Prologue - Mad Awakening!

It was just another day in the small town of Sandberg, and I was taking my pet dog on a walk by the beach when it happened.

For the last time in the history of the world, the days of darkness returned.

And it was from this crucible that I was reborn.

The world turned pitch black, and I lost all sensation, the enveloping darkness sapping away at my very sanity, trapping me in an almost sensorily deprived state, the only sensation left being the grainy sensation of sand beneath my feet.

I called out for my dog, to no avail.

He was gone.

I stood up, stumbling back, and falling back onto the sand.

An effort in vain.

But I didn't give up. Again and again, I stood up, crawling inch by inch in what I believed was the direction of my home.

And I was right. Only not quite.

Where the rough trail should have met the paved path back into town lay a flat cliff.

And I fell, straight into the cold churning waters of the blue, thrown like a doll against the rocky outcrop by the beach.

In my desperation to survive, I clung onto a small rock jutting out of the ocean, and I held on for dear life.

Time passed but I felt nothing, the deafening silence, the unnatural cold and violent waves thrashing against me.

Slowly and steadily, I cracked, as madness set in.

Voices from the deep whispered sweet nothings in my ears, faustian bargains and candied elixirs.

All for something, nothing for anything.

Oblivion at hand, an eternity further beyond!

Nothing mattered anymore.

I was lost. Forever lost.

This was the end to my miserable pathetic little life.

In my madness, I decided.

If I was to die, I would do so on my own terms, not by some fluke of nature or the whimsy of fate!

I felt about for a foothold on the rock and climbed atop with shaky footing.

I stared at the unseen surface, nearly slipping off many a time, as I mustered up the resolve.

With an iron will, I lifted my head and smashed it onto the rock.

Over and over again, bleeding, laughing, concussed. Then came a crack, and it all came together, memories of a world entirely different from my own, a life lived in paranoia, courage a scarce resource.

A life wasted, a dream ruined.

Then came the shame and guilt, the regret, washing over me like tidal waves, crushing me underneath.

No more. No more! NO MORE!

I was back and this time I was going to live a life wothout regrets!

Unbent, Unbowed, Unbroken.

Like the motto of Dorne.

Fitting for a world of end to end seas.

And I'd climb my way to the top, if not for the fuck of it, then only to ease my everpresent paranoia.

After all, he who is strongest is the freest and he who is freest is the safest!

Besides, what sort of man would I be if I didn't milk this one chance to reach the top of the world?!

One more time, one more chance!

Beware World! Here I come!

Eventually, the darkness rescinded and I beheld a world so blue, like a sapphire, sparkling seas, and clear skies. I stood up and shouted in pure ecstacy and wild joy until my throat ran sore.

I was alive! Then, just as I saw the town or the crater that remained of it, something sank in my chest and the exhaustion hit me, finally taking it's due toll upon my self, and I fell unconcious, drifting in a last ditch effort towards the beach.

Fuck!

Am I going to die? Just after recovering my memories of my past life, after being finally reborn into a new and beautiful world of possibilities?

No! Even as my body gave way, through sheer force of will, I paddled away towards the shore, some strange force pushing my further, almost as if I was, for a moment, invulnerable, until finally, it could no more, and darkness took me.