Alula always knew she was going to die in the same way she came into the world: bloody and alone. Though, when she was born she had the luck of screaming so loud a neighbor called the police to come and check, finding her.
Now, she didn't think she would be so lucky, seeing as there was a piece of cloth inside her mouth working as a gag. Not that anyone that heard her would help her, either.
Still, she thought as she tried to work on the ropes tying her, at least she had a great view in front of her.
The sky she could see through the high window was full of twinkling stars hanging above like silent observers that kept watching her patiently as if waiting to see her next move. Though perhaps she was too dizzy from blood-loss if she kept thinking about how she couldn't disappoint the little stars that way.
Shaking her head, she continued to work. She didn't cry, though perhaps she should, seeing as her vision was blurry with the unshed tears that formed from the pain. All thanks to the wound bleeding on her abdomen. Her movements became sluggish, yet she tried and tried to cut the ropes with a piece of metal from one of the bars of her jail, not minding the bloody mess in her hands from the cuts she inflicted upon herself whenever she missed.
When she finally was free, she only had enough coordination to grab the stupid choker after six tries. And it was even harder to break the thing off her neck. It was a magic suppressor and she cursed herself whenever she thought about how they managed to make her wear it.
When the choker was finally thrown a couple of steps away, she finally felt the power inside her returning slowly, as if just awoken. She took out the gag from her mouth, its sweaty taste still lingering on her tongue. Then, she tried to call her magic, which was a hard thing to do. Even the place between her brows where her metaphorical Third Eye was remained somewhat closed.
She didn't have the concentration or energy to heal herself, but like hell was she going to not pay the ones who did this to her. She looked down at her wrists where the cyan diamond tattoos were and found them grayish, but slowly regaining their color.
She didn't have the time to wait. She was inside their fort, their sanctuary, ready to be killed in public to show off their strength. And going on by her calculations, that would happen any minute now.
However, if they thought she was going to go silently, they thought wrong. She would make them pay or her name wasn't Alula Moreno.
The energy which was folded tightly inside her was manipulated sluggishly with the help of her half-awoken Third Eye, loosening the hold of their density.
Usually for someone to do what she was planning to; they needed to fold their own energy and then create a small hole to make it explode.
She only needed to relax.
So, for what felt like the first time, Alula let go. In that second before everything went black, she saw the stars twinkling and remember what old Ma used to say to her without any hint of negative emotion as if simply stating a fact: "You were never meant to be here."
Her only regret was never to have met her destined ones.
- -
Near the city gates of Dudria, Country of Valand
Alula woke up feeling weak. Most likely, the magic-exhaustion type of weak, with the heavy body and a headache pulsing the Macarena inside her brain.
Though she got to admit that she was also feeling the sharp pains of hunger. And going on of the dryness of her throat and her chapped lips. Her body was suffering another type of pain too.
Not that she made any of these known. As a woman who was used to living always hiding, on edge of the next attack, she didn't move or act in any way that would make obvious her awoken state. She simply concentrated her available senses.
First, sound: A kid silently sobbing, three adults talking from a moderate distance, the neighing of horses, the sound of nature.
Second, smell: The sweat, dirt, dried foods, and hay. Strangely enough, no pollution.
Third, touch: The sensation of metal under her, the coarse clothes covering her body, her oily hair against her cheek, and the vibrations of the wood wheels going through uneven earth.
Fourth, and most importantly, her Third Eye, which—
She gasped, pain pounding on her head as she received a different set of memories from what she knew.
Her name, or at least the name of the body she was currently living in, was apparently Cassie Astra, a 16 years old girl that was just sold to the slave market by the orphanage she had been residing in for five months after her grandmother died from old age. She was a timid, spineless kid, whom her greatest traits were her loyalty to the one she loved, her grandmother, and her hard-working nature.
She died from dehydration, ironically enough considering she was a Water Elemental mage. Probably the only thing that saved her after she crossed over to this body was that, as she could feel her depleted core working on the environment to hydrate her.
Having been used to a dense and high-quality core, she didn't know what to do now that she was at this point. She had never been known for her control as she more times than not brute-forced her way through things. Not to say she wasn't a meticulous person, just that her powers have always been like that. Hard to grasp and unwieldy.
Not that whining will help her considering she had somehow been… transmigrated? Stars, she can't believe this just happened to her.
Well, why bother crying over spilled milk? With that loud gasp, there was no point in keeping her eyes closed.
So, she opened them, mentally prepared for this new life.