This world we've inherited is a cruel, cold thing—a graveyard of civilization's broken dreams, and a constant reminder of humanity's grand decline.

I bet it'll make for a good story in a hundred years—presuming someone is still around to read it.

But I won't make the cut for that tragic history when it's told... I'm not the inheritor to the throne of a falling empire—not a scientist on a race to save our species... I'm a thug-for-hire, a killer with a fancy title, a thief in the night taking advantage of a world that's perpetually dark.

In short—I'm a symptom of the problem, not a savior with a solution to it.

But the girl I've come to No Man's Land to save... she's a good cause to die for, I reckon. Vivian is a spark of hope in this cruel world we've made, and if I don't do the hard things, make the tough choices... she won't even remember her own name, soon enough.

And Vivian is no longer the only thing at stake. Nona is something new to me—a naive, innocent girl who I owe nothing to... Yet I know the world has precious few people like her left—and this world is all the poorer for it.

My name is Rowan, and here, in this relentless wilderness, I struggle to discard the sorry fragments of the boy I once was.

This is my confession, my humble contribution to a chronicle of lost causes in a world full of little else. I'd like redemption, I'd like to become a better man and set right the things I've broken. Failing that, I'll settle for becoming the storm that consumes everything in its path... So long as the eye of my storm shelters the girl who gave me my name and pulled me out of the dark, all those years ago.

A. R. Black has always been one of those strange people who can never just be satisfied with the real world, one of those hopeless romantics who always seems to want more from life than an indifferent universe is willing to provide. For people like him… fiction is what makes it all worthwhile. After 25 years on the receiving end, he decided it was well past time to return the favor and create some escapism fiction of his own. Currently, he is living in Japan on the government's dime as a United States Marine and has a bachelor's degree in Homeland Security. When not writing or illustrating for his stories, he competes in bodybuilding, powerlifting, and injects stories in any form he can find them—straight into the heart.