A tall, blonde man donning faded blue jeans, and a cut sleeved, red-cotton plain shirt stepped out from the driver's side of a white '67 Mustang convertable. The heat had been stifling all afternoon. He squinted his eyes against the blazing sun and ducked back into the car in search of his sun glasses. Finding them attached to the visor, he mad his way to back of the car to retrive the groceries from the trunk. The guys would be over around two o'clock for a BBQ. Todd had arrived earlier that morning to do work on track 12. The drummer was having problems with that one. As far as he knew, Todd was still there in the studio.

He began loading the contents of the brown bags into the refrigerator.

"Hey, man." Todd called from the livingroom. The drummer hopped over the counter and began rumaging in the frige, nabbing a six pack of beer. "Track 12, finito." He grinned widely.

The other smiled and nabbed a can of beer. "Here, here." As they toasted to the minute victory, the doorbell rang.

"I got it." Todd hopped over the counter once more and dashed for the door. "Hey, JY."

The man on the the other side of the threshold was in his early 50's, blonde and wore a mustache. He had on a black T-shirt with a wolf logo on it and dark denim jeans. His arms were hugging several boxes stacked on top of each other, every one filled with studio equiptment.

"I got it," Todd grabbed one of the boxes.

JY grinned and noded in gratitude. "Thanks." The men set the boxes below the counter and the younger blonde man tossed JY a beer. After gulping down half the can, JY caught his breath and shook his head as he looked at his friend. "Now, I don't get why you have to move the boonies!"

"Is isn't the boonies," The young blonde man smiled. "It's quiet."

"It's in the middle of nowhere, Tommy."

Todd nodded. "I'm with him."

"I know it sounds weird, but I just want a little piece and quiet. Last I heard, that wasn't a crime." The lead guirtarist of Styx grabbed the large bag of charcoal, slung it over his shoulder and shot a winning boyish smile to his companions. "C'mon we've got a BBQ to get done. Dennis and Suzanne are coming over with the kids."

Todd and JY exchanged looks and made their way out back.

Later that night.

Tommy stepped out into the deck. The afternoon's BBQ's aroma was still pungent, overpowering the blooming jasmine which had strung 'round about the pillars and rafters. It was a clear and beautiful night. The stars were shinning their brightest. A strong desire within himself ached and he wished that he was not alone. The constellations were quite clear in the night blue and black backdrop. His eyes scanned the large perimeter of open sky.

*Delphinus, Altair, Scorpius, Lupus, Virgo...*

His eyes trained eastward... funny, he had never spotted that gathering of stars before. But it remined him of something... What it was, he could not put his finger on. His bare feet crushed the cool grass blades as he crossed the length of the field, whilst his eyes trained to the alien constellation.

There, on the crest of the hill, he sat down. It had been a long day. But it had been fun, so he couldn't complain. Just a month ago they had been touring the US promoting their new album, "Brave New World." Now that had taken alot out of him. After a consistant tour schedule and night after night in different hotels, he was glad to give his real estate agent a ring and find that she had just the cure. He had tired of living in the city. He'd grown up in a little town in Alabama, but even there he did quiet fit in. He longed for something more to fill his life. Something was missing. Joining Styx seemed to fill that gap, but after the hype had died away, he was right back where he'd started.

Sighing, he leaned back and propped his arms under his neck. He closed his eyes and dreamed...

A country was at war and a man in ancient battle armor sat gallantly on his war horse. His blonde locks sweept over his face in the wind. Only his blue eyes were clearly visible. There was much hate in the man and it reflected in his eyes.

"This world will feel my pain!" The man cried into the howling wind.

The scene changed and Tommy staggered back. He was standing not far from the same angry man. There was a beautiful, red haired woman standing next to the warrior whose hand was extended over a dying wolf whose eye had been damaged.

"His usefullness to me has passed." The blue-eyed warrior muttered. His voice had been so void of emotion, it made Tommy's fingers numb with cold.

Again his face was hidden from view by the woman. And again he is trasported to another time.

He was in the middle of a war torn city. It looked to be in the present time.

Six men had assembled, amoung them a young girl in a school uniform. The seven were surrounded by a red glowing arura as they concentrated their power into a bared chested man with aqua hair. The bare chested fighter was pitted against the evil man he had seen earlier. He wondered why he was being shown these things.MO"He'll kill you!' Tommy cried.

But the outcome was different. Tamahome struck the fatal blow to the evil man, hammering his fist clean through his opponent's mid section.

A thin stream of crimson flowed from the side of the evil man's mouth. As the secrets of his repressed memories were revealed to Tamahome, so they were revealed to Tommy.

The blonde man raised his head. The face was all too familiar.

Tommy's eyes widened. *No...* He shook his head, refusing to believe what his eyes were witnessing.

*Nakago...* That was what he was called. A tortured soul. A man's whose crimes condemned him to exile even from the dead who were his peers, until...

Tommy gasped for air. He was back on his ranch. The sky was still dark. He gripped the grass blades and tore them from the ground.

*Nakago.....Nakago is me?!?*

TBC..............