Pandemonium: Prologue
All characters depicted herein belong to Ms. Cassandra Clare. This is purely a work of fiction; all resemblances to other characters not of Ms. Clare's imagination are completely coincidental. I thank you for taking the time to read this; furthermore, I thank any of you who choose to review my work. Enjoy!
As I sat down on the chair across from the wiry young man with the dark hair and spectacles, he smiled softly and said "Welcome, friend." Apparently he had received my instructions ahead of time; he had already laid out the paper and the pen; he seemed eager to begin, but I was not about to dispense with the pleasantries. I quickly introduced myself, and then he proceeded to introduce himself. His name was something unpronounceable in a foreign language—Italian perhaps—so he asked me to call him by his professional name, Il Professore—the Professor.
So this was the famed Professor; he didn't look as old as he was supposed to. Noticing my stare, he said, "I'm older than I look, but not nearly as old as I act." What did that even mean? He was supposed to be an enigma. Rumor was, some rich patron paid him to travel the world and find the most interesting stories; he would collect these stories from the tellers, and bring them back to his patron.
That's why I was here. I had a story to tell, a story to give the Professor. He gave me the look of inquisitiveness, wondering when we would start. With a sigh, I began to tell him that this was one of the oldest stories I knew, a tale of love, lust, power, and of course death. Upon the mention of the last of those, he muttered something incomprehensible that sounded like "Valor More Ghoulish." I told him the title of my story: The Tragedy of Alexander Gideon Lightwood, Prince of Idris. For some reason he found that hilarious; he almost fell out of his seat laughing. I asked why. He told me that the title was plagiarizing from another old story called "The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark." I guffawed, noticing the similarities immediately. I quickly picked another title: Pandemonium. Nodding vigorously, he set his pen to paper, and I began to say the story, the story of a thousand generations, the story of an ancient ancestor, the story of Alexander Gideon Lightwood...
Just wanted to let you all know that this is just the framing device for the story. The actual part that starts with Alec comes next chapter. As a warning, though, the framing device sometimes comes back into the story, so don't be too alarmed.
