Chapter 4 - Maria

Year 1034 of the Zhang Dynasty - Outlands of Heavenly Phoenix City - Linjian farm

[Wake up] ???

...

[Wake up or you will die] ???

"Whaaaaaagh" Linjian

I stand up.

"XUE!" Linjian

To my surprise, my body responds perfectly.

[There is no need to scream, you need water now] ???

....I am fine?

[WATER] ???

I wear the silver pendant that I had in my left hand.

[WATER, NOW!] ???

My mouth feels extremely dry, so I slowly go to the kitchen and drank from the water jug on the table.

[Yes, keep drinking] ???

I keep drinking till the jug was empty.

[That will do for now] ???

"Where are you?" Linjian

A voice keeps resonating in my head.

[In your head] ???

"In my head?"

[I am Maria Campbell, a forgotten personality from your past life] Maria

"...what?"

[You can call me Maria] Maria

...there are other things I need to do now.

[Are you going to ignore me after I saved you?] Maria

I go back to the bedroom.

Ziyun...Xue...

They are still there, sleeping forever.

[*gasp*] Maria

The voice in my head sounds surprised.

I use the bed sheets to cover them and then I take them outside.

[...] Maria

With a shovel I start digging, and keep digging till there are two holes of enough deep to bury a body.

"Ziyun, I will never forget you" Linjian

I caress the silver pendant and then I bury her.

"Xue, I promise you that this world will change" Linjian

I bury her too, and then my tears started to fall. I cried for hours...

After recovering my composure, I buried all the people in the village in their respective homes.

------------------------

The light of the morning sun goes through the gaps in the wall.

After sleeping in the barn it was silent but I somehow knew she was there.

"So, you are called Campbell" Linjian

I tried talking to the voice in my head.

[No, that is my surname. Call me Maria]

Why did she said her name first? weird.

"Then, Maria"

[That is better. And it is not necessary to speak, after all I am in your head] Maria

...

(Is this enough to communicate?)

[That is right]

(You said that you are a forgotten personality from my past life, right?)

[Yes]

(Could you explain it?)

[Yes, well... how do I start?...]

.....

[Do you know what a soul is?]

(It is the central piece of all life)

[No, there are life forms without souls]

?

[The soul is the origin of a person, the starting point of feelings]

(And you and I have the same soul?)

[Yes and no, we have completely different memories and experiences in our lives that have molded the soul in different ways]

(Molded the soul?)

[Our soul when we were babies were the same, but now we are slightly different]

(So you weren't a farmer in your life, then what were you?)

[I was a nurse]

(A what?)

[A person with medical knowledge that helps other persons]

(Like an acupuncture user)

[Don't you dare compare acupuncture to actual medical knowledge!]

!!!

[...sorry, I really don't like when in cultivation novels people cures terminal patients with just needles. It looks like they are looking down at science]

(Cultivation novels?)

[I came from a world where the cultivators were just fictional characters]

(You lived in a world without cultivators?!)

[Yes]

(How was that possible?!)

[We can talk about in detail after]

(After?, does that mean that you will keep existing in my head?)

[I am practically fused with your soul, so I don't think we will separate soon]

(Having someone of a world without cultivators will help me, but...)

[but?]

(How did you even retained your memories? Will you not disappear like you came?)

[I wont disappear because your skill called me]

(Skill?)

[Yes, you awakened your skill in a moment of life or death]

I remembered the voice I heard before passing out.

(You mean...)

[Yes, the...]

"Book of Appraisal"

[Book of Appraisal]