The cold breeze wrapped around me as I stood there in silence. "Aura," The Officiant called out my name as I kneeled on the amber-red carpet, bowing my head slowly. I turned to my sister, who was also bowing, as they presented us with the drink.

I looked down at the ebony dark liquid as I gulped, placing my lips softly onto the chalice. One of us would be announced as the next ruler while the other served the "chosen one". The ceremony happened when there were two female heirs, in other words, female twins.

I turned to my sister slowly as she turned to me. "Drink!" They ordered us as Music began to play. However, I could barely hear it. I looked up at my sister as she began to drink, then I turned to my chalice. "Here goes nothing," I poured the bitter liquid into my mouth. I slowly closed my eyes, to find myself in complete darkness..."Hello?" I called out as I looked around the pitch-black area which seemed to be isolated.

It was just me.—no one else. The breeze was cold just like before, possibly even more frigid. It wasn't like any other breezes, this one was like a frozen dagger trying to tear up my skin each time it grew. 

"Aura!" a voice cried. I looked around anxiously but no one was there. Was I going mad?

I carefully got up and walked while the breeze violently grew. Where was I and how did I get here? That's all I thought about. I looked down at my feet which seemed to be worn out but I also saw something else. A reflection that wasn't mine.

I crouched down onto the floor as I inspected the girl who seemed to be frozen like a painting. 

She had hair long enough to reach the stars, her skin was pale as the moon yet was so smooth. Though, their eyes seemed to be lost. While her whole body seemed frozen in place, her eyes weren't. It followed me and studied my movement as if she thought I meant harm to them. That's when my eyes met with the book she embraced in her arms.

Maybe I'm insane but I felt drawn to the book as if it was calling for me… I needed the book. I banged and banged on the floor not knowing what I was planning to achieve until I looked up to my right. Another reflection. And the one at my feet was gone. Without thinking I banged on the reflection yet there was no dent. As a last resort I pulled at my hairpin which was sharp and the only gift from my father I had, I tried and tried breaking it until finally the reflection broke as well with the hairpin. It worked. Somehow.

I reached out for the book carefully as she remained still yet her eyes filled with rage.

I gently placed my hand on the book as the wind screamed in rage. I grabbed hold of the book as the strong breeze tried to push me away as it dug into my skin. For some reason, I felt like I had to have the book. As if it was my soul.

I quickly embraced it in my arms as I was blown away by the raging breeze.

I was falling and falling into the dark, isolated. I kept falling, and falling, and falling. Until there was a light. A light so large, warm, and bright blinding me made my eyes useless yet I could still see, and feel the women staring at me yet my body clung onto the book more than ever. Instead of protecting my heart, I protected the book that felt like it was my soul.

“Aura, my descendant…my creation…free me,” the voice called out but what did it mean by descendant and creation? This trial was confusing. I was never told any details about the trial because I was to figure it out myself. I didn't know where I was or what to do. I was simply alone in this void. 

“Aura, hand me over the key,” the voice requested while the light became hotter and if it increased by anymore I felt like my skin would surely melt off. But what key was she talking about? “You are the heir to the throne, you have the key to my freedom,” she claimed. “AURA!” She screamed which could be mistaken for a growl.  The light became pitch black when I suddenly felt something sticky rise up my leg…an unpleasant crimson shade with dead bodies filling my lungs with its pungent smell.

For star's sake…what was going on? I trembled, as my legs refused to move. I had to get out of here. The blood current flowed towards me as the bodies flowed passing by me. 

There were a few familiar bodies…The old guy from the council who was at the ceremony and a few others. But then there was her. My sister. Dead. Dead? She was dead? No. This was a hallucination. Right? 

My heart pounded so quickly I could barely breathe while my stomach lurched as I still held onto the book tightly. What was going on? Someone help me for the sake of the stars.

I closed my eyes and opened it to be back in the ceremony room. The book was gone. Yet for some reason the white room had suddenly been painted in red. It was blood. I wasn't hallucinating. I looked around and everyone was dead. Mother…father…the grumpy council members. It wasn't hot anymore but cold as I looked down to see something rather sharp piercing my gut as it slowly rotated making sure to cut up my organs. I wanted it to stop, the feeling was beyond anything I ever felt…I looked up to see her alive. Aster…my sister who I saw dead in front of me was well alive and was the one holding the sword that pierced me while she was covered in blood. 

My beloved sister killed everyone here…including me? 

I wanted to scream. Beg the deities to wake me up from this livid nightmare. But I couldn't because I was dead. 

Everything was dark. It wasn't the heaven or hell I was in. It felt like I was there forever so I cried and mourned over and over again in the darkness… I was floating in a void drifting off to who knows where, for so long my memories faded and jumbled up together and I fell asleep for who knows how long. When I woke up I found myself in front of the same book but larger. 

“A chosen one cannot truly be the chosen one without being reborn into their final form, what lies in front of you is one chapter  of the universe find the others if you choose to restore order,” A different female voice echoed 

What was going on? Before I had a chance to question anything I was pulled somewhere. Into someone or something. 

“Mike ain't der birthmark lookin’ like ah book?”

What were they saying?

“Carol ya right let call her sometin smart like knowledge!”

“How do ya even spell that?”

“N…o? Double L. Y and d, wait no d!”

What were these people saying? Where was I? Who am I? I am Aura…I’m 14…no 15…?16? I’m not sure but I remember a book…a ceremony…and dead bodies … someone named Aster …These people are unfamiliar like everything. 

I couldn’t make out what they were saying…did they speak a language I didn’t know or Did I simply forget the language they spoke?

This wasn’t my first life and I remembered my death as a clear day. But my past life? It wasn’t clear while I was in a deep slumber my memories became pieces of jumbled-up jigsaw. It didn’t matter if I couldn’t put it together. I had a news life. A fresh start. 

15 years later

“Ow, ma that hurts!” I groaned as I sat on the floor between her legs as she braided my hair.

“Stop movin ya head and it wouldn't have hurt!” she replied “Your big brother and his friend are comin back de academy the village holding a festival,” she reminded me for the 100th time. I never met my brother cause he was conscripted to the academy before I was born although I don’t recall there being any type of conscription during my first life. 

“Wow my first festival ever, quite a change from the countless of funerals,” I muttered under my breath but mother heard that and braided my hair even tighter “Don’t be a brat Nolly,” she sighed “God gave mah a majestic lookin hair and blue eyes daughter but to think she is a brat,” mother shooked her head while I rolled my eyes. 

The place the eldest child from commoner families gets conscripted to is called an ‘academy’ not a war but father said they must survive the first year or you’ll never hear from them again. No one ever gave me any real information about the academy that could probably take their children's lives. Only Polly, my older sister, told me what it was. It was a place to grow and harness soldiers for the war without wasting any of the noble's lives. Using mana was hard enough especially when commoners have such weak mana awakening. 

The training they went through was life or death. She knows that from Brian, her fiance. The year they were going to get married was the year the law was put into place by The absolute queen Aster. Brian came back only after 6 months with an arm and an eye gone and only part of his sanity was still intact and returned to the academy after a month. I could see the worries in everyone's eyes. So I stopped asking because I started attending so many funerals that I couldn’t count on all my toes and fingers.

“Ma why do I have to get dolled up?” I questioned annoyed

“Because rumour have it a Dunamis soldier is coming and-”

Why would a Dunamis, an elite-class person, come to a place filled with commoners?

“And you want me to…seduce him and steal his pecisma* or any items of value,”

*Fictional word for money

Mother simply kissed her teeth as she replied “There a young mage fella comin’ to do you young ones mana test or did ya forget?”

Mana test…Another way to find hidden gems from commoners and conscript them but fortunately for me I have no trace of mana because I never went through a mana awakening the typical age for mana awakening was 2-7 years of age and I’m 15 now no mana which makes me much weaker than everyone else. Although in my previous life, I felt like I had mana and was much stronger…

After a few hours, Mother was finally done braiding my hair that fell all the way to my thighs. It would have been longer if my mother hadn’t forced me to cut it a few months back. 

On the day of the festival, I took a walk around the village. It was in the last sector and close to the forest where monsters mostly reside but where we got many of our resources from. Only the village hunters were allowed to go there but for some reason, I felt drawn to the forest as if I lost something there but I wasn’t sure what it was. 

I felt a bit bad that I wasn’t really excited about meeting my brother for the first time but I was excited for Liliana and Winter's return. They both were the eldest child in their families so they went to the academy and left me behind although they promised to return. To stay alive.

“My ball!” a voice cried. It was Edith and she was crying like a siren. I glanced at the forest entrance and there lay the ball she had recently for her sixth birthday.

“Shh Edith I’ll go get it,” I reassured her trying to get her to calm down. Mother told me I specifically should never go inside because I had no mana to withstand the mana emitting from the forest, however, the ball was just at the edge so it would be fine.

I gave Edith an awkward smile before I crept slowly toward the forest entrance. It's just a forest…

As I closed the gap between the ball and myself the grass felt more wet and sticky and I felt like I was slowly sinking. 

As I grabbed the ball with all my might I turned back to Edith. She was crying tears. But blood? Before I could question anything I slipped into the forest. 

Into a river of blood.