The story of Mixtli's life is one weaved of loss, sorrow and regret.
- Wow, where to begin. The revelation of the meaning of Zyanya's name ("nothing in the world but Always.") and her death and disappearance. Blood Glutton's final words. Poor, poor Beu's last days and final reveal that she's loved Mixtli her whole life.
- Also, how Mixtli keeps wandering the streets in the hopes of seeing the ghost of Zyanya because he is so desperate to see her again even if it'd only be for a brief moment He even asks his audience to please, tell him if any of their people sees her. He knows they'll be able to recognize her because of her smile. Oh Mixtli...
- The fact that he seems to be planning to spend the last time of his life after Beu's death searching in streets. All that's left in Mixtli's life is ghosts...
- Not to mention the decline of Cozcatl's life which culminates in his death. This one is especially hard to bear because he'd so thoroughly earned a happy ending but instead of dying of old age, he's smitten with an incurable disease and dies with a broken heart walking into an enemy spear.
- There's also the unwinnable situation that Mixtli finds himself in during that whole part and the absolutely heartbreaking moment where he desperate pleads for his last and best friend to reconsider, knowing what'll happen if he doesn't. Even after all of those years, Mixtli still blames himself for what happened despite the fact that it really was a hopeless situation and there was nothing he could do that would have changed anything. He even wonders why Cozcatl's ever considered him his friend because he doesn't think he ever brought anything good to Cozcatl's life.
- The loss of Crumb when Mixtli return and how it makes Ticklish long for a child of her own and what said longing leads to.
- The sad fate of Chimáli can be seen as this when you remember how he used to be and his friendship with Mixtli. He was once a sweet child who wanted to be an artist without compare and make his mark. Then the path to revenge leads him to do increasingly horrible acts against innocent people just because Mixtli cares about them. He ends up a blind and mute beggar who can never again do what he loves and whose life until his death is spent prostituting himself to the lowest in society.
- What really happened to Tzitzi and how soul-crushingly close she and Mixtli came to being reunited only for it to never happen because of the cacao-bean man's cruelty which also causes Tzitzi to commit suicide out of despair and grief, thereby ensuring they'll never be reunited. They were so close...
- The moment that Mixtli learns the truth about Tzitzi in one of the cruelest ways possible after it's too late and he too realizes the above.
- Finally, The last death in the book: the death of Mixtli who is executed as a heretic and burned alive on a pyre despite the King of Spain's wishes that he die in peace and of old age. As someone whose life the reader has followed from birth to old age, through all the joys and tragedies of his life, it's a hard death to bear. The only consolation is that he dies with dignity as he vowed once in the years of his boyhood to do
Here end the roads and the days.
