"I love you, Lillian, mummy and daddy both love you!" came the voices. Lillian's eyes began to flicker, feeling a soft pillow under her head, no longer the forest floor. She raised her hands, shielding her face from the faint sunlight spilling through the billowing curtains, and saw subtle signs of healed cut marks.
'How did I get here? I thought it was all a dream,' she mumbled to herself. Sitting up, the light beige sheets bunched at her waist. She used the back of her palms to wipe her eyes free of debris, trying to sort her foggy thoughts. All she had was a lingering feeling, but she couldn't tell what it was.
The doors suddenly burst open, and two women walked into her room quickly, the footsteps hardly heard.
The younger girl with the older woman had her head slightly bowed as she went about opening the curtains in the room to let in the sunlight, while the older lady, with a stern look, looked directly at Lilian.
"Good morning miss Lilian, you look like a bird nested in your hair this morning," greeted the older lady.
Lilian, not being in the mood for light banter, narrowed her eyes at the older lady, "Good morning," she muttered back, trying to identify who this lady was.
'Uh, being this new character isn't easy. Where is the darn system when I need it? Who is this lady,' she thought to herself.
Lilian lay back on the bed, her hair bunching as she stretched her arms and legs, letting out a loud yawn, pushing the pillow aside, she turned to the other side of the bed, dragging the blanket up to her shoulder level, "Just give me two more minutes, it's still too early," she grumbled.
The older lady stared at Lilian, a small tilt in her lips. 'Truly, this young mistress is behaving oddly today and sure has a lot of confidence,' she thought. The older lady's hand twitched. She held herself back from lashing out.
"Miss Lilian, Lord Harold expects you to be at the dining hall in the next 40 minutes, washed and clean, seated before him. Now, get out of bed!" the older lady said out loud, her hands dragging the blanket from Lillian's grasp.
'Ding, main quest 1 complete: body stabilized.'
"Main quest? What's that? Maybe the system is finally responding," she muttered to herself.
Squinting her eyes some more, trying to see if she could zoom in on the screen displayed before her, it didn't work.
"How do I control this?" she murmured again.
'Say the words, zoom," came the light male voice, this time it sounded drowsy, like it was in a deep slumber of some sort.
"Ah, zoom in," Lillian shouted.
The young maid's hands froze, her cheeks turning red, struggling to quell laughter within her chest. 'What's wrong with the young mistress today?' she muttered, barely loud enough to be heard, while she continued, raising the curtains and tying them together.
The older lady froze, her cheeks burning bright red, her brows turned downwards, "Lady Lillian!" she shouted.
Lillian paused; she had forgotten she wasn't the only one in the room. She closed her eyes and used the pillow to cover her head. "Uh, please step out, I'll be ready like you said," her voice came out muffled.
The older maid, very much rattled by Lillian's behaviour, huffed, placing her hands on her waist, "You'd better be."
The older lady faced the younger lady, "Mira, get her ready, and Lord Harold shall hear of your insolence," she stormed out.
Lillian chuckled to herself, "Fire-breathing dragon 0, Lillian the brave 1."
Lillian was about to focus on the screen right in front of her when a light, timid voice spoke up from the back, "I'm sorry, my lady, but please, we need to hurry to avoid punishment." Her voice shook as she spoke, fiddling with her hands.
Lillian looked at the girl, her eyes softening, taking pity on the frail figure. It seemed like she'd been through a lot, heaving a sigh, "You can pick out my dress, while I go take a bath," she replied.
Mira bowed slightly, making her way quickly to the wardrobe to pick out the dress for the day.
Lillian got out of bed and headed straight for the bathroom, walking up to the bathtub. A faint light began to flicker on the bottom of the bath, and water began to fill in.
"Why does this scene feel familiar?" Her brows creased as she stared intently at the flickering light, trying to decipher the letter. She still couldn't wrap her mind around why everything felt familiar, like she had created a scene like this.
Shrugging off the feeling, she pulled her clothes and stepped into the bathtub, the water was just the right temperature that she needed, a slight smell of rose and vanilla wafted in the air, easing her aching muscles she hadn't noticed until now.
Her hair was all tangled up in knots, so she eased all the way into the water to loosen it up. She took the bar soap beside her and sat up, scrubbing away at her hair.
She pulled out pieces of stick and rocks, and some red colour from her hair. Pausing, she brought her hair closer to her nose; it had a metallic smell, 'blood.'
The water in the bathtub drained away and filled again, with clean, warm water, the more Lillian washed her hair.
Her scalp felt raw from all the scrubbing, before scrubbing her body and easing into the next round of warm water.
"Now, back to the screen, zoom in," she said. The screen popped out from thin air. Lillian could see her stats, her level, and so much more. By the corner, there was a notification box with a green tick, main quest 1 complete.
"What's main quest 1?" She asked no one in particular, trying to understand the workings of this system.
A little notification box popped up, 'Welcome to Androva, you'll be answered as soon as your system is awake, main quest 1 complete, you have earned basic perception, +100 exp, and + 5 points in intelligence. Main quest 2 is half complete, and memory fragments are not fully restored. The main objective for Quest 2 is to collect all fragments of your memory and discover the truth. Where do you want to give the +100 exp to?'
The cursor blinked. Lillian wasn't sure of what to do, "let's just leave it for now, till the vowkeeper is awake," she uttered.
The screen disappeared, letting out a sigh, she eased back into the bathtub, when suddenly she felt a sharp pain in her head, flashes of a pen and paper, with a board before her.
"Androva, that's the world for my alter ego, at least she'll get a better life than me in the end," came the voice, laced with hints of sadness.
"Mistress Lillian, mistress Lillian," came another voice, this time it was Mira's own; they were both in a garden as little kids, laughing together as they both played hide and seek.
Lillian had slipped further into the bathtub as she struggled with the clashing memories.
Mira rushed into the bathroom and pulled her out. She had been standing quietly outside just in case anything happened.
She helped Lillian out of the bathtub, dried her, and got her ready. Lillian still had her head in her hands when Mira brought out a bottle from one of the drawers in Lillian's room.
She poured the reddish substance on a spoon and brought it closer to Lillian's mouth. When she got a hint of the smell, Lillian's nose scrunched up, using what strength she had to push Mira's hand away, but Mira was stronger and forced the vile liquid down Lillian's throat.