A dark-brown horse made its way through the path slowly. Its rider was in no hurry, and allowed the steed to grab some leaves from a nearby bush. These parts of the forest were always peaceful, and Culgan liked it that way.

The kids were farther ahead, racing each other. The silver-haired man wasn't concerned; he had taught his sister's kids to ride a few years back, and he knew that the two were doing quite well on their own.

He caught a glimpse of his sister's 8-year-old son and 7-year-old daughter ahead of him, and shook his head, smiling. "Ryan! Watch your sister!"

The boy glanced back, then stopped his pony near a pile of rocks nearby. "Watch what? She's a better rider than I am..."

Culgan stopped the horse next to him, an amused smile on his face. "That's why I told you to watch her. Now she won."

He nodded to the girl who rode closer, laughing and teasing her brother.

"You could let your brother win sometimes, Laura."

The girl grinned. "Sure, uncle. It's not my fault that I'm faster than he is..."

The icy-blue-eyed man dismounted, glancing around. "His pony is actually faster; you're just a more skilled rider. Do you always have to race like that? You know what your mother would say if she knew..."

"So?" Ryan guided the pony around the rocks, stopping to look at his uncle. "You're not telling. Right?"

"Since when did I?"

"We know." The boy glanced farther away where there were more rocks. "Hey, are these the ruins here? Can we go take a closer look?"

The silver-haired man nodded. "That's why I brought you here. That over there behind those trees is an old watchtower. It's at least a thousand years old."

"Wow... Hey, but what's the point in building a watch-tower in the middle of a forest?"

Culgan glanced around shortly. "If you haven't noticed, we're on a hill. And the forest wasn't here 1000 years ago. Back then..." He turned around, looking a bit thoughtful. Then he pointed at the direction where he was facing.

"If you looked that way, you could see the city and the castle. And the lake behind them, too. Of course, we can't see it now because the trees are in the way. But the old city of L'Renouille is that way."

The kids got off their mounts, looking around curiously. "Old L'Renouille? That cool place you've taken us a couple of times?"

"Yes, that exactly. A thousand years ago it was a glorious city... And this..."

He tied the horse's reins to a small tree and walked to the watchtower. "This was one of the city's most important defenses. On a clear day, you could see very far from the top of the tower..."

Laura moved closer, circling a few bushes. Then she pointed behind the tower ruins. "What are those rocks there?"

"That's where the soldiers lived."

Ryan grinned. "Can we check it? Maybe we'll find an old sword or something..."

Culgan laughed. "I don't think there are any old swords there, but go ahead."

"You never know!" The boy answered, already on his way to check what was left of the building. Laura shrugged and followed her brother. The silver-haired man smiled, then sat down on a large rock by the watchtower ruins.

There surely was no forest back then, he thought. He relaxed and closed his eyes. In his mind, he could see how the place had looked like a thousand years ago...

"Hey, Culgie?"

"Hmm?"

The red-haired man stepped out from the watchtower, a mischievous grin on his face. "Have you ever made love on top of a watchtower?"

He gave his lover an amused smile. "No. Wasn't planning to, either. The tower is guarded every moment of the day. So unless you want to do it in public..."

Seed poked his arm gently. "Just asking. It's not like I'm planning on doing things in a public place."

He folded his arms. "No? Why? Does it bother you?"

"What?"

"Our relationship."

The redhead tried to look offended. "Why should it bother me? It's not like we're trying to keep it a secret. We just don't do things openly. Should we?"

"Should we what? Be more open about this?"

The younger man shrugged, leaning against the wall casually. "I don't know. Half of your men know anyway, and the rest of them are guessing. And it doesn't seem to bother you. So should it bother me, then?"

"You want my opinion? No. Let them talk."

"Culgie?"

"Don't call me that in public. What?"

"Shut up and kiss me."

He shook his head, then couldn't keep himself from laughing. He was about to give the redhead an answer, but suddenly Seed grabbed him by the black and white coat and drew him closer. A nearby guard looked at them a bit strangely as their lips met, but he didn't care...

"Uncle Culgan? Hey?"

He blinked, realizing that someone was shaking him gently and calling his name. "Hmm? What? Oh, you're done with exploring?"

The girl on his left looked a bit worried. "Are you okay? You looked so..."

"Nothing to worry about. I was just daydreaming. Well. Did you find any old swords?"

Ryan shook his head, but stepped closer, showing him something. "No swords, but there were some cool runes written on a wall. And then there was this weird little rock. Can I keep it?"

The silver-haired man took a look at the rock his nephew had found. It was obviously not from the area, judging from the color and shape.

"Why not, although I don't know what your mother will say about collecting rocks. This must be old, and it's not from here, so someone brought it here. Maybe even a thousand years ago... Maybe one of the guards liked rocks."

"Cool. Thanks. Can we look around more?"

Culgan glanced at the sky; the sun was high above the trees. "Some other time. We have to get back now before the people at the stables start wondering where we are."

"Okay," Ryan said. "But old ruins are fun. Do you know more ruins around here?"

He smiled to the boy. "I know all the ruins here. And I promise I'll show you them all when we have more time. But come on now." He got up, walking back where the horse and the ponies were eating the short grass.

Two hours later, Culgan was sitting on the couch in his living room, reading a few documents concerning one of his cases. He didn't bother to stop reading and go open the door when the doorbell rang. The bell rang a few more times, and then the person ringing it got tired and opened the door with a key.

"Afternoon, Sara."

The dark-haired woman stopped by the couch, shaking her head. "You're becoming lazy. Didn't feel like getting up for the door?"

Culgan didn't move his gaze from the file he was reading. "I knew it was you. No one else would come by today. And you still had to come to pick up the kids, so..."

"Oh, fine. Did they behave themselves?"

The man nodded. "Since when did they start misbehaving when around their favorite uncle? They've been good."

"Only uncle, if I may add. So you could do me a favor and take them a bit more often. I need a break sometimes, too." Sara sighed, looking at the guest bedroom's direction. "And just let me guess what they're doing now?"

"Yes. I tried to watch TV with them, but... Guess the video games are more interesting. And yes, now it'll be impossible for you to drag them home."

"Fine, let them play for a little longer... Gives us adults a moment to talk about things."

The silver-haired man put the file away. "Talk? All right. What do you want to talk about?"

"You, mostly. Culgan..."

"Hmm. Time for sisterly advice, I see. I'm still older."

Sara sat down next to him. "So? I'm your only sister. So you don't have anyone else to nag. Mom called a few days ago - you still haven't talked to her for a long time. And you're not talking to dad at all, eh?"

"His choice. I don't have anything to say to him, anyway."

"You two could stop that sometime, you know."

Culgan shrugged. "I never started anything, so there's nothing I can do. I don't really care. Anything else, while we're at this? How's your husband doing? Haven't seen him for weeks."

"Teo's fine, thanks for asking. And we're not talking about my marriage here."

The silver-haired man smiled a bit, shaking his head. "All right. Serious adult talk about my life, then. Sara?"

"Yes?"

"Am I insane?"

The woman smiled, then laughed softly. "What, you're asking me? Didn't you see a shrink yesterday? Ask him."

Culgan smiled. "Her, actually. We talked, but I don't know... I don't understand shrinks. I once had one as a client... But I'm serious, Sara. What do you think? Am I too obsessed with a dream?"

"Well, you're 30, you still live alone, you don't have any relationships, and you don't have a life, either... Nah. Isn't it pretty normal for busy lawyers like you to have no life? You barely have time to be a good uncle to those two..."

"Thank you, I got the message. You think I should get a serious relationship?"

Sara grinned. "Would be good for you. At least you'd get laid."

The ice-blue-eyed man frowned, pretending to be angry. "I don't need you asking about my sex life, sis. What happened to the sweet, innocent girl who didn't know a thing about men until..."

"Until you went to bed with that guy who was giving a few lectures at your school when you were 16, and I wanted all the details. And you told me, remember?"

The man laughed. "All right, that's true. You were only, what, 14? Gods, what's with girls nowadays? And now you're wondering if I get laid."

"Don't try. Admit it, you haven't been with anyone since that one guy almost three years ago. Hmm?"

Culgan folded his arms. "How do you know I was with someone back then?"

"Because we had lunch the next day, and you looked somewhat guilty. You always do that when you've slept with someone. Why, that's something I still haven't figured out. I can guess, though. You actually are a little obsessed with a dream."

"You really want to know the reason? Fine. I feel guilty, because I'm with someone other than... Seed. I'm cheating on him. That's why I can't do it anymore."

Sara smiled a bit. "Have you tried to forget about him?"

"Seed? No. You know me better. And besides... Maybe I could try, but the dreams would still be there. They're not going away."

His sister smirked now. "You sound like you have tried to make them go away sometime."

The ice-blue-eyed man smiled back. "No, I never tried. I had to get some sleeping medicine back when I was in law school, and even that didn't take the dreams away."

"Conclusion? You can't forget him, and don't even want to. But after that little incident when you thought you saw him... So, you're not insane. A bit obsessed, maybe..."

"Then, isn't it a good thing that I'm seeing a shrink?"

"Very true." The woman got up from the couch. "Oh well. Time to drag those two away from the video game and take them home."

Culgan smiled. "That won't be easy. Ah well. Back to work..." He picked up the papers from the table and adjusted his reading glasses.

"I just said I'll have to drag them away. I'll carry them if I have to. But there you go again... More work. On a day like this."

The man raised an eyebrow. "Why, this is a perfect day for working. What else should I be doing?"

His sister slapped him gently on the shoulder. "Go out. Go and find some company. You know."

"I don't go to bars or such. So, are you suggesting that I go to the library and start hitting on someone?"

"Whichever works."

The silver-haired man laughed a bit, then concentrated on his papers.

Jay had a day off today. Seed, however, would have to go to work today, at 9 PM as usual. He glanced at the clock - he still had almost six hours to waste. Or maybe just five, since Frank had called earlier and asked if he'd come early today. He had agreed; the older security guard would teach him how things were done in the security control room.

Half an hour later Jay and Cynthia returned from a walk in the nearby park. The redhead was still on the sofa, pretty much lost in his thoughts. The black cat purred as he petted her absently.

Jay tapped his shoulder. "Seed? Go out or something. You've been inside the whole day."

"That's right, Seedling..." Cynthia smiled. "You need a life, and you're not going to get one by sitting here with my cat."

Seed turned to look at them slowly. "Huh...? What? Out? Aw fine, if you're that eager to get rid of me... I'm going..."

The red-haired man got up and went to get his jacket from his room. He stopped to think and then shrugged and picked up the small bag where he had all the things he needed for work, too. He might as well go out for a couple of hours and then go straight to work. He could always buy some food from the cafe near the office building.

He returned to the living room and looked at the two who were now occupying the sofa with the cat. "Well, I'm going. Have fun!"

The auburn-haired woman smiled at him. "Sure, Seedling. See you later..."

"Yeah. The sofa is all yours, and I'm not coming back before tomorrow morning!" He added with a grin and slammed the door shut. He grinned to himself - he knew Jay had just blushed bright red, and he could hear Cynthia laughing inside the apartment.

About half an hour later, the red-haired man was sitting in that one cafe where he always went. He had just finished a cup of coffee, and was now thinking about what to do. He still had three and a half hours left before he would see Frank at work.

He looked out of the window at the people passing by, wondering if their lives were better than his. Probably yes. His life was boring, after all.

Hmm... Three hours. How about I go to the library? I don't like reading, but maybe they have some easy-to-understand history encyclopedia I could take a look at. I doubt that I'll find anything too interesting, but who cares... He smiled to himself, took his things and headed out of the small cafe.

He barely knew where the library was, so it took him fifteen minutes before he found the large building. The sign outside told him the building was the L'Renouille City Library. He hesitated for a short while, then walked inside.

There were a lot of people in the library. Seed didn't find that odd; why wouldn't there be people in here? He stopped to look around, shrugged and went to find the librarian.

The redhead found the desk easily. He stopped in front of it and looked at the woman sitting behind it. "Er... Excuse me? Where can I find... hmm, some general information about wars and other stuff? History."

"You mean general history? Section 3. It's over there." The woman pointed to a series of bookshelves across the room.

The redhead mumbled a thanks and headed over to the bookshelves. There were a lot of books to choose from. He looked at them for a while, and decided it was easier if he started with a history encyclopedia or something. There were a few available, and he ended up choosing one. It was a series of five big books; he dragged them all over to an empty table and sat down.

"Let's see then..."

He opened one book, not knowing what to look for. He sighed and raised his head, trying to think. He glanced around the library and noticed a colorful picture on the back wall. It had different symbols on it, and the caption read, "Rune Crystals".

Runes...? Not bad. I think I have a rune in those dreams... Culgan has one, too. So... Runes it is.

He looked at the five books on the table and took the one with section "R". He smiled to himself, opened the book and turned the pages over until he found what he was looking for.

"Runes; Mystical symbols that have magical powers," Seed read aloud. "Each rune has an element, according to which it grants its user an ability to use different spells. Last record of runes being used is from five hundred years ago during the Harmonian Civil war. After that, other weapons have replaced the runes. It is said that people are not compatible with runes anymore. Today, several Rune Crystals exist, but there is no knowledge how to use a rune, as there are no Rune Masters who know how to use the Crystals. Some scientists even doubt that runes really were used, as the existence of magic is hard to prove."

He looked at the paragraph for some time. "Right. Whatever... Hmm. 'See also: True Runes, Rune Masters, Scrolls, Magic...' Sure." He shrugged and sought out the page with 'True Runes'.

True Runes; 27 mystical runes that had power over the other runes. It is said that all the other runes were created by these 27... Yeah right.

"See also: Runes, Rune Masters, Rune of the Beginning... True Earth Rune, True Wind Rune... and a couple of more True runes... Holy Kingdom of Harmonia... McDohl, Garrett..."

McDohl? There was someone called that in my dreams once. He took another volume and flipped through the pages until he found someone named McDohl.

McDohl, Teo; One of the 6 Great Generals of Scarlet Moon Empire. A highly skilled warrior, he was said to be invincible since his Armored Cavalry was never defeated until the Gate Rune Wars. Father of Garrett McDohl...

Seed stopped reading and thought about it. Ah, so this guy was his father. Let's see. Garrett...

He looked at the page until he found the other name a few rows above.

McDohl, Garrett; son of Teo McDohl. A former soldier of the Scarlet Moon Empire who joined the rebel group Liberation Army. He was later selected as the leader of said group, and he joined several other rebel groups into one big army and led them against Scarlet Moon Empire forces during the Gate Rune Wars (Toran Liberation Wars). It is said that he was quite young during these events. He was said to possess one of the 27 True Runes, the "Rune of Life and Death", also known as the Soul Eater... and so on...

McDohl also fought in the Dunan Unification Wars a few years later...

The wine-brown-eyed man looked up 'Dunan Unification Wars'.

"The last wars fought in the Jowston City-state area. Ended a long period of battles and insecurity between Jowston City-state (formed from Muse, Two Rivers, Southwindow, Greenhill, Matilda and Tinto cities and areas) and the Kingdom of Highland."

He read forward until he realized he was reading a familiar story; it was the same as in his graphic novel. The battle outside L'Renouille... all that.

Guess that thing really was based on history, then... Weird. This is the war in my dreams. Highland led by Jowy and... State... Riou...

He decided to check that name. He looked through one of the books until he found what he was looking for.

"Riou, son of Genkaku; Hero of the Dunan Unification Wars and the leader of the Jowston City-state Army during those wars. Originally a citizen of the kingdom of Highland, he was accused of being a spy and sentenced to death. However, he escaped and ended up as the leader of a mercenary group led by Viktor and the soldiers from Southwindow who didn't die when Highland attacked. After that, he..."

Seed didn't bother to read the rest - this was enough for him.

Hmm. He's mentioned here, too, and he's the leader of the State army. Those wars... All here in this book. A lot of stuff from my dreams... it's all here. This is strange. I wonder if...

He took a deep breath, picked up the book with section "C" and looked up a name.

"Culgan, Alex," he read. "Author who lived in the 12th century. Her most famous novel is 'The Deep Shadows'... Nope, not this one. This was actually a girl..." He looked for the next entry. "Culgan, Avon. Not this one, either. He was... an artist who died 80 years ago. Next..."

Culgan, Jean... No. But still... Have to wonder if it's here anyway, that's those people's last name...

He skipped the few next ones, until his eyes caught the last entry; it was different from the other ones. His eyes widened when he read the description.

Culgan (no other names known); General in the Royal Highland Army, commander of the 3rd Company during the Dunan Unification Wars. Known for his calm nature and cool exterior, he was said to be an excellent tactician who knew how to surprise his enemy. He was nicknamed 'The Intelligent General', probably because of this. It is assumed that he died during the takeover of L'Renouille.

The redhead's mouth felt dry when he read the next line. "See also: Kingdom of Highland, Jowy Blight, Seed, Dunan Unification Wars..."

The hell? Seed, too?

He took another book and looked up for the name. "Seed, Elaine. No, not that one. Seed, Ricah. No...!"

He got an irritated look from a middle-aged woman who was reading in the next table. He didn't care, but just read forward... until he reached the last entry. "Seed (no other names known); General in the Royal Highland Army, commander of the 4th Company during the Dunan Unification Wars..."

What is this? First Culgan, now...? My dreams... All the people, the battles... To think that there actually were people named Culgan and Seed who lived during those wars...

He sagged into his chair and stared at the bookshelf for a long while.

I'm really seeing dreams of someone else's life. Someone who lived ages ago. Someone I didn't even know to have existed! Great. Lawson's gonna love this... And to think that I have to go to see her tomorrow... I wonder if I should tell her. But then again, I have no idea what this means, so...

Finally, he stood up and put all parts of the encyclopedia back to the shelf. He looked at the book names until he found something that might have more information for him. "Jowston City-state - Highland Wars..."

Seed sat down again and started reading. The book had general information of all the wars there had been, and all kinds of details of the people participating. He looked until he found the Dunan Unification Wars, and flipped through half of the book until he found the Highland section.

He almost had trouble believing what he was reading. The part about Highland was long, and it had information beginning from when the county had been established, but when he found the part about Dunan Unification Wars, he shook his head. The information was far more detailed than what the encyclopedia had had; it said that the war started because Prince Luca had the Unicorn Brigade killed and the State army was blamed for doing this. The war broke anew again, and Highland took over many parts of the City-state.

The redhead blinked when he read that Luca had had his own father killed and taken over the throne... Only to be slain in a surprise attack. Presumably, Jowy had betrayed him and sent a message to the State army.

He stared at the paragraph that said that Culgan and Seed had actually vowed to serve and follow Jowy instead of Luca. He remembered having a dream about that when he was younger. It felt so unreal...

Culgan was indeed the 'Intelligent General', while Seed's nickname was 'The Flaming General'. The book had mostly the same information about the two as the encyclopedia, but it also had information about them being close friends and that they had probably died together.

This is insane... I don't even know if I want to believe this. But still... I wish there was an explanation for this. There must be... I just don't know where to look.

He continued reading, then went to get another book and checked for more information. He didn't even notice how must time he spent reading the books; at 8.30 PM, the librarian came to tell him that the library would be closing soon. He glanced at the clock and realized that it was getting late. The library was a twenty-minute walk away from where the redhead worked, so he would have to hurry.

He left the library, and barely made it to Daviaux, Caswell and Associates before nine. Frank commented something about him being almost late and that he was actually supposed to come there at eight, but the redhead just mumbled some unclear answer and went to change clothes.

He stared at the monitors for the whole night, wondering if the things he had read actually meant something. He had never even thought of the possibility...

But why would there be a connection between him and some man named Seed who had lived a thousand years ago?