Disclaimer: The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Splinter, and other related characters are owned by Mirage Studios. All other characters are of my own creation.
Prologue
Foreword
Family. All of us have one, whether it be large or small, but do any us actually take the time to think about how important these complex social structures really are? These people, who are always there for you, who stand by you no matter what you've done, who shape you with unbending love and support. It's sad that many of us don't really think about how great these people really are until one of them is gone, then it's too late to give them recognition, even a simple 'thank you'.
Now, dear readers, you may be wondering why I'm babbling on about this subject, and I will give you the reason for it. As many of you know, I've made my career out of the many tales and epics that my family has been through, and if you are a first time reader, I welcome you, but I think you may be a few years too late. This, dear readers, is my time I will take you into the lives of my family, not because I've run out of subject matter, but simply because I feel there is nothing more to say. I started at the humble beginnings, waded knee-deep through dramatic floods of revenge, violence, and undying love, all of which has been building up to this climatic ending, that for all of us came as a horrific shock, and to this day, we all still wish we could have done something different.
I start this book eighteen years from the last, only for the simple fact that there was not much that happened during those eighteen years. But I will be kind enough to give a short summary:
At the ending of the last story, my Uncle Leo and Aunt Linda were expecting their first child, my parents were engaged, my Uncle Raph was maturing as a father, and Uncle Mike and Aunt Mandy had begun their courtship.
Skip ahead about five years, and Andrea, my oldest cousin, is now joined by six more children: Gavin, Shawn, and Constance from Leo and Linda, me and my twin sister Aurora, and the youngest one from Mike and Mandy, Jennifer, and you will meet them all very soon.
Uncle Mike was very successful in his comic book, and together with his brothers, they founded Half-Shell Productions. Making the top five in the FORBES 500 list every year, this company went on to produce three more lines of comics, a hit cartoon show, top-grossing movies, and all of the merchandise that was created would overflow the Roman Coliseum! Of, course, dear readers, unless you have been living in a cave for the past thirty years, this comes as no surprise to you. Everyone knows the legacy of my family.
The story takes place in the summer of 2015. I was fifteen at the time, and we were all carrying on in our lives like we had done years before. But, as my mother put it, Fate stepped in and decided to give us a hard-hitting blow, tearing us apart one by one, and we were never the same after the events of that summer. It changed us all, some for the better, some for the worse.
Okay, dear reader, I see you are becoming impatient with my mindless chatter ( something I took after my father, no doubt), and you are eager to get on with the story, just as I am eager to break into my bottle of wine. So, please, enjoy, and I will be seeing you soon.
Adam Leios
Nov. 20, 2046
Athens, Greece