Beginnings

Every story has a beginning.  From "Once upon a time..." to "It was a dark and stormy night..." the start of a story is how the mood is set and characters are introduced.  Sometimes the details of a characters history, or that of the world itself, may be revealed as the story develops.  Other times these details are explained in the opening chapter.  Regardless of when the background is mentioned, it is the opening of a story that grabs the reader.

Here is an opening that has been running around my noggin for some time.  I don't know if there will ever be more of a story to go with it, but that is beside the point.

The sun is nestled in the mountains of the distant horizon.  The blue of the sky had been washed away by reds and oranges The light on the opposite hills had darkened with the departure of the day.  The peaks above the hills still glowed with the last of the waning light.

The strip of a black road stretches through the valley between the glowing heights and the shrinking orb.  Strolling beside the darkened strip is a lone figure.  He walks towards the setting sun, his back in shadow as he moves.

The air cools as the colors in the sky fade to black.  The shadows cast by the small brush on the valley floor disappear completely as the light of the sun vanishes.  The lone figure continues to walk in the dark.  The faint light of the full moon allowing him to maintain his path along the road.  His past lay behind him, distant but not forgotten.  The uncertainty of his future lay beyond the horizon before him.  Between the two was just the here and now.

We are all on a journey from the past into the future.  What happens on that journey may not always be planned or desired.  However, which path is taken and how fast it's traveled is entirely up to each and every one of us.