So, my name is Noel Everpine. I am expected to respond to this name. Might take a little internalizing.

I am currently sitting at one end of a massive, rectangular table in what appears to be a dining room. By massive, I mean, massive. The five other people currently sitting near me take up less than ten percent of the total table. The woman sitting to my left is Noel Everpine’s mother. She was the woman who burst into the room earlier. To my right is Noel’s- no- my half-brother, older than me by a bit, I think around ten years. I’m not even gay, but he’s hot. Model-level hot. I myself am more or less good-looking, I suppose, but goddamn is that man beautiful. Next to him sits Noe- my other half brother, who’s five years older than me. He’s hot too. Not at my oldest brother’s level hot, but hot. I feel like I’ve only really been thinking about their looks, but that’s really all I have to go on. I can faintly remember some of Noel’s memories, but nothing about either brother. They haven’t said a word since the maids escorted me in here. Next to No- my mother on her left is my father. The Duke of Winter. Noel’s memories of this guy are very shaky. There’s something about him sinking a bunch of ships?

But that’s fine, since if this is really Avrol, I know who this man is. The Duke of Winter is someone I couldn’t really interact with at all, since he was entirely unrelated to… just about everything in the plot. Same with his family. The only time anyone really ever cared about any of them was when a couple of guys were compiling lore on the wiki page.

Anyway, sitting next to the Duke on the other side of No- my mother was the Duke’s other wife. She also wasn’t really in Noel’s memories, so I know nothing about her. However, the family resemblance is very obvious between her and her sons. They’re all hot.

Lunch (dinner? breakfast? some other mealtime?) is a quiet affair. Everyone seems very focused on finishing their lunch. I’m just going to call it lunch. I’m not going to lie, something at least seems to be happening in my favor. In my humble opinion, talking during mealtime is irritating as fuck. I need the people I’m eating with to understand that they will almost never be as interesting as my food. Non-urgent talking can wait for after food. I really-

“Noel.”

If the room wasn’t silent before, it certainly is now. The Duke is looking at me. I tilt my head.

“Have you failed?”

While I didn’t see it before, the Duke’s eyes seem to be filled with desperation. It almost looks like he’s pleading with me to say no. Unfortunately, I have no idea what he’s talking about. I sweep my eyes from left to right. Like my father, my mother also has that same desperate look in her eyes. The Duke’s other wife doesn’t seem to care. My oldest brother doesn’t either, judging from the bored look on his face. My other brother, though, shows pity. Interesting.

“I… do not know.”

This was most definitely not the reaction anyone was expecting, if the brief surprise was anything to go by.

“How can you not know? The excess power of the Mark Awakening would be flowing through your body right now if you succeeded.”

Mark Awakening? Ah. That clears things up. Every Duke’s family should have their own Inheritance Mark. Noel … I don’t know anything about this character. Like, he was so unknown he didn’t even have a wiki page. But I don’t feel anything in me, so I probably failed.

“The boy could be right, actually.” This comes from the Duke’s other wife. She puts her hand on her chin as if in thought. “He’s been unconscious for a month. It’s quite probable that the Awakening Energy has dissipated by now.”

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Unconscious for a month?!

“Well, then.” The Duke gets up and walks closer to me. Thud, thud, thud. There’s something about the Duke, the way he walks, the way he talks, that make a certain impression. My fingers twitch. I move a little, from side to side. I don’t even want to think about disappointing this man. He puts his hand on my shoulder and presses. I immediately suppress a twinge of pain. Then, it starts.

I don’t even know how to describe it. It’s magical, awe-inspiring. It’s like I’m complete now, like I was missing another half to me before. I see winter flowing all around me, like it’s a moving current. I see ice covering enormous lakes, and kids moving around on top of it. I see a large dragon, taking its last breath. I see all this and so much more, so much beauty, so much despair, walking hand in hand as if they were intrinsically tied together. And then it’s gone, the hand releases me, and I topple forwards onto the table.

I gasp for breath. What was that?!

“He’s Marked.” I can hear the joy in my father’s voice. Looking ahead, my mother seems delighted. The Duke’s other wife seems pleasantly surprised, as well as my oldest brother. My other brother hugs me.

I’m not going to lie, it’s kind of a nice feeling. It’s warm and fuzzy. Or, well, it would be, if I weren’t so damn cold. Seriously, whatever that was, it made my stomach cold as fuck. Holy shit, I’m literally fucking shivering.

“We’ll have to celebrate 3 successful awakenings in one generation...” The Duke’s voice drones on, but one of the butlers, no, that’s Father’s personal butler, is picking me up. Nice move, because I can’t move at all.

“And… ah. Yes, take him to his room,” my father turns and says to his butler. The butler nods and puts me on his back, piggyback style.

So I’m Marked, hm? That’s good. While it isn’t disastrous to fail the Awakening, it makes life complicated, especially for the son of a high noble like me. Especially since I have real work to do…

Work to do…

Terzin. Terzin said that I have to keep the plot of the world on track, didn’t he? This is despite the fact that Avrol had shitty characters, who made shitty decisions. So the plotline would also be shitty. Seriously, couldn’t he have just recreated history? Like, Washington’s crossing of the Delaware river or something. He would’ve known what would happen in advance, so he could have just submitted that…?

Well. No use crying about it now, I suppose. Ah, where was I? The plotline, right! If we’re going by chronological order…

Wait, what year is it? I feebly tap the butler’s shoulder. He looks at me.

“What’s … the date?”

“The fourth day of Light’s Crossing, 840 AD, young master. You just missed the festivities.”

Light’s Crossing is January, I believe. So just after New Years. 840 AD is … about three years before the founding of the Academy, which is the start of the main plot for the main character and friends.

I frown. I suppose creating the Academy will have to be the first step in keeping to the plot. In-game, the Empire supposedly created the Academy to ‘strengthen the bonds between fellow lords,’ whatever the fuck that means. I highly doubt that they will be doing that here. So I’ll have to somehow pressure just the right people to push for an Academy. That’ll … be difficult.

Fuck, can I just talk with Terzin again? That asshole didn’t clarify anything. He said something about a fate sequence? The hell is that? As the butler deposits me onto my bed, I’m still racking my brain for a way to reliably contact gods. And as the butler closes the door to my room, I have come up with absolutely nothing. All I can do is pray.

And so, I do that. Murmuring “Terzin” repeatedly under my breath, I adopt a variety of poses. The first is the normal hands clapped together pose. When that doesn’t work, I kneel down and prostrate myself before absolutely nothing, chanting “Terzin” all the while.

And then … I start to get creative.

It’s when I do a one second handstand against the wall, with my legs splayed out as if I’m a gecko, wheezing for breath and chanting “Terzin” somewhat loudly that I reappear in that black space.

Nice.