In The Beginning...

Prologue

Time…. Time is a funny thing. It’s nothing tangible, you can’t see it but you can see its effects on everything and everyone around us. Time can turn a seed to a mighty oak and a mighty oak to mulch. It can take grains of sand and change them to stone only to be worn away to nothingness. It can even take the widest seas and make them dry arid wastelands. Why time can even see the smallest village grow to be the greatest, strongest global empire and then fade away to become nothing more than myth.

No, time waits for nothing and no one. No man, no woman and no child can escape it’s ever changing touch. A child…. A baby girl born with pale flesh, snow white hair and pinkish eyes. Born of despair and given up to the hands of Fate in hopes of a better life finds herself in the care of a being who has seen time pass for far, far longer than it has been effected by it’s passing.

In time, the being taught her to walk and talk, the differences between right and wrong, to read and to write. In time the child came to call the being ‘Papa’ and, in time, Papa taught her to appreciate animals, flowers and nature in all of its wondrous glory. Papa also taught her how to play the piano and her favorite game, Go Fish.

Time ever flowing like a river can carry our lives into unknown adventures, taking unexpected twists and turns just when we think we have its ebb and flow figured out. Not everything time brings our way is good though. With every thrill, excitement, pleasure and love that time brings our way it will eventually bring us just as much pain, anguish and sorrow. Though it hardly seems fair at the moment, the Fates always see to it that time brings a balance of good and bad into our lives even if we do not recognize it sometimes.

Time, as in most relationships, took the young girl away from her home and her beloved Papa and whisked away into other worlds to see other sights, hear other sounds and meet other people. Her own adventures were plenty and a few were nigh unbelievable. She made friends along the way and certainly her share of enemies, she did good whenever she could and, as with all mortals, committed her sins and made her mistakes. Though she wanted nothing more than to return home, only in time would the stars above show her the way.

The young girl had grown into a beautiful woman of porcelain skin, ivory hair and ruby eyes and time finally brought her home. Now she knelt before an old grave marker, absently picking away the weeds that grown up around her Papas tombstone. She hummed her favorite tune that he taught her to play on their piano as a lonely tear rolled down her cheek, her mind reaching back to memories of the bedtime stories her dear, sweet Papa used to tell her. Stories that always began with…

Once upon a time....