2. Back to the brink

A part of me was shredded off as my father's head fell to the ground. The whole world crumbled beneath me. I looked up at the man crouching at my level, a smile spreading out on my face.

I couldn't answer him. Words were lodged in my throat, buried under a mountain of grief and rage. My eyes were glued to my father's lifeless body, suspended grotesquely in the air before it crumpled to the ground like a discarded puppet.

"You win...you win, Jin Yutian. You win." I laughed, cried and couldn't even explain what was going on in my head anymore.

"Oh no, you don't get to do your self pity. I have always been winning since birth. It such a pity for him to die so belittling. What next? Yes..." Jin Yutian mocked, his words spewing out with victory, his fingers flickering up in the air.

In the next instance, two guards stemmed from the corner, dragging off Lin Xianfeng's dead body away from Yutian's face. "Where is that indomitable will of the Tang Dynasty's most formidable princess? Has it withered away with your pathetic kingdom?"

"I will kill the hell out of you Jin Yutian." I bit my lips, anger rushing through my veins which literally popped on my forehead. "In the life or next, I will kill you. I will set it as a reminder everyday of my life. I will kill you."

"Dear Lin Xi, what a dream you have. I wanted to spare your life, give you chance to redeem yourself. Lin Xi, I will never hurt you but you dared to hurt me. I thought I could trust you. In this life or the next, I will make sure you don't ever exist."

"What do you mean you make me not exist?" My face went blank, my body barely even holding up as my eyes weakly trailed up his body finding something extraordinary in his hands.

If I was not mistaken, that was the Silver Jade Pendant of the Golden Fox---the one capable of undoing the past. It was said that the Pendant was destroyed during her last battle with the demonic rulers who sought to destroy mankind. How was it possible a mere slave like Jin Yutian could possess such?

My mind ran blank, Mysteries concerning the Silver Jade Pendant of the Golden Fox were whispered in hushed tones across the land, tales woven of its ability to rewrite history itself. My heart pounded as Jin Yutian's fingers wrapped around it with a smug grin.

"This?" he drawled, holding it up so the light caught the intricate carvings. "Tbis is just my play toy. Decades after you killed me, I had a little time getting back on my feet and I came to meet an old friend of mine."

He chuckled, stroking his fingers through the engraved designs. "This is the key to your undoing, Lin Xi. You see, history is written by victors, and I intend to rewrite it so that your pitiful lineage never taints the annals of time."

"Don't you dare," I hissed, my voice trembling. If the Jade got into the wrong hands like that of Jin Yutian, it could be very disastrous. "Listen to me, don't you want to kill me? Go ahead."

"Oh, but I do want to kill you but I also want something else...to make sure you never reincarnate and what better way to do it than to stop your existence?" Jin Yutian sneered, his eyes glinting with malevolence while he made his next move closer to me. "Your father is already gone. Your kingdom is in ruins. What more could you possibly lose? Except, of course, your very existence."

Before I could respond, he muttered something under his breath—an incantation, perhaps—and the pendant began to glow, its silver light intensifying until it burned like a second sun. My knees buckled as an unseen force pushed against me, and the air itself seemed to warp around the pendant.

"Any last words, Lin Xi?"

"I have no regrets Jin Yutian!" With that, I pushed over him, grabbing the small dagger hanging around his belt and slit my throat in half.

I felt my flesh searing into half, pain surging through my body with the dagger dropping to the ground stained with blood. My entire body hit the ground, growing pale. Instinctively, I reached out for my neck, sensing my pulse fade with each beat longer than the other until there was nothing to feel.

The world dimmed around me and the last thing I saw was Jin Yutian take off the mask on his face. His hands brushed over my face, and then picked up the knife and cut deeply into my chest.

"Shall we meet in the next life..." He extend his hands with grimace all written on his face and laughed it off, killing the last stain of blood on his hands.

And just like that he disappeared.

"No! It can't be..." I gurged out more blood, my life slipping away from me and just like that, darkness loomed over me. I couldn't tell if it the universe itself had swallowed me, taking me into a void of nothingness.

In that moment, memories flashed before my eyes but there was one that stayed---Jin Yutian. Of all could memory I could die with, only his face drowned in his own blood stayed. Perhaps it was my last vestige of will of revenge but I knew what I wanted in the next life.

To kill him...

And with that, the world completely went black, having me cease to exist.

Is this what death feels like?

**********

My eyelids fluttered open, and light filtering into the dark room. I squinted, trying to make sense of my surroundings while my body felt unusually odd as though it didn't quite belong to me.

Where am I?

I brought myself to say, wondering whether I was alive or dead. I looked upwards weakly, the ceiling above me carved with intricate wooden beams, their design foreign yet oddly familiar. My heart raced, confusion swarming my thoughts. I propped myself up on one elbow, only to freeze as I caught sight of movement.

There—on the ceiling—was a figure. My breath caught in my throat as my eyes adjusted to the sight of a woman suspended upside down, her pale form radiant against the dim light. Her flawless white skin shimmered faintly, and her hair--long and as white as freshly fallen snow.

And on her flawless white skin was a robe of the deepest blue, embroidered with patterns of snowflakes and frost.

She was smiling.

I did what anyone would do in such a moment: I screamed.

Scrambling backward, I tumbled off the bed, landing hard on my ankle. Pain shot through me, forcing another cry from my lips. My hands instinctively reached for my injured foot, but my gaze never left the ethereal figure above.

The woman tilted her head, her smile widening. Then, graciously she descended from above, having gravity bend itself to her will. She floated to the floor, her bare feet landing soundlessly on the polished wood.

"Well, that was an...eventful awakening," she said, her voice smooth and melodic, like the chime of bells on a winter morning. She studied me with eyes the color of glaciers, their icy hue piercing. "Congratulations, Lin Xi. The system has leveled up."

I blinked, struggling to process her words. "What...what system? Who are you? What's going on?"

"Well this is interesting. Of all the people to assign me to, a mere mortal. Not even a Phoenix or a great demon?" The woman folded her hands neatly in front of her, scoffing incoherent words as though my panic was of no concern. "I am Xue Lian, the administrator of the Frostbound System, and you, my dear, are now its host. Lucky you."

"Host?" I echoed, still clutching my throbbing ankle. "What does that even mean? And why were you on the ceiling?!"

Xue Lian chuckled softly. "I always greet my hosts from above. It's tradition, you see. As for what it means to be a host, well..." She crouched to my level, her robe pooling around her like a frosty mist. "You've been given a second chance, Lin Xi. A chance to rewrite your fate and exact the revenge you so desperately crave."

Her words hit me like a thunderclap. "A second chance..." I whispered, my mind racing. Images of my father's death, of Jin Yutian's mocking smile, flashed before me. My hands clenched into fists. "So...this isn't a dream? I'm alive?"

"Alive and well, more or less," Xue Lian confirmed. "Though your new body might take some getting used to. Oh, and about your ankle—sorry about that. The system doesn't account for clumsiness."

I glared at her, the pain in my foot throbbing in time with my irritation. "Couldn't you have warned me?" It took so long for her words to register in my head but one thing was certain; I was not in my home. Not in my body.

"Where's the fun in that?" she teased, rising to her full height. "Now, get yourself together, Host. You have work to do, and time waits for no one. The past you've returned to is fragile, and the decisions you make from here on out will determine your success—or failure."

"What do you mean, the past?" I asked, dread curling in my stomach. "How far back have I gone?"

Xue Lian smirked, the glint in her eyes both mischievous and knowing. "Why don't you look outside and see for yourself?"

I rose from the ground, dusting myself up as I limped towards the slightly ajar door. My head sprung out, only to find out something different.

This wasn't my world. What sort of world is this?