The woman slowly emerged from her restless sleep, her brow glistening with sweat and her heart pounding in her chest. It was clear she had dreamed of something troubling, leaving her shaken and disoriented.
The oppressive silence of her small room was broken only by her laboured breaths.
As she blinked, banishing the memories that had invaded her dreams once again.
It was as if time had etched the pain of the past into her very being, each scene replaying itself with haunting clarity.
"Again."
"Why do I keep having this dream? It's like a consistent day reminder of the pain I felt back then." She reflected quietly, her eyes deep-set and burdened by dark bags, carrying an emptiness as if they longed to escape the dullness of her surroundings.
The more she thought about it, the more it hurt. Thinking about her cruel father and his abusive episodes, but that day she would never forget, that day was one of his worst.
The image of her younger brother, Li Wei, emerged from the shadows of her mind. He had been a fragile soul, lost too soon to the cold embrace of an abandoned shed where he sought refuge from their father's relentless cruelty. His death, a poignant reminder of her inability to protect him, haunted her every waking moment.
That dark she came back. It had never felt so lonely.
"No, no. No." The woman whispered to herself, grasping her head, I'm an attempt to emotionally and mentally stop her mind from going any further.
"God help me." She whispered, sinking into her sheets, as she was abruptly shaken by the vibration of her phone; one of her few friends had asked to meet up.
So, Li Wen rose from her bed, the floorboards creaking beneath her weight. She crossed the room with measured steps, a stark contrast to the vibrant and carefree girl she had once been.
Her fiery spirit had been tamed by years of solitude, grief, and the relentless march of time.
Even her interactions with those she once called friends had become distant, her words now carefully chosen and spoken in a manner that belied her youthful exuberance.
Hunger gnawed at her, an unwelcome reminder of her isolation. She prepared a simple meal, her movements graceful and precise. The absence of her mother due to her being in a coma, who had been her anchor, intensified the solitude that had come to define her existence.
With her stomach sated and her heart heavy, Li Wen turned to her one source of solace: her novel.
"This novel is almost finally completed after these years of working on it, I almost don't know what to do." She thought, buying her nails, leaning back and thinking deeply.
She had found refuge in the written word, conjuring worlds and characters that provided an escape from her reality. Among her creations was a tale she had never shared, a story called, 'The Adventures of the Immortal Master Li Wei.'
It was a tale born of a desperate desire to imagine her brother living freely, unburdened by the pain of their past in a world with endless possibilities.
The morning sun cast a golden glow as Li Wen stepped outside, her thoughts momentarily lifted by her time in the sanctuary of her imagination.
The remnants of her fiery spirit flickered as she chatted with a childhood friend, the words flowing effortlessly as she recounted her latest creation.
"You know," she began, her voice tinged with nostalgia and melancholy, "I've almost finished the story that has yet to see the light of day. 'The Adventures of the Immortal Master Li Wei'... It's a tale that brought me a sense of closure, a way to imagine him free from the chains of our world in a different world where he was... happier."
Her friend listened earnestly hoping one day that her dear friend would be able to forget the burdening pains of her past.
"Lili, your novel is so unbelievably detailed! I almost wish that this was real... I'm sure if your brother saw this, he would be proud," She exclaimed.
Li Wen smiled comforted by her friends endearing praise.
"I'm not finished yet; currently, I'm at the part where he has won the fight and has become a legendary martial master, but I'm unsure how to conclude the novel since I'm in the last chapter," she explained to her friend.
To be honest, as her thoughts drifted, Li Wen even entertained the idea of joining the universe she had constructed, just so she could see him, which brought to mind the numerous transmigration stories she had read in the previous years.
It was actually so utterly and unbearably painful how much she wished for it to be real, how she put her sadness and hopes in another world. To imagine seeing her brother again.
No one.
No one would ever know the emptiness of not having your twin beside you.
Despite the challenges, she persevered all her life for her brother's sake and the fact that she was among the living, not the dead.
She was determined to live wisely and well in honour of those in heaven who were no longer here.
As the conversation continued, Li Wen's gaze shifted to the heavens. As a believer, she sought comfort and direction by attending church earlier that day, hoping to find solace in her faith which had been a pillar carrying her through each day.
After her friend departed, she felt a surge of inspiration and started writing the final chapter of her novel right then and there.
But it felt the end of her brother's life, his journey and adventures. It pierced her heart like a sword, yet upon typing the concluding words, she exhaled a sigh of relief, unburdening herself of the weight she had carried, ready at last to truly let go of her past which clung onto her.
"This feels strange... But maybe it's time to say goodbye." She whispered, looking up at the sky, tears reading in her eyes, tears that wouldn't fall.
The woman's face still young, way still creased with lines of grief and suffering, making her look as if she wasn't in her 30s.
But she gradually began to feel like a kid who had been forced to grow up too quickly and had not changed a year since she was fifteen. Her thick exterior was too opaque for others to see through.
On her way home, whispers had spread of a celestial phenomenon: a meteor that had streaked across the sky, its fiery descent leaving a trail of wonder and speculation in its wake.
A distant rumble caught her attention, causing her to look upward once more.
"What's going on-"
Her heart quickened as the heavens seemed to split open, a brilliant cascade of light was descending towards her at an unimaginable speed.
Panic set in, but it was too late to react. Pain engulfed her senses, a searing agony that gradually faded into darkness.
In her final moments of consciousness, Li Wen's mind raced. "I long for a chance... a chance." As a final cry escaped her mouth. "A chance to reunite with my twin!"
"I long for a better life, or a chance to rewrite the past, or perhaps, a reunion with Li Wei in the realm beyond... or just peace..."
Her whispered prayers hung in the air as her world dissolved into oblivion.
| —————|
When consciousness returned, Li Wen found herself in an unfamiliar landscape. She fell on the ground almost still screaming from the brief yet excruciating pain she had felt before dying, as the meteor hit her. However, why was she alive? Confusion and disorientation gripped her as she took in her surroundings. She seemed to be in the middle of a field; she saw a lake nearby as thirst hung around her mouth, her tongue dry, and her patched lips had several cracks.
"Where am I?"
If I go to the lake, the reflection can tell me what exactly is going on and who I am possibly... because my body feels smaller and more fragile, my skin looks as pale as paper, and my hair is darker than it's ever been!" She thought.
So she quickly ran to the lake with her thin legs barely handling all the exercise as she felt far too tired already. She drank water, washed her face, and then stared at the surface of the water.
A childlike form stared back at her in the lake's peaceful waters, her hands grazing over her face, her body feeling foreign and diminished.
"I can't believe how young I look— I look like a 10- or 12-year-old! What on earth happened?"
She recalled all the events bringing her to head the horrific meteor as it descended on her taking her life with it.
"I can't believe it, I... I died. That was it," I breathed shakily in disbelief, still recovering from the shock of the memories of the pain she felt flooding back in.
Shaking uncontrollably while covering her ears, so as to not remember the meteor obliterating all sound, all sight and everything in its path.
The little girl began to cry, and she continued crying for a while until she could finally digest what was happening.
"This can't be real. No, it has to be real." She said, shuddering at the thought of her own funeral, thinking about the very few people who would attend it and if her mom would be able to make it at all.
"I suppose this was the death that awaited at the end of such a miserable life. But still... It makes me sad to think that I may never meet my mom or my friend, or experience the simple joys of watching TV and going to church like I did before ever again."
A deep sadness washed over her as she realised she may never see that world again.
After finally calming down, she stopped sniffing and stopped staring down at the unfamiliar reflection of herself, chestnut brown eye eyes stared back at her with tints of purple and pink settling within them.
Taking in her surreal surroundings, she felt as if she was living in a world of art, a setting of saturated colours. It was like watching a movie through a VR headset.
"It seems as if I have almost transmigrated to another place since, by the looks of it, this... is not Earth... and it does not appear to be heaven." She thought, glancing up. Her eyes glimmered as she swallowed the almost unrealistic view of her settings.
It took her a while to understand that her vision had improved, as if she were playing a game in high definition.
The sky above was a riot of colour, an array of suns casting an otherworldly glow upon a red expanse that stretched out before her.
Bewildered and apprehensive, Li Wen's eyes settled on a traditional Chinese dwelling in the distance. Her analytical gaze absorbed every detail, from the ornate architecture to the intricate carvings that adorned its facade.
"What? That does not appear to be anything that could existon earth; nothing here does... I mean several suns it's almost like I'm in a novel!" Li Wen exclaimed, felling exhilarated at the very thought of it.
It was something that practically every novel reader had longed for at least once, and it had been given to her despite the fact that she had died horribly.
"Am I a main character?" She pondered enthusiastically.
The girl said squeezing the new soft skin on her face.
"I look so much younger..." she said thoughtlessly.
"Or maybe the villain...I hope not. Maybe a supporting character." She needed to know which character she was.
"Normally, something like a notification pops up. I wonder if that's going to happen..."
Then, as if conjured by the enigmatic forces that governed this new reality, a luminous system materialized before her almost reading her thoughts.
Its presence was simultaneously awe-inspiring and unsettling, its words resonating within her very being.
["Greetings, esteemed author,"]
The system's voice intoned, addressing her with a familiarity that sent a shiver down her spine.
With a dawning realization, Li Wen understood,
"There's no way... if I'm the author, then this must be my story..." She thought meticulously sceptically, analysing the system notification, which was almost like a 3D hologram, marvelling at it.
She was no longer just a spectator of her story – she was now an integral part of it.
As the echoes of the system's words reverberated in her mind, Li Wen felt a profound sense of curiosity.
"What awaits me in this world of cultivation, where my creation had come to life? All the knowledge I have will aid me beyond measure ..."
But With Li Wei's memory etched upon her heart and the power of her words at her disposal, she knew she had to find her twin, her lost other half.
"I've been given the chance to finally reunite with him, even if it's within a creation that I made with my own hands... I must find him."
She yearned to reunite with him, even if it meant navigating the depths of a reality she had once only imagined.