Prologue

“It is not my job to tell of those things that are happening now, or to tell of those things that I believe are to come. Rather, it is my job to tell of those things that have passed. The one who shall tell the Present and the Future is unknown.

“I do not know how I survived the invasion, but I did. Despite my young age of nine, I lived through the devastation of my homecity and saw my family burned at the cruel guns of the kryons.

“And yet, I have not devoted my life to destroying these kryons, but to helping humanity survive from its Past.

“Humanity did not know what had happened to it, nor was it prepared to deal with the radiation, enslavement, and death. And yet somehow us few have survived, despite the dangers of the mutated beasts of the land, the savage men of the seas and glass, and even the rare kryon attack.

“The last attack happened some three years ago, and was devastating upon our village. Of the one hundred and twenty-seven people who were living the village, only eighty-three survived. And these eighty-three still carry on.

“I remember little of the pretime. I remember my mother’s face, my father’s sadness when he was deported to serve in the war. And I remember the surprise when contact was made with the kryons. I remember the first contact with them, ‘So we have found you at last.’ I, at my young age, assumed that this meant that the kryons had finally found companions in this dark and lonesome universe.

“But I was wrong. Those seven words were instead a sign that their search was not in vain. They had sought out humanity – their brethren – and were at last ready for communication. And war.

“Peace did not last long. Humanity, to my knowledge, performed no aggressive actions upon kryonity. Still, war occurred, and humanity, under the control of O’Conner, was not prepared. We were annihilated. And few survived, and those that did turned mad.

“But in this village, the last village of the world, I sense something – yes, four people hold the potential to change the world. The men and women of the village know not of this, for none have read this manuscript – nor shall they until the time is right and my passing has come. But they shall, and they shall see my vision of these four rising to unite the fields.

“And in all, one of them, who is like a child to me, shall bring back the glory of the lost age of mankind, and will finally uncover that which I could not find.

“For I learned that a single book from the kryon’s world found its way to Earth, and one copy should have survived the war. But should my child find the book, he may not decipher it – that is for future generations. I can only pray to whatever gods may be out there that he can, and finally uncover the mystery.

“And to the lost world, the world I left without knowing, and the world those remaining on Earth shall never know, I write a single sentence. May you return.”
-Last Survivor of the War