A dying alchemist's memoir. Having lived for centuries, pursuing the truth of all things through half-baked whimsical notions, conceding nothing, progressing not a whit toward his goal, he walks proudly into whatever shall come with nary a glance over his shoulder. From Chapter 1: "Be prepared for most unsettling revelations My confessions, delivered on my death-bed, do not, in the slightest, deviate from Truth; I have nothing to hide, Dear Reader, nothing to protect. I lay bare the most dark, most secret regions of my heart; to the judgment of a stern and unforgiving world..."