♣The Beginning
IT was nighttime. My usual walk back home from work.
I stopped by a convenience store, then made my way to the usual intersection. As I walked down the gentle slope, I pulled out my headphones, although I knew I ought to be more alert when walking outside at night. The idea that some suspicious person might be following me around was frightening.
I turned on my phone and dialed emergency services, so I’d be able to call for help with one push. And to top it all off, I wore a white coat and white backpack—that way, any oncoming cars or bicycles would easily notice me.
This neighborhood was mostly peaceful, but you could never be too careful. You never knew when some pervert might crawl out of the woodwork.
As I walked on thinking such things, I felt something white and cold drop on the tip of my nose.
Snow. I thought it was cold—
Screeeeeeeeeeeeeech!
“Huh?”
The moment I stopped and looked up at the night sky, the sound of a braking bicycle squealed behind me.
Wait. When did a bicycle get here…?
I heard someone shouting. I felt something hit me first, then my head bang hard against a telephone pole. A dull sound rang in my ears. The last thing I saw was a bicycle, with its lights off, sliding to the center of the highway.
God, this is the worst… A bicycle with its lights off… Am I going to…?
The world went dark. It was so cold…so dark.
No, no, not like this. I…I never even had a boyfriend… I couldn’t even repay Mom… Thank her for everything yet…
Mom… No, I don’t want to go… Mom…
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“GOOD girl…”
When I came to, a woman was looking down at me. She had blond hair and a crystal embedded into her forehead. I couldn’t say why, but somehow…this woman registered as “Mother” in my mind.
I reached out to her. My small, baby hands reached toward Mother. Mother gladly enveloped my hands in hers, happily mouthing the word “Rubia.”
…Rubia. Yes, that’s my name.
“Good girl, Rubia. There, there.”
I couldn’t speak. Only meaningless “Aaah”s and “Uuu”s left my lips. But Mother simply beamed at me.
I don’t understand. What’s going on…? Wait. Wasn’t I—uhh…? Working at the pub near the station…? Just an ordinary…? Wait…what…? This is weird. Why can’t I remember…?
“Cindy.”
“…I know. Rubia is…”
A man’s voice called out to Mother and made her raise her hand from my head. The smile was gone from her lips. Her brows furrowed sadly and tears welled up in her blue eyes. The brown-haired, bearded man that approached Mother…that was Father.
“Rubia…my precious daughter… Our country of Jiera is at its end. But you will survive…” said Father.
“May the blood of the Stone of Daybreak…never come to awaken. And may she always be safe…” added Mother.
“Aah… Aaah…”
Father, Mother, what’s wrong? What is this box? Why are you putting me inside it…? What’s going to happen now?
They placed me in an oval, egg-shaped container of some kind. Father put something on top of me and closed the lid. Mother wiped her tears away. Father bit his lips bitterly.
I had no way of knowing that screams and fire were raging beyond that room’s door. And rocked gently, enveloped by darkness, I gradually succumbed to sleep.
That makes sense…I am a baby, after all.
But why were Mother and Father so sad? What did they mean “by the blood of the Stone of Daybreak…?”
“You must live on.”
Father’s muffled voice reached my ears. And that was the last memory I had of my parents.
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HOW much time had passed? I could tell my ark was rocking and jolting, but it was totally dark. When I woke up, I spent some time crying and whining, but I realized no one was around and stopped after a while. Instead, I started listening attentively to what sounded like a river bubbling. I wasn’t cold, since I was wrapped in what felt like two or three layers of blankets, but…
Is this ark drifting along a river…? No, that can’t be…! What am I, baby Moses?!
I’d already learned, at this point, that crying wasn’t going to get me anywhere, so I raised my hands, clenching and opening my fists. I fumbled around, touching my face in an attempt to understand who I was.
“Aaah. Uuu…”
That was the extent of what my voice could utter. I couldn’t speak. And that meant…no question, I was now a baby.
Yeah, I figured! I figured that’s what this means! But how does this make sense?!
A bicycle ran into me and made me bump my head against a telephone pole. That was the reason. But…!
Wait. So, does this mean I…d-died? Died and got reborn as a baby? Doesn’t it all end when you die? It normally does, right? Does reincarnating with my memories intact make any sense?! Wait, hold up. Is this really Japan? No, even if it isn’t Japan…am I even still on Earth?! That woman back there…my new mom had a jewel in her forehead! And it wasn’t a decoration. It was in her forehead! Was there a tribe like that out there?! Like in the Amazon? One of those Indigenous tribes…?
Wait. Then this river…
Hold up, hold up, a river?! Aren’t there, like, crocodiles in the Amazon?! Nooo…!
A crocodile could probably swallow this little ark of mine whole… Aaah! And now I remember some TV show saying giant serpents are breeding in the Amazon! Big snakes that can swallow human children whole… Big, giant snakes… The Amazon’s like a breeding ground for dangerous creatures!
Noooooooo! I just died five minutes ago; I can’t die again so soon!
“Aaah…”
I was on the verge of bursting into tears but managed to quiet down. I didn’t know how far I’d drifted, but I was probably far from civilization by now. Crying and screeching here would only alert predators to my presence…
Aaaah… Why did this happen to me?!