Chapter 4: Reincarnation
519 words.
Peacock and Hyrax are on the deck of The Star, looking out as the island faded from their view.
What a day, huh? Thanks for holding out with me.
Why would you go to such lengths for that girl?
Peacock sighed.
You wouldn't understand.
No, I don't. She isn't even your kid.
You wouldn't believe it if I told you.
Told me what?
I am her.
What does that mean?
Peacock twisted his body so that he was facing Hyrax.
Do you know what happens when you die?
No. Do you?
I do.
How?
You walk along a river until you reach a bridge. On the bridge there is an old woman called Grandma Meng. She spends all her time brewing a special soup. Her own recipe.
What are you talking about?
The soup erases all your memory so you can start your next life completely anew.
I think I've heard of that somewhere?
Now, Sparky died with a stomach full of guilt and a heart full of regret. She wasn't ready to let it all go.
Sparky… died?
So she spit the soup out behind Grandma Meng's back, and dashed into her next life before she could stop her.
That sounds like something Sparky would do.
I am her next life.
What?
You heard it. I am Sparky's reincarnation, and I have all her memories.
Hyrax took a moment to process this.
But you're older than Sparky.
Reincarnation isn't meant to be linear. You can be born as someone in the past, or way into the future. In fact, everyone is the same person reincarnated over and over. Grandma would tell you this.
Okay. But that means you can literally foresee the future! Sparky lived through it!
She died before I did.
Oh.
Silence.
There will be a war between Bauhinia and Fanton.
The fuck?
Don't tell anyone!
I won't. It's okay.
I had originally sworn to myself not to tell it to anyone, ever. But I figured that I could trust you.
You can, Peacock. You can always trust me.
You trust me too, right? I think most people would think I'm mad if I told them this story.
I trust you.
Ironheart married Beauty.
They do seem to be getting along.
Because you were pestering them to get married.
Uh…
Okay, that's enough. I can't actually remember everything.
Hyrax was contemplating.
So that's why you were a prodigy! You remembered laws that Sparky knew!
I taught them to her, heh. Time is a circle.
PEACOCK! UNCLE HYRAX! CHASTITY IS SAWING THE LIFEBOAT IN HALF! WHILE BEING INSIDE IT!
Whelp. Thanks for telling me that, bro.
You understand why I didn't tell you all these years, right?
I do, man.
You won't pull the same shit at the bridge, will you?
Oh, no, no, no. I wouldn't dare!