The Heartland

Prologue

Officially, the Civil War between the Union and the Confederacy lasted for four years, from 1861 through 1865. Not only did that great and awful war divide the nation, it divided families. Some claim that the war challenged the very ideals upon which the fledgling nation was founded. Others said it was simply a battle for what has motivated man throughout the centuries, money and power. No matter what the reason may have been during that time, there were many men who gave their all for what they believed in and many died in service of their convictions.

Even in that time, there were rumors that soldiers told of a mysterious vortex sometimes seen on the battlefield. Those who saw it and survived the experience claimed they saw a distortion of the air. Through the distortion, a distant green land could be seen--a daydream of the heartland, the dream of all Americans. A dream that seemed almost lost in the midst of bloody battle and hours of tortured screams.

When bodies of the wounded vanished inexplicably, or when soldiers who would never dessert were found missing, it was silently whispered around waning campfires that in their delirium or confusion those souls had been claimed by the the vortex, this nexus between worlds, and were forever lost. Or perhaps, forever rewarded.

Of course, the few who told the stories with conviction, who claimed they saw the Nexus itself and saw other men pass between worlds, were sent home, discharged. It wouldn't do to have stories of that nature spread, the commanders thought. After all, insanity was no way to win a war only a dark by-product to which no one cared to admit.

Still, when all was over and the rolls were taken, there were men of rank and importance unaccounted for by either side. Their bodies were never found.

Important! Please read--Copyright: 2003