R.O.A.D.

(1) Time Travel

Reina woke up with a start. Images swung and danced within her head; telling tales of glorious victory, infuriating betrayal, and... death. Reina lifted her hand into the cold morning light, tracing the veins, and arteries so beautifully interwoven with each other. And also... the scales. She had never told any of her friends about her mixed ancestry, simply viewing it as a curse. This time however, it was a blessing.

Mixed Species were the number one persecuted race in the world. Other than just being seen in general distaste, it also meant you had no racial talent whatsoever. The bloodlines from each parent fight a battle within the offspring's for control. In the end, you're in constant pain for the majority of your life and you have no racial talent. 

However, Reina was different. One of her parent's bloodline was so absolutely dominating that she ended up with a racial talent regardless. Time travel upon death.

Reina slowly scrunched up her hand into a fist. This time she would kill those hypocritical bastards. The ones who dared to proclaim themselves god, while killing those they swore to protect.

"L-Let go of me!!"

Reina turned around quickly, and was inwardly yelling at herself for not paying more attention to her surroundings. What she saw made her freeze.

"How dare you speak back to me! Know your place, demi-human!!"

It was Iris. Her friend that she grew up on the streets with. Previously, she could only stay hidden in the corner, the fear of the slaver embedded into the crevasses of her soul. She remembered the tales told by the elderly street rats with startling clarity. The things that they did to demi-humans... She had no power before, and could only stand there helplessly. This time however, there was no fear. Only ice.

Venite, glacies (Come, ice)

Occidere inimicos meos (Kill my enemies)

Drawing upon her small magic pool, ice condensed in the form of a dagger within seconds. The small magic circle lit up her eyes, the eyes that seemed more icy than the dagger itself. Reina stood up, and silently started to run.

"No, no please spare me!" Iris's eyes were clouded over with tears.

Before he could speak a word, the slaver died. Reina glanced at him then turned away. Scum like him didn't deserve any feelings on her part.

"R-Reina? Y-You killed him..."

"And?"

"It's, it's just-"

Reina let out a wry smile.

"Do you want to get sold?"

Silently, the dagger in her hand began to melt. The blood mixed water began to fall onto the ground, with a almost rotten and morbid sense of beauty.

Reina abruptly looked to the right, and saw the slavers companions. They hadn't noticed her yet, but they would soon.

"Iris, you need to get out of here as quickly as possible."

"W-What about you?"

"Don't worry, I'm getting out of here as well."

She let out a sigh of misery after seeing how low her mana pool was after making a simple ice dagger. Her skills had all disappeared. It was going to be annoying adapting to her younger body. Reina stared in distaste at the blood that decorated her sorry excuse for clothes. Without regard for modesty, she stripped her clothes off, and traded them for the slaver's clothes in record time.

Power seemed to try to enter her body, but she denied it access. She wanted more than simply the most basic of the assassin class jobs. Besides, if she accepted that power right now than she would explode to death because of her untrained body. It was time for her to get out of here. She spared one last look for the shell shocked Iris, silently assessing her as a non-combatant type.

As much as she wanted to stick to what her friends told her, 'Never leave a friend behind'... Iris was at most a fragment of the distant past to her at this point. More importantly she wouldn't be able to keep up with her, if she went unresponsive at the death of someone who tried to enslave her. But even then, she couldn't help but become a little nostalgic of all the little memories that she still remembered.

Maybe that was why the words that came out of her mouth were bitter to the taste. She was never good with goodbyes.

'If you're not good with goodbyes, say that you will see them again.'

Reina pondered bitterly why she had to remember his words now of all times. Despite the fact that it was unlikely that she would ever see Iris again...

"See you later, Iris."

Ice mana began to congregate towards her, infusing itself atop her leg muscles. With a sudden burst of speed, she flew across the streets. And if anyone asked her, she was running because of the slavers. Cursing herself for being so sentimental, she focused her attention on more pressing matters.

'This is much worse than my prime.'

It was an objective assessment. It was also an expected one. Strength, agility, endurance, all required training. Training that she didn't have at this point in time. It would be fatal to overestimate herself.

'But still, this is better than I thought considering I am technically starving. The only thing I can think of that would be different is mana... I should have listened to Noah more seriously.'

Reina ducked her head a little to avoid a sign that was ridicoulsly low to the ground, ran a little bit more, then entered a clearing far away from the city. She was running out of mana despite her best efforts to conserve it. Anymore and her mana veins would overheat. 

Reina fell dramatically on the ground and looked upwards toward the sky. It was a beautiful mix of purple, pink, gold; all of the colors you could think of. Natural mana floated freely alongside the wind, dying it in a green tint. 

"This place always had the best sunsets, didn't it?"

'Alan, Gloria, Noah, Adrian, Brianna...'

'I swear that I will avenge your deaths, and protect you in this timeline.'

'No matter what happens.'