The first weeks at the University of Ceryne passed in a blur of orientation speeches, classes, and introductions. The campus buzzed with ambition every student carried a dream larger than themselves.
Ariel chose to study International Business and Economics. It felt right. Numbers had logic; markets had rhythm; both could be mastered. Serena entered the medical department, her notebooks filled with careful handwriting and folded anatomy sketches.
Their dorm soon became a meeting place for laughter and tea. Ariel decorated it simply white curtains, green plants, and shelves lined with books. She began each morning by opening the balcony doors to the sound of bells from the clock tower.
In lectures, she spoke little, but professors noticed her quiet insight. When others debated loudly, she waited until the noise subsided before adding a single sentence that tied every argument together.
"Miss Volvolk," one professor said after class, "you think like someone who's lived twice."
Ariel smiled faintly. "Maybe I just listen more closely."
She made friends quickly Lucia Mendez from Country A, who studied fine arts and loved poetry; Ryan Tao, an economics student who grew up in the industrial south; and Yuri Han, a technology prodigy from Country K. They often met in the university café, sharing stories of their homelands and dreams for the future.
"If we ever start a business together," Yuri joked one night, "Ariel will be the strategist, Ryan the numbers, Lucia the image, and I'll build the systems."
Ariel stirred her tea. "And Serena?"
Lucia laughed. "The company doctor, of course."
The group laughed, but Ariel's mind wandered. In another life, she had trusted blindly and lost everything. This time, she would build her own future brick by brick not from anger, but from understanding.
That night, before sleeping, she wrote a line in her journal:
'To control my destiny, I must first understand value , the value of time, trust, and knowledge.'
It was the first sentence of a new life's chapter.