Dancing With Death (Prologue)

       Thousands upon thousands of years ago, when the world was new, there was a godly ruler of everything. The Queen of the Earth, the King of the Sky, and the rulers of plants, animals, and waters all ruled their respective domains. Then, the very clever Queen of the Animals derived the race of Man from troops of all other animals. Intelligence of cat, build of ape, tongue of god… Man was a brilliant creation, for it could come up with its own ideas, unlike that of any animal before it and very much like the gods themselves.


       There were a few drawbacks, however. One of these drawbacks was the ability of Man not only to create, but also to destroy. Another was the fact that like all animals, the members of this new race eventually died, but unlike other animals, Humans did not simply cease to exist. A part of the Human stayed behind after death. Souls. These collections of souls eventually began to crowd the face of the Earth so much that living Humans could see them, which completely disrupted the system of life and death.
      The other gods at once turned blaming eyes upon the Queen of Animals, but being the cleverest, got the Queen of the Earth on her side. Together, the two created a place for souls to go. The Underworld, it was called, for it existed below the tangible world. The Queen of the Earth volunteered her own son to be the ruler of the Underworld and take the souls into his care. But not being one of the original rulers and unaccustomed to this degree of power, it was not long in the eyes of an immortal for him to become corrupt.
       He derived evil beings out of his own immortal blood and of the sacred Blackfire that was found only in the Underworld. The dark-haired, pale-skinned, almost-human beings of blood he deemed Vampires, and he deemed the horned beings of fire, Devils.
       Finally, terribly corrupt, the King of the Underworld and an enormous army of his evil beings invaded the Land of the Living with the sole purpose of destroying it. In his arrogant corruptness, he had forgotten about the other rulers, who sided with Man and managed to drive him and his army back to the inter-dimension portal. But the King of the Underworld did not retreat quietly. In a last stand of spite, he used every last ounce of power in him to force evil into the hearts of all living humans and all those to come. He knew that one day, evil would prevail.

     Shortly after the Great War, the King of the Underworld died, having risked all his power, including his godly immortality, on the war. He passed his power to the head of his remaining army, a Vampire. This Vampire ruled for several thousands of years before he and his wife were assassinated in a revolt. But not before they could raise their Vampire daughters, Rainy and Flare.