Author's Rant

Lady A: This is the first time I have done a prologue. This story practically demanded it since it has an unusual nature. If you don't like it, don't mention it. If you do like it, leave a review. Everyone else who is on the fence, just leave a review about how confused you are and I'll get back to ya.

Prologue: Normalcy Is Overrated

'My name is Artimes Okuda. I am twenty four years old and my blood type is O positive. Now if you're expecting me to say that I'm your typical Japanese citizen of the twenty first century, then sorry to disappoint you. I was, however, born to an average Japanese family. I just didn't look anything like them. Both my mother and father had the typical jet black hair of my fellow countrymen as well as the murky and oh so dull brown eyes. I, on the other hand, was born with vibrant crimson hair and royal blue eyes. It is beyond freaky, I know.

Here's the real kicker. My absolutely adoring parents decided that on my fourth birthday, we would go camping in a forest over fifty miles from Tokyo. No one told me that I was the only one who would do any actual camping. Just what I always wanted for birthday, an extremely large forest filled to the brim with wild and hungry animals who wanted to have me for lunch. Oh joy. That's right, my parents abandoned me. They so did not win the parents of the year award. Okay, so now you're expecting me to say that I was raised by a pack of wolves and became some sort of wild tree hopping, jungle girl, right? Uh…no.

I was rescued by a family of hikers, who were so very kind enough to take me in. They brought me back to Tokyo and officially adopted me. You're probably thinking that it was a divine intervention or some other foolish nonsense that rescued me from the wilds. Personally, the forest was a far better choice and a whole heck of a lot safer than the hell hole I was plunged into. My foster father was a complete and total drunk. He was commonly found either sprawled out on the floor from his latest drinking tournament or smacking the hell out of his kids; most likely to vent his opposition and disapproval about my foster mother's decision to whore herself out like a common prostitute.

Yeah, my foster parents were in a desperate need of strait jackets and windowless padded cells. My adopted siblings consisted of two boys, ages twelve and fourteen. My so called brothers may look sweet and innocent to you, but they are evil incarnate. Do you have any idea how it feels to be a piñata or perhaps a guinea pig? Well I do and it ain't fun, evil little bastards!

Anyways by some miracle, I made it to my fourteenth birthday. How I survived Dumb and Dumber and their evil hell spawn, I will never know. As I was saying, it was shortly after my fourteenth birthday that I published a series of books. Mind you, it took a little luck and practically stalking the publishers all night and day for weeks to get it accomplished. Don't look at me like that! I'm not some perverted sicko so shush and let me do my thing. My series was published and actually made an above average hit on the market. I made a decent sized fortune so I packed my bags…erm…pillow case…Shut up…and moved out of that rinky dink shed that doubled as a local trash heap.

I have a very posh four bedroom apartment with all the amenities. I think my landlord, a gentleman of the elderly persuasion and descended from a long line of monks, believes me to be some sort of evil spirit or man eating demon. As if, but he usually leaves me alone. Did I mention that my apartment is on the top floor and I have direct access to the roof? I have spent hours gazing at the stars, writing my next novel, and simply contemplating the meaning of life. Okay yeah, that was total bullshit on the last one. I like taking naps up there on a sunny afternoon. Right right, back to matter at hand.

Now you're thinking that the reason why I have so many bedrooms is so I can have all my school friends over for sleep overs and such, right? Hahahahahaha! You really crack me up, you know that? I would have to have friends in the first place and I don't. Want to know why? So do I! For my whole life, people have looked at me like I was some kind of monster. You think I'm joking? Well I'm not. They may not come right out and say it, but it's in their eyes; suspicion, disgust, and a whole lot of fear. I have spent years trying to figure out why they are so terrified of me. It doesn't make any rational sense. It's not like I go around terrorizing the neighborhood or go on a homicidal killing spree or other such ridiculous nonsense. So yeah, I just avoid any and all contact with the human race.

Moving along, for the entirety of my school and college life, I was a straight 'A' student. I got top marks in everything and I excelled in every subject. No, I am not a nerd, a geek, a rocket scientist, or a maniacal terrorist out to conquer the world. When all you have is free time, you need something to do to stave off boredom lest you risk losing your freaking mind! With that being said, I received absolutely zero, that's right none, zilch, nada, zip, caput job offers after graduating college at the top of my class and with honors. Sure does make you feel appreciated, doesn't it? All that hard work, late night study sessions and it meant absolutely nothing. Over two decades of schooling and for what, just to continue what I was doing before?!

I digress, because by now you are wondering when…or if…I will ever get to the point. Well Sorrrrrrrrry! Didn't know I was boring you! Fine, I'll speed things up a bit then. For the most part, my life has royally and utterly sucked. Worse still, it is the epitome of the most dreadfully boring life ever created. Okay, so why am I telling you all this? Simple, because things are about to get very interesting.

Out of all the days to go walking around Tokyo, I chose a Friday, but oh no, as luck would have it was Friday the Thirteenth. We all know from popular belief and the idiocy that is mankind that Friday the Thirteenth is considered to be the unluckiest or luckiest day of the year, depending on whether you are a superstitious and paranoid pessimist or an over bubbly, freakishly annoying optimist. Personally, I choose the third category of 'I just don't give a shit.'

Though with my history, I'm lucky the world didn't end…maybe I should consider that unlucky. Whoa, whoa, whoa! I'm not a doom and gloom kind of person. No, I don't want the world to end, because that would mean the deaths of billions of innocent people. I am neither heartless nor soulless. Surprisingly, I care a great deal about people…they just don't care about me.

Anyways, I will admit to a string of rather unlucky events, but unlucky for whom, you might ask? Well I was nearly hit by a bus, managed to escape an attempted bank robbery without being shot, dodged a rather large knife that had slipped from the hand of the local sushi chef, and no day is complete without a black cat walking in front of you (said cat was then chased by a dog who was being chased by a dog catcher), walking under a ladder and said ladder toppling over (the poor fool on the ladder fell pretty hard onto the pavement and broken his arm in three places as well as dislocated his shoulder), and bumping into the owner of a shop (which caused a domino effect sending one mirror to crash into another until all seventeen working nothing but tiny pieces…is that his bad luck or mine?).

Oh yeah, I was a bad luck magnet. Unfortunately it doesn't end there. The owner I had bumped into chased after me for over two hours, yelling like a madman. I managed to lose him by cutting into an alleyway while he was looking in the opposite direction. Grrrrrrrr, will you shut up?! Yes, I am getting to the point. Now be quiet, have a little patience, and let me finish. As I was saying, it is this very alleyway that everything changes. Everything I thought I knew turned out to be totally wrong. Okay, maybe not totally wrong, but definitely filled in the missing gaps. Okay, it created new gaps.

My dismally boring and sucky life is about to be turned upside down, shaken like a snow globe, shattered to pieces, then put back together with gum, paperclips, and a whole lot of duct tape. Oh, you want to know what changed my life so completely? Well…you see…um…too complicated to summarize. You'll just have to see it for yourself.

I know one thing for certain. It wasn't luck that brought me to that alleyway, at that particular point in time. It was fate guiding me to my destiny, though I didn't know it at the time. Yes, I know that it's cliché, so button it! Luck, fate, or destiny: it doesn't matter how I got there, but I'm glad I did. Even after all the things that happened after that day, I wouldn't change a thing. This is where my story begins. There! Point was made! Now go find out what happened in the alleyway! Sheesh, freaking slave drivers.

Author's Rant

Lady A: Voila! The prologue is over, so be prepared for the first chapter that will be arriving soon. I certainly hope that I have got your attention, because this is going to be one hell of a ride.