To You Who Was Abandoned

Chapter 4: Vita

She was in a void of darkness. Reality seeming very far away from the emptiness in which she wandered. Slowly, the black void in which she was in, began to turn white.

Golden light glistened before her eyes, and out of the waves of golden color, a dove emerged and flew around her.

"Aristia Pioneer La Monique" A loud voice boomed in the space around her.

She turned around, looking for the person who called her name. Somehow, the voice felt familiar.

"I've brought you here once again after your death"

"Once again?"

"I am Vita. The almighty being and creator of your world" The dove which had been circling around her began to transform into a mystical being. The body was somehow translucent. A gold myst surrounded the body which was faceless and had no distinct features.

It felt blinding to look at the being and hearing it's name, Aristia bent her head down. "Greetings Vita!"

This was her second time hearing or seeing Vita. She had encountered Vita after she had died in her first life.

'Does that mean I'm going to be reborn again?'

"Yes" Vita answered as it could hear Aristia's thoughts. The creature raised his hand forward and tapped the back of her head. "Because you're my blessed child, I'm going to give you another chance"

"What?" Aristia asked back in confusion.

"Raise your head" At its command Aristia slowly raised her and made her line of sight to look at the majestic being.

Vita continued speaking. "Once again, you will be reborn"

"Really?" Aristia's eyes widened in surprise.

It sounded strange. To her, the ability to be go back in time seemed to be an act of tempering with the balance of life and death. Though in the religion of the Castina Empire, most people believed Vita to be their god. She too was a believer in Vita after being transmigrated with its mysterious power.

Vita had an immense following which had formed under the name of the holy temple. According to the head priests of the temple, Aristia and Jieun had both been blessed with powers from Vita.

Jieun had been given the power to grow and heal plants. Her powers had been limited to that. She could only heal a human at the cost of her blessing and power leaving her. That was why after she had healed Aristia, her powers left her and her black hair turned white.

Aristia had been gifted to hear the words of Vita at any given time. Vita would often prophecy the future to her and she would either relay it to the priests and maybe use the knowledge of the prophecy to her advantage.

"But this time, you're not going back to your self as Aristia"

"What?" Aristia asked back again, in surprise.

It was then that a golden myst enveloped her body and she immediately lost consciousness.
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Aristia slowly opened her eyes. The place around her felt unfamiliar. She felt herself being carried in somebody's arms. Her vision was blurry for a second but she tried her best to adjust to the place.

"Congratulations, miss. It's a girl" The woman who held her said.

The woman was dressed in unfamiliar fashion of clothes. She wore a white shirt for men, a blue coat upon the shirt. And there was this strange device hanging around her neck.

For some reason, Aristia couldn't hold back the urge to cry. Ear bleeding shouts and cries leaked out of her mouth. Completely out of her control.

"Can I hold her?" A raspy voice belonging to another woman said.

"Of course" Said the lady wearing white and blue.

Aristia was gently given to another woman who laid on a bed.

"Oh, such a sweet child" As Aristia took in the woman's full image, she became shocked.

Throughout her life, Jieun was the first person she ever met who possessed black hair. But this woman that carried her so lovingly, and gazed at her tenderly, also, possessed black hair.

Aristia was confused and surprised at the same time.

Suddenly the woman who was wearing white room her out of the arms of the woman who possessed black hair.

Aristia's body was cleaned with a towel and taken to another place. As she was carried she observed her surroundings. The place was very strange.

The building structure was far different from that used at the Monique manor or in the imperial palace. Everything felt so unfamiliar.

Finally the lady carrying her took her to a room where there were other babies as well. The only thing that looked familiar was the baby bed which she was carefully placed in.

After the woman dropped her and left, she burst into an uncontrollable fit of tears, but did her best to lessen it.

After who knows how long, she stopped crying and observed a something very strange.

On the roof, was a strange thing that was spinning very quickly. This 'thing' was white and had three 'hands' which moved and gave out air at each turn.

Aristia was bewildered by this strange contraption and kept her eyes focused on it.

Time passed on again, and the woman who she had seen with black hair came to pick her up, along with a man who had black hair too.

'Where am I? And why is everybody having black hair?'

The black haired woman carried her to an unknown destination. The more they moved, Aristia realized that everyone also had black hair.

She them noticed another strange contraption. People were carrying around a rectangular shaped object which lit up at one part of the surface. She could hear voices from the rectangular shaped object and see people in it!

Imagine her shock when she saw the man who who followed the woman, bring out the strange object and place it on his ear. Then he began talking into it.

"Ma, it was a girl! We're bringing her back home!"

Surprisingly, a voice spoke back to the man from the strange object.

Aristia diverted her eyes and decided to observe the outside. She became stunned. Another strange contraption!

This contraption somehow resembled a carriage, but instead of the usual exterior of a carriage, this contraption had a metallic outer part. It also had wheels, but had no horse in front of it.

Aristia looked at each of these carriage-like contraptions. She was looking for a horse to pull them, when she saw one move without one.

Chnng. Vroom.

The engine jerked and the contraption pulled out of the parking lot and sped away. It happened so fast, leaving Aristia shocked as she was carried into a similar looking contraption.

Once inside the carriage-thingy, the black haired woman sat at the back with Aristia in her hold, while the man sat at front, getting a hold of a strange wheel.

Aristia eyes wandered around the inside of the carriage-thingy. Her eye then caught a mirror which hung in the middle. It was then for the first time that she saw her reflection.

She was a baby. Well that didn't surprise her since she knew she was going to be reborn. But what shocked her were the little strands of black hair which were on her head.

Making Aristia even more surprised, the black haired woman spoke up. "Honey, I have a thought. It may be too early, but.....why don't we name her Jieun"