Reborn: The truth behind the love

She tried to listen, but her head started hurting as foreignmemories appeared before her eyes. The pain sent chills through her spine. She started trembling, and beads of sweat formed on her forehead.

Then, a voice came, followed by shaking — like someone was trying to wake her. She forced herself to open her eyes.

She heard the sound of a monitor beeping and people running. She tried to concentrate, but a tearing pain prevented her from focusing . Then someone placed a hand on her head: it was a girl in her late teens. The pain subsided; the foreign memories evaporated like water as she closed her eyes again.

*****

On the other side, a woman sitting cross-legged in the center of a circle snapped her eyes open.

Half her face was burned, her back washunched, and she appeared to be in her late 80s. Sweat covered her forehead, her hands trembled, and the bright blue sphere shining before her cracked, forcing her out of her trance.

How can this happen?she asked herself, trembling in anger. I waited 20 yearsfor this! Finally, the moment arrived when I could occupy the body... and it failed ! How? I followed the ritual perfectly ... why can't I possess her ?

Then she started screaming and smashing nearby objects.

*****

In the dead of night, Ishaani woke up again. The pain had subsided considerably, but she could still feel it in her joints, as if she'd been thrown from a height.

She slowly opened her eyes and tried to perceive her surroundings, but saw only a white ceiling. She craned her neck and saw something that made her whole body shudder: her own body lay beside her. How could that be possible? She could feel pain — meaning she was alive —so how could she be lying there?

Had she hit her head so hard that she was hallucinating?

She tried to think, but asearing pain shot through her head. She shook her head and attempted to sit up, stretching toward the bandaged body. She remembered: on the way to the execution ground, something had fallen on her... then she'd lost consciousness. But where was she? She craned her neck again , searching for anyone or anything that might explain what was happening.

Then she spotted a mirror. She tried to stand, but her legs felt like jelly. Leaning against the wall, she moved toward it . The mirror reflected a different face—not hers. She slowly touched her cheek just as a head appeared behind her shoulder with the same face as the reflection.

She shrieked, jumping back in fear. A chill raced down her spine as she tried to process what was happening. In a single day, her life had turned upside down: her body lay on a hospital bed; she possessed another's body; and now a person stood behind her, wearing that same face as the body she possessed, in the dead of night.

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