1 prologue

A man sat in a dimly lit room, silent and brooding, as if all the worlds troubles weighed on his mind. Through a door came a young woman. She walked quickly towards the brooding man, his stride exuding purpose. As she reached the seat in which the man sat, she lowered her gaze and curtsied. She held that pose for a few moments before straightening up and uttering her announcement.

"Fathe- I mean my Lord, the scribes are ready for you." the woman said.

The Lord nodded and stood up. His deep voice rolled over the woman, like a gentle summer wave, warm and soothing.

"Let us be going now Felicity. We have some long nights ahead of us, and the sooner it's done with the better." He quickly led the way to a small unadorned door on the side of the room and hurried inside, gesturing for Felicity to follow before turning to the others in the room. "Is everyone here? Good, now lets sit so we can begin.

The Lord glanced around the room at all the faces, taking in every detail of their appearances, as if he may never see them again. There were about twenty or so besides him, his daughter and the three scribes who waited patiently for him to tell them to begin. All of the people in this room were his friends, though more than a few had been his enemies at some point in their pasts. He looked around the room once more and a pang of sadness flashed across his face for a moment too quick for anyone to notice. The lord sat in a chair in front of the scribes and nodded for them to begin, the light of the fire in the hearth casting a foreboding shadow over the occupants of the dimly lit room.

"The beginning of a tale doesn't always start where you might think. Up until a few days ago, even I was not truly sure where it began. But amongst you, my closest companions, I will tell the worlds of my beginnings and the entirety of how the last 25 years has come to pass. You may think you know already, but I assure you that what you know is only a piece of it, so please listen quietly and attentively as I will not repeat these words again even upon my death bed."

He took a deep breath and continued on. "My name Is Aiden Aaron Kole. I have been called by many names. Wyrm Kin, Savior and Hearth Breaker chief among them. I have killed, loved, and lost. I have felt pain, joy, hatred and fear in equal measure. I have been called a god, though I bleed red as all men do, and like the god of my world, I cast down one of my own because he worshiped me more than the charges he was meant to care for. But once I was but merely a boy. A completely normal boy, or so I thought."

Everyone in the room could feel the mood that was slowly descending upon them, and began settling into more comfortable positions. Lord Kole paused for a few moments as they did this; he knew they would be here for many days. Once they had all stopped shifting around, he began again from where he had stopped.

"It began a long time ago, well before I was even born. But for me, it began on my sixteenth birthday."