Chapter 4: Chance

On the dirt road that led to the city of Leines, a wagon pulled by two horses was moving slowly. A journey was always hard on a day of winter, but the equipment of the both driver and horses made the circumstances harsher.

Steam could be seen coming out of horses noses and the cold air of winter turned it to the ice. Anyone could guess the worsening conditions of the horses, but the driver couldn't. Because his situation was no better.

A young man was gasping for breath on the edge of the driver seat. His face was pale, highlighting his black eyes and hair. After trying to breath for a minute he couldn't hold on to the edge anymore and fell down from the wagon completely.

Horses felt the force behind lead rope disappear. They stopped and turned their head back to see what was wrong. What they saw was a struggling young man on the ground. After a while the young man coughed a mouthful of blood and stopped struggling.

…

Rhiharis felt like he was drifting in the void. He felt emptiness envelop him, which many would be scared of. But contrary to that, he was peaceful. Peaceful, because if there was an afterlife, he would reunite with his loved ones. If not, all his struggles and pain would be over. He knew his death was inevitable, and his final struggle gave it a meaning.

He was thinking what he could change if he had a second chance, what led to the destruction of Shifting Rift.

'Was it all because of a single formation? Not likely, people are always greedy; they just weigh the temptation and risks. So risks were too little to take. Were we that weak? It's not that either, we had similar power to the other organizations. Did our peaceful policy let them unite? We had no mortal enemies but no allies either. Maybe they took advantage of our passive state. Or the temptation was just too big. Did they know something about the formation? That's not likely, I can't imagine a single person who had enough knowledge to recognize this formation…'

His thoughts were all over the place. Although he was not angry, he was sad. He felt like he was responsible for the death of his students and himself. His mind was constantly on the things he could change.

But an abrupt change interrupted his thoughts. He felt a cold air wash his face.

'Face? Do I even have a face anymore?'

He didn't need to think too much, he cautiously tried opening his eyes. And he succeeded.

What welcomed him was the sight of falling snowflakes.

'Snow… I wonder how many years have passed since I saw it.' Thought Rhiharis and he got up, his eyes on the cloudy sky.

When he looked around, he saw the beautiful sight of trees and hills. Everything was painted white by the snow. He breathed the fresh air and couldn't take his eyes from the sight for some time.

His gaze fell on the horses and the wagon they were tied to. He couldn't even remember when was the last time he saw a horse.

"It was probably before I left my home planet…" he muttered. But then he noticed he missed the most important thing to check.

He looked at his palm and arms. They clearly belonged to a young man. He slowly touched his face and couldn't feel the wrinkles.

"Is it me when I was younger or am I inside of an another person entirely? It must be the latter, I can't remember anything about this scene."

He tried to rationalize the situation he was in. He checked all his pockets and belongings on his body. All he could find was a necklace. A green stone could be seen in the middle of it. Words of a language he doesn't know about was carved on it.

The stone was full of cracks and on the brink of shattering. A weird feeling was radiating from it towards him but it was getting weaker with every second. Before even a minute pass the feeling disappeared completely and the stone shattered. A handful of green powder fell to the ground. He wanted to examine it but while he was crouching, the shade of green disappeared from the powder. What took its place was the color of grey.

'Whatever power it contained is lost.' thought Rhiharis.

After concluding he was inside of another person, he remembered all the theories he heard about possession. Many mages thought it was possible to extend their lives and focused their researches towards that area. He knew nothing about the details but he knew it was possible to retain the memories and personality of the person he possessed of.

He tried to think hard about anything about his body or the planet he was in but nothing popped up in his mind.

It was then he saw the black colored blood on the ground behind him. He crouched next to it and tried to smell it. A foul smell was radiating from it. He swiped his mouth with the back of his hand and saw the remains of the same blood.

'Poison… So you were already dead, huh. But how is this body still alive if it was deteriorated to this degree?'

His eyes fell to the remains of the necklace. After a while he shook his head and decided to bury the necklace in the memory of the person he possessed of. At least what remained of it.

After the burial he cleaned his hands with the snow. With it out of the way, he closed his eyes and focused his attention to main pursuit of his. Mana.

He tried to feel it like the time he first started in his past life. He managed to feel it but it was so scarce he wondered if this planet was dying. He never felt so little mana on any of the planets he visited.

He opened his eyes and walked towards the wagon. He put his hand to the cheeks of one of the horses. He caressed it gently with weary eyes. A soft voice escaped his lips.

"A second chance, huh…"