Falling.
It felt endless, like plummeting through a tunnel carved from starlight. My body, if I could call this strange, weightless form a body, was tugged and spun until I no longer knew up from down. My mind reeled. Somewhere in the chaos, Sylphi's mocking laugh still clung onto me, curling around my thoughts like smoke.
Then came the pain.
A searing, liquid fire surged through my chest, and for the first time since collapsing on that stage, I sucked in air. My lungs convulsed violently, as though they weren't mine. I choked, gagged, then gasped again, greedily pulling in more.
And it was… wrong.
Too clean. Too crisp. Too sweet. Every breath was like inhaling minty frost, tinged with something effervescent that prickled along my veins. My hypoxemic lungs, diseased, scarred, and traitorous should have struggled. Instead, they drank it in, like nectar.
I coughed once, rolling onto my side. The wooly grass brushed against my cheek. Real grass, damp with dew. I forced my eyes open.
The sky above was a startling canvas of pale gold and lavender, no sun but a disk of luminescent haze that pulsed as though alive. The meadow stretched endlessly around me, blades of grass tipped with light, swaying though no breeze stirred them.
I pressed my palms into the earth and pushed myself upright. My body was light, small. My hands… they were so delicate. My fingers were slim, knuckles unscarred by years of lab work and chemical burns and they were pale. Paler than I'd ever seen them.
"What the…" My voice cracked. Higher-pitched and younger.
I scrambled onto my feet, wobbling like a newborn fawn. I stumbled to the edge of a small pond nearby and stared into the water.
A stranger looked back.
The face was soft, almost cherubic, framed by long silky black hair tangled with grass. Wide violet eyes, impossibly violet. I blinked and it blincked back at me. The girl in the reflection couldn't have been older than sixteen. My stomach twisted.
"No, no, no. Sylphi!" My voice pitched upward, desperate. "This is a joke. You put me in a child?"
No answer. Just the ripple of my own shout across the pond's surface.
I crouched low, trembling. My reflection did the same, her too-bright eyes flashing with terror. Memories of my old life flooded in—Theodore's face, my team rushing to my side, the Nobel Peace trophy hitting the stage floor with a shattering thud. All of it, gone.
And now I was this… this stranger.
"Breathe," I whispered to myself. "Just… breathe."
I obeyed my own command, dragging in air until the icy sweetness steadied me. Strange how my lungs, that was my curse and my lifelong enemy felt so strong here. Stronger than ever.
A deep male voice startled me.
"Hey! She's awake!"
I jerked my head up. Across the meadow, a trio of figures approached; two men and one woman. Farmers, by the look of their coarse tunics and mud-smeared boots. The tallest carried a hoe slung across his back. The woman clutched a basket of herbs.
They reached me quickly, their faces drawn with unease. The shorter man muttered, "Saints preserve us. She really opened her eyes."
The woman frowned. "Don't be rude, Walren. She's just a girl."
"She's cursed," the tall one snapped. His eyes darted toward me like I might bite him. "Everyone knows what happens to the Eriden girl."
I stiffened. "The what-girl?"
They froze. The woman's mouth fell open. "SSShe ssspeaks."
"Well of course I speak," I shot back, with great irritation outweighing my fear. "I'm not feral."
The tall one backed up a step, gripping his hoe. "Saints above. Her tongue's tainted too."
"Excuse me?" I snapped, rising unsteadily. "What is that supposed to mean?"
But they didn't answer. Instead, the three exchanged wary glances. Finally, the woman sighed, setting down her basket.
"Come on. If she's really awake, the elder will want to see her." She extended a hand toward me cautiously, like one might to a skittish dog.
Every instinct screamed not to trust strangers, however,I had no bearings, no map, no plan, and no clue here. I took a deep swallow and reached my hand out to take hers.
Her fingers were calloused but warm.
The trio led me down a dirt path cutting through the meadow, toward a cluster of cottages nestled in the crook of low hills. Smoke curled from chimneys. Children's voices echoed faintly. For a fleeting second, it could have been any rural village back on Earth before the pollution, before respirators and oxygen tanks, before the world choked itself to death.
But the air gave it away. The air was alive. It thrummed in my lungs with every breath, as if carrying a current I couldn't see.
The villagers we passed stared openly. Some gasped, crossing themselves with symbols I didn't understand. Others pulled children inside and slammed their doors shut. The word "cursed" hissed through the crowd like venom.
By the time we reached the largest cottage, my skin prickled with unease.
The elder awaited us inside. The old man sat, slumped over with a beard like silver moss and eyes clouded yet sharp. He studied me in silence as I shifted uncomfortably under his gaze. Finally, he spoke.
"So. The cursed one breathes again."
My fists clenched. "Okay, seriously, can someone explain why everyone keeps calling me cursed?"
The elder ignored my outburst. "Your body lay lifeless for three days, child. There was no breath and no warmth. Yet, now you suddenly rise, speaking nonsense with strange fire in your eyes. What else should they call you?"
Three days.
I staggered, grasping the edge of the table for support. Three days dead? So this wasn't a clean drop into reincarnation? This was an overwrite. Someone had died here in this body and Sylphi had shoved me in like a squatter.
The elder leaned closer. "Tell me, girl. Who are you truly?"
A dozen lies buzzed on my tongue, but panic strangled them. Finally, I whispered, "Andy.. I mean Andrea Evelyn Dergus"
My name hung, alien in the air. The elder frowned. "Not Eriden?"
My mouth went dry. Eriden. That must have been the original owner of this body. The girl they expected. The girl I replaced.
I said nothing.
The elder sat back, expression unreadable. "Maybe Eridan bumped her head too hard this time. Keep her under watch," he told the others. "If she breathes foul air, we'll know soon enough."
Foul air?
I wanted to demand answers, but the villagers ushered me out before I could. They deposited me in a small hut at the edge of the village, its single window overlooking a stretch of forest that loomed dark and restless.
Night fell quickly. I lay curled on a straw mat, staring at the beams overhead. My mind spiraled. I'm in a new body, in a new world with a cursed reputation that I didn't understand.
And yet…
I inhaled. The air poured through me like liquid silver, stronger, fuller, and cleaner than anything Earth had ever offered. For the first time since childhood, my lungs didn't burn.
Tears slipped silently down the side of my eyes, collecting into the crevices of my ears.
Maybe, just maybe, this was a gift.
*
The next morning, screams tore through the village.
I bolted upright. Outside, chaos erupted. I peeked out the door to see the villagers running, shouting, and clutching onto their children. Smoke coiled into the sky.
I stumbled out barefoot, heart hammering. A massive, wolf-like creature stalked into the square, its fur bristling with quills that shimmered metallically in the dawn light. Its eyes glowed an unnatural crimson.
The farmers waved their pitchforks and hoes uselessly. One swipe of the beast's claws sent a man sprawling as their blood poured out their lifeless bodies like a bucket of water tipped on its side.
Instinct screamed at me to run, but as the monster turned toward a child frozen in terror, something in my chest ignited.
I gasped and the air around me shifted.
It wasn't wind. It was pressure, raw and electric, coiling in my lungs. Reflexively, I exhaled with all the force I could muster. "SSSTOPPP!"
The air burst outward like a shockwave. Grass flattened. Dust spiraled. The beast reeled back, howling as if struck.
I stumbled, clutching my chest. Villagers stared in horror and awe. The elder's voice carried through the panic.
"By the Saints… the cursed one is a mana wielder."
The beast snarled, recovering. Its gaze fixed on me now, crimson eyes burning with murderous intent.
And all I could think with my chest heaving, was 'What the hell did Sylphi shove into me?'