Sometimes he thought he was in a dream from which he could wake up at any moment, only to be surrounded by terror, blood, and violence, surrounded by the world as he knew it.

"Let go, Jiyo Kael, look ahead..." he tried to say whenever the memories or imaginings of what might or might happen as a result of his disappearance threatened to overwhelm him. Once before, after the loss of his first love, he had fallen into this abyss and withdrawn from everything. But then there were still people around him who meant something to him, people who had finally managed to pull him out of his desperation, at...