Warning: This chapter contains content that may not be suitable for some readers
In Ivy’s paracosm, she finally regained her consciousness and found Jason hugging her in his sleep. She felt a pain in her heart watching him asleep. She couldn't tell the reason for the sudden heartache she felt as she gently touched the once familiar face but yet one that she had no recollection of.
Jason stirred in his sleep as he opened his eyes to find Ivy’s glimmering eyes staring back at him.
“Ivy! You’re awake! Oh, thank goodness! Are you alright? Do feel unwell anyway?” He frantically checked her whole body. He helped her to stand. She stood watching him continue to fuss about her as unexplainable happiness blossomed in her heart.
He paused noticing she wasn’t speaking as he gently caressed her cheeks. Jason was so glad she was alright and smiled right before she asked him the same question she asked before.
“Who are you?”
The question felt like swords piercing right through his heart as he closed his eyes enduring the pain he felt. It slipped his mind that every time he had to repeat their story to her as she wouldn’t have a recollection of them at all the moment they stepped into the tower’s lobby. This time he decided to tell her that he is her husband, Jason.
Ivy was very delighted as she hugged him tight as though she finally understood the pain she felt in her heart earlier and the joy she was enjoying but was it really so? Upon learning their purpose again being in the tower of reflection, they headed to the next room which was 10.
The moment they stepped into room 10, Jason noticed they were back once again in the Inklong tribe village. The piercing sound of a phoenix up in the air caught his attention.
As the Phoenix in the past knew the only way not to let the dragon commit further sins of killing the innocent was to sacrifice herself, she turned into her mythical phoenix self. Her orange-red ember glow resonated and lighted up the dark skies majestically.
Without hesitation, the Phoenix rushed towards the gold Dragon whose body had turned black. The Phoenix embraced the black Dragon with a gold head before she summoned the cursed seven swords and pierced the dragon’s heart with them.
The Dragon wriggled in the Phoenix’s grasp as he growled in agony and pain trying to release himself. However, he soon realised the Phoenix too was pierced with the seven swords as the Phoenix’s mythical power blasted across the village and merged with the Dragon’s energy into a maroon-red ember Phoenix figure. The newly reborn Phoenix's destiny to burn down the entire village and its’ villagers as an act of revenge was inevitable before it went back to the cave to live in seclusion.
The reborn Phoenix then, wrote the love story on the wall before the Inklong ancestors pass down the punishment on the lovers as twins incarnations in their future life.
At the same time, the scene revealed a decree from the Inklong ancestors which wrote they were also atoning for the sins of their parents.
Jason was confused towards the end of the revelation but there was a more important matter at hand to handle at that time. Ivy was very upset and angry as she watched the exact incarnation of Phoenix being sacrificed. She was instantly hit with a complicated wave of emotion; Full of anguish to the extent that she could kill anyone.
More of her feelings were fading away as Jason struggle to control her when she was reaching for the swords. Fortunately, before she was able to strike an attack, they were transported out to the lobby.
This time, surprisingly, Ivy was calm because her memory was gone again but her feelings were getting even colder than before. She stood dumbfounded as she couldn’t understand what was going on.
As she repeated her question again to Jason on who he was, Jason knew better this time. He recalled the ways her old self sacrificed herself to protect him as he was glad that he made the decision to be the sacrifice this time round.
He pulled her in for a comforting hug before telling her she was his savior and that he was Phoenix. He patiently sat with her and repeated the entire story of their purpose in the tower of reflection.
Upon knowing their purpose, Jason knew she was enthusiastic as before to find out the truth as she quickly pulled him to their next room, number five. This time it was Jason’s turn to be nervous as he could no longer predict what surprises were awaiting them.
When the scene of them being burnt unveiled again, this time the focus was on an individual among the villagers who looked similar to Jason. Jason then noticed it was his brother from the past when a summary collection of his deeds unfolded.
He was known as Avinha, the one who had inflicted hatred among the villagers on the couple and had misled them to stone the couple to death before burning them alive. The root of all evil was the lust of Avinha, the eldest son of the Sea Dragon of Inklong tribe, who was meant to marry Phoenix, the eldest daughter of the Land Inklong Phoenix clan but Ivy’s and Jason’s destiny was already predetermined.
When Ivy realised Avinha’s identity, she finally understood the reason Jason said she was his savior as she watched herself in the past save Jason from brutal inhuman punishment by merging their souls together. It was after all her destiny to kill the villagers if things went wrong.
With that, the room revealed the truth that they were framed by Avinha but also because their parents had intended for Jason back then to be dead. Little did they know, the strength of Ivy’s love power as a willing sacrifice had intertwined their fates for many lives thereafter.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
Ivy stood staring back at Jason who was in disbelief as she finally understood the real reason for the agony she had felt whenever she saw his face. She could understand the joy she felt was the love she had held on for him from her past life. Despite all that had happened back then, she knew even if they were to repeat it all over again in the future, she was going to stay loyal and look for him in each future life.
She walked over to embrace Jason in her arms and feel his warmth.
“You will always be my destiny that I will look for…” She said as she let go of him and looked into his eyes.
“...even if it meant I need to sacrifice over and over again, I will always love you.” Ivy couldn’t control her tears as Jason was moved to tears when he finally pulled her in for a kiss right there.
The next moment when they opened their eyes, they found themselves transported back to the lobby again.
“I would not let you go ever. I will always be protecting you, my long-lost love.” Jason said in his heart. Ivy thought she was hearing those words from his mouth but when she realised he wasn’t talking, she knew she could hear his thoughts out loud.
Unfortunately, she couldn’t understand the meaning of his last sentences anymore as her memories and feelings were wiped out a bit more than before into the pouch Jason was carrying.
“What’s wrong with Ivy now? Is she losing her memory again?” She could hear him asking himself. “Is she going to ask who am I again?” Jason questioned himself.
In order to not let him know about her gaining a new ability, she asked him the same question.
“Who are you?” Jason looked down at his feet in disappointment as he hugged her for comfort. Ivy closed her eyes gently as she took a moment to enjoy the warmth despite not knowing what was going on.
Back in reality, Ryu was rushing for the time when he saw it was nearly time to meet Melody for their usual Wednesday maths tutoring session. As he ran all the way to his school’s gate, he smiled seeing Melody who smiled back, waiting for him too.
“Sorry, I was rushing over to our usual spot. I was caught up with a catch-up lesson earlier and thought I could manage it fast enough…” Ryu explained as Melody shook her head to indicate it was fine.
“It’s alright. Let’s go now?” She said as Ryu was pointing at his car where Mr. Jin was waiting for him while Melody frowned a little.
“Shall we?” He asked as Melody gave him an awkward look. “What’s wrong?” He asked noticing her strange reaction.
“It would be weird if my family found out I came in such a luxurious car though…” She explained as she scratched her head.
“How do you get home usually?” He asked hurriedly.
“By bus…” She said awkwardly as Ryu nodded and told her to wait for him as he ran over to explain to Mr. Jin while collecting some belongings from him.
He ran back to Melody again and pulled her to the bus stop. “Alright, let’s go! We would be late!”
He said in a rush and didn't notice Melody who was blushing at his action. When they reached the bus stop, he asked for the bus number. Luckily it was the next bus that was heading towards their bus stop as they boarded it.
“It would be quite a while to reach though. You could rest awhile.” Melody explained as Ryu thought of something to kill time when they were seated on the bus.
He took out his notes and passed them to her. “You could read these notes first then when we reach later, you could start practicing.” He said as Melody nodded.
While Melody was busy revising his notes prepared for her, he was busy scrolling on his tablet which he retrieved from Mr. Jin earlier. He was reading through the reports and updates for the day that he needed to bother with the sales team.
Ever since Jeremy was on the board, the sales figures have been falling. It was due to Jeremy restricting any funds for marketing their usual projects and only focusing on the old town heritage project in Manes. He was thinking of ways to improve the sales figures and working around the marketing strategy as he sighed heavily.
Melody was glad that Ryu wasn’t complaining about taking public transport. She was in fact worried earlier but knew her idol was a very flexible person. Knowing he was stressed out with work, she decided to give him an earpiece instead. He gladly accepted it to listen to her choices of songs. As he continued to scroll through his work, he then realised Melody’s song choices were similar to his.
“You have very similar taste in music like me…” Ryu complimented as Melody smiled.
“That’s because you listen to them that I started to like them too.” Ryu chuckled at Melody’s reply.
“Free marketing for the artist I see…” Ryu chuckled before he suddenly thought of an idea.
Free marketing was his keyword as he sat upright in his seat which jolted Melody a little.
“Melody, could you help to integrate a sales campaign into my tournament fans’ events for my father’s company?” Ryu asked as Melody nodded instantly knowing the urgency.
“Sure! Come, explain to me…” Melody was ready to take down notes as Ryu explained his ideas of getting his fans to help out in distributing leaflets about the sales of condominium projects and they can either be in Manes or Landsfield being split apart. He was willing to pay them by the hour and each fan is only allowed to help two hours a week to avoid overbudget and also taking too much of their study time.
Melody instantly posted on the group chat with his fans for opinions and surprisingly many were willing to even do it for free for that two hours.
“For my idol, I can support you for the whole day! Just tell me the location, and I will be there!”
“Count me in free two!”
“Me three!”
“Anything to see my idol live happily! I want to help for free!”
“Wait, wait my idol wants to pay us? After that incident in the airport, he is so poor! Let’s do charity to help!”
“The Rahi really is sinful against our Ophal who helped them out! We must help the Ophal’s business to survive! Let’s go all out!”
“Hold on! What era are we in? Technology can do the work faster for us! Just use our platform to do free marketing. Give me a number and a name to contact. Then some main specifications of the campaign. I can do up a free advertisement just for you, my idol!”
“That’s brilliant! Then we can all share!”
“Fantastic! I will help to share!”
“Me too! Hurry, hurry get to work!”
“Here, here! Use their existing hardcopy advertisement!”
Ryu was overwhelmed by the support that he gave it a thought and wrote a proposal to Marcel. He told Melody to update them on the details later once he had gotten approval but before Melody could update the fans, Marcel instantly approved the proposal.
Within that fifteen minutes bus ride, his fans were smart to get hold of the existing hardcopy advertisement that already had contact details and scan before beautifying its resolution. Thereafter, they only help to share and like to create more awareness.
It was one stone kills two birds; Ryu didn’t only successfully get his job done but also managed to keep his fans under control. He was beginning to enjoy the benefits of having fans as he happily sat through the entire afternoon tutoring Melody since his work was done for the day while Marcel praised him for his brilliant performance.