Overview

"By the time you read this, I'll be gone."

Stephen Abner is the book's first-person narrator. Book 1, Chapter 1 opens with him writing what he calls his final testimony, convinced that he will die the next day.

Key Details

• He introduces himself by name in Book 1, Chapter 1.
• He says he once mocked God and religion.
• He says he went "under the water" (baptism) three and a half years before his death.
• He studies leaks, media narratives, and independent reporting until he becomes convinced the political collapse around Valtti is being coordinated.
• He describes himself as the man chosen to write a final warning book even though he still feels unworthy of the task.
• Book 1, Chapter 33 shows him handling sacrament-meeting livestreams when Liz returns from her mission and reenters his life.
• Book 1, Chapter 36 shows him sealed to Liz in the Salt Lake Temple.
• Book 1, Chapter 37 and onward place him in Jameson and the Ephraim centered storyline.
• Book 1, Chapter 48 shows his death and the beginning of his resurrection.
• He is the Earth character whose spirit started in Chronosia as Stefan Rasmussen, the engineer on the Temporal Gateway Project.

The Skeptic

For most of his life, Stephen scoffed at divine destiny. He spent decades rejecting God, mocking faith, and laughing at believers:

"Smart people believe in science and logic, not fairy tales about invisible gods in the sky. The very idea of a god was child's play to me. I was smarter than that. Religion was for the weak and stupid."

He had been so sure of that once.

Conversion and Calling

Three and a half years before his death, Stephen "went under the water" — a baptism he initially saw as a fresh start he controlled, but came to recognize as "the beginning of the end. The necessary step."

He also says in Book 1, Chapter 1 that he was chosen anyway despite his doubts about his worthiness.

Relationships and Interactions

• Liz: Liz becomes the most important human support in his life, hearing his visions, steadying his fear, and later carrying his child after his death.
• The Lord: Stephen's calling, visions, and sense of destiny all come through direct encounters with the Lord, who repeatedly frames him as a witness rather than a conqueror.
• John Valtti: Stephen's storyline increasingly mirrors Valtti's, especially in the paired deaths and resurrections that frame both men as the Two Final Witnesses of the Lord.
• The Ephraim: In Jameson, Stephen shifts from isolated amateur researcher and writer to a leader who helps a gathered resistance community.

Death and Resurrection

Stephen states plainly at the start of the book that he expects to die:

"Tomorrow, I die. Not in the poetic sense. Not metaphorically. Literally."

In Book 1, Chapter 48, his body hangs in a warehouse livestream before the commanding voice calls his name and tells him to rise. The novel then shows him ascending into the sky in parallel with Valtti.

Worthiness and Doubt

"If God needed a warrior, why not pick someone strong? Someone worthy? Why pick a man like me — flawed, skeptical, unworthy?"

Key Quotes

• "By the time you read this, I'll be gone." (Opening line, Book 1, Chapter 1)
• "Three and a half years. The countdown had already begun." (On destiny)
• "Tomorrow, I die. Not in the poetic sense. Not metaphorically. Literally." (Book 1, Chapter 1)
• "Why pick a man like me—flawed, skeptical, unworthy?" (On calling)
• "You can take my life, but you'll never silence the truth." (Before execution)

Key Chapters in Book 1: Whispers of the Architect's Labyrinth

• Chapter 1: Final testimony and introduction
• Chapter 33: Handling livestreams when Liz returns
• Chapter 36: Sealing to Liz in the Salt Lake Temple
• Chapter 37: Travel to Jameson and shift toward Ephraim storyline
• Chapter 48: Public execution and beginning of resurrection

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See also: Ammon | Liz | John Valtti | The Timeline