"Lady Raelle? Are you awake?" asks a muffled voice from behind the door.
I jolted from the dresser, my eyes on the door. The voice is one I can recognize, the owner's face a haze in my mind.
"Y-yes, I'm up," I reply. I still have trouble finding (or even recognizing) my new voice. Talk about going up multiple octaves. I grab onto a nearby chair in hesitation as the door slowly opens. In the doorway stands an elderly woman, no more than several inches taller than me. Maybe five-foot-two? She still has much of her blonde hair, with wisps of gray tucked between strands. My mind registers her name instantly as if a mouse cursor had hovered over an NPC: one of our maids, Adela.
Adela gives me a look over with her silver eyes, as if surveying a project she is about to begin. Her garb is definitely peculiar; while I can recall there being the cute, classic maid outfits in Azure that you could get using Premium Silver, Adela's outfit isn't reminiscent of the femme fatale black with white apron and hood – and I am slightly relieved for it considering Adela's age. Instead, she wore a baggy brown robe similar to those you see on Franciscan monks tied at the waist to keep from slipping off, and a scarf-like cowl that wrapped around her neck and folded onto the top of her head.
"Why look so alarmed, m'lady," Adela says with a smile. "Tis best not to sleep in too late. Now up with your arms, time to get you dressed."
I stand paralyzed in surprise and before I know it, Adela had changed my clothes with such swiftness, but adept enough that clothes were replaced with the adept hands typical of a parent who has clothed a child ten thousand times. I now wear a light yellow dress that falls down to about my shins.
With her dirty clothes tucked beneath an arm, Adela bows to me and backs away toward the door.
"Morning tea is ready in the garden, m'lady. Our Lady Silda is already awaiting you," Adela says, closing the door behind her.
What just happened? I sit back down on the bed in relative shock. I can't remember any of this in the backstory of my character. Rather, I never really developed a backstory for Raelle. Azure automatically did that for you with its custom setup. You get to choose your parentage, peerage, and racial affinities. Other than what I did remember, I hadn't paid it much mind; I liked having it in mind as I played my character, but I never was a hardcore roleplayer. Nonetheless, I embodied all of Raelle's looks, albeit "chibi-fied."
I wonder for a moment and look down at my wrist, tapping on its underside. Nothing. No menu for skill selection or ability usage. Not even a HP or EP bar. This really is my new reality . . .
I spend another ten minutes or so in my thoughts, half waiting to wake up from a dream or for everything to fade to black. When that doesn't occur, I let out a sigh and hop down off the bed. I guess it's time to explore a little before "morning tea with mother" (in my best feigned posh British accent).
The house where we live is a two story manor home - the kind of architecture style you think of when you watch a movie about the American Revolutionary War. It consisted of a west and east wing connected in the center by a single staircase, with a secondary foyer behind leading toward a kitchen and dining area. It was kind of reminiscent of a house with a northern shape of an asterisk's top half.
I start exploring the second floor wings first. In addition to several guest bedrooms, there is a small library and a personal study.
My father's study.
I open the door quietly to take a peak inside. As I wander along his bookshelves, I notice titles written in a script that reminds me of if somebody wrote the Greek alphabet in a rough, upside down cursive. However, I could read them: Art of War, Histories of the Northern Nassin, Battle Tactics - Across Land & Sea. A lot of them definitely match what I knew of my father's personality. He is an army man through and through. Climbing into his chair, I can even see a map of the entire known world - the Azure Blue
I trace the northern territories of the Kingdom of Strovos and the Commune Principality of Vasque. Both are allies to one another and together guard the northern continent from invasion. It is also how I know both my parents met: my father when he was a Knight Lieutenant, and my mother when she was Court Mage to King Gallandrius IV. It fills me with a certain pride, though I wonder how real that pride is as it comes from my memories before I "awoke" this morning.
To the south are the Northern Nassin, at the southern tip of Strovnag, the name of the continent we lived on, and the southern continent called Ba'hasa, home to the Naasin Chiefdoms and Baadsir Free City States. There are other lands unmapped to the west with only faintly known details: Hanmah, Yuurei, Nazarem, Tabhura. Those were all areas of the world I'm unfamiliar with – Level 40-50 quests took you as far down south as Baadsir. I had never gotten to the unexplored western continents which included four DLCs worth of total content. Maybe I'd see them one day.
I look back up towards the bookshelf and a title catches my eye: Fundamentals of Magic - Thaumaturgical Principles. I grab father's chair and edge it towards the shelf before climbing up on it. I almost have it, just a bit more. My fingertips clip the edge of the book's binding and I feel the chair wobble beneath me, and then a momentary loss of gravity. I come crashing down with several books blanketing me in my face. Underneath the books I hear rushed footsteps and a door opening.
"L-lady Raelle! Are you okay?" asked a voice.
The voice belonged to a young lady and as I cleared a particularly large tome off of my face, I see that it's our other maid, May."
Y-you musn't play in our Lord's study!" May admonishes me, a worried hint in her voice as well. "Are you injured?"
May wore the same monk-like maid garb with red hair spilling out over blue eyes and alabaster skin.
"I'm okay," I say, pulling myself from the book rubble I had created.
"So much to clean up, and the Lord will be arriving any time now," May whispers a little too loud and notices my eyes. "I-I meant no disrespect, m'lady! There's just so much to do and so little time."
It's odd having an effect on someone like this. So this is what nobility feels like.
"It's fine, May," I say with a forced smile. "Really! I'm going to find mother now . . . for that tea, yes. Bye!"
I rush out of the room, embarrassment on my face. Not only had I made a mess but I don't have the heart to stay and clean it up. Rather, I probably wouldn't be allowed to clean it up. I imagine May's voice getting even more hysterical, and an explanation about how being in the study alone is dangerous and that it's her job to tend to the house. Et Cetera. Still, I kick myself mentally for not having grabbed that book about magic. Who knows when I would even start learning the craft? If I would be allowed to learn it? Did nobility practice magic in this world or was it beneath them? I curse myself for skipping the flavor text.
I rush down the stairs, around to the back foyer, through the kitchen and out the door. I take a moment to catch my breath and adjust to the morning sun cresting the hill. The hill. I seem drawn to it. On the top of the hill stands the largest oak tree I have ever seen. It must be over seventy feet tall with nearly that much in branch length on either side. It's beautiful.
Bu-bump
My heart pumps out a beat. Weird. I hadn't noticed before but I hadn't felt my heart race even after my sprint through the house and down the stairs.
Bu-bump.
Again it beats louder.
And before I know it, my legs begin to carry me up that hill.