When a person is about to die, he can always hear the soft sound of sparks burning.
An invitation to "rekindle the flames once more" drags countless dying lives into a world called "The Ember Realm". Page after page are spread out with gnawed embers: the half-frozen family letter in the snowfield outpost, the signal from the old radio station that has been interrupted for half a century, the patrol line that has been stepped on again and again next to the boundary marker... All the scenes are born from familiar daily life, and are quietly alienated in the gaps of the cold laws.
Those who crossed the line were turned into ashes by the wind, and even their names could not be left behind. Everyone clings to the idea of "returning to their hometown as soon as they have enough warmth", wandering around in the ice shadow and dark night to survive. They assume that the "Chi" hidden behind the fire is a chess player playing with obsessions, using human regrets as wages to cook this never-ending game of life and death.
No one has asked why those fire cores ignited, and why those patrolling ice shadows always stop in front of the sentry post; no one has delved into whether the people who disappeared really disappeared into nothingness, and whether those who cleared the level brought back only their own lives.
In the extinguishing of fire, all the trek towards death is ultimately to catch those who have not been taken away by the wind.
Purpose: All the terror, death and regret in the Ember Realm are never meant to punish living people, but are a continuous fire test of true thoughts in the world.