The Steel Dawn Company: The Siege of Kaladin

Prologue

A/N: On the side is the song. Please vote, comment and enjoy.

Prologue

I sit down on my couch and start flipping through the information packet for Under Siege On-Line. The game me and my friends are going to beta test with I think like some where between fifty and a hundred thousand other people. I've just finished hooking up the brand new console that is being beta test along with the game call The Portal. The tag line there going with is a portal to a whole new world of gaming. Ya right that is what every new system promise's. It's a standard black box with classic fantasy magic symbols all over it.

If you were to look at me sitting on my couch you would see. A lanky six foot two inch twenty eight year old in rumpled an stained clothes. Battered black rimed glass frame sad blue eyes thick black eye brows furrowed in concentration. Black hair in need of a hair cut tops my and a once neatly trimmed beard grown wild with neglect. An that is me Tobias “Bao” Williams. The Bao part is my gamer tag. All my characters have Bao in the name some where. An it just kinda became my nickname.

Why you ask have I let myself go to weeds you ask? Well what normal breaks a up standing geek and all around good guy. Well a woman of course. First she gut punched me then kicked me in the family jewels and then finally ripped my still beating heart out of my chest metaphorically mind you. Now how is that all possible. Well I will tell you what happened. It was six months ago.

<<<<<<<<<<Six Months Ago>>>>>>>>>>

It was me and my girlfriends four year anniversary. Everything was going good we had been living together for a year with only a few bumps in the road. I had just finished a big project a head of schedule and got a nice bonus. To get the job done early there had not been a lot of us time in the last month. I had the night planned to the hilt. I was going to make this night special. I had a special ring made to ask her to marry me.

I set up a six o'clock dinner reservation. Which left plenty of time for us to go out dancing an what ever else she wanted to do. Granted I suck at dancing but she loves to dance so for her I do my best. I had to dress up to go into the office to present my project so I was gone all day.

I meet her in front of the restaurant. Now my girlfriend is completely out of my league. Like they look at me look at her look at me and say “How did that happen?”. Now I'm not ugly but I'm not going to be in any magazines either. My girlfriend Sara is six foot tall with legs that go forever and a butt to die for. With naturally curly dark brown hair and chocolate brown eyes. The red dress she's wearing accentuates all her curves and show's off a fair amount of her cleavage.

Good lord I'm lucky I think to myself. I give her a hug an kiss on the cheek. Then I take her hand and lead her into the restaurant. A hostess seat's us an hands us menu's. I'm trying to decide when I should ask her to marry me when.

“Tobias I have something I want to tell you.”

“Okay I have something I want to talk to you about to, but go ahead.” She looks very nervous.

“I've been very unhappy lately and I don't know where we are going together.” She has a death grip on her cloth napkin and she will not look me in the eye.

“Where is all this coming form honey? I know we haven't had a lot of you and me time but that was so I could get the bonus.” Confusion written plainly across my face.

“We've been together for four years Tobias. I want a family. I'm not getting any younger.”

Oh that's what this is about well I'm about to make her day. I smile at her as I get up out of my chair. I reach into my pocket and pull out the box holding the ring. I drop down to one knee in front of her. Her eyes go wide.