I was about to drink the tea of forgetfulness, but now I’m encased in a glowing material. If my guess is right, I'm currently undergoing a rebirth. I DIDN’T DRINK THE TEA OF FORGETFULNESS! Am I in trouble? Are the guardians of hell going to find me, and put me to the deepest level of hell? I was pushed!

W- Wait! If I remember correctly, the old lady giving the tea was just startled; she let out an “ah” sound. And shortly said her regards afterwards, probably. I didn’t hear, but she was waving her arm with a kind-looking smile. Surely it was her regards.

Is it just a small matter then? Am I good? I think I'm good. Phew.

…

What if? No, there’s no what if, I’m good! Mn, everything’s good. A new start!

Right then my surroundings shone brighter. I blinked, and I was surrounded by disappointed faces. They weren’t looking exactly at me upon further observation, more like right above my head. I looked up, and there was a golden star.

What does it mean?

I was homeless in my previous life ever since I could remember. So I’m not very knowledgeable about almost everything. I know which scraps exchange the most money. There’s that.

So, I think being born with a golden star above your head is a good thing.

Arriving at that conclusion, I stopped looking at the star, and met everyone’s gaze.

“Show us what you’ve got!” Someone shouted.

“Huh, right now?”

“Hurry up!”

“B– But–”

“Hurry up!”

I’m shy. “S- Sure…” these people are crazy. I closed my eyes. Brace!

I moved my arms up and down. My knees were bent. I started with fast rhythm. They’re demanding. It felt like I had to show everything from the beginning. I turned to the left, then to the right. I returned to my starting position, and shook my shoulder and bottom like crazy.

“T- TA DA,” I said breathily as I opened my arms and shook my hands with my feet crossed, forming a diamond with my legs. H– How’s that?

The crowd were looking at me with blank eyes, like fish that grew human legs.

They started leaving without saying anything. THONK! Ow! A booklet hit me in the face. H- How rude!

Hm? Something’s on the booklet. It says, “The Pocket Guide to the World of Madas.” Ooh! Thank you, whoever you are!

Let’s see. I was on a round marble platform with a huge mirror in the middle. The mirror itself was about two metres tall, and one and a half wide, but the frame was like pillars. The mirror was oval with a rectangular sculpted marble frame. They were sculptures of interweaving ornamental patterns, dice, wheels, books, and living things.

It looks expensive! If you can do this kind of art, you won’t ever have to worry about money. How did they even do it? Hmmm… Mirror! What do I look like?

My feet rushed to the mirror before I could complete my thought.

I look the same, but cleaner. Black short hair barely passing my ears, parted in the middle, tucked behind the ears, sharp eyes, black pupils, small wide nose, and a beautiful smile if I do say so myself. I’m about 176cm tall, and thin. Lastly, new clothes! Woohoo!

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My hands were clasped while my arms were criss crossed and I shook my body like a fish out of water. I’m wearing a loose long sleeved shirt with a deep cut on the neck connected by a criss crossing string with some left hanging at the top, a knee-length rectangular skirt for the bottom, and a pair of low-cut cloth shoes.

I did a quick turn around. It suits me, I think. Although, I could care less if it suits me or not. It’s new clothes! Perfect for a new start! Feeling excited, I quickly took a seat at the edge of the platform and started reading the booklet.

“World of Madas, the lands between worlds.

Mystical places, strange beasts, divine treasures, miraculous plants, this world has it all in immeasurable amounts. Welcome!”

Wh- What an introduction! There might be a bit of exaggeration. With how I was born, I came to the conclusion that this is a magical world – a world with fairy godmothers, and talking animals. I was right. Next page, next page.

“First step.” It's an illustrated guide book. First step is, “Prick your thumb, and smear your blood on the mirror.” There’s even a magical mirror! I’m a hundred percent right. Below the text was a drawing of a person with dot eyes doing exactly what’s written. There were more texts, “If you don’t have something pointy nearby to prick your thumb, use your teeth and bite on that thumb.”

I- I took a savage beating for my death, and suffered countless hunger pangs. Th- This should be easy.

Dazed, I stayed, staring at my thumb. At some point, I’m seeing multiple thumbs. I–

“But, there should be a ring with a hidden knife…”

THANK YOU! Let’s keep reading.

“But, there should be a ring with a hidden knife included with the guide. DO NOT FORGET to disinfect the ring before use. Sterilise the ring by putting it in the mirror and chant “cleanse” afterwards.

*TIP

Always “cleanse” the knife you use to get a drop of blood. It’s a minor “cleanse”, it should be free, unless you have something weird on your knife.”

Ok! The instruction took a logical turn, but, ok! The book is quite thin, I should be able to feel a ring. Did it fall? The book was thrown at me. It’s highly possible. My gaze landed on the floor as I was thinking. The floor was made of stone bricks! Dark-coloured ones. I got on all fours and started looking around the platform.

After a few minutes, I stood up like a wooden doll. Ugh, my back. Slowly, I rotated my upper body back and forth before I moved onto the platform. I then traced back my steps, but I didn't find any ring.

Maybe there were more instructions written on that page of the book. Let’s see.

“THERE’S NONE,” in an old man’s voice.

How about the next page? THERE IT IS! The page had a different colour. It was yellow, and the whole page was filled with geometrical patterns, and between each line were letter-like symbols. At the bottom right, there was a tiny instruction: "Rip in half to take out the ring.”

RIP, the paper disintegrated into glowing pieces, in its place a ring emerged. It was a simple bronze ring with something like a light switch. I put it on my index finger, and used my thumb to flip the switch. A thorn popped up. It’s as big as half of a rose’s thorn.

Without wasting any more time, I ran to the mirror. I rolled the ring a bit so the thorn faced to the thumb’s side and without any hesitation I pressed my thumb. I moved my thumb away as quickly.

An orb of blood appeared. I slowly smeared my blood straight down on the mirror.

I took a step back. A few seconds later, my blood separated into strings. The strings of blood then turned into letters. I know this. I recognized my name first, Meg Lamb! I gave it to myself. I’m Meg Lamb! My name is Meg Lamb! On the opposite side was a star. Below my name were numbers. It was my birthday. I- I have a birthday. I have a birthday! My vision blurred. What’s next? I want to see! I couldn't calm down. The next thing, a card popped out the mirror. I swayed around like a ghost as I waited for it to land on my hands. I might’ve crumpled it if I tried to catch it. “GAH!” I opened my eyes really wide. I stayed like that for a few seconds. It worked! I stopped crying!

I turned to the card. Beside my birthday was my birthplace. My birthplace. “GAH!”