Prologue:
"Musings Of A Soul"

This place is foreign to me, yet I feel as if it is where I belong. The trees and nature that surround me is like another world. It is another world to me. How could I have always been so near to such sights and sounds and never see or hear them? The design of it all is magnificent and amazing. How could anyone ever create it? I have been taught that it was all placed here by chance, but I cannot believe such order could have happened without something, or someone, to guide it. At this moment, as I listen to the beautiful sounds of nature, I am viewing the most wonderful sight. I have only read of such things, but to actually see it is amazing. I feel grateful. Grateful that I am able to see this sight. Grateful that it is here. But to Whom am I so grateful? This is the question that plagues me.

A bird as black as the midnight sky soars low over the branches. He is as quiet and as graceful as could be, so simple, and yet he has a strength, a confidence, a power that surounds him like a protective cloud. If I recall, I have read of this bird. A raven it is called. A forager and traveler. All I have ever known was solitude and control, yet this bird has so much freedom, and now I have that freedom. The freedom to make my own decisions, free to travel where I please, free to live my life the way I choose. Am I not in some way like this bird? I have always known myself as (Proto), for that is what my creators called me. It has a basic meaning of 'first,' and I supose they called me that because they planned to make armies of me, armies with such great power that no foe could defeat. But now I shall name myself after this magnificent bird, this master of the night, this Raven.

My life, if it can be called that, has been nothing but tests and experiments; training and solitude. But now that is all over. It seems like ages since the attack; the attack that changed my life and me along with it. I was created to be the perfect soldier; a being that could not be defeated in battle. Ever since I came into existence, I have been taught the ways of war. I was always willing to learn and do as I was told, but somewhere inside me I have always known this is not my true self, that this is not my true purpose. And now all I have ever known is gone, and yet I do not feel sadness. No, I feel joy; a joy I cannot explain. I am free from the three that have always controlled me, that created me. Yet still, behind this joy lies a deep fear. A fear of those three, and of what is to come.

The attack that was launched against my creators in reality would have destroyed them, but they have gone far beyond reality. They made me to be immortal, so I survived the explosions that surounded us, that were meant to destroy us; and yet I know, that somehow, someway, they survived. They are brilliant, deadly, and capable of anything: this is what I fear the most. Yet the fear I feel is in some way calmed, for some strange reason I know that there is hope; hope that one day they will be destroyed, and all will be well again.

The hope I feel is more for the existence of mankind. I cannot help but wonder if there is hope for me. I was created by those three, those human three, but I am not human, so how can I be included in such a hope, such a salvation? Do I have a soul as men do? Can I be saved as they are? Will I ever discover the answer to the question that has plagued me for so long? I do not know. But for now these musings must wait. I have to move on, and leave the past behind me. My only wish is that the past does not follow me into the future.

This story was co-authored by me and VictoryInChrist a couple years ago. I gave her an outline, and she wrote the bulk of the text, while I went in afterwards, tweaking things a bit. Since this has been written I have changed, revised, and developed many things that you'll find here, so this is in no wise an official version of my story, but a glimpse at what it used to be. I sincerely doubt the updated version will ever be written, much less by me, but, since me and my friend went through all this trouble, and I do have a publishing site, I thought I might as well throw it out there and see how many piranha come out gobble it all up. Ideally I will post notes with each chapter informing you of what's changed, whether I do that when I now or later is another question. In the mean while, feel free to read, review, and critisize all the way to the next chapter.

-j.