I observe the old man who is standing at the front of the boat, seemingly deep in thought. A halo surrounds his head, like the spectrum visualizer usually seen in a music player. Some meters are still, some are rising up and down ever so slightly, and in different hues of colors. The green meters are mostly stable, the blue ones are flaring up and down, other colors are muted.

  “Is that all you remember?” The old man asks again

  “Yes,” I repeated. “I only remember waking up, everything was hazy, then I remember following some light.”

  The blue meters flaring up before calming down. Does the blue mean doubt? Or concern? Why am I seeing these in the first place? But most importantly,

  “Are you sure this is safe old man?” I also repeat my question

  Gripping the edges of the boat with my hands for my dear life. Mane and fur all standing on edge. The old man turned his head back towards me, then grinned. Green meter flaring.

  “Don’t do it!”

  But he did. The flying boat does a barrel roll. The old man laughs while I keep myself pushed to the boat as it rolls. The old man meanwhile was still standing straight as the boat rolled as if his feet were glued to the boat. So green is joy or something similar.

  “Aren’t you too big to be scared of something like this?”

  “Aren’t you too old for jokes like this?”

  “Hahahaha!”

  Then he did three more barrel rolls. Dark clouds are all I see as my vision spins. But finally the boat calms again. His flaring green is now calming again. Then the blue one raises.

  “So, your body is like this your entire life?” He prod again

  Blue ones are doubts, questions, something uncertain then? I lift my right hand from the boat edge. Furs, check. Scales, check. Claws, check. Then my hand went to my skull head, feeling the antlers. Then I checked my tail. My clawed hooves. There’s nothing strange about it.

  “Yes, I'm sure. Why do you keep asking me this?”

  “That’s not how I remember you.”

  “And how did you remember me?” My right hand gripping the edge again

  Blue ones flaring again as the old man folded his arm.

  “Something that looks like me? Anything else you remember other than following the light?”

  I tilt my head, trying to remember more.

  “I remember running, then colors?” blurred, vague outline of colorful things are all I remember other than running

  “And with what did you run?”

  “With my hooves!” I answered confidently, lifting my hoof and presenting it

  “No wait, with my hand too?” I retract as I inspect my hand. Some nagging feeling that I use my hands to run too

  “From before, let’s say, before all of this, anything you remember you usually do with your hand?” The old man asks, leaning closer as he saw me inspecting my hand. Something’s not right

  “Like, playing a musical instrument? Calligraphy or archery perhaps?” He then adds

  Let’s see. Typing, mouse clicking then-

  “My fingerprint!” I show him my thumbs, rubbing it with my index

  “There’s this device we use that require fingerprint for—

  I pause, eyes wide. Rubbing my fingers more before checking with my claw. My fingerprints are gone. What the fuck! What the fuck!! A hand on my shoulder and my head shot up. The old man, gazing directly at me. He lifts his hand and pulls off his gloves. Then he presented his scarred and callused hand. Then he rubs his thumb and index.

  “These fingerprints?” I nod in confirmation

  “What the hell happened?” The old man sat in front of me

  “Your body… liquified. You chase the light and then the colors, must be your effort in remaking your body.” He tries to explain as gently as possible

  “With what?” To this, he sighed

  “I heard from some travelers that a deer, a pack of wolves, and some kind of snake died nearby we met.”

  I recheck my body as he lists the dead animals. I don’t know how to respond, my body feels so natural to me that I feel it is always like this.

  “So what am I?” I ask, my voice breaking

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  “You said it yourself, you are human. So let’s stop at that.”

  I looked at the old man. The green are dropping, so are the blue ones. Some mixing to warm turquoise. Does this mean that he is concerned about me? Hmmm. When was the last time someone did that to me? It felt comforting, I guess. My hand checks his, seeing what my hand is supposed to be like if not this.

  Then flashes, roaring. A sword, screams, and blood. Corpses, as far as eye can see.

  “What’s your name?” His question break my stupor

  I try to remember. But found none. Seems like my body is not the only one that is gone. I shake my head. Then the old man wears his gloves again. What the hell did I just see then? Then I felt something warm on my back.

  “Would you look at that?”

  I looked behind me and saw the sunrise. First time I saw it this bright. Warmer than I ever remember.

  “If you can’t remember your name, would you like it if I gave you one?” The old man offers

  “Sure, why not.” I answer without much thought. Not like I will be losing more things

  “Hmmm, let’s see. Auspicious time of sunrise. A new life. Hmmm, hmmm. How about Dànxīng? Xuán Dànxīng (玄旦星)?”

  “Very well. Anything is better than nothing.”

  “I hope you will appreciate your new name in time. Right, I forgot to introduce my name. I am Xuán Xīngchén (玄星沉), courtesy name Luòchén (落辰). I will be taking care of you from now on.” He continues. Green flares brightly.

  “Does it mean you are adopting me?” I ask incredulously, noticing the shared surname

  “Yes, any problem with that?”

  “Well, no. Just why?”

  Immediately the bright green meters plummet, bluish violet rising. Oh fuck, did I just step on something.

  “It’s something a dear friend would do.”

  “I see.” I decided to finish this line of conversation

  Then the green rises a little. My hands immediately go back to gripping the boat edges as he rocks the boat again.

  “Can you stop doing that!?”

  “I just find it funny, for a man that fell to the sky, you are afraid of height but not back then?”

  “First, I thought it was a dream back then. Second, I don’t like the lack of safety features on this flying boat. Third, what’s a courtesy name?”

  “It’s something given to someone when they are an adult. Given names are then reserved to family members or close friends. It shows maturity.”

  “Back home, it is called nicknaming and it's the other way around.”

  —

  “Hmmm.” Luòchén hums pensively as he inspect my mouth

  Then suddenly picking my tongue and pulling it out as far as possible. Tilting my head to the side as he inspected my neck. Then checking my eyes again. Then opening my head again and pushing my head upwards. I bit down as soon as I felt a finger touching the roof of my mouth. He calmly wrenches my jaw open and pulls his hand out.

  “Well, no skin or muscle above your jawline, just a skull. Can somehow still feel touch. The tongue is longer than usual. No eyelids but somehow can still blink. Three sets of different eyes making great perception. Give me your hand.” I give him his hand again

  He felt my pulse again but this time I felt something flowing into me.

  “Well, other than the oddities, you are healthy. Much better than before even. Before you are a mortal without cultivation and in ten days you are early Foundation Establishment. Looks like there’s fortune in losing your body.” He concludes my medical check up

  “What’s a Foundation Establishment?”

  “Its a stage of a cultivator, after refining the purity of your Qi, you are now expanding your Dantian to make foundation of your core-” He drones on before I cut

  “Wait-wait-wait. Cultivator? Qi? What are you talking about?” He looks surprised with my questions

  “Cultivating, you know? Ascension to Immortality?” I shake my head at both

  “Qi? Yin Yang? Wu Xing (Five elements)? Daoism?” Again I shake my head

  “Buddhism? He asks for the last time

  “You mean that fringe religion in the east?” He slaps his forehead at my answer

  “So you don’t know anything at all about any of this?” The blue halo surrounding his head is peaking

  “No.”

  “Then what do your people do to… ascend, advance, raise your civilization, whatever?”

  “Well, back in my homeworld, most do artificing. It's like making advanced things, phones, airplanes, cars, spaceships.”

  “You have void ships? Then what if someone wants to live forever?”

  “We burn them at the stake.” To this, he raises both of his eyebrows

  “Just kidding, well there's an effort to move someone’s mind to an ageless machine body, or uploading them to spaceships, something along the line. No success yet though as far as civilians can know.”

  “Alright wait, so your homeworld is a mortal civilization? But you somehow already have void ships? What’s the latest achievement of your homeworld?”

  “We beat the communist to Mars.” I said with pride, index fingers pointing up

  “Mars being your world’s moon or another world?” He tries to confirm

  “Another world in the solar system. So you have void ships too?” I switch spaceship to void ships so that we are on the same page

  “Yes, but it's rare in this realm, in higher realm it will be much more common perhaps.”

  “Since you know the distinction between the moon and another world, does that mean planetary travel is possible here?” I ask in eagerness. Spaceship! Spaceship! Spaceship!

  “Yes, not with void ships mind you. Too expensive. There's a world gate and a realm gate. As for the difference… will have to wait as we are arriving soon.”

  Oh, come on. I was excited about that. But there will be plenty of time I guess. So I looked towards where the flying boat was headed. In front of me are tall and thin mountains. The ones I saw the first time I fell here. Five jutting peaks nestled above the clouds arrayed in a circular manner.

  “Welcome to Tiānhé Sect (天和|Celestial Harmony Sect). You will be living here so try to get used to the sight.” He explains as our flying boat passes some kind of translucent membrane

  “The tallest peak is Grand Equilibrium Peak (Tàihéng|太衡). It is where the sect leader and most offices reside as well as most of the disciples, inner and outer. Second tallest is Ethereal Sword Peak (Yǐtài Jiàn|乙太劍), where sword cultivators reside. They are our sect’s most powerful force. Then Jade Lotus Peak (Bìlián|碧蓮), an all female peak. Spells and arrays are their specialization. After that are Mystic Forge Peak (Xuánhuǐ|玄燬) and Vital Essence Peak (Shēngyuán|生元), where spiritual smiths and healers reside.” He continues as he points at the peaks one by one.

  Hmm. I surveyed what’s supposed to be my new home. Based on what I can gather from me and the old man’s conversation, it would seem like I am now stuck in some kind of fantasy world where people are trying to achieve immortality. Based on any literature knowledge that I have, this is usually not a good thing which is concerning. Not to mention that I am now in some kind of a sect which is obviously cult. I have no idea about anything else the old man said other than it might be levels of some kind. Unfamiliar culture and practice I can learn but I don’t know about the more fantastical parts.

  “Didn’t I tell you that this old man of yours is the elder of Vital Essence Peak?” He asks, looking smug

  “You just did.” I answer as the boat now flies towards the familiar bamboo forest where I first fall

  Oh, well. Here goes nothing. I have survived university life, a crashing economy, and pointless job huntings. Surely this will be manageable right? Right?