The beginning

Excruciating pain was what she felt in her legs the moment her consciousness came back to her. Her body felt as if she had been ridden over by a bus, her hands were too heavy to lift and her eyelids weighed down like dumbbells. 

Still, she struggled to sit down, she felt that her eyes were wrapped by soft material and tied behind her head. She raised her heavy arms and loosed the rope, allowing the material to fall unto her legs. Eloise could finally open her eyes slowly only to be met with darkness.

She couldn't see a thing. Wherever she was at the moment was covered with darkness but a sense of familiarity was within her mind. 𝑇ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑎 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑚𝑜𝑛 𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑐𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑟 ℎ𝑒𝑟. 

Eloise touched what she was seated on and felt the soft mattress, her brain understood that she was on a bed.

Had she gotten home last night? Did she sleep in and woke up again at midnight? She turned on her bed and tried to search for the light switch on the wall close to the bed but she couldn't find it.

"But it was always at the right," she murmured to herself. This always happened to her, waking up at night and not recognizing where she was. Her brain likes playing tricks with her.

She wondered what had happened last night. How did she even get home? Eloise turned her neck from left to right, stretching her neck muscles, and stretched her back until she felt normal again. 

With her hands, she navigated until she found the mattress and removed it from her body. She wondered why her room was so dark or maybe she had too much drink last night. For a heavy drinker, her alcohol tolerance was low and yesterday's drinking was above her daily limit.

Eloise swung her legs over the bed and it touched the floor. The moment her feet touched the bright mattress, a blinding light filled the room which struck her eyes. It seemed the switch was actually on the floor. She quickly closed her eyes as the light was enough to blind her.

"The fuck!" She shouted. 

Her lights were always dimmed to avoid things like this. She hated brightness but she also hated it when it was too dark. 

She slowly opened her eyes to adjust to the brightness of the room. When her eyes fully adjusted she was left astounded.

The room looked like a dream. Too good to be true. Flowers with diamonds in their buds were put in vases beside her bed and door, gerbera daisies were on her vanity table, even the bird cage was made of diamonds and a parrot was in it sleeping. 

Eloise raised an eyebrow at the room she was in. She stood up from the white mattress, her foot softly pressed against the soft blue rug. The walls had faint yellow lights emanating from them plus the candles were placed on flower-made holders. It was as if she just walked into a fantasy bedroom.

Was this her room in Carlton's home? She was so confused. The bedroom was large and there was a glass window to her left which was covered with white transparent curtains. She went to the window, but outside was dark and she couldn't make out anything. This didn't feel like the Carlton house one bit and no way in hell would her self-righteous family find her and take her home.

She went to the vanity table where a rosewood mirror was propped against the wall and that was the last thing she saw before she blacked out. 

****

When Eloise woke up again it was getting brighter, outside was still dull but it seemed like the early hours of the morning. She was on the floor, her head banging from a headache.

She got up from the floor, rubbing her head slowly. Maybe it was all a dream she thought to herself.

Atlas, it wasn't. She was still in the room. She stood up again and looked at the rosewood mirror. 

Yup, she still looked strange. 

Dressed in a sea-foam white lace dress with a V-line that showed her white chest and the side of her breasts. The nightwear was free and ends on her thighs, it was transparent and she could see the white underwear she wore underneath. The strange girl she saw in the mirror had white hair and violet eyes. A round face and soft features, pouty pink lips, and a pointed nose, smooth baby skin. So unlike Eloise with scars, a crooked nose, and angry dark eyes with black hair.

This wasn't her, but the mind felt like hers. Her original body was tall and broad due to the hard training she had to survive her years but this body was small, a bit 5'2, with medium-sized boobs, and curvy hips.

For the first time in all her years, she felt beautiful. She ran a hand down the nightwear she wore. Whatever miracle this was...it was surprising.

But still…what happened to her? Where was her original body? What was this strange miracle? When she heard that people were reborn she thought it was all superstitions but here she was. A living superstition.

Skirts rustled from the doorway and Eloise raised her eyes in the reflection to see a stranger person enter her room. It was an older woman who was taller and held a basket, she was in a red long gown with a white collar, and her hair was tied behind her back. Her blue eyes tried not to preen but they failed miserably. 

Still, the strange woman bowed her head. 

"Lady Cerys, good morning"