1 HEAD START
In a limitless horizon, a lady steadily sat cross-legs on the ground. Her imperturbable heart beats normally.
But in her calm state, there was something strange to her. It was like she was sitting for years there.
Tears fell on her closed eyes, but the lady seemed not to feel it as she sat there not moving an inch.
When her tears dried, her eyes slowly opened revealing her deep blue iris.
"Where am I?"
Regaining her consciousness, she mumbled as she was baffled. She didn't know the place where she was in. It was so bright that she could hardly open her eyes.
She rubbed her eyes and upon seeing the surrounding clearly, she saw a man standing in front of her shrouding with light that gave her a warm feeling.
The place was vast for she couldn't see its end.
"Who are you?" asked she whilst wobbling as she tried to stand.
The man didn't reply. Instead, 'He' gave her a melancholic smile.
A moment later, memories of what happened to her surged into her mind.
A battle took place where she and her friends and people fought against hoards of demons. The battle that will decide the faith of their world; the extinction of them or the enemy, but as she regained more of her memory, she realized that the latter will likely be the result of the battle as they were outnumbered and outpowered.
Before everything came to an end, her friends decided to send her away to survive, but she refused. They were surrounded; no one will survive on their side. But before their death comes, her friends decided to made use their remaining strength and opened up a channel, then they pushed her inside, not opening any chance of rebuttal on her side.
They waved their hands and raised the corners of their mouths, but whatever means they did, they couldn't conceal the dull somber color of their faces.
"Until we met again," these were the final words she heard from her friends.
Before it faded, she tried to get up and lend them a hand, but the channel was pulling her away. There's nothing she could do as she watched them slain by the enemy.
As the channel faded away, she trembled with tears of her eyes. Warm liquids flow over the edge of her lips. A whirling sensation in the head was all she felt before she lost her consciousness.
The memory left an indescribable pain in her mind and heart. Her knees trembled whilst tears on her eyes were at bay.
"They're too mean!" Not able to withstand the pain she felt, she cried out loud. "What happened to our pledge that we will all die together?"
The lady shed tears, as she said those words at the top of her lungs while catching her breath audibly, forgetting the man in front of her.
"Why did they leave me alone? Why?" She fell on to the ground. Her tears fell ceaselessly. She pressed her hand on her throbbing chest while leaning her other hand on to the ground. She sobbed until there were no more tears left.
It took her a lot of time to calm herself.
She gritted her teeth with determination to continue what they've started.
After wiping her tears that fell on her cheeks, she slowly opened her eyes, expecting to see the man again, but what she saw was different.
Figures after figures greeted her sight, gathering in an enclosed space.
"A crowd?" She murmured, startled. This crowd were familiar to her. They were the guardians of her tribe. More than a thousand guardians sitting quietly in the square, as they listen to the middle-aged man standing in the center of the square.
"Tomorrow will be the final part of the competition where the ranking of the top ten will be decided," said the middle-aged man. His voice sounded to everyone's ear clearly as if he was near them.
'Is this my final dream?' She thought. She was confounded and couldn't find a word.
"This is insane. This looks real." She looked at her surroundings and was startled to the view opposite to where she stood. She saw their Head sitting quietly in distant with the nine Vice-heads sitting beside him. This nine Vice-heads were the leaders of the nine factions in the tribe.
She could clearly remember how these great guardians of them died during the battle, but why they were there as if nothing had happened?
The corner of her eyes noticed the nine guardians on her side.
They looked like young guardians, but she needed to raise her head in order to see their faces. Comparing her height to the youth beside her, she was just on his eyes level. She raised her hand thinking of tugging the sleeve of a young guardian on her left side. That's when she realized that her hands became small.
'What's wrong with me?' She felt the mix feeling of worry, trouble and confuse.
She pinched her cheeks to prove if she was dreaming, but it actually hurts her a little. She slapped herself to further prove if she was just dreaming. This time, it hurts her a lot.
The nine young guardians on her side were dumbstruck upon seeing her hurting herself. They were curious as to what she was doing. No one voice out their curiosity though except for one.
"Uhm, Tala what are you doing?" One of them asked. The face of this young guardian was familiar to her. She gazed the faces of the others realizing that they were exactly the faces of those young guardians during her 5th class.
The faces of these young guardians were painted with shock.
Upon seeing that sight, she humbly stand up straight with her head's up.
"Nothing!" she simply answered. She grabbed the opportunity to look herself through the eyes of one of the youth.
Tala's eyes opened wide. She saw herself on her 14-year-old body.
She didn't notice the uncomfortable feeling of the youth towards her intent gaze.
The youth immediately shifted his sight to the middle-aged man with a reddened face.
"Tris, are you sick?" asked Aide. He shot a worried glance when he noticed the reddened face of his friend.
Tris shook his head. "It's nothing."
"I will announce right now the rewards indicated of each ranking," the middle-aged man began to enumerate the various rewards. "The top ten will receive a grade-1 pearl and guidance from the disciple of Vice-head Cesa. The top nine will receive a grade-1 pearl and receive guidance from the disciple of Vice-head Paras."
Everyone was listening to the rewards while Tala was busying herself to perceive what's going on with her.
The image of the man she saw in her view after regaining her consciousness surface in her mind.
'Who is that man? Is he somewhat related to this? or he might know the reason of this? And why I am in this young body of mine?'
As far as she knows, the channel should have just transported her to the other end of the world. It wasn't capable of transporting her back to the past.
'How did I end up here?' Tala couldn't fathom her situation.
A lot of questions swirling in her mind, but one thing she knew for sure; whatever happened to her, she was given a second chance to save the world from the total annihilation of the demons.
The top 10-6 receive a grade -1 pearl each and guidance from a disciple of different Vice-head.
"The top 5 will receive a grade-2 pearl and guidance from Vice-head Bay. The top 4 will receive a grade-3 pearl and guidance from Vice-head Huan. The top 3 will receive the grade-4 pearl and be a disciple of Vice-head Nina. The top 2 will receive a grade-5 pearl and be a disciple of Vice-head Luna and the top one will receive a grade-6 pearl and have the freedom to choose his/her own faction. The top one will also be permitted to enter the Heavenly Lake. In addition, he/she will receive the golden medallion. That's all. Let's give a round of applause to our top ten participants." The middle-aged man pointed out the location of where Tala and the other nine young guardians stood.
"Golden medallion?" She knitted her eyebrows as she heard these words. "I must obtain it."
She remembered the use of this medallion from her previous life. If she can obtain it, any request will be granted without objection as long as it will not do harm of the tribe.
She knew that she wouldn't be able to move freely because of her current status. At least, the Golden Medallion can relieve some of the shackles cause of her youth appearance.
The crowd slowly walked out to the square. After all the careful observation of the situation, she deduced her situation was not just a delusion. Tala clenched her fists with determination, she muttered: "This will be my head start."
