Prologue

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Once upon a time, in the land of Latveria, there lived a king

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Once upon a time, in the land of Latveria, there lived a king. His name was King Victor Von Doom. King Victor had the biggest castle in all the lands, and the most servants. But he was not happy. In fact, he was the most unhappy person in all the lands.

King Victor Von Doom wanted nothing more than to have all the wisdom in the land so that he could bring his mother back from the realm of the dead. He devoted every moment of his time to finding sources of wisdom, stopping only to eat or sleep. When he did not find the wisdom he searched for, he would lash out against his servants and throw anything he could reach.

There was only one thing that made King Victor happy. Every night, before he went to bed, he would look at himself in the mirror. King Victor was the most handsome man in all of Latveria. Every night, he would look at his reflection, and that was the only time of day that he smiled.

One stormy night, an old woman came to the castle to seek shelter from a storm. The servants opened the door and told her she could not come in. The old woman did not move. The servants said that they could not let her in, even though they wanted to. They did not want to make the king angry. The old woman asked if she could speak with the king; perhaps convince him to let her stay.

The servants went to get King Victor, just as he was gazing at himself in the mirror. He was so angry at being interrupted that he did not throw anything at his servants. He stormed down through the castle, and when he got to the door he told the woman that she was a fool to ever think her kind would be allowed in the castle Doom.

The old woman drew a stick from within her cloak and struck King Victor across the face with it. King Victor yelped and tried to draw back, but it was too late. An angry red scar burned across his eyebrow, all the way to his chin.

The old woman cackled and said: "You care about none but yourself and your handsome face. You treat your servants as mindless beings, and so they shall become mindless beings!" Victor watched in horror as his servants turned to stone, each with a green jewel on their chests. The old woman reached out and touched his scar, saying, "This scar will remain until you learn to love someone else, and they love you in return!"

King Victor bellowed with rage and charged the old woman. He struck her many times until she finally stopped moving. King Victor then turned around and raced to his bedchamber, where he beheld himself in the mirror. He could not look upon himself and threw the mirror to the ground. He then went to the armoury and found a metal mask. He put it on at once and drew a green cape around himself.

King Victor did not want to find a person to care for. He only scarcely cared that his servants had been transformed in golems. He decided that he would continue his search for wisdom, for as surely as there was a spell to make his scar, there would be one to unmake it.

Many years passed in this way until King Victor heard of an inventor from a small town in a nearby land. And here, dear reader, our story begins.

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