"Good morning sleepy head." I hear Alias saying to me.

I feel comfortable and don't want to get up. I am laying on something soft and warm. Actually, maybe I am a little uncomfortable, like I am laying on something bony. I open my eyes and realize that I am looking into Alias's eyes. I happen to be laying on him somehow.

"How do I end up in all of these positions. Do I fall from somewhere when I die and enter whatever this space is?' I ask Alias.

"Honestly I don't know. You just show up. This time you just happened to land on top of me. Do you mind getting off of me now?" he asks.

I feel my cheeks go warm as I get up off of him. I realize that I have never actually looked around this space. There is a soft and plush looking bed over in a corner. The blankets look really fuzzy and are a mess. Does Alias sleep? How does that work. Do gods need sleep in this world? Or does he just like the idea of sleep. Beneath the bed is a large circular rug that looks extremely soft. I walk over to it and run my fingers over the rug. It is just as soft as it looks.

Also in the room is a large fireplace. Does it get cold in here or does he just like the way that it looks? The only other thing in this room is a large TV.

"What's with this set up?" I ask him, curious.

"I watch you on the TV. I can also fall asleep on the bed and watch you that way. It is easier to talk with you when I am watching the TV though somehow. I really don't know how any of this works. I have been slowly expanding out my space. At first there was basically nothing here. I have slowly created a space that I like. Makes me wonder what the last god was doing here."

"That's interesting. What else do you have here?" I ask.

"Well, I am developing an entire large space for your training on how to be Aria. However, it is taking a while to get the space developed. Please keep being patient. Sorry for however many deaths you go through before I have the training space available." he tells me.

"Don't even worry about it." I tell him. "I know that you care about me and that you are working on it. That is all I need right now. I will keep doing my best to learn what I can alone. I don't know how well it is going, but I am still trying." I tell him, then let out a sigh.

"What's with the sigh?" he asks me.

"I'm not sure how to get to know Andrew. I don't have a good reason for going into his shop." I tell him.

"Then go into it later this week after you have time to decide what new items you want to make in your shop. You are going to eventually want to buy some of his alchemical ingredients. He also buys some from you. It seems you are competitive with him, but you both also have different suppliers, so you share what you get. You both believe that it is more fun to have someone to compete against and that it keeps you both sharp and on your game."

"That actually makes a lot of sense." I tell him. I wonder if this one would be more enemies to lovers if he is indeed the hidden route. But is a rival really an enemy? It doesn't seem like it is only angry feelings towards one another. He even was able to know that I wasn't Aria, and he wanted to find Aria. I find this interesting.

A thought comes into my head, and I can't help but ask it.

"Alias, have you found out any more information about what happened to the original Aria? I feel bad if I somehow kicked her out of her body. Did she somehow not have a soul and I took over the role?"

"I actually have been curious about that myself. I am close to finding out, but since I haven't, I won't be telling you anything. Once I know for sure, I will tell you."

"Thanks, I appreciate it. Would it be possible to curl up on your bed and take a nap? Just for a little while?" I ask him. He laughs gently.

"I will make sure that you have a bed equally as comfortable as that for your training. For now, though, you need to go back and keep learning what you can."

With that Alias walks over to me and boops me on the nose.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Okay Blizzie, we aren't going to the alchemy store today. We don't have anything that we need just yet, do we?" I ask him and stroke him fur. It is so blissfully soft. I want to pick him up a bury my face in his fur, but I don't want to be murdered just for being weird.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

Who is next then if I am skipping Andrew? The next shop in line is the smithy. I have no reason to be going in here, but I can lie and say that I have been thinking about learning swordsmanship. Hopefully that lie isn't too off-putting or obvious. Aria is an adopted royal, so this might be seen as being beneath her. Well, it never permanently hurts to try!

I quietly take a deep breath and breathe out through pursed lips, a good calming technique that I had learned in my previous life. I had a lot of stress in my life and a need for learning how to calm myself down and get a clear mind for entering into a stressful situation.

I walk into the smithy and see that there is no one else currently in the shop. Is that normal? I wouldn't know.

"Hello, give me a moment!" I hear a voice shouting from somewhere deeper in the shop. A few moments later I see someone run out carrying large chunks of ore.

"Hello." I tell him, and flash him a small smile. Samuel the smithy. I remember him from my playthroughs. He is very cute with puppy dog energy. I am drawn to those types of people as friends as their energy is often positive and infectious. When I am around people with puppy dog energy I feel the world is a little brighter, and a bit better of a place to live in.

"A... Aria what are you doing here?" Samuel asks, stuttering a bit.

"I wanted to come in and take a look around. I am thinking about taking up swordsmanship if I can find a tutor."

"Oh... Oh I see." he says. Was that a bad answer? What was he hoping I was going to say? Was my lie already found out? Is he trailing off as he is thinking up some way to kill me. I flick my eyes above his head and see that the suspicion bar raised, but only a little.

"I thought that you already knew how to use the sword." he tells me. Memories flood my head at that prompting. It seems that they are getting easier to access the more that I am in this body. Maybe my mind is finding it easier to melt with past Aria's.

"I do. But that doesn't mean that I can slack off. My teaching was never official. I just used to hang around the knights before I was an adopted royal and they took time to teach me some things. I also learned by watching. I was just wondering if being officially trained would be any different, or if I could improve my technique."

"I see..." he says, once again trailing off. I wonder why he does that. Is it just part of his natural cadence? His suspicion bar seems to raise a little bit more and seems to gradually increase as I look around.

"I have a question for you." he says, so quiet that I almost missed it.

I look over to Samuel. He is rather large, standing at 6'6" with a broad build. His hair is a mixture of red and orange and his eyes are a bright blue. He seems to be fire colored. Seems to match his profession, but maybe not his personality. Where is the puppy dog energy that I had seen from him in the game? Maybe I just make him uncomfortable. Is he suspicious because I hadn't really spent time with him before? That would make someone uncomfortable and suspicious if someone that isn't usually around just pops up all friendly.

"Of course. What is your question?" I ask, meeting his eyes and twirling my hair around my finger. I know that can come off as seductive or flirty, but that isn't my intent. This is a bad habit I developed as something to do when I am nervous. I had been avoiding it somehow, but I guess habits are habits.

"Why did you spurn all of my advances. And why didn't you have the common decency to do it to my face. Why go through Iris? Is it because I had her help me with my advances?" he asks. I see him biting his lip and I am unsure whether that is in frustration or nervousness. I'm sure that this is taking him a lot of courage. However, I have no idea what he is talking about and there are no memories about this for me to be able to tap into.

"I'm sorry to say this, but I really don't know what you are talking about. If you had made advances on me I am sure that I would have noticed. Also, I am not one to spurn someone off hand and for no reason. I would have given you a chance. Are you sure that Iris knew that you wanted to make advances on me?" I ask him.

"I gave her flowers to give to you."

"Is it possible that she somehow lost the flowers, or had them taken from her and she was too embarrassed to tell you so she lied?" I ask him. Iris in the games seems so sweet so I don't know why she would lie like that, except to keep him away from someone that she sees as a villain. It is part of Iris's personality to protect the people that she cares about. Is Samuel someone that she cares about?

"Okay, what about the chocolates and the poem?" he asks me.

"It could have been a similar problem. Iris has many suitors who may have believed that they were for them. Iris would be too shy to tell them otherwise. She may have once again been embarrassed and lied." I say.

"Why would she keep losing things that I ask her to give you and lying about it. Are you sure that you are not setting her up to look bad so that you don't have to admit to being mean?" he asks me, sounding frustrated and a bit defensive. Is it possible that he simply doesn't want to go against his already created perceptions and narrative? Often when people have a specific world view they are uncomfortable going against it.

"Honestly, Iris hates me. She might have wanted to protect you from someone as villainous as myself. You should know how bad of a reputation I have, and I won't try to convince you otherwise. I am a woman of many sides, and not all of them are as soft, kind and pretty as Iris. Thus, she sees me as beneath her and wanted to protect you, even if it meant hurting you." I tell him.

"That would make sense aside from the fact that Iris doesn't hate anyone. She even told me that she wanted to help me, that you and I would make a cute couple. That we would be like fire and ice, except in the best way! How can you say that a person like that would want to lie to me."

He leaves me speechless. Why would Aria say all of these things? Is it just that I haven't unlocked these memories because it would cast me in such a negative light? No! That cannot be the reason. I don't think that my brain would lie to me. I will stand firm that she wanted to protect him, even in a cruel way such as this.

"I don't know what to say. Just know that I would have at least come to speak with you in person. I have always had a positive opinion of you."

"Then why didn't you ever stop in here just to talk? If you did maybe I would have had the courage to give you the flowers and chocolates myself." he asks me.

"I don't know. I am not sure of the reasons that I have done things in the past. However, my birthday is coming up and find that I wish to be a better and more intentional woman. Believe me or don't, that's your choice. Let my actions speak for themselves. And on that note I will be leaving."

"Didn't you want to look at swords?" he asks me.

"Yes I do. That gives me another reason to come back."

"Another?"

"Of course. You basically said that you have an interest in me right? I'd like to get to know you a little better." I flash him a smile and turn around.

As I am walking away, I hear him say, "I will be at your party. Make sure that you spend plenty of time with me." he calls after me.

"Of course, I will. Plenty of time. I'll even save you a few dances if you ask. Bye for now!" I say, getting close to the door.

Feeling satisfied with how the conversation went I reach out to open the door. As my hand touched the cool metal I feel a blade skewer me. It goes directly into my heart very quickly. I collapse to the ground and watch the blood pool out around me.

"You lie. I hate liars." he says coolly as he stabs the sword back through me and walks away from my rapidly dying body. What had I done so wrong? I thought I handled the conversation well.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I open my eyes quickly, curious to see where I was waking up this time. I am lying on the bed with Alias looking down at me.

"Another death?" he asks me.

"I know right?!" I say, indignant. "I don't even know what I did wrong on that one."

"You had done very well until the last bit. Telling him you would give him plenty of time and multiple dances? That is where you lost all credibility. Go back, have the same conversation but end it flippantly."

"So something like 'I guess I will see you there then. I won't promise you anything about how much time you will get as there will be plenty of people there'?"

"Sounds perfect. Looks like you already know what to say. Good luck!" he says, grabbing a pillow and bopping me with it.