Chapter Twenty-Three: ‘Tempus est Umbra in Mente’. Hazy History. Cla. A Note. Seedings.

Summary

• The narrator reflects on a period of his life during High School where he learned Latin and how it influenced his thinking when he was kept prisoner in the dark tomb-like city of Deep Maleen. Here, the concept of time became meaningless.
• While entombed in Deep Maleen, the soldiers were visibly miserable, and the narrator started to wonder if this was all part of a devil's bargain the soldiers had made. They had a regular routine, including training sessions and a ration of food.
• Brought into focus is the mystery of Empis, its history, and the various speculations about its past. There are arguments about when certain things happened and many stories that could be myths or be based on the truth.
• There seems to have been a transformation in the leadership of Empis, from a real monarchy to something looser. Characters like Freed share tales of a prosperous city that thrived on trade and had its share of regional tributes paid to the King.
• The abilities of the past monarchs, like levitation or healing powers, are discussed amid mention of possible magical creatures in their world, such as mermaids and giants.
• The chapter also introduces Cla, a new prisoner, and it's revealed that Deep Maleen now holds the last of the royal bloodline. Cla is seen as a contender in the upcoming Fair One, a deadly contest in which two groups of sixteen prisoners fight to death.
• The narrator underscores the grimness of their situation, focusing on how these prisoners were being made to fight one another and their fears of what awaited them.

• The chapter starts with a character named Eye being attacked and taken out of competition in a violent game referred to as the Fair One. Cla appears to be the one responsible for his incapacitation.
• The protagonist experiences a vivid dream about Leah, a princess-like figure. In this dream, Leah is holding a hairdryer that once belonged to the protagonist's mother, with the protagonist expressing confusion at the significance of this object in the dream. Leah tells the protagonist he's "faster than he thinks."
• The protagonist wakes up to a piece of steak thrown into his cell by someone named Pursey, later revealed as Percival. A message hidden in the steak explains there's an escape route through the Officials’ Room, though it's dangerous, and asks the protagonist to destroy the message.
• It seems the day of the Fair One has arrived. They are forced to participate under threat of a slow, painful death. Everyone must fight to the death against another participant.
• The protagonist discovers he is pitted against Cla. All of the matches appear to be randomly selected, except for theirs, which is the last of the day.