Roman sits before a blank page in Avalon Bluff, unable to begin writing because his memories remain fractured. The narrative then moves back to when he first woke underground on a stone slab, naked and alone in a white-veined chamber. He finds scars on his leg and a mark where a ring once sat on his finger, and brief flashes of battle suggest he was badly wounded and not alone when it happened. A sudden surge of pain overwhelms him, and he loses consciousness.

When Roman wakes again, he finds food, water, clothes, and a jumpsuit labeled UNDERLING CORRESPONDENT. After dressing, he is collected by Lieutenant Gregory Shane, who confirms Roman has been healing for days but refuses to explain more. Shane leads him through Dacre’s underground corridors, blindfolds him to conceal the route, and brings him up into a damaged but inhabited house. Roman overhears Shane speaking to Dacre and realizes he is being presented to someone powerful.

In the kitchen, Roman meets Dacre and is shown two typewriters. Touching the typewriter on the left gives Roman a memory of his former life and restores his name, while touching the one on the right awakens a powerful but unclear emotional bond marked by desire, fear, and longing. When Dacre tests him by asking which machine is his, Roman chooses the left one, the typewriter tied to his past. Dacre orders Shane to take the proper typewriter to Roman’s room and destroy the other, but Roman is too unsettled to object.

Dacre then takes Roman into a field and shows him the bloodstained place where he found him dying. Dacre explains that healing Roman required building walls in his mind, so his memories will return slowly, and he reveals why he intervened: Roman is meant to be useful in the war by writing Dacre’s version of events. Back in his assigned room that evening, Roman discovers that the typewriter waiting on his desk is not the one he claimed. It is the other machine, the one tied to the invisible cord inside him, and Roman resists the pull toward the unknown person connected to it.