"What happened?"

"I think you might have been sleepwalking. Into that," Yi Hai said, looking down.

An Ning followed his eyes and gasped. The cliff was steep. The trees down below were green and thick. One could see the flash of clear water from a river, however. Winding down around the base of the giant trees and out into the ocean some distance away.

"Are you alright?" Yi Hai's voice was soft. He had to bend his head to ask the question because of his great height. An Ning looked up and locked his eyes with hers.

"Did you see something before...?" An Ning stopped but her sharp eyes never wavered from his face.

Yi Hai hesitated then released a reluctant sigh.

"Yes," he said. "I thought it was a trick of the light."

"It was not," An Ning said, extricating herself from his embrace. Ye Hai's grip tightened then his arms slowly opened to let her go.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome."

An Ning sighed and sat down, her gaze unseeing as the sun slowly unfurled its brilliance over the horizon. Yi Hai hesitated and sat down beside her. They watched quietly as the sunlight crept towards the valley down below as if catching fire with a blink of an eye. The fog dissipated and the beauty of nature in its stark unvarnished truth was revealed.

"You are not saying anything," An Ning broke the silence between them.

"Neither are you," Yi Hai quietly said.

"It's hard to know where to begin."

"Begin anywhere you want and I'll try to catch up."

"They...those people...they're my grandparents," An Ning began.

"Who are obviously not dead."

"What?" An Ning turned to look at him, surprised.

"Those figures were not phantoms. That woman who looked exactly like you was crying. And the man wrote something for you to see. Those were not the actions of phantoms or ghosts or whatever."

"You're right. They're still alive somewhere and are trying to get to me."

"You're not from that faraway kingdom, are you?"

"No."

"A traveler from another time?"

"You can say that."

"How come you look exactly like the dead empress?"

"Because I am her with a different soul."

Yi Hai's frown eased up and a smile lit up his face.

"I wondered because the late empress liked to wear fine, delicate clothes and you don't. And you speak a little bit rougher than her."

"You mean I speak like a thug?"

"No! I mean," Yi Hai stammered, red suffusing his cheeks. "You know what I mean," he finished awkwardly.

An Ning laughed.

"Yes, I know what you mean."

The both of them sat in companionable silence. An Ning drew up her legs and hugged her knees before sighing helplessly.

"That's why you know General Chen very well?" Yi Hai's voice was very casual.

An Ning was surprised.

"Actually, yes. He was a friend from a different time."

"This friends.h.i.+p is..." he said, as if probing the truth of what she was saying.

"Just friends. He knew my late husband. Well, not the emperor but my other husband. Or rather my ex," An Ning stopped and sighed. "It's complicated."

"You were married before." It was not a question. "So, you'll go back to your husband when you get back there?"

"Former husband actually," An Ning automatically corrected. "How can I? He's already here somewhere."

At his look of surprise, An Ning again released her breath in a long sigh.

"I'd better explain," she said then actually did, omitting some half-truths and discarding the lies. Although the story that came out from her own mouth was short and to the point, An Ning was nagged by how torturous and long-winding the real story actually was. It seemed like another life. Only the reality of the now was real to her anymore.

"This story is kind of..." Yi Hai said, obviously at a loss for words.

"I know, right? It's way beyond weird."

"Are you still in love with this Richard?"

An Ning shook her head.

"Would it surprise you if I tell you that I stopped loving him a long time ago? Even before I married him, I think. I was just too stubborn to see that even he was helpless against me. And then he died and there was no other way to tell him I'm sorry."

"I don't get why he still wants you though. No, not like that," he explained hurriedly when he saw An Ning's expression. "I mean, why is he still haunting you? He gets the girl. You willingly left him. Then if that's the case, why is he still sore about you?"

"Pride," An Ning shrugged. "He didn't want me going out with his brother?"

"That can't be it. That's too shallow a reason to drag a girl into another world just so he could slap her down for hooking up with his brother. Sounds phooey to me."

"You know what, you're really starting to sound like a 21st century brat," An Ning laughed. "What are you, my love adviser now?"

"I'm just saying," Yi Hai said stubbornly.

An Ning sighed.

"I guess you're right. Until he and I meet, conjectures at this point are useless."

The ring on her left hand suddenly caught An Ning's eye and she frowned.

"Do me a favor?"

"What?"

"Next time you see me sick or asleep out in the open, take this ring off my hand and hide it somewhere. Don't let anyone else get it. This ring is valuable not only to us but the enemies of Yuqui. If they get their hands on this..."

"Wait, I think I have a solution for that," Yi Haid said.

His hands went behind his back and unfastened what turned out to be a plain silver necklace hanging around his neck.

"Slip the ring on the end of this string," he ordered.

Perplexed, An Ning took Hippolyta's ring off and did as he said. The ring slid down the length of the string then as she watched, it gradually disappeared into thin air. An Ning gasped, her eyes flying to Yi Hai's in horror.

"Look at your hand," he said.

An Ning looked down and saw that the ring was there. The same ugly ring with the antique design and the even uglier rubies that surrounded the top.

"What just happened?"

"That piece of string copies everything you dangle in front of it. Give me your hand," Yi Hai said.

An Ning gave him her hand then watched as he gently p.r.i.c.ked the longest finger until a red point of blood appeared on the soft tender skin. Yi Hai then squeezed that small point of red until it dropped onto the chain, coating it with the red substance.

"Now, this piece of string belongs to you," he said with satisfaction. "Turn around." When An Ning did, Yi Hai gently swept the thick hair on her nape then fastened the silver string around her neck. "There, done."

An Ning tugged at the string around her neck and was surprised to feel a hard thing dangling from its end. She touched it with her fingertips and realized that it was actually her ring, only now it was invisible and was only accessible to touch. An Ning threw Yi Hai a confused glance.

"Only the owner of the string can take it off. And you are now its new master after feeding it your blood. It copies the ring so that whoever tries to steal it will get the false and not the real one."

"It's like a Zerox machine then," An Ning said, totally amazed.

"Huh?"

"It's a machine that copies paper. A big machine. As big as a mountain. Never mind," she said when she saw the utter confusion on Yi Hai's face. "You'll see it one of these days."

Yi Hai looked at her, startled.

"You'll let me go with you to the other side? I mean, this modern world you've been talking about?"

"Why not? One needs to see one or two places before one dies, right?"

"That's kind of extreme but if you say so," Yi Hai didn't sound too convinced about it.

An Ning laughed.

"Relax. I'll build a time machine on this end and let you visit the other side, as you call it. Isn't that what my grandfather was trying to tell me?"

"I don't know. Was he trying to tell you something?"

"Yup. He said to meet him here tomorrow at the same time," An Ning said, standing up. "It's getting late. Let's head out after we eat."

She was walking away when she stopped and turned around.

"Why did you give me that necklace? Its value is more than I can ever repay you."

"Because you needed it and because I trust you."

She continued looking at him as if she was waiting for something.

Yi Hai sighed then reluctantly gave in.

"It was my grandfather's. He was the commander of the guards before I took over. He pa.s.sed away some years back and he gave me the necklace. He said it saved his life numerous times. He didn't tell me where it came from. But over the years, I more or less guessed that a woman he once loved must have given it to him. My grandmother was a simple woman who was a good wife and mother but she wasn't the type to immortalize a romance with a valuable gift like that. He didn't tell me and I didn't ask."

An Ning listened in silence then she reached into the ring and took something out. The necklace carbon copied Hippolyta's ring to perfection. The s.p.a.ce it contained, however, was much smaller, the size of a jail cell which could fit ten or so people. It was also empty of the war toys contained in the original ring but there was something that it shared with the original: the wish factor. Since she was now the owner of the necklace, she had the power to command the things it contained and have it transferred to the copy cat. When An Ning took out her hand, she was holding a gun. She walked over to Yi Hai and showed it to him.

"This, too, can save your life or somebody else's life in a life and death situation," she explained. "It's not as valuable as the necklace you gave me but this will come in handy when you're in a tight spot. I'll teach you how to use it when we get back."

"And how to fire that tube like thing and how to drive and fire the tank?" Yi Hai said, flas.h.i.+ng a dazzling smile which almost blinded An Ning.

"I'll teach you how to fire those and some other things you want to learn," An Ning said, laughing helplessly. "Bully."

Yi Hai laughed.

"I'll look forward to it, then," Yi Hai said, giving the gun back to An Ning, who slipped it back into the ring.

She looked up at him with a relieved smile.

"Thank you, Yi Hai. I'll take very good care of this gift," she said, touching that mysterious piece of silver string with her fingertips.

"You're welcome, An Ning," he smiled back, her name rolling off his tongue gentle as a breeze.

The Sierra mountains was an imposing chain that stretched all the way back to the valley in the capital. It then tapers off to form small descending mounds like footsteps before it flattens into rich, beautiful gra.s.sland, which produces most of Yuqui's agricultural products.

This sprawling piece of heaven had powered countless wars during Yuqui's b.l.o.o.d.y history. While other kingdoms experienced a time of plenty then strife, Yuqui's fortune held its luck for hundreds of years. Even when incompetent fools hold the reigns at the palace, Yuqui was never seriously affected.

But Yuqui hit its highest peak of resurgence during Gu Fang's father's time. Mineral deposits were discovered in the mountains to the south. Commerce grew and flourished. And a school, led by a Grand Tutor called Mu Qing, was founded. That school later became the site of the widely popular Battle of Talents which attracted hundreds of contestants from near and far kingdoms every year to Yuqui.

It was no wonder then that outsiders looking in would get jealous and would try to plot against Yuqui's downfall.

It was already spring but the interior of the great Sierra mountains remained freezing cold. Before going out to surveill the area, An Ning had distributed winter gear to Yi Hai and his men. The fatigues and military jackets were fine with the men but they did grumble a bit about the high leather boots, which died down by the time they made camp on the banks of a river with a tiny waterfall.

When the drone was released, An Ning made particular attention to the patterns of the trees. A gap could mean a lot of things: trees felled to build dwellings; a patch created to make way for the presence of a new construction. It could mean many things, even a tower where an experienced bowman could hide and release an arrow for an intruder to die.

When the drone pa.s.sed by the large shadow on the face of a mountain, An Ning almost missed it. The shadow itself was a convenient camouflage since the burned part of the mountain's edifice where lightning had struck perfectly hid the opening of a cave. And a man was standing at the entrance, smoking what looked to be like a red Marlboro slim.

An Ning's eyes glimmered with fire.

"Quick! Pack everything up and let's move!"

The men didn't ask questions. They simply followed orders and in a short time, the van was moving downstream with the river. An Ning chose a quiet spot hidden in all directions and killed the engine.

"What happened in there?" Yi Hai, sitting besides her, asked.

"Richard is here. He's behind this...this group plotting against Yuqui."

"What? I don't understand."

"Did you see that man in the entrance to the cave? He looked like a native, dressed like a native yet he was smoking a cigarette which will not be discovered in like another five hundred years in this country," An Ning cried. "d.a.m.n. He's outsmarted me this time. d.a.m.n Richard!"

Yi Hai looked at the quaking men at the back. Catching his meaning, the men hurriedly opened the door and jumped outside.

"Now we're alone. Explain it to me again."

So, An Ning explained in detail what that simple sight of a cigarette mean.

"You think he's near?"

An Ning considered his question then shook her head. She was feeling a lot better now, able to see things clearly and grasp their meaning. The sight of that Marlboro stick shook her up badly though. She forgot that Richard was here even before she arrived. He was a charismatic man who did well in school and in business. She refused to believe that death or time travel could change the basic him into a savage idiot. That's not what Richard was after, what he was about. He wanted power and all men who want power were not drooling idiots.

"Laniang was already in place before Richard arrived. He could only pull the strings and help things move along. Like supply them with ammo and things like that. Or give them advise or something. He already know how to come and go between worlds. It would be easy for him to arm them if he likes."

"That husband of yours is really shameless. I'm really starting to hate him."

"Former husband," An Ning automatically corrected. "Thank G.o.d my kids didn't know anything about him."

Yi Hai gaped at her.

"You have children?"

"I'm already a 26 year old woman when I transmigrated into this 16-year old body, you know. And in my time, that is already considered old for kids."

"I thought you were about my age," Yi Hai mumbled unhappily. "I didn't know you were older."

"Let me tell you another secret. I am also an immortal."

"What?" Yi Hai's eyes literally goggled at her in surprise.

"Come on, I think this place is far enough. Let's set camp and doubled back after."

"You don't want to use the drone this time?"

""Not this time. They might spot it and investigate. Those men are not simple idiots. They've already been trained to spot anything unusual and they'll be ready for all possibilities. Not to mention that I think they've already been warned about me."

"The tank?"

"Not only that. Richard knew I was coming. He knew my capabilities. Of course, he'll warn them about me."

"Really shameless."

An Ning smothered her laughter.

"Richard is not bad. It's just that he forgot about one important thing."

"What's that?"

"I kicked his a.s.s before when I told him to go f.u.c.k his mistress and never come back. Why would he think he can win against me this time around?"