章 2: A New Life and a New Home

Many people said that dying isn't the end of everything. Unless one is cursed upon their death, then the outcome will probably be a little different. But dying isn't a good experience either and true enough, sometimes, it really isn't the end of everything.

My name is Luna Hysi, well I had another name but let's get to that later, and I am the Red Sovereign. This story is about my journey to becoming one of the most powerful people in Afasia, meeting friends and enemies, my ups and downs in life and unraveling the secrets behind my existence and situation. Why the secrets? You'll see…

It all started that one fateful evening…

***

When I opened my eyes I noticed that my surroundings were quite dark. The faint light which helped me see was the moonlight, but even then, it was very hard to make out anything a few feet away from me. I wondered where I was, and why everything felt so unfamiliar, but no answer came to my mind. All of a sudden I felt my hand was quite wet and sticky, and a metallic smell was piercing my nose. I looked down and saw blood on both my hands.

I didn't know why but I became really scared. My chest started to hurt and my eyes started to sting. And before I knew it, tears started falling from my eyes and I broke out crying.

I, a five thousand year old fox deity, was crying uncontrollably like a child. I looked around me once more and I saw dead bodies. Dead. Human. Bodies. Lying near me. From the looks of it, they were killed by beasts.

My cries echoed around me. I suddenly heard something snap which made me stop. I looked towards its direction and saw a pack of wolves. Really big wolves! Foxes and wolves had never been friends, and considering I felt utterly hopeless and weak for unknown reasons, I knew I was going to die. I held back a sob and only stared at the direction where the wolves were coming from.

I stood frozen in fear.

The wolves slowly crept closer and I could see it from their eyes, I was about to become their meal.

All of a sudden, a hooded figure landed between me and the wolves. I could see a golden aura wrapped around her and felt safe at her arrival. She suddenly slammed her hands down and spikes made from ice grew from the ground. It made its way to the wolves which in return started running away with their tails between their legs.

I was fascinated at the figure because the longer I stared at her, the more she felt familiar and the more I felt more comfortable. She pulled down her hood and I saw golden hair which seemed to glow under the light of the moon. She slowly made her way towards me and crouched to my level.

"Are you okay?" she asked in a soothing manner.

I wanted to answer her but only sobs came out from my mouth, and I started crying once again. She suddenly hugged me and caressed my back while muttering; "It's fine. You're safe now. You're safe now."

She broke the hug and looked at me in the eyes. She suddenly smiled.

"I finally found you."

It was probably because of exhaustion but after she said that, I passed out.

When I woke up again, I was inside a carriage. I saw the woman who saved me sitting across where I was lying with a neutral expression. When I looked up, I saw a girl, who was only a few years older than me, looking at me with a smile on her face. I noticed that I was lying on her lap so I immediately sat up which made me regret. Pain suddenly shot from my chest which made me growl.

"Oh my gosh! Are you okay?" asked the girl. "You shouldn't have done that. You're injured."

"I- I-"

Without knowing where I was and who the people with me were, I started to panic. Plus the sight of a very scary experience from last time made me hyperventilate. Two hands suddenly cupped my face and I saw the girl's face near mine.

"Take a deep breath and calm down." I did what she asked and took a deep breath.

When I finally felt fine, I sat properly and started scanning my surroundings. The carriage I was in looked very luxurious. The seats were velvet green and the walls had the same color. The outlines were gold, and whether it was real or not, I never really bothered to know.

I was too busy at the sight of the carriage and the looks of the two people with me inside it that I almost forgot about my situation.

I heard a cough and I could feel my cheeks flush which made me stop and look down. But then I noticed that my legs were somehow smaller and shorter. I glanced at my hands and saw that it resembled a child's. I put small hands on my chest and was very shocked to not feel anything but my heartbeat.

As a fox deity, I had an energy core which I would usually place on my heart. It was the source of my power and immortality, but it was gone!

A thought suddenly came into my mind;

-Don't tell me, I've become human? And a human child at that?

"Are you okay?"

I took a deep breath and calmed myself. If there was one thing I learned in my long life, it was being calm can make you think clearly. I turned to the girl who asked the question.

"I'm fine." I answered in a small voice.

"That's good. My name's Eliza, what about you?"

Eliza had long black straight hair and a pair of dark blue eyes. She was also quite fair and very pretty.

"My name is… it's…"

I tried to think hard. If I had become human, I couldn't tell them my real identity. Or else those guys might come after me again. But I then wondered, what was the name of the human that I ended up possessing?

<Luna Hysi.> a voice in my head suddenly said.

"Luna Hysi!" I blurted out.

"How old are you?" she asked again.

"Eight." I copied the voice's answer.

"I see. Can you tell me what happened to you when we found you last night?"

I waited for the voice, but there was no response. The last thing I remembered was falling in a chasm after being chased by the celestial guards, but as to how little Luna got into the previous situation, I didn't know.

"I… I don't know." I said, telling them the truth. "When I woke up I was already there, injured, with those dead bodies around me."

"If you don't remember, then it's probably better." said the woman sitting across me and Eliza. "Do you remember anything about your relatives?"

Her question was a total blank in my mind. If I really possessed the body of Luna, I didn't have access to her memories. So I just shook my head as my answer.

"Do you know someone that can take care of you?" she asked again.

"How about my parents then?" I asked in return. The human body I was in should have parents.

"Two of the people you saw dead around you back there were your parents. Right now, you're an orphan."

"Oh." I didn't know why, but I felt sad at what she said. "Then, I don't know anyone. I don't even remember anything."

"It's probably the trauma, right auntie?"

"Probably."

"Can we take her in?" Eliza suddenly asked. "Luna, would you like to live with us?"

I was only wide-eyed at her question. I felt like the two were quite reliable so I nodded. I decided that it was important to survive if I wanted to investigate my very own death and search for the reason why I ended up in Luna Hysi's body.

"Auntie?" Eliza pleaded her aunt.

"Fine. But you're in-charge of her, got it?" the woman answered in an annoyed tone.

"Yay! I have a little sister now!" Eliza cheered and hugged me. I couldn't help but smile at her actions. She reminded me of my real sister. "By the way Luna, she's Zaira Chrishni von Celestine. I call her auntie."

"Is she your real aunt?" I asked.

"Nope. But she had been taking care of me, my brother and a few other people. We all call her auntie. From now on, you should call her auntie or Aunt Zaira as well."

"Is that… is that really okay?" I asked again.

I looked at Aunt Zaira who only stared at me in return. She just nodded and looked away afterwards, seemingly uninterested at what just happened.

"Luna! You can call me big sister, okay?"

It felt a little embarrassing to call her big sister since I was mentally older but I had to adapt to the situation, so I agreed. I had always been able to adapt easily, and maybe that was the reason I was able to accept my new life quite easily as well.

Along the way, Eliza was very enthusiastic about the idea of having a younger sister, even if we weren't blood-related. She said she was the only girl in the house so I guessed it was the reason for her excitement. Back in my life as a fox deity, I had eight elder brothers, one younger brother and only one elder sister, so I understood her situation. But, all of them were dead…

A tear escaped my eyes and I could hear Eliza's panicked voice.

"Luna! Don't worry! Your new older brothers are really nice!" she said.

"It's not that big sis." I wiped the tear. "I'm just… I'm just happy."

"Oh, tears of joy then?"

"Yeah."

The carriage suddenly stopped and Eliza said we had arrived. We all got off from the carriage and the first thing I saw was the massive manor that was standing in front of me. Considering I lived in a cave called a fox den, the house looked very impressive. Sure I had seen the grand palaces in the Celestial Realm but they all looked cold and isolated. The manor had a warm and homey feeling to it.

"Welcome to the Celestine House!" Eliza introduced excitedly and she led me inside.

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