It all began in a world I didn’t even know. Inside filthy sewers, I woke, surrounded by street urchins clinging to me. Cheat ability? Not a chance. All I had were vague memories of a boy named Dietrich Becker—and the power he wielded as Asclepia’s priest. To survive, I had to make that power mine. ◇◆ The two hands of Asclepia. One heals, one takes away. She is forever One. Even divided into many, she returns to a whole. In the One, see the Many. Feel the Many as if it were One. There lies both beginning and end. And then… –O’ candle flickering in the wind: die in one breath! –All things born of Mother drift to death! –O’ searing blood: vanish, then rejoice! –Death is delight—the release from suffering. –O’ heart, scatter your burning blood into the sky! –Fall with grace! A woman with pale lips. Her true form, a serpent. The merciless goddess who oversees both vengeance and healing. Asclepia. May she be forever blessed… Or cursed!