The day passed in a blur of confusion.
Rina sat on the edge of her bed, staring at the cracked screen of her alarm clock, trying to make sense of it all.
Every object in this room, every strange device, felt like a puzzle that she was too tired to solve.
The walls seemed to close in on her as the noise from the street outside filtered through the thin walls of the house.
The bustling sounds of a new world.
She hadn't eaten, hadn't moved much.
Instead, she sat frozen in disbelief, feeling like the very air was heavy with the weight of her disorientation.
Was it really possible that she had been thrust into a new life—no longer Kara Ilvion, the renowned merchant of Aurendia, but a mere 15-year-old orphan named Rina Kang?
Her fingers brushed against the faded wallpaper, and she exhaled a shaky breath.
She couldn't even fathom how much her life had changed.
In her world, she had ruled over bargains, trade, and negotiations.
But here? She was nothing but a confused teenager, caught in the trap of a life she didn't know how to live.
Rina pushed herself to stand, her legs shaky as if she had forgotten how to move.
She crossed the small room, her eyes scanning the unfamiliar objects in the corner—the wooden desk with its clutter of books, the strange square device with buttons, the mirror that reflected a face she barely recognized.
Her hair, dark and long, was unkempt.
She didn't know the girl staring back at her.
She reached up to touch her cheek, as if expecting it to somehow feel different from what it should have been.
Am I even me anymore?
Her heart hammered in her chest as she sank back onto the bed.
The tears that threatened to spill were quickly wiped away with the back of her hand.
The noise from the street below began to fade, her thoughts growing heavier with each passing minute.
How could she just... let go of everything she had been?
Was it possible to simply start over, to build a new life from scratch in a place where none of her skills, none of her connections, mattered?
Her fingers curled into fists.
I'm a merchant.
I'm good with money.
But no amount of bargaining or haggling could change the fact that she was trapped in this strange world, with no idea how to function.
She wanted to scream, to tear everything around her apart, but instead, she just sat there, her thoughts spiraling.
Her entire world had shifted in the blink of an eye, and she had no idea how to move forward.
The silence in the room felt suffocating, as if the walls were closing in on her, and all she could do was sit in the darkness of her new reality, wondering how she was going to survive in a world that was nothing like the one she had known.
"Am I going to be like this... forever?"
"No!" Rina shot up from the bed, her voice filled with a sudden defiance that she hadn't felt in hours.
"I am Kara Ilvion. I am the legendary merchant! A strong woman who loves money!"
Her words echoed in the small room, a lifeline that she grasped at desperately.
She stood there for a moment, staring at her reflection in the cracked mirror, as if trying to convince the girl staring back at her.
She wasn't used to this feeling of weakness, of uncertainty.
She had always been in control—always confident in her ability to turn any situation to her favor.
But now? Now she was helpless, lost in a strange world, with no gold to barter, no market to conquer.
Still, she couldn't shake the flicker of fire that sparked within her.
She was Kara Ilvion, after all. A woman who had once bent nations to her will with a single bargain.
This is nothing, she told herself.
I've faced worse challenges.
I'll figure this out.
She took a deep breath, pushing away the doubts that lingered like shadows in her mind. You can do this.
You've done it before.
You'll find a way.
You always do.
A sense of clarity began to seep into her fogged thoughts.
She wasn't going to let this new life break her. She was a survivor.
And survivors didn't just curl up and let the world swallow them whole.