Rebirth

In his dream, he stood in a spacious command room, surrounded by huge, complex, and unfamiliar equipment, with screens flashing codes and maps he had never seen before. Each time in the dream, he was no longer a fifteen-year-old boy but had transformed into a middle-aged man in his forties. Dressed in a military officer's uniform, he stood tall and stern. Strikingly, in the dream, his name was "Oren," not "Rakien."

The name Oren puzzled Rakien. He had never been to the place in his dreams, an unfamiliar massive base surrounded by towering walls and tight security. He remembered everything from his dreams vividly, even the layout of the base and the details of daily life. Yet, to Rakien, this dream was of a completely alien place.

What confused him even more was that in the dream, he had a completely different and unfamiliar life from reality. The man named Oren had a broken childhood, entirely unlike Rakien's experiences. Oren's father was as explosive as thunder, often getting angry over trivial matters, while his mother was his only sanctuary. Her early death was the root of Oren's gloomy character, and he grew up with these shadows, later joining the military and eventually becoming an officer.

This dream had accompanied Rakien for years, recurring every so often since he could remember. Sometimes the dream scenes were as clear as reality, sometimes vague, but the intense sense of confusion always lingered in his heart. Rakien had never mentioned it to anyone, nor did he understand what was happening.

However, a dramatic turn of events occurred here.

Two days later, Rakien coincidentally met a man named Kahn in the shelter. Kahn was a reticent survivor, around forty years old, who seemed to have experienced many hardships. Rakien always felt that the name Kahn and his appearance were somewhat familiar, but he couldn't remember where he had seen them before. During a casual conversation, Kahn casually mentioned his hometown—a small town called Grayfen. When Rakien heard this name, he was taken aback! The name matched the one from his dreams!

"Grayfen?" Rakien asked tentatively, "I've heard that name... What was it like before the war?"

Kahn was taken aback, not expecting Rakien to know about this obscure little town. "It was a very ordinary place, so quiet that almost no one knew about it. Where did you hear about it?" he replied, with a hint of nostalgia in his eyes, "But after the nuclear war, it was destroyed too, and there's not much left."

Rakien's heart raced, and he was determined to get to the bottom of this. "Kahn, do you know Oren? He's also from Grayfen."

Kahn's face instantly showed surprise. "How do you know Oren?" he asked in amazement, "Oren was my childhood neighbor, we were best friends, and we even joined the military together... Wait, how do you know about him?"

Rakien's breathing quickened; he had never mentioned the Oren from his dreams to anyone, yet Kahn before him actually knew this person!

"I... I don't know how to explain," Rakien said in a low voice, filled with confusion and fear, "I've had the same dream for many years, dreaming that I am Oren, dreaming of that town, dreaming of what seems to be you when you were young, and everyone in the town... I remember it all!"

Kahn stared at Rakien, an incredulous expression appearing on his face. "This can't be..."

"Oren... we were best friends when we were kids," Kahn said slowly, his voice tinged with nostalgia and sadness, "He was very intelligent and capable. We grew up together, then joined the military, but were assigned to different units... I haven't seen him in years. After the war broke out, news became even scarcer. I always thought he was at the front, but I'm not clear on what exactly happened."

Rakien's heart churned like rolling waves as he tried to match the memories from his dreams with Kahn's words, attempting to make sense of the chaotic clues. Clearly, the Oren from his dreams and the Rakien from reality were gradually overlapping, which confused him immensely.

"Kahn, can you help me find out?" Rakien said firmly, "The Oren you mentioned is exactly the same as the one in my dreams! I want to know what happened to him."

Kahn nodded, although he found Rakien's experience hard to believe, his intuition told him that there might be some mysterious connection between the young man before him and his childhood friend.

They decided to risk using the shelter's computer system, although refugees were prohibited from entering non-living areas, Kahn, having been in the military and having spent years in the shelter, knew some tricks to cleverly evade guards and surveillance.

The next deep night, the two found an opportunity, bypassed a hidden corner of the shelter, and sneaked into a control equipment management room. Kahn skillfully started the old computer in the corner, the keyboard making faint tapping sounds as the screen gradually lit up.

"If Oren really became a high-ranking military official, then his records should be findable on the military website," Kahn explained as he entered commands. His fingers quickly danced across the keyboard, and soon he was on the military website's search interface.

Rakien nervously watched the screen, his breath almost stopped. A few seconds later, the search results appeared—Oren Grayfen, deceased. He had been in charge of the Lanque Project before the nuclear war.

Kahn's eyes were fixed on the screen, his face full of confusion and surprise. "This can't be... he's actually dead..." he muttered to himself, "His records show that he died in the first round of nuclear strikes, how is this possible..."

Rakien felt as if his heart had been struck heavily. His mind went blank; he had never truly been to those places in his dreams, yet he remembered everything about them vividly, and now, he had definitive confirmation—the man named Oren from his dreams had indeed existed! And had died in the nuclear war.

"So... the dreams I've been having, they're not just dreams?" Rakien said in a low voice, his eyes filled with confusion and fear, "Those experiences in my dreams, they were real? Could it be... memories from a past life?"

Kahn's face was etched with shock and disbelief as he looked at Rakien, his mind racing, "Good heavens! I've heard stories of reincarnation before, always thought they were fabricated tales, and this is actually true? You are actually Oren's reincarnation?..."

Images from Rakien's dreams flashed through his mind: battlefields, command rooms, lost homes, and even familiar faces he had never met. All the fragments pieced together at this moment, forming a complete picture.

And this picture was quietly changing his life.

"How can someone be reincarnated?" Rakien muttered to himself, "Is there some mission I'm supposed to fulfill? Or a sin to atone for?"

The two fell into silence.

"Perhaps Oren really left something important before the war, that's why he came back in this life, if that's the case, only you would know," Kahn said gravely.