Pandorahearts Vol 1

The air of celebration surrounding fifteen-year-old Oz Vessalius's coming-of-age ceremony quickly turns to horror when he is condemned for a sin about which he knows nothing. He is thrown into an eternal, inescapable prison known as the Abyss from which there is no escape. There, he meets a young girl named Alice, who is not what she seems. Now that the relentless cogs of fate have begun to turn, do they lead only to crushing despair for Oz, or is there some shred of hope for him to grasp on to?

"The answer you seek lies within them." Oz Vessalius may have survived his stint in the Abyss, but he is no closer to discovering the truth behind the "sin" for which he was condemned. On the advice of a mysterious man who appeared to him when Alice regained the first of her memories, Oz, along with Alice and Pandora's Raven, embarks on a mission to investigate the site of his disastrous coming-of-age ceremony in search of answers. However, what begins as a simple investigation becomes the revelation of a harsher reality, which comes swooping down on Oz as the hands of the clock continue ticking away mercilessly...

"What those people are looking at...isn't me." Though Oz's sudden appearance in the midst of Pandora wreaks havoc, the initially chilly reception to the prison-breaker runs more than warm when Jack Vessalius, hero of the tragedy of Sablier and the man from Alice's memories, manifests in Oz's body. Sensing Oz's resultant inner turmoil, Uncle Oscar drags Oz and company on a "mission" to Lutwidge Academy, where Oz's little sister, Ada, is a student. But some carefree fun and a tearful reunion ten years in the making is not all for which Oz must prepare himself: crimson-cloaked foes are lying in wait to torture him for answers about the events of a hundred years ago...

Pandora, now under the control of Leo and the Baskervilles, bears witness as the truth of the being known as Oz Vessalius is exposed for all to see. Amidst the warped tragedy that plays out mercilessly, one who has lost everything catches a glimpse of the ridiculous fairy tale contrived by a living ghost, as though a forbidden box has just been opened...

As Oz Vessalius and his valet, Gilbert, are reunited with their dear Uncle Oscar, they fail to notice an alienated Alice lost in thought stumbling right into the lurking Xerxes Break. Before Alice can take heed of Break's warning of a trap set by the Cheshire Cat - a powerful, extraordinary chain - she and Break are spirited away to Cheshire's lair, where both danger and fragments of Alice's past reside. With Sharon's help, Oz and Gil find a way to enter the sealed dimension of memories, but not only do their allies await them there, so too does the man from Alice's earlier memory! Does he hold the key to the truth about Oz's "sin"?

The past holds everyone in its thrall, and Oz, Alice, Raven, Break, and their acquaintances are no exception, especially as recollections of the tragedy of Sablier elude even those who were present. Indeed, with his own body playing host to Jack Vessalius, the hero of Sablier, the likelihood of Oz escaping the past seems nigh impossible. But given a renewed lease on life by Elliot Nightray - the legitimate heir to the Nightray dukedom, of all people - Oz is eager to keep moving forward by learning all that he can about the events that came to pass all those years ago. To this end, he and his friends seek an audience with another of the four great dukes - Duke Rufus Barma. But it is not a glimpse into a hundred-year-old disaster that is revealed to them in the Duke's presence, but rather one into Break's lamentable, shockingly unforgettable past...

Having returned from the infernal Abyss only to find his whole world changed, young "sinner" Oz Vessalius embarks on an attempt at normalcy after being reunited with his best friend and valet, Gilbert, whom he had presumed dead. But during a trip into town with Gil and Alice, an unexpected encounter leads Oz down memory lane...For Oz, however, the path is one covered with the most menacing of thorns. And lying in wait to assail him there...The baleful eye of his father and the echoes of cursed words Oz would much rather forget...

The snow-white maiden encountered once upon a time in the depths of the Abyss by the clown christened the Red-Eyed Specter...who was she really? As there are two sides to every story, could it be there are two sides to the existence known as Alice? Duke Barma may have provided a sordid outline, but Break colors the tale with vivid swathes of bloody crimson as he opens up about his past. Will these tragic truths long secreted away isolate Break further from his allies once he has revealed them?