Reborn To Be The Prime Empress

Chapter 3

As she felt her mind slowly fade away, Sally expected nothingness. She still hadn't realized what had happened to her, and that she'd never wake up again, so she simply concluded that she was falling asleep. Besides, it did feel that way.

But then, suddenly, her eyes snapped open to daylight. She was looking directly at the sun, so it burned her eyes and affected her vision, piercing all the way into her skull. She flinched and tried to shut them again, but the heat was much… too much. It permeated her eyelids and submerged her entire body in a thick, moving, sea of hotness. Her chest tightened as she dragged in scorching air into her lungs. It tasted of asphalt, exhaust, and smoke.

When she managed to open her eyes and faintly make out things in her surroundings, she realized that she was lying on a road. Not her road.

“Where the hell am I?” She wondered.

The surface beneath her was smooth, wide, and painted with glowing strips that pulsed faintly like veins. When she tilted her head, her cheek scraping the ground, she saw towers rising in the distance—glass and steel, brighter and stranger than anything she’d ever seen. Massive banners spread across them, printed with faces of women she didn’t recognize. Their beauty was unreal.

She noticed a searing pain on her knees. She tried to look but she could barely see anything. Her eyes were still hazy from staring at the sun. But the way the pain moved through her reminded her of scrapes.

Suddenly, a car raced past her. Close enough that the wind rushing from it shoved her hair across her face. Its body was sleek, like a luxury sports car, but nothing like she'd seen before. It was humming instead of… rattling. Another followed, then another. Then it dawned on her—this was a highway.

Immediately, almost in sync with her sudden realization, her vision began to clear up.

She jerked up, her injured knees screaming, and stumbled toward a sidewalk. Upon reaching, she leaned against a lamp post and tried to catch her breath.

That was when she saw him.

Not Ethan. Not anyone she’d seen before. Just an ordinary man in a gray suit. He froze upon seeing her, his briefcase clattering to the ground. His eyes were glued to her, widening, face draining of color. Then slowly, his lips parted.

“It-It’s a woman,” he whispered.

Sally blinked, confused, as she clutched her arms tight against her chest.

Another man stopped. Then another. Heads turned one after another, like dominoes falling in slow motion. Murmurs rippled outward, building with every second.

“Impossible…”

“Is it real?”

“She!”

“Is-Is She real?”

“My God, look at her…”

Her stomach dropped. “Okay, what the hell is going on?!” She cuddled herself as her eyes darted from one bewildered face to another. The weight of their stares pressing into her like knives.

Then, the first man moved. He stepped forward with his hand outstretched. But, it didn't look like he was offering help—not to her at least. If anything, it was almost like he was scared to touch her. His fingers trembled as if he couldn’t believe what he was seeing.

Sally backed away. “Don’t—” she tried saying, but the word caught in her throat.

He didn’t hear. Or didn’t care. His hand lunged forward.

But another man shoved him aside. “She’s mine!”

The shove man returned with a fist and planted it straight into the other man's face, breaking his jaw and his two front teeth. “No! She's mine!”

Out of nowhere, a different man speared him into the ground.

And just like that, chaos snapped loose all at once. The awe-filled murmurs quickly twisted into violent roars. Men surged toward her from every direction, shoving, clawing, trampling each other. Hands grabbed at her hair, her arms, her waist.

“Don’t touch her!”

“She’s mine!”

“Get out of my way!”

“She belongs to me!”

“Leave me alone! Please! Let go off me!” Sally screamed. She tore free from one grip only to be caught by another. Nails dug into her skin. Her shirt stretched, nearly tearing, as bodies slammed against one another in a frenzy. She stumbled sideways, colliding with a car as two men smashed into each other beside her.

The driver inside panicked. He swerved sharply into the corner, thereby hitting a bystander. The man got thrown over the hood, screaming, before crashing into the pavement. His blood smeared across the glass.

Horns blared around her and in the distance. More cars collided as the fast-growing crowd spilled unto the road. One slammed into another so hard, Sally, despite being in a mess of her own, winced at the crunching sound of the car frame. Metal twisted.

Suddenly, it exploded. Debris spread in all directions. She raised her arms to cover her face, but they were almost instantly riddled, torn, pierced and scraped by and with broken glass.

It was a living nightmare in broad daylight.

“I need to get out of here,” she thought.

She looked to her left, then to her right. Both sides were running amok with violent chaos. She picked randomly and began running. Anywhere was better than here. But she couldn’t escape the hands. Every few steps, someone caught her wrist, her hair, the hem of her shirt. And she’d kick and scream in order to claw her way free. But still, the mob only thickened.

“Help!” she sobbed, even though some part of her knew no one would help. Not here. Not now. Everyone that could or would have helped her, was either fighting off another man, or chasing her down like a hound.

A man tackled another right at her feet, their bodies slamming into her legs. She toppled and fell, her palms slamming against the asphalt. Gravel tore into her skin. Before she could push herself up, a hand grabbed on to her hair and yanked her backward.

“Stop! Stop! Please!” she choked, tears rolling down her cheeks.

Another man shoved the first aside, roaring like a rabid animal. His eyes burned with hunger, his teeth glaring like a beast. They fought on top of her, fists flying, until she managed to break free and stagger to her knees.

The noise was unbearable. The screams. The shouts. Metal crunching. Glass shattering. Sirens wailing in the distance. And over it all—the screams of men driven mad.

“Oh God, oh God, what the f**k is going on?” She asked mindlessly as she crawled away panting.

From the corner of her eye, Sally saw a woman across the street. She was dressed immaculately, her heels clicking as she backed away from the chaos.

Sally waved at her for help but, her gaze locked on Sally, full of… hate. And then she spat on the ground as a sneer morphed on her face.

“Another one,” she hissed. “Damn parasite.”

Sally stopped breathing for a moment. Her breath caught by surprise. “What the—?” She didn’t have time to process the hatred in that glare before another pair of hands slammed into her shoulders. She screamed, struggling to break free, but her voice was miniscule in comparison to the wails of the chaos around her.

The world tilted, spinning around her. Her vision began to blur again. She couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t think.

Then—

WHUP. WHUP. WHUP.

The sound cut through everything. Heavy and mechanical. It sent waves through her, literally.

She looked up, blinking against the blinding sun. And lo and behold, a helicopter descended from the sky. Black and massive, its blades cutting through the dark clouds from all the smoke. Wind surged across the street, whipping dust and debris into whirlwinds. The crowd-turned-mob staggered, shielding their eyes, but still, they didn’t stop reaching for her.

The chopper lowered, its skids crunching onto the street. Its booming roar drowning the screams, the flames, the chaos.

Sally tried getting up, but her knees buckled under the force of the helicopters winds. Her hair swayed wildly, sprawling against her face, her lungs choking on the dust. She lifted an arm to shield her eyes just as the side door of the helicopter slammed open.

A figure stepped out.

Tall. Broad-shouldered. His movements were clean and powerful, and the winds seemed to bend around him instead of against him.

The crowd hesitated upon the sight of him, just for a moment. The air shifted, charged, as if everyone was thinking the same thing: this was not a man to defy.

Sally’s heart pounded forcefully against her ribs. She couldn’t see his face. Not through all the haze of wind and dust. But somehow, something in her knew:

Her nightmare wasn’t ending.

It had only just begun.