The story opens with a description of the "god of all creation" . The god explains that he created the "circle of time" , a time line that moves in one direction only, so that his creations could move more easily. He then explains that beings could escape the flow of time, but they could not because they were outside of his realm of control. He tells the story of how he tried to bring his creation and Chaos together, but Chaos was too angry to stop him. Chaos' anger was too strong for the humans to stop it, so Chaos became the "reformer" of the universe. The question, he says, is "how the right to give life and death belong to a being that broke free of the time line?" He explains that as beings, they have a choice whether or not they want to live or die forever. He adds that if Chaos is left alone, he will not stop until all humans are six feet tall.