Prologue

The black ribbon of asphalt stretched languidly through the golden hued desert making its way towards the horizon. The sun was sinking faster and faster into its nightly cradle, bathing the sand and scrub in an ethereal light full of browns and reds. It seemed as if the end of the road led to the resting place of the sun, the dead end of the world. Silence screamed over the landscape drowning all sound in nothingness, an eerie absence of noise. As the rim of the sun began to disappear into darkness, a cooling wind whipped up, spraying sand across the surface of the two lane highway. It whipped into a small dervish as the wind currents were broken and reshaped while skirting around and beneath the motorcycle.

Chrome and leather, the principal colors of power, gilded the mechanical steed like the barding of a knight�s war-horse. From the stretch of the silver exhaust pipes to the bulbous tank gleaming in black and silver, a grinning skull its only decoration, the bike exuded a sense of purpose, a sense of power. It radiated with energy in its silent and unmoving state. Handlebars raked back, seat low between the wheels, every aspect of the two wheeled machine bespoke of its violent power. Here was the chariot of death. Here was the transport of his vanguard. Here was his worldly incarnation. In all sense, were the motorcycle sitting alone on the side of the road, its very emanations would cause great consternation in those who saw it. But, sitting there, in the center of the highway, dressed in black leather from head to foot, the man who sat astride it made nightmares into reality.

Leaning forward, his forearms resting on the grips of the handlebars, he studied the coming of night like a soldier waiting for war to begin. It seemed as though he waited for the golden vision of the sun to slip from sight so that it could not witness the carnage he was prepared to bring. His features, cast in stone, belied his age. His eyes, however, shone with an intensity that could only come after centuries of life. He was a huge man. Some may have thought it comical to see such a large man riding such a small bike, until the realized the immensity of the motorcycle. His frame was solid, shoulders broad, he was thick from head to toe. His beard was trimmed close to his face, as if he hadn�t shaved in a few weeks, much like the hair on his head. On his back, he wore a jacket of the blackest leather, an empty span between his shoulders where once had stood the logo of a forgotten motorcycle club. Beneath the sleeves of the riding jacket, his muscles alternately bunched and unfurled as he stretched his hands. He had a long way to go still and his arms and shoulders flared with the pain of the miles he had already traveled. How many times had he watched the sun settling down to its nightly rest? How many times had it risen later, bathing his back in golden light as it rose like a hot air balloon high into the sky? He knew his destination was close. He also knew that the time of his arrival, foretold generations ago, was on nigh. His trip was almost at its end, but his travels were only just beginning.

As the sun finally settled beyond the horizon and the land was leached of its color leaving a ghostly plane of blues, grays and umbers, the lone rider settled back on the seat of his bike. The leather about him creaked softly as his body prepared to once again submit to the grueling task ahead. Thumbing the starter on the motorcycle, the engine rumbled to life, throbbing between his legs. His chest heaved as he sighed long and hard, his hand closed around the clutch handle on the bars as his foot ratcheted the bike into first gear. Twisting the throttle and releasing the clutch, the bike roared as it accelerated down the asphalt highway. The silence of the land was inexorably ripped away as the leather clad warrior sped off into Destiny�s maw. Anyone present to witness his departing would have been hard pressed to hear the ancient laughter that drifted through the night, the ethereal sound of a disembodied voice. Slowly the roar of the motor drifted away into the distance as both rider an ride disappeared towards the horizon. Alone, the moon peered down from its regal throne in the night sky and stared expressionlessly at the world below it. The time had finally come. Destiny was at hand.

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