Prologue

Elizabeth Parker thought she was just another part of the crowd, with plain soft brown hair and hazel eyes dulled from exhaustion and the depressive atmosphere of her home town, but when she started down the subway tunnel stairs to get a ride home, she felt someone shove her from behind.

Her heart flung into her throat and she spun herself just enough to see her assailant. It was Peggy, the beautiful girl in her collage class that always had it out for her for reasons she had never been able to understand.

From Peggy's perspective, Elizabeth had always been better. A better cook based on the delicious smelling lunches she brought with her, better at her test scores and overall grade, better at keeping out of trouble, better at attracting the nice guys instead of the cheating scumbags that seemed to gravitate to her, and even better at applying her damn makeup!

It only took her two years of constantly comparing herself to the shy, sweet, dedicated girl to envy her, resent her, and pick on her.

It started small: gum between her book pages, missing supplies and notes which did nothing to damper her due to her studying skills, leaving threatening notes anonymously in an attempt to scare her into dropping out, sneaking up behind her to make her trip, spreading rumors... Nothing worked! It was like the meek girl had iron skin!

As Elizabeth's head hit the concrete, her last thoughts were along the lines of "what the hell did I even do?"

Needless to say it was a surprise when she woke back up in the middle of a pool of water a few inches deep. Her initial thought was 'this sure is a lot of blood from just my head,' until she moved her fingers and swished the cool, thin liquid around.

It didn't feel like what a shallow pool of warm, thick blood should feel like; the light, sweet cooing of a morning dove, the gentle breeze, and the warm sun on her face were also definitely not the dreary, bustling subway station.

Annoyed that her short hair was tickling her ears, she opened her eyes to see what kind of bug it was only to wince at the light. She shielded her face with an arm that dripped on her from the shallow water and slowly sat up, confused that she didn't feel any pain from where she hit her head.

"What..."

The shallow pool was in fact the shore of a sparkling, shimmering lake, in a wide open field with few trees, and absolutely no where near the big city she had grown up in.

"Good afternoon, miss Parker."

Thinking she was alone, Elizabeth twisted around in shock, looking for the source of the voice, mildly stupified to find no one there.

"I was hoping you would wake up sooner but at least you arrived safely. Welcome to your new life," said the voice, sounding more crisp this time.

"Uh, he...hello? Wait a second, where, uh... are you," she managed to stammer as she slowly got to her feet.

"Don't fret, I am your temporary personal assistant for transmuting into your new life. You can call me Alice. It's a pleasure to meet you, Elizabeth Parker."

"You can call me Liz," she said, staring at her soggy shoes as if there was someone to avoid eye contact with.

"'Liz, you have been rewarded for your selfless, simple life and premature death caused by external interferences. You have been granted a second chance. If you wish to give up this chance you can say so now, but after I leave you to your own devices, the only way to exit out of the New Life Program is to die again. Do you wish to proceed?"

"Die again? Whaaat does... it entail?"

For some reason, Liz could tell that the voice sounded pleased with her question in her tone when she next spoke.

"You have been given permission to keep your previous memories, and shall receive several gifts of fortune based on your actions, previous and current luck status, and cause of death in your previous life. The System will also jumpstart you on a career of your choosing to better integrate you into this new world. Do you consent to the New Life Program?"

Liz found herself nodding without really realizing it, at a loss for words, but when nothing happened for a long dozen seconds, she cleared her throat. "I consent."

Immediately she felt a warmth settle into her sternum and a shiney metal box plopped unceremoniously in front of her in the water, splashing her already soaked jeans.

Hesitating for just a moment, she bent and gently touched the cold, hematite looking metal. The instant it came into contact with her skin it dimly glowed and started to vibrate, making her flinch back as if it were a feral creature. The box stilled and slowly cracked opened at the top from a seam she had not been able to see until now.

Before she fully leaned over to see into the kind of creepy darkness that made up the inside, the box started spewing out small blue, green, gold, and purple glowing spheres, each of which circled her playfully a few times leaving light trails before zipping into her chest.

She gasped as the first one touched her and popped into little particles of fading light, and stared in aw as one after another raced to burst against her. Each time they did she heard a second voice that sounded much more prerecorded say something.

"You have received, in order, the all-knowing Status System, one Occupation Ticket, three Full Recovery Potions, one Physical Appearance Alteration Voucher, one Mystic Clothing Voucher, one System Menu Appearance Alteration Voucher, one Large Grade S Storage Bag, one Medium Grade S Frozen Time Storage Bag, one Medium Grade S Accelerated Time Storage Bag.....Congratulations on your new start! Please register your name in the system menu. You can open the menu with a mental prompt at any time."

When the items stopped coming out of the box, the lids folded in on themselves again just as seamlessly as before, and just as quickly as it appeared, the box popped out of existence with the same sparking lights