Prologue: Live and Dream, Part 1

He was immersed in a loving embrace. He had been here for but a moment. He had been here an eternity. He had known nothing like this ever before. He had never known anything else but this. He felt naught but love; it mattered not who from, nor why. It did not even matter who he was, to be so completely loved.

I will always be here for you, it seemed to say. I will do anything for you. I will protect you, and forever shall you be safe. Not a sound to be heard, yet these things were said. He was surrounded by beautiful music, drowning out all sound, yet these things were said. To him, for him.

How could anything hope to compare to this, this bliss? There was nothing of him that was not part of this. It was he, and he was it.

But…

He shook his head (he did not have a head?). There was nothing outside of this, nothing that mattered. I will keep you with me always, it seemed to say, I will keep you forever with me.

But…

He almost dropped the thought-word, but this time it would not go. This was not all. There was something else, once. A place, a land, a people. A man, a legend. You will be mine always, forever to love and be loved. But this was not his intention. This was not what he wanted.

Hesitation… hesitation? It was not his own.

You wish to leave? You desire something else?

He knew he did. He had once told a story, and now he wanted to see it.

You will return? Now there was fear, and worry.

He was not sure. He could not think, not truly. Only feeling was here, not thought.

Then I will aid you. Determination. I will protect you, and give you all that you wish.

Now he hesitated. That did not seem right. He was not sure… but the decision seemed to have been made. The embrace pulled away, and he felt himself gradually fall. He felt himself, knew that he had a head now, and arms and legs and body. He picked up speed. He had clothes now, though surely he knew not what such things were. His hair fluttered in the wind, remembered from long ago, experienced for the first time. A sense of urgency, of immediacy filled him.

And he hit the ground with a thump that knocked the wind out of him.