Now, I am where I'm supposed to be. As I looked at the spirits sitting in front of the building we were entering... I wondered how a building could be in the middle of nowhere. Apparently, anything was possible on this side of the universe. I visited a library many times, right?
"Why are these people here?", I asked the spirit leading me.
"Not that it is any of your business, but those are the 0.1 level spirits", the kangaroo replied.
[Testy! Does he hate his job? Why was he so sour though?]
"Okay. Thank you for responding". [I wish he would detect my sarcasm]. But I was disappointed when he replied, "You are welcome".
"You are going to start from that level you saw back there, but we have to register you first. This way..."
[Register?].... [Okay]
I was led into the main building and saw different rooms filled with people engaged in several forms of training. It all looked strange to me, "Be patient, Karina", I said to myself.
"Sei"
[Woah. Who knows that name that spirits called me eons ago?]
I looked behind me and saw the guardian bird of my favorite library. [What was he doing here?]. "What are you doing here, Guardian?"
His large wings emerged and he flew towards me, almost sending me flying with the breeze that came with its movement.
"I came to drop a new spirit off"
"But you never dropped me off. You tasked me with finding this place myself", I rolled my eyes at him.
"You were taken before we could do anything. Don't you remember? I would have brought you here myself after you finished with the book. Talking about that, what happened to you?"
"Reincarnation. My spirit was born with a new baby on earth"
"You are a stubborn one, Sei. Still leaving your new body to come here for power?"
I guess that was a rhetorical question because... Then, I heard the lovely voice that was familiar to me now, "I have to wake her up to eat. She's sleeping too much"
I said to the bird, "I have to go now. I will be back when the child sleeps again"
Disappearing from the registration room, I traveled back to Du's body.
* * *
"Yes, Xue. Even with your laughter and all, she doesn't wake up. Ears of steel right here"
As I heard that, I opened my eyes. My mother was looking at me, "She is awake now. Su, come... come and meet Du Jing".
The lovely woman carried me out of the cage-like thing I was in and was passing me to another woman. My gaze fell on the other woman and...
[WHAT?! NO NO NO!!!!!].... I heard myself as I began to cry. A loud cry!
"What is the problem, Du? You do not want Aunt Su to carry you?"
"Maybe it's my hairdo. It must have scared her"
"I don't think that's it. She is still so fresh to recognize hairstyles or things like that", Ren said.
I didn't understand what my eyes just saw. [Is it because I was just returning from the Spirit Training Facility? It cannot be. That woman looks like Marlena. Is that Marlena?].
"Her temperature is going up, Ren"
"What? Take her into the room. Give her some food and lie there with her"
"Okay"
When my mother carried me into the room, I felt better and began to calm down. I was literally petrified.... and yes, angry! Furious!
I looked at my mother's face and tried to ask her questions... but nothing came out of my mouth, just more whimpering.
"Oh my! Du, are you in pain, baby? You will be fine, darling. Eat for mummy, okay"
[Yes! Yes, I am in pain. The person in the house is who killed me in my former life. What is she doing here, mother? Get her out of here!].
"Did Aunt Su scare you? Did her awkward hairstyle frighten you, Du?"
[The hell is Aunt Su. That is Marlena... Queen Marlena!!!]. I felt my little heart beating faster than usual. That wasn't good, I had to calm down.
My mother put a feeding bottle in my mouth and I welcomed the warm, sweet milk flowing into my mouth... it calmed my nerves.
My eyes refused to close...normally, I would have been asleep by now, but they stayed open. [That killer can come in anytime]
I was wishing I could tell my sweet mother that this person had the highest award in acting and pretense. I wish I could tell her to be careful of that killer.
[Maybe she plans to kill my mother and take her husband]... One could never tell when it came to Marlena.
But I just couldn't resist the tiredness that I felt in Du's body. The body had just gone through some stress, so sleep was taking over again.
That was my cue to travel again. Now, I knew I had to get stronger by all means.
[What if that wasn't Marlena? And the person just resembled her?], I thought.
[The resemblance was uncanny please], I replied my thoughts.
Du had slept, I waited till my mother left the room, then I left the little body. "Even though that person is just Marlena's descendant, on my grave, she will still suffer for what her ancestor did", I swore.
I knew the way to the Training Facility now... I could fly there with my eyes closed. That experience just now was so unsettling...
"She is the one. Definitely. Even the way Marlena's mouth bends to the side while she talks, I noticed everything"
I silently prayed that she would recognize me soon. "If she is truly Marlena, she would recognize me somehow. I will MAKE her recall everything"
I had plans. Good and bad plans... For now, I am going to climb up the levels. There is no time to waste any longer.
Fate had done it for me again. Bringing the enemy close...this is my chance. Dear mother will have to deal with whatever I will do to her 'friend'