Pain, the kind like someone was pulling her soul out of her body, wrecked through the eighteen-year-old girl on the bed. In the silent night, none noticed her body that was convulsing madly before everything returned to stillness. She looked like she was sleeping.
As the light from the sun streamed in through the window, Thalira's eyes abruptly opened. She winced and closed her eyes again, slowly adjusting to the light.
Confusion filled her face. Where was she? Wasn't she already dead? It was impossible for her to survive…
Her hands reflexively went to her head, clutching it as she hissed in pain. Her brain felt like it was hammered, making her afraid it might turn into mush. Did they find her not dead and just to make sure they–
The foggy mind filled with thoughts stopped as memories that didn't belong to her rushed to her head. She curled on the bed and tried to endure every pain, panting. Cold sweat already made her clothes damp.
Until less than an hour later, the pain subsided. Thalira sat up in a daze. It took her another half an hour to sort some memories, and most likely she needed more time to absorb them fully.
Her eyes scanned the surroundings, so unfamiliar, like something that came out of another world. In this room, there were three beddings, each with a table on the side.
From her memories, three people supposedly lived here. She racked her brain for relevant information and frowned.
"Scar, be careful or you might trip again." A small voice echoed from outside, followed by quick footsteps. "I don't know if Thalira has already awake or not, her fever last night–"
At this time, the door was pulled open. A girl with black hair and fair skin widened her eyes in surprise. She hurriedly went to Thalira's side, putting the bag in her hand down and covered Thalira's forehead.
"Are you alright? How are you feeling?" Evelyn asked.
Thalira had a stunned look on her face. She had yet to come out of her senses from the fact that she was here in this strange world and body yet, and thus, the enthusiasm from this girl made her slightly uncomfortable.
In a hoarse voice, like dry leaves rubbing against each other, she answered, "I am fine."
After this girl named Evelyn came to check her temperature, the other girl also came over and touched her forehead. She had a steady look on her face as she smiled and muttered, "Thalira's temperature has subsided."
"You must be hungry." Evelyn chattered on as she rummaged through her bag, pulling out a package. "Here, have some food first. You don't know how worried we were when your body suddenly became so hot like that."
"It must be because of the rain. The weather is so unpredictable these days. Some people from other dorm rooms have also gotten sick lately." Scarlett reminded them. "Bring an umbrella when you go out in the future."
Evelyn nodded, as if taking Scarlett's words solemnly, and then urged Thalira to eat her food. Having no choice, Thalira finally opened the lid of the food container and slowly ate it. The other two girls didn't mind her quietness because they were aware that Thalira had just recovered from her sickness.
As the other girls chatted with each other, Thalira slowly had the time to digest the information in her head. Somehow, after she died, she arrived in this strange place. The sensation of having her body torn definitely wasn't a dream.
Those people intended to take her divine beast's core and steal her heart…
Most likely that they had succeeded. Murderous looks crossed through her fair, delicate countenance. The other girls seemed to sense the change of atmosphere.
"I will have a class in half an hour. It's time to go." Evelyn frowned uncomfortably, rubbing her skin. She turned her gaze to Thalira on the bed, whose eyes were unfocused. She nagged like an old mother. "Finish your meal and take your medicine, then go to sleep, Thalira."
Scarlett also said something about going out somewhere. In an awkward tone, Thalira wished them safety. Thus, the room returned to quietness.
She took a small mirror from the bedside table, noticing that there were some changes to her look. This girl was too thin, but her face still held a lot of resemblance to hers. The dark circles around her eyes made her appear more gloomy. From her scattered memories, she concluded that this place was a mortal world. A human realm.
Unlike other human realms where people have some kind of powers, they were just weak mortals with a lifespan below a hundred years. As a divine beast, even Thalira had lived for two hundred years herself. Even so, two lifetimes in a human calculator were only regarded as a blink of an eye for her race.
In that world, she was still considered as a divine beast cub.
She lifted her thin arms. Deep wrinkles decorated her face as the feeling of weakness and tiredness overwhelmed her. This body had just recovered from sickness.
Thalira assumed that this body, who coincidentally had the same name and similar looks to her, had died in her sleep. Thus, as a lone soul drifting nowhere, she got pulled here because of their compatibility. She had yet to sort out all the memories, but she found this girl's life to be somewhat ordinary.
She had a pair of wealthy parents and some siblings. Her parents sent her to this university because of its excellent reputation, despite the long distance. The relationship between the original body owner and her parents wasn't that close, but they still cared about her.
Not all her siblings were outstanding. Some had ordinary achievements like her. Nonetheless, her eldest brother was hailed as a genius since he was a child and trained to take over the family's business.
Because the first child was so outstanding, many had similar expectations for the second, third, and subsequent child. However, they were disappointed when each child was worse than the other. Thalira was the youngest girl, the fourth child in the family. Thus, none had any high expectations for her.
Thalira pondered for a bit, feeling slightly sorry that she had taken over someone's body, just like that. Until she had a nightmare that night, she began to feel suspicious.
In that nightmare, there were foul smelling, rotting human figures everywhere, preying on other humans. Natural disasters happen everywhere, claiming more human lives. When countless vines bound her body and a gaping mouth of an unknown creature appeared in front of her, Thalira woke up with a start.
"What in the world was that?" She whispered in bewilderment.
Cold sweat drenched her body, and she took a deep breath. What was that? It seemed to be the memories of this body, but… she looked at her peaceful surroundings.
More and more memories rushed to her brain. This time, it took longer for her to process. After she was done, she was stunned when she realized that it was the future memories of this body's original owner.
There were anomalies everywhere during that horrible time. Somehow, after the original body owner died, she regressed in time. Maybe, because she could not bear such a strong fate, she died again in her sleep, allowing her to occupy the body.
Thalira contemplated it, realizing that the world destruction in the girl's memory would happen around two months from now. Glancing at her thin arms, she with depression realized that she was no longer the majestic and powerful white tiger divine beast, so she had to prepare…
Since she had taken over this body and tasted the same feeling of betrayal, Thalira decided that she would take revenge in the future for all the misery the original body owner had suffered.