While I slept, I dreamt of the man I once was.

We were working on a Dyson sphere -- which would have taken another decade to complete. My mind was fuzzy on which sun it was, but I remembered it had been one of the bright stars that made up the Southern Cross constellation.

But that changed when we got word of our imminent destruction…

Since the hall was brightly lit, I had to move and hold the holovid in a dark corner that I made all the darker with my large frame. A holographic projection of a cutely dressed teen was dancing around in a looped recording. There was music in the background, along with her melodious song being sweetly and powerfully voiced by the nanite amplifiers -- but I had it on mute.

I was supposed to be working, not gawking at a pretty girl!

Honestly though, I was more afraid of the impression anyone would have gotten if they’d seen me. What I truly was gawking at was her dress. The skirt had been a new nanite fashion that acted like water. A brilliant blue with a foamy-white to it, she would twirl around and let the tiny particles of nanites splash everything surrounding her. Since her dress was coded to contain an exact number of nanites, she never lost a single ‘thread’ of her skirt.

It was cool!

That hadn’t been the only awesome feature to her dress. Every time she sashayed or swirled her body around in circles, the programmed fabric would shift and bare skin ever so subtly as if she truly had a liquid dress on. I had to wonder how much time I’d have to put in before there were enough credits to my name to get me one of those?

Likely never in a million years. That dress was the pop idol’s signature dress and any likeness would be skyrocketing as she rose in fame.

I sighed and pocketed the holoprojector.

“What was that?” I froze immediately at the disapprovingly firm sounding voice of that query.

With a guilty grin, I turned slowly around and played ignorance: “Uh, nothing?” Then I saw who it was and let out my intense relief in an incredulously bellowed sigh. “Nathaniel, did you have to give me a heart attack?”

Nathaniel broke out with a laughing smile and ended up slapping me on the shoulder. “It was in good fun. You know how much I enjoy seeing you smile, and that was perfect.” When he said that, I dropped the grin and gave him a deadpan stare. “Aw, c’mon! Don’t go back to your gloomy depression already. I just got here!”

For him, I put on my smiling mask. “There, happy?”

He leaned in under my nose with his goateed chin held between his fingers.

Was he inspecting me?

Then he made an uncertain observation before asking: “I’m not so sure. Are you?”

I kept up the smile and nodded to acknowledge how ‘happy’ I was to see him. He was a cool guy and I liked hanging around him, but sometimes he’d annoy the living shit out of me when he’d sneak up like that. I wasn’t the only one he’d do that to, either, and that was what annoyed me most. I’d be found guilty of being a prankster like him by association!

Now it had nothing to do with scaring people. The problem lay with Nathaniel’s impersonation of our superintendent. It would be fine if he’d stuck with our supervisor’s likeness, but the bigger honcho was by far a Scrooge. No fun allowed at all and that went double when making fun of him.

So we’d get into trouble quite often. Nothing in the policies forbade Nathaniel from doing crap like that, but still… I didn’t like getting yelled at for something I didn’t do. Which then would have led to me being pointedly told I could have said something earlier to stop Nathaniel.

He was my friend. I wasn’t going to rat him out.

But I would keep an eye on him and attempt to prevent any more unsuspecting victims from being harassed. I got an idea and decided to lure him into it. First, to answer his question. “Here. Let me show you.” I pulled the holoprojector out and clicked it back on for him to see.

He smirked up at me. “Damn, she’s a cute one. I’d hit it.” So far, so good. I baited him by just rolling my eyes. “Oh, what? You wouldn’t?”

That was too easy. I gave him a silent nod. When he raised his brow at me, I said, ”Sure I would --”

“‘Sure I would,’ he says.” He had that smirk on his face grow an extra inch longer. Mentally, my smile was bigger than his.

“Fine. I wouldn’t, but it’s because she’s not my type.” That was true. I couldn’t outright say what my type was, but it wasn’t her. There were a few women who did look appealing to me, but I never understood what they had that many other women did not. Maybe it was because they’d been way out of my league? But that didn’t explain my lack of interest in the pop star here. “Look, I know what you’re thinking and I’ll get this out in the open now. I’m not like that.” Now was the moment to hook him in. “I know. I experimented and it didn’t do anything for --”

“Woah. Wait, you tried?” Nathaniel shook his head, as if he was clearing something out of his noggin. Hooked, and now I’d reel him in. “I’ve known you for the past hundred. When did you give someone else a wank?”

“Before we met -- anyways, do you believe me?” He grudgingly nodded and I nodded back to cut him some slack.

“Tell me then. What’s the deal with the vid if you’re not into her?” When he said that, I felt only half successful entrapping him in a worthwhile conversation. I had wanted the discussion to be driven toward his perspective, so that he might have brought up whatever I had missed in my search for Miss Right. Instead, he focused on the pop idol!

I really wanted my friend’s insight, but it sounded like I might have to seek professional help after all. A shrink? That was not someone anyone ever looked forward meeting, let alone getting personal with.

For now, I dropped my derailed train of thought and took what I had going with Nathaniel and went with it. “Not here. I’m not comfortable with --”

“Say no more! Come with me to the Den and we’ll get you comfortably straightened out, ‘kay?” That at least meant I had drawn him away from his pranking ways for today.

In triumph, a soft laugh escaped me before I could stop it. But that gave Nathaniel a cheerful smile as he led me off to his room…

I remembered. Warm and cozy, sitting in a chair, I was listening to Nathaniel lecturing me on how shallow I supposedly was with women when we heard the unsettling news. A solar mass that had been ejected from a supernova thousands of years ago across the expansive galaxy had been rediscovered. It was abnormal because the sun’s boom had been an old event. Real damn old and every one of those speculating experts thought nothing dangerous would come from it -- at least, back then.

And they were wrong…

* * *

* * *

I was jerked awake and inhaled sharply in fright when I nearly fell off of the horse. It had gone into full gallop. My legs clamped tightly to my horse’s sides and I flattened myself as well as I could to the beast’s hairy mane.

There were challenging shouts of rage --

-- clashing and scrapping of steel --

-- agonized and angry screams with the whining of horses --

-- and a clogging mass of dust in my hooded sack. I couldn’t stop coughing after I had sucked in the dryness to the back of my throat upon my rude awakening.

Without looking, I took an educated guess.

A battle.

My question was: who against who here? What I knew -- so far -- was that there were two factions in the region. The invaders and the locals.

Who were the invaders? If I didn’t already know, most likely the girl never had known… or didn’t comprehend?

How old was I? If I were to look at myself, my current height wouldn’t allow me to be a good judge at all. Originally as I grew up, I was a pretty big boy for my age.

With that in mind, I really wished now I had longer legs to keep a better grip on my horse. It felt like I was on an out of control flight simulator! The only difference between the two was that flight simulators didn’t crash into things --

-- unlike the sensations of other horsemen brushing by and practically smacking into my mount!

Why were they so close to me? If a battle was really happening, wouldn’t it be better for them to ditch me and -- I didn’t know, get into some kind of formation?

“Mmmff!” One of those bastards just did a number to my leg! It didn’t feel broken, but I certain felt better without them crushing it. A second went by and I was fine. But I wondered how long it would be before I got blindsided again?

In a split-second, I felt my guts rise up. It felt like my horse had jumped, and I flew up in the air and off the horse a mere few inches in the process --

-- then yanked right back down onto the horse’s back from my leashed neck. I coughed uncontrollably, but focused on tightly clamping my legs onto the horse more securely than before.

However the battle may have been turning, it was intense. I could only hope to recover fast enough before something else happened to me.

Over the din of battle, I supposed I had a moment of selective hearing to have picked up one of the combatants shouting orders. At first, I failed to understand what he said -- the words didn’t make sense. But then he added more structure to his command and I understood.

“-- before they flee!” I caught only a part of that shouted command, but I picked up another. “Cut off the Xi! They cannot --” That was cut off before it was followed with another command… and that one was desperately screeched out! “Surround them! Box them!”

By what senses I had available, I felt as if the direction of my horse had changed. Like every one of the horsemen had decided to take a drastic change of course.

At last, I understood the reasoning for these horsemen’s compact riding formation now. Whoever they were fighting had caught them, and the horsemen may have created an opening. I guessed that meant there were still too many of my captors left for the bloodshed to end?

Whoever these other combatants were -- why would they attempt to trap the horsemen if they were too much to hold?

I sucked in a sharp breath when I realized something: they succeeded. The invaders created the diversion and now whoever was defending the region chased after my captors.

That meant the bulk of the invasion could move without harassment to… where?

How did the girl know that much, but not know who was who or what was what? The concept of what was going on existed, but none of the whys. From the thought of it, I was apparently the one who had to puzzle the answers out. But I needed to know more.

And the sack on my head wasn’t helping!

Again I sensed the shifting direction of my horse. And again… I crushed myself down against the horse’s mane and hoped to not fall off if it. I didn’t know why, but I guess the horse had to keep zigzagging with the rest of the horsemen?

With another jerk from the leash, I nearly slid off the back of my horse when it reared up in the air. When my horse slammed back down, I realized we’d stopped.

The sound of the conflict escalated --

-- and my horse wildly bucked!

I managed to hold on for a few seconds before I swung off and along the horse’s side. Maybe a second or two had gone by with me being strangled. Instinct kicked in and I began to kick madly for the ground beneath me.

Then I dropped flat on my ass! I felt the rope hang limply over my shoulder… either it’d worked itself loose or someone had cut it. A breathless thanks passed my muffled mouth to either God or man before I struggled to stand.

Blind and with my wrists still in bonds, I knew to remain where I stood would mean being certainly trampled in the unseen chaos. I ran --

-- and slammed into something. Whatever it was, it didn’t feel like a horse or person. There was a rough quality to the obstruction. When I reached my hands out to feel it, I immediately thought of bark on a tree. But it was flat, not rounded like a trunk should be.

Whatever it was, it approached and buffeted me back. Then again. I was incredibly confused by what was pushing me further back from where I ran.

“Open!” The flat-barked thing scraped my knuckles as it rose high in the air --

-- then I fell backwards as something grabbed my ankles and violently pulled me under the flat-barked wall.

Hands were pawing me and I freaked out! Not much I could do in my weak condition and bonded situation, but I struggled against the hands that grabbed me.

Someone kept shouting down at me: “Kirin! Kirin!” Whoever it was kept repeating the same word. And I kept struggling! Even if I’d understood what he was yelling, I was flipping out.

It wasn’t until I was pulled up and held tightly in the stranger’s arms that I finally stopped trying to fight. Just like the sensation I’d had with the horse, I felt whomever had me stand and move quickly. I was hugged tighter as he ran like Hell from where we’d fought my one-sided struggle.

I jerked upright in his arms when he loudly bellowed: “Loose!”

There was a rhythmic thrum in the air --

-- followed by a roar of enraged yells, terrible screams, and bestial whining of all the horsemen and their mounts within the boxed in bark-wall. I very much would have liked it if the sack on my head was removed before, but after I heard those cries… not anymore. I kept my head down against the man’s chest and myself silent.

That was how I heard the approach of a familiar noise: clopping. There was a horse racing towards our general direction.

In his arms, I felt my body jerk as we whirled around to face whatever came. He freed his right arm of my burden and held me simply in his left. A weird word was shouted: “Tokombi!”

Something caused me to flinch as a shadow flew close by. There was a loud crunch beneath us and our postures became awkward… was he squatting? I rose my head up from his chest --

-- and smacked my face right back onto his chest. A massive force had nearly thrown the both of us backward -- a horse! I heard its scream before the beast’s weight crumpled to the ground behind me. There was something wildly thrashing across the ground, but I never found out what had made that noise.

As soon as the horse had fallen, the man holding me got back up onto his feet and ran.

While I rested my head against him, I was becoming aware I understood a single language, but others were foreign to me. Or maybe I didn’t understand the entire vocabulary? Or were there multiple spoken languages being yelled across the battlefield?

Why didn’t the girl know? I’d restored her mind! She should know…

The only thing I had found to be a dominant feature in the girl was her emotions. Her memories were jumbled and only triggered in my consciousness when there was an outside factor involved.

I needed the hood off to understand more. The greater my sensory reception, the faster I could expand my knowledge of what had happened here.

...but I waited. I didn’t want to see what all I’d heard back there. Until we were a sufficient distance from the chaotic noises of battle, he had run before he slowed to a stop. We were not alone. Less shouting and more firm commands were being issued around me.

He had finally set me down on my feet. The rope around my neck was pulled and I felt a quick jerking vibration through the thick braid -- it was being sawed off.

Once the leash was removed, the next thing to happen to me was that my blindness in the hooded darkness transitioned to another blindness in the bright daylight. While he removed the gag and freed my wrists, I silently spent a minute to let my eyes adjust to the light.

A different voice spoke down to us: “She’s the -hwang?”

After a few blinks, I gazed up at several men in thick and heavy robed uniforms. They wore an incredibly thick-looking black apron over the robe.

Maybe that was their version of protection? Not much in comparison to the invaders. But I would give it to them that they would have an easier time walking around rather than the horsemen.

The man who had secured and freed me glanced away to address the other speaker. “Yes, Nangjang --” My mind worked in overdrive.

I knew what the word translated into: Lieutenant Commander. But it wasn’t the translation I was working out, rather the comparison to some other rank that I had been familiar with.

The man who freed me turned away from the Nangjang to inspect the regions on my clothes that had dried blood. “Difficult to believe what the Waegonobi said, but it is obvious the Xi took her for a reason.” The other words I wasn’t familiar with, but I reasoned the Xi were the invaders.

So I asked about the other word: “Waegonobi?”

That appeared to startle him for an instance, but he smiled and answered. “Nobi that can own property.”

I understood that word. Slaves. We were a village of slaves.

Did that mean I had saved my people from death to only have them run back to their masters? Was I a nobi too? That didn’t sound like the case. The Nangjang addressed me in another funny word.

Once more, I asked for a translation as I pointed at myself. “Hwang?” He looked at me in confusion for a moment. When I pointed up at the Nangjang, then his eyes lit up.

“He meant Bonghwang.” I shook my head when I didn’t understand.

Instead of elaborating the word, he placed his palm along my head and steadied my shaking to continue his inspection. Apparently I had to ask him. “What bonghwang?”

“An immortal bird. Very colorful with reds and blues.” Again I hadn’t translated the meaning, but rather compared what he said to a phoenix… except I thought the bird he’d described might actually exist?

There was imagery in my mind. A memory. The girl was reminded where she had seen a bird like that before.

In the beautiful scenery, the rushing water was a surge of lush green vegetation that crashed and sparkled brilliant -- and powerful -- waves against the blue-grey rocks jutting from the river’s surface. But on those slippery rocks, those birds idled while calmly cleaning their vibrant feathers without a fear of being swept away by the current.

They were pretty.

My stomach lurched when I smelled the nearby fires. Campfires. They were cooking?

I asked: “Food?”

“And drink.” He patted me on the head and turned to address the Nangjang again. “She’s not in good shape. I recommend rationing her intake until her health is accustomed. To survive, she’s suffered consumption of the body.”

The Nangjang locked eyes with me and clarified: “The wasting sickness?”

“Yes, Nangjang,” said the man in confirmation.

It took me a moment to click together the puzzle-pieces. My starvation had been real and my body had begun to break down the good nutrients from my muscles and other juicy organs to sustain itself.

“We will deal with this matter later. Take her back and see that she is seen to properly. Don’t tarry. I want your return to be swift.” The Nangjang looked out and across the uneven field we had come from and stated: “The Xi are not finished.”

“Yes, Nangjang.” Without being asked, the man lifted me as he stood up.

As he slipped his arms under me more securely, I adjusted to find comfort against him. Now that my bonds were cut, I hooked my arms around the back of his neck and rested my head on his shoulder. He carried me further away from the sounds of combat until they were a distant rumble.

There were a number of massive bubbled canvases set up around the hills. Tents. Those were tents.

The encampment. And those were soldiers. All wore the same thick robes, but only a few had those thicker aprons on. Many had spears. None had a sword with them.

But more importantly, they were grinding bowls filled with yellow wheat. My mouth watered when I saw that.

Why?

Then I associated the wheat with warm and gooey hunks of bread. My tummy painfully grumbled.

Without thought, I blurted out: “Food?”

“Yes. Be patient.” He gave me a pat on the back before I sensed a shadow fall over us as he ducked. Then I realized we had entered one of the tents. “I’m setting you down.”

Once I felt the ground, I let go of his neck and decided to sit where I had been settled. He grabbed a nearby item off of a rack and folded the warm layer around me.

A blanket? It was furry, but absolutely smooth. Where I touched the furry coat, I was overwhelmed with a temptation to comb my fingers through the fine black stripes. My mind desired to keep the dark hairs out of the golden fur.

As I bundled up in the cozy warmth of the blanket, I continued to pet the sleek coat.

The man passed me and began to collect items from the corner of his tent.

The first thing he did was grab a pot and go straight outside with it. Through the open slit of the tent’s entrance, I watched him mix items into the pot by one of the fires. He scooped a clump of paste up out of the pot -- it was white.

A young soldier came over and sat down by the fire with him. The two exchanged the white stuff and began mixing it with something.

Beans? They were beans.

They were cooking!

My tummy growled at me again. Why couldn’t I have some of the bread that the other soldiers may have already prepared?

The man who had taken me to his tent stood up and wandered away. Because he was ordered to, he likely headed back to the Nangjang.

And to resume his involvement in the battle.

I sighed and turned away when the soldier had just started to add water into the pot. Likely he would be boiling whatever was on the menu. Meanwhile, I scooted over to the stretched tight canvased wall and rested my side up against it.

And I yielded to the slumbering darkness once more…