Engineer's Empire - Prologues

Nostalgia

There is an ache in us all; for a placethat we may never have been to.

It'sa silly little thought, brushed from our eyelashes like the butterflywe didn't mean to scare away, and now we watch as it's vibrantwings fly off into the distance; that moment gone. After drifting offinto the dreams that echoes in our hearts, we sit up and realizewe're still in this world, wondering how we got here.

Sometimesthe fantasies are more real than our lives.

Ifwe're lucky, it's a memory that we can share with loved ones andenjoy the reminiscing of those receding reflections. Other times wemay share the story and feel the falling in our chest when they don'trecall that event. We cradle that moment in our souls, knowing thatwe are now its sole guardian and that one day that tender moment willvanish forever like a whisper in the wind.

Likeplacing fingertips to the keys on a piano, each touch and soundconjures a memory hidden in some deep recess in our mind until themelody washes over us and becomes a dream of what once was, or whatwe wished could have been.

Forsome of us, it's a place we've never been to at all; and yet weache for that place like our lungs ache for air. We live in thisworld as a shadow of who we would be in that other world, of who wemight have been.

Perhapswe still could be that person. Perhaps we could bring that magichere. These dreams can fill our hearts and push us to greatness toshare that magic with the world, or it can consume us with its sirensong and haunt us into despair. Dreams are magic, and longing, anddanger. Dreams are the fabric of our souls.