Chapter 3: New Life
"Huh...?" A high pitched voice echoed in a dimly lit room.
In a small delapitated hut a young girl awoke on the ground, startled and confused more so than anything she realized she was no longer home in bed where her last memory attested she should be.
"Where the hell am I?" Lifting herself off a dirt covered blanket that was separating her from the wooden floor, she was drawn to how light she felt, not only that but the diffrence in skin texture and the notably shortened length of her limbs made her pause.
'I'm so small!? What?! How the hell did that happen?... I'm a bona-fide 5foo-uhh...' Eyes going wide and staring at the small pair of hands she now found herself in possession of she realized another crucial detail.
"I... I dont know who I am..." Plopping down to the floor and kicking up a small plume of dust she gazed at her hands in fascination while she tried recalling every detail about herself, including her most recent memories.
"Parents? nope, friends? nada, my own name???" Even the small memory of tucking herself in to sleep, dissipated from her mind the futher she tried to recall the details while a small tearing sensation in her brain made itself known for the attempt. "Ah! Who- who the fuck did this to me!?" Laying down again, with her limbs sprawled out, she was at a complete loss exhaling defeatedly.
The only things that seemed to rise up from the depths of her mind when she focused; were experiences she had playing with other kids, drawing when she was little, clear memories she had of watching Youtube or reading novels on her phone or random books in a library. These were distinct, but at the notion of things beyond entertainment like repetitive tasks she did besides exercise and make-up for school or perhaps work, even basic interactions that she 'should' be able to recall, were all blurry and inconsistent with one another.
'Ok. I don't know who I am. I have absofuckingloutly no clue where I am or how I got here AND I'm a kid again plus this headache is killing me!' Pressing a hand on her forehead wearily she sat up, scanning the worn down room with only a thatch bed in a corner, a table and chair in another while placed upon it was a small folded sheet and a fragmented white object. Barely lit by the sunshine snaking its way through the cracks and holes of the walls and roof sat the only exit. A shoddy wooden door.
'I'm obviously not going to find any answers in here, and my guts telling me any more remembering and I'll come down with a serious case of diced brain matter." Standing up, stumbling a few times she made her way over to the door. 'Outside is my best bet for answers.' She thought anxiously. Taking a deep gulp of air, she opened the door only to be greeted by towering trees exuding vitality and a lush expanse of nature that could never exist on earth without a road or apartment complex tainting the scenery.
Her mouth was stuck in an 'O' shape with how fresh and revitalizing the air was while her nose itched from the natural pollen and fragrences dancing in the breeze. Leaving the door slightly ajar so she could slip through, she began wondering outside having decided to stay around the parameter of the hut she awoke in lest there be any danger. Looking into the sky she couldnt make out any discrepancies as the clouds and atmosphere in general had too much light to work with when obscuring her view of the stars. Getting half way around the small home she was shocked at the midevial hamlet situated before her eyes only a small jog away.
Tiny homes in terrible conditions and shops that with a glance she could barely tell the use of, a Bakery perhaps who's scent she could almost taste despite the distance. A crappy looking Blacksmithy for forging wares on the same edge of town as she was currently occupying while situated in the center of this 'village' appeared a miniature wooden church.
"Where the fuc... ahhhh!" Falling to her knees the young girl flailed her feet against the ground as she kicked up dirt and rock while trailing backwards till her body slammed against the wall of the hut. Clutching her head while a stream of tears poured from her eyes, she curled up into a ball to better withstand the pain.
Flashing scenes of a small family, traveling happily together made its way to the forfront of her mind. A young couple and their children were riding in a carriage, from her point of view she could see the mother holding a map pointing out a route to Nouding City that they should have taken while the man kept cool with only a twitching smile indicating his displeasure of her remarks. Slowly whoevers eyes she was pearing through began rolling around as they wrapped themselves up in a thick blanket while the young boy prodded her repeatedly, annoyed that she wouldnt let him join. As he began to speak she saw his eyes go wide and a black silhouette reflect in his pupils before an enormous force bombarded them out of nowhere, toppling their carriage to the ground. She felt more than she heard the agonizing scream of the mother as a large piece of wood lodged itself in her abdomen pinning her to the ground while the young boy layed unconscious only a few feet away. Her vision growing blurry she saw that the father was miraculously already standing while contesting an absurdly large Panther, sporting only a few cuts and bruises from the surprise attack.
Not understanding how the man obtained a sword out of nowhere as well as the 2 rhythmic White-Yellow rings floating around him. She watched with a dreaded feeling in her heart as the man fought valiently for his family with abilities right out of one of those manga she recalled for but a handful of minutes before being killed viciously by the Panther. His body segmented then ruthlessly shred to nothing but bloody pulp, scattered organs, limbs and viscera.
As the scene revolving around this unfortunate family became blurrier and began to fade, she witnessed the Panther pounce on the screaming mother before ripping her throat out to silence her. It had an inteligible glint in its eyes and a look of satisfaction as it relaxed its posture savouring the kill before swallowing the womans corpse whole. Finished with it's meal the malevolent creature noticed the presence of their child. Not even slightly phased, it bit into his shoulder, engulfing not only most of his arm but also his upper chest, collar bone and neck within its maw still dripping with the fresh blood of his parents. Not encountering any discomfort at all by his weight it left the scene as quickly as it came, only now the barely recognizable corpse of young boy was dangling, lodged between its teeth, joining it on the creature's journey home. The vision faded away rapidly as she noticed a cloaked figure appear at the scene then disappear just as quickly.
No longer shaking on the ground, but feeling a pit of emptiness welling up in her heart the tears continued to stream downwards from the girl's eyes. "Hic- Father, Mom.... Brother" snot and tears mixing together she tried using the odly colored grass beneath her to wipe away the liquid combo. Looking at her hands, covered in fluids, sap and broken leaves, she understood her cicumstances a little better now.
"Gah~" wiping her face clean she leaned even further onto the hut while her chaotic thoughts and eyes shifted to the stars above. "I seem to be in a diffrent world, I cant remember family and friend's from my first life while the only people I seemingly have a connection with in this one have been ripped away from me before I could even meet them" Her eyes burned from the tears while she tried rationalizing such an insane situation.
Holding her hands over her eyes while the memory replayed in her mind multiple times her uncontrolled stream of tears peeked through the cracks in her fingers, trying to swipe away the emotional response that she didn't expect to be feeling so... personally. She heard the sounds of stones shifting and moved her teary gaze upwards.
Coincidentally, the silhouette of a hunkered figure carrying a basket made its way towards her, slowly walking along a dirt and gravel path to the hut from the town a distance away.
"Oh, well it looks like you woke up." The strange elder came forward and gently crouched next to her. "Oww! What are you doing!?" the girl shirked away from the heartless man when he touched her head. Raising his hands to show he meant no harm he showed her his fingers that seemed to have a little blood on them, he gestured to the medical supplies in the basket.
"We found you, on the old trading route quite a ways from here." Going slightly pale in his face of wrinkles the man shuffled over to her with the basket, retrieving a small wooden container with a greenish yellow paste inside. "I won't ask about what happened seeing as your head should be hurting terribly right now, you don't have to talk just nod or shake your head slightly if you can think of anyone we can contact by letter when you've recovered" Dipping his fingers into the salve he raised his empty hand to her head to part her hair and apply the medicine to the wound but paused in the process.
*Sniffling*
Holding his hand the girl let out a veritable fountain of tears while looking him in the eyes and shaking her head. Seeing her sadness the caring elder embraced her in the hope of comforting the poor soul, when Tang Hao appeared with the child and explained the environment in which he found her it wasn't difficult for a few of the villagers to recreate the scene.
"There, there child. It's ok, nothing will harm you here. Your new Grandpa Jack will take care of you ok? So just rest" The girls eyes went wide with surprise as this Elder's name sounded familiar but she couldn't remember why. Soothing the 5 year old for a few minutes the girl soon fell unconscious from exhaustion. Applying some paste and bandages Grandpa Jack soon returned her inside the hut and placed her on the only bed with the dirty blanket she was found in, grabbing a chair and staying by her side he gazed at the broken tooth as large as his hand on the table further away. Shaking his head he wiped away the sweat gathering on her forehead, shifting the sheet a little as to have her cool down a little he noticed that embroided on the tail end of the sheet, was a name.
"Zhī Xīng" He murmured thoughtfully, appraising the delicacy and technique of the stitch. Alternating between the name and girl he exhaled sharply before he grabbed some paper and a quill both of which were of terrible quality and began jotting down some of the favors he'd have to call in if he wanted her to have any semblance of a life after waking up.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone