Hiroma, the ruler of the Horrorbeyond maze. Adia’s powers manifest again when she is attacked by an Energy Thief named Sinachi; Adia commands the seaweed to bind the creature. She eventually makes friends with the lonely Hiroma by treating her like a “normal person”.
Meeting Thyme and the Truth of Nri In the Horrorbeyond, they find Thyme, a warrior and “Champion of Nri” who has been trapped there for a year though in reality, it has been five hundred years. Thyme reveals she stole the blood-stained stone from Olark (whom she knew as the “Bright Father”) during his war on the Queendom of Nri. The stone’s volatile celestial energy accidentally transported her through space and time to the Horrorbeyond.
The group is also joined by Nami, who followed Adia into the Horrorbeyond out of guilt but spent most of the trip in a daze because he is still susceptible to Olark’s curse.
Part Four: The Exorcism and the Red Room
The Kidnapping Plan The group returns to the Academy with the stone, intending to kidnap Emperor Darian during the welcoming ceremony and perform the exorcism in the woods. Thyme disguises herself as a Hill nun to infiltrate the school. Adia’s task is to switch the Emperor’s kola nut with one laced with a powerful sleeping agent she prepared.
The plan hits a snag when Olark-as-Darian singles Adia out from the crowd and orders his Gold Hats to bring her to his private chambers, the Red Room. Inside, a terrifyingly emotional Olark falls to his knees and calls Adia “Viona“. He believes Adia is the reincarnation of his old rival, a powerful shaman who hid Imo Mmiri from him five centuries ago. He offers her immense wealth if she will let him use her eyes to find the hidden land.
The Discovery of the Stolen Children Darian’s own consciousness briefly resurfaces to fight Olark, allowing Adia to knock the possessed body unconscious with a marble deer statue. She and Thyme smuggle Darian out through a secret trapdoor leading to a salt-covered cellar in the library enclave.
In the cellar, Adia finds Olark’s secret power source: dozens of kidnapped children with shamanic abilities, including her cousin EJ. EJ reveals that Sister Claudia had kidnapped him and that Olark has been using Drops to amplify the children’s powers so he can “drain” their energy to fuel his own. Adia spills the barrels of Drops to ensure Olark can no longer use them, while Darian and Thyme lead the children to safety.
Part Five: The Word of Power
Viona and the Spirit Realm While alone in the cellar, Adia’s consciousness is pulled into the spirit realm, where she meets the ghost of the real Viona. Viona reveals that Adia is not an ogbanje but her descendant, the last of the bloodline of Ovie (the first shaman). Viona explains that Adia’s ability to communicate with plants and “come and go” through realms is a shamanic gift, not a curse. Viona urges Adia to find the loophole in Olark’s Word of Power to defeat him.
The Final Confrontation Adia is recaptured by Nami, who betrays her to the Gold Hats to save his own career. However, Maka helps Adia escape from the dungeon by hiding a key in a bean cake. Adia reunites with Gini, Thyme, and Darian at a waterfall for the final exorcism.
The exorcism initially fails because Olark is too strong, even without his stolen energy. He breaks free of the blood-stained stone and attempts to possess Adia directly. Adia recalls the curse Thyme told her: “She of Ovie is protected / By the good and wise… And anyone who brings her harm / Will be the one who dies”. Olark has always assumed the “She of Ovie” was Viona, but Adia realizes she is also “She of Ovie.”
As Olark’s shadow spirit lunges at her heart, Adia utters her own name as a Word of Power: “ADIA!”. By claiming her true identity and heritage, she triggers the curse’s loophole Olark is attempting to harm “She of Ovie,” and the curse effectively consumes him.
Conclusion: A New Circle
Aftermath and Redemption Olark is banished, and Darian is restored to his body. The confusion curse is broken, and the children are freed. Darian remains on the throne temporarily, while the Alusi prepare to return to the stars. Adia pardons Nami for his betrayal, though she refuses to immediately restore their friendship, telling him, “I’m not going to set myself on fire because you feel a chill”. She also gets a final moment of revenge on Mallorie Amber by revealing that Bubbles vomited in her face cream, causing the noble girl to faint in shock.
The Future of the Shamans Gini insists that Adia must remain at the Academy not as a servant, but as its first real shamanic student in centuries to be trained in the four realms: plants, water, fire, and death. Adia initially refuses, wanting to return to the Swamplands with EJ to undo the missionaries’ damage. However, after the group (Adia, EJ, Thyme, and Darian) realizes they have become a “family,” Adia agrees to stay if they can all remain together. Adia finally accepts that there is nothing “wrong” with her that needs fixing; she has found friends, her heritage, and a place where her power can be used for good.