A Chronicle of Echoes Across the Mountains and Rivers

Shen Yan made a living drawing maps for others and repairing boundary markers. One day, the ferry crossing south of the city vanished from the map. The river was still there, and so were the boats, but everyone insisted there had never been a ferry crossing. Only Shen Yan remembered that his older sister had disappeared there three years ago. He touched the broken stele and heard his sister’s voice come from within the stone: “Don’t cross the river. There’s no shore on the other side.” By hearing the echoes of vanished cities, he could find paths that had been erased. The price was his own memories: first he would forget a face, then an old story. When he reached the edge of the map, would he still remember why he had set out?