Battle training commenced and Engi began learning the art of swordsmanship along with tactical combat, strategic battle planning, troop formations etc. She became an eager student of the art of war, often asking the General about the wars that he knew of and the ones he had fought himself. Now fifteen, she was no longer treated as a child but as a member of her father's security troops, often accompanying him to nearby lands as his assist. She took this time to understand different kind of silks and their trades, explored cultures foreign from her own, and built a mental picture of how things worked in the Land of Zo, and between its neighboring lands.
Once, during her childhood, she remembered asking her father the reason for carrying such a heavy sword even though there was peace and prosperity where they lived. Her father had replied, "Peace comes with a great price, my love." She had started to understand the meaning of his answer now. Accompanying him in his travels, she often came across bandits and robbers who only wanted to kill and loot their riches from them. She fought gallantly besides her father to successfully defend their caravan numerous times. The stories of her valor spread like wildfire among the soldiers, and then through word of mouth from them to the commoners.
One day while walking through the market, her eyes caught a strange man, whom she had never seen in the village before. The man dressed in pure black silk, one that was foreign to the land of Zo, and seemed to be in his late thirties. Curious, she went up to the man to ask him of his whereabouts.
The man greeted her as she approached by saying, "The brightest lights attract the most notorious of moths." Not knowing how to react, she asked the man his name. "I am he who hangs in the balance" said the man. Engi had no idea what he was talking about. She tried a few more times to break conversation with him but the man kept replying in riddles. Frustrated, she decided to head back home. As she arose to leave the man exclaimed, "Ask your father to see me here tomorrow. Tell him that you met the Man from Nowhere!!"
It was past supper time when she reached home from her day long expedition into the village. Her father was in his study, meditating. Unwilling to disturb his peace, she decided to let their conversation slip till the next morning and headed straight to bed. The whole night she kept thinking about the strange man, his strange way of answering, and his strange request. Who is he? Where did he come from? What does he want with father? These were some of the questions that filled her mind tills she slipped into the sweet embrace of slumber. That night she had the most horrific of dreams.
She dreamt of a great cacophony coming from the village. Holding her bedside lamp in her hands she called for her parents. Nobody responded. It seemed the whole house was dark and deserted. Just when she was about to leave her room she saw something bright flying through the corridor. It was a silk moth, the one unique to the land of Zo. Its wings and abdomen were burning in flames of deep crimson.
Horrified, she dropped the lamp and rushed towards the courtyard, only to see her entire village burning in the same deep crimson fires, the flames reaching as high as the mountains themselves. Perplexed and shocked by the awful sight, she decided to turn and head indoors to seek help. As her gaze returned towards her house, she saw the most horrid thing that her eyes could not believe. The entire palace was ablaze, burning down to its very foundation. Flames of deep crimson!! She could not bear the sight and fainted.