SOMEONE’s PAST - Memories.

The first thing I saw after the boat hit the shore was light. When I turned back to take a final look at the other bank of the River of Oblivion, I saw nothing—only dark silhouettes contrasting with the light I found myself in. I no longer understood how I got there, and the brightness was so overwhelming that I closed my eyes.

The next thing I came across was the ceiling. Yes, a simple ceiling, which I seemed to have been staring at for eternity. I couldn't move or call out to anyone. I just lay there, gazing. The ceiling seemed both present and translucent, adorned with a pattern of golden waves and a dragon appeared among them intermittently, its head half-submerged. The water-like waves contrasted with the red clouds. But, after a long time, the dragon seemed not to be swimming in the waves but hovering among golden clouds, hiding behind their red edges, perhaps. Eventually, my eyelids grew heavy, and the ceiling vanished. Everything dozed.

Later, I regained consciousness to the sound of someone shouting incomprehensible curses, their sorbing voice breaking into tears. It was young and ringing, like that of a boy not yet fully a grown man. The arguments seemed mature, but as I listened closely, I realized the voice was cursing me—someone, who had taken his Fate into his own hands, now lying motionless on the altar of sacrifice to the Lord of Light.

Well, not the first time...

"Father will never forgive you for this! Never! You will burn and be reborn until your spirit loses its strength and dissolves into the flow of being!" The voice cried out in pain, despair, and fear, pleading to something or someone I couldn't clearly comprehend.

"The Fire of Atonement will consume you again, and I will have to gather your ashes around the hall once more! How could you do this? Do you hate me so much? But I did not choose you! It was he who did!" 

The crying mixed with the sound of palms hitting the floor, and something else—was he smashing his forehead?

I tried to move and open my eyes. Slowly, my eyelids lifted, revealing nothing but a light similar to what I had seen previously. After lying there for a while, I began to feel my body, the one I inhabited at that moment. My wrist felt something solid as I tried to push myself up, but I failed and fell back. When my back hit the hard surface, a wheeze escaped me—not a howl of a crippled animal, but the cry of a desperate creature caught in a trap. Could it really be my voice?

"You… you… you woke up?! Are you alive?! Are you still alive?!" 

I felt hands grabbing me, running over my body as if searching for injuries. 

"Are you really still alive?! We must save you immediately, before it's too late!" 

With these words, hands lifted me into the air. I couldn't open my eyes again; the blow had clearly sapped my strength. Now, I only could be dangled in the air, left to the whims of Fate.

"I will bring you back. I will definitely bring you back. But first, we need to find a new body for you." 

There was a crash, falling furniture, footsteps, more footsteps, screams, and then more footsteps. Finally, I was lowered onto something soft—a bed?

"Call Xiao Fu here, immediately! Let him help!" This was the only distinct phrase I could recognize, clearly spoken right next to me.

I heard multiple steps, but then all stopped.

"Xiao Fu, why are you so slow, come on, we need to save Zhu Rong!"

If they were going to save me, was I Zhu Rong then?

There was a short silence.

"Stop staring, we need to move him to a new body before this one completely burns! Wrap him in wet sheets quickly and pour water on him until I return!"

"Yes, my Prince," a timid voice was hardly heard.

"Repeat what you need to do!"

"I'm wrapping him in sheets now and keeping them wet all the time, waiting for your return, my Prince!"

"Correct, thank you Xiao Fu, I trust him to you!"

Suddenly, out of the blue, I was telling the young servant that my whole body was hot, as if I were burning on a fire.

"Be patient, Master, I will try to help you now. I promise, it won't hurt anymore. I recently learned a water spell, so I don't have to torture you by wrapping your body and pouring water on it. I will make a pond for you and put you in it to cool down."

Thx for reading.