It wasn't until I felt the blanket being tugged away that I at last woke up. Finding it distinctly unsettling to sleep on my chest, I chose to sleep on my side. A compromise of sorts.

Interrupting my thoughts...

“Violet, the Magister is here to see you.” said the (now) familiar maids voice.

I looked up to see the maid wringing her hands nervously, and beside her, a robed middle-aged man looking at me expectantly, his gray eyes betraying an underlying kindness I hadn't seen in a long time.

“Uhhhhm. I’m not sure what you want me to do.”

“Just relax. Try not to move too much please.”

Holding his hand out, it faintly glows, and I can see blue streamers of energy forming around his arms. I can see his expression has shifted to one of concentration. He mutters a few phrases with no apparent meaning and the glowing abruptly stops as suddenly as it appeared.

Given its the second time I’ve seen magic used, I watch intently. My guess is that it seems likely he’s using some sort of magic to analyze my health.

I wonder how common magic is. Maybe I can learn it? Hmm… Oh is he done? He’s staring at me still.

Why hasn't he said anything?

Looking me dead in the eye “I need to speak with your father, but I’ll come by to visit later today.” Pausing. He turns to glance at the maid meaningfully “You should have something to eat though. Liquids only for now.” He then promptly strides out of the room.

At the mention of food, I realize that I haven’t eaten in… Quite a while. In hindsight I wonder whether time even exists in limbo.

Exchanging glances with the maid, it occurs to me I don't even know her name either.

“I... seem to have forgotten your name.” She gives me a surprised and somewhat hurt look, that then shifts to concern.

“Are you sure you’re alright Violet?”

Oh shit. UHHHHHH…

I make a point of looking away and say in a low voice, “I can’t remember anything really…” Out of the corner of my eye, I can see her practically moved to tears.

“I… Didn't realize. I'll go get you something to eat from the kitchen.” Pausing. “My name’s Merry.”

Following that, she rushes out of the room, as if I’d pursue her or something.

Breathing a sigh of relief, I look around the room. It’s time to do some exploring, I think.

----------------------------------------

The sheer amount of clothes this girl has is a bit crazy. Every color imaginable, frilly and otherwise. It looks like she has a set of shoes for literally every day of the week, holidays and special occasions aside.

Turns out that other door to the room is not just a closet like I originally thought. It’s actually a hallway, with several other rooms connecting to it. A gigantic bathroom in one room, didn't do any more than peak my head in though. One of them is just a room filled with cabinets and drawers. Looks like there’s an area set aside for sewing in there too. The last room has a bed in it, and a bunch of personal belongings in it… Possibly Merry’s room. The last room is the “Closet” and contains the earlier mentioned clothes galore.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

After this little adventure, I start looking around the bedroom, looking under pillows, the bed, everything I can think of. After a short while of looking it occurs to me to peak my head under the writing desk that was pushed into a corner, only to see what I was looking for hanging from the bottom of the desk by a purple ribbon.

I guess the chair was removed from the room because nobody is around to sit in it hmm.

Taking the book back to bed, I think better of laying down on it. Every time I’ve laid on it, I end up passing out in mere minutes.

The book is heavy and is clearly hundreds of pages long. I look at the cover for a time, and leaf through a few pages.

The writing is entirely impossible to understand. Great. At least the language looks vaguely similar to a Latin one.

Well, that was helpful. Not.

I plonk the book onto the bed in front of me and lean back. Needing to learn to read allllll over again... More to the list of things to do I suppose.

As I’m contemplating this, I hear a somewhat timid knock, and in comes Merry. With her, she pushes along a trolley with a steaming tray on it. Avoiding eye contact, she makes a bit of a flourish as she pulls the lid off of it.

My stomach gurgles at the smell of it. Some sort of hearty vegetable stew.

Right. Liquids only.

Not a moment later, Merry is out the door, leaving a chair behind with the trolley as she bolts out of the room.

Struggling out of bed… I made my way to the chair beside the trolley. Again, marveling at the quality of nearly everything I’ve encountered so far. Looking down at the setup in front of me, what I presume to be a properly arranged meal or something to that effect. There’s also a glass of greenish juice like stuff.

Taking a cautious sip, I find it tastes a bit like a mix of lime and honey. Powerful flavor, but quite refreshing. The stew itself is pretty standard stuff… A bunch of vegetables boiled to near death, with bits of bread spread throughout. At Least the food is recognizable.

Quite filling, and considering how hungry I felt, it's almost comical how little I actually ended up eating.

Staring at the half-eaten breakfast for a while. I sip the drink leisurely for a bit longer.

My solitude is short lived, however. I hear a set of loud footsteps followed by a near thunderous KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK, of metal on wood.

“Violet? You awake?” a masculine and somewhat muffled voice says.

That would have woken the dead. Sigh. Maybe I should just fake sleeping until he goes away? It sounds like he’s not planning on giving up though.

More knocking ensues.

Maybe he has something important to say? Everyone else just barged in. I guess I’ll see what he wants.

Walking over to the door, I reach for the door handle and open the door a tiny crack to get a look at the man standing in the doorway.

By my estimate he’s at least 6 foot 5 and covered from neck to heel in burnished silver plate armor. The armor is trimmed with gold as well. Parts of it are covered by a tabard that's mostly red and accented with black. It bears the emblem of a sword upraised and burning with an icy blue flame.

On his back hangs a gigantic monstrosity of a great sword, nearly as tall as he is.

Probably weighs more than I do… Did. Err...

His face is uncovered by a helmet and has jet black hair that is cut rather short.

I’m immediately drawn to his unusual eye color, it is an extreme dark tone of purple, edging towards black. The rest of his features are strangely familiar looking, and he sports a goofy looking grin as he notices the door opening.

“I…” he trails off, staring at me. “It’s just good to see you OK. I’ll give you some space for now… But we need to talk.” With that, he strides off without looking back.

And with that, I'm left standing there with my mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water.