[AURORA WRIGHT. Hong Kong, China, Earth. Friday, 12th February 2017 Gregorian Calendar.]
Aurora gazed at the handsome man who stood before her. Blonde hair, blue eyes, and a body to die for. Chris Hemsworth was even hotter in person than he was on the screen.
"Oh Chris," she sighed. "Follow me to my chambers."
"Chris?" the god-like man before her queried. "My lady is mistaken. I am Thor, son of Odin, wielder of mighty Mjolnir, lord of the storm, crown prince of Asgard, defender of the nine realms, three times winner of the famed Dwarven Ale drinking tournament, runner up in last year's log tossing contest, holder of a participation ribbon for the Elfheim to Jotunheim Rainbow Bridge fun run…."
"Sure," Aurora interrupted. "Cos-play all you want Chris… um… Thor… or Eric the Huntsman or that sexy nerdy guy from Ghost Busters. Whatever. Just come with me to my chambers. Ok?"
"Apologies Lady Aurora," lamented Thor. "Were it any other time, I would gladly join you in your chambers. However, Heimdall has raised the Gjallarhorn and trumpeted for Asgard's warriors to sally forth. Ragnarok is upon us and I must answer the call. As a Valkyrie, you too must prepare."
"Ragnarok huh?" Aurora fretted. "Do you mean Ragnarok the online game? Ragnarok the manwah? Ragnarok the animation? Or Ragnarok as in the end of the world?"
"The end of the world," Thor sighed with a heavy heart. "But I promise you Lady Aurora. If we manage to somehow overcome fate and survive this great war, I will take you as my wife."
"What about Lady Sif" asked Aurora. "Isn't she already your wife?"
"Um…" Thor had a blank expression before continuing. "You can be my second wife."
"Hm… I'm not really into the whole harem scene," Aurora frowned. "Maybe we can just be friends with benefits?"
"I guess so," agreed Thor. "Now I must be off to join in glorious battle."
"Wait," Aurora called out. "How about a kiss for luck."
"That is a most agreeable idea," Thor smiled, his perfect white teeth seemed to sparkle.
Aurora lay her arms atop Thor's muscular shoulders, closed her eyes, leaned forward and then… woke up.
"Beep… Beep… Beep…." Aurora's alarm sounded.
"Aaargh!" Aurora moaned. "I was just getting to the good part. Maybe I can get back to that dream if I fall asleep again."
She pressed down the shut-off button of her alarm clock and quickly slipped back under her blankets. Soon she started to feel sleep overtake her again. Unfortunately, instead of returning to the embrace of a Nordic god, she was roughly pushed off her bed and landed on the floor. Thankfully it was a rather low bed.
"Ouch!" complained Aurora. "Some jerk pushed me off my bed."
"Get out of bed Aurora!" a strong masculine voice ordered. "I swear cousin, you are the laziest person I know."
"I'm not lazy… I'm efficient," Aurora whined. "Also, it's Sunday. According to some of the world's oldest and largest religions, Sunday is a rest day. Do you want me to risk being struck down by some angry god?"
"Xiaozhao will be back from her father's soon," stated her cousin. "So, get up and get dressed. We're off to have breakfast at that new restaurant that just opened."
"Alright Ken," Aurora dragged herself out of bed. "Since it's Xiaozhao's birthday, I guess I'll forgo my usual day of rest and hang out with you."
"Excellent," laughed Ken. "Be down in ten minutes."
Aurora headed for the bathroom. There she washed the sleep from heterochromatic eyes; one blue and the other brown. Then quickly combed her unruly, long blonde hair. Before dressing in jeans, a shirt and light jacket.
She heard a pair of laughing voices as she walked into the apartment's living room. Before her stood what she considered to be a perfect couple.
Her cousin Ken stood at over a hundred and ninety centimetres tall and weighed around a hundred and ten kilograms. His strong jawline and high cheekbones gave him a noble appearance. Furthermore, being a professional athlete, Ken could give Chris Hemsworth a run for his money in the sexy body department.
Meanwhile, Ken's wife Xiaozhao had clear fair skin and shiny black hair, that was a testament to her disturbingly healthy lifestyle. Her oval face and slightly pointed chin was longer than most other Chinese women and reminded Aurora of Dilraba Dilmurat. An actress who played her favorited character in Eternal Love, a Chinese tv series she had spent the last two weeks binge watching.
Aurora sighed to herself and wondered when she would become one half of a perfect couple. Her future husband didn't even have to Chris Hemsworth. Any incredibly good looking, well-built man with a gorgeous smile and kind heart would do. Also he should be intelligent and rich. She definitely didn't feel that was too much to ask for.
"Good morning Aurora," Xiaozhao's words brought Aurora back from her day dream.
"Happy birthday Xiaozhao," Aurora hugged her cousin's wife.
"Thank you," said Xiaozhao. "Are you ready for breakfast? That new restaurant I told you about is now open and they have healthy steam buns."
"For sure," Aurora nodded her head in anticipation of a delicious steam bun feast. "I can't wait to try this new restaurant you told us about. I also can't wait to check out that new book store near Pacific Place. All those books… WAAAH… so good!"
Although Aurora was generally unmotivated, reading fantasy stories was one of her three great loves, and she could spend hours lost in the worlds which those books created. Not to mention hours looking for new books to read.
"Calm down shorty," Ken teased. "We'll go shopping after breakfast."
"I'm not short," mumbled Aurora. "My height is actually above average for women in China."
"Yeah," declared Xiaozhao in support. "Aurora and I aren't short. You're just a stupid giant."
"Alright, I'm not going to win two-vs-one," Ken conceded. "I accept that my one hundred and sixty-two centimetre cousin and one hundred and sixty-one centimetre wife are of a normal height."
With that, the trio left Ken and Xiaozhao's apartment, and headed into the hustle and bustle of Hong Kong.
Aurora began to chat with Xiaozhao about the current book she was reading; Immortal Mortal. Especially how she admired Mo Wuji's dedication to his friends. Xiaozhao shared her passion for stories and was budding a xianxia author, so the discussion became quite lively. After a few twists and turns, the conversation evolved into a discussion on martial arts.
Even though Aurora found most sports to be boring, she did enjoy martial arts. In fact, martial arts training was one of her other three great loves. Though even then, her inherently straight-forward mindset influenced which styles she chose to focus on.
"Are you going for your Xing Yi Quan grading here in Hing Kong?" Ken finally found a way to enter into the conversation.
"I might as well," said Aurora. "I'm only going to be in Hong Kong for another week. Before I set off for the Sichuan archaeology site."
"Must be exciting," said Xiaozhao. "I read that those ruins were pre-Qin."
"Maybe you'll find the resting place of some mythical figure such as the Yellow Emperor or the Monkey King," joked Ken. "Or maybe an artefact of one of those other heroes you so love to read about."
"That would be cool," laughed Aurora, whose third great love was the study of myths and antiquity. "But I doubt I'll actually be able to do more than some basic cataloguing. I am only a Bachelor of Anthropology and Archaeology sophomore from the University of Southern California. The only reason I even managed to be part of this venture was due to our grandfather's links in the Graduate School of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and friendship with a bunch of scholars in the Institute of Archaeology."
"Do you think you're ready for your Xing Yi Quan grading?" Xiaozhao returned to her previous question, with some concern in her voice. "My uncle is pretty strict with his benchmarks. So it's best not to rush yourself."
"I'm sure my little cousin will be fine," stated Ken. "Her determined mentality and can-do attitude are a perfect fit for Xing Yi Quan."
"Exactly," Aurora laughed somewhat nervously.
In truth, she didn't choose Xing Yi Quan because of the attributes her cousin had mentioned. She didn't even know if she had those attributes. Instead she chose the style because when it came down to it, she was the sort of person who did the bare minimum to achieve the best results. Some would call her lazy, but she preferred to think that she was efficient.
Since Xing Yi Quan was a martial art whose over-riding philosophy could be summed up with the old saying; The shortest distance between two points is a straight line. It was only natural that she would choose it. Why beat around the bush and try to out manoeuvre your opponent with fancy moves, when you could just go for a quick and decisive victory.
"That didn't sound very confident," joked Ken.
"What!" Aurora huffed. "I'm one hundred percent confident. In fact, I'm changing my middle name to confident."
"Well said," praised Xiaozhao. "I'm sure you'll do well then. That's why…."
CRACK!
Aurora didn't hear Xiaozhao's final words. Instead she felt a sharp pain strike her head.
"Ow my head…." Aurora rubbed her scalp and tried to stand up with little success.
"Let me help you," offered a kind sounding voice. Followed by a gentle hand that seemed to make her body feel almost weightless.
"Thanks, I really…" Aurora's words stuck in her throat as she saw a disturbing sight.
In front of her was a woman with a heavily bruised and bandaged face lying in a hospital bed. Yet she instantly knew the identity of the comatose form.
"That's me," she muttered before turning towards the voice beside her.
"Yes," said a kind looking, elderly woman. "You're currently between the doors of life and death. You have the choice to return to your body or pass on into the next world."
"So, if I return to my body, I'll be fine right?" Aurora hoped. "Like a Revive or Max Revive Potion! Return from being Fainted with 100% Health Points!"
"Oh no my dear," the woman replied. "You've suffered permanent brain damage, I doubt you'd be able to string together a coherent sentence. Plus, you'll be a paraplegic at the very least."
"Well that would suck," Aurora decided. "What happens if I choose option two?"
"Actually, that's where you're in luck," the elder smiled. "For some reason, your world seems to be a focus for reincarnation and transmigration. If you choose option two, you will be sent to a new body in a different world."
"Will I still be me?" pondered Aurora.
"You will retain your memories and sentience," the woman explained. "Apart from that, it really depends on whether the universe favours you."
"Wait!" Aurora suddenly thought of a question. "I want to know how I died."
"Construction accident," said the woman. "Someone didn't do their job right and some metal pipes fell from a construction site. You and three others died."
"Who else died?" asked Aurora. "Someone I knew?"
"Xiaozhao, and two people you'd never met," listed the elder. "Your cousin was largely unscathed. Physically at least."
"Poor Ken," Aurora sighed. "He's lost the love of his life."
"Well as your poet Alfred Lord Tennyson once wrote; Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all." the woman quoted. "Also, this universe is a magical place. Who knows if they will end up meeting again?"
"Who are you exactly?" asked Aurora. "Are you a ghost or a god or something?"
"Oh no," the woman laughed. "I'm on the final part of the Path of Transcendence. It's too complicated to explain to someone who hasn't walked the Path themselves. In simple terms, I'm exploring other worlds to broaden my horizons. My particular technique is entering a body just as the previous soul has left."
"So, you possess a dead body?" questioned Aurora.
"Yes and no," the elder explained. "The immortal soul is only one aspect of a person's spirit. There also exists a life-force separate from the immortal soul. As long as part of that life-force is still there, then that body is not truly dead."
"Oh, I get it," smiled Aurora. "It's like in Egyptian mythology. The immortal soul would be like the Akh. While that separate life-force would be something akin to the Ka."
"Something like that," the woman smiled back. "Anyway, I'm off now. I actually came here to inhabit your body, but it's far too damaged. So, I'll go look around for another one. If you're ready to pass on, then simply close your eyes and fall asleep."
"Actually, I have a favour," Aurora implored. "Since your whole power thing is exploring other worlds and slipping into bodies. Could you guide me to a good world and a good body? Preferably a fantasy style world. But not like Game of Thrones… I think I'd die pretty quickly with all the backstabbing in that world."
"I thought you'd never ask," the woman chuckled. "I'll send you to a very interesting world I passed by. It's where I sent your friend as well."
"You mean Xiaozhao?" Aurora questioned.
"Yes," confirmed the woman. "I'll send you to the same world. Knowing how the universe likes a good story, you'll probably end up crossing paths there as well. Now close your eyes and fall asleep. When you wake you'll be in your new body."