Welcome to Gaia! ::

Aric sat quietly in the pod. When had entered, he had been accompanied by two college students, both of whom showed no intent of speaking to him. Aric didn't mind, though. He wanted to experience this game by himself. Besides, people were more likely to act in their true nature when behind the mask of an alternate persona. He'd meet people once he found out what kind of people they were in-game.

As the helmets lowered, Aric pondered the announcer's words. 'Uploading knowlege into the human mind? That seems a bit unsafe... The human mind is too complex for something like that. Didn't my brother tell me about some movie that did that? So I could learn martial arts instantly or something?' As the helmet settled, Aric felt small wires brush against his head, and a surge of static electricity fizzle near his ear.

Aric's senses erupted. It was as though a wall of televisions played a whole new existence into his mind. Images of a life that weren't his flew through his mind. His scattered mind soon became so vague that he couldn't remeber who he really was.

'Who am I? Aric Faydell... no Faust! I'm playing a game to tell my brothers about... no I only have one brother! All hail the King! NO! There is no kings!'

As the information poured into his mind, Aric began to panic. He tried to reach up and take off the helmet, but it wasn't there. He tried to look around, but nothing existed but light.

And then Aric Faydell woke up. He was in his (not his?) room, on his (not his!?) bed, looking up at his (NOT FREAKING HIS!) family's emblem. He sat bolt upright, in a panic, fell out of the bed, and smacked his head against a desk. Lying on the floor, forehead throbbing, he allowed himself to calm down and think through what happened, while waiting for the pain to go away.

His memories slowly began to sort out, like two books placed in front of him, rather than the feeling of jumbled words and images. His life became a road with two lanes, as he walked down the center line. He could clearly see both of his lives in perspective. He had never felt so... old.

"I've officially gone through puberty twice. Just what I needed..."

He began to sort through the life of his new persona. He was the youngest son of in the Faydell family, scholar, moderate swordsman, mage (oh, neat!), studyer of mythology and mysterious beings. Currently visiting his family to attend the prince and queen's funeral.

Aric could smell the kitchen downstairs, feel the cool chill of the morning air, hear a rooster crowing and a stable boy arguing with a steward. His room had the appearance of a study, books and papers scattered around. He could faintly hear his family downstairs, no doubt discussing the rumors surrounding the prince and queen's deaths.

"This game may be interesting after all," Aric grinned, as he got dressed, putting on clothes his persona told him were his regular fassion. He walked to the door, and with one last glance around the room, chuckled and opened the door. "This is going to be fun."

As soon as the question left Timmy's mouth, the immersion helmets lowered and he quickly sat back in his seat. He felt a few sparks of electricity, and in spite of how nervous he had been before, he now felt calm and completely curious about what was going to happen. Total darkness turned into blinding light and a rush of information filled him. Then...

Timmy, known in this world as Rhotim of Salaein, opened his eyes to light that was that criss-crossed over the sealing like broken glass. He lay there for a few minutes, taking in all the details of who he now was. He thought back and felt the distrust mingled with gratitude he had felt on the day the King of Salarin had caught him and then unexpectedly adopted the little orphaned thief into his house.
My God this is so real... Rhotim thought. He craned his neck to look at the room and grimaced slightly. But really it wasn't all that bad. Sure, there might be mice living in the straw of the bed, but everything else had at least a small sense of upkeep. Rhotim swung his feet over the side of the bed and planted them on the warm wood floor. He saw the reason for the cut up light that was on his ceiling: a splintered wooden window pane covered the only window in the room. Rhotim walked over to it and pushed it open. The sunlight poured in and Rhotim/Timmy was amazed at the simple, un-intrusive realness of it all.
Rhotim turned around and saw his pack lying on the floor near the bed. Let's see... he thought. He opened it up and took out a form fitting light-green tunic. The sleeves stopped a few inches short of his wrists. His pants he had worn to bed: long, dark green, and made of a denim-like material. He pulled some boots that were made for walking on and looked down at himself, wishing he had a mirror. He didn't exactly look like royalty, but he supposed he didn't really need to right now. He had clothes to change in to once he got to the Evienna capital, and for now all he had to do was walk. He shrugged his pack onto his shoulder and bid the room a happy adieu.

Out of the room he could clearly hear some ruckus downstairs. Sounded like the innkeeper was scolding his daughter for flirting or something. Rhotim had seen the girl when he had come in last night (I did? Oh... I guess I did. This is still too weird...). Pretty young thing she was; too bad Rhotim wouldn't be staying longer. He walked down the stairs and sure enough, there was the innkeeper bawling away at the girl. He had the air of someone who had said this same thing many times before. Rhotim stood patiently while they argued and finally couldn't take it any longer. He cleared his throat and they both looked at him. Rhotim had a small, polite smile on his face. "I'd like my breakfast now, if you please," he said, "And be quick about it; I have an appointment to keep." The innkeeper growled to his daughter, "Well," he said in something that sounded curiously like a southern-drawl yet had a English lit to it, "Go get this man something to eat!" The girl ran into the back kitchen, casting flirting glances in Rhotim's direction.
Rhotim walked and sat down at one of the few tables and looked around curiously at the other patrons. A few Evienna soldiers sat at a table together, looking sourly at everything and eating their eggs. There were two other weary looking travelers sitting by themselves, and other than that the place was deserted. Rhotim was wondering if there was any other Players around here when the girl walked up to his table carrying a plate of food. "Hope you like eggs," she said in that same southern/English drawl, "I make the be- Ah!" The girl seemed to trip over her own feet a fell forward, flinging the plate of food toward Rhotim. Without even thinking, he snatched the plate from the air with the food still on it. In the same motion he turned and reached out his other hand to steady the girl, placing the food on the table. The girl took a sharp breath and giggled. Rhotim smiled and reached behind her ear, 'pulling out' a gold coin (he had thought about pulling it out of someplace else, but with the innkeeper watching, he thought better of it). He handed it to her. "This should cover it," he said, "Try to be more careful." The girl giggled again, actually looking slightly embarrassed.

Rhotim started eating his food and then froze. Did... did I just do that? he thought. He ate the rest of the food quickly and went outside. He began walking down the dusty, well-worn road in the direction of Evienna. He waited until he was out of sight of the inn before pumping his fist in the air. "I am so cool!!"

Hearing a door open behind him, and some soft footsteps falling to the floor, Tedelior turned around. At the sight of his Lady, confirming what he thought, he bowed low, sending his billowing cape in a flourish. His armor was always polished, and he wore the cape, but these were merely decorative. His real armor was nothing more than a piece of metal forged around his body, using cold forging. It made him look much more.....vulnerable, than he really was, which led to his enemies' down falls.

"My Lady. It is good to see you awake. And you look lovely. That Prince won't know what hit him." He smiled, already knowing what was happening. He wasn't his Lady's most trusted servant/guard for nothing.

(OK, no more jumping in the air... gotta get into character)
Rhotim shook himself out and smiled upward toward the sun, basking in it, and released himself to his alter-ego.
He never got a chance get out like this. When he wasn't on a mission he had to be uptight and looking like he belonged in a palace, and that was no fun. He walked at a brisk pace, hand on the strap of his bag. A few travelers passed him, but mostly this road was deserted.
After a few hours, Rhotim's little road reached the main road and he entered the steady stream of caravans and merchants headed to and around Evienna. He hopped on the back of a horse drawn caravan with his legs dangling off the side. He grabbed an apple from a crate and rubbed the dirt off on his shirt. He hesitated, sighed, and placed a bronze coin on the apple crate where the merchant would be sure to see it. He munched on the juicy thing while going over a mental checklist of what he would do once he arrived at the capital: First, find a place to stay. Wait, scratch that. Find a place to eat first, then sleep. Next comes the fun part, check up on all the movers-and-shakers attending the funeral. Once that's done, sleep as long as he can, then get into his good clothes and act like he just arrived to the manor, playing the role of courtier at the funeral.

Rhotim took another bite of the apple and smiled up at the bright sun, his spirits high. So what if he had to act all stuffy for a while? He could go for a little espionage.

Rhotim was jerked out of a light doze as the cart he was on pulled into a market place. He stood up on the cart and cracked his fingers. He hopped off and into the crowd. Man it was packed here... All he wanted was something to eat and cheap lodgings before heading out to the manor.
A merchant at a stall yelled at some pigeons that were trying to eat his fruit and Rhotim followed the birds with his eyes as they landed on a roof.
(I wonder how good my balance is now...)
Rhotim worked his way through the crowd to an alley. He looked up the mud-brick wall the the top, about twenty feet up. He swallowed. Then he jumped off the wall with one foot, hit the opposite wall with the other foot, and grabbed a prominent brick. In the same motion he swung his foot up onto the roof. He was off balance so he pushed off and flew through the air, landing on the opposite house and rolling into a kneeling position.
(Sweeeeet!)
Rhotim got up and looked around, shading his eyes from the sun. Ah-ha, there it is. A bunch of horses were tied up at a building, and there weren't very many people going in and out. He was about to jump off when something on this roof caught his eye that seemed... off. He walked forward hesitantly and stopped in front of the anomaly. Floating in the air was a little, jagged patch of white, through which he could see a diffuse version of the the opposite side, like he was looking through frosted glass. Looking closer, he realized that there were grid marks running along the thing and stopping just outside of it. What is-
(must be some kind of glitch)
-this? He wondered. Curious, he reached a hand forward and touched it. He didn't feel a thing when touching it as his arm went straight through up to his wrist. But the part of his hand that appeared on the other side was that same off white color with a grid pattern, and a high-pitched humming noise filled the back of his head, almost like feedback but lighter. He quickly pulled it out and panicked when the white stayed on his hand. He calmed down when he realized it was fading, as was the strange floating-
(crack)
- thing. He flexed his hand, but it felt and looked perfectly fine, and the sound was gone. He shrugged and figured it was just some minor graphic flaw. Rhotim shook his head and came back to the matter at hand.

He stepped back, then ran at the edge of the building, launching over the side and landing on the next building. He hopped from building to building in this manner, vaulting over the ones with lips until he came to the building across from the inn. Instead of stopping, he jumped off and grabbed a pole sticking out from a wall, swung forward and landed on the overhanging of a merchant stall. He slid down it and hopped off the side onto the ground. No one noticed his this whole time; they were all caught up in their daily routines.
Rhotim calmly walked into the motel, dropping some money on the counter and grabbing a key from the innkeeper. He didn't even bother going up to his room, but rather went back outside to look for a place to eat, and await the veil of night where his work was best done.

(It was in my first post as Adreanna)
Adreanna smiled gently at Tedelior, as if to say 'you idiot'. "It means, dear Tedelior," she said as she plucked the letter from his hand and folded it into the depths of her bossoms, "that even in death my prince continues to prove his worthless self.
"But enough about that. Come, I wish to visit the city. I feel a need for.... change." She said with a half glance at her surroundings. If everything went according to plan later that night, it may be very well one of the last times she loked upon these dreary quarters.
Yes, a queen's suite would be much more to her liking.

Aric hopped out of the cart and stretched. He had never really enjoyed the cramped monotony of horse and buggy travel. It was much more interesting to walk and take time to observe your surroundings. (Besides, you'd think the game would have a faster mode of transport. The demo could've ended while I was just sitting there!)

His father stepped out and observed the surroundings. "It seems that there is still much bustle around the city. I suppose preparations are not done yet." Aric's father turned toward him. "Since there is still much to do, I suppose you can enjoy the sights of the city while the work is being finished. Just be sure to go right to the castle when the funeral is announced."

"Yes, father," Aric said, happily. He rarely got the chance to enjoy the city. He was usually too busy studying in the Academy or working in the field to socialize. (Sound kinda like my real life...)

Aric noticed that he was getting hungry. "I guess a bite to eat wouldn't hurt before the funeral."