Chapter 2

Darkness my good old friend, here we meet again. And fuck you too headache.

“Brother, wake up, wake up. Mother! Osric is on the floor,“ says someone, shouting towards the end, apparently my brother. He also probes me with his foot.

“What’s wrong with that? I asked you to call him for breakfast,“ my apparent mother says.

“He is on the floor face first. Oh, he is waking up,” says he. He is handling the situation pretty well. Did the previous guy pull some similar strange things before?

“Then get him down to eat, breakfast is ready,“ says she.

“Alright, stop kicking. I am already awake,“ I say, somewhat disgruntled. Being woken up by shouting and light kicks to my rips doesn’t help my mood a lot, the fact that the whole situation feels foreign to me isn’t helping my mood and confusion either. Families back on earth didn’t behave like that. It was, how do I say it? Colder. Much, much colder. Meanwhile, my brother runs out of my room and down the stairs.

Ugh. That goddamn headache again. At least my body- oh, never mind it hurts too. Alright, get up. Let’s see what this whole joke is about. First thing let’s set up a mask. Let’s go with, how old am I now actually?

Looking at the window, I see the reflection of an approximately 13 - 14-year-old boy with a European-Caucasian ancestry. Strange light violet eyes. But easy to overlook without looking deep into them. Dark, brown hair, some baby fat, but definitely a normal look, at least in Europe. Let’s hope that the citizens of this world have a similar definition of normal. Slightly lean, but not fat. Just like a typical kid looks like or how I would imagine someone from the 18th century would look.

Thus, I should use a basic facade, like a somewhat cheerful kid. Let’s hope muscle memory can help out a bit here.

Going down the stairs, I notice the lack of decorations, the room is plain. Next to the stairs are three doors, I drift towards the right one without thinking. It opens up into a kitchen with a dining table. In here are a lot more decorations. The dining table looks nice, a white birch table. A dark oak cabinet, a somewhat modern looking kitchen with a fridge and oven-like apparatus. Though I don’t notice anything like electricity or gas. How do they work? That’s a question for another day.

Except me, there are three other people in the room. One and a half men and a woman. The woman looks somewhat pretty. Blue-grey eyes and blond hair. Her face is nothing to write about but definitely not ugly. Medium-sized breasts, and around 1.65 meters, her figure is somewhat skinny. Definitely middle-aged. The man has a height of 1.83 meters. Looks well build but not grizzly with an average face, black hair and a short beard. The last person is my apparent brother. He looks similar to me, just three or four years younger and with blond hair, and blue eyes.

Interesting, I shouldn’t be able to gauge their heights this exactly. My eyes also seem sharper. Tough that can be normal, I wore glasses before. My eyes weren’t that bad, but I still needed them for forced learning.

“Good Morning.“I say. My face still a bit sleepy and stiff from my sleep.

“Morning son, you are late.“ says the man, most likely my father. I can’t notice anything about him. Not that I am great at judging people mind you.

“What happened? George told us that you were on the floor.?“ the woman asks a bit worried. She has the look of a worried mother. Either her acting is on point, I am bad at telling real and fake feelings apart or this is not an illusion.

“I just fell off my bed and didn’t bother to get back up.“ I say, the woman didn’t find that strange for some reason. Damn kid, what kind of weirdo were you?

“Alright, go eat something.“ she says and focuses back at her own food.

Instinctively I go around the table and choose the sit closest to the man. The plate with food might also have helped my orientation. There are three pieces of food on the plate, they look like bacon, an egg and a piece of bread. There is also thick white liquid inside a glass. A glass? Strange. Making glass should be very expensive in a world like this.

The egg tastes like chicken eggs, it is hard-boiled. The bread has a somewhat familiar taste, but there is more to it. Something for later. The bacon is bacon, somewhat strange, but not the strangest piece of meat I ever put into my mouth. What did I expect?

“Son, did you decide what you want to do.?“ says the man between his bites. Table manners don’t seem that important around here.

“Dad, I am still unsure. What do you recommend.?“ I ask, looking somewhat clueless. This is sure to look strange to him, but a need information and without anything resembling the internet, he is my only option.

He looks at me a bit strangely, glaring at me for a solid second. I might have made a mistake; though it doesn’t look like a big one.

After the glare he contemplated for a couple of seconds, then he answers.

“Well, you won’t make a good knight with that body of yours. Scholars are irrelevant, they don’t have a lot of power, so that option is out too. I won’t let my son be some useless crap worker. In my opinion, you should try your luck at His Excellency Renald’s tower. We can afford the aptitude test, but hopefully it won’t be wasted.“ He says. Still a bit unsure looking about the last part.

A strange person, rather critical thinking, but still cares for ‚me‘, as the test doesn’t seem to be cheap.

“Leon. Don’t be like that. Osric, I am sure you will make it. The next test is going to be in two weeks so you still have some time. Be in your best form when taking it.“ says the women, trying to cheer me up, but she doesn’t look exactly sure about my chances.

She seems like a typical mother, or how I imagine one to be. Nothing unexpected.

“Osric, can you help me with my homework?“ Asks George. Munching down his portion like an undersized leopard. Just without the grace and posture of one.

“Yes, I will.“ I say. This should be a good opportunity to gauge the level of education people get here. Most likely only well-off people can afford it.

“Thanks, mom. George, I will come in 10 mins to help you.“ I say, but first I need to inspect my room properly and get my priorities straight. With that, I head back to my room.

Back in my room, I close the door and sit on my bed. Contemplate a bit and think over what I already know:

My name is Osric, surname is still unknown. I seem to live in a somewhat wealthy family. The house is big enough for at least four people. With someplace to spare. My family consist of: George, approximately 10 years old. Me approximately 13 or 14 years old. Leon, the father, middle-aged. And my mother, name still unknown, also middle-aged. It seems that the original inhabitant of this body got in some kind of accident. Most likely in combination with the book I found. Is he gone completely? I don’t know. Needs more research. The city seems big, I would say around 40.000 inhabitants. Though I am uncertain, I could only see what is outside my window. A rather middle to big sized city. Name is also unknown.

On another note, there seems to be some change in my memory capability, a very welcome one. And my cognitive brain seems to work better too.