Brett leaves the sheltered certainty of Casperton, where older voices urge him to stay home, settle down, and accept an ordinary life. Instead, he boards a train with a suitcase and a restless conviction that there must be more to the world than comfort, custom, and the glossy fantasies that shape other people's desires. What begins as a thoughtful journey into curiosity and imagination soon turns unsettling, as the train vanishes into impossibility and Brett awakens stranded in a barren field with only fragments of memory to guide him. Drawn toward a distant wall and a deserted city beyond it, Brett enters a world of silent streets, empty shops, and eerie remnants of civilization, only to be swept into a bizarre public spectacle and then into hiding. There he meets Awalawon Dhuva, a wary survivor who reveals that the city is ruled by unseen Gels and populated by golem-like beings. As Brett and Dhuva compare their radically different beliefs about the universe, faith, and reality, Brett refuses mere survival and reaches for meaning. But in this strange city, comfort is fragile, appearances deceive, and the truth may be far more dangerous than he imagined. This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design.
