the SANDMAN
the beginning:
Where do you begin a story
as old as time? In the middle, of course. We open our book to find the
start of a darkly forbidding magic ritual -- a summoning, betrayal, cunning,
and evil. A creature is summoned, though of what nature we know not of.
"It wasn't enough that (the
summoner) was an evil man, but he was a vain one, and presumptuous. . .
he desired notoriety among his peers, and he craved physical immortality."
We find that the summoners intended
to summon death -- and later, fascinated, we find that they summoned something
else instead.
"It was not death.
"The Man in the circle was
dressed in black, his head hidden by a helm carved of bone and glass and
metal. Fires danced in the velvet darkness of His robe; around His neck
hung a preccious stone, a ruby; and by his side hung a leather pouch, drawn
tight at the top with cords.
Fascinated, we find that the
summoner had caught the Dream-king through his invocation! Imagine the
Dream-king, naked and trapped in a glass ball, helpless. He doesn't eat,
speak, or do anything but exist really. The impact of his imprisonment
was felt everywhere -- people started to fall asleep and never woke up
again. All because one man wanted to live forever.
The story begins.
Introduction
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