PROLOGUE: THE LAST DAY
Rayman's eyes were blinded with light as the door was flung open. He shut them closed with all his might, not opening them until several seconds later. At first fuzzy and blurred, shapes of creatures of all kinds gradually came into focus. They were jeering, their fists waiving angrily in the air. Rayman looked upon them all. Teensies, toads, large, green flies, snakes, and all manner of other folk were all shouting angrily at him. He realized that he was being carried down a path by two huge, muscular Rabbids.
Like from when they invaded my world, he thought distantly. But...where are they taking me? A crushed can shattered Rayman's thoughts as it hit his head.
"Traitor!" a Teensie called.
"Murderer!" someone else added.
"Abomination!" more jeers came from the crowd. Why were they angry with him? He couldn't remember. He attempted to ask, but he couldn't move his mouth. Rayman then realized that he couldn't move at all. He partially moved his head to look at himself and saw that his body was encased in a giant iron cast. He noticed that he could feel an iron mask fitted painfully over his face, and that the only air he could feel came through the eye holes. He could barely breathe.
He felt a strong hand shove his head back up, and he could see steps. They lead up to a Teensie with a covered face and a spear. The realization and shock came hard and fast, and Rayman could feel himself involuntarily trying to scream as he realized he was going to be impaled. But all that came out was a small, muffled sound. Rayman was spun around as the executioner readied his spear. His head whirled from side to side, glancing at numerous faces, looking for someone who might help him. In the center, he saw, was Ly. She was watching him, and he returned her gaze, giving her a pleading look. Rayman could barely see tears form in her eyes as she quickly turned away and left. Rayman felt hopelessness consume him as he watched her go. Time slowed down and the jeering crowd faded away to nothingness. Ly seemed to push past something that Rayman didn't notice, and then the tall toad she'd shoved aside stepped back in his place. Time resumed its normal speed and the crowd returned was Ly vanished from view. He could hear a quiet grunt as the executioner steadied his spear, so that it would drive through Rayman's exact center. He could also hear the magic beginning to course through it, allowing it to drive through the iron casing that Rayman was in. He closed his eyes, waiting. Rayman heard a louder grunt, heard the sound of something piercing iron, felt an immense pain, the same sound of iron again and a warm splash of blood. His blood. The executioner then shifted the spear downward, driving it into the ground, thus permanently rooting Rayman in that spot. Rayman felt pain, not just from the spear, but from the angry crowd, the feeling of anguish as he saw Ly walk away, and the confusion of not knowing what he had done in the first place. Then his heartbeat, which had been quickening all the while, stopped, his mind went blank, and Rayman, once the savior of the world many times over, died by the hands of the ones he'd once protected.