Evar sinks into the pool clutching iron weights, determined to follow a summons to the bottom even if it kills him. On the edge of drowning, he suddenly finds himself expelled into light on soft grass amid trees. Astonished to be dry and to have a shadow for the first time, Evar realizes he stands in a vast, peaceful wood where identical circular pools stretch away on a precise grid.

Recognizing the pools as possible gateways, Evar marks his own with his knife to preserve a return path. Overwhelmed by choice, he refrains from jumping at random and instead surveys the area, marveling at trees, soil, air, and the designed regularity that implies purpose.

As he moves along the row, tantalizing fragments of memory surface: a woman central to the years the Mechanism has stolen, somehow tied to the thread-woven figure on his book’s cover. The stirring connection suggests the pools might lead to places bound to his missing past, but he presses on, uncertain which to try.

Then Evar reaches a pool that is pure black, reflecting nothing. A white hand appears beneath its surface, pressing and clawing without passing through. Fear of predatory Escapes wars with compassion and a sudden certainty that this is the woman from his lost years. Evar resolves that, whatever the danger, he will reach in and try to save her.