Osric.

Osric Thale is my name, or I believe it was before the bright flash. Not the kind of flash that you see while spectating some fireworks, no. It was the flash of death. The instant I got blinded was the moment I realized that I won`t survive any longer. In my honest opinion, I had a good run. Tried to make the universe a better place. Thrown into an academy because of my talent, my life of a slave began. Ironic that escaping their control also signalled my own demise. They rather bomb down a capital sized city then allow the escape of one of their few Dimensi…

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A heaven-defying, head-splitting headache. That’s what I get rewarded for waking up. I can’t really complain, after all I thought that I died, but damn do I hate headaches, in my opinion they are the worst.

I am okay with diarrhoea or coughing or anything else for that matter. Yes, it hurts, but that’s it. Only some pain, nothing major. Headaches in comparison are excruciating. You can’t sleep, can’t relax, can’t browse or work on the computer. You can do nothing. Absolutely nothing without it fucking you up.

Alright whatever.  I believe I made my point clear.

So, why exactly am I not dead? A question I would like to find an answer for, thus I open my eyes.

A bad idea, a terrifying one at that. The headache, which got a bit better, makes itself known again in the worst possible way.

I groan.

Brightness, way too much brightness.

It takes a while but my eyes have somewhat adapted to the brightness.

Everything hurts, all my muscles from my head to my toes. I never knew that you could have muscle ache on your head. I feel like a fat guy after a five-hour workout, who started a bar fight right after. Just ten times worse. The pain was all-encompassing but brief. Sometime later I finally regained some control of my own body.

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Finally, I regain the ability to reason again. Looking around, I find myself in a fairly empty attic, filled with a single bed and a big chest, presumably for clothes, standing on a dark wooden floor. The same floor where my face planted itself before my awakening.

This time, I observe a bit more closely. Three things were found in my search. An open grey-goldish box, a strange book and a missing piece of the floor. It initially looks like the hole is usually covered with the wooden chest. The scratching marks on the floor suggest some movement from the big chest next to it.

My first action is panicking. Which sane person wouldn’t?

I may have no idea what happened, or how, I still follow the best plan my panicked brain threw up. That is hiding everything back where it, most likely, was taken from. The moment I touch the book, I feel something inside me shudder. What is the reason for that? Is it possible that this book has something to do with my current situation? A bit later, I push away that thought and hastily put the book back into its box. After finally putting the half-opened box back into the hole, I push the Chest back over the hole.

Alright, now what? I need some information about my situation. Going in blindly might get myself killed. Again.  Window maybe? Meh, why not?

Everything is still aching, but it already got better, the same with the headache. Standing up, I slowly move to the window, I see a scene appears in front of me, which shocks my mind. Something I wish won’t happen anymore.

The first three minutes I was in denial. My brain capacity and logical thinking got trained to a very high standard, but exactly that kind of thinking made this even more unbelievable.

Hundreds of thoughts flash through my mind as I watch the city outside my window. My overview of the city is rather good. The attic window is situated above most of the rooftops of other houses. High enough that I can see a big part of the city and what lay further, but not high enough to be able to make any speculations about the standing of the inhabitants of this house. Or my potential family.

It looks a bit like a middle-sized city in the 18th or 19th century. Mostly two-story houses, with some higher buildings towards my right side.

There are three things which I find to be very strange. I can point out two of them. The easiest to notice is the huge tower to the right. It is black–goldish with something written or painted on it. It is too far away to make out anything specific, however. The second thing is the architecture. I lived in a rather spectacular city before, so I saw my fair share of three to four-hundred-year-old buildings. These buildings towards the centre remind me of them. They looked similar, but better build, straight walls, systematic city building, something very atypical for those times. Far to the left are buildings which look similar to stone houses. There is something further, but my eyes can’t see that far. Finally, in the middle of the city is the oversized black-goldish tower. Standing majestically over the whole city. According to my speculations, it should be the centre of the city. A city like this is absolutely impossible to exist from back where I came from. Too much-wasted space.

Having accepted that I came to this strange land, which is most likely in a different universe then earth, a strange feeling begins to well up inside me. I don’t know where the feeling is coming from. It feels like it’s coming from an organ, like muscle ache, but this feeling feels so uniform and everywhere. I feel like I have an illusionary organ. It is everywhere at the same time. It feels like power. Personal one, not like in my own world. I feel like I can do everything. Freedom also overcomes me, after realizing that I came somewhere which could not possibly be from back there.

Then I plant my face back into the floor.