Aria awoke in floating weightlessness.
But her body felt warm. Conscious. Strangely responsive.
"Welcome, lost soul."
A voice clear as a bell echoed all around Aria.
"W-who are you?? Where am I?"
Above her, a figure loomed, drifting towards her.
"I'm warning you, stay back!" Aria took a basic boxing stance she had learnt from YouTube.
"Where is this?!"
Beside her was a woman, thin and pale with neglected, long silver hair that stuck to her face with tears.
Her green eyes were sunken with exhaustion, looking just as frightened.
Despite everything, Aria noticed how beautiful she was.
"Remain calm. I assure you that I'm here to grant you another chance. Tip the scales."
The figure, all draped in white, appeared to be a beautiful woman, golden hair with silver eyes.
A golden circle on her forehead mirrored the black staff she carried. She stood at least 7 feet tall.
Strangely enough, her presence put Aria at peace.
"Are you...Are you God?" the woman stammered.
Her silver eyes gently crested on the two confused women.
"TWO LIVES...ONE DECISION....."
"Is this death?" The frightened lady turned to Aria.
Whose attention was on the mysterious being before them.
"Tell us! What the heck does that mean??"
The divine being, sensing her inner turmoil, laid a gentle hand on her shoulder, a look of pity and serenity.
"I give you a gift in exchange…your books. They will help in your journey."
"What journey?? Is this hell?"
"Fear not. This is restoration. For a life taken untimely, another must return to balance the scales… take her place…."
Before Aria could process it, an invisible force clamped her body, and they both fell to the ground, losing consciousness and getting sucked into darkness.
BLUB!
Bubbles rushed to the surface.
Drowning. Like forever and immediately at once, she was drowning.
On instinct, she dove towards the light.
"Ugh! Ack!"
Aria came to, gasping and coughing up seawater.
The smell of rose-scented water clung to her naked skin.
Goosebumps prickled her skin from the cold as she tumbled out of the white bathtub, teeth chattering.
"Wh-what is this??"
Disoriented and confused, she crashed into a stand, breaking an ornate glass lamp. The candle rolled out of the lamp and flickered briefly before going out on the wet floor.
"Where am I?" Aria stumbled and slipped on the wet floor with a heavy thud.
The faint moonlight from the large windows gave her a view of her surroundings.
A large room, fancy, but it looked unkept.
All the events leading up to now were becoming a faint memory. She remembered the crying woman, a divine being and now this?
Her wrists throbbed with pain. Using the light to guide her, she hobbled to the terrace.
A strange sensation took over Aria; her wrist had been slit horizontally.
It was a deep cut-off for someone who wanted to die…
This slim, pale hand wasn't hers. Squinting into the darkness, Aria realised why she'd been feeling strange. Her eyesight was way better; she touched her chest. Fuller. She was taller, too.
Rushing to the ornate mirror beside the bathtub, she examined the face staring back at her.
"Holy ****!"
Bringing her fingers to her face: Sunken with tiredness, deep green eyes, limp, long, blonde hair, thick, long lashes, sharp jaw and a straight nose.
Aria frowned. This was a weak body. Weak from neglect.
She hobbled to the giant poster bed and slumped into the soft blankets.
"So....I'm reincarnated?" Aria buried her face into the pillow, muttering, feeling delirious.
She'd read about reincarnation stories, and the characters always had some kind of advantage, but this body...this person seemed so sad, she took her own life.
For what reason?
What kind of second chance was this?
The sudden knocking startled her.
"Lady Aria!"
The knocking grew frantic. "Lady Aria! Open the door!"
Aria dragged herself up, legs shaky, and cracked open the door.
Standing there was a sour-faced maid who shoved a garment bag into her hands.
"Enjoy your ball," she grinned maliciously before storming off.
Aria shut the door, unzipping the mystery bag.
It was a dress. Shimmery gold, but it was dull, and upon closer inspection, faded at the seams and was ill-fitting for her figure.
Beneath the dress was a small note pinned inside:
This was all I could get. Break it off. Good luck!
Love: Liora.
Cousin Liora.
That name triggered isolated memories of this body that came in fragments.
Her stepmother, Isolde, has a sharp voice, constantly berating her.
Her lily livered father, who let her run the house.
The servants who stole her things left her unattended and gossiped in her face.
The scars on her wrist throbbed like they were freshly cut.
Her body tensed at the memory. No one in this house liked her, and the idea of the ball made her sick to the stomach.
Even her parents' travel coincided with the ball so they didn't have to chaperone her.
Despite herself, the tears came hot and sudden.
She let herself cry for a while; beneath the surface was the reincarnated Aria.
They both shared the same name, date and body, but SHE was going to make different choices.
Exhausted and puffy-eyed, she crawled to bed, pulling the blankets over her head.
Despite these unusual events, she was overcome with a deep sense of peace and strange exhaustion.
Soon, sleep took her fast.
In the reincarnated Duchess's dark room, Aria failed to notice
a blue window pop up in front of her with a PING!
[Book Absorption System Awakened.]
[Touch an Earth book. Absorb its knowledge. Apply it perfectly.]