Beat of Our Hearts

Prologue: "Dream"

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Long before the beginning of time, the Creator formed three different universes which He named past, present, and future. These three are the universes wherein His masterpieces, the souls, will walk through as they live. In the past, the souls will live without their hearts beating, in the present, they shall live with moderate heartbeats, and in the future, their hearts will beat at an impeccable speed. 

The differences in heartbeats was designed by the Creator to signify the universe where the souls currently reside. In each universe, one soul will live one life, when it dies, it transcends to the next universe to be born again, forgetting their old life as they transcend. After living through three universes, the soul will be recreated as an entirely new one by the Creator and shall begin the cycle of the three universes again.

~*~

While hugging her knees and sitting on the grass, Tale glanced upon the sky. The vast field wasn't full of trees and the place was just right for stargazing and relaxing. That night felt out of the ordinary. The atmosphere seemed to be more transparent, exposing more stars and colors of the space beyond. 

I don't think I've ever seen these many stars before.

As Tale stared at the stars, the twinkling ones caught her eyes. These stars looked like those in the constellations, big and bright. She stumbled upon an outline of something that looks like a man's face, like a constellation of stars connected end to end. 

How can a constellation form a face-like shape? Is this some form of magic?

Although 'written' in the stars was the face of a complete stranger, Tale felt an unexplainable connection with him.

That face... it seems familiar, but I know I've never seen it before. Who could he be?

Suddenly, Tale's surroundings changed, and she was standing near the edge of a windy cliff. The strange man's face was still on the sky, but at that moment, Tale heard multiple sounds, like a series of heartbeats. Some are incredibly fast like of a running athlete, some sound like someone is almost at the verge of dying, unsettlingly slow.

This can't be real, right? 

She put her palm on her chest, but the beating sounds didn't come from her. Tale nervously walked around, looking up, to find where they came from. 

Heartbeats? But why? There's so many. Someone, please, tell me this is just a dream.

Mistakenly, her foot slipped and her weight shifted on it. Everything happened in a blur, and she was falling down to the bottom of the cliff. Visions of different places flashed in her mind- a large temple, a dark-colored building, a peaceful park, and lastly the constellation of the face morphing into a real one-- a pair of closed eyes and a weak smile of a man with blood dripping from his mouth. 

~*~