Tuesday, February 17th, N.E. 807, 19:08

Pine Family carriage, 3rd Circle, Royal Capital Arvas, Fredirin Kingdom.

Olivia Pine Fredirin.

The Capital Arvas is split into circles, each divided by by walls. The center, where the Royal Castle is, along with the made government buildings, is called the First Circle. Only, the Royal Family and the servants live within the First Circle, and while the facilities are massive, the First Circle is the smallest circle.

The Second Circle is about twice as big as the First Circle, and it houses many of the estates and mansions of the highest ranking nobles, in addition to holding the offices of most of the auxiliary government branches. Because so much is stuffed into it, the buildings tend to be tall and thin, taking up very little space. The Iron-Hammers, for instance, live within the Second Circle, but their mansion is only a bit larger than the Patio Inn, and in fact, the Iron-Hammers also have another estate in the Fifth Circle where most of the lower ranking members of the family live.

The Pine Family, and the other ducal houses, then have their homes within the Third Circle, which is actually one of the largest of the circles. According to history, the Third Circle was originally the farmland that surrounded the capital, but a combination of flood walls and proper defensive walls were built around that farmland. Eventually, as the city grew, the farmland became orchards and gardens, and then changed again, into the area where the largest, sprawling estates, exist.

Just like before, my carriage, or I should say, my convoy, bypassed the line of people waiting to enter the city. Unlike before, when it was just a group of twelve riders, this time it was a highly ornate and expensive carriage, escorted by a team of sixteen footsoldiers, eight archers, and ten knights in full plate mail.

Not to mention, that all of the armor, from the scale mail on the archers, to the shining steel breastplates of the foot soldiers, to the mirror-like plate mail, and even the carriage itself, all had the insignia of the Pine Family plastered on them.

The gate guards didn’t even stop us to ask for a permit, they just opened the way as we approached, saluted as we went through, and then closed ranks behind us.

Technically, while being a member of the nobility did give you extra privileges, it didn’t make you exempt from the law. We should have been inspected, or at least questioned when we entered. Likewise, without a special flag indicating our errand was not only urgent, but a matter of utmost importance, we still needed to follow the basic traffic laws.

In practice, for most things, making us follow those rules, would be an inconvenience for everyone involved. The guards let us pass without a word, the people on the road quickly vacated the area, and my carriage steadily went on its way.

That said, even with all of the obstacles removed, it was still, a shockingly tedious trip.

Honestly, the Capital Arvas holds close to zero interest for me.

It's undoubtedly a large town, by human standards. But, that is all it is. There is no unique traits, no personality, it contains simple wooden and stone buildings, a few fancier brink ones exist, and the odd temple or magic based building was made out of stronger materials could be spotted, but it was otherwise bland.

Back, before I became Olivia, my domain contained three things I would consider cities, and the most boring of them was a massive, sprawling, haphazard metropolis that I had inherited. Not unlike Arvas, except it was many times larger, the city had bigger buildings, but that was it.

As for the other two, one of them was built into a mountain range, with nearly three-quarters of the city being subterranean. My favorite though, was a city made of a series of massive spires, the smallest was over ten stories. They were all connected by bridges, and they sprouted out of a massive tar pit, a bridge nearly a mile long was the only access point to the city itself.

Compared to them, Arvas was quaint at best.

As I mused over the inadequacies of the royal capital, my group had passed through the gates that split the rings, until we finally entered the Third Circle. Already, my family’s estate could be seen in the distance.

The Pine Estate was a sprawling villa, built around gardens where the main attraction, the various types of pine trees, had been planted. A not inconsiderable amount of manpower went into transporting the fully grown pines here from the family’s domain. They were, however, rather majestic, the pines, hundreds of them, each a uniform height, reaching nearly two hundred feet, surrounded the villa, the wall that actually surrounded the villa for defensive purposes, was built around the trees themselves, even the small watchtowers, were built directly onto the trunks of the largest pines.

The gate was already opened for us and we pass through without issue, we headed straight towards the front entrance.

My guards and servants exchanged words with the guards and servants of the villa, but as they were doing that, another servant helped me dismount.

We had stopped several times during our trip, and my carriage was one of the finest that money could buy, but I was still stiff and sore from the trip, even if I was only onboard for a few hours.

Inactivity like that is not something I enjoy.

“Olivia!”

“Little Sister!”

As I was stretching to remove the stiffness from my neck and shoulders, two voices called out to me.

Hurrying down the stairs in front of the main entrance, was my elder sister, Pamela. She… seemed to be wearing a bathrobe, and her hair was damp. Behind her, a group of maids was scurrying around, trying to both dry her hair and place a cloak around her shoulders.

And coming from around the side, in the direction of the stables, was my elder brother, Timothy. He was wearing a riding outfit that was caked with mud and grass, and trailing behind him were two of his attendants, whose names I’ve forgotten.

I noted that the attendants were not stained, which meant my brother was still as inept as always when it came to dealing with animals.

“Older sister, older brother,” I said in greeting as they came up to me.

“I’m so glad you are okay.” My sister, Pamela, said as she wrapped me in a hug.

My sister Pamela was six years older than me at thirteen years old. It's said that girls mature faster than boys, and the nearly six foot tall Pamela, who dwarfed my brother Timothy, who was a year older than her, lent some credence to that assertion. Besides being tall, Pamela otherwise looked as if she was a full grown adult, any signs of childhood had faded, she was overflowing with womanly charm, and while she normally kept her silver hair in a simple ponytail that would make one thing she was somewhat of a tomboy, in actuality, she preferred reading and art to any kind of physical endeavour.

“I am glad you’ve returned well.” She said as she released me.

“Yes… You worried us.” Timothy said as he kneeled down to be at eye-level with me.

Or… a bit under eye level. He was a tad bit short.

Timothy was the second oldest child of the Pine Family, he was fourteen now, but his birthday was only in two months. The eldest brother, Kyle, was seventeen and had already graduated from the Royal Academy, and the youngest child, Vincent, was only four this year, he wouldn’t attend the school for another two years.

So we three here were the only ones in school.

“Elder Sister, you should return inside and dry yourself off fully, you’ll catch a cold. And Elder Brother, you should finish your horseback training before the sun sets.”

“Ah, you are right Olivia, it is cold out.” My sister said as she shivered into her cloak before turning and hurrying back up the stairs to the entrance, but once she was halfway up she turned back to me and yelled. “You too, come in with me.”

“Yes, go on in Olivia, I will make sure my horse is safe in the stable, and then I will come in too. We will have dinner tonight as a family.” He said with a smile and then turned and went back towards the stables.

“Hurry Olivia, It is cold!” My sister called again.

“On my way,” I replied.

Tuesday, February 17th, N.E. 807, 22:10

Olivia's Bedroom, 3rd Circle, Royal Capital Arvas, Fredirin Kingdom.

Olivia Pine Fredirin.

Dinner was a strange affair for me.

My siblings and I ate in one of the smaller dining halls, a room that could have comfortably fit twenty to thirty people was reserved for just the three of us.

That, however, was not what made it strange for me. Nor was it the impeccable table manners that we all ate with, but it was the simple fact that I didn’t know how to handle myself with my family.

Subordinate, I knew how to carry myself around, how to deal with them. Potential enemies, that I understood, allies on equal footing, those weaker, those stronger, I knew how to handle them.

Family… a family was something different.

I… had family… a long time ago.

Brothers and Sisters. We weren’t biologically related, many of us did not even look remotely similar to each other, but Brothers and Sisters we were. Born in the same place at the same time, our bond was different, but not weaker or less authentic than the bond of the Pine Family. There were forty-seven of us that left our place of birth together. Within a day, there was only thirty-eight, within another, thirty-five, by the end of the week, twenty-nine, and by the end of the month, only fifteen remained.

For years, we only had each other to rely on.

As time went, more of my brothers and sisters left us, some joined other groups, others set off on their own, but most died, were killed by wild beasts and monsters, or were murdered by others who were competing with us.

Much, much later, when I grasped power, only six of us remained. Others of my family may have still lived elsewhere, but the last six of us never heard anything about them.

I ruled that sprawling city with my five siblings until a neighboring domain assassinated one of us. When we conquered the city of spires over tar, another died in the fighting. When another domain declared war on us, two more died in the battles that followed, trading their lives for the subterranean city in the mountains.

Only I, and my weakest brother survived.

He was not a warrior, not a general, not an administrator, he wasn’t even a talented mage. In a way, he was useless, but his uselessness allowed him to survive, to stay with me for all those years while the others left.

My kind, we do not give gifts out of goodwill, out of love. We give rewards, we give bribes, but not gifts.

My brother, he spent all of his time, all of his wealth, to give me a gift. An amulet, the same one that I constantly bring my hand towards my neck to feel for. That amulet was my life-line, my last defense, the last thing to protect me should all of my other defenses fail.

As is always the case, they did.

I fought, but fell, I was killed.

And that amulet did what my brother told me it would do, allow me to cheat death, sending me here, to this world, as a new life, as Olivia Pine Fredirin.

My brother, I wondered if he survived? Was he killed before me? Or after? Or did he escape? Or maybe… Betrayal… for my kind, is not in anyway uncommon.

But no, I do not think he did, otherwise, why give me the amulet?

Well, none of that mattered any longer, I was here, I was Olivia, and I had a new family.

But, the memories I absorbed from the fake version of me, the placeholder, were quite different from what I had known before. I did in fact, know this, from when I first woke up as my true soul. But knowing something as knowledge, and experiencing it first hand, are two different things.

Not only was I unsure how to act, but I couldn’t help but feel as if… I was betraying the memory of my original forty-six brothers and sisters.

The feelings I had for Timothy and Pamela were different, but no less powerful, than the ones I used to have. And in a way, that made me feel worse.

When I saw Timothy, as he slowly ate the dinner, savoring each bite, his face overlapped with another from my memories. Unlike Timothy’s human face, with blue eyes and brown hair, the one overlapping it was long, with black and red scales, and lacking a nose. But that face, in my memories, was also, slowly savoring his meal.

When Pamela sighed with content as she finished her tea at the end of the meal, I saw another, a woman with a cloth over her eyes, horns coming out of her head, and long shaggy blue hair framing her face. She too would sigh with happiness as she finished a drink after a meal.

In a way, I wished to interact with my two human siblings in the same way I had with my original siblings, but the memories I inherited from the fake me, clearly informed me that I should not.

And… it was painful, to remember my old siblings, it had been years upon years since some of them had died, and I had almost never thought about them since. Now, suddenly, I couldn’t help it.

But, as painful as it was, as strange and awkward, it helped me realize something.

What I had before, was lost. I could never reclaim it, it simply wasn’t possible, even if I had wanted too.

When I woke up that night in Olivia’s room, when the memories merged into my mind, I had decided on something.

I didn’t want to rule this world, or reclaim my own domain, or increase my power and become the strongest. I wanted to defend what was mine. My possessions, my honor, my pride, my allies, and my family.

My Family.

And to do that, well, a lot of things needed to be done.