Dearest Reader,



I preface this tale with a question. Where does a story begin?

Is it simply a matter of winding back time to the very start of it all - to the moment in which our Hero first meets the world? Naked, blameless, and crying to be heard for the first time? Or, perhaps the beginning is found in the embers of a tragedy? A crucible of past pains from which they burn, only to be poured, shaped, and molded into what they are meant to be? You might even be inclined to consider whether our Hero is expected by portent or prophecy? Are they the answer to a question asked before they were even born to hear it?

Perhaps.

If you will permit this author to be so bold, however, none of these are beginnings which are worth putting quill to paper. Are we not all born, and by the time we are in the grave, haven't we been no strangers to cruel misfortune? As for prophecy? Huddled in the dark, it looks awfully similar to delusion, doesn't it?

However, I have a feeling that you are a clever reader indeed. You found this humble author's manuscript, which clearly indicates you are a gentle-saer of both taste and wit. With that said, you have undoubtedly noticed that I have already given you the answer to this little onion, haven't I?

Where does a story begin? At the Beginning, of course!

Where is that, you might ask? Well, the thing about Heroes, is that they are just like you and me, until one day they decide to take a first step. And then another. And another. On, and on, and on, and on and on and on some more. Until one day, they pause to look back, and realize how impossibly far they have traveled, and how heavy the mark they've left upon Creation truly weighs.

Only then, Dearest Reader, do you have a Story. When the End can at last glimpse the Beginning, and be amazed by truly how far they've come.

Now, I invite you to continue forth into a truly splendiferous story that was originally passed to me in a Calimshite parlor, during a game of Three-Dragon Ante (with three dragons, no less - though that is a tale for another day). You might find certain events within to be outlandish, and possibly bordering on the absurd! As I leave you to the tale and cease my monologuing, I will leave you with two important things to consider, should the events within incite your skepticism:

1. My source's integrity is most assuredly unimpeachable, and my integrity is as such that I should not reveal their identity in my florid prose.

2. There are no refunds on manuscripts.



Sincerely,

Volothamp Geddarm