Whenever someone promises something to another person, or even enters into an agreement, there is always someone tasked to ensure that agreement is fulfilled. Someone who must remind, or quietly guide, preferably without understanding anything themselves. Since there are those who forge agreements. And there are those who would rather see those agreements broken. The less the keepers of paths and covenants know about what they truly guard, the better.

Wu Shi Yin wandered through a swarm of restless thoughts as he moved deeper into the Middle Kingdom. His road led across the old lands of Qing and Manchuria, toward the Lands of Eternal Sleep. There Wu Shi Yin was meant to preserve and pass on what is not so that those who would come later might remember what is yet to be.

The way to the Lands of Eternal Sleep was filled with dangers and strangers. Pretending to be a mad beggar wandering from place to place, Wu Shi Yin slowly forgot everything that needed to be forgotten. Day by day, a single task settled deeper into his mind and body — to preserve and conceal what is not.

And such a task can only be completed by losing one’s mind. But afterward, the mind must be found again. In another life, no less.

“What a thing, what a task…” Wu Shi Yin muttered cheerfully, spilling out sounds too slurred to understand.

2

Sometimes it happens that you remember more than you should.

For several hundred incarnations now, I have spun through Samsara like the mind of a drunkard on a heavy morning after. At times I remembered all those hundreds of lives, only to be born as an absolute fool because of it. In those incarnations Shiva, in his mercy, cared for me and helped me continue onward. Shiva accepts everyone — madmen, outcasts, all those who belong to no system and no world, yet endlessly cross between realities, following the pathless path.

Other times my memories came only dimly and through fog, as I encountered this one and that one, some from here, others from elsewhere, awakening memory through the chemistry of the body and phantom flashes of the past within the mind. A slight trembling, goosebumps running across the skin — an unmistakable greeting from past lives, an almost flawless validator of words. All of it returns as beautiful moments scattered across countless rebirths. Even the most terrible past becomes beautiful once it turns into nostalgia and memory.

But now I remember only nothing.

And so I crawl like a guerilla across the border while the military gathers refugees from our pirate half-state. A week ago I spotted drones without any identification. Back then, security assumed they belonged to our neighbors — another pirate half-state nearby. But I felt that something was wrong. A week later the neighboring authorities struck our checkpoints and launched an assault.

They slaughtered a great many people. Most of the Chinese were arrested. And the one who betrayed us was almost certainly Ming Tao, who had left shortly before that to negotiate another cash-out route.

3

Deep inside, I know one thing for certain - Shiva is always with me, and Om Namaḥ Śivāya is the key, the life ring that keeps me afloat.

With me is Zuo - a Shan man, whom I once bought out of slavery. He rarely speaks and fears absolutely nothing. Zuo knows the road into Laos, and work awaits us there with the Yunnan Syndicate. The Yunnanese control several casinos, data centers, and free markets. Just another half-state in need of drone and droid operators. And we are the number one team.

That is why everyone else is headed for a military prison, while we still have jungles, waterfalls, and the sky - a sky that is eternity itself.

4

After several nights in the jungle, we came right up to the Laotian border. In the distance we could see compounds and patrols carrying weapons.

We had three Dragonfly777 mini-drones left. We launched two of them without loads to chart the route ahead.

I pulled out a crumpled leaflet with a job offer on it. Written in Mandarin, English, and Burmese were the words:

WiFi your way to freedom.
Come to Lao.
Ask for Wu Shi Yin.

The drones slipped into autonomous mode. Zuo slowly carved the flesh from a coconut and chewed each piece with heavy satisfaction. I know he misses spicy salads and strong seasonings.

*

As one who is not belong
To any time -
of here, there, everywhere - 

Within your vows and deeds
You must remain
resilient, transparent and straight.

This life and lives,

moves slowly, swiftly, steady.

And you were not

for action born in here, there

once again and over.

But you were born

to bridge the worlds

again and over

once.