Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle Volume 18 by CLAMP

Now that Sakura has returned with the payment for the water, Yuuho tells her the true story of who stole her memories and the man behind the double of Syaoran. It is the story of Fei-Wang Reed, who stole Sakura's memories precisely to scatter them across many universes. For if he could induce her to travel to them to retrieve them, her body would be a repository for the memories of the worlds she had travelled to, allowing him to travel there himself, which would otherwise take much more magical power than he has.

Not only did he manipulate the fate of Sakura and the false Syaoran, but he manipulated events around Fai and Kurogane, as well. He was the one who killed Kurogane's parents and instilled in him a lust to be the best so that he could find the one who killed his parents and beat the person responsible. And as for Fai, he manipulated events so that Fai would wish to leave his world and make the journey. But if they refuse to do Fei-Wang Reed's bidding, he would be foiled.

But Sakura wishes to travel on. All of them do. Sakura wishes to return Syaoran's heart to him, and the others to have their revenge on the man who has put them in this situation, or because they wish to protect Sakura. And so they continue on. Sakura leaves one of her memory-feathers behind to protect the only pure source of water in the world, and the inhabitants make an effort to clean up so that when she is successful, she can return one day and reclaim the memories in that feather.

The next world they travel to is named Infinity, and in it, there are a series of competitions of a chess-like game for a prize of money. Sakura enters them into the competition, but the Mafia control the game, and will do anything to ensure that Sakura fails to win, including cheating via magical or poisoned weapons.

Because it is her will that allows the others, her "pieces" to compete, if they can break her will, she will become much less effective at the game, and her pieces will fall to opposing players. But why is she risking so much to enter the competition, and what will happen when Fai's dreaded King awakes at last from his enchanted sleep?

I found this a fascinating volume, although it seemed more of a transitional story than a complete work. There are plenty of transitions here: from the world of ruined Tokyo to the World of Infinity, the transition of the quest of Syaoran to restore the memory of Sakura to the Quest of Sakura to restore the heart of the false Syaoran, and the start of the quest to deny the wishes of the man behind it all, Fei-Wang Reed.

In addition to all these external transitions, the characters make some as well. Fai has both lost an eye and become a vampire, and must deal with the additional needs this places upon him. Kurogane has become the only human that Fai can drink from, and Sakura must change from being a mere background player to being a leader. The true Syaoran, too, must find a way to fit himself into the group, knowing that the loss of his false clone is weighing heavily on the others.

And yet, this has only ramped up my interest in the series, and I want to read the following volumes even more now. Things have come so far, and there is so far still to go. I want to be there for the full ride.