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A Tale of What If?

I've chosen the Prologue and part of Chapter One from my best-selling novel, Petersburg, to show the power of  What If and The Five Ingredients of the Scene. 

The What If factor happened this way: The book was soon to go to print when my editor said, "I like the opening with the Grand Duke's ball, but I think you need something else as a beginning, a prologue, perhaps."

​​I had, in my research, come across a photo of Flesh Eaters, a horrific episode of Russian history from the famine of the 1890's. ​I told my editor about it and said, "What if Alexei, (the hero) comes across flesh eaters in a prologue. She loved my What If, and it became the opening of the book. 
The scene has built-in dramatic tension and gave me the opportunity to show Alexei's character through how he views the flesh eaters and handles the scene. 

Dramatic tension, point of view, dialogue, and description (four of the Five Ingredients) create a tightly woven scene held together by the character's point of view.  

I've included the first page of Chapter One, which stands in stark contrast to the Prologue and shows another side of Alexei. . .