Khai woke up to an absolutely horrendous headache. He instinctively grabbed his head and went to go and get some water, but immediately realized that he wasn't at home. In fact, he had no idea where he had woken up. He was in a small stone room, with only the light from a small barred window allowing him to see. Drips of water fell down from the ceiling, landing with an arrhythmic plop, plop, plop on the cold ground. He got up, and immediately grabbed at his side. Looking down, he located the source of the pain - a wound in the side of his chest that had been expertly sewn and bandaged.

Looking around for a way out, Khai found a wooden door on the wall opposite the window. Expecting it to be barred, he pounded on it, only to fall forward as the door swung open with no resistance. He got up and immediately looked around. This new room was much nicer than the one he woke up in - light poured in from a small open courtyard in the middle of the room, while cushioned seats lined the walls. The delicious smells of rice and eggs wafted through the air, and Khai began to search for its source. He did not have to look for long, and the man preparing them turned to Khai with a smile.

"Oh good, you're awake. Why don't you take a seat?"

The man motioned to a table, set for a breakfast for two. Khai took a seat, and the man brought over what looked like a fantastic breakfast. Khai immediately dug in, and the man joined him, eating in silence for a few minutes. Eventually, the man spoke.

"Are you not curious who I am, or how you came to be here?"

Khai shrugged. "A little. But I am not one to question a gift when I am presented with it, and the fact that I was not locked in the room I awoke in adds to the idea that I am not a prisoner here... am I?"

The man smiled. "No Khai, you are not a prisoner here. You are dead."

Khai stopped chewing, and looked down at his hands. He was dead? How was that possible? He did't feel dead. He looked back up at the man across the table from him, who began to laugh.

"No, you are not ACTUALLY dead. But Khai Rathana, the disgraced former soldier of the Kulawanti army, died last night."

Khai struggled to remember the previous night. It all seemed like such a blur...

"I can see you do not remember what happened, so let me explain. You showed up at a large inn here in Pontianak, already heavily drunk. After another few hours of drinking, some new men showed up at the inn, and you disagreed with their treatment of one of the waitresses. Then, with enough palm wine in your system to bring down a small elephant, you took out over a dozen armed and trained Kulawanti soldiers. Guards surrounded the inn, and demanded that you come out. Stepping out with fury in your eyes, people began betting how many guards you would take down before they killed you, when an arrow flew towards you and pierced your side. The poison on its tip quickly took you out, and you were taken away for an unceremonious burial... or at least that is what people saw. In reality, the poison simply knocked you unconscious, at which point you were brought over to me."

Khai sat there in shock. How had he let this happen? He knew he had been slipping lately - finding work had been hard recently, and as Em had been getting older, money had been tight...

Em! Where was Em?! He needed to get back to her, tell her that he was alright. Khai shot up in a panic and started looking around for a door, but the man at the table just shook his head.

"If you are worried about your daughter, don't be - she is with your parents right now, and they have just received a generous sum of money. Consider it a gift for your years of service, and an advance on your years of service to come..."

Khai sat back down, still trying to process everything that was going on. Finally he spoke, "Who... who are you?"

The man smiled. "My name is Nhek Viata. But you can just call me the Coordinator. I lead a faction of the Kulawanti army that has no name, because officially it does not exist. In an age of constant conflict between our Good Empire and the Pact, we have realized the need for a force that does not play by the normal rules of our soldiers, who can move through the shadows unseen, weakening our enemies through means that might seem... unsavory to the normal person. We are not affiliated officially with Kulawanti, nor any of our allies. Our men are the mereka yang tersembunyi, the men who move unseen."

Khai's eyes widened. "You are the Bun-yi? They really do exist?"

The Coordinator laughed. "Yes, we do exist. The things you have heard in rumor - that we can run on water, that we can turn invisible, that we can change our faces into those of anyone we see - these are all exaggerations. A reputation we cultivate, of course, but not one based in fact. We are simply the best at what we do - and I want you to join us."

Khai shook his head. "I left the army because I didn't like the structure, the command, people always telling me what to do and how to do it."

"Which is exactly why we want you here. You clearly have the skills of an elite warrior - let us teach you how to accentuate that with stealth, disguise, and all manner of special tools and weapons. Then, when we give you a task, you can approach it however you want, so long as you get the job done. And for as long as you are working for us, your daughter will continue to receive monetary support."

The Coordinator stood. "So, what do you say?"

Khai thought for a moment. He didn't like the thought of joining back up with a bunch of soldiers, but he also remembered how difficult it was for him to find a job doing anything else. And he really didn't like the thought of Em going hungry. Besides, "The Coordinator", as he styled himself, didn't really give him an option to refuse. He stood and met the Coordinator's gaze.

"I accept."

The mereka yang tersembunyi, or the Bun-yi, were a group of specialist warriors skilled in tactics of irregular warfare, including espionage, deception, and surprise attacks. Believed to have originated during the time of the Kulawanti Empire and their wars with the Pact, the Bun-yi were able to act in ways seen as unscrupulous to most soldiers, and could remain unconnected from the Empire itself. Their skills were often exaggerated in rumor and myth, as they were said to be able to run on water, turn invisible and incorporeal, have control over natural elements, and even shape-shift into other people. Their standard garb of a dark purple robe that masked their face, alongside their normal weapons of poisoned arrows and throwing knives, have lived on in popular culture as part of a near-mythical view of these historical scouts and spies, especially due to their frequent mention in ancient Vuolt theatre.