Suspirium is narrated by Kairos, the depth dimension of Time. It is the story of a man named Fields, described on the opening page as a man whose soul has been "criminally mislaid." Shortly after Fields' death at sixty-two, Kairos accompanies him to a meridian between this life and the next, a kind of purgatory where he has one last chance to complete the individuation he shied away from in waking life. Here, Fields must revisit memories, forgotten dreams, and spontaneous visions—flashes of his life from before he turned forty-two, the most critical year of his history. His success on the meridian depends upon his willingness to confront buried truths and to finally consider the significance of his own existence. Gradually he must acknowledge and claim his shadow and his anima, accepting accountability for both his darkness and his long-ago asphyxiated gifts. The love of his life, Elza, awaits on the Other Side, but he cannot find her without locating his true self first. This story is the first of two in a duology; the second tale, Inspiratio, is Elza's story, picking up shortly after Fields' abandonment and following her own unique individuation journey.
The Hourglass Duology, Book 1