1897, The foggy city of Lorne. In a dark alley where gas lights do not illuminate, former night watchman Ren Ashworth, known as "Grey Eyes", makes a living by recovering memory fragments of the dead. His left eye turned a strange gray-white color after an explosion, and he could see the "afterimage of fate" that ordinary people could not detect.
During a commission, he accidentally opened the seal of the memory of his past life - he was once a sequence master in the old era. He died in a battle against the Outer Gods, and his soul fragments were scattered throughout Port Lorne. Nowadays, the power of the "Shadow Covenant" from the outer gods is eroding reality. The ancient beings who have awakened at the same time as him all want to regain their throne by devouring his fragments.
Renn found a shortcut to get back to the top of the sequence: through the "Book of Vortex", he contacted five hidden people with a common goal, exchanged memory fragments with each other, and accelerated promotion. But the price is - every time he borrows the power of his previous life, he will permanently lose a piece of his own memory. From the face of my mother, to the name of my first love, to the reason for living...
The book adopts a non-linear narrative: the opening chapter shows the ending three years later - Ren is kneeling in the ruins of the Parliament, his gray eyes have spread to his entire face, and beside him lies his best friend who was killed by his own hands. Later, through the jumping timeline, the independent perspectives of the five hidden people, the church's internal files, and the whispers of Shadow, the story of his fall from human to "god", and then from "god" to ghost was pieced together.
This is a story about doomed struggle, actively chosen oblivion, and the last glimmer of light in the ruins. Destiny never waits for heroes, it only accepts willing victims.
