I practically threw myself at the door, hitting against it in a harsh cacophony. It was a brief and all at once excruciating process to reorient myself. I took the opportunity to take in the room around me, thick stonework, a huge arched window just beside the bed. Something was horribly wrong.
Yielding to my frantic finger fiddling, the door fell open. I tumbled past, stuttering my way only the hallway beyond, nearly tripping on the warm red carpet as it dragged against my feet.
I froze.
There was someone there. A maid.
Perhaps someone would judge me harshly for my reaction. I can almost hear the whining, something to the tune of "OH if I were in his shoes I would've calmly asked the maid about what was going on."
Screw that. If you'd just woken up in the body of a girl, in some kind of stone castle, and the first person you saw was the caricature of a french maid, you'd sprint as far away as you could too. Whatever insanity was going on here, I wanted no part of it.
Despite my best efforts however, my new body failed me. Legs twisted, moving incorrectly for my new form, they sent me tumbling down the nearest stairwell.
It took a few moments to once again reorient myself. This room was larger, and split level, the upper half I'd collapsed onto was angled into a U shape, peering over the grand room below. Adorning its center, a great map, over which the hunched back of a regal figure was hung.
The ends of that U descended as stair cases, and hearing the confused footfall of the maid begin to descend behind me, I once again burst down a staircase, this time taking care to place my feet correctly.
The figure at the map remained firmly lost in his thoughts, though I took the opportunity to further take in his attire. A white coat with blue trims.
That was quite enough to tell me he was in on whatever insanity this was. Someone roleplaying a noble and running this sick game. That was where my thoughts had landed I think. That this was some kind of delusional role play.
I hadn't quite reconciled being changed into a woman with that idea, still I knew enough that I wanted no part of this. Catching the maid's form entering the archway of the stair above, I sprinted away, following the grand path of a towering hall.
My breath was growing short, this new body clearly lacked any amount of stamina, though I admit my old one would only have lasted maybe a minute longer. Still, I found myself panting as I rested my elbows against a ridge.
It was then that my mind had finished processing my surroundings, the tall arched hall had continued, though after winding a corner, the walls had opened up to the world beyond. Broken up by pillars, and melting into the ceiling with triangular forms, the paneless windows now surrounded me.
And I was leaning against one.
I was staring down at a steep drop onto cobbled pavement.
An all too familiar sensation for that morning returned, my legs failed me, and I collapsed away from the window, crumpling into a heap.
I think it was then that I realized this wasn't possible. The scale of the world beyond those windows was well beyond a role play. Even in that brief glimpse of the cobblestone, I'd seen dozens of people.
I'd seen donkeys, horses, market stalls, and the full medieval menagerie.
As I forced myself back to my feet, I looked out again. Out at a lively, busting castle, at the energetic village that lay beyond it, and with great despair at the near endless green fields beyond.
"Sophie!" A harsh voice rang out behind me. "What in Regalia are you doing out in your nightgown?"
I continued to stare out at the horrifying weight of the scene before my eyes.
"Sophie!" And suddenly my shoulder was whipped around as I was spun to face the voice.
It's owner was uncomfortably close. Crisp, clear features made up her face, staring directly into my eyes with an unusual mix of gentle anger and surprise.
"I-"
"Sophie, get a hold on yourself and breathe, you're as pale as a sheet" The anger had faded into genuine concern.
And at that moment, those words resonated. I took a steep breath, fresh clear air rushed through my lungs, and all at once a deep calm hit me.
"That's better, now dear sister what has got into you." In that moment I managed to take in her form.
That clear face was placed carefully atop an imposing suit of armor, shimmering in the breaking sunlight. A white surcoat with a detailed blue-gold emblem of some sort rested over it. It was a lot to process, but at the least I'd managed to put a shape to the voice.
"W-where am I?"
"Are you running a fever?" She touched a gloved hand to my forehead. "No that doesn't seem to be it…"
Some part of my mind was finally taking in the insanity. Somehow, through some process I'd no hope of understanding, I was here. In a castle. And this woman seemed to know me, I wasn't just a girl now, I seemed to be a specific girl.
"I uh had a nightmare, a really vivid one, woah. I- oh I'm sorry I'm still so disoriented I forgot your name."
"Oh my, that's, well it's certainly quite the dream dear sister. To make you forget your own flesh and blood sister Gale. You poor precious thing."
I hope the whiners appreciated that, suddenly somewhere in the pit of disorientation I forced myself to play along. I'd fully accepted this as more than just a roleplay, and with that, the possibility of escaping, of resisting my place in this scenario suddenly disappeared.
"Ah right, I'm sorry sister, I think I'm slowly recovering. Where am I, ugh?" I played up the exhausted disorientation.
"We're still in the castle, just like alw-"
"Which castle?" I played up hysteria, a task I found considerably easier given my circumstances.
"Spravalia dear, home." She looked almost annoyed, yet the emotion seemed overpowered by concern.
Some part of me wanted to push my luck, to keep asking about my situation, the other parts were already trying to think through other ways to gather information, to work something out, to problem solve.
Both parts were snuffed out when the maid caught up.
"Ah Princess Sophie I've-" She took a breath. "I've been trying to find you, what's the matter?"
My "sister" spoke out for me. "The poor girl suffered some sort of night terror, she's woken wholly disoriented, and seems to have mixed around some memories. I trust you'll take extra good care of her this morning for my sake."
"But of course Princess Gale, I always do, now miss Sophie, shall we get going, we have a busier schedule than usual today, what with the wedding preparations and all."
I suppressed a shout of surprise, and forced myself to respond. "Ah, yes right, I'm so sorry."
And with great dread I followed the maid, my escape voluntarily dashed, I receded into the room again, slowly but inevitably.