The crowd roared like thunder, their voices blurring into a single, endless wave of sound. Cameras flashed, banners rippled, and the announcer's voice cracked through the chaos.
"Final stretch! Number Seven Fusaichi Pegasus leading by a length!"My lungs burnt. My legs screamed. But I pushed harder.
I wasn't just running for victory I was running for my life.The finish line gleamed ahead like salvation, and for a moment, I believed I could reach it. The world slowed to a heartbeat.
The ground trembled beneath my pounding hooves. I felt unstoppable divine.Then came the pain.A sharp, brutal stab right through my chest. My vision flickered. The crowd's roar turned to static. My stride faltered. I tried to keep running, but my legs betrayed me.
The track tilted sideways, the sky spun, and the light in front of me shattered.I fell.The last thing I heard was the panicked cry of my jockey, the desperate thud of boots on dirt, and the cruel applause of fate itself.Then everything went silent.
At first, I thought I had lost consciousness. But when I opened my eyes again, there was no racetrack no noise, no pain. Only mist.
Endless, soft, white mist that drifted like silk. The air was weightless, and so was I.I looked down. My body was gone.
In its place was lightpure, blinding light pulsing with rhythm like a heartbeat. I tried to breathe, but there was no need.
I tried to speak, but no voice came."Am I dead?"The question wasn't spoken, yet it echoed around me as if the mist itself had heard.
A new figure emerged shimmering, tall, and radiant, neither male nor female. Its eyes glowed like twin moons. When it spoke, the sound was like music and thunder combined.
"You ran well, Pegasus," it said. "You defied limits meant for flesh and blood. But your heart too strong, too proud burnt itself out."
"I… I died?"
"Yes. But not forgotten."I floated closer, desperate, confused.
"Then why am I here?"The figure smiled faintly, a glimmer of power and sorrow in its expression.
"Because destiny has chosen differently for you. You will rise again not as a beast to be ridden, but as a queen to be obeyed."
Before I could answer, the mist began to swirl violently. Light exploded around me, wrapping my body in golden fire. I tried to scream, but the sound became a roar, wild and ancient. My light twisted, reshaping—bones forming, muscles igniting, feathers blooming from my back.
The pain was indescribable and magnificent all at once.When the light finally faded, I stood again but the world was no longer the one I knew. The sky above me burnt crimson, streaked with gold.
Mountains rose like jagged spires, their peaks veiled in cloud. A great plain stretched endlessly, glistening with rivers of silver water. The air itself thrummed with energy alive, aware.And beneath me, the ground trembled as if bowing.I turned to the reflection in a still pond.
My breath or what passed for it caught in awe. My body was magnificent, gilded in gold and ivory, my mane flowing like molten sunlight.
Great wings unfurled from my back, feathers tipped with fire. My eyes gleamed with starlight.I was no longer the horse they cheered for.I was something divine.A voice echoed again, softer this time, resonating inside my chest.
"Rise, Fusaichi Pegasus—the Queen of Sky and Earth. Your second life begins."
"Queen?" I whispered, my voice strange yet melodic, rippling with hidden power.Then the air shifted.
From the distant hills, creatures emerged centaurs clad in silver armour, pegasi of pure white, and even winged lions with sapphire eyes.
They gathered, forming a circle around me. Their gazes held reverence and fear.One stepped forward, bowing low.
"My Queen," he said, his voice trembling. "The prophecy was true. The Golden One has returned."
I blinked. "Prophecy?"He lifted his gaze, eyes filled with awe.
"A thousand years ago, the last Pegasus Queen fell in battle, vowing to return when the skies were chained by darkness again.
The heavens tremble once more and you, reborn in mortal flesh, have returned to lead us."
"I…" I took a step back, wings twitching uncertainly.
"I was just a racehorse a mare that died on a track. I'm no queen."
A low murmur rippled through the crowd of creatures. Some exchanged glances, others bowed deeper.
The centaur spoke again, his tone respectful but firm. "You are reborn from the heart of the Great Flame. Whether you remember or not, your soul carries the mark of the true ruler. You cannot deny what the sky itself commands."
I wanted to protest, to tell him he was wrong but as I opened my mouth, the wind around me stirred violently.
My wings spread of their own will, glowing brighter until the very air shimmered. Lightning arced across the sky.The creatures knelt instantly.
A surge of raw power coursed through me. I could feel the pulse of the earth, the whisper of clouds, and the heartbeat of the wind. It was overwhelming, intoxicatingnand terrifying.
The centaur raised his head, eyes filled with devotion.
"Your Majesty," he said, "your kingdom awaits. The Storm Legion rises in the east. The throne has been empty too long."
"The throne…" I repeated softly. "And you think I'm meant to sit upon it?"
The centaur nodded solemnly. "Not think, my Queen. We know."
For a long moment, I said nothing. The wind howled softly, carrying whispers of memory flashes of battles fought under storm-filled skies, of wings slicing through clouds, of laughter and sorrow intertwined.
A life that wasn't mine, yet somehow was.Maybe I had been a racehorse in one world. But here, in this vast, untamed realm, I was something far greater. And being of legend.
A ruler reborn from the ashes of mortality.The thought both thrilled and frightened me.I raised my head, looking at the fiery horizon.
"If I am to rule," I said slowly, "then I must first understand what I'm ruling. Take me to this throne."
The centaur bowed again. "As you command, my Queen."
As the procession began creatures of myth bowing as I passed I spread my wings and took flight. The wind caught beneath them, carrying me higher, faster, and freer than I had ever been.
The sky opened before me like a crown of endless light.Below, the world waited.Above, the storm gathered.And within my heart, a spark ignited half fear, half fire.I had been reborn.But destiny was only beginning to wake.