Prologue
When you're little, you're told stories about fantastic worlds and fairytale creatures. Stories which always begin with once upon a time and end with happily ever after. Where a kind, sweet, virtuous girl gets in some sort of trouble, courtesy of some terrible old women with way too much time on her hands, and has to run away. The old hag sends out some woodcutter, terrible monster, or loyal servant to kill the princess while somewhere across the woods, a handsome prince just happens to hear about the evil plot.
Of course, being the chivalrous man that he is, he immediately sets off to save the always so beautiful maiden and defeat the evil monster. When the evil mastermind's plot is foiled, she either bursts into flames, melts, or mysteriously disappears. The princess is so grateful that she marries the prince the next day and goes from servant to ruler of an entire country in a matter of minutes.
I suppose the whole point of these stories is to say that if you're respectful and stay pure of heart, that everything will turn out ok. You'll get swept off your feet, marry a handsome prince, and never have to worry about anything ever again. Yeah right! Happily ever afters NEVER happen in real life.
You could be the picture of charity and goodwill. You could never commit a crime, never curse, never harm another living creature, and everyone could love you. You could marry your high school sweetheart, have a successful career, and have three beautiful children. You could live a life that is the envy and daydream of anyone who's ever met you.
And then, one day, the dream will tragically come to an end when an evil dragon threatens to destroy everything you hold near and dear. You suddenly realize that this fairytale has a whole other side. A dark side.
Evidently the handsome prince has been doing business with the sorcerer who lives on a castle in the haunted cliffs far, far away. You see the sorcerer needed a way to help his friends across the kingdom, and knew that the prince could get the job done. They were old family friends and the prince owed him a favor from way back so he agreed to help him.
Turns out the sorcerer and his buddies were planning to buy out the country in a hostile take-over. When the King found out about the plot, he had the conspirators captured, but they didn't want to go down alone. The sorcerer told the king about the prince's involvement in the plot. The king was extremely hurt but couldn't bear the thought of locking the prince away. So instead, he took away his title and banished him to the town of Albuquerque, New Mexico.
And that, my friend, is where the real story begins.