Emme: Year 2025 Delian City.
It started with a stolen project. I had spent 9 months coming up with ideas for the new game the company was making. It took two days for Kay O'connor to get his hands on it and claim it as his.
I sat in the middle of the meeting room with my jaw dropped as I stared at the monitor screen that had my presentation on 'Legacy of Souls' but HE was the one presenting it. The CEO gave him a standing ovation.
"Brilliant idea, O'connor!" The rest of the room stood up to clap for him and his eyes finally landed on me as a sly smile spread across his lips. I turned to my assistant and sure enough she sees it too. By the time it was time for my presentation, i was left with nothing but a bumbling mess and the CEO did not look impressed. I could already hear my promotion and all expenses 3 days vacation flying off into the distance.
"You stole my project?!" I yelled at him, barging into his office once the working hours were over.
He barely glanced at me. "I don't know what you're talking about"
"Legacy of souls was my idea. I spent three months coming up with that pitch. The whole team worked weeks worth of overtime and you think you and your lazy bunch of a team can just take it away from us?!" I slammed my presentation on the table.
"Does it matter, Emme?" He asked. "We both work for the same company. If Legacy of souls were to be made into a video game, you'd still have to work with us on it? Who cares who presented it?" He flicked the folder away from his desk like it was a small insect. He rises to his feet and walks to the opened window. I pick up the file and follow him.
"I CARE! The research! The world building! AlHeim is my world! Kai and Mira are my characters! Legacy of souls is my game! You stole it from me. Go tell everyone that you're not the owner of this project or I will" The wind carries my hair and my voice cracks. Thunder rumbles overhead and it begins to rain..
He turned to me and folded his arms over his chest. "Go ahead. Legacy of souls is my idea. I had already talked to the director about it months ago. Sure, i saw your project. I think it's quite dull so i modified it."
Tears streamed down my eyes. "I don't know what horrible thing i must have done to meet a demon like you" I slapped him. Kay looked up at me with bloodshot eyes and fear creeps into my body.
"Get out" He said through gritted teeth.
"I'm going to tell the director. I'm going to tell everyone" He grabs the folder from my hand and chucks it out the window and I watch my presentation fall from the 15th floor to the ground beaten down by the rain. Rage roars inside of me and I bottle it down. I have multiple copies i tell myself, as I turn to walk away.
I don't head to my office but to the highest floor, the 21st floor. There's a rooftop garden, it's raining but i go anyway. This is where i come to process thoughts everytime Kay managed to successfully pull one over me. I walked over to the edge and the image of Kay throwing my presentation out the window replays in my mind. I hear something shuffle behind me.
"Hello?" I said turning around. "Is anyone there?" When no answer comes, I brush the noise off and look up to the sky. "The storm is coming. I should probably head ho—". Footsteps charge from behind; before I could turn around something collides into my back, knocking off my balance and then I was falling. I whirled back, looking up to the top of the building and there was a person in a hat standing there. He pushed me. Someone pushed me off the rooftop.
I'm falling.
I'm falling.
I'm fall— CRACK!
It goes dark in an instant.
I can hear distant sounds of raindrops and the sound of a ticking clock before my eyes open. I'm no longer falling or lying on the pavement. Instead I'm standing in the middle of a long hall way with doors that seem to go on forever.
"where am I?" I mutter, looking around for any indicator of where i might be. Did someone rush me to the hospital and I managed to survive the fall? This didn't look like a hospital. It looked like an old hotel. I move to one of the doors and there's a number 17 written on it with the words. "Death by poison". I push it open slightly and a bright light pours out as a image plays before me.
A man in a lavish traditional attire lies on the floor holding on to his stomach as he coughs up blood. On the other side of the room, a woman stands watching with a smile on her face. I looked down at the man again and he looks up at me. His face morphs into my own, startling me. I look up and the woman is gone. In her place stood a man with a face I knew far too well. Kay O'connor.
I pull back closing the door and opened another with the number 13 on it. This time I'm a woman standing in a minefield as bombs go off in every direction. It's a war zone. There's chaos everywhere. I'm running in every direction until i come to a dead end where a soldier is waiting. He lifts his gun and pulls the trigger. The bullet goes through me and I fall to the ground.
I go through seven more doors and my heart breaks in every single one. These aren't just images. They were real. Past lifetimes that we had together. In some lifetimes, we were a married couple. In others, strangers who happened to be unfortunate enough to cross paths. In one of them, I am only a child when he holds a knife to my throat. I fall in the middle of the hallway unable to breathe as memories of many lifetimes flood my senses.
How could one person be so evil? In every single lifetime, I died by his hand. He pushed me from the rooftop of a twenty one floor building over a group project. I wait for the anger to rise in me but it is only dampened by the wave of hopelessness and grief that washes over me. There's nothing I can do now. The reality of my death settles with me. I was probably still sprawled in the middle of the street while he goes on to steal all my other projects. I bury face in my hands and let the tears of seven lifetimes fall from my eyes.
"You can break the cycle" a voice said. I look up to see a woman dressed in white robes. Her skin is so pale, she appears to be glowing and her hair and eyes are crystal white.
"Who are you? What is all this? How is it possible to be killed by the same person over and over again?"
"There are many karmic ties that exists in the universe. Soulmates, twinflames and fated loves. And there are energies that can never be mixed positively. That soul is your karmic nemesis. It's a rare thing to have. Whether you meet as friends, enemies or strangers who have nothing more than a fleeting interaction, one will inevitably lose to the other" She said, touching one of the doors.
"How do i stop this? I don't want to lose to him anymore. I'm exhausted" my voice cracked.
"It's completely up to you to decide how this cycle will end. Otherwise, you will keep meeting in every lifetime." She walked over and lowered herself to the ground. "One of you has to turn the tide of fate"
She takes my hand and lifts me to my feet. She holds my hand, guiding me down the hall until I see a bright light at what appears to be the end of the end of the hall with the number twenty one hovering in the middle.
"21st life? No. I don't want to do this again"
"You have to go before they come. Or else, you won't ever be able leave. You can end the cycle" her icy white eyes stare down at me and i can almost see her pleading.
I try to protest but she pushes me through the light and slams the door. I'm falling once again and there's that ticking sound… but i don't land on a rocky pavement.
My eyes flutters open and the sunlight peeks through the curtains. I'm lying on silk sheets. I sit up and scan the unfamiliar room. It seems almost ancient. The door opens and two girls walk in. They're were clothes that are vaguely familiar but certainly not modern and when they speak its in a language I have never heard but somehow i understand it. I have no idea where i am but it's certainly not Delian city.