In the Heart of the Fire (Nameless: Season One, #1)

by Dean Koontz

Life is a weave of infinite possibilities, though some are more likely than others.

This is a world of wondrous beauty and deep mystery, of which he has considerable appreciation, and this awareness shapes him no less than life experiences shape others.

What’s happening to the world, Mr. Shepherd? Is it all falling apart?” “Well,” he says, “for sure, we’re not living in an age of truth and grace.”

This is his life: confrontation with the darkness that has nothing to do with an absence of light.

His clairvoyance is time travel achieved without leaving the present. The curtains of the past part, and he sees what has been; the mists of the future clear, and he sees an event yet to occur.

Now and then, the experience is more than just seeing; he enters the scene as though living it, all five senses involved.

This is what he believes, what he knows. He was innocent once, though not for long. Those who are corrupted in turn corrupt the innocent. That is the only purpose of humanity: to deceive, to use, to dominate and destroy. If Russell doesn’t dominate others, he’ll be dominated, a fate he won’t accept.