Prologue
He was asleep but aware, in a strange drug-induced coma. The liquid prison was all he could feel, caressing him, enveloping him, containing him. It was both a blessing and a curse, like a fallen angel, seductive yet evil. It had been his world, his everything, for what seemed an eternity, and he knew in all chance that it would remain so for all time.
Yet he could remember a time, so long ago, when he had been one of those who now held him captive. Shinra, he thought, his mind snarling where his throat could not, the name angering him. If he had been free to do so, he would have spat to free his mouth from the taste of bile that had arisen.
And before his foolishness, before Shinra... Her.
If his current residence was like a fallen angel, she was one of the true heavenly host, beautiful, innocent, pure. She had meant the world to him. He would have endured an aeon of torture to spare her one moment of unhappiness. But he had been young and reckless, and had chosen a career over his love, thinking he could return to her when he had made his name and fortune. It had been the most foolish decision in his life, and no matter how long he existed, it would be impossible for him to commit idiocy of such magnitude again. That choice had cost him the love of the most wonderful girl on the Planet, and led him into the belly of the beast.
Thinking of his past life pained him, but it was all he could do to stay sane. And there was another purpose to it. Before his capture, he had wielded incredible forces. If he could only remember how, then he could use them again. He could be free... and he knew he was getting close. Every day, his memory was getting clearer. He was remembering how it had felt to release the awesome energies that resided within his muscular frame. As to how he had accessed these miraculous powers... not yet. But soon.
Soon.