As the world spins, days and nights pass. Days and weeks move onward. Seasons shift and years progress. The time moved ever forward and allowed all life to both begin and flourish, before ending and perishing. The eternal struggle. But for some, the start is not the beginning, and the end isn’t the final stop. As is the case for this tale of old.

There are many legends of reincarnation or souls returning from the beyond the grave to travel the world of the living, but the one today is older than most. The origin of the tale has long since been lost to time but it is believed that it happened at the creation of man.

The story goes as such.

Once upon a time, in a land ever distant and lost to time, a young girl was brought into this world within the high reaches of society. She was born to a land that was dying due her kingdoms actions but at the time, she was too young to know. As she grew, she watched the land she would one day rule wither and decay, but she never knew why her lands were slowly dying. All she could do for years was watch and wait and hope. Eventually, near the end of her kingdom’s life, once her father, mother, siblings, uncles, and friends had all perished from the disease that had infested the lands, she remained as the last of the royals and ascended to an empty throne of a hopeless land. And eventually, her crown meant nothing.

Her family was gone. Everyone she knew had faded. Even the land had gone. And so. She sat with an empty heart and mind on a worthless throne that belonged to nothing and just withered away too.

Many years had passed and, with the final of the kingdoms inhabitants succumbing to the void, sprouts of life grew from the baren lands and poisoned water. At first grass was the only thing to grow amongst the cracked soil and shrivelled trees but slowly but surely, the land grew once more. As forests were replenished, rivers cleansed, oceans healed, and plains flourished, and animals sought to return to their homes, the ruins of a city crumbled. Within these ruins, located in the central castle, alone in a crumbled hall on a rotting throne, a flower sprouted.

At first this lone flower was just a stem but it soon grew, its roots covering the throne as its stem rose towards the shattered roof. It took years but this plant found something within the empty hall on the baren throne and a flower started to sprout atop it. The green leaves sifted to a pale white and slowly shifted hue to a pink as it grew. The first month of the flower appearing the petals were no longer than a child’s pinkie finger but a month later they would surpass the height of a man. On the third month as vines hung through the ceiling and the cracked stone floor grew various plants, the flower would open to bring life into this world that had been lost.

Within the now opened flowers grasp, a young girl with a young heart awoke. She gazed around the baren and devastated hall she had perished many years ago and cried. Her heart breaking as she remembered her past and she sat alone in a hall that once held everyone she cared for. After hours of mourning upon the pink lotus that had returned her to life, her blue heart shifted as she saw her old home. She sought to rebuild her lands and with that thought, headed off to achieve her goal.

She spent many years and eventually, was able to do as she dreamed. But by that time, she was old and wasn’t able to enjoy the lands she had reclaimed from the clutches of time. So on the day of her death, she headed to the flower for which she had built a garden around in the centre of her castle and sat beside its stem under is pink petals and passed away.

But she knew this wasn’t the end. For the flower was her and she was the flower. Both had to die for both to perish. And so, the once young girl was reborn once more as a young girl and she once again ruled her lands. That kingdom has once more vanished to time but the pink lotus is believed to still flourish. Somewhere in the world allowing this girl to stay forever.

And you may be wondering. How does a legend so old be remembered? Well, simply put. I was there for the whole thing.