Eternal Black Sky

---

The child was One,

given shelter for one year,

before his mother

left him at a police station.

She left the quiet child

to be found near the entrance,

and hurried away under the shadow

of the Eternal Black Sky.

The young mother made the decision

of her own free will.

She chose that her son

was better off on his own.

The ancient Khan ancestors

asked for council.

The shame was too Great.

The ancient ancestor,

an unknown father,

of the orphan's broken lineage

was allowed an ask.

The Father asked Destiny,

"I ask that you guide the Child of Fate

on a better path."

When asked by Destiny the price,

he said without hesitation,

"I swear on my Name,

he is worth the ask."

"He is a true son of the plains,

a Dragon of Blue Winter."

 

"This Child of Fate

will be able to repay my claim."

"I will mend his Name

to his broken line of Khan."

Destiny could not refuse such a price,

and blessed the newly formed

Dragon of Blue Winter

with a better path.

The Dragon of Fire

would be reborn again

in his season of Autumn,

after the Desert Sun.

The Khan ancestors

watched over him,

but none could teach him

the ways of the plains.

The child was on eastern shores,

far away from the golden fields

of his ancestral home.

The orphan

did not know the prayers.

Destiny shaped his fate

with a path that led

under the Roof of the World.

From the Void of Nothing,

during the bumpy car ride

towards the orphanage,

a voice echoed.

"Do your best son,

that is all I ask of you"

The child smiled warmly

and closed his eyes.

 

The orphan returned

to his Dream Eternal,

the only place

where his ancient ancestors

could speak to him.

---

---

I can only recall the briefest of memories of the orphanage, but what I can remember is an overwhelming sense of winter.

They are the most beautiful recollections, held within the color blue, frozen crystalized moments in time, that will remain my eternal.

That period of my life is imprinted inside me, forged from experiences I have mostly forgotten.

Experiences of the past translate, in some form, into our present.

Nothing is ever lost, only forgotten.

I experienced the orphanage again at the age of 47.

My wife and daughter made false statements to keep me locked in.

That experience reconnected me to my past.

Like a tidal wave, it swept me to the white sand shores of my forgotten days.

I faced the orphan of my past, and he reminded me of who I was.

This time, though, I knew the family members who discarded me.

It awakened me to the reality of human nature.

I refused to look away in fear and accepted the reality.

It was my allegory of the cave moment.

I was forced to see beyond the outward appearance, of shadows cast by my wife and her family, and see them as they were. They were shadows that could not take form.

When you know, you know.

It was an enlightening experience, being wrongfully imprisoned by someone I love and continue to forgive.

The five years in the orphanage was where I survived without any bitterness, and I hold no bitterness towards her.

I remain hopeful always, so the orphan must have kept that hope safe.

The orphan thought of the family that left him, because I think of them from time to time.

He endured and never felt let down, since I have never felt let down.

The past and present can shift back and forth, through the fabric of memory.

The orphan's spirit was never broken.

I am full of eternal hope.

I have forgiven my Korean family. Choices made were out of my infant hands.

They are still family, even if they do not think so of me.

They did their best, and I match their best with my best.

I endured without any resentment towards them.

I learned at an early age, don't dwell and move on.

I could not have survived those long years without a family, to keep the hope that was tested every day.

Family can be created from necessity.

A family of orphans kept me warm, and prevented the frostbite of bitterness.

---

Destiny led the orphan to a better place,

after his mother treated him

as second born,

even though he was a firstborn

out of wedlock.

The dance of destiny led him

to three kind mothers

that followed the ways

of the One Buddha.

The unknown father,

ancestor of the One Khan,

now sitting at the head of council,

said without passion,

"I have claimed the Child of Fate

as my kin."

"His broken lineage is mended."

"He is now accepted

into the Tribe of the Eternal Blue Sky."

"I break the line of his Choson lineage."

"The shame was too Great."

"They are no longer welcome."

"From this day forward

the Tribe of Khan will watch over him."

The Choson ancestors could not protest,

 and walked away in disgrace.

The shame was too Great.

The Khans welcomed

their firstborn as their own,

with the blessing of the Eternal Blue Sky.

But the price to repay,

for such an honor,

was great.

The Child of Fate

now had to match his best

with the best of the unknown

ancestor father.

That was the price

of the ask to Destiny.

The father was unconcerned.

He expected the boy

 to match his best

and grow stronger.

The father knew that hardships

would test his weakness,

and if he did not break,

it would turn into strength.

He did not think his son would break.

---

---

I do not recall speaking Korean.

I think it was because I did not speak often.

My memory of the orphanage is a silent movie.

I have no memory of any cruelty.

I felt safe there.

But my gaps of memory meant I lived the same routine.

The orphan endured the same day continuously.

He waited for 5 long years.

He did not realize the burden was the weight of a mountain.

I experienced 12 days of what the orphan endured in 2023, and it almost broke me.

The limits of my freedom was suffocating, unbearable at first, until all that was left was to bear it.

I would later quit my job when I felt I was in danger of it happening again, with a threat from my wife's daughter.

Returning to a place, similar to the orphanage, is my greatest fear.

Those 12 days opened a past I rarely thought of, until I walked in handcuffed through the gates of the hospital named MCES. And all because of an opinion from August Heckman II, who wrote a creative letter regarding the title "Obituary."

That title gturned into the title White Sands, my favorite story, becuase it took courage to finish it, and not be bitter at the reason I was imprisoned.

The orphan lasted over 1500 days and was unbroken. That is where I learned courage from, within the walls that held me back.

He carried a burden without any family.

The orphan carried it all alone.

He didn't know the weight was so heavy and just endured.

It was all that he had ever known.

That was how he carried the Blue Mountain of my past.

---

The orphan was raised

with discipline instilled.

Raised by kind strict mothers,

surrounded by brothers and sisters,

he was taught three things.

Courage

Patience

Forgiveness

The orphan stood guard

mentally prepared,

to wait for as long as needed.

Wait, obey, and do your best.

His mind was trained

to accept the stillness of time.

His life was just three rooms.

He slept on the floor.

The Khan ancestors told him

in his Dream Eternal.

"Trust only the family you know."

"Find shelter

under the Roof of the World."

"But never pray to the One Buddha."

"You are a true son of plains."

"Our people pray

to the Eternal Blue Sky."

When the orphan took Winter Baths,

the water was always cold.

Bathed with harsh brushes

that made his skin red,

it was the baths

that caused the most pain.

Before each cold Winter Bath,

a bow to the One Buddha.

As he stepped out

of the pool,

with the fading pain,

he bowed again to the One Buddha

in gratitude for the Test.

This was his ritual for 5 years,

and would remain with him

for the rest of his life.

---

I know who I am.

I did not want to bow to the statue of Buddha after I was given a harsh bath.

But they made me practice their religion, and I accepted.

I would later go through the same trial with the Romans.

I did not want to go to church, but it continued my education and tempered my stubbornness.

I respect the religions I was asked to follow, but I have never believed.

I don't retreat or surrender.

I don't give my beliefs away.

I know myself and I know what is best for me.

I don't give ground when something is important to me, and it always shocks those who see my resolve.

That is me.

That is who I am.

I rarely have to show that side because I go with the flow.

I usually don't care enough to disagree,

Just because I accept doesn't mean I believe.

Don't know, don't care is my attitude towards life.

I don't get that worked up.

It makes my life simple.

I try to follow three cardinal rules.

Do not complain.

Do what is asked.

Do my best.

But not for everything.

Some asks will be denied,

without any concern of compromise.

---

The Child of Fate held onto one thing

that could not be imposed.

He would follow all the rules

and do what was asked,

but he refused to pray.

His only free will that remained.

The orphan believed in one thing.

"I believe in only myself."

As his belief in himself grew,

and so too did his will.

 

The boy refused to feel the pain

of the Winter Baths.

The suffering had been stilled.

The Child showed his resolve,

even to those that tried to shelter him.

His ancestors were forced to only watch,

but never allowed to protect him.

The Child of Fate would not ask.

His steel would not bend

in his beliefs in Self.

Even Destiny

could not shape his fate easily.

His Fate grew stronger

the longer he accepted his fate.

The devout three mothers,

who gave him shelter

under the Roof of the World,

could not make him believe

in the One Buddha.

They knew a true follower.

 

He was not one.

The Child of Fate accepted everything,

and was no longer attached

to the suffering.

As he was taught by the One Buddha,

for whom he refused to pray to.

---

It is the contrasts that reveal,

reflections of opposites,

which bring clarity to both.

My past gave me a range of experiences.

It is the range which gives depth to the meaning.

Those memories are touchstones to who I am.

It is a part of me that I do not deny nor will I ever be ashamed of.

My time in the orphanage was the best education I could have asked.

It taught me to be grateful for everything I have and made me unattached to the material.

I was raised in a spartan environment.

The only touch of modern was the TV.

But the feeling I always get, when I think back on those days held within the blue, was I lived in a different time period.

When I first came to the states, my family had to place boards on the side of the bed.

I would be found sleeping on the floor in the morning.

Comfort had to be forced on me.

I would just take my blanket and sleep where I had for five years.

When my family told me I needed to stay in bed, I rolled off the bed on purpose, and hoped they would allow me stay on the floor.

The bed was too comfortable.

Comfort is what made me uncomfortable.

---

The Celtic Mother,

who practiced the Roman Ways,

was given a sign.

She and her Roman husband

decided they found a purpose.

Of their own free will,

they chose to shelter a child

that had no family.

The Mother asked her only son

if he wanted a brother or sister.

Without hesitation he replied,

"I want a brother"

Destiny said,

"The Child of Blue Winter

has waited long enough."

The Great Shame was now counter

balanced with Great Kindness.

The Khan ancestors rejoiced.

And so,

the Dragon of Blue Winter

entered a plane.

The true son of the plains

flew across the great ocean

and left the eastern lands,

farther now from his ancestral home.

The golden fields

would have to be found

within the eastern coast

of new Rome.

The crest of the 9th army

was found within the young nation of the eagle.

The Child of Fate

would always be on foreign soil,

destined to always be a foreigner.

He would be an outsider,

to both the western and eastern lands.

While the child slept on the plane,

he heard a new voice

in his Eternal Dream.

The unknown ancestral Father

spoke to his son.

He spoke to him for the first time.

"You are a true son of the plains."

"We are nomads."

"Wherever you go,

that is your home."

"We pray to the Eternal Blue Sky."

"We pray to our own people."

"You are a Dragon of Blue Winter."

"Find your own destiny."

"We will follow wherever you lead."

"Do your best son,

that is all I ask of you"

---

Winter had ended

and would never return.

Spring would be his longest season

to balance the harsh cold.

Reborn as the Dragon of Jade Spring.

36 years of good luck would be given.

Followed by the Desert Sun

of the Empress who imposed her destiny,

where he would learn to serve.

The child would always be

a Dragon of Winter.

The weight of the Blue Mountain

was too great.

The season changed just in time.

The Winter almost broke him.

He could not have endured another year.

The orphan would have lost hope,

if not for the great kindness of a family

who followed the Roman Ways,

and made a choice of their own free will.

Balance was found.

The orphan was claimed

as a son.

---

The Child of Fate smiled

as he flew through the sky,

flying towards his destiny.

New days were happening.

The speed was too much

for the quiet boy.

He had to catch up

with the pace of change.

He was raised in the ancient ways,

under the Roof above the World.

When he stepped outside the gates,

he walked into a different flow.

His stillness had to match

the speed of the modern.

The world was moving towards him,

and not away.

---

On his first night.

on Western shores,

he crawled into bed

above the floor.

His older brother taught him his first word.

"apple."

The Child of Fate was delighted

to learn the word so quickly

The firstborn marveled

at the speed he learned,

and later remarked

to his mother and father,

"He learns fast."

---

I have a memory of all my sisters crying as one, probably the worst memory I have of the orphanage.

I remember getting my hair shaved, with my sisters mourning the loss of their hair.

I heard them behind the buzz of the clippers.

I think there was a lice breakout.

All my brothers and sisters had to get their head shaved.

This was a break in the pattern.

This is the only memory of this happening.

I can't recall the girls ever being at the barber shop, except this one time, which is why I remember.

All the them cried and sobbed in unison.

Their beauty was being taken away.

I understood, even at that age, that their hair meant more than just their beauty, it was their dignity that was being harmed.

---

When my sister, Myra, was getting chemotherapy, she knew it was going to happen.

Her hair was going to be lost.

She asked my wife to brush her hair.

She said, "Please help me brush my hair one last time."

"I need my big sister to do this one last thing."

"I need your help."

My wife told me this story.

Isa told me that her heart ached to hear those words.

She said to me, "I have brushed her hair countless times, Mark."

"This was the last time I would do this."

"My heart ached when she called me big sister."

Her sister asked because she trusted her, to be able to see her beauty, without her hair.

It was a sign of unconditional trust.

My gift of unconditional trust to Maria Isabel Williams would not be returned with such kindness.

---

The Child of Fate

found his hope answered.

The one thing he waited for,

the hope he kept,

was finally given.

He was allowed free will.

The Winter was over,

the bitterness did not touch his soul.

He could finally breath

from the suffocating routine.

He did not break

from the monotony

and kept his mind active

within the stillness of time.

He was given moments of privacy.

His family allowed him

space to be his own.

They gave him time

to find out who he was.

It was the greatest gift

for the Child of Fate

to be able to find his destiny

on his own.

---

The Child of Winter

was taken by hand

to a place with newness

in his first month.

It was a new experience

that left him untouched.

The desires of the material

had no hold over him.

It could not reach him

as he walked.

His only thought was

holding his mother's hand.

He was happy.

And then it happened,

a break in the pattern.

He did not let his mother

move forward.

The Celtic Mother,

who followed the Roman Ways,

looked down at her son

and saw a show of faith.

It was a bow to a statue

of the One Buddha.

The bow said to his Master,

"I am grateful for everything

you taught me."

"I have learned the ways

of the Staff and Shield."

It was a final goodbye.

It was the first bow

that was not before the Winter Baths.

It was the last bow

that was in thanks for the Test.

It was the last bow

he would ever make

until his season of Autumn.

But the Dragon of Fire

still would not pray.

---

---

The first person I can remember is the only memory of someone my age at the orphanage.

The other orphans are faceless.

All I know was they were there.

They are just vague ideas that I was not alone.

In my crystalized winter memory,

frozen in time,

I am always alone.

In all my memories but one.

My first friend.

She is the only one I can remember with clarity.

She could not bear the loss of her hair.

I heard her crying through the night.

She was still mourning.

She walked across to the other side of the room towards me.

We were separated on different sides of the room.

She was holding back her sobbing while she walked across the floor.

She asked me,

without words,

for help.

I allowed her into my space.

She slipped underneath my blanket.

I didn't say anything.

I just held her.

This memory stayed with me,

because it is the only memory

of contact with someone.

I knew that she did not want to talk.

It would have woken the others.

I hugged her,

to let her know

she was not alone.

We both slept, as two orphans, hoping to be taken away to another place, where the cost of medicine would have prevented unnecessary hardships.

The water was cold in the baths because hot water was too much a cost.

I had to endure the cold Winter Baths, even when it was not winter.

By the time I woke up she had returned to her bed on the floor, so as not to get in trouble from breaking a rule.

---

Lineage

Khan

under Roof of the World

---

Timeline

Started: 3/5/25

Completed: 3/11/25

Days: 6 days

Genre: Creation

---