Fated Across Worlds

Debriefing (1)

The blackness this time was not the same as before. Lilith instinctively knew that she merely had her eyes closed. She could feel the length of her back lying on a cool, hard surface. She anticipated pain, or numbness at least, but there was none. 

Also, not that it's important, it seemed she could hear properly now.

[You were riding a horse just now, just so you know. Big shock, when you fainted, you fell off.]

She opened her eyes and saw… whiteness. She couldn't help frowning in disdain. Was it a coincidence, or was someone being heavy-handed with the black-and-white motif?

She sat up, noting in passing that her entire body was clothed in a pristine white bodysuit. As she recalled recent events, her hand flew to her neck. There was no wound. 

She looked around only to discover that she was inside a room made entirely of white walls measuring five by five meters each.

There was nothing else to see. She was the only thing in it.

[You're not gonna like waking up later to a bruised head.]

Well, maybe not quite the only thing.

Without anything else to hold on to at the moment, she gave in. Before, she was hearing that drawling male voice inside her own head. Now, it seemed to be coming from any number of speakers embedded all over the room.

There were still the questions of what the hell this room was and how on earth she got there in one piece, but for now, that voice not being a clear symptom of her insanity was enough to satisfy her.

"In case you haven't noticed," she began in an even tone that masked equal parts fear and annoyance, "I've been trying to ignore you."

[No. Really?] the voice replied, his tone one of mock surprise. [How's denial working out for you?]

Her eyebrow twitched. It was not working out too well, she had to admit. And this massive prick of a voice was not helping. Earlier, he had dropped bombs on her one after another, as if they were nothing.

Her next life?

Nearly got herself killed again?

She was riding a horse?

Waking up later?

She had not been living under a rock. As an actress, her world revolved around stories—all sorts of them, in any form, from every conceivable source.

So, yes, she knew about reincarnation and transmigration stories, where a person who died mysteriously gets another chance at life, either as his or her own younger self or as someone else, often in an entirely different world.

As for stories with a game-like "system" that directs and helps its "host" achieve specific ends like, say, conquer the world…

Yes. She knew about those too.

Piece all of these together and what do you get…?

Sh*t.

It was too much, but aside from fear, it was impossible to identify what else she was feeling.

The biggest surprise of all, however, was how her mind seemed to be holding up fine… somehow… all things considered. By rights, she should be banging her head against the wall any moment now. But no matter how much it may look like it, she was neither crazy nor warming up to be.

This is really happening, she thought shakily. Aloud, she said, "I thought for sure that that toy knife would just snap."

[If you must know,] the voice replied in a disinterested tone, [that blade was ceramic. Most definitely not a toy.] There was a loaded pause. [Not gonna ask if you're really dead?]

Lilith's mouth fell open. Just who had been casually dropping hints since earlier that had completely destroyed her concept of common sense? Why was he wondering now if she doubted any of it?

"Do you have a face I can slap?" she said past gritted teeth.

[Course not or I wouldn't be so unpleasant,] the voice answered. [Not curious about why you died?]

"No. I know why," Lilith replied crisply; she was in no mood now to engage.

The voice snorted. [Being your own death's engineer and all, I guess you would. Not wondering about anything else?]

By that, Lilith gathered that he was itching for her to ask about him or this System she somehow found herself possessing. What did she even do to "deserve" such an honor? Was Dawn Sheridan actually a daughter of heaven? Were the dual gifts of a system and another chance at life a "reward" for saving her?

No, that didn't make any sense—in the first place, it was never Dawn's life that was in danger.

Then what? Was this world in need of an experienced villain to face-smack residents every ten seconds? Did she just happen to die at a convenient moment then slip into the body of a maltreated person who also just died?

If so, she supposed she'd be expected to avenge the body's original owner. Even if it would technically make her a hypocrite as she'd be going against her fellow antagonists, this second explanation seemed far more likely.

Before she could voice any of her speculations, however, the prick made it clear he could hear her thoughts as he dropped the mother of all bombs on her.

[Actually, it's like this…] he began, his tone as dry as a desert. [You have not come to 'possess' this System, which I'm not, by the way. You've been inside it all along.]

***

You've been inside it all along.

When she heard those words, Lilith's mind came close to crumbling, but the voice had so much more left to say.

[You have successfully cleared all the requirements in the Preliminary Setting; there was nothing left in that world for you to do. But consciousness can't be transferred to the next Setting out of hand. Your body also needed to die.]

The voice paused to let all that sink in. Then, in a lighter tone that somehow made the words sound even worse, he said, [You actually saved me the trouble when you accidentally got yourself killed. I would have had to do something to make you die if you hadn't. At the very least, though, your death by my hand wouldn't have been so… messy.]

The voice had rattled off this string of reality-eroding information in an offhand manner. It gave the impression that he was stating things as they were and that no part of his statement was important enough to lie about.

More to the point, she was inside a doorless, windowless room, staring at nothing but white walls, with no real idea of how she got there from one blink to the next. It was no use accusing him of lying when the evidence of her own senses was telling her she had no case.

Just when Lilith thought he was done destroying her, the prick let the other nuke drop.

[One more thing,] he said. [That wasn't your original life you just departed from.]