1 PROLOGUE | Famous Last Words

For all of my life, I have been branded a liar. But to lie, one must first know the truth.

This is not a story I have told before. Like all humans, I am a vain creature - I want to present myself in the best possible light, and so it becomes easy to fall into the fallacy of self delusion. It is easy to justify the cruelty of my actions, to embellish my strengths and erase my shortcomings from the annals of history.

Reader, I am not a good person. I do not ask for your sympathy, only for your ear. It is something that has been denied to me by society after it has branded me with the worst of its epitaphs.

The Traitor.

The Sinner.

The Necromancer.

I had another name once, but it has long been forgotten by all.

In any revolution, it is always the victor that dictates how history is written. But only we dictate the sins of our own actions. For all that I am a liar, I do not lie on what is truly important. This story is one that I have written a hundred times and rewritten a hundred times more. It is a complete account of the affairs that led to my defection from Base Haven and my role in this war. I have depicted this tale as impartially as I am able to. Judge me how you will.

But take care; like water, once knowledge is imparted, it can never be taken back. You will always live in fear of what I have told you. Malicious eyes will watch you from the shadows, knives hidden in the depths of night that yearn to carve into your back. You will forever be hunted.

Read on, then, if you dare.