Chapter Text
~Prologue~
A star born from darkness.
A spark, a small beacon of light in eternal, never ending, abyss; its very presence slicing through suffocating cold with one warm breath.
The lone star drifted, floating lazily through blank space, until it faced a reflection. The star’s bright image shone back onto itself, its clone sliding away to reveal more projections: mimicking the star's flicks, copying its crackles. The star settled, flicking about with new found purpose, as the new stars followed its lead.
It was suddenly clear, as the star rose with heat, lengthening its stretch of light and warmth to the emptiness around it, that it was not a lone star in empty space—it was not even empty space that it began in—but rather a flame; contained within a lantern; contained within a room.
Within that room, the slightly lit effigies of harsh ragged faces, worn by time and suffering, sat in collective silence; each individual eye reflecting the flame’s languid movement.
A dark sky sparkled with rising and fading stars.
The lantern was placed on a stand, its light reflecting upon a wall of rotting wood. A silhouette blocked the ray of light, its figure moving about with janky, uneven movements—and yet, the audience of dejected, hopeless faces watched with wide, expectant eyes.
The breaths of all that sat in the darkness held themselves within their lungs—as a story was about to unfold.