Darkness and Hellfire

Prologue

“Daughter, could you do me a favor?” A deep voice with a low rumble came from a shadow in the shape of a man.

A girl who looked to be in her late twenties with white hair, eyes and pale skin, looked up from the papers on her dark oak desk in the corner of her room and replied “Of course father, but what can I do for you that you cannot simply have one of your shadows do?”

“Can you… write your mother’s and my story?” He asked almost hesitantly, as if he doubted if it was a good idea, or maybe he didn’t want to ask too much of his daughter.

“Really?! Truly father?” She looked at him with a mix of excitement and worry in her eyes. The silver eyes of the shadow looked down then up as if to nod the affirmative. “I will of course… however, are you sure it is a good idea? I mean, there are some things in your story that should not be common knowledge. Mortals should not know of other worlds and the path to divinity right? Would that not cause untold problems for lesser divinity and interplanar travel? Not to mention all the mages that are bound to do something idiotic in an attempt to cross worlds.”

“At present, I only want you to write it down. We can think about the rest when we are done.” A hint of amusement in his voice and a slight squint of the shadows left eye. She knew he had one of his signature smirks that meant he was amused at something only he knew.

She turned back to her desk, straightened the papers she had been pouring over into a neat pile and set them off to the side. Then she opened a drawer in her desk and pulled out a stack of fresh blank paper. Straightening her back and grabbing her crystal fountain pen that never ran out of ink. “Well father, I am ready when you are.”