Lac Miller is riding in a dwarf farmer's cart. The dwarf is even more taciturn than the stereotype, and they haven't spoken to each other in two days.

The lonely journey has called up an awful emptiness, and in that emptiness arises a thought - Lac is going to die.

It's not a new thought. He donated before he set out, to the churches of Iomedae and Sarenrae. He tries to be honest and kind, because he knows that the likeliest outcome of adventuring is that he dies before his third circle. He's probably Good, though he doesn't detect, yet. He has a place in paradise, and if he saves a life before a monster kills him then his place is all the more secure.

But Lac is a brilliant young wizard, and like all brilliant young wizards he wants to be an Archmage. He dreams of finding an ethical alternative to Lichdom. Of forging an order of ageless, teleporting, globetrotting 9th circle adventurers. He wants to Plane Shift to Hell and hear the mighty words of a Wish drop from his lips, feel his heart explode with holy fire that erases millions of devils and secures Good's victory for all time...

Lac is first circle. Lac is the most arrogant idiot in all of Golarion, because he left everything behind to chase his beautiful, impossible dream. Because he's going to die after abandoning his parents who loved him even though they never knew what to do with him, and he'll never again see his few friends or the baker's dog or his father's friend's beautiful daughter whom his mother thought would be a great marriage prospect.

Lac will go to Nirvana, his Da to Axis, and his Ma to Heaven, and all the things that stayed unsaid between them will stay unsaid forever.

It's a long road and there's no one else here.