A black room.

A black darker than your eyelids.

This was death

A nothingness.

I felt nothing.

Yet, I could feel vibrations.

I could feel a power rushing.

This wasn't death

A part of me, the unconscious one, the part that thinks it knows things only for your conscious to not trust and not listen to it; only for it to be right when it matters most.

This inkling told me I wasn't dead

Not yet…

This feeling of clarity, as if I was at one with the universe .

As if I was being reborn..

{Beating of a Burning Beast}

Activated.

The Heart of a Burning Beast has been consumed.

Wait…no…no….

An automated response had triggered.

That which would bring Ronald back from death's door…had instead…

Been used on me…

The world began to stitch together around me.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

The legendary mob had, in astonishment, removed his eye patch, revealing a scared eye, and say:

"By God."

Cooldowns returned.

It was done.

In a moment of pure rage.

Of life once again, playing out by its own accord.

I charged at the bandit leader, twin claws drawn.

I had died once

That would never scare me again.

Failure, letting those around me down.

That won't happen again

As I plunged the dagger into the startled mobs eye,

I watched as he wasn't angered.

It was his turn to accept fate.

He battled back, but without purpose.

As if the mob itself had understood that his place in this battle was to lose.

Under a lonely night I was victorious.

Experience rushed through my veins.

Transcending, I had never felt such power

Yet, I had also never felt such loss.

In his death, he had dropped his black eye patch.

"Mark of A Leader"

Everything had been for this.

Weeks of journeying.

An expedition that weighed heavy.

All for this to be the outcome.

Under an open sky, under stars that shone, with a breeze that calmed, in a realm that cared not…

I came to a conclusion

An understanding.

Tempering my heart.

Taming my breath.

And easing my soul, I placed the Mark of A Leader over my left eye, glancing towards the North where the sky shattered with an energy that pulled, that quaked and boomed, that spread tragedy and death.

I would find the cause of this.

The ones who unsettled the rhythm of the world would answer to me.

Before my resolve could waver, before the night could change my fleeting heart, I ran off towards the center of the storm.

With the wind at my feet and passion and fury driving my cause.

End of Act 1