“I didn’t ask to be born into this life, to become who I was. Fate was a cruel force beyond my comprehension. Inescapable and ruthless, caring for nothing but its own will. I didn’t fear death. I pressed against it, waiting to be pushed into the endless void of the After. I walked the shadowed line, always teetering on the edge of life. No, I didn’t fear death. It had always followed me. What I did fear was life. However short it may be…”