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BOOK I


RIYATI REBIRTH

art: @creeeell

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With great power comes your past incarnations and future self playing chess with
your existence.

Kylie Rae thought she was an average honors high school student but discovered
during a life-threatening incident that she’s the reincarnation of an ancient
magic kingdom’s crown princess. Now people she’s never met want her dead, and
she must learn how to survive in this new world while maintaining the façade
that nothing’s changed. Forget making A’s, how will Kylie survive to the end of
the year when she’s constantly looking over her shoulder?Riyati Rebirth is the
first book of a contemporary new adult dark fantasy series that seeks to explore
themes of identity, legacy, the greater good, and finding your own path in life;
it includes multiple first person perspectives and queer representation, which
will expand even further as the series continues!

Cover Design: Emory Glass


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© 2024 Kalani Shimizu. All right reserved.

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CONTENT WARNINGS

The viewpoints and actions in this book do not necessarily express the
viewpoints of the author. The following are depicted, described, or implied
within this book:

Alcoholism, blood, child abuse, classism, death, decapitation, emotional abuse,
extreme violence, gore, homelessness, hostage situations, kidnapping, murder,
needles, loss of a loved one, parental neglect, physical abuse, poverty, sex
trafficking, stalking, strong adult language, substance abuse, suicide, and
torture.

Reader discretion is advised.

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Content warnings: blood, adult language, gore, violence

Chapter One: Shattered Glass

Kylie | March 24
North Opal Pines High

“Did you hear? It happened again,” a girl beside me said to her friend, hushed
whispers. “Another person went missing. No trace of their body. Cops can’t find
anything.”I pulled my phone out, scrolling through my social media feed.
Everyone kept talking about this — probably was just people running away; it
wasn’t like there was much else to talk about in this city. Usually, we imported
our drama fresh from Savannah, but people started going “missing” over a month
ago, right as we came back from holiday break. And it’s all I’d heard about
since then, from Dani, from my classmates.It didn’t affect me. I wasn’t stupid
enough to roam outside at random hours, go down dark alleyways with strangers
following me. I’d never even been to detention, though knew more about it than I
probably should thanks to Jordan being a frequent visitor. Speaking of, I picked
my duffel bag up as I saw him walk out the front doors of the school, searching
for me in the spot I normally stood.“Sorry, you wait long?” he asked as he
rubbed the back of his neck.I shook my head. “Not really. You ready to go?”
Speaking of reasons I was long past ready to leave, I heard a couple behind me
giggle as they whispered, “What’s she see in him anyways?” I just rolled my
eyes; it was Friday, and I was ready to spend the night watching movies with
Dani, not listen to the high school rumor mill — which had been the same as the
middle school rumor mill and the elementary rumor mill before that. Jordan and
I’d always been friends. Just friends. I had my plate full enough just trying to
keep Mom happy — she was determined I’d go full scholarship to a major
university, and I was on my way there; wasn’t really sure what to do once I got
there, but that was a problem I didn’t have to deal with right now.His ice-blue
eyes lowered to grass as he nodded, walking a step or two behind me as we left
our high school. I was spending the night with my oldest friend, Dani, as we
usually did on Friday’s, had for as long as I could remember, switching between
houses. We usually met at our local park and walked together to whoever’s house
we were staying in that night. Jordan’s house was around the park, but despite
knowing him for just about as long as Dani, I still wasn’t exactly sure where.
Apparently was nearby though, so he usually walked with me to the park before
heading home.Stretching, I took in the pleasant March breeze — most of the year
sucked here weather wise; summer was always humid and hot, and winter was still
humid, which made the cold more biting. Really, a lot of my problems were with
the humidity, thinking about it. “I’m not looking forward to that geometry test
next week,” I said.“Dunno how you do that shit to begin with,” Jordan
said.“Because Mom said so.” Often, I envied his life, where he didn’t have
parents breathing down his neck about every grade. I’d only ever made one D on a
quiz, and that was back in middle school. It’d earned me a three-hour lecture,
being grounded for a month, and Mom helping me with my homework for weeks
afterward. I’d gotten a lecture about how some universities wanted to pull back
to middle school grades for admissions. Even now, it felt overboard, but as long
as she was happy, she left me alone to actually enjoy life.Also, I hated math,
but I hated art class more. Stupid thing never made any sense — I wanted a
solution to copy, not pretend I actually cared about the assignment.The faded
wood sign reading “Opal Pines Park” with amber lettering finally came into view.
I didn’t see Dani at the entrance — she was taller than Jordan or me and had
auburn hair, so it was pretty easy to see her at a distance usually. Guess we
got here first, which wasn’t that surprising — our high school was closer to the
park than hers, but she usually got out of her final period before I did. Seems
they kept her the full time today.Glancing around, I saw a few people from
school walking around. There was this little girl, couldn’t have been older than
six, bright red hair and dark green eyes, a sundress on. Seemed cold for this
weather, but she looked scared more than cold. Her eyes kept darting between
people, as if one would take her at any moment. Where were her parents?“Oh,
she’s here,” Jordan said, his voice soft. I saw Dani approaching us out of the
corner of my eye, but I couldn’t look away from this little girl. I felt bad,
how scared she seemed.“Tell Dani I’ll be back in a minute. Just want to check on
that little girl.” I didn’t wait for his answer as I walked over to the child,
kneeling as I approached her. “Hey, where’s your parents?”She sniffled as she
pointed further back, closer to the forest section of the park. The only thing
our city was really known for was the forest — lots of pine trees, to the
surprise of like no one. Was a protected forest or something, where no one
really went in there.“What’s going on?” That was Dani; she and Jordan were
behind me, her hand on my shoulder. “You know the brat?”I shook my head. “You
want us to walk you to your parents?” The little girl nodded, taking my right
hand and pulling forward. I followed where she took me. If nothing else, it
seemed to give her the courage to go wherever her parents were. Closer and
closer to the forest edge, she led me — well, us, since Jordan and Dani were
behind me still, Dani closer as Jordan trailed behind us all. As I saw the park
path began circling back around to the front, I paused. “You see them?”She let
go of my hand, running into the trees; disappearing from sight, I heard a
childish whimper. Had she fallen? I followed her, searching around. But I saw
nothing but trees that might as well have blocked out the sun, like it was night
out instead of late afternoon.Dani moved closer; I felt her warm arm move
against my torso as she stepped in front of me. “Something’s wrong.” Jordan had
caught up; he hadn’t said anything, but he was right beside me, behind where
Dani stood. I struggled to maintain my balance against the leaves and branches
in between the grass as Dani pushed me backward. This yellow blur collided with
her, with where I had been, and I heard her scream like I’d never heard from her
before. Shrill, chilling, not a sound that should’ve come from a girl I’d always
considered invincible: she had a black belt, could kick and punch and…whatever
else people with black belts did. Dani screamed again before she lost
consciousness. It was some type of large cat, had gripped Dani by the arm, teeth
sinking into her flesh before throwing her against the tree like some
rag-doll.All too suddenly, I understood: this was what happened to all those
missing people, wasn’t it? It wasn’t a dark alleyway in the middle of the night,
wasn’t people running away.Jordan bumped into me while stepping backwards, away
from the child.It was my fault. I just wanted to help.The little girl pet the
enormous cat — tiger? Lion? Leopard? I couldn’t think clearly enough to pretend
to figure it out. It purred, licking Dani’s blood from its claw. “Good kitty,”
she said.Dani was unconscious, but at least I saw her still breathing. Blood
still trickled from her arm, not to mention whatever shots she’d need from a
wild cat bite: she needed to get to a hospital. I wanted to flee, get away,
survival instincts crowding my mind at the realization if others hadn’t made it
out, we weren’t likely to either. I couldn’t leave Dani behind, leave Jordan
behind; he stood still, hands trembling.I didn’t know what to do. Didn’t know
how to respond, how to —A “hmph” came from the little girl as her head gestured
towards Jordan and me. That large, ashen-furred cat strode closer — where had
this thing even come from? It didn’t look like any of the large cats I’d seen
advertised in the Savannah Zoo, didn’t even have stripes, only a smooth single
colored coat. Its steps were even, controlled. How did this little girl even
domesticate it? Who — what — was this little girl to have that type of power
over a cat that looked to weigh more than she did?
Only a yard out, it suddenly dashed towards Jordan and myself; all I could do
was close my eyes and brace for pain, expecting worse than I’d ever experienced
judging by Dani’s screams.I felt no pain though, only liquid dripping onto my
bare arm: Jordan gasped, a ragged wince soon after. Eye shooting open at the
sound, I saw Jordan’s arm in the cat’s mouth, a sickening crunch soon after as
he screamed. The cat drug him out by the arm, shaking him around like a chew
toy, hind legs ripping through Jordan’s jeans and into skin. Each scream dug
into my soul, my legs and arms growing heavier, begging for movement, but it was
like invisible weights were attached.
I did this. Caused this. Dani had blacked out. Jordan was far worse: would’ve
been better off unconscious, not him screaming in ways I hadn’t even heard in
the few horror films I’d snuck over the years.The large cat kept yanking, like
it was trying to separate Jordan’s shoulder from his body, his knees from his
legs; its claws dug further and further in, fur covered in matted red from
Jordan’s blood.He didn’t even scream as the cat picked him up by the shoulder
and threw him into a tree, body sliding down into the overgrown green grass now
stained red. The iron smell made me want to vomit, but I was still too scared,
too petrified to move, like some small animal that hoped to hide by being silent
and still. Except I had no doubt she knew I was there. How Jordan was alive yet
alone conscious, I genuinely didn’t know. He had strained breaths as a soft sob
slipped from his throat. Fresh blood dripped everywhere, through his mauled
jeans, his olive-brown hair matted with deep red, blood across his face like a
rusted tattoo that could never be erased. I saw muscles like a health class
info-graph, but it wasn’t some far off lecture, said tendons exposed to the
naked eye.Something was wrong. Something familiar. Like a glass plane shattering
in my mind and why. Why was it familiar? I had never seen something like this
before, not even in a movie theater, not in the most
attempting-to-terrify-me-into-being-healthy health class video.“We’re going to
eat well the next few days, aren’t we, Kitty? There’s some mana with this one
especially.” The girl stroked the cat’s blood-smeared fur, no care of the sticky
blood now on her fingers. It began purring once more, nuzzling her.There was
nothing I could do. I was next and I wasn’t even sure how much I cared: Dani
needed immediate medical attention, and Jordan made Dani look perfectly healthy
and peppy with how much worse he was. He was still conscious, and I wished he
wasn’t. I wished I wasn’t conscious either: at least Dani wasn’t awake for the
end.He whimpered; I took a step back, my mind somehow simulating the pain he was
in, my limbs stinging and burning despite nothing happening to me. Well,
happening yet. Was rather obvious what was coming next, just the question of if
it would be quick like had been with Dani or would be worse than the worst I’d
ever experienced as had been with Jordan.“It’s your choice,” a feminine voice
said; there was no one around, but it was so clear, so distinct, like she was
right beside me. “Death is easier, make no mistake. Is that what you want
though?” I shook my head, the smell of iron overwhelming me further. Every
strained breath of Jordan’s echoing through my chest. I didn’t know where the
other woman was. I didn’t see anyone new, but I couldn’t take my eyes off the
large cat. It felt like blinking would mean instant death. “Then repeat after
me: Riyati, establish connection, initiate verification.”What choice was there?
The words flowed almost naturally from my lips, softly spoken because I could
barely speak at all: “Riyati, establish connection, initiate verification.”“What
was that?” the little girl asked.Another strained breath, gasp, vision I
couldn’t see but felt throughout my being. Everything was a fog, confusing and
disorienting and painful.The voice continued: “Access stored blueprint, bind to
aura for direct withdrawal and simulation.”“Access stored blueprint, bind to
aura for direct withdrawal and simulation.” Light shot out from under my feet,
runes and characters I couldn’t identify raised from the surrounding grass.
Where was the light coming from? What were these runes, each outlined in either
an aquamarine or grayish blue color like a continuous gradient, centering around
me.The little girl’s eyes, which were an electric green, widened in excitement.
“You’re one of us? Why didn’t you say so—”“Phrase set: Riyati, obey your
mistress’s command, activate withdrawal.” The voice didn’t care about cutting
the little girl off, and quite frankly, if this other woman had a plan, it was
better than anything I could pretend to do at the moment.But…what was I even
saying? This voice, this woman I couldn’t see but sounded like myself yet wasn’t
me at all but was so close to me somehow — was I losing it? The lights shone
brighter, the humidity even denser than usual for our springs, gusts of sudden
wind blowing my hair in all directions. Yet I continued repeating after her
voice. What other choice did I have? We were all dead either way. “Phrase set:
Riyati, obey your mistress’s command, activate withdrawal.”“But how?” the little
girl murmured to herself as she stepped back, her confidence shattered.“One more
time: Riyati, obey your mistress’s command, activate withdrawal.”“Riyati.” There
was a pull from deep within me, the wind increasing to an almost tornado
centered on those strange characters that surrounded me. Thin streams of water
circled around me. My lungs burned. I didn’t know why. Didn’t know anything.
“Obey your mistress’s command, activate withdrawal.”The runes disappeared, wind
and water that I hadn’t even realized were supporting my entire body mid-air
vanished. Black spots overran my vision before my mind died out.At least I had
tried.

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