Brave story - Miyuki Miyabe

Young Wataru Mitani's life is a mess. His father has abandoned him and his mother has been hospitalized after a suicide attempt. Desperately he searches for some way to change his life - a way to alter his fate.

To achieve his goal, he must leave his everyday existence and enter the magical world of Vision, a land filled with creatures both fierce and friendly. And to complicate matters, he must outwit a merciless rival from the real world. Wataru's ultimate destination is the Tower of Destiny where a goddess of fate awaits. Only when he has finished his journey and collected five elusive gemstones will he possess the Demon's Bane - the key that will unlock his future.