To Rhial

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A note to the reader, from the very end

This is a memoir of our lives in Rhial. This is a question that we answered in our own way. This is our lives on full display.

In the beginning, we died. Then we awoke at the dawn of our second lives. So begins the story of those lives belonging to the five of us, who you will meet shortly.

As I lay on the precipice of death, I still ponder the circumstances for us dying and coming to this world with our memories preserved. It seems the universe has a cruel poker face and no inkling to show its hand, so I am left to wonder. I have theories, but I feel those are better left to be discovered in the recounting. As for this story, I would ask you only a few things to please consider while you read.

Have empathy. We were already struggling people who were brought into a place that was as unforgiving as it was foreign to us. It beat us down and pressed us to our limits with nobody to fall back on except ourselves. We did not always have the luxury of morality, but I wish we had. I know some of my friends went to face death carrying burdens that no other mortal soul could help them shoulder.

Face the uncomfortable. We are people too. We made plenty of mistakes. We were unprepared and immature when we were brought into this aching world. We hadn't learned the lessons needed to be the people we grew into. The words on these pages pale in comparison to being where we were and seeing what we saw.

Enjoy this. We messed up. A lot. We invite you to laugh with us and at us. To witness our despair and revel in our love. There's no better way to understand another soul. To do this, you must release yourself from the preconceptions, assumptions, and world views of Earth. They simply don't fit in Rhial, where there are far greater powers at large, comparable to that of ancient myth. We learned that the hard way.

As for the content of this volume and the following volumes- should my days be long enough to dictate them- translating from the languages of this world into English is no easy task. The languages are beyond just different, they are downright alien. In spelling, I will try to replicate sounds more than spelling and accuracy of ideas because Triali, the dominant language, just has so many more letters and unique specifications of ideas than English. Untranslatable names of things and colloquial phrases will appear and you will not understand their cultural implications. Neither did we. I encourage you to learn with us. It may help you step into our boots for even a moment.

I am honoring my friends' wishes by recounting the stories exactly as they remember. It's the only way that you can truly understand their lives. I apologize in advance for the frustrating moments. Early on, mental lapses and repressed memories/feelings were not uncommon to us, so if details are strange, inconsistent, or downright stupid, then that may be the fault of my friends and myself. Or rather, your unreliable narrators.

Perhaps by a miracle, this story will reach our loved ones and they will see what we have made of ourselves. I hope they will be proud of how our story ends. I really do. So if any of you are reading and you recognize us through our mannerisms or our names, know that every day we wish we could have given a proper goodbye.

Dijzat, yamso uihzen reukjzoli. Ji, hiken to. Pata- Rati ka hell imso zostaktjo? Muo, zost- zost fwet nini, uhfrekint ses zostihinih paktakt, reukjzoli-

Apologies for the break in tone. Don't look at me like- oh... yeah you can leave that part untranslated. Hah... I suppose it reminds me of how we were. A group of crass, cocky little shitheads that somehow managed to change the world for the better. I don't want to spoil anything, but I wouldn't change any of it if I had the chance. Well... no, that'll be in a later volume, though. This first volume becomes dark and bleak, as our lives were back then. Don't let that fool you. Our greater tale is one of hope. Hope, which pushed us forward until the end, when we gave everything to Rhial.