Broken Stride

Reincarnation

The last thing Cassian could remember was an overwhelming feeling of despair and anger as he found himself sinking into the ocean in the middle of buttfuck nowhere, so—naturally—he was surprised, to say the least when he suddenly found himself on the floor of a school bathroom choking on toilet water.

'Where—?' His eyes widened as he saw his clothes. They weren't what he remembered wearing.

"Fuck!"

Cassian swore as he tried to stand, only to trip over his own feet, landing hard against the floor—pain shooting through his right leg.

'Shit is my leg broken?'

His stomach churned uncomfortably as he glimpsed his left leg twisted in a direction legs definitely weren't supposed to go. Strangely, though, he didn't feel any pain. And anyways, were his legs always that short?

A mirror. He had to find a mirror.

He tried a few more times to stand before eventually giving in and crawling over to the nearby sink—using it to leverage himself to a standing position.

His eyes widened when they connected with the ones staring back from the mirror. This wasn't his face.

"What the hell?"

Cassian's grip tightened around the edge of the sink as his head suddenly exploded in a blinding pain—images flashing past his eyes faster than he could register what was in them.

Memories. And not his own.

When the pain subsided, Cassian slumped against the wall, suddenly feeling incredibly weak, and too tired to continue supporting himself. His head was spinning.

"This has been one hell of a day—" Cassian let out a sigh as he pushed wet hair from his face—" so I guess I'm in Korea? And this kid's name is . . . Gangu? Shit, how did this happen?"

"I see you're finally awake, Cassian"

"Who's there?!" Cassian tensed, scrambling away from the wall. Being cornered would do him no favors in a fight, especially in his condition.

Cassian's hands tightened into fists as a shadowy figure emerged from the amulet dangling from his neck. He was surprised to see a strange black ball of smoke staring at him with one large eye, and—oh fuck the necklace! Jeff!

"Y-you! What did you do?!" Cassian tried to grab the weird orb only for his hand to phase right through it and he nearly fell flat on his face.

"My name is Moros! I'm a mighty soul from ancient times!" The weird orb spoke with an aura of smugness. "I reincarnated you!"

Cassian couldn't believe what he was hearing. Reincarnation? A mighty soul? He had to be dreaming. But—no he couldn't be. The water—the pain? It all felt real. He pressed a hand against his chest. The pain of the bullet that killed him; he could still feel it, but there was no wound to speak of. No matter what he wanted to believe, the truth was: he wasn't in his own body anymore. Those memories from that Gangu kid were proof enough of that—though Cassian was still a little suspicious of the whole 'mighty soul' thing.

"Ok. So you reincarnated me. What for?"

Cassian maneuvered himself back to the wall and rummaged through his pockets. His fingers found the mobile phone he'd been searching for and he whipped it out; unlocking it with ease.

"To protect you. Jeff asked me to."

"Right. . . Jeff."

Cassian's stomach churned uncomfortably as he recalled his brother. How he'd—Nope. Cassian wasn't going to think about that. Yep! Totally not going to think about it whatsoever.