A dream:

You see the flashing lights of black and white, black and white and back and forth, they seem to flash and flash and flash. You are not certain how long this seems to go on. Then suddenly it stops. You find yourself on a hillside, its some kind of agricultural field, you aren't sure what exactly they are growing here as the field itself is fallow at the moment. The sky is clear and you can see for miles around. There on the horizon you can see smoke rising, huge plumes of black smoke fill the sky in the distance, there at the base of the smoke you can see what appears to be white structures. It is too obscured by the black smoke to get a clear view. There is a low rumble and a shaking of the ground. You look around and suddenly over the top of the hill dozens of men come coursing over the peak running in mass past you towards the burning in the distance. After them dozens more and after them perhaps hundreds and hundreds more. They all look quite worn out, dripping sweat, but determined to continue moving to wherever they are going.

You hear a man yelling between heavy breaths. You turn and see him astride a medium sized white and black horse. You do not understand what it is he is saying. He seems to be urging the men onward. You can see now as the main bulk of the men past you that out behind them many many more are still running but have already run themselves into exhaustion, and they have now begun to slow, some of them doubling over, out of breath on the ground. They all wear such strange armor you haven't seen its like either. Bands of metal in small strips layered over one another, set on leather backings, from the shoulders down to the waist. They wear heavy belts with a short sword at their sides with small round pommels, the swords seems wide for their length, to you also on the belt they seem to carry a dagger and small pouches and almost every man carries some kind of pack on his back. . They carry very large curved shields that some of those who are running have abandoned in an effort to maintain their pace. The ones that can seem to be absolutely determined to continue on either towards the fire in the distance or away from whatever is behind them. Their armor all appears similar while their helmets differ, some wear some kind of decorative band or frond on the top of it. They seem to be different sizes and widths and colors, reds and blacks and others. Some of them still have spears in their hands while others seem to have some kind of odd javelin, while the basic construction of these is familiar the exact design and workmanship is unlike anything you have seen before.

The man on the horse thunders on riding hard in the direction of the fire on the horizon. Scattered behind him are a great number of men collapsing due to exhaustion. You move slightly up the hill and you can see other men on horses coming up as well. They are not wearing any armor but instead wear simple garments made of white cloth, each of them holds in one hand a long scepter or rod of some kind with some symbol on the end. Each of them seems to be carrying one with a different symbol on it. Most wear around their neck large chains of what looks like gold with a large emblem hanging from it matching what is on their scepter. They each wear different colored belts that looks to be made of cloth or dyed leather. As they move along they seem to be casting some kind of magic and as they do you can see some of the exhausted men begin to stand up and then begin running off in the same direction as the bulk of the men that have already passed.

These men themselves also drive on past your on their horses, one seems to slow his horse just as he passes the point that you seem to be watching from. He stops the horse entirely and jumps off the horse. He lands on two feet and looks around wildly as if searching, he walks closer to the point from which you are observing. He is only a few feet away now. He has short brown hair and smooth shaved face, he wears a simple garment of white cloth, it doesn't appear to have buttons or laces like the clothes you are familiar with. The belt around his waist is leather dyed red. He has a small sword hanging from the belt and one hand finds the pommel as he looks around. The men around him continue running past him and most only give him a second look. The scepter he carries is gold and has what looks like a string instrument made in miniature set on one end and a sunburst on the other. The medallion he wears around his neck set on a heavy gold chain is a sunburst background with that string instrument set on top of it. The hand goes from sword to the medallion at his neck and as he holds it in his hand he steps forward again filling the space where you are observing from.

You awake