The Predecessor's Wish

"Alist!"

'Isn't that my imaginary name? Is she calling me or someone else?', a girl thought groggily as she heard a woman's screechy voice.

"Alist!"

'Ugh! Why am I so wet and where am I?'

The girl tried to stand up but ended up falling on her butt. In front of her, a sparkling lake shone brightly.

She crawled towards the water to peek at her reflection. The clear lake mirrored a 8-month old little girl with sky-blue hair and bright ocean eyes. She could have looked pretty and adorable if it weren't for the wet appearance similar to that of a muddy black puppy.

'It seems that this child drowned in the lake before I transmigrated into her body.'

Realizing that her wish for a second chance of life was meted, she quickly recalled the basics of transmigration. An important must-know to be noted is the fact that a reincarnator or transmigrator should act in a manner that matches the current age of the body he or she possesses. This is done to avoid rousing the suspicions of the body's relatives, friends, or even enemies.

"There you are, Alist— why are you wet all over? Did you play near the lake?! You could have drowned!"

The 8-month old girl saw a fair young woman who had the same nose and lips as her own. With tussled sky-blue hair and eyes like a well-polished aquamarine gem, Alist could hardly believe that this was her mother.

'Waahhh- my eyes! I should have transmigrated with some sunglasses. Who would have thought that my new mother turned out to be a so blindingly gorgeous.'

Before she could think of another exclamation, the woman suddenly embraced Alist and started wailing in tears. Rustling foot steps were heard heading in their direction.

Out of the tall grass curtain revealed a man as gorgeous as the mother herself. If the mother was the spitting image of a graceful water nymph, this early-30s aged fellow appeared like a raging pirate captain that had travelled through stormy seas in search for his beloved treasures.

Only after finding them safe and sound did the man break down his mad composure.

"Alist, we are so sorry. Your mom and I thought we've lost you but we didn't mean to…so sorry. Please don't go…"

The confused little girl wondered what mistakes did her two lovable parents commit to make them worry about her like this aside from the fact she got lost.

Alist tried to recall whether the body she transmigrated into retained her original memories.

Surprisingly, there was one left by the poor baby.

It turned out that the toddler was suffering from an actual 'heart-burn' that not even her parents knew about.

It was a rare condition that cannot be determined by just feeling the patient's pulse or heartbeat because the heart rate will only appear normal in the records of many healers. The patient will feel as if the blood within his or her heart is boiling hot along with the sensation of it bubbling which made the heart suffer more pain than ever.

In the memories of the girl, she seemed to have developed signs of mature emotional intelligence like distinguishing the basic feelings of joy and sadness. Her predecessor actually experienced laughter on the day she was born and continuously carried the joy since growing up.

Only after an encounter with this heartburn did she stopped feeling happiness as a child. She figured that pain is what makes her sad and if she was sad, she will hurt her parents who were together living their lives happily.

There were times when she tried to signal her parents that she was suffering. To no avail, the baby's illness was still not perceived but they figured that the best way to heal her was to simply have her be in contact with water.

Water did help the baby Alist lessen the pain of the recurring heartburn. Because water was her only cure, there were times when she will wake up in the middle of night begging for water to drink.

Sometimes, drinking fluids wasn't enough for the little girl so often times when her parents wake up in the morning, they were shocked to see her sleeping in the baby bathtub filled with water.

It was if the water keeps enticing their daughter away from their embrace.

One day, her parents decided to have their first picnic together by the Lake Aenon where they thought their daughter would love the view.

While her parents were preparing the food and setting, Alist lost her balance and tumbled down the grass path leading her near the lake.

She even got her forehead scraped by a rock nearby.

That was when her whole chest inflamed explosively. Alist saw that the lake was larger than her bathtub but even so, she was determined to go into the water.

After a few steps of painful crawling, she sinked herself into the sensation of actually drowning and losing oxygen.

Alist then realized that instead of relieving herself, it was indeed killing her and so she struggled til her last breath.

She then recalled her mother telling her stories that end with 'they lived happily ever after' which prompted the toddler unconsciously to make a wish.

'ey LIVE—', the child thought in her mind before dying.

The lake water then swirled around the corpse, expelling the pyrosis and cleansing the blood content of the child as well as healing the wound on her forehead. This miracle seemed to be done unknowingly due to the girl's wish.

As the heat finally left her body, the child Alist shot out of the Lake Aenon like a geyser dumping her into the place where the reborn her woke up.

Seeing the two beautiful people who were now her parents, Alist burst into tears of the new profound warmth she had never experienced for a long time.

-----

Lying in a master bed and at the center of sleeping adults, Alist stared at the moon from the open balcony doors of the family bedroom. Her mind stayed up late thinking about how she will live her second life.

Alist initially felt sorry for the toddler whose wish was bestowed upon her, a transmigrator. She pounded her small fist to her chest, babbling wishes of a new and happy life for the poor soul.

Remembering the little predecessor's wish, Alist smiled and interpreted it as an absolute order.

'Hey! LIVE…'