Prologue — The Closure of Dimensions

Every problem is caused by dimension. And the solution to every one of those problems is love.

From the zeroth dimension up to the eleventh, the highest we can scientifically prove to exist, each dimension has its own world. Every problem stems from the closure of dimensions. The dimension I belong to is four-dimensional spacetime: three dimensions of space with one more axis, time, added on. Here too, because of that closure, it is impossible to move into other dimensions, even ones we know exist. Perhaps the closure of dimensions is not so much a principle by which each dimension's spacetime blocks passage into another, but rather the closedness of the shell of life that every being in every dimension must inevitably wear. The shell of life that encloses me. If I could shed it, then at least the me that exists within it, the me that exists independently of it, might be able to move outside four-dimensional spacetime.

In 2026, artificial intelligence seemed to have seized human civilization by the collar and was dragging it forward at a sprint. People thought humanity might be freed from labor entirely at any moment, and that the pace of civilization, true to its historical pattern, was riding an exponential curve. But the progress of human civilization under AI also hit the wall of dimension, and its pace converged to zero.

Even though it was certain that civilization could advance no further, humans—still unable to shake the arrogance of believing that it was they who led civilization—could not stop the runaway of their desires, even beneath a civilization at a standstill. Desire, running only a little behind civilization, slammed head-on into the wall of dimension that civilization had met. Unlike clever civilization, which slowed down and traced an infinite parallel line alongside the wall, desire shattered to pieces.

Humans had been converting all their desires into the illusion called money, and when those desires shattered, every economic system in the world broke apart. Those who had struggled to grasp money that drifted like smoke in the air, and those who had not chased at the heels of those who had, hoping to snatch a wisp of that smoke. All of them looked like people trying to catch the wind.

The solution was love. At least, that is how humanity judges it so far. The wall of dimension could now be crossed through love—something terribly classical, abstract, and unreal. Through love, humans became capable of instantaneous travel across at least one single dimension. Love was the key that opened the door of dimensions.

And so humans, now able to move between dimensions if only for an instant—human civilization—began to advance again beyond the wall of dimension. And human desire, too, began to accelerate once more. They completely forgot that the key that opened the door of dimensions had been found only when human desire lay in pieces. As desire accelerated, only the word love remained where love had been. Now humans pass through the door of dimensions not by truly loving, but by pretending to love.