If you are reading this, it means everything has gone to shit. I am either dead, dying, or facing a fate worse than death itself. The release of this story depends on my fate, so if you're reading these words, then my fate has already been sealed.
Many things have led me to this point. Admittedly, some were my own doing; others, the machinations of powerful men and gods. My fate is sealed, but my story is mine to tell. I won't let them take that from me too.
I know what stories they'll spin about me, the truth, lies, and everything in between. I seek no sympathy, no redemption. Only the right to tell my side of my story. I won't paint myself as a saint or weave pretty lies to soften my sins. If you want embellished tales, look in taverns, courts, and bathhouses. But not here.
I have been many things: a warrior, an assassin. I've worn the crowns of kings and the chains of prisoners. I've loved and lost, betrayed and been betrayed. My hands have shaped kingdoms and shattered them.
My memory is near perfect. Where details blur, whether from the haze of wine or the fever of battle. I will not pretend otherwise.
There are secrets I cannot reveal yet, bound by oaths, magic, and fear. In time, you will understand.
To those I've crossed paths with, I may reveal uncomfortable truths. Forgive me if you can; hate if you must; my words come from the necessity of truth, not malice.
This is my story, and to tell it wholly, we must start at the beginning. In the pages that follow, you'll find no fantastical tales of heroism without cost, no easy victories or simple love stories. You will find life, in all its brutal, beautiful complexity.
So, let us begin. But be warned: the truth is rarely kind, and my story is no exception.