I am somebody you might know, or might not. I am a soldier, fighting a war that has raged since before the time of your people, or even your written history.

The Well of All Sparks or Matrix is our Heaven, our Promised Land if you will. Someplace safe and warm where there's no fighting and only peace. Most mechs find it hard to believe in the Matrix anymore.

I know that it's real.

Not too long ago, I was in a battle that I lost, badly. When I reached the rim of the Well I was pulled, not in, but to the side.

I was given a choice. Move on and be at peace, or be reborn in a new world and per chance change a few lives for the better. They showed me options of each, comfort and safety, a small boy who had a huge destiny ahead of him, not unlike our first human friend.

I chose the latter.

This family I grew knowing I was loved deeply, my father's smiles and my mother's bedtime kisses, and even a few siblings. I believed in Heroes and Dreams and the difference one person can make.

When I was old enough I joined the military, leaving behind my parents and siblings and the small town I'd grown up in. The city was big and dirty, but I felt at home there. I learned fast, and climbed the ranks quickly. I had a mentor that I loved like family, and a General that I was happy to call my friend.

After a while, I even got my own cadet to mentor. Where others only saw a small, weak boy, I saw the potential if he was only given a chance. He grew in leaps and bounds, delighted that, if not liked by all, he was liked well enough by me. That kind of trust and respect was humbling, and I was proud to call him brother.

Then, as always happens, bad things came. My mentor was gone, his best friend vanished and the General I knew was swallowed up by a great evil. People were killed, we were captured, and I thought the brave cadet I'd helped train was lost in his own head forever, even if I refused to give up on him.

I remember the fight, the bullets, the pain. I remember feeling the world start to dim as the clouds opened up. Even with all that, I was incredibly grateful when that fluffy blonde head came into view, blue eyes aware for the first time in years.

I was just sorry that I couldn't stay.

I stayed on that world until the fights were done, and the boy who'd been a cadet had settled into his role as a Hero. I don't know if he knows how proud I am of him, but I can hope.

I spent close to 40 years on that planet, caught up in the life I was living and the life of that one boy and his friends, the odd girl who spoke with Creation with me.

Something else you might like to know, time is immaterial to souls.

The girl came and smiled at me, eyes the color of fresh grass. She told me I'd done more than was hoped for and as a thank you they were sending me back. I didn't know what she meant at first, until I remembered my life as a mech.

Before I could question anything, she laughed and pushed, and suddenly I was in a hanger with my chronometer telling me it had been four years since I'd last woken up.

We're still at war, but there's an end in sight for the first time in eons. I have found my spark's other half, and been reunited with my family of humans and Cybertronians. I have another spunky 'blonde' to train and help become the very best he can be, even if he has a huge head start.

My name, in your language, is Jazz. Four years ago I died. I am a soldier, a spy, a saboteur and the Third In Command of the Autobot Army. I have lived, died and been reignited to continue a fight I am determined to see through to the end.

Still, I will never forget the life I lived, or the lives I changed, as a single boy, named Zachary Fair.