"Will you stop being such a brat and drink! All you do is squirm!"
The voice was smooth, and incredibly close, it took a moment for Alice to realize it was her mother, well that made sense of course her mother could talk, of course she would understand a bat talking. And it helped, hearing someone else's voice while she panicked one that was far calmer than her did help calm her down. It was funny, in a twisted way it was usually Lily's calm voice grounding her in reality and now it was someone she didn't even know that her mind kept referring to as Mother despite Alice knowing her mother was... was... in another world, maybe grieving over her death, or more likely trying to see how she could scam a few bucks off of some online charity fund for a funeral.
Everything had happened so quickly she still... still didn't know what to think about it all. Was she really dead or was this some kind of coma hallucination? Well it probably wasn't a coma hallucination if she thought it was, that's how that worked right? She hoped so. Regardless her new mother was right, her bat mom? No she was getting off track again, she couldn't just squirm and complain about her circumstances, Lily was out there yes, but she was here. That status page had listed Mana and a long list of stats, so this was clearly some kind of fantasy world, one with at least some kind of magic in it. She had to have a chance otherwise what was the point of the... the... she felt uncomfortable, as if she wasn't allowed to even think of what she had been offered in that... place, it was surely a place, yes it was a place it was...
Thinking about it hurt, so Alice didn't think about it, she focused on what was right in front of her, namely food. She drank the milk as instructed, the warmth was nice, it helped her feel calm helped her focus. First she needed to learn to survive, then figure out where she was, then find Lily. Simple, easy, she could do that.
"I can't do this I can't do this!"
Alice's pleas crashed upon annoyed ears, Phaelyn did not understand her daughter, not one bit, the moment she had been born she had complained and cried, calling out the name Lily over and over, she had almost thought to name her that, but the System argued, nearly insisted that her name should be Alice, it was rare but not uncommon, that was new knowledge, given to her by the System, ah how long had it been since she had been given knowledge. So Phaelyn had named her Alice, and now her little cub was... refusing that she could kill a rat. It had been nearly three weeks, it was time for her to stop babying the young bat so much.
"You can, and you will. You shan't cling to my bosom for all of eternity Alice."
She watched as Alice looked down at the rat, it was chewing on something down on the cave floor, but what that was, was far from important. What was important was that Alice learn to hunt, the world would not be kind to her, and Phaelyn could not take care of her for all of time. It was a miracle... yes a miracle she had been able to even give birth to Alice, that made her snout tug a bit, her little miracle, maybe... maybe just another week clinging to her wouldn't be so bad.
Phaelyn was just about to give up on her daughter and then she swooped down, fast Phaelyn noted, she had seen a many cub during their first hunt, it was unusual that they moved with such speed. That was good, she felt pride swell in her chest. And then... a smidge of disappointment mixed with amusement, her daughter tumbled and fought with the Rat, trading scratches and bites, Phaelyn of course watched carefully, she wouldn't just let her die.
Alice felt... so alive! She tore and ripped into the rat as it squealed and screamed, she felt as if she could somewhat make out words but she wasn't sure, what she was sure of was she had to fight, her teeth sunk into flesh, and she ripped it out blood and sinew splattering across the cave, she could do this, she could do this! Her claws sunk into the rats neck, as she went in with her teeth, she should have felt disgusted, felt wrong but something deep inside her, something instinctual told her this was right, that it was good. Fang cleaved into flesh and finally the rat stopped squirming as Alice ripped out its neck.
She breathed, heavy, before looking up at her mother, a smile across her snout, one coated in rat blood, it felt great to see the look of... pride? Yeah it was pride that her mother held looking down upon her. What was also great was the alert she had gotten.
And with that alert new knowledge flowed into her, XP, short for experience, and it... gauged how much she had done, a numerical example of her journey. But that wasn't all, it was clear now what her goal needed to be. She wasn't human, she was a Bat, but more importantly she was a Monster, and when they reached thresholds, an amount of XP deemed by the System to be enough, they could... Evolve. Surely, surely that meant somewhere along the line she could at least... become humanoid? Some sort of humanoid, that was enough, that gave her a greater chance. She could get her life back, sure it would cost the lives of all those she had to kill to achieve that but... that didn't bother her. It didn't matter how many corpses she left her in wake, she would find her love, and if she became strong enough to protect them both from ever being in danger, ever... dying again? Even better.
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Alice flew back up to her mother and nuzzled into her wings, tired from her fight, and Phaelyn accepted her happily. She had been worried but now her daughter having tasted victory seemed determined, she would surely do great. And she would need to, The Cave was home to many dangerous creatures and outside world even more so, after all, the outside world... was where the Humans resided.
Maid Abigail was... concerned. No that wasn't right she was terrified! She watched as her Countess coddled and smiled at her new baby, one that had not cried during birth, that was... unheard of, wrong. She had heard once, that when demons gave birth they did not cry. Of course had had never actually seen a demon give birth, but still! It was unnatural, children cried! But this... well she had to admit she was cute. The baby laid there softly... sleeping? She wasn't sure, it had simply closed its eyes, no no no not an it, she could not call the Young Lady an it! She was sleeping and that's all there was to it!
Lily laid there was she was coddled, it was uncomfortable but she dealt with it. She focused on getting her facts together as she pretended to sleep. She had died, she had woken up in a... in place, it was a place. Yes, okay so she couldn't think of it directly, that was odd, it was something she'd have to test later. Focus. Alice wasn't here, not that she had seen, but she hadn't seen herself either, would she even recognize Alice? That was the point she supposed, to test if they'd find each other. Could that include changing how they looked? Ah it didn't matter, she would find Alice. After all, Alice was hers. Wait what? Why did she think of her so possessively, she didn't... normally think like that. Sure they often laid claim to each other but that was flirting, the way she had just thought was... concerning.
Again it didn't matter for now, something for later. It was ironic, she had hated when her Father had drilled military exercises into her but now it was proving to be fruitful. She could focus on what she needed to, no need to panic and worry. She had to assess her situation. So where to star-... Hm, think of a status? What an odd thought.
Name: Lily Lightlash
Race: Human
Class: Null
HP: 5/5
Mana: 0/0
Strength: 1
Dexterity: 1
Constitution: 1
Intelligence: 3
Wisdom: 1
Charisma: 8
Luck: 5
Skills
Null
Hm, an array of statistic, meant to represent her ability in things? How curious, although impossible to know how good any of this was without the ability to compare to someone else... Ah so that's how it worked.
Lily slowly opened her eyes, gazing at the maids watching her, she focused on one and thought [Inspect].
Name: Abigail
Race: Human
Class: Maid (Tier 2)
HP: 15/15
Mana: 10/10
Strength: 4
Dexterity: 10
Constitution: 8
Intelligence: 6
Wisdom: 12
Charisma: 15
Luck: 0
Skills
Cleaning 5
Lifestyle Magic 10
She then gazed up at her Mother, odd feeling, she didn't want to think of the woman as her mother, but something was insistent on it, yet she fought, this was NOT her mother, a surrogate, a caretaker, but not... not her mother. No her mother was gone, even before Lily's own death she was long gone. No one would replace her, not the woman her Father had taken in after and not this woman either. Still she would keep those thoughts to herself. She attempted once again [Inspect].
She winced in pain, as she saw big bold red letters.
[BLOCKED]
So, she couldn't view the status of her caregiver. She supposed that made sense, she was clearly someone of import considering the maids, which meant so was Lily, that was useful. It would make finding Alice easier, so childhood once again, except this time instead of going city to city and never knowing if her father was going to come home she... was going to live as some kind of noble? How quaint. She wondered if she would enjoy this childhood more than the last, not that it mattered. All that mattered was making sure her Alice was safe, and that she could find her.
"Oh she's quite cunning, I like that, I do wonder how she's going to deal with The Great Tragedy in 7 years."
"The... Great Tragedy in 7 years Director? I see nothing on the Script for Turia about this?"
A laugh, it sounded like nails on a chalkboard. Administrator Taum always felt uncomfortable around Directors but this one was the worst of the bunch.
"Not to worry, it is a late addition I've added. It'll make things... more interesting."