Nature

Prologue 1

Profalso strolled through the willows in the swamp. The spongy ground made squelching sounds as his boots pressed into the mud and slime. Grandmother was following behind him, a worried face planted in her wrinkles. As they walked further into the woods, the swamp, the background noises faded, creating an eerie silence. Grandmother had a baby in her arms, a giggling one with bright blue eyes.

The small group continued until they reached a clearing. The ground had become dry and crackly clay, little tufts of grass growing out of the cracks.

"Stay here." Profalso told Grandmother. Her eyes became pleading, but she lowered her head and tightened her grip on the child, stepping back into the shade of the nearby willows. Profalso looked back at the clearing. There was a table, made of stone. There were four chairs, as well, with four... beings set in each. One chair was of vapor and smoke. In it sat an unnatural creature, a man-shaped cloud of electricity and droplets of water, holding a hand of playing cards and facing the other three players. Next to him sat a woman, unnaturally beautiful, with golden hair and a slight frown, sitting in a chair of golden light. The woman held her cards daintily, and was faced towards the player who was currently moving, a skeleton. The skeleton wore a black robe and sat in a chair of bones and skulls. He had a mischievous grin on his face, and held a card. He looked towards the last player, whom Profalso focused his attention on. It was a woman (as assumed from her long, brown hair) sitting in a plain chair of wood and reed cushioning. Profalso was not able to see precisely what she looked like or what expression she was wearing, as she was positioned facing away from him, but something about her radiated nervousness. Curious, Profalso thought, Wethar, Elegance, and Death. He wondered what forces he would play against.

The game finished in a few seconds, Death played the card he had been holding for suspense immediately after Profalso had completed his thought. The image began fading, but he caught the image of the woman bending over slightly and putting her face in her hands.

As the image faded, a new one came into existence. Four chairs and a small, stone table. Profalso looked back and saw Grandmother nervously shifting her feet. He smiled and turned back. He stepped into the clearing and went to his chair, a small chair made of wood. He waited a few moments, whistling a tune he often sung on walks, and observing the other three chairs. The one to his left was made of, oddly, golden bricks. There were eye symbols inscribed on each brick. The chair immediately in front of him was made of glass, making it almost invisible were it not for the few cracks in the chair. The final chair, on his right, was a chair made of swords, the blades pointing in all direction, stained with blood. As Profalso stared at the throne of pain and suffering, he shuddered to think of what creature would sit in such a chair.

The moment he had this thought, a flash of golden light flashed to his left. After the spots faded from his eyes, he found himself face to face with a man, a man wearing a golden top hat and a black suit. The being's face was smooth, his smile a wide, upside down rainbow of gleaming white. His head was bent, hiding his eyes with the top hat. After a few seconds, the force's head slowly went up, revealing eyes with golden pupils.

"How are you doing, on this wonderful evening?"

Before Profalso could provide an answer, an eerie whistling sounded. It sounded familiar, but Profalso couldn't quite place the- wait! Profalso recognized it! It was the tune he had been whistling just moments prior! He looked up, seeing a woman in a white cloak strolling out of the willow forest. Blond hair fell from the recesses of her hood, shining slightly in the glow of the golden brick chair. She came to the chair of glass and sat, quieting. Profalso sat back in his chair and tried to relax, despite the creepy smile of the player in the golden brick chair, Codex, and the disturbing quiet of the woman in her glass chair, Past. After a few moments, the expected came and screams roared up from in the woods. A horse leapt from the foliage, a brown warhorse, clad in flaming steel. Atop it sat a man, a big, muscular soldier with armor and swords strapped to his back. The force jumped from his horse, landing on the ground with a thud. The horse ran back into the woods, disappearing amongst the leaves. The force, obviously War, came to the final chair and sat straight down on the exposed blades. Profalso had expected screams, or at least groans, of pain, but War simply smiled and pulled a deck of cards from the recesses of his armor.

"WELL? SHALL WE GET STARTED, OR SHOULD WE WASTE SOME MORE TIME?"