Preface

Thick curtains of rain drifted like sheets of velvet down across the ebony expanse of water. Looking down on it, I could not catch my breath. It was as if some ancient, primordial, spirit had reached into my very soul and removed it from my body. I was numb, frozen, stilled. The rain crushed down on me, chill fingers grasping at me roughly, clumsily, but not cruelly. As if I was simply too frail to bear its gentle ministrations. My hair clung to my face as I clutched my arms to my chest.

How much time had passed? Had it been a moment? Had it been a life time? I stretched my fingers out towards that dark expanse below me—the haunting, perfection that I had never known existed until now. It called to me, lured me on, and as my heart leapt into mortal terror, the rest of me welcomed what would surely come.

I leapt down into that icy embrace.