2 Ambai Reborn

Ambai frantically looked around and her soul was growing cold. She hugged her knees close to herself and whispered, "Who?" But there was no response to her silent whisper.

"Who... Who are you?" Her eyes frantically moved around the room, trying to find the source of the mysterious voice. Nothing…. She couldn't find it.

Her transparent hands started to tremble and her soul started to flicker as she glanced around.

'Is it a ghost?'

'What does this ghost want?' Her thoughts turned chaotic.

Eyes wide, she peered into the ceiling and whispered, "Are you a ghost like as well?"

"No, how could you call this Deity a ghost?" the voice screeched.

'The voice is coming from my left,' Ambai deducted peering at the left wall.

"Sorry, I don't know who you are or how you are able to see me, so it's freaking me out a little. Can you appear in front of me?" Eyes wide, she kept glancing at the unmoving brick wall.

'I really hope it's not a ghost. Wait, I am a ghost so why should be afraid of another,' she thought.

With her renewing confidence, she stammered, "I—I am not afraid of you,"

A small chuckle was heard to her right this time. She swiftly moved her head towards that direction.

"You have no reason to be. I am not a ghost, I am a deity," the voice whispered next to my ears.

Shivering, she covered her ears. 'It is so close to me.' Her body started shivering even more at that revelation. "Where—where are you?" she stuttering.

"I am right here," the voice whispered to her left ear. "Ahh," she screamed, making her body as small as possible in the corner. She felt like a cornered rat at this point, being played by this mysterious voice.

Ambai hid her face in between her bent knees and mumbled, "I don't—don't know anything, please don't hurt me.'

She felt someone touch her fingers slightly. "Eeep," Ambai squealed. After taking a deep breath, her frantic heart started to calm down. 'The voice it—it sounds like a kid's.'

'Is it some kid ghost that wants to play a trick on me?' With her brows scrunched up, she took a curious glance at the room again.

"Ahem, enough—enough playing with me kid. I know that you are a ghost like me too," she stuttered with renewed curiosity.

"Stop calling me a ghost again and again. I am a deity okay," The voice screeched.

Strong invisible force vibrated from the scream, creating visible energy ripples in the room. Her almost invisible soul started to flicker and her eardrums trembled. She covered her ears and squatted down.

'I offended a powerful ghost,' Ambai trembled. "Everything—everything is going to be okay. I will be okay," she mumbled, slowly rocking her body.

"Don't be afraid, human. I—I didn't mean to scare you," The voice whispered. She could even sense some hesitation in its voice.

Ambai glanced up from her knees. Something in that hesitant voice helped her regain her lost confidence.

"Mr. Deity...….. What is it that you want? Are you going to take me to my after life?" Ambai mumbled raise my eyebrows in doubt.

"No, I came here to give you a choice. You can either choose to be reborn or choose to stay here in this plane and take care of your family," the Baby deity said in a soothing voice.

Her gaze was filled with confusion. 'Why am I given this choice? Is my gran's life in danger?' she glanced at her unconscious grandma and the frantic nurse. 'Maybe this is the reason why.'

"What happens if I choose to stay back?" she whispered. Crossing her leg, Ambai got comfortable in her corner and whispered, "Answer me."

"You can protect you family," the voice whispered.

"I can't even touch them, then how can I protect them," Ambai mumbled with a skeptical look.

"If you choose that option, you can. You will become a guardian to your family," the voice said.

'Guardian?' she thought, glancing at her limp grandma again. 'That—that sounds like a good deal.'

"I choose to sta…."

"Don't, Amba…." her grandmother's mumble stopped in the middle of the sentence.

Her grandmother's eyes filled with unshed tears and she mumbled, "Go—go have your journey." She reached her hands out towards her.

Ambai's lips trembled, peering at her weak outstretched hands. "But gran, I want to protect you as well. I—I really want to be with you." She cried, trying to hold her out-stretched hands.

"No, go… go," she mumbled, shaking her head. "What is wrong, grandma? Please don't move too much. I have called the ambulance. They will be here in five minutes. Please don't get agitated," The resident nurse cried, holding her outstretched hands.

"You have to choose soon. The longer you take to make a choice, the faster your soul will diminish from this world," the voice whispered slowly. But the prompt created a sense of urgency in her heart.

"What if I choose both?" Ambai shouted, glancing at her weak grandmother.

The deity did not answer this question. Ambai glanced up ahead. Her eyes shone with her new found determination.

"I will choose both," she said, clenching her fists.

"If that is your choice than this deity will fulfill it," the voice whispered and disappeared.

She could feel the presence disappearing. "Phew," she let out a long breath and her soul shone brighter.

"Thank god, I chose correctly. Now I can watch over my family and when all of them are gone from the world, I would be reborn with them," she whispered with a small smirk.

Ambai slowly walked up to her unconscious granny. Letting her hands hovered above her's, she whispered, "I will be here gran, and I will protect you. Then I will have my journey."

A white light suddenly appeared in the middle of the room and started sucking her soul. "What is going on? Wait, this is not what I chose," she screamed as her soul was pulled in.

"Wait…" Her soul got fully sucked into the small vortex.

The bright light was pulling her further from her unconscious grandmother. Her lips trembled as the view finally disappeared. A small tear fell from her eyes before the vortex tore her soul into shreds.

Ambai's consciousness was intact, watching the pieces of her soul swirling around in the small vortex. 'Is this a black hole? Then where is it taking me?'

After a while she saw the light at the end of the way and Ambai was tossed out of the vortex. She landed on rugged floor and her shredded soul started to piece themselves together.

Half of her body was formed when the blinding white light disappeared from the room, leaving her in a dark room.

'Where in the hell am I? What is this place?'

Turbulent thoughts swirled through her mind as she squinted in the dark.

"Deity didn't I choose to stay back with my family? Then why am I here, my granny needs me," she screamed.

"I gave you a choice and you choose this. Because of your stupid decision, your soul is split up into three parts. Some of them have already gone to rebirth. Tsk Tsk," the baby deity whispered in a sad tone.

"I didn't ask you this. I want to know what happened to my staying behind decision," I said, glaring into the darkness.

"Silly human, you are here because you chose both. You are a fragment of your soul and you do not have the power to stay back in that world. If this deity did not bring you here, your soul would have shattered in just minutes," the voice said in a condescending tone.

"In order to fulfil that wish to protect your family, you need to collect the rest of your soul," the voice whispered.

"You—you are scamming me," she screamed, pointing an accusing finger at the general direction of the voice.

"You should have listened to her words and moved on to your next life," the deity said with little disappointment.

"And I am not scamming you. Don't worry, you can go back to your world and protect them, but you HAVE to retrieve your souls before that," the voice insisted.

Ambai stood in the dark space, silently biting her lips. 'Why did I have to be greedy? I should have just chosen to stay back.' Her thoughts grew darker by the minute.

She shuffled her feet and whispered, "How am I supposed to do that?"

"I will be sending you to these worlds. You have to retrieve your souls back," the deity said with confidence.

Ambai's eyes widened at this. "How long will it take to retrieve my souls? Because my gran needs me soon," she whispered.

"Don't worry the flow of time in your world and the worlds I am going to be sending you will be different. But there is a catch. You have to live in that world for as long as the other part of your soul wishes to," the deity said.

'Retrieving my soul might take longer than I thought. But—But if I can go back to my world on time, that is more than enough,' Ambai though biting her lips vigorously.

"You don't have to be scared, it will be very easy," the voice said. But as the deity was saying this, a blinding light appeared in front of her again.

'I don't feel assured at all. I can't delay any longer,' Ambai thought and slightly touched the little blob of light.

"Hey, I haven't finished yet.. Wait," the deity screamed as Ambai's soul got sucked into the little portal again.

This time the portal didn't throw her down; it gently placed her inside a warm place.

Ambai slowly opened her eyes. Her surrounding was illuminated by warm pink glow. She unknowingly felt very safe at that place. 'Eh, where am I?' she thought, glancing around. But silent gushing of water lulled her to sleep.

When she woke up again her stomach growled out loud.

Ambai tried getting up, but her arms and legs felt constricted. A membrane was stopping her from moving too much.

'Eh, what is this? Why can't I move?'

She pushed her legs at the membrane and kicked.

"******" a muffled women's voice exclaimed at this.

'Eh, lady, who are you? Where am I?' she thought as she continued to kick the membrane again, but this time she felt someone touching from the other side.

Ambai's eyes widened in realization.

'I am a baby inside someone's womb!'

She stopped kicking her legs and hugged them with her little hands. Ambai slightly touched the membrane with her clenched fist and someone touched her from the other side.

'Shit, this is….. This is too surreal.'

"Ambai, you should always respect your elders" Her gran's chide echoed in her soul. So she stopped kicking and punching. 'But I am really hungry,' she thought slightly, touching her bulging tummy.

'Maybe…. maybe if I roll around, she can feel me.'

Amazed by her master's brilliant plan, she started to roll up and down. It was quite hard for her to be honest. There was too little space to even move forward.

'Squeeze, squeeze, squeeze, and squeeze my way through, god this place is too tight for me.'

Ambai moved her head a little further and felt something tearing at this. Liquid started gushing in.

This is the moment she knew she screwed up.

'I am going to be born!'

Ambai felt her small head near her mother's nether regions, so she tried to squeeze herself through the small opening. The sharp pelvic bone constricted her head, but still she pushed ahead. But suddenly she could not move any further.

'Eh, why can't I squeeze any further? Something is stopping me,'

She felt something constricting her neck. She felt around with her small hands and touched a slimy tube around her neck. 'What is this cord around my neck?'

'Shit did I get tangled in my own umbilical cord?'

'I got to detangle myself now,' she thought with urgency because it was getting hard to breathe with all the liquid gushing around. Ambai reached for her neck to get the umbilical cord out of the way, but her hands were not strong enough.

'Shit, I… I can't breathe.'

Ambai felt herself drowning. However, my survival instincts kicks, and I put all my strength to free myself. She rolled a little, and she was finally free from the cord. Squeezing a little further, she felt her head squeeze out of her mother's body. Someone grabbed her by the neck and pulled.

"Waaaaa,waaaaawaaaaaa," she cried.

'It really hurts to be born.'

After being freed from her confined space, Ambai wiggled her little hands and legs around.

"It's a prince," Someone exclaimed, holding her in their hands. 'What? A prince!' Ambai's eyes opened wide at this. She wiggled in their hold, trying to get a clear look in between her legs. She gazed down upon a small slimy cord connected to her belly button and below that laid the thing of her nightmare.

'A—A pee-pee!'

Someone wrapped her in a small swaddle cloth, cleaned her up; all the while, Ambai had a very dazed expression. 'I am a man. I am a man. I am a man,' same thoughts kept repeating like a broken record.

"Wake up, my lady, look at your little prince," The lady holding her hander her over to another. A pair of delicate hands held her softly to her bosom. Small drops of water wetted her face. Rapidly blinking her eyes, Ambai glanced up at the woman, squinting.

A devastatingly beautiful woman held Ambai in her arms, her eyes overflowing with tears. "Welcome to this world my dear," she whispered kissing her cheeks gently. Few droplets of warm tears splashed onto Ambai's face.

With a dazed look she thought, 'and she—She is my mother.'

Ambai raised her opened fist towards her tearing face and wiped it gently. The beauty was startled for a second, glancing down at her, but a wide smile bloomed on her face moments later.

"My baby," she whispered, holding her baby's clenched fists.

'She is beautiful.' She thought, glancing at the crying woman.

"Bang," the door slammed open, startling little Ambai from her thoughts. A burly man rushed into the room. "Am I late? Are you feeling okay? Is the baby healthy?" he panted, holding his knees.

"Come here my Rukle, look at our little treasure," she called, beckoning him closer.

The burly man, whom she assumed was her father, held her gently in his palms. "He is so tiny," he exclaimed with a wide smile on his face. He slightly lifted little Ambai up into the air and exclaimed, "Look Kaye, I can even lift him with just one of my palms."

"Enough Rukle, you might upset his stomach. Give him to me, we'll try feeding him." The woman chided, pulling the burly man closer.

'This is my family now.'

Ambai's head was filled with too much information and she was given too little time to process. She was gazing at both of them with her eyes wide. Small gurgling sound came from her mouth as she wiggled around.

"Honey look, he has opened his eyes, he is looking at me see. Hello baby, I'm your daddy," The man Ambai came to know as Rukle pointed to himself "and this is your mommy, isn't she beautiful. I know you are beautiful too my little baby." He whispered, nuzzling her bearded face on her.

Ambai filched when his beard prickled her tender face. 'Whoa, dude, you need to shave,' she thought pushing the long beard away from her face.

"At last…. At last out family is complete," the woman named Kaye whispered, wiping her tear soaked face with a small kerchief.

Rukle glanced at her mother and gave a wide smile. "Yes, we are," he whispered, pulling his wife into a family hug.

Subtly wiping his tears, he mumbled, "What shall we name him? Luke, No, how about Rubert? That doesn't sound right."

"Erudite, let's name him Erudite," Her mother chimed in, looking at him with a smile on her face. 'Erudite sounds much better than Rubert.' Ambai glanced at her and mentally gave a thumbs up.

"Erudite means one who holds great knowledge and I could almost feel knowledge seeping out of the little ones eyes. Can we name him that?" she questioned holding her husband's hands.

"That sound like a wonderful name. Let's name him that. Little Erudite, welcome to this world," her father cheerfully said with a full smile on his face.

Strong winds blew the curtains wide open, letting in bright sunlight into the room. A small ray of light fell directly on little Ambai's face. Squinting her eyes at the bright light, she covered it with her clenched fists.

After a while her eyes got used to the light, so she opened her eyes fully and glanced around with curiosity.

"Baby look, he opened his eyes fully. Hello, little Erudite," Her father cooed, kissing her. His long beard tickled little Ambai as he gave kisses after kisses. She giggled, holding his beard in his small palms.

'His red beard weirdly reminds me so much of Tormund from Game of thrones,' she thought, chuckling.

"Oh, my child is too beautiful, like a little elf," he cooed with a wide smile on his face. "Kaye look at our son, he's smiling like an angel, look!"

Suddenly his cheerful smile disappeared from his face. He had a very serious gaze when he glanced at her. 'Oh shit, did he find something out? Maybe I should act like a child more.' Ambai giggled, holding her new father's beard. 'Is this silly enough?' She glanced at the man, but he still had that serious face. 'Maybe I should try to act even cuter,' she thought.

Ambai smiled with her entire gums on display.

"Rukle honey, what's wrong? Is the boy alright?" her mother questioned with a confused look on her face.

"Kaye, our son might be the child of the prophecy."