Andrew bathed, then he dressed, wearing the navy blue chinos, white shirt, and a navy blue blazer that served as his school’s uniform. The last thing he’d wear were his glasses. They weren’t actual glasses of course. Short-sightedness and far-sightedness were ailments of the past.

The age of the smartphone and the laptop was long gone. Even tablets were considered old fashioned. Thanks to advances in nanotechnology and quantum computing, nowadays, the most common computing devices and communication devices came in wearable forms. The public called them “sprites” or “fairy-comms”

You’d see them as pins, hair clips, earrings, and yes, glasses. For the less powerful consumer models were few real requirements for what forms they could take. All that was required was that they were worn close for the sake of interfacing with the nanites that flowed through the user’s bloodstream and interacting with the user’s nervous system.

These “sprites” could be used as is to make phone calls, or access the web, they could also tap into the user’s visual cortex to create AR displays and user screens. For more serious work most offices and schools would have special devices and furniture that could create solid-light constructs that would serve as workstations.

Andrew spritzed himself with a final spray of cologne because he was nervous enough without feeling self-conscious about he smelled.

Then he mentally activated his glasses and hailed a cab to take him to school because there was no way he was going to try figuring out how the public transportation system in this new city worked on his first day. He probably should have tried to figure that out before but he’d been busy hiding out in his apartment.

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“Morning, class. It seems we have a new student with us today.” said the homeroom teacher. Ms. Sevinc.

The teacher was a slender, half-gremlin woman, with the gray coloring, and long, crooked-pointed ears, of most gremlins. Being half-human, she was little taller than the average gremlin, at taller than five feet and she had wavy brown hair, and sleepy brown eyes.

In terms of apparel, the woman wore a yellow sweater over the gray-blue, skirt-suit that most female teachers wore as a uniform.

The woman looked and sounded exhausted. Like she was badly in need of a nap. She stifled a yawn as she brought Andrew to the front of the class and said,

“Well, Mr. Oddvar, would you like to tell the class a little about yourself?” said Ms. Sevinc.

Andrew resisted the panic that suddenly assaulted his stomach and mind. Quitely reminding himself that after “introducing” himself to hoards of blood-crazed wretches and ravenous undead, saying a little something to the twenty or so normal teenagers should be a walk in the park.

His attempts to convince himself that this was no big deal were only half successful, but he was still able to get a few words out. His natural empathic abilities made things a little more easy as he realized that beyond a few sparks of faint curiosity here and there, none of the faces staring up at him gave a shit about who he was or where he came from.

This wouldn’t be the first or last time that Andrew was made thankful for the fact that humans were such self-involved creatures.

“Uh… Sure. Thanks. So, uh, hi, everybody I’m Andrew Oddvar. Nice to meet you. I’m seventeen years old and I’m a big fan Twelve Dungeon Online so uh… I wouldn’t mind chatting about that if there are TDO fans here.” said Andrew. Deciding to share his age and his most harmless hobby because he wasn’t really trying to make any waves here.

“Any questions, class?” said Ms. Sevinc.

The class was thankfully silent. There was only one mind that was actually focused on what he was saying and it was a familiar one.

After ten seconds of silence went by the teacher just nodded to herself and said,

“Well, Mr. Oddvar, if you could find yourself a seat that would gre-...”

“Ms. Sevinc, there’s a seat available next to mine.” said a crisp, clear, faintly posh, voice.

“Ah, yes. Thank you, Miss Luce. You can go take the seat next to Miss Luce, Mr. Oddvar.” said the teacher.

“Yes, ma’am.” said Andrew. Nodding as he walked towards the seat both women had pointed to.

He was faintly puzzled as he found himself sensing several arrows of animosity flying towards direction as he approached the empty desk.

It took a second for Andrew to understand why this was happening. Then he took ten mental steps back and realized to his chagrin that the pale, delicately, pretty, doll-like, young woman who would soon be his desk mate, was probably fairly popular.

Andrew couldn’t help clucking his tongue. He’d kind of thought ‘that’ sort of thing was just a trope that showed up in animes, but damn but there was an increasing amount of hate getting sent his way the closer he got to the seat.

Andrew couldn’t help giving the white haired young woman a look of annoyance. It seemed that as she established during the five months while he’d been hiding out, his attendant had created a slightly troublesome identity for herself.

*************************************************************************************************************

Sophia Luce didn’t exist up until five months ago. The entity that currently called itself Sophia Luce couldn’t have been considered alive up until however many years ago that her creator and first master the caretaker of the dark sanctuary of Abwickeln set her to the task of looking after him.

Back then she’d just been a doll. A construct created in the image of someone who’d once been dear to the caretaker. Her purpose had been to look after her creator, his guests, and the sanctuary itself. Attending to all their needs.

Then one day, it was only her and the young wanderer who would eventually gain the title of “Hoheit”. All the other hunters, wanderer, and heroes to be had either perished or fallen into derangement. Her master, the caretaker had all but lost himself in his despair.

Thus the only one she could talk to was the hoheit. Day by Day, Month by Month, Year by Year. They became each other’s world.

In her heart of hearts, the former-automaton would like to believe that it was these repeated interactions, and the way he continued he’d treat her with sincerity and care that made her into the creature she was now.

More realistically speaking it was probably the corrupted blood sparks and soul data fragments the wanderer had brought for her to refine for him that had done it.

Oridinarily the other guests of the sanctuary were either able to refine the dark blood and soul fragments on their own. Either that or they eschewed the use of such things, seeing their ingestion as a form of cannibalism.

It was rare for a warrior, or wanderer, to leave the task to a puppet for her. And it was even rare for a wander to survive as long as he did. The dregs that remained from the blood and souls he gave her accumulated within her body till she gradually began to change.

The magic of the blood and soul remnants forced her to evolve. Her hoheit’s evolution into the new lord of Abwickeln forced an even greater evolution, making her into the being she was today.

Eons passed and as her hoheit passed more and more power into her hands, she became the viceroy rather than merely being an attendant. She became a sovereign beast in her own right.

It was something she’d never dreamed would happen. Yet, all of this had strikingly little to do with the tale of how the identity known as Sophia Luce came to be. However, that wasn’t all that complicated a story.

After reluctantly passing through the gate her hoheit created, the doll emerged in the world of men. Her hoheit became human again, retaking the form he’d possessed when he was just a wanderer. She took on a human form as well. Taking a form she believed would fit in with the general populace and possibly, maybe, draw her Hoheit’s eye.

Tall. Slender. Appropriately curvy, and just a little bottom heavy. Her features remained pale, but that seemed to be due to the interference of the greater cosmos.

In that moment, she realized exactly how far she’d come from the doll she’d been. She was now an eidolon. The Pale Knight of the Slumbering Sovereign. The Pale Attendant of the Vacuous Dreamer.

After a moment of awe and meditation, “Sophia” set herself to the task of creating a new identity for herself. That wasn’t all that hard. Her hoheit’s world was very dependant on computerized data, which was even easier for an eidolon like her to manipulate than the “true”, cosmic, data.

It took a single week of modifying records and making small additions to the world’s true-data before the planetary government recognized her existence as a genuine one. Then once she was done, as far as the Novem Empire and its constituent worlds were concerned the human known as Sophia Luce had always existed and was a citizen of one of its human held worlds.

As far as the world was concerned she was an ordinary young woman, born within a hospital like any other child. She was a girl born to a set of parents who unfortunately died during the last major conflict between the empire and its enemies. Leaving her the sole heir of the Luce family holdings and their company, Housecarl Industries.

Housecarl Industries was something Sophia had started, as a means of gathering and sheltering enough wealth for her hoheit’s needs. She’d built the start fund for company’s beginnings from wealth siphoned off the accounts for various criminals. Then she’d backtracked, using data manipulation to launder the funds so that they appeared to have existed as far back as fifty years ago.

The company was currently worth a little under two billion. Officially they operated as a private investment firm, with subsidiaries and associations with dozens of other industries.

What Sophia didn’t understand or predict was the effect that being attractive and very rich would have on her social position.

The fact that she as a person was innately graceful, well-spoken, and hyper-competent overall, made it even easier for her to not only blend into her new setting but also rise to prominence. Eventually leading to her gaining status of one of Blackvale Academy’s school belles.

The result being her hoheit, who currently was operating as a fairly average nobody from parts unknown, gaining the class' animosity for daring to sit at her side.