It is said that the soul is the most ancient of things, unproven yet constantly tested. It is also said that there is no greater expression of the soul than love. No one knows this better than Sayo, whose fiancé, Priya, is a world-renowned neurophysicist and thought leader on quantum consciousness. Priya’s lifework explores a theory of the soul and how it might relate to one’s consciousness. And at times, Sayo feels as if he lives in the shadow of her research. How could he, a simple engineer and struggling musician, ever satisfy someone who aspires to dabble in the realm of gods? But when Priya meets an untimely death, Sayo is forced to put his soul to the ultimate test in order to get her back.

Swayed by his grief, Sayo sacrifices his soul so that Priya might live through her expanded consciousness—a new frontier for humanity, one that breeds immortality. However, when he wakes up from the procedure, he discovers that he is five hundred years too late, cast into a new era built atop Priya’s research. While he had slept for centuries, the world moved on, creating an economy of transcendence whose lifeblood is the commoditization of self-induced evolution.

Priya has become a myth and legend during her tenure as the first immortal. She keeps Sayo at bay, insisting that he must first transcend to be of any use to her. She has plans for him, plans that though his soul might be able to endure, his heart might not survive.