PROLOGUE

       This story begins long before it was written. In a distant When far from our own, drifting through the infinite Evermore, where all has happened, happens, and ever will happen, the new world of Hadesia as if out of a dream emerged from the darkness wild, mysterious, and as vast as imagination. On Hadesia, at first there was nothing. To the new world, not even time existed. For there, no life had yet been to perceive it. Desolate, Hadesia endured an eon devoid until ready for dominion. At such an instant, with a flash and crack, the Evermore bore four children and one-by-one dispatched them as stewards delegated to presiding over Hadesia. As the children accepted their place on the new world, they each shared their gifts with it 

        Crack! The first of the siblings born was Summer, fierce and beautiful. Her gifts, warmth and light, stimulated life on Hadesia. Crack! Next born was Winter, powerful and majestic. His gifts, ice and darkness, would bring death and balance to the new world. Crack! Crack! Then Autumn and Spring came with gifts of compassion and empathy. They would ease the passing of life, and aid in rebirth, as the four siblings completed the cycle of life. Thus, a new When established, time began on Hadesia and for eon, in the care of the Seasons, life there flourished. Mountains rose, seas swelled, rivers carved the land, and in forest and desert, from coastline to inland, in sea and air, flora and fauna abounded in delicate harmony. But imbalance lurked as close as a reflection on the surface of still water. In time, power corrupted. Summer grew vain, Winter cruel, and Autumn and Spring acquiescent—and ambition at first smoldering, ignited ruin.  

        Glorified by her creation and stricken by vanity, a quarter rule of Hadesia ceased to please Summer. A lust for control swelled inside of her like an ocean tide. For Hadesia to bask in eternal warmth and light was her ambition—to her, all life beholden everlasting. Endowed with gifts to create life, surely she was superior to her siblings and the steward meant to be sovereign. So, composed of her light she summoned an army of gleaming knights whom she sent to dispatch her sisters, Autumn and Spring. Pursued to a remote corner of Hadesia, Autumn and Spring embraced one another and took shelter disguised as a serpentine tree. There, they hid until such time as they could again freely walk the world. 

        His sisters lost and having discovered Summer’s treachery, Winter descended from his mountain lair unleashing vengeful storms of ice and darkness on the world, devastating his sister’s most beloved forests and any other life in his path. His storms raged and he would have plunged the entire world into darkness if he had not failed to extinguish his sister’s will. Guided through the night by her soldiers of light, Summer outlasted the storms and struck back at Winter with all her might. Sister and brother dueled in a great battle of sun beam and ice that gashed Hadesia and Summer prevailed. Her light glaring, she struck down Winter and although she could not entirely rid the world of his darkness, she plucked from him, his eye and left him blind, confined to the loneliness of his mountain lair. 

        Siblings divided and in ruin, Summer returned to her warmth, obdurate to her brother’s persistence and resolute to eradicating his darkness—but she needed rest. So began a new When, and for an eon, Hadesia evolved quiet and wild, half beneath enduring darkness and half ensconced in eternal light. Creatures grew immense and unusual, weather turned ferocious, danger was everywhere, and a sinister affliction spread, consuming the world. Not one of the siblings could prevent Hadesia from devouring itself and returning to oblivion in the Evermore. Doom awaited Hadesia until, during another When, a girl visited and began writing another story for the new world.

by A.J. Pellegrini