The Origin

Ray Smith knew the truth.

He had started his life with a bang and his love of rockabilly was only overshadowed by his love of women. Often compared to Elvis Presley, Ray could be summed up in a singular word: genius.

Some question why Ray took his own life at the far-too-young age of 45 but Ray had known something that no other human had known...a secret so immense and so grave that if discovered, would had certainly led to his eventual murder.

You see, Ray was the type of character who knew everything yet said very little. He always seemed serene, serene almost to the point of apathy. His emotions did not vary wildly and his suicide was marked as being so uncharacteristic, that many questioned whether it was suicide at all.

It was. But the real question is why? Why would this man, who had enjoyed a decent amount of fame (not too much, not too little), and a love of something so primal and so innate as women and music, kill himself?

It's simple, evil was after Ray. Evil wanted something from Ray. Evil wanted to strive in this world, a world which always had black and white, light and dark, good and evil. Forward is the only direction known to these forces and it is a zero-sum game. If evil is growing, good is dying.

Why Ray? What did he know? What did he have that could benefit evil while protecting good?

Ray had the ultimate prize; that of time, of life, of immortality.

Ray was the guardian of time. To call him human would be incorrect but to call him anything else would be impossible given our understanding of the universe. He was a being of a different plane, not spirit, not god, and not idea. He in fact did exist in a physical form but the form was always changing. He was born like any other being and he died just the same but his omniscience surrounding time allowed him to stall it, jump through it and pause it as he saw fit, as long as he were protecting the positive forces in the worlds.

The last few years of Ray's life were spent in battle. To those close to him, nothing had changed because his capacity to love was so great that he could not tarnish this beautiful world. If he were fighting evil, and causing sadness, it would be a pointless task.

After 3 long years of battle, Ray was cornered. With no way out, he knew what had to be done. He had to run. He had to move on. He had to leave one form and head to the next to reset the battle. While he loved his life, he had big plans for the next. This would be his best yet and all he had learned since the beginning would be used to, this time, finally defeat evil.

So on the morning of November 29th, 1979, Ray woke up next to his wife, headed downstairs for some coffee and sat on his front porch overlooking his lakefront home outside of Memphis, Tennessee. This day would be his last and he spent it like any other, doing the things he loved: talking, laughing, creating.

After dinner that evening he retreated to his room and shot himself in the head.

9 months later, on July 29th, 1980, Ray Smith emerged, reborn into his new identity. In this form, he would be known as Matt Noonan, and in this form, he would win.