Foreword

January, in the year of our Lord 1198

With my journal damaged by the ocean waters of my recent ship wrecking, I must rewrite much of what has happened to me. While I will strive to copy what I can, much of the ink was washed away. I almost question why I bother, butwho can say how time might affect the mind of what I now am. The old ones of my accursed kind that I have met seem to barely, if it all remember what it is to be human. To feel your heart beat, to feel the sun on your skin. I already miss both sensations. I have chosen to keep this record, so that I will always have a record of how I became what I now am, and so that I will never forget why Claudius Giovanni must be brought to justice for the crimes he has committed against myself and others. And maybe in this record, I can keep some connection to my humanity.

I am Van Folken, third son of Lord Reinhart Folken of Denmark. I was raised to be an honorable man, and though I have made mistakes, I will continue to strive to do so. The night I stop, I have forgotten all that has brought me here, and so I write to remember all I can, and should this ever be read by someone other then myself, to caution them to the dark truths of this existance.