The pale light danced across the blade meant to take his head, its faint luminosity reflecting the soft, hanging moons of Ashyn's twin satellites in the nighttime sky. Aaron faced the corrupt ruler who had sentenced him to such a fate, his eyes fixed intently on the man and his unyielding stance unwavering. As the rebellion leader, he'd known fully well that this day could come, but he'd promised himself that if ever faced with it, he wouldn't betray fear upon his face or in his heart.
"Any last words, traitor?" the king sneered.
Aaron's voice finally boomed loud, clear, and persistent with his words: "Though I may never have a chance to see it, I wholeheartedly believe that justice will be served."
The blade fell.
Pain. Darkness. Then. Warmth?
Something fought its way through Aaron's mind. The cold stone of the execution platform was gone, replaced by softness enveloping him. Muffled sounds reached his ears-voices, beeping, a rhythmic whoosh of air.
Then, a blindingly brilliant light pierced through his eyelids like a knife and sharply illuminated the darkness behind his eyes with a brilliance so light it could cut. It was with some strain that he was finally able to pry his eyes open wide enough to let in this utterly bewildering kaleidoscope of dazzling colors and intriguing forms performing their elaborate, whirling dance around him. Above him, there also burned a gigantic face woman whose face was contorted in a mighty, overflowing emotion, her eyes brimming over with tears of utter joy.
"Ah, my beautiful boy," she cooed softly. "Welcome to the world, Aaron."
Aaron? That's me." But how was this even possible? Memories of a past life came flooding in, colliding with this present reality he was now facing. He was a baby, and in some impossible-to-believe kind of way, it would appear that he had been given a second chance at rebirth.
As the woman gently lifted and tucked him into the crook of her arm, a familiar voice echoed through his mind once more—a voice far away, yet so near at the same time that emotions were hard to spell out.
"You have been given a great second chance at life."
Before him, Ariel stood in a place of magnificence: shimmering light dancing around her, colors swirling and Catching the eye. She was resplendent casting an aura of warmth and wisdom around her that enveloped nearby persons and offered comfort and insight.
"I am Ariel," she said in soft and gentle tones. "I brought you to this place because your relentless battle for justice was indeed noble and admirable, yet it was cut short in a way that was beyond your control."
What place was this, exactly? Aaron was deep in thought, his mind wrestling with the convolutions of how to word the myriad questions swirling in his mind.
"This is my world," Ariel continued to elaborate as her voice resounded with the softness of a summer breeze that tenderly touches one's skin. "It is an in-between world, hanging between different worlds, where important decisions are made and people's lives can be rewritten or taken in another direction.
A great wash of clarity swept over Aaron as if some light had turned on in his mind, and various memories struggled and surged to the very front of his mind-memories of his fierce rebellion against this oppressor of a king, alongside the brutal cruelties perpetrated against innocent Ashyn people. Yet at this moment, he was caught within this small and cramped body with no words whatsoever, struck dumb by his circumstances.
"You may keep one aspect of your previous life," Ariel said. "Choose well."
He was deep in thought, reminiscing about how great an asset the mastery of the sword he had possessed was in his lifetime and how much a portion it had played in shaping his personality. But now, with the little form that he was in, all such abilities seemed to be completely useless and impractical. His extremely high intelligence quotient, which was a treasure beyond measure, had been the motivating force for his complex thoughts and ingenious schemes in his conquest of the obstacles posed before him by Ashyn. Apart from this trait, there was yet another commendable thing about him: his very special skill, Adaptability.
If I could choose my IQ," he mused, "I'd be the fastest learner this world has ever seen, but then again, would that be enough?
She watched him closely and intently while he weighed every option with a lot of care. These moments felt like they dragged on and on forever until finally-
"I choose to adopt Adaptability," he told himself in his mind.
Ariel smiled wistfully. "A wise decision.
With that important moment of decision, a strong wave of energy swept through Aaron to bridge an important connection and intertwine all the aspects of his past and present self. As he let the moment take over him, the warmth embracing him began to cool down gradually, and he descended, like a feather floating on a summer's breeze, slowly back into the comforting clasp of the reassuring arms of his new mother.
But in that instant, it dawned on him like an epiphany that could not tell his thoughts, could not move as he so desperately wanted; all that came from his mouth was a pained, high-pitched wail that resounded within the quiet surrounding him.
Aaron whispered low to himself in the arms of his mother, where she rocked him back and forth, that he would dive deep into all the secrets this new, unknown world had in store for him, but not at the cost of letting go of the fundamental attributes and values instilled within him during his growth in Ashyn. He would work on acquiring knowledge on how to stand up and fight against injustices and unfair means he came across, even if the journey meant starting afresh with difficulties and challenges he had never thought of.
For now, he was in a position to be able to do little more than sit and wait and listen attentively as the chapters of his new life unfolded themselves, one anguished scream at a time.