Prologue

Author's notes

1: I know the title sucks but I don't have any better ideas. If you have one please leave it in a review.

2: I own no copyrights

IS 449 (about six years before the beginning of Suikoden I)

It had been two days since his father had died but James was still in shock as he watched the burial. They had known that his father's wounds weren't healing properly but no one expected him to die so suddenly. James had been asleep when it had happened. His mother had forced him to go to bed, interrupting a chess game that James and his father had been playing for three hours. James had set the chess set he kept on his night stand in the same position as the game in the living room, hoping that seeing the set up first thing in the morning would inspire a way out of the mess that he was in. he went to sleep and when he woke up his father was gone. He began to cry wondering why the tears had waited until the funeral to come.

When he walked inside he headed directly to his room ignoring the small group of mourners in the main room. He turned on the Sindar music box that had been in his family for generations. It had always comforted him before but something just felt wrong about his room that day. As he sat down he finally realized what was wrong. The chess set hadn't been disturbed. White's right flank, his right flank was frozen in a state of collapse with Black closing for the kill, the Black King, the piece represented his father watching over his conquering army. James reached out and with one final tear toppled the Black King. Consciousness soon fled and his subconscious was left to contemplate death and everything that had happened.

Author's notes part two

1: I might go into more detail on what happened at the funeral later, I'm not sure.

2: The music box plays "Ode to Joy" In case anyone is curious.