Worldview of A Promise in Four Fragments
A Promise in Four Fragments constructs a complex narrative framework of multiple timelines, overlapping memories, and soul transitions. The core revolves around the cyclical anomalies on Tuesday (火曜日) and Friday (金曜日), interweaving a story of temporal dislocation, memory convergence, and the unification of consciousness. Below is a complete overview of the novel's worldview:
World Structure: Multiple Timelines and Memory Overlaps
Dual Protagonists, Dual Perspectives: Parallel Yet Never Intersecting Timelines
Zhang Yun'an (張䥧安): Tasked with finding the problem, perceiving anomalies, questioning reality, and seeking clues.
Yu Yong'an (虞永安): Tasked with solving the problem, interpreting messages, making choices, and driving the narrative forward.
The two exist in different timelines, never meeting, yet their souls and memories intersect across dimensions.
Temporal Anomaly Patterns: The Cycle of Tuesdays and Fridays
Tuesday (火曜日): The pivotal day for Zhang Yun'an, where he detects the existence of time anomalies, deciphers fragments of dreams, and uncovers the cyclical nature of these events.
Friday (金曜日): The key day for Yu Yong'an, during which he discovers the triple cross during a Tamsui walking tour, triggering memory flashes and initiating the process of soul transition.
Anomalies recur cyclically, with subtle alterations in the timeline, though core events remain unchanged.
Core Concept of Multiple Timelines: Dislocation and Convergence
Temporal Layering: Characters experience the same or similar events across different timelines, with slight variations in details, leading to a sense of déjà vu.
Soul Transition: At specific moments, souls transition into parallel timelines, briefly living as different identities but leaving behind fragments of memory, contributing to subsequent anomalies.
Temporal Displacement: Certain events transcend temporal boundaries, leaving traces across timelines, resulting in unexplained déjà vu phenomena.
Origin of Temporal Anomalies: The Cycle of Tuesdays and Fridays
Formation of Tuesday Anomalies
The first Tuesday anomaly originated from the moment of Li Anqing's (黎安晴) death.
Her death triggered a temporal reset, causing Zhang Yun'an to experience fragments of post-reset memories and gradually perceive the temporal inconsistencies.
Events in X Zone (X區) are closely tied to Li Anqing's death, potentially marking the anomaly's origin.
Genesis of Friday Anomalies
On Friday, May 17, 2024, Yu Yong'an discovers the triple cross during his Tamsui walking tour, triggering a brief memory flashback and initiating the soul-transition phenomenon.
The triple-layered cross is intricately connected to the temporal anomalies, revealing the multi-layered nature of the timelines.
The pattern of Friday anomalies progressively guides Yu Yong'an toward unveiling the truth and pushing him toward making the final decision.
Cycle of Anomalies: A Fixed Pattern
Tuesdays and Fridays form the core cycle of temporal anomalies. While events within each cycle vary, the key moments and fates of the characters remain largely unaltered.
The culmination of these cycles leads to the unification of souls and the awakening of consciousness, ultimately determining whether the timeline will be closed or perpetuated.
Soul Transition and Consciousness Unification
Crossing of Souls Between Zhang Yun'an and Yu Yong'an
Zhang Yun'an completes his consciousness unification on February 22, 2025, disappearing momentarily and transitioning his soul into Yu Yong'an's timeline.
Yu Yong'an returns to the real world on the same day, only to discover anomalies in his timeline and retain fragmented memories of Zhang Yun'an's experiences.
The process of soul unification brings the two characters closer to the same point of convergence across timelines, yet they remain fated never to meet.
Overlapping Memories Across Multiple Layers
Yu Yong'an's memories gradually resurface across timelines, creating a process of piecing together fragmented recollections, which requires critical events to trigger complete memory restoration.
Zhang Yun'an perceives overlapping memories during the Tuesday cycles, striving to decode these fragments and uncover hidden truths.
The cross as a catalyst for memory reactivation serves as the linchpin of soul transition and temporal anomalies.
Consciousness Unification and the Ultimate Choice
Soul unification will lead to complete awakening of consciousness, allowing the characters to perceive the truth across all timelines.
The final choice—to close the cycle or maintain the anomalies— will become the story's pivotal moment.
The triple-layered design of the cross symbolizes the ultimate goal of unification, and the choice will determine the fate of the world.
🕰️ Key Artifacts and Locations: Echoes Across Time
Triple-Layered Cross: The Vessel of Souls and Time
A cross within a cross, embedded with another cross, symbolizing the multi-layered structure of souls and time.
The inscriptions inside the cross conceal mysterious numerical patterns and symbols, possibly related to Euler's identity or the concept of the natural logarithm (e).
Mackay Clinic: The Nexus of Temporal Convergence
The Mackay Clinic holds historical records tied to the anomalies, including a faded photograph revealing a figure who does not belong to that era, indicating traces of temporal dislocation.
Yu Yong'an has visited the Mackay Clinic in his dreams, where this scene repeats across timelines, forming the foundation of his memory restoration and soul unification.
X Zone: The Intersection of Li Anqing's Death and Temporal Anomalies
Surveillance footage from X Zone reveals signs of temporal anomalies, possibly linked to Li Anqing's death.
Zhang Yun'an's final trace was discovered in X Zone, where he left behind the cross, serving as the only clue for Yu Yong'an to unravel the truth.
Tamsui Walking Tour: The Origin of Temporal Convergence
Tamsui River and Mackay Clinic mark the story's beginning and serve as the pivotal location where timelines intersect.
Yu Yong'an and Yang An-ting (楊安婷) inadvertently triggered the Friday anomaly pattern during the walking tour, unveiling the mystery behind the cross and memory overlaps.
The historical significance of Tamsui intertwines with the anomaly phenomenon, providing vital clues to the core mystery.
The Final Choice: Close the Cycle or Restart the World?
Yu Yong'an must make the ultimate decision—Close the Cycle: End the recurring anomalies, restoring stability after soul unification.Maintain the Anomalies: Continue the cycle of overlapping timelines, allowing fragments of memory to persist across realities.
The final choice will determine the fate of the world and conclude the intertwined stories of Yu Yong'an and Zhang Yun'an.