The Start of a New Life

Prelude 8

The day had come where Brent and his team would begin their investigation at the northern ruins of the Glass Desert, having been the last place they hadn't searched for clues in yet. The slimes native to the Dry Desert had given Brent's team some trouble in the past, but they quickly adapted to the desert, thanks to the collaborative effort that each member of Brent's team offered. But little could prepare them for the temple that awaited them at the end of the stone bridge with circular arches, looming ominously over the Sand Sea with its inward-slanted pillars pointing up at the sky, which was now in walking distance.

Brent sighed as he scanned for any additional details he may have missed upon his first cursory inspection of the northern glass desert temple. "Hmm... Alright. I guess we'll look in there today."

Samantha rubbed the sweat off of her forehead. "I really hope we find what we are looking for, whatever and wherever it is." She said tiredly.

Robert grunted. "On the plus side, there isn't a bunch of dervish slimes blocking our way with a bunch of cyclones last time we were here."

Tiffany caught up to Brent and his team, panting heavily. "You guys... Really need to... Slow down sometimes. HOO~!"

Samantha turned to Tiffany. "Welcome back. Glad you can make it. Had fun lagging behind us?"

Tiffany gave Samantha the bird.

Robert rolled his eyes. "You ladies done? We got this last temple to investigate before we move on to better pastures." Robert turned to Brent. "Ready whenever you are."

Brent nodded. "I see nothing out here, so we might as well head inside." Brent motioned for his team to follow as he began walking toward the ruined temple.

After some tinkering with a switch that, curiously, alternates between closing one door and opening another door, the team went through and found themselves within the insides of an ancient structure. It looked so old, Brent thought that it had not been visited for eons, save for, perhaps, Beatrix LeBeau who had traveled to this facility and took refuge in its halls.

As they entered the temple, Brent noticed that it wasn't too dissimilar to the warp station he and his team used to get to the Glass Desert, apart from some dangerous precipices that would have landed careless ranchers inside of the moving Glass Desert's Sand Sea. At least the prickle pear tree they found could supply them with a hydrating snack, if they didn't mind the barbs.

More surprising, however, was the centerpiece of the room. A central structure lied at the center of the chamber, which was next to a series of broken pillars that contained an unknown fluid within them. Brent would say that the fluid inside of these pillars wasn't water, but rather some mixture of solidified slime. Or plorts. Brent wasn't entirely sure. But even so, the pillars back at the other warp station contained similar pillars. Brent wondered if the pillars had a common theme.

However, more curiously was the centerpiece of this temple. It was a small stone gazebo that had an enormous gemstone on the top of the building. Several types of ramshackle machines were attached to it, which seemed to supply it with power judging from the Tesla coil towers and electrical generator. Its center crackled with intense energy. The teleporter warp it created was, somehow, more pinkish looking. More chaotic in a way. Brent thought that he was seeing a face past its center.

Robert looked up at the stone gazebo and whistled in surprise. "Damn. I wonder if there's a jewelry store that can make a wedding ring big enough to hold that rock?"

"Too garish for my tastes." Samantha sighed as she walked up to the gazebo. After a few seconds of analysis, she hummed a tone of concern. "Hmm... This stone structure is quite old, yet the devices around it is quite new."

Robert raised his hand and pointed at the stone gazebo. "Meaning... what?"

"That someone tried to use modern technology to repair and supply power to this warp station's teleporter gate." Samantha replied.

Tiffany looked at Brent. "Think it's our Beatrix?"

Brent placed a hand on his chin in thought. "Hard to say. I can only guess is that she, or perhaps someone else, has been trying to jury-rig this ancient teleporter. They were trying to get it to activate. It's different from the teleporter in the Ancient Ruins' Warp Station, but I can only guess it has a similar purpose."

Robert sighed. "Back to square one then?"

Brent shook his head. "No. It means we found another clue. I'm even willing to bet that Beatrix LeBeau is somewhere around here. Look there on the ground."

There was another piece of Vacpack technology on the ground, partially buried in the sand next to the stone pagoda. Samantha nodded. "Ah. More to the mystery, but we still are not closer to finding our missing damsel.

Tiffany blinked at the scrap of Vacpack before looking at the chaos-pink teleporter. "... I don't know about the rest of you guys, but I don't like the look of that teleporter. I have a REALLY bad feeling about this."

"As you should."

Everyone immediately turned to see a giant eight foot tall man clad in dark blue plated, silver trimmed armor, whom happened to be hiding around the corner. As he approached, Brent could see his eyes, which glowed with dangerous power. He was also adorned in strange seals that was ornately designed in their edges, and carried a staff that glowed an energy similarly to his eyes. Eagle talon fixtures rose from the back of his armor like some predatory display, though Brent knew not its significance or meaning. His face was ancient, fraught with wrinkles, yet somehow beheld uncounted knowledge. He also happened to be bald, with several tubes running into the side of his head, and two devices that were clamped on both of his ears.

"Wuh..." Brent muttered as he took a few paces back.

The giant armored man stared at Brent with a piercing gaze for several seconds before analyzing his team. Robert seemed annoyed by this, and decided to voice his opinion. "Who the hell are you?!"

The giant armored man snarled at Brent. "Be silent, worm. It will be I that shall interrogate you." He waved his staff over Brent and his team and they were succumbed to a great pressure bearing down on them. It was a painful weight, which forced them all to either lay flat on the ground or kneel on one knee. He then barked at his surroundings with impossibly black teeth. "Rubric Mallan! Heretek Galvanis! We have intruders! Contain them so we may divine their intentions later!"

Behind Brent, he could see two figures coming out from corners that were more out-of-view. One was a seven foot tall hunched figure that wore red robes, was tall and had green eyes. Various metal appendages erect out from his back like branches of a metal tree. He spoke in a metallic tone, as though his voice shrilled out from a horn inside of an old bell. [WHAT IS IT, SORCERER? OH, THEY HAVE THOSE DEVICES THE GIRL HAS. I WANT ONE. GIVE ME. GIVE IT. GIVE THEM. I WANT TO DISSECT THEM. LEARN THEM. MAKE THEM. MAKE THEM BETTER. GIVE. I WANT. I WANT THEM. I WANT THEM ALL. I WANT THEM TO GIVE THEM TO ME.] He said, clanging his hands and pseudo-limb graspers together excitedly. He appeared to be some kind of heavily modified cyborg.

The other figure was another giant set of armor, but even bigger than the one bearing that strange yet powerful staff, who achieved a height of ten feet. Though his appearance wasn't as dissimilar as the first armored giant man, this one bore a helmet that had a strange, heavy, flat slab-like adornment on top of their helmet, colored yellow and black. His helmet gleamed golden eyes, which seemed to have no life behind them. Just by moving his hands out to the side was he capable of corralling Brent's entire team, though he had no need to since the staff-wielding sorcerer contained Brent's team. This armored man was as silent as a statue, and had jutting claws that arced dangerously with electricity and a whining metal noise.

Brent felt it in his gut that he was in danger. With herculean effort, he hoisted his Vacgun at the armored man with the strange staff and blasted water onto him.

This disabled his spell, and he spluttered in surprise. The armored man then looked upon his form with puzzlement. "... Is this... water?" A smile of bemusement escaped his throat. A chuckle responded to Brent's rebellion. "A curious weapon. However, I think it is not designed to go against a sorcerer of my power."

At least it gave Tiffany and Samantha a window to escape. They took to the air with their jetpacks, easily dodging the grasps of the cyborg and the clawed giant. The cyborg, apparently named 'Heretek', was unamused by this turn of events. [THEY ARE LEAVING? NO. MUST NOT BE ALLOWED. THEY HAVE TECHNOLOGY. THESE ONES HAVE TECHNOLOGY I NEED. I NEED. GIVE TECHNOLOGY TO ME. I RESEARCH THEM. DO NOT MAKE ME KILL YOU. I WILL RETRIEVE FROM CORPSES IF NEEDED. RESPOND TO REQUEST ACCORDINGLY. STRONGLY SUGGESTED.]

"We need to get out of here and alert the authorities!" Samantha yelled.

"Brent! RUN!" Tiffany screamed as her ankle was almost caught by an armored giant jumping after her.

"GRAH!" Robert lunged at the sorcerer, using his survival knife to stab into the joint of his arm that held his staff.

The knife clinked into his joint, and it delivered enough force to force the sorcerer's staff from his hand. The eight foot tall sorcerer grabbed at the offending arm. A smirk rewarded Robert. "Hmm. You got some battle sense, despite looking so young. You sought to attack my weapon arm. Your foolish bravery shall be met in kind, and I will reward you with an attack to your arm."

Robert's elbow was crushed by a single hand, bone-splitting cracks mixing with a scream of unbelievable pain. Robert fell to the ground and clutched his arm, spit spitting from his mouth from the pain alone. Though Brent was horrified by the sounds he heard, he used his Vacgun to vacuum the sorcerer's staff closer to himself, and, with great effort, he began to wield the heavy weapon in his own hands and pointed it at the sorcerer. However, it did nothing.

The sorcerer took note of this, a smile stretching across his face before another laugh fell out. "My my my, isn't this a refreshing scene?"

Brent looked at the staff he commandeered from the sorcerer. "... It worked just fine a second ago."

The sorcerer shook his head. "It won't work for you, boy. It is a psyker weapon. More specifically, a force staff attuned only to my mind. It's nothing more but a cudgel in your hands."

After a few seconds of quick thinking, he then brought his useless weapon near the equipment that was near the pinkish teleporter gate. "Then how would you feel if I bash this equipment?"

He unholstered an enormous gun from a hidden holster behind his back and pointed it at Brent. "Ah-ah. Don't do something you might regret. If you break that device, then I will ensure you will suffer horrors most inhuman. Even if you ARE a human from this universe. But I can see that you are quite brave, and hungry for knowledge. If you give me back my power staff, then I shall see to it that your friend here will be treated by an apothecary. Or failing that, replace his arm with a prosthetic one with the help of a tech-priest. And after that, I will tell you all you will need to know. Sound fair?"

Brent didn't know what the sorcerer meant, or what an apothecary or a tech-priest was supposed to be, but Brent could tell that this armored man was dangerous.

The sorcerer smiled as he then aimed his weapon at Robert. "Let me make this easier for you to choose."

"No." Brent didn't like where this was headed.

"Do you not want your friend here to suffer?" The sorcerer threatened. "Then give me back my staff, or I will shoot him."

Brent thought about giving the sorcerer his staff back, but this giant armored man didn't seem like the kind of person one would trust. "You're just going to shoot him anyway."

The sorcerer smiled like he was giving a pie to a neighbor. "It's a mercy kill. What did you expect? It's probably a kindness that is more than he will ever deserve. Now give me back my staff or I will make his scream memorable, and your two other friends will have their flesh peeled before your eyes. And as for you? Hoo hoo hoo! I think I will have something special prepared just for you."

Brent had never felt so terrified in his life.

"NnOWWWWW~! Do et nOW! Now noW NOW NOw nOW~!"

Suddenly, a downpour of color flooded the room. Slimes had rained upon the three dangerous men, as they fell from the roof of the building's upper balcony. They consisted of various slimes that Brent was sure were not native to the Glass Desert, but they were also an absolutely massive number of slimes that were incredibly hostile to the sorcerer and his followers. Perhaps THEY were the reason why the slimes became so aggressive on the Far, Far Range? Brent was unsure as to why the slimes hated them, but the slimes granted Brent some breathing room for once.

The sorcerer waved his arms at the beasts that assaulted him. "GRAH! THESE PESTS AGAIN!" He swatted many to the side, though his efforts didn't wound or damage them in any way. "RUBRIC! HERETEK! IGNORE THE HUMANS OF THIS UNIVERSE! THESE JELLY CREATURES HAVE RETURNED!"

Suddenly, the ten foot tall giant and the red-clothed cyborg diverted their attention to the slimes. [THEM AGAIN. THEY ARE STRANGE. THEY HAVE NO SKIN. NO BONES. NO ORGANS. NO BRAINS. THEY ARE JUST FLUID. SORCERER PELZACHOZ, THIS IS BECOMING ANNOYING.]

A quantum plort landed next to Brent as the three dangerous men struggled against the tide of slimes. He then heard a voice directed to him. "HoomAN! HALLOO HoOmin! SmASH tha PlORt on tHA THINg! GloWY THING! Makes spaRKS! Zap zAP! Hit thaT! WIth PLOrt!"

Brent tried to look for the source of the garbled voice, but he found nobody. All he had was the quantum plort as the only evidence of the mysterious benefactor's existence. He looked at the quantum plort on the ground. Brent didn't have time to think things through, so he decided, on the spot, to suck the plort up into his Vacpack and launch the plort at the Tesla towers.

"NO~!" The sorcerer shouted as he noticed too late what Brent had done. An aura of crackling yellow colored the Tesla towers and energy generator, which seemed to make the central teleporter gate warble and wobble dangerously. "Heretek, the warp battery has been damaged! Can we repair it!?" Shouted the sorcerer.

The cyborg shoved aside a tide of slimes as he gave the machine a quick glance. [IT IS TOO DAMAGED. NEW ENERGY SUPPLIED TO IT. IT IS MAKING GATE UNSTABLE. UNIVERSE BRIDGE COLLAPSE IS IMMINENT!]

The sorcerer turned to Brent, his eyes filled with murder. "... Y o u..." The sorcerer then uttered strange words as he shot his large gun at Brent, despite his shots going wide as largos jumped onto him. However, his large gun blasted through his left shoulder, his left knee, and his right foot.

"BRENT!" Robert shouted. He got up from the ground and went to Brent, picking him up and carrying him on his back, despite his own heavily wounded arm.

Wind began rushing violently through the ancient Glass Desert Warp Station, as both sand and slimes were pulled into the gate in the middle of the stone pagoda, never to be seen again. Brent wasn't sure if he was losing consciousness from the pain or from blood loss, but he was sure that whatever those three men were trying to plan, he managed to thwart them and their objective.

Robert carried Brent out of the ancient building as a horrible sound of tearing wind made the temple shudder. Unsurprisingly, they found Tiffany and Samantha outside of the temple, past the circular doors. They must have escaped the clutches of the cyborg and the clawed giant the moment they became assailed by the slimes.

Tiffany looked back at the temple, fear in her eyes. "WHO THE HELL WERE THEY?!"

Samantha gritted her teeth. "I DON'T KNOW, BUT THEY SURE AREN'T LOCALS TO THE FAR, FAR RANGE!"

"LADIES, BRENT IS HURT!" Robert said, struggling with the investigator on his back.

Tiffany gasped. "ROBERT! YOUR ARM!"

Robert gritted his teeth. "BRENT IS WORSE THAN ME RIGHT NOW! KEEP HIS LEGS AND ARM RAISED OR HE'LL BLEED TO DEATH!"

Samantha shouted over the roaring wind. "WE NEED TO GET OUT OF HERE! I THINK THAT WARP STATION IS COLLAPSING ON ITSELF!"

Tiffany, Samantha and Robert carefully carried Brent to one of the open doors that lead outside of the Warp Station. However, the wind made it impossible to proceed further. Robert clenched his teeth hard. "HOLD ON, EVERYONE!"

"HARD TO HOLD ON TO ANYTHING WHEN I'M TRYING TO PULL ALONG OUR WOUNDED BODYGUARD HERE!" Samantha shouted above the wind.

"I THINK WE'RE BEING PULLED IN BY THAT ANCIENT TELEPORTER GATE!" Tiffany announced.

"OH REALLY?! I HAVEN'T NOTICED-WAUGH!" Samantha yelled as she and Brent's group was pulled off of the ground. Not only were they pulled by the wind, but also by a gravity vortex that shifted them into the air, which then forced them to careen and fall into the ancient teleporter gate.

"HOLD ON, HOLD ON, HOLD ON!" Robert shouted just before they disappeared.

The vortex lasted for a minute before it dissipated. All traces of the sorcerer, the cyborg, the clawed giant, the slimes that attacked them, and Brent's team had all vanished into a vacuous tempest. All that was left was the intact temple, with the exception to all loose sand that was once in piles or stuck in various crevices, as well as a crater of sand that ate the Sand Sea, which was quickly filled by more golden sand.

The only sign of life that still remained within the second Glass Desert Warp Station was a young woman with pecan colored skin and blue hair, which sat trapped in the middle of the stone pagoda. However, she was as still as a statue, and an aura of pink surrounded her.

It was Beatrix LeBeau, somehow at the center of the chaotic pink warp gate, and anchored to the spot.

And stranger still, two slimes decided to visit this slime rancher an hour after the incident. One wore a fedora, while another twinkled with unusual power.

"Guh..." Robert felt like his everything ached. He couldn't tell where his broken arm was, but he would softly murmur a prayer and thank whatever god saved his life. "My head feels like a rock, but at least everything stopped whooshing. I guess we're okay now. Can I get a headcount?"

"Ohh... Oh damn, I feel like I went and drank an entire keg of beer since last night. I want to sleep somewhere warm. Nya..." Samantha whined.

"Turn off the lights. It's too bright." Groaned Tiffany.

"Tiff and Sam are with us. Good." Robert grunted. "Brent. Are you with us?"

Silence answered Robert.

"Damn." Robert tried to get himself off of the ground, only to find that his arms were completely numb. "I guess Brent died on us."

"OH GOSH THAT IS THE BIGGEST TABBY SLIME I HAVE EVER SEEN!" Tiffany yelled.

Samantha looked around frantically. "WHAT?! WHERE?!"

"IT TALKED! OH GOSH IT TALKED!" Tiffany shrilled in surprise.

Robert groaned tiredly. "Ladies, please. One at a time. We got to find out where we are, and find a way to get back in contact with the Far, Far Range's 7Zee Corporate Branch."

"WAIT, THAT ROCK SLIME TALKED TOO! ... Wait... Robert?" Tiffany asked incredulously.

"What?" Robert asked as he looked around. He found no sign of Tiffany, Samantha, or Brent anywhere near him. He did note that he was in a strange cave that contained a phosphor slime, a tabby slime, and a what seemed to be a deflated pink slime.

The tabby slime blinked a few times. "... We... Turned... Into... Slimes."

Robert stared horridly at the tabby slime that sounded like a high-pitched Samantha. "... What the hell?"

Everyone was horribly surprised by what had happened to them. However, they were at a loss of words to describe how this had happened to them. Nor do they know why it happened. Everyone was at a loss of words.

Tiffany's eyes became as wide as dinner plates. Or at least the slime equivalent. "... Did... Did we become isekaied?"

Robert wiggled his body, trying to find out where his arms went. "Uh... English, Tiff."

Tiffany looked up at her antennas as she felt her wings beginning to lift herself off of the ground. "It's when someone either dies and becomes reborn, or gets transported to another dimension, like someone being reincarnated as a hero in a fantasy realm."

Samantha sighed, looking behind herself to see that she has a new tail. "I think that's more of a manga or anime thing. Or something. Ugh... I don't like this tail."

Tiffany puffed her cheeks at Samantha. "Isekais can also be light novels and video games too."

Robert huffed in annoyance. "... Well, at least we are safe. I don't see those armored soldiers and that weird guy with the robot arms with us, which I think is good for for the moment."

Tiffany looked at a pink blob that was on the ground. "... Is that who I think it is?"

Samantha and Robert looked at the still pink slime, laying motionless with its mouth open. Robert moved to the pink slime and bumped his body into him. There was no response. "... I don't know if this is Brent." Robert said in his analysis.

Tiffany looked at Robert with worry. "Can you check his pulse and see if he's still with us?"

Robert looked at Tiffany with a stern glare. "... You're supposed to be the slime expert here. Can't YOU tell us if this slime is alive, or is the Brent we know?"

Tiffany shook her head, and looked like she was about to cry. "I don't know. I never saw a dead slime before. I was never trained to tell the difference between a slime that is dead or alive."

Robert sighed before looking down at the flat pink slime. He then began to shout at it. "HEY BRENT! NAKED LADIES!"

The pink slime was motionless and silent.

Samantha stared at Robert with an unamused glare. "Naked ladies? Really?"

Robert shrugged, or approximated a shrug with the slime equivalent. "My dad always wakes me up by shouting naked ladies in my ear."

Tiffany blushed. "Technically, we ARE naked, but... I don't think it'll be the same with Brent."

Samantha stared at Tiffany, agitation settling on her facial expression. "MOVING ON FROM THAT TOPIC." Samantha then began to look around herself. "... We need to find out where we are. I don't think I have ever seen this cave before."

Tiffany looked at Brent sadly. "But what about Brent? We don't know if he's dead! What if we leave him here and some mangy animal came by and ate him?!"

Robert was silent for a few seconds before he gave his answer. "... Tiffany, we don't know if this one really is Brent at all. But as for the animals that might come in here looking for some food... I'll bury him."

Tiffany looked at Robert sadly. "But we still don't know if he's dead or not!"

Robert shook his head. "Okay, well, then I'll just bury him a little bit! Just enough so that he can still breathe."

Samantha sighed. "Listen. If we start panicking, then we won't get any closer to getting out of this problem. We're now slimes, yes, but we don't know where we are. It'll be better if we find civilization, report to 7Zee about those people we saw, and then find a way to get ourselves turned back into humans. You do your thing, Rob. I see some daylight purring in from the cave. I'll check that out. Tiff? You're a light source. Maybe you can investigate this cave a little bit? See if it's safe?"

Robert looked at Samantha questionably. "... Purring?"

Samantha froze. "... Oh gawd, did I just make a cat pun?"

"Yes." Robert answered.

Samantha mewled angrily as she wiggled away, flustered over her new body and changes to her instincts and personality.

Tiffany looked at the blob of pink slime that lied before Robert. "... Robby?"

Robert looked at Tiffany. "Yeah?"

"How are you going to bury this pink slime? We don't even know if it's Brent." Tiffany asked.

Robert was silent for a moment as he looked upon the still and flattened form of the pink slime. "... Just go and inspect the caverns, Tiff. I'll think of something."

A long pause elapsed before Tiffany decided to scout the dark caves. A longer pause went by once Tiffany left Robert to the flaccid and unmoving pink slime.

The Present

Brent became blanched as he listened to the story told to him. He began to glare intensely at Robert when he was told that Robert had been the one responsible for burying Brent.

It was around this point that Samantha reached the end of her part of the story. "That was when I found that red shack place. We didn't know who was living there at the time, but we assumed it belonged to some kind of hermit that tried to build his home using junk he found around the beach. It was only a few hours later that the people who lived there came back from a hunting trip. And to tell you the truth, Brent, they were not friendly. In fact, they were not human! I got the impression that they were dangerous monsters that would have killed us if given the chance. I told Robert and Tiffany about them, and we then discussed for a long while what we should do. All of us voted to leave the cave, but they were blocking our only way out. That was when Tiffany suggested we go through the caves to find another way out."

"You buried me." Brent said to Robert, incredulously.

Tiffany sighed. "I think we've been traveling through these caves for... maybe two days now? It was probably the most scariest moment of my life. Apart from hearing Sam's description of what the orks looked like. But at least Sam brought back a lot of food for us to eat before we set off into the caves."

"You buried me." Brent repeated.

"So Brent. Do you have any questions for us?" Robert asked.

"You BURIED me." Brent repeated.

Robert sighed. "Yes, Brent. I buried you. Many of us thought that you died at the time, what with the injuries you sustained. I assumed you probably didn't want your body to be eaten by an animal, so I covered you with dirt. Although I am quite surprised that you managed to find us in the caves, I'm also impressed that you haven't died at all. So, what, were you just sleeping or something? I never saw a slime sleep before, so... we assumed you were dead."

Brent made an exasperated sighed. "Just shut up about me dying already! HOW did you bury me without hands or a shovel?"

"Easy." Robert replied. "With great difficulty."

Brent paused for some brief seconds before narrowing his gaze at Robert. "Aren't you going to add an explanation to that answer?"

Robert shook his head. "No. You wouldn't like the answer."

Tiffany rolled her eyes. "Don't bother getting an answer out of him, Brent. I've tried asking him several times in the cave already, but he just kept silent the whole time."

"I imagined he used his mouth to bury you. Probably the only part of a slime's body that is capable of picking things up and moving them elsewhere. I bet a bit of his saliva mixed into the dirt." Samantha mused.

Robert gave a stern stare at Samantha. That was probably the only answer Brent was going to get out from Robert. However, that did leave Brent with another question he wanted to ask, but also dreaded to utter. He hesitated on asking this question for the panic that might follow. However, it was an important question that needed to be asked. "So what do we do now?"

Tiffany groaned. "I don't know about you guys, but I am really starving. I'm in the mood for some fruit right now."

Samantha sighed. "I'll go get something for you. Stay in here and don't leave the cave."

Tiffany groaned again and pouted. "As much as I love to fly around, I hate that I can't go outside in the daytime."

"Come on, Brent. Let's search for some food and bring something back for Tiff." Robert said, sliding up to the exit of the cave.

Brent sighed as he followed Robert and Samantha. He too was feeling the pang of hunger.

A/N: And that shall be it for the preludes.