Even the smallest task is left suspended as I concentrate on simply enduring the pain, sensing time's discrete drops as razor-sharp gemstones, grazing my fingertips."
-- Narrator (Book 1)

Importance: This description of the narrator enduring migraines expresses both the positive and negative aspects of time. Time is like drops of gemstones, which, on the one hand, are precious, valuable, and beautiful. On the other hand, they are also sharp and painful, capable of causing damage, wounds, and scars. The migraines make life painful for the narrator, yet, on the other hand, there is still some beauty to continuing to live.

We lift our foot from the solid ground of all our life lived thus far and take that perilous step out into the empty air. Not because we can claim any particular courage, but because there is no other way.
-- Narrator (Book 1)

Importance: With the word "we," the narrator brings the reader--and perhaps even all of humanity--into...