Reborn A Dazzling Girl

"Now, we bring you the breaking news. Renowned academician of Usharia Academy of Sciences and Academy of Engineering, Prof. Emberly Hammond sadly passed away in her home at about 7:22 PM on the 26th of March, 1507 Cosmos Year, at the age of 52. Report reaching us state that the Emperor of Usharia and the General Commander have rushed to the hospital. A nationwide three-day halt in all entertainment activities has been declared by the royal household. The late scholar will be mourned publicly during this time."

In the streets of cities and countries on all planets, even those remote wastelands, the loudspeakers, radios, and electronic billboards broadcasted the tragic news to the people. The voice of the reporter choked with sobs. The planet seemed to stop orbiting as the bombshell dropped. Even the stars dimmed. Millions of people froze to the spot, wishing that the news was one big lie or it was all a dream.

No, no, no! How could that be? How could she die?

The average life of expectancy in the Star Age was 150 years. Emberly was only fifty-two years old. She still had many years ahead of her. Why did she die all of a sudden? This news was the least anyone expected. Emberly was loved by many. She had pushed for the country's technology to advance for at least a hundred years. And for that, she was regarded as the Light of Usharia. Since she was a child from the slums but fought her way to the top, people often used her story to motivate the younger generation.

How could such a talented person pass away so early?

Painful cries went up at the same time. The world was thrown into mourning.

The spokesman seemed to have sensed the sadness of the people. He paused and continued, "The Light of Usharia has faded... Prof. Hammond will be greatly remembered for her contribution to the world. May her soul rest in peace."

Three days later, for the first time in history, the Star Way Award-the highest of awards for scientists, was given to Emberly as a lifetime achievement award. Everyone present at the award ceremony wished that a figure would step onto the stage confidently and raise the medal in the air, but this never happened. The attendees couldn't help bawling their eyes out at this time.

In the main city of the center of the universe, a huge monument towered into the clouds. The name, Emberly Hammond, was imprinted there forever. The stars were shining brightly on the names of all the renowned and honored figures here.

Somewhere above the clouds, Emberly was floating. Her consciousness was misty. She didn't know where she was, but she knew that she was dead. This wasn't a first for her. Unbeknown to others, she had died before. No one knew that the child from the slums wasn't really what she was born to be. She was just a broken soul from another world, taking shelter in that body. And she had been fearless ever since simply because she had nothing to lose.

Different from the first time she died, she felt her soul floating this time. She looked down and saw countless people crying for her. Everyone was mourning. She saw that the slums in the past had become a prosperous city, and everyone here was extremely proud of her. Just before everything went black, she looked at the stars surrounding her and smiled brightly.

*****

"Wake up, Emberly! You have to take the medicine. Daddy went to town to get it for you. You will get better as soon as you take it." A slightly childish voice sounded.

"Peter, don't disturb your sister's sleep. Leave her be. She caught a serious cold after being in the rain, so she needs to rest now. Just put the medicine on the bedside table. She will take it once she wakes up." A calm middle-aged man's voice came.

Emberly's mind was fuzzy. She was having a splitting headache. She had just drifted back to reality when she heard those two voices. Her heart did a flip immediately. She slowly opened her eyes, only to find two concerned faces staring down at hers.

Was this a dream? Emberly blinked countlessly. When the two faces didn't disappear, she looked around with her eyes widened in shock. She found herself in a dilapidated brick house. The room she was in had very little furniture. She knew this room far too well; it was the one she lived in during the early years of her first life. The two people looking at her were her father and younger brother.

What happened? Why was she back here again?

There was a mirror opposite the bed. Emberly sat up and looked at her reflection. Her face was chubby. This was how she looked when she was just a teenager!

She quickly put two and two together. She remembered this day! It was before her biological parents came to pick her up. She had just rushed back from school after finding out her true identity. The rain drenched her, so she caught a cold. A few days later, she was taken back to her real family's house. From then on... The nightmare began.

Emberly was the child of the affluent Hammond family in Bluabert. Her pregnant mother felt bored one day and she insisted on going on an outing just before the due date. Little did the woman know that her daughter would decide to come earlier than expected. Emberly was delivered at a hospital in the countryside. It so happened that another woman with the same surname Hammond also gave birth to her child on the same day in the same hospital. Due to the negligence of the medical team, the two women took the wrong babies home.

Sixteen years passed by very quickly, and the two girls grew up living completely different lives. Things only changed when Felicia Hammond, the one who lived with the rich Hammonds in Bluabert, got into a car accident. The Hammond couple rushed to the hospital as soon as they heard the news, and that was when they noticed something was off. The couple both had type A blood, so why was their daughter's blood type a B?

This was strange so they took a DNA test that proved that Felicia wasn't their real daughter. Swift investigation showed that they took the wrong child home from the hospital. They found out that their real daughter had lived an impoverished life in the countryside for sixteen years.

The couple just couldn't leave their real daughter out there. The bond between them and Felicia was so strong that they didn't want to abandon her to suffer either. After thinking it through, they decided to raise both children together. They planned to compensate the other Hammond couple who had raised their biological daughter for the past sixteen years, and then took the girl away.

Xavier Hammond, the man who raised Emberly for years, was a farmer who struggled to make ends meet. He found it hard to believe the news until he was presented with irrefutable evidence. Although he wanted to get to know his real daughter Felicia, he couldn't take her back when he saw her teary eyes. He felt that it would be wicked of him to bring her into poverty after she had enjoyed wealth all these years.

In the end, he agreed to give Emberly to the other Hammond couple without taking back Felicia. He refused to accept a penny from them though. All he wanted was a better life for the two girls.

Emberly felt like her whole life was a lie after she found out the truth. Although she had lived an impoverished life from childhood, she was happy with her present family. She wanted to stay back with them. But as a child, no one really cared about her opinion.

After the Hammonds took Emberly to Bluabert where they lived, she couldn't fit in. She was the exact opposite of Felicia, who had lived a comfortable life since birth. Felicia was educated. She could play all kinds of musical instruments. She also knew calligraphy and painting. On the other hand, Emberly only knew how to study. One could say that she was a nerd.

She was one of the top students while she schooled in the countryside. But when she was enrolled in a school in Bluabert, she became an average student. Her strife at school was one of the things that affected her self-esteem. She soon withdrew into her shell. To make matters worse, her biological parents always compared her to Felicia. They never favored her even though she was their real daughter.

Felicia was hell-bent to make Emberly's life a living hell. Even though she was their parents' favorite, she was still not satisfied. She bullied Emberly at home and at school. She even went as far as setting her sister up for murder, causing her to be sentenced to prison for fifteen years.

Life in prison broke Emberly even more. She was like a lamb who was sent into the wolves' den. All the other prisoners beat her round the clock just for fun for ten years. One day when she couldn't take it anymore, she resisted the bullying with all the courage she could muster. Shortly after, the prison heads murdered her in cold blood.

As her life came to an end, all her bitter-sweet memories flashed through her mind. She recalled her family in Warlington Village. Emberly wished she had fought her biological parents when they came to take her away. She vowed to herself not to care about anyone else but her family in Warlington, her real family, if she wasn't given another chance. They were all that mattered to her.

To her surprise, she woke up in the body of a girl from the slums, who just died of illness in the Star Age.

Emberly still had the memories from her first life. Armed with the knowledge she got from her stay in prison, she found her way out of the slums slowly. She consumed more knowledge like her life depended on it. She finally became a famous scientist who was known as the Light of Usharia. People praised her, but no one knew her pain. They were unaware that she was struggling to find the meaning of life and didn't feel like she belonged anywhere.

Her life as a famous scientist ended quickly again. Who would have known that she would return to her sixteen-year-old self from her past life?

Everything that happened to Emberly in the two lifetimes flooded her head as she stared at her reflection in the mirror. When she finally looked at the young and agile Xavier and Peter, she couldn't help but shed tears. In another life, Xavier had fallen ill after he learned that Emberly was sent to prison. The blow made his health deteriorate rapidly, and he died two years later.

Now, it seemed God gave Emberly another shot at this life. She was intent on making good use of the opportunity. She was going to protect Xavier and Peter. She also wanted to take revenge for her past suffering.

Xavier panicked when he saw his precious daughter crying. He thought it was because she couldn't process the news of having biological parents she previously didn't know of. He sat on the edge of the bed and wiped her tears. "It's okay, Emmie. You will be fine. When you recover, you can go to live with your real parents. You don't have to suffer here anymore. Whenever you miss us, you can come to visit us. You will always be my daughter."

Emberly nodded with sobs.

"Here, take the medicine first. Your health is the most important thing." Xavier handed the medicine to her.

Emberly took the bitter medicine and swallowed it without a frown. She knew pain, so this was nothing.

"Dad, I know you are doing this for my own good. I will go with them. But you also have to promise me that you will take good care of yourself and Peter. I will visit you often."

"Okay, okay, I promise you." Xavier could never say no to her.

After tucking her in bed again, Xavier and Peter walked out of the room.

Unable to sleep, Emberly thought about what happened in her first life. She planned to stop all those life-changing bad things that happened before. But the most important thing now was to recuperate. Revenge could come later since it was best served cold...