Running.
They're gaining on me.
Silent pursuers who move faster than human feet should. They dart through the forest and seem to fly on the air. They make no noise as they cross mountain or forest or desert. I can feel them drawing closer.
I make a break for it, and leave behind the trees. The air whips around me and I sprint using all my force, for the one place forbidden to me all my life.
---
"There is a reason the tomb of heroes is forbidden, Kai."
"Why, grandfather? And if it's so dangerous... why isn't it destroyed?"
"Because it has saved us. Time and time again, it has saved us."
"Then why is it forbidden?"
"Because, even if someone thinks he's ready to enter the tomb, to make the sacrifice, he probably wouldn't survive. The trials of the tomb would run even the greatest of us into despair and madness... which is why the Heroes entered the tomb only after they had nothing left. It was their last chance, when everything was gone and they had nothing to return to."
"You see, Kai... the Heroes gave up more than their bodies. Once you enter the tomb, even if you become a hero, you can never come back."
---
The ground in front of me opens up to a show a solitary rocky mountain, with a small opening near its peak. I climb, quickly because they are still gaining on me.
I reach the top and dive into the mouth of the cave. There, protecting the way deeper, is a shrine to the ancestors. The heroes of time past, who gave their bodies and lives and souls to protect their homes.
I have nothing left. They took my village, my grandfather, everyone I ever knew. I may not be a hero, but this is the only hope I have.
I crash into the solid metal doors that bar the entrance to the tomb. They don't move. I smash them again. No motion.
I don't have much time. I look around for a keyhole or anything that can let me in. No. Now I remember. I collect myself, and use the technique of sunrise and sunset. The meditation that makes us one with magic, one with nature, one with all living things.
These are the doors of power. The most important thing we do at the beginning and end of each day is build our power... and so the first forbidden act is to pass these doors. The first trial is to give up your power... to give up the connection we have with the earth, magic, and life.
There.
There's a single spot in the door that is different than the others. Not weaker. This door is made with perfect craftsmanship, guarding a forbidden treasure... the spot is the key, known only to those who can give their entire body and soul.
I let out a primal yell and rush at the spot, putting all my force and power and magic energy into it.
The door shatters into golden light, and I pass through into the air behind, feeling a cold chill run through my body. I hit the ground and roll downward.
I slam into a wall upside down, and watch as the massive door reforms and it goes dark.
And for the first time in my life, the air is silent. The mountains have stopped their speech. The sunrise, sunset meditation brings no sound of life. My body feels heavy.
My magic is gone.
And I am alone.
---
I have never been blind before. Never unable to see, or feel, the way around me. Even in perfect darkness, I could feel the presence of rocks and rivers, even tiny insects scattering along the floor or digging in the earth. But now I can tell nothing. I walk through the tunnel, one hand on the right wall and the other outstretched in front of me.
A few steps and something cold is against my feet. I reach down to touch it. The shape is... bones?!?! I recoil in horror. Why are there bones in the shrine to the heroes?
I have to know though.
I feel around the pile of bones, following the outlines of arms and legs. Yes. This is not just a pile of bones. This is someone else who entered the tomb...
Someone like me.
But he didn't make it out alive.
As I walk through the cold, dark tunnel, I cross paths with dozens of piles of bones. Did so many people enter the forbidden tomb? Why? The world has been peaceful since I can remember... only in recent times has there been anything that could threaten our way of life. Then why are there so many dead?
I reach the end of the tunnel and there, laying on a stone table, is a man. Small, weak, pale, wearing only thin cloth. Before him stands a stone tablet and a shining red crystal.
Engraved on the tablet are words I've known since I was told the story of the heroes.
"Only those who sacrifice their bodies can save their souls."
Below, in the same text, are words I've never seen.
"Only those who are born again can rise to glory."
I touch the red crystal.
[Become born again? You will lose your body and gain another in its place. (Final Decision) {Yes}]
I withdraw my hand. No. No one told me about this. Grandfather said that the heroes had to sacrifice their bodies, but I expected it to be in some kind of glorious war. To fight against a daemon, or triumph over all our foes. The heroes brought peace to our world. They saved us. But there's no way that they could have saved us if they were reborn... like this...
I look back up the tunnel behind me.
Now I know why the path was littered with bones. Would-be heroes who entered the forbidden tomb. They gave up their magic by passing the first gate, but when they arrived here they were unwilling to give up their bodies. So they wandered the dark corridor... and eventually died here.
I can't imagine losing my body. I can't imagine becoming someone new.
But I have nothing else. My little village was the first on the frontier. Now that it has fallen, they could go deeper into the forest and the mountains... and all of my people could be lost.
I've never met them. I only knew the ones inside my village. Grandfather, and the old women. Almost none my age. But they were all I had.
I look at my hand, noting the way the grooves go through my palm. I place it on the red crystal, take a breath, and push {Yes}.
---
Pain.
Pain unlike anything I have never felt before. Like my back is being crushed and folded, like my legs are being broken and ripped apart. Like my heart is being burst into ten thousand shards and then stabbed through every other piece of my body.
And I am drowning.
I can't breathe. I can't breathe and I can't open my eyes and I am drowning.
The pain lasts for what feels like forever. I feel my life draining away, my strength draining and my mind going dull.
I pass out.
And when I awake, I am lying on the ground, looking upward. My back is cold, and the ground feels hard and rough. I try to rise but nothing happens. I reach out with my arm to sit up and notice that the stone feels different.
I look at my hands.
They are different.
Gone are the grooves of my palms... and, in their place, are hands I've never seen. Small. Pale. Weak. I open and close them.
Breathing feels different. Seeing is different. Everything is different in a new body.
My old body is gone. No sign that it was ever there, that I was ever strong and powerful. Somehow, I am supposed to save the world like this. I have no idea how this will work out.
---
It takes me hours to learn to stand. My sense of balance is completely gone, and my center of gravity has changed. I finally am able to walk, and I enter the small opening in the cave behind the table where I was reborn.
The passageway is dark for a long time, twisting and turning as it goes deeper and deeper into the mountain. I turn a corner and see light ahead of me - in front of me is a huge cavern, and in the center is a glowing red crystal - like the one I touched before. Standing next to the crystal is a statue.
The pathway I'm on ends in a drop off. Beneath me is a crystal clear pool of water. And at the bottom of the pool... are bones. Lots and lots of bones.
Whoever came here before must have drowned in the pool. But why?
I look around. The cliff beneath me is a sheer drop-off. There are no handholds, no platforms. It's likely that those unfortunate souls tried to get back up to the platform, to get out of the cave. But none of them were able to.
What could terrify them so much? So much that they would be willing to die instead of moving forward?
I let myself down into the pool and land on the bottom. I gasp for breath but stand and am able to barely touch the bottom. I make my way to the edge and approach the red crystal.
At the base of the statue are engraved two sets of words.
"Only those who sacrifice their past can save their souls."
"Only those who are born again can rise to glory."
I place my hand on the red crystal.
[Become born again? You will lose all your memories. All others will lose all their memories of you. (Final Decision) {Yes}]
I withdraw my hand.
No.
No.
No no no no no no!
This isn't what I came here for!
I yell at the statue, using the voice in my throat: "I didn't come here to forget my people. I came here to save them!"
I look back at the entrance to the cave, the pool full of bones.
And my grandfather's words come back to my mind.
"Once you enter the tomb, even if you become a hero, you can never come back."
I slump to the ground. Tears fall from my eyes and down my face.
Grandfather was right.
There's no way anyone could be ready for this. Losing my magic was hard. Losing my body for a new one that is weak was worse. But losing my memories... and losing all the memories that anyone has of me...
How can I do anything if I don't remember?
How could a hero save us if he didn't even remember us?
That means that if grandfather is still alive, he'll forget about me. That if my parents are alive somewhere, they won't even remember they have a son. I'll never see any of them again... and even if I do, we won't recognize each other.
Why?
Why does it have to be this way?
Light fills the cave and a voice echoes around me.
"Giving up Kai?"
I look up. The statue has turned into a woman, wearing blue robes and a crown on her head. She's looking down at me.
Kai: "What do you care? Like you could ever understand!"
Woman: "Maybe I was wrong about you then. I felt like maybe you could be the one to make a difference in this generation..."
Kai: "What are you even talking about? And why are you in the tomb of the heroes?!? Get out of here!"
Woman: "Now, now, Kai. I don't think it's wise to jump to conclusions. At least not at your pitiful level of knowledge."
She laughs.
Woman: "Oh, that was funny! Soooooo funny!"
Kai: "Shut up! Just shut up and get out!"
Woman: "You're not in a place to speak, Kai. And I have, oh, one more minute that I can dedicate to this before I leave you here to die."
Kai: "Huh?"
Woman: "You touch the crystal, I erase your memories, and I give you a new life somewhere far from here."
Kai: "Who... who are you?"
Woman: "Now Kai, I know your grandfather was better than that."
Blue robes. Crown on her head.
Kai: "The goddess?"
Woman: "Is that what they're calling me here? Whatever."
I bow my head and hit it on the ground. It hurts.
Woman: "This is the final sacrifice, Kai."
Kai: "But why? Why do I need to forget them?"
Woman: "Because your memories make you who you are. Who you are led you to your destruction. Your culture led to your downfall, and your current memories will forever link you to that destruction. Even in a new body, you are still unwilling to change... and your pride and longing for revenge will destroy you long before you have a chance to make a difference."
Woman: "This is your chance Kai. Start over, and be born again. Maybe you'll be a hero, and lead your people to a brighter future. Maybe you'll be a normal person."
Kai: "But I thought..."
Woman: "It's not the tomb that makes heroes, Kai. It's the person who comes inside. A hero has a hero's soul - and that remains even when your body, your magic, and your memories have been taken away."
Woman: "The choice is yours."
The woman steps back up to the pedestal, folds her hands together, and turns to stone.
I stay in the cave for what feels like hours. I think about trying to crawl up to the opening and get out. But even if I were able to get out, there's no way I could fight off the ones who pursued me. Not without my magic. Not without my body.
I sit and meditate, reciting the tenets of my people. I remember learning them at the feet of my grandfather when I was small, when he towered above me and his voice filled me with fear. I remember everyone in my village, one by one. Their faces. Their voices. The things they did and the things I learned from them.
It was all in preparation for today.
I love you Grandfather. I know you won't remember me... and I won't remember you... but I hope that we can meet again, someday.
Tears run down my face again.
I reach out my hand and touch the red crystal.
[Become born again? You will lose all your memories. All others will lose all their memories of you. (Final Decision) {Yes}]
I take a deep breath, using unfamiliar lungs.
{Yes}
The crystal shines with a brilliant red light, and pain consumes me as my mind is engulfed in burning, hot flames.
---
Later that day, a cloaked figure lays a young man in a clearing on the edge of a forest tens of thousands of miles away.
The man wakes and stands. The wind blows, and he hears a whisper echoing through the trees:
"Your name is Kai."
-------------------------------------------------
Introduction to a new character. Kai essentially mixes the genre of the story - from a simple VRMMO to "other world reincarnation." While technically he's in the same world as before, the differences are extreme enough (especially since he's 20,000 miles away) that it may as well be other world reincarnation. Unlike some reincarnated / reborn beings though, he has no memory of his past. Time will tell if his new body has any skills or traits either.
I wonder what Kai will be like in his new life... and if he will ever do anything to benefit his people.