The Ring of Rebirth

Their figures shone orange under the setting sun. The cliff they stood on was high, high enough that when you stare down from the edge, the only thing you see is the blackness gazing back. High enough the clouds hovered below their feet like mists. The refreshing scent of grass and the sea of billowing flowers surrounded them.

“Nick, the Ring of Rebirth is on me. After we’ve handed it up to the Organisation, I will talk to the Commander about us quitting together. If he agrees, maybe we can get a place ourselves after that?” Tiffany searched on her boyfriend’s face, trying to find any hint of reluctance.

She didn’t.

“Sure, that would be great.” Nick seemed genuinely pleased, “Where’s the Ring of Rebirth?”

“Here.” Tiff grinned as she held out a luxury red box.

Nick placed it in his pocket with care before he bent down and kissed her.

Being trained in the Organisation since she was five, Tiff was always alert. While her lips were wrapped around Nick’s, she suddenly felt odd. A furtive feeling from the bottom of her spine crept up and spread in her. She couldn’t figure out which actual point was peculiar, but she sensed some danger approaching silently. Her intuition has never failed her.

A sharp pain perforated Tiffany’s low back. She gasped as the rust-smelling blood burst out like a spring. Droplets of blood rained on Nick like red roses blooming on his white shirt.

“That was easy,” Nick shook his head, smiling as he tossed the dagger onto the grass, “Never let down your defence. Have eleven years of training taught you nothing?”

The cruel truth dawned on Tiff as she glowered at him in disbelief. How could he? Why would he? They have been together for more than three years now... Love aside, what about friendship? Ten years they’ve known each other, has this been nothing to him? Why would he do this to her!

Blood drained from her face and she looked as pale as a ghost. Her body was shaking slightly but she used all her power to stay standing. She didn’t want to look helpless in front of the man who betrayed her. Tiffany opened her mouth, her lips quivering, but she was too appalled to say anything now, and over everything, she doesn’t know what to say.

Nick’s smile was warm and kind, just the gorgeous one that she has always loved. But with dots of blood on his face, he was a demon walked straight out of hell.

“I don’t know if I should call you naive or stupid, my dear, do you really think the Organization will let you leave? The never let anyone leave. The ones you believe have left were dead! They brainwash you into thinking that they would let you go whenever you want. When for truth, they dispose you as soon as you show any tendency of leaving. Or, they trick you into doing a few more missions for them before killing you. You are sixteen, how could you not know what the Commander and the whole Organisation is doing?”

Nick shook his head and chuckled, “Come on, don’t look at me like that, honey. This is humanity! We are prone to selfishness since birth. I suppose you want to know why I did that to you, right? I guess I can tell you since you are dying anyway. I plan to sell the Ring of Rebirth on the black market, which can get me billions of dollars, then I’m going to escape overseas with the money. I’ll live happily ever since while you rot.”

Every word was a knife that pierced through Tiff’s chest. She closed her eyes to hide it and smirked. Blood poured out of the corner of her mouth and her legs were giving in. She edged towards the cliff slowly. Every movement was torture for her, but she did it anyway. Then, her strained smile became wider and turned into laughter.

“You think... you got that ring?” Tiffany croaked, though her words bitter and sharp.

“What do you mean?” Nick’s eyes narrowed maliciously.

He reached toward the little box and flipped it open. There it was, two exquisite wedding rings wrapped in fine silk. Both were gold, the bigger one was sprinkled with ruby while the smaller one was dotted with emerald pieces. He rolled his eyes, flung it on the blood-stained grass and stomped on it before hurling it off the cliff.

“Tiffany! Where is it?!” Nick’s elegant mask cracked, and he shot daggers at her with his malevolent glare, as if he had not already stabbed her for real.

This was meant to be a surprise for him. Tiffany gave Nick one last look before she laid back and fell from the cliff.

How could she not sense any trace of his betrayal before? How could she have been so dumb? As the air rushed past her, painful and loud, she let a droplet of remorse sliding across the corner of her eye and splattering into diamonds under the sun.

‘Beep. Do you want to live? Beep.’ A young child’s voice appeared.

Slipping into unconsciousness, Tiff didn’t even have the strength in her to whisper, but she shouted ‘Yes!’ fervently in her mind.

A blinding light burst from the front of her neck and soon wrapped around her whole body.

The next thing Tiff knew, she was in a room with walls purely white, without any furniture except a small couch in a corner of the room.

She was lying on the ground, breathless while her heart thumped like mad. A sudden realization dawned upon her and she traced her hand to her back, but there was no wound. The bloody hole from her back to her stomach was not there.

She scrambled up and searched around, but could find nobody except herself, “So, am I dead? Um, anybody here?”

‘Beep. I ask you again, do you want to live? Beep.’ The same voice thundered across the room.

Tiffany jolted at the sudden appearance of the voice, but thankfully her years of training helped her to remain calm.

“Well, of course! Do you have any idea how much I want to revenge that son of a bitch?” The thought of Nick’s betrayal sliced at her from inside.

When Tiff closed her eyes, she could still sense the blade piercing through her low back. She wished very much that she could just lay, cry, and have a meltdown like a normal sixteen-year-old girl would. Though she can’t, not with herself fell from a cliff and now in a strange white room with a weird child’s voice asking stupid questions. She blinked back the liquid that was starting to well into her eyes and forced herself to put on a brave face.

’Beep. Good, though do you understand that you should have been dead? To give your life back is not an easy business, you’ll have to earn it. You must save two other lives to pay for your own. Beep.” The boy’s voice spoke in a monotone.

Tiffany hated it when people speak like that. One of the subjects she took in the Organisation is to spot people’s emotional loopholes in their tone of speaking and facial expressions, thus penetrating their phycological defence to attain useful info. The boy’s voice didn’t betray any hint of emotion nor was he physically present, shame.

“Alright, how do I do that? Why am I here? Where is here? And why do you have to have a Beep before and after your sentences?” She circled the room, carefully taking every step.

Tiff searched and knocked on the wall to check for pitfalls as she was trained, “Come on, kid, show yourself.”

’Beep. You are here because I generously offered you an opportunity to live. The space you are in now is The Ring of Rebirth which you were wearing upon your neck. Now, get to business, I will give you a mission in which it specifies the two people you must save.”

“If you choose not to accept the mission, then you shall die, and your soul will be put in line to an afterlife as every dead person does. If you choose to do the mission and completes it, then congratulations, you will be safe and alive back to the world you existed in. Though if you fail, then you shall die, your soul will be shattered entirely, and you will not get an afterlife. You may select. Beep.’ The voice announced robotically, ignoring Tiffany’s last question and her request.

“Okay,” She was coming to the sense that this may be more serious than she thought, “What’s an afterlife? What happens when I’m put in line to an afterlife?”

“These are two of the top secrets that you may only know after you die. A living person knowing these will disturb the natural law of Heaven, and trust me, it does not end well. Now, choose before I choose for you. Beep.’ The voice finally showed the slightest bit of irritation.

Tiffany’s eyes glittered at this discovery.

“Huh, so you are not a robotic voice programmed to tell me those things, but a real boy, aren’t you?” She kicked the wall near her. “Come out! Why are you in The Ring of Dragon?”

“Aw! Stop it! Fine, I’ll come out, I’m tired of pretending anyways.” The walls glowed a soft yellow before a boy around four or five years of age appeared in front of Tiffany.

He wore a black business suit and a formal tie with light-yellow skin smooth and supple as jelly. His violet pupil was matched with his curly eyelashes. His short silver hair flowed like a waterfall with his lips soft and pink as cherry blossom petals.

The boy crossed his arms and pouted at Tiff.

“You are so cute!” She practically screamed and rushed forward to the boy, half hugging him and ruffling his hair. “You look wired, but also adorable.”

“Hey! Show some respect! I’m one of the hundreds of honoured Guiders working in the department of the Law of Heaven and am here to guide you through your mission. Now, release me!” The boy wriggled in Tiffany’s arm as he shouted.

She pinched his rosy cheeks one last time before she reluctantly let him go. “Alright, fine. But tell me, what’s your name?”

Once the boy is free, he quickly took three steps away to be out of her reach.

“My name is Owen. Nice to meet you.” Owen straightened his suit, tightened his tie, and quickly patted his messy hair back in place. He held out his hand politely, though Tiffany could see his unwillingness to make contact with her again.

“Me too, Owen.” She shook his tiny hand. “So, this mission thing you were talking about, I will take it.”

He gazed at Tiff with his violet eyes before he furrowed his eyebrows, “Are you sure? If you failed, you will die and your soul will dissolve into nothingness, you don’t get a second chance. I have been honoured with this position for 427 years, in which I have only found three people suitable enough for this mission, the two who attempted before you have failed, and their soul has completely ceased to exist. Do you still want to do this?”

“What a heck?! You are more than 427 years old? That…is just purely unbelievable.”

“Yes, yes, but that’s not my point, are you certainly sure to go on the mission?” Owen emphasized, and grunted under his breath, “Ah, annoying human being.”

“Yes, I’m clear, you little grown-up.” Tiff teased and turned solemn almost immediately. I’ll take it whatsoever. Tell me what I need to do, please.”

“Alright, so here it comes. I will transport you in the form of consciousness into a girl’s mind. Her appearance will not change, but you will be the leader of her body during the period where you complete your mission.”

“Her name is Tracy, who is twelve. She lives with her dad, faces domestic violence from him. Following the storyline, if you will not save her, she will eventually die from the violence from his dad. This is the first life you need to save. Since you are taking over her body, this one is pretty easy.”

“The hard one is a twelve-year-old boy who lives next door from Tracy. His name is Mason, a twelve-year-old, and he was born without his left arm and ears. He lives alone since his parents died when he was nine. The storyline indicates if you will not be there to prevent, he will eventually drown due to school bullying. Still with me?”

Kidnapped to the Organisation since she was five, Tiff saw way too much cruelty than to feel sorry for Tracy and Mason, “Let me get this straight: I will take over Tracy’s body during the mission, in which I need to save her and the boy who lives next door.”

“Yes.” Owen nodded in appreciation, “I will provide you more details when we’ve arrived there. The world I’m about to transport you into is not like the world you are accustomed to. Everyone there is born with one power, which is either Lightning, Wind, Ice, or Plant. The only school there is Melincca High, where you can learn to master the power you are born with. You can’t use your power or know what it is before you go to school. The school is the only place that can help you to discover it.”

“I’ll put you in Tracy the day before she goes to school for the first time, so you will have sufficient time to get used to that world. Mason is at the same year level, and he will be going to the school that day too. This is all you need to know.”

“Hum…superpowers? Which one does Tracy have then? And Mason?”

“You will find out.” Owen grinned.

Just as Tiffany opened her mouth to ask more, she felt a sudden pull at her body from the top of her head. The walls around her became fuzzy while the child’s figure became vague. Through her blurred vision, Tiff saw Owen smiling and waving before the darkness overwhelmed her.