It hasn't been long since Ashten had died, and fortunately enough to his delight—he was reincarnated. His mind wandering aimlessly within the body. It was as if he had barely any control over it.
Although... not too long after this realization he noticed a weight that seemed to pull him further into the sinking bed he was left on.
Not only was he insanely hungry, he also had a pinching feeling that wrapped from his back all the way to his chest. He couldn't even bring his body to shift to the side due to how exhausted it was.
Whatever he reincarnated as was definitely not athletic. The body type wasn't too different from the one he had left behind when he died—had he really died then?
The urge to simply drift off into an endless slumber was appealing, but Ashten had more pressing matters at hand. Though it wouldn't hurt to rest his eyes a bit, which were already closed when he got there.
...
Scents, senses, lights, and heat. A grainy gasp tore out of a girl's mouth, her skin was scratchy. Almost as if a thousand bugs were crawling all over her body.
Coughs echoed shallowly throughout the filthy alleyway, the moment her eyes opened giant flashes of bright fluorescent whites flooded her vision.
The girl's mind was fuzzy and she was absolutely dazed. She scrambled around on the ground before cautiously pushing herself up to at least sit.
"Augh... What the hell?" Her mumbled complaints already pained the vocal cords she used, everything she did hurt to act out. She rubbed her head trying to remember something.
"Shhiittt, they took my money!" Attempting to stand, her anger quickly diffused into a sharp fear. If they had beaten her this badly before, how much worse could it get the next time.
Her hands gripped the hems of the shabby shirt that covered her body, stained a dark crimson. A slight pain sparked from her chest and her breathing quickened.
The air was awfully dry, enough to cause nose bleeds to occur often to even the healthiest—should they ever come to the slums of Hejka.
There was something she was forgetting, though it wasn't coming to her mind. She decided to think it through since it seemed pretty important that she remembered it.
Breathing at a quicker pace than normalized, she shifted in the bindings that covered her back and chest. The head maid at her side job was adamant that it stayed on when she was outside.
Understandably so, not many others had spinal markings that indented into their body. This specific condition was apparently inherited from what she had learned while passing schools.
It was strange, most who also had markings didn't have the same indents. They looked more like tattoos or birthmarks. Spreading wildly around their backs to their fronts.
Out of all the markings—or stróma, the actual term—they all looked different. There wasn't much she knew about the strómata, only that of which was said.
The stróma were most likely rarer in the slums, because those who are born with them typically belong to a more prominent family within Hejka. She, was not within any of these families.
The baggy skirt that was haphazardly tied around her waist flowed gently as she walked through the bright streets. Coming across a large ad panel on the bus stop bench, her eyebrow quirked up before she could focus.
"DON'T MISS OUT! ACADEMY SELECTIONS THIS MONTH! CONTACT XXX-XXX FOR MORE!"
Her interest was piqued to say the least... partially because she knew how many pranks calls would be among the actual applicants. Seriously, what were they thinking? Putting a sign like that in a neighborhood like this.
She stared at the words, not many could even read around here. Who are they expecting to get anyways? The stereotypical novel, happy go lucky, sweet commoner protagonist? No one here is like that so why even try.
"I bet the students there have strómata." Whispered the girl, the girl who also has a stróma. Though she had no idea what it was, she knew that it was definitely very important to society and the country's protection.
Tensions were rising between the neighboring continents. She crossed her arms thinking again, she could've swore that she had read something like this before. Not on a sign... but on a phone? She didn't have access to a phone though?
It was strange, she was remembering things that had never happened. Perhaps it was a previous dream? No, that's unlikely...
She groaned into her hands as they dragged down her face, she smacked them onto her hips. Her visage etched with either disgust or contemplation.
...
"Why do you want to borrow clothes..?" The head maid, Maria, cocked her head to the side.
"Well there's an audition..." Her words dragged on through her teeth, not really wanting to say that she'd be exposing herself.
Maria stared at her for a while before opening her mouth.
"Alright then dear, where's this audition at?" It was very clear she already knew, she just wanted her to say it. Which was admittedly very hard since she was openly hateful towards the stuck up students who went there.
Sticking her tongue to the roof of her mouth, she grumbled saying that Maria should know by now. Her eyes were downturned as she rubbed the hems of her shirt.
"Hahh... well if you insist, I'll do your hair aswell." Maria smiled at the short girl, waving her hands for her to get closer.
...
The girl looked blankly into the broken bathroom mirror, two buns sat on her head—naturally spiked from the dead ends. Even though Maria had trimmed the majority of them off, her bangs still hung slightly over her eyes. She's never seen her own face like this before. The moment her fingers pushed the hair to the side, an aching pain sparked in the back of her head.
Somethings about her face looked different... strangely enough she had the exact same facial structure as she did 2 years ago. So what was different?
Was this related to the thing she forgot earlier...? Her fingers traced along her features, long bony nose... check, small fox like eyes.. check again, thicker eyebrows.. hm, she felt like they were too wide. But she's never had thin eyebrows before, was this one of those amnesia plotlines?
She smacked her cheek, trying to snap herself back into sense.
"Brendin... is that even my name?" Her voice was softer as she pushed her forehead onto the mirror. Staring deep into her own eyes.
A small light formed in her pupils. It was like a person, but as the reflection. It was as if what she was seeing wasn't what she deemed as herself.
Slowly, a smile formed on her face the more she stared into that light.
"This time I'll get it right."