Chapter 45

Summary

• In this chapter, the protagonist Evar leaves his city as it falls, burning and under attack from invaders known as the Sabbers.
• He hides in a library, hoping the invaders won't succeed in demolishing it and fearing for what might become of his people.
• Despite his urgent pleas, an assistant librarian remains indifferent to the unfolding devastation and continues stacking books. Evar reflects on how the assistants might perceive time differently from him.
• Evar emerges from a pool into a peaceful, beautiful forest where he encounters a sleeping woman who seems somehow familiar to him.
• Just when he contemplates checking on the safety of his friend Livira, he realizes the sleeping woman is Livira herself, now grown up. They express relief at finding each other safe.
• Livira reveals that their kingdom is again under threat from the sabbers, and Evar is horrified at the thought of such violence befalling her.
• Livira also mentions her worry for a friend, Arpix, who mysteriously vanished upon coming through the portal into the forest. She considers returning to the library to find him.
• Instead, they decide to use the portals in the pools of the forest to explore together, hoping to end up in a peaceful and interesting time.
• They choose a specific pool that reminds Livira of a well she used to wonder about and a guinea pig she saw there from a book she once read.
• They hold hands and jump into the pool, focusing on wanting to be transported to a peaceful time.