The Voice

Struggling in her sleep, it felt like she just had a terrible nightmare. Something with great force had pulled her into an endless abyss and it wouldn't let her go, no matter how hard she struggled.

Feeling frightened and hopeless, Jing Yi tried to move her hands, wanted to find something

to hold onto.

[Mom…]

She called her mother but no sound could be heard out from her mouth. Her brain was in chaotic state, as her fragments of memory flashing continuously. Again and again.

All she could hear were sound of thunder and howling wind. Surrounding all around her was a thick black wall which is so high that it had reached to the sky.

[No… I don't want to die…] she screamed inside of her heart. The darkness -just like numerous creepy black hands- was trying to tear her apart.

She kept struggling with all her might yet it had almost completely swallowed her whole. Losing strength and losing hope, she finally gave up.

[Is this the end?] She lamented as she stopped moving. At that time, she suddenly thought that a human's life is so fragile. So small that it would instantly disappeared with just one blow.

Thus, a big question suddenly appeared from within her.

[What had I been doing all this time?]

Thinking about all of her efforts building her career, thinking about her family who live far away at another city, thinking about her promise to her mother that she would come and visit her at the weekend…

Nothing. She had done nothing!

A sudden realization was like a bucket of ice cold water poured onto her. She felt awful, so much regret that all her doings were just for herself and nothing more.

As she had almost completely engulfed by the darkness, vaguely Jing Yi saw a light at the distance. At first, it was glowing weakly but bit by bit the intensity became more and more stronger.

Jing Yi could feel a warm feeling slowly poured into her cold and empty heart. She looked down and found that the darkness was fading away.

[What is this?] She thought in confusion. She saw that the light was drifting slowly towards her. Getting closer and closer before it finally stopped right in front of her. A sudden image emerged from the depth of her mind. A starry night sky.

Unconsciously she held her breath. She got hunch that the light was here for her. Although a little bit hesitant, she reached out her hand and tried to touch it.

At the beginning, nothing was happened. But the next seconds, it transformed into thousands of silvery thin and lustrous threads that starting to wrap all of her being into a cocoon.

Jing Yi felt that something was pushing her backward. As she lost her balance and fell down, she heard a soft and melodious voice echoed.

[Don't ever lost sight of yourself!]

…

She suddenly opened her eyes. The very first thing that entered her sight was a rotted wooden canopy above her.

[Where am I?] she thought. The only thing she could remember at that time was the face of a woman, smiling gently at her.

Her gaze moved in confusion, checking everything all around her. She was lying on a wooden bed, inside a foreign room. A shabby blanket covered her body up to the chest.

Nothing luxurious could be found inside that room. There were only two simple tables, a cupboard, and a pair of rounded chairs. All made of wood with simple carving, giving off an ancient ambiance.

Jing Yi lifted her body up, trying to get out of the bed. But suddenly she felt a sharp pain in her chest. Reflexively, she touched it.

The next moments, she was in a great shock. She looked at both of her hands. They were a child's!

She maybe couldn't remember much at the moment, but Jing Yi clearly knew that in fact she was not a kid at all! She was already 26, for god sake!

"What had happened to me?", she exclaimed in panic. Holding her head with both of her small hands, she realized that there was a bandage on her head. Once more, she tried to remember. She had to figure out everything.

All of a sudden a piece of memory flashed. She remembered that she had read some novels which were generally telling a story about a person whose soul had moved into another person's body in a different dimension, different world, or even a different timeline.

[Transmigration? Did I just get my soul transmigrated here?]

Jing Yi didn't realize that her whole body was trembling. She really couldn't accept this! Never once she had imagined that something so irrational would really happened to her. And now being stuck in this predicament, she didn't know what she should do in the future. Whether she could go back to her original world or not.

As she was trying to control herself, the door was pushed open from outside.

A middle-aged man and woman entered the room, accompanied by an old lady and two young maidens. Jing Yi couldn't help but to observe them. Bewildered. Their attires were strange, looked like the clothes from ancient china that seemed luxurious with exquisite and highly skilled embroidery.

Suddenly realizing something, she looked down at her own clothes. She instantly frowned. When compared, her clothes and their clothes were so obviously different in every aspects. Such a big gap, just like the heaven and the earth.

She only wore a plain gray clothes. Without any embroidery, of course. It was a little bit dirty. Even she could spotted some blackened stains.

Seeing as they walked arrogantly toward her, instinctively, Jing Yi started to set up her vigilance.

"Already woke up?", the middle-aged man coldly said. "I never thought that in spite of the punishment you received not long ago, you still have the courage to make a mess."

They stood not too far from her bed. Looking at her with disgust, as if seeing something dirty.

One of the maiden covered her nose and pull the middle-aged man's sleeve. "Father, let's hurry up and leave. This place is dirty and smelly. I can't stand being here any longer." She said while throwing a contemptuous gaze at Jing Yi.

"Chen'er, please be patient. Let your father talk with her some more. No matter what she is your little sister after all." The middle-aged woman stepped forward. She took the young maiden's hands into hers and pulled her gently to the side.

"What sister?" The maiden sneered. "She doesn't deserve to be my sister. After all, she is cursed."

[Cursed?] Jing Yi knitted her brows. She felt the anger, sadness, and disappointment were suddenly raging inside of her heart. Though, she didn't understand why.

The middle-aged man was staring at her sharply, as if he wanted to make a hole on her face.

Jing Yi immediately hung her head down, trying to cover the flash of emotions in her eyes. Still, she couldn't help but feel a chill on her spine.

"Nurse Ning. From today on wards, don't let her leave this courtyard even only for a step. Everyone who dare to do otherwise, will be punish heavily.", Without moving his cold gaze from jing Yi, the middle-aged man gave his order sternly.

The old woman who had just been standing firmly at the back, moved forward. She bowed to him respectfully, before she answered, " Yes, this servant understand."

The master didn't say anything more. With a flung of his sleeve, he turned around and left, as the woman and two young misses followed behind. Only the old woman called as nurse Ning and Jing Yi who were still remain in the room.

Seeing that those figures had already been out of sight, nurse Ning sighed. She turned, staring at Jing Yi with a pair of gentle eyes, before she finally said coarsely,

"Third young miss don't have to worry. For now, please rest properly in bed and drink your medicine, so you can recover faster. Let this old servant take care of everything. As for about young master Yan, everything had already been settled. Third young miss shouldn't think about it anymore."

After she said that, without waiting for a response, nurse Ning bowed before she finally left, closing the wooden doors behind her.

Jing Yi still didn't say anything as her brain was still working. First, she needed to process all the information she got from the incident just now. She realized that her current situation was not good at all. Thus she decided to get more information before making any further decisions.

Next moments, from within her, a gentle voice softly whispered. She felt that she had heard this somewhere.

[Don't ever lost sight of yourself!]