The Life and Times of Emperor Croesus Black, Vol.1: Exodus (The Emperor's Journals)

I feel I must begin with an apology, but not an apology for the cities I have razed, the men I have killed, or the children I have left fatherless. No those things, while they weight heavy on my mind some nights, needed to be done. This apology is to you: the potential reader, I apologize because I have lived an incredible life and wish to tell you this amazing story but sadly I lack the skills to do it justice. My writings in the past were hurried notes to battlefield commanders, orders to underlings, perhaps a note to an old friend, and an occasional letters professing my love to a woman of incredible beauty and character who I had the fortune to know and love. I am not a wordsmith; I lack the prose of a poet, the rhythm of a bard, and the smooth continuity of a novelist. As I have gotten older my stories take a meandering jaunt that jumps from one event to the next. In my mind these stories are crystal clear and make perfect sense, but I fear my listeners are often left scratching their heads and looking for a polite way to exit the room, and trust me it is no easy feat to excuse yourself from a rambling Emperor. So it is with a good deal of trepidation that I put these words to paper to tell a tale that should not be left to legend and speculation. Already I hear deeds and stories attributed to me that make me sound like a god on earth. Some consider me a savior, others a devil. Neither is the case; I am merely a man who continually tried to make the best out of the situations I found myself in. Sometimes I failed; many times I succeeded beyond my wildest dreams. It is these successes that have bought me the throne I now sit in, but it is the failures that taught me the most. Fate has been exceedingly kind to me and on occasion remarkably cruel. I in turn have been the same. As you can see I wandered a bit from my apology here. This marks the fifth attempt I have made to put my story to paper and I lack the energy to try again if I fail this time. I hope that you walk away from these pages with a better understanding of me and the empire I have built and the man who built it. I have consulted the best writers I could find and all tell me to simply start at the beginning. So with an apology for my less then skillful scribbling, I give you the autobiography of... Emperor Croesus Black