Wreck

If anyone could be described as "out of her element," it would have been the girl awkwardly sitting in the cream stitched-leather seats of the bullet train's most expensive cabin. She fiddled with the golden pin in her dark hair, adjusting it to perfection for the tenth time in the last half hour. Her name was Vanna, and she was not accustomed to being in such a foreign environment. 

This was her first time on a train, and on a luxury Gran Class ticket at that. At her table, was a ceramic tea pot filled to the brim with piping hot reddish-brown tea—which she had requested. Tea usually eased her nerves, and reminded her of home. She had brought her own tea cup, made of pure silver, that had been gifted by her mother for the special occasion of her being accepted into one of the world's finest educational institutions.

One could only get into the university with a large sum of money—or scoring well enough on bi-annual exams hosted by a coalition of the most prestigious academics known to man. Vanna had accomplished the latter, and that was why she was awarded an all-expenses-paid trip on this unnecessarily fast train. The surroundings flew by without a care, anything in close proximity an indiscernible blur, while objects farther away went at a slower pace. 

The waitstaff was almost overbearing, coming over to her to ask if she needed this or that or if she was comfortable, or anything along those lines every five minutes—at least that's how it felt.

She nodded when the woman asked if she would like her tea poured. Vanna would have done it herself, but she was feeling self-conscious and didn't want to accidentally spill tea all over the table and embarrass herself. 

Thanking the woman, she took the silver cup into her hands, blowing gently across the calm surface of the tea to let it cool down a bit. 

Almost forgot, she thought, then reached toward the cup that held a neatly stacked pyramid of sugar cubes. She picked up three of the cubes, dropped them carefully into the tea, then let out a contented hum as she watched them sink in. Looking out the window to enjoy the view, she stirred the tea, already beginning to get lost in thought. 

Minutes passed as she pondered how things would be at the academy. It would surely be filled with children of the old money elites, aside from the occasional merit-based students like her. She had tried absorbing those etiquette videos as best she could, even changing the way she stirred her tea—more dainty and less… efficient. The upper class tended to do everything a lot slower than most people, like they had all the time in the world. They did, in a way, since they did not have to worry about when their next paycheck would be and if it would be enough to cover their expenses. 

She didn't know how it worked, though. Growing up, she had always overheard her parents stressing about one bill or the other, and money was the root cause of the majority of their issues. It had led to them eventually getting separated. Her father had faded into obscurity, toiling his life away for a boss that would never promote him, and her mother had focused all her energy into making ends meet by juggling multiple jobs at once. 

Even then, her mother had spent what little savings she had on this silly tea set—a gift Vanna loved, by the way. Alone on this fancy train, that teacup was the thing holding everything together. It was the bridge between her old world—a small town in the middle of Cambodia—and this new world of high-end bullet trains and corporations and invite-only schools. 

A lot to take in, that was for sure. She decided to browse the screen-tablet that was laying on the table and pulled up the news section to learn more about the place she was headed.

Pinned to the top, the major headline was about the illustrious Golden Enterprises, a company that most people knew from their sponsorship of the biggest media companies and private educational institutions.

Renowned CEO of Golden Enterprises, Quynh Lê, tops the annual philanthropists' list with a massive $8.7 billion in donations, his largest yet. Second, comes… the article read, which was enough for her. She couldn't really envision how someone could have that much money that they could give it away on the scale of billions. The company was also the owner of the very train she was on, and Golden Enterprises was one of the major sponsors for both her university and the testing program. The article included a picture of the CEO, and she observed it for a moment. He had cleanly cropped black hair, deep brown eyes, and a strong jawline. Surprisingly more attractive than she had expected. 

 Apparently, he did this sort of thing often—donating truckloads of cash every year. Good for him. Vanna was grateful for this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to study at a prestigious school and further herself in her career.

 Making a name for herself was not high on the agenda, but she wanted to at least land a job that could support her and let her mother retire comfortably after all those years of hard work. She would help her father too, of course. Even though they had not been in contact much lately, she knew he still thought of her in his own way. He had never been a talkative man, so texting was as much as he did, but he always made sure to tell her he loved her on her birthday and during the holidays. 

She smiled, taking a sip of her tea, which had cooled to nearly the perfect temperature now. Content with the soothing warmth of her drink, the woman decided to open the newspaper provided to passengers for entertainment on their ride. On the very front page was the face of the CEO of Golden Enterprises, unsurprisingly. 

Mr. Quynh Lê was a hard man to miss. Vanna had seen him plenty of times, on television, social media, and even on more traditional mediums like magazines. It seemed that he couldn't escape the eye of the nation; not that she minded – Mr. Lê was easy on the eyes, after all – but she couldn't help wondering if it ever became tiring being under constant scrutiny from the general populace.

She looked down at his photo and traced his outline, falling captive to her own thoughts once again. Was it really possible to achieve such amazing feats like building and running a company and business empire by the age of 30? Vanna's eyes continued down the different headlines, all highlighting the man's impressive accomplishments, and finally turned the page.

She nearly winced at the stark contrast between articles, a short breath escaping her lips as she read on. It was an interview with a few teens that had been affected by the ever-increasing gang-violence that had started to overtake all of the port cities. According to their responses, they had been losing more of their friends to the recruitment of crime organizations. Not only this, but the infighting between the various groups had reached record amounts of injuries and even deaths.

Vanna bit her lip, a sense of sorrow and foreboding settling deep in her stomach. She folded the newspaper back up and placed it on the seat beside her. Getting herself anxious over troubling news articles was the last thing she needed to do when she was already struggling to calm down.

The girl shook her head to rid herself of unnecessary thoughts, when she remembered that the overbearing attendants had actually served a small loaf of warm bread and butter with the tea. It seemed like a delicious slice of bread would be the perfect distraction, so she carefully placed her cup of tea back onto the table and gingerly grabbed the bread knife that had been provided.

Vanna took in a breath and sighed. It smelled delightful and fresh, which made her even more eager to try it. She placed the bread on its board, looking outside for a short moment as the train passed over a bridge, and proceeded to slice into the loaf with great anticipation. Soon after, she yelped and retracted her hand. Vanna had somehow sliced her finger with the knife in her haste. Strange accidents always managed to happen to her, in ways she couldn't predict sometimes. 

When she brought her finger up to inspect it, however, she immediately noticed something was wrong. The blood oozing from her hand had begun to let off steam. Before she could comprehend what was happening, the droplets of blood burst into a bright, golden flame. 

 In a panic, she shook her hand in an attempt to put out the fire, which only served to worsen the situation. The golden flames raced up her arm, and within seconds, overtook the entire cabin. Everything started to burn. The crackling flames started to hiss, and a strange, high pitched whistle sounded out, followed by a huge explosion of energy that burst through the entire train, its point of origin the center of her body.

The windows shattered, sending bits of fractalized glass flying past her—the pieces of which melted as soon as they neared her. Vanna watched in a panic as the train cars continued on their path, right through her. Her body smashed right through door after door after door, but she was unaffected, having become nothing but a spectator in this grand display of unbridled power. The train flew off the rails, carrying its incredible momentum forward. She was floating in the air, and despite being the cause of the explosion, was unharmed by the travesty occuring around her. The remaining train cars crashed together, then fell, along with the collapsing bridge, into the rushing river below.

Huge splashes sounded with each of the cars' impacts, until everything fell silent again. Vanna looked in horror as the flames on her body subsided… and she lost consciousness.

~~~

Somewhere far away, in an executive office, a dark-haired woman sighed. A single, obsidian-like horn manifested on the right side of her head, which signaled a rebirth. The balance of the world was about to change again. "I can sense it. The Golden Phoenix has chosen a new vessel."