Inside a modestly furnished room that was modestly colored in warm and ambient colors, stood a man facing his reflection.
He flicked his dark brown hair throwing it aside by combing his hair. Touching his face he admired how soft and supple his pale skin was and was taken aback by his deep sapphire blue eyes.
His thoughts were in a disarray as he tried to remember who he was. He was slightly disheveled and pondered over what happened to him.
The first thing he could recall from the top of his head was that his name was Jay, Jay Alcock.
And the fact that, he wasn't of this world. In fact, he had already died once. This was his second life.
From birth to present, he had acted out like a normal person, only keeping the secret of his rebirth for himself for years. Due to him having experienced all of this once, he knew how to improve his life just a bit.
He had good grades, but not to the point that he would gain attention. Although he wanted to do so, he did the cowardly thing and decided not to stand out.
As he felt that all the pressure and expectations may soon one day break him and make him express everything he repressed by accident.
And that would lead him institutionalised in a mental asylum, because claiming that you had a past life and still remember it was absurd.
But not absurd as what had happened to him this morning. He knew that the previous night he was just an unassuming American teenaged boy with a little acne on his complexion.
However, now he was quite a handsome man with a completely different face compared to before.
He had somehow become someone else, but how?
As he pondered over the reasons that could have led to this change in appearance, something unusual occurred.
In his eyes, a golden translucent interface appeared, with four words in large, white bold font.
[Tome Of The Omnifarious]
He muttered those words under his breath, and all of a sudden the screen changed. Expanding out and giving him a little insight into what had happened to him.
——
[To whomever it may concern, if one is reading this; you may learn to find that your appearance has changed dramatically. Do not fret, this is merely a manifestation of your imagined creations.
The very first of your personal alter egos, born from your subconscious and given form.
Although it was once imagined to be someone else, since it was born from your imagination, it is by all means; still you.
Within the few minutes of reading this, you may find yourself suffering from a headache. Do not worry much, that is merely the forged memories of the alter ego flooding your brain.
The life, background and everything else you have fabricated about the character will soon be truth]
Once Jay completely read the whole letter that seemed to be for him, the headache it was speaking about immediately afflicted a short bout of suffering on him.
He felt as if his body was stranded outside in the sweltering heat of summer, slowly harming his body, all starting from the skin.
The heat was unbearable, he started swearing involuntarily. His mind was blanking as he felt his head was splitting apart into pieces, as if it were being diced with a sharp knife.
Jay couldn't even scream, he felt as if something were lodged in his throat. Choking him in his own saliva, which frothed down from the sides of his mouth.
He clutched hard over his throat in an attempt to free whatever was stuck in his throat. His veins throbbed as he tried hard to breathe out of his mouth, his nostrils began to be filled with unknown scents.
His ears were hearing a constant sound of ringing; which even with his jumbled mind, he associated to be tinnitus.
His entire body was going haywire at this point, but fortunately it did not last long. For a minute later, his body returned back to normal.
But something was different his appearance once more. Still feeling weak, Jay looked up at his mirror and was completely in shock.
Even with ragged breaths, and an stressed mind he found the energy to speak, "Of course..." He uttered softly, before finally passing out on the floor.
——
My mind was still reeling from this morning's event. Completely confused over why I would suddenly have this happen to me out of nowhere, in my years of my second life I had never had this problem before.
So, why now?
Well, judging by what the screens have been telling me it seems like it was because I had just cleared a mental block that prevented my latent powers from appearing.
From what I understand, it must be because last month I had just escaped from my toxic, abusive and honestly shitty parents.
Through legal means I showed the court that I was perfectly capable of fending off for myself and earning money to make ends meet.
I understood how taxes worked with my previous experience from them, and I already worked a job someplace that earned me money to keep me fed for the week.
And without the stress inducing parents that considered anything but straight A's failures, and that becoming anything other than what they wanted me to be, I was definitely more relaxed than ever.
Especially since now the college funds they supposedly kept for me was now mine to use. Thankfully, this world allowed those like me to leave their household at sixteen as long as I showed that I was capable of being independent.
And with them being afraid of me suing them for domestic abuse, I had them give me my funds and the things meant for me from my paternal grandfather's will.
That meant currently I had 30,000 dollars in cash. And for free, an entire house for myself given to me by my toxic parents to keep hush about their domestic abuse.
Turns out, they were definitely afraid of me reporting them to the police. They could have killed me, but at that point they would have been suspected and caught instantly and then charged for murder.
Which would prove very bad for them as they both like to live quite the lavish lifestyle. Being stripped of that must sound like hell for them.
However, if I had these powers awakened sooner I would have made them regretted abusing me.
As I wiped the sweat off my back, I read the details of what happened to me in utter fascination of it all.
——
[The Tome Of The Omnifarious was once a mystical book that detailed the grand powers of transformation and change. It could change reality itself.
However, in modern times it has improved to be more inconspicuous as it is not meant for the unworthy. But you, you are worthy.
With your creativity and the Tome's instructions you can craft forms that you can shift into that grants different powers.
You can also bestow those forms upon others as well.
Currently your first transformation has changed your race into something different. Your body has been reconstructed to handle incredible power. You are now a Witch with immense magical powers]
——
[Name: Jay Alcock
Current Persona: Escarche
Persona Title: Frost Witch, Witch of Frost
Race: Pagophage
Persona's Tool: Glacial Wand
Lore: Escarche was a witch born from the perfect fusion of ice and the wandering souls of hundreds of creatures buried beneath snow. He is a being with incredible control over ice and snow, but can not control the water it was once made from. He is considered the very embodiment of the Ice Age period of Earth]