Sanity ~ Prologue Preveiw

Prologue Preview

Prologue

The primitive night sky darkened the figures and increased the volume and power of their shadows. The four inhaled the ashes circling in the air. The fire had ceased centuries ago, but the tormenting debris remained. The burnt craftsmanship that once enchanted the former city was now under their limbs, still warm from an internal flame. The place was not known to most, for it was conveyed to them as it never existed. A myth. A child's story. It was like the rest of their history, deluded with mystery and fed with lies that were believed to be truthful.

The four hated this place. Anyone that remembered it did, but it was the only place to speak together without being disturbed. The largest stayed behind the others, watching them closely and huffing lowly under his breath. The unstable foundation of the lost world they stepped upon made them realize how far they had actually aged. The shortest felt his hips shifting oddly and where his bones connected were popping. Pop. Pop. Pop.

The other two were about the same height, and precisely the same age. Although they were the eldest of the four, their physical ability was far better than the short one they secretly called the Phoenix. A foreign bird type known to man swept over the sky and wailed its call. The three moons in the sky illuminated its bronze wings and it flew past the four and back to its nest in the underwood. It would have been a beautiful night, if not for the place they were in. Hopefully the discussion would be short so they could proceed back to civilization. It just depended on how much the tall one cursed and argued on their decision he didn't agree upon.

They stopped in the middle where the destroyed square was placed. In their minds they agreed it was the best place to speak. The ash was less dense in the air here. The pieces of structures still standing up caved over them. Now it was silent except for their breaths.

"The last time I stepped on this soil you ignited the place," the short one called the Phoenix said to the tall one.

"This is not about that, "The tall one snarled through his one tusk. "This is about you three's childish and ignorant actions!"

"They were better than your ideas," The Phoenix hissed and his triangular pointed tail fell stiff.

"You son of a-"

"Enough you two!" The first one snapped. She had raised her voice. They all paused, thinking someone might have overheard. It was silent. She whispered, "It is not time to bicker."

The tusked one huffed, "We would not even be in this dreaded place if you would stick to your own duties!"

The second one who had not spoken finally murmured, "It was not all of her implementation. We had agreed to it."

"I did not approve to your foolish experiment!" He bellowed. "And still without my authorization you three took it upon yourself with greed to take my own-," he couldn't finish the sentence without feeling vomit rise up into his gullet, "-ugh. You took it and created a-ah-MONSTER!" The ground seemed to shake underneath them as the tall one shouted.

"And you would have much practice in knowing what greed is," The second one growled. His tail that was over fifteen feet long twitched on the end. The tall one rammed his top horns against the second ones with fury.

"I should slaughter you," His voice had a very profound Russian and Chinese accent. "It would do more good than harm." The second one's orange eyes were starting to-

"Stop it!" The first one pulled the second one away. She stared coldly and irritated at the tall one, "Do you want him to crack again?"

He resituated himself. A breeze swept through their pores under their fur. The tall one spoke again, "Mark my words, all that beast will bring is maelstrom to order. His domain and hunger is to dictate every last living being on this province."

"You're mistaken," The Phoenix argued. The prodigious hat upon his head tilted slightly. He promptly moved it back as he said, "He was not created for the sole purpose to hold power, but also to bond and keep the peace we once had between our species," His doe like ears fell. "We would still have that peace if you hadn't unleashed chaos."

The tall one with a tusk would have been delighted to scalp the short one's head and string his body up against one of the remaining walls of architecture around. The second one would have lost it at the sight of blood, but the tall one no longer had any sense of pity or saneness. He was consumed by trying to receive benefits for only himself. The scalping, fortunately, did not take place. Instead, the first one's body clenched up, and her muscles became firm. A mist form covered her eyes, and became a creamy white that swirled about and left the pupils to vanish. The tall one groaned, "Not another vision."

The Phoenix looked over at her. His wide alarmed eyes looked into hers. "What do you see?" He asked her. He waited patiently for a response. Although he was the youngest of the four, they believed him to be the wisest. Her vocal cords released a low humming noise.

"It's just a child reading," The tusked one moaned with aggravation. The first one's species children were named after the snippet of a prophecy they received. The first one had the task of sustaining all the visions and holding memories. Every one of them.

The Phoenix actually agreed with the tall one's thoughts of inconvenience. "Perhaps this isn't the best time."

"I tried to tell you brutes that two hours ago," The second one complained with distaste.

The short one, who had been sitting, rose up from the ash cloaked ground. His bones ached. Age was taking a toll on his health, and he knew it. However, he refused to complain. Restraining himself not to whimper from the excruciating pain, he told the second one and the tusked one, "Let us gather another age in time." They began to walk away.

"Listen closely," They halted as the first one was speaking to them indirectly through the reading. At a leisurely pace they turned their different sized heads over to her. Her eyes were a revolving pearl color. The eyes were not focusing on the three, but the broad scope of the world and rubble enclosing them. Her voice was firm, and almost didn't sound similar to her own. "For this will be the last time it will leave lips." Now the three took it more grimly. "The one I declare of has not yet been welcomed into this sphere that contains life. These are words of warning and advice.

"Keep the bird of flames as long as you can, for when it returns to burning embers the wickedness will blend and consume the light. You will believe this to be too soon, but it will not arrive with the creature that is the master of manipulation, but with his progeny.

"Once the many years have let it grow with knowledge and prosper, and only three stand left, she will have the burden of strife weighted upon her mind filled with unsolved enigmas. When the sharp teeth impale, filling the hearts with stone, and the Homo sapiens assist in their own genocide," Thoughts passed through their minds. First, I hope this isn't what I think it means, and, what are Homo sapiens?

Their minds were sinking into thought as she spoke, "The fools and righteous will except their toxic shadows and where they derive from. Then all will deprive themselves of joy and enlightenment. Neither brother will stand for true purity. You will shiver at the past of a phoenix, the dusk, and a hybrid," And on queue the three did. "But one will be the only individual to keep this child from its former destiny by persuasion.

"If not, the time will come for the new to rise up from the corrupted ashes, leaving the old behind in blood that was sacrificed in vain. Keep the view open, and watch closely and wisely to prevent the expected. Soon after the love has broken from one, it will spread in death and ignorance into others till the fate takes the mind of its host.

"This is a welcome to all. This is a greeting from the other side of... Sanity."