In this, the first of a four-part series, we join a young person, a human animal cast loose of the nest by a sudden death of one parent, and the just as unexpected madness of another. Setting out on a journey to understand a new and unfamiliar life, this child will come across demons both external and internal, and characters both familiar and unfamiliar.

Today’s story will let us see the furthest limits to which loyalty might push us, by putting us in the shoes of a soldier faced with unthinkable duties. In the last months of a war he does not yet know has all but ended, he’ll be pushed to carry out orders beyond the scope of anything he’s ever thought could come to pass.

Last episode, we left Barden in his hermitage of a flat in Paris. He’s been bothered by strange knocking from the apartment downstairs, and visions of some pale-faced apparition that may or may not be a symptom of his self-imposed isolation.

Today’s story is about a man living alone, with little more than the glow of his computer to keep him company. But something from beyond the veil of death and time may soon enter into the life of this modern hermit, whether he wants it to or not.

In today’s story, we follow a veteran who faces coming to terms with the guilt of surviving something many others did not. He’s taken up ultra-marathoning as a way to escape the memories and feelings that have haunted him since his last ugly day in the sandbox.

Today’s story is about a man trapped in the grind, by his own desire to become the master of the great millstone itself. But his preoccupation with success is getting to him, coloring every new day darker than the last.

Life is like the tides. It comes and goes, rises and falls with the moon and light and darkness. Tonight’s minisode is about a man who takes his elderly grandfather on a late night surf trip. A last bit of kindness before the moon sets in the west.

Today’s tale is the story of a woman who wakes up to a life that isn’t hers, that she doesn’t want to live, and that certain forces, certain people, won’t allow her to leave. Our protagonist knows the truth about herself, but she’s stripped of her freedoms, even her dignity, simply because that’s the sort of thing that happens to women sometimes.

Today’s story is about a man trapped in a relationship he despises. He doesn’t know if he hates his wife, but he does know he plans on leaving her, just as soon as they reach the end of the long trip they’ve embarked on together.

Today’s story is about a man who sets his watch by life’s banalities. He lives a boring life, but things are about to change for him. It starts small, a gap appears on a street where there was no gap. But even a small change in a boring life can have extraordinary effects.

There’s an old sort of saying that the best judge is one who hates his work. Today’s story is about just that sort of man, a reserved individual sent to a small village in a seemingly medieval country, tasked with finding out why people passing by the town are being branded as criminals and hanged.

Today’s story is about a girl who decides to run. She’s taken all she can of the life that was given to her at birth. She gets involved with a soon-to-be notorious outlaw, and cuts a path of crime and pain across America, until she arrives at her final destination.