In late summer, the heat in Prairie View, Kansas, was a physical presence. It pressed down on the scorched lawns and baked the asphalt until the air shimmered, thick with the smell of dust, dry grass, and the sweet, cloying decay of the endless cornfields that bordered the town. This was a place where time flowed slower, where lives ran along deep, predictable grooves carved out generations ago: you graduated from the local high school, maybe got a two-year degree from the community college, and settled into a job at the plant, a farm, or one of the handful of shops on Main Street. You married, had kids, and eventually found your final resting place in the town cemetery overlooking the same golden fields you’d known your whole life.

At twenty, Ava Miller’s life was rolling smoothly along that very track.

She was plain, and she knew it. Not ugly, just… unnoticeable. The kind of girl who blended into the background like aging wallpaper. With freckled skin that never quite tanned, a nose that was a little too button-like, and a mane of dull brown hair, her only remarkable quality was a kindness she wore as invisibly as her off-brand sneakers.

After her last class at the community college, she was riding her squeaky second-hand bicycle down Main Street when she stopped at the town's only 7-Eleven for a soda. As she stepped out, a little girl, no older than four or five, shot past her like a pinball, giggling as she chased a bright red ball into the street.

a panicked voice cried from inside the store.

It was too late.

The ball bounced into the middle of the road. The girl followed without hesitation. At the same moment, the low rumble of an engine grew into a roar as a massive Ford F-150 rounded the corner, its chrome grille catching the afternoon sun in a blinding flash. The screech of tires tore through the town’s sleepy quiet.

Ava’s mind went blank. Her body moved on pure instinct.

She dropped her soda and lunged forward, throwing all her weight into a desperate shove that sent the startled little girl tumbling safely onto the sidewalk. A split second later, a colossal force slammed into her side. She felt a sensation of weightlessness, like a leaf caught in a gale, as she was thrown into the air.

Her vision fractured—patches of blue sky, the red-and-green of the 7-Eleven sign, the horrified faces of onlookers—all spinning in a broken kaleidoscope. Then, her head hit the pavement with a sickening, hollow thud.

The world dissolved into darkness. Her last conscious thought was a wave of simple, profound relief: The little girl is okay.

***

Awareness returned sluggishly, filtered through a fog of antiseptic smells and muffled voices. Ava forced her eyes open, blinking at the jaundiced-yellow ceiling tiles of a hospital room. Her head throbbed with a deep, splintering pain.

Her mother’s voice was thick with tears.

She turned her head, the simple movement an agony, and saw her parents’ red-rimmed eyes. Her father’s calloused hand engulfed hers, its warmth a grounding anchor.

he said, his voice raspy with fear.

Ava’s throat was sandpaper.

her mother rushed to say.

A hero? Ava managed a weak, pained smile. She’d just done what anyone would have.

It was then that a voice spoke, not in the room, but directly inside her skull. It was crystal clear, female, and utterly devoid of emotion.

<Altruistic behavior of significant intensity detected. Binding criteria met…>

<Binding… 10%… 50%… 100%…>

<“Goddess Aura System” successfully bound.>

Ava’s eyes widened. She scanned the room, but her parents’ faces showed no sign of having heard anything. A hallucination? It had to be. A side effect of the concussion.

<Host: Ava Miller>
<Charm Value: 32 (Average)>
<Aura: None>
<Mission: Novice Mission issued — Receive ten gazes of attention from strangers.>
<Reward: Charm Value +5, [Basic Aura] unlocked.>

The voice reported again, its logic unnervingly sound, its content bizarre. Ava was completely bewildered. This wasn't just a stray sound; it felt like a program running directly on her brain's hardware. The Goddess Aura System? Was this some new kind of elaborate spam, or had the impact truly scrambled her mind?

She decided to ignore it. It was a phantom, a ghost in her machine born from trauma. It would fade.

After a day of observation, she was discharged. She insisted on walking home alone, telling her parents she needed the fresh air. In truth, she needed solitude to process the surreal events of the last forty-eight hours, and to see if the ghost in her head had finally left.

Walking down Main Street, the familiar sights felt different, or maybe she felt different. Mr. Green, the owner of the grocery store, was loading crates of beer into his truck. He glanced up as she passed, and his hands fumbled, sending a few bottles clattering to the ground. He just stood there, mouth slightly agape.

Ava gave him a hesitant, polite smile and kept walking.

A pair of teenage boys on skateboards zipped past, then skidded to a clumsy halt, turning their heads to stare back at her. One of them, distracted, wobbled and nearly fell.

She self-consciously touched her face. Was there dirt on it? Maybe the bandage on her head was more conspicuous than she thought?

It kept happening. The sheriff directing traffic at the town's single intersection held his gesture for too long as she crossed. An old woman reading a newspaper on a bench lowered her glasses to follow her with an unblinking gaze.

These weren't the familiar, friendly nods of small-town recognition. This was something else—a current of raw, undisguised fascination. It made her skin prickle. She felt exposed, a specimen under a microscope. She quickened her pace, nearly breaking into a run.

<Gazes of Attention progress: 3/10… 5/10… 8/10…>

The voice in her head was back, counting. Her heart began to pound in her chest. Could it be…?

She finally reached her house, slamming the door behind her and leaning against it, gasping for breath.

<Gazes of Attention progress: 10/10.>
<Novice Mission complete.>
<Reward disbursed: Charm Value +5. [Basic Aura] unlocked.>

As the last message chimed in her mind, a strange, warm current flooded through her, a fleeting sensation that vanished as quickly as it came.

Shaking, she stumbled toward the bathroom. The familiarity of her home—the peeling corner of wallpaper, the floorboard that always creaked by the stairs—was a small comfort.

She stood before the sink, lifted her head, and looked into the old, rust-spotted mirror.

And froze.

The person staring back was her, but it wasn't.

It was the same dull brown hair, but now it caught the light with a soft, healthy luster. The freckles that had always dusted her cheeks were gone, replaced by skin so smooth and translucent it looked like porcelain. Her eyes were still the same shape, but they were clearer, deeper, like pools of twilight holding captured starlight. The overall structure of her face hadn't changed, but every subtle line and curve seemed to have been refined by a master sculptor, creating a harmony that was breathtaking.

This was not the plain, unnoticeable Ava Miller.

This was a girl who would make you look once in surprise, and a second time in complete captivation.

Her hand rose, trembling, to touch the cheek of the stranger in the mirror. The cool, solid feel of her own skin was the only thing that proved it was real.

"Oh, my God…"

A choked gasp escaped her lips. She finally understood the stares. She finally understood everything. The car crash hadn't just given her a concussion and a phantom voice in her head.

It had rewritten her face. And with it, perhaps, the entire predictable track of her life. In the mirror, the girl’s eyes were wide with a universe of shock, confusion, and a terrifying, thrilling sliver of hope.

After Binding the Beauty System, I Went Viral — Chapter 3

Anda Mungkin Juga Suka

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