He found himself fleeing from a firey scene. He could not have been more than eight or nine years of age. He could not block the terrified screams from the people within the burning rubble. "Mamma...?" His little voice whispered. A beautiful woman with long blonde hair came ruching out of a burning house. In her arms were the family's only possessions. She had run back inside to salvage what her frail arms could carry. She ran to the boy just she sighted a chrriot in the distance. Mother and son ducked into a darkened alley. The boy's body shivered. He was so very cold for it was the dead of night.

The raid came as a surprise. His mother woke him in the middle of a peaceful sleep and into this hellish inferno. Shirking in every dim corner at the slightest sound, the woman was able to escape with her son to the gates of the city.

She wiped the tears from her eyes, she was going ot be strong... for the boy.

The child tugged at the sleeve of his mother's wrap. "Why are they doing this to us, mamma?" he asked innocently.

The woman took his tiny hand in hers and squeezed. "I do not know, Nakago," she replied sorrowfully.

The scene around him vanished, replaced by another.

"Nakago!" The woman screamed from behind the thin, tattering curtains. The hentai, lusty laughter of the men attempted to drowned her shouts from his ears.

His mother had told him to stay put. But he could not resist any longer. Something was happening. Something bad. He wanted to help her.

The boy ran from his hidding place. "Mamma..." The scene before him shattered the fragile glass within himself. Those men were hurting his mother. Tears cascaded down her cheeks as they held her down... doing things to her that made her cry out in pain and suffering. "Mamma...."

One of the men looked up from his malicious deed. Seeing the boy, he smiled and made for his sword.

But the boy saw nothing except the look of fear in his mother's eyes. Even in her pain, she feared for his life. "Nakago..."

"Mamma!!!!!!!" It was too much to bear. But something within himself fused and bubbled to the top of him. A strange feeling of power. It was feeding on his anger and his sorrow.

The symbol flashed on his forehead. *Mind*

The power surged and exploded around him.

"Mamma!!!!!!" Tommy bolted up in his bed, panting.

He flicked on the bathroom light and got a drink of water. He splashed cold water on his face. He no longer wished anymore sleep that night. That dream was all too real. None of this was real, right? That poor boy and his mother. He felt the boy's pain.

*I'm not Nakago. How can I be?* He gazed at the visage before him in the mirror. "I'm Tommy Shaw, damn it." But the conviction was hard in coming. "Get a grip."

He would go to down to L.A. to the Central Library in the morning. Perhaps there was something about these people. What was he thinking? None of this was real. He already felt that his mind was going. He didn't like that feeling, not at all.

To be continued..........