Lastly, he imagined three kingdoms. In the first kingdom lived all the characters of every story he had ever written, but this kingdom sank into the earth, and he awoke, alone, surounded by shadow. In the second kingdom lived his memories, those of Monelle and her dim candle, and he lived by the light of this candle in the kingdom’s rain. But Monelle left this kingdom, and he thought, in vain, that perhaps she could be found on the pages of his books. He suspected that Monelle was hiding in the third kingdom, but through the whiteness that served as its walls, he could not see, and the voice that spoke to him hushed when he asked it for the kingdom’s key. As he wrote the last words he would ever write to Louise, he saw at last that she would never be able to respond