worlds apart ; l.fl

prologue

✧.*

I always felt a strange connection with the universe.

It's this innate feeling that I can't truly explicate, but I feel deja vu to an excessive extent. I can't help but feel like I've been born before, but my memories are wiped clean.

It sounds ridiculous until it's not. Everyone I've met in my life, all the places I've traveled—they seem to resemble something that's confined in the tightest spaces buried in my memories. Everything seems reinvented now, but the heavy weight of nostalgia impales me in the chest, pestering me to look deeper into something I have no control over.

I wish I could end this constant enigma that tantalizes me to my bones. Everyone I've mentioned it to thinks I'm psychotic, which is tragically valid.

Because sometimes even I feel like a psychopath with shards of memories pricking into my head at absurd times, like my brain is glitching.

There had to be some kind of explanation for this.

But when the blistering wind pushes itself into the tinted glass of the boarding school's library window, the hollowness of the room suddenly felt accompanied by a presence.

Put it out of your mind, Haneul. Focus on finding the damn book.

I used the voice in my head to blur the fear concrete in my pounding chest. I was here to find a book that could possibly give me an explanation for this anomaly, and I am not leaving without it.

I've read almost every book book with regards to soul shifting, reincarnation, remembering the past life, but nothing seemed precise enough to align with my encounters.

That was, until, my eye gaped at a sudden large book, tittered from the sides, and stained pages nearly falling apart.

The Sky that Rewrites Life.

It read in cursive bold letters engraved on a cerulean cover while a chilling notion cascaded through my veins. It was dusty, and prominently old, yet I feel—drawn towards it?

Inclined to know more, I flipped through it, but the pages were torn apart or smothered with ink that coveted the detailed inscriptions.

Despite nearly all of the book's information being destroyed, a single page carved out: "Energy of the Ice Stone."

As I try to delve into it, the abrupt collapse of a book behind me catches me off guard. I turn around swiftly, alarmed at who could possibly be out and watching me this late.

No one's there.

My eyes scan around the room quickly, but not a speck of life was present in this baleful room.

I should really get out of here.

I place the book back cautiously, but a looming presence bothers me. Just as I turn to leave, an idea persuades me to halt.

I should hide this book somewhere out of sight, so that whoever may be here is thrown off track. I cant let anyone else get their hands on it.

When I turn back to do so, I halt again. What if someone's after me? I really should just leave as soon as I can.

Just get the job done, Haneul.

The voice in my head demands, and I have no choice but to obey. Quickly, I grab the book and speed walk towards the back of the library. There was a cart of books that hadn't been touched in months, hence I placed it underneath the large pile.

Just as I think I could leave safely, my heart sinks deeper into my stomach when the presence follows me to the back. My limbs have gone numb, and my legs were fixated onto the carpeted ground.

When I feel the body directly behind me, I suck in a breath, nails clawing into my palms.

A deep, and slow voice tickles my skin,"I finally found you."

He sounds...relieved?

While still holding my breath, I slowly turn back around and meet half a face covered with a mask, dark bangs shadowing over his glistening eyes. Even with a mask on, he induces a lucid eye smile that quickly vanishes as I face him. Now he just looked perplexed.

"Fuck. Wrong timeline."

✧.*

a/n:
hi! publishing this was so unannounced but merry christmas/happy holidays <3 
i'm still on hiatus, but enjoy this new fic!! i was inspired by both youth of may and alchemy of souls (if you watched any or both lets be friends pls)
so excited for this story!!