Note: Yes, Don is posting yet another story. If you are interested in my other stories, I am so sorry that I have not updated them in like 1.3 years. However I finally made the wise decision of not making a new story as soon as I got a new fandom, since I would often fall out of it after a short while. However, be advised, I have been into this for what feels like hella time. I know the character insert into Awakening is done a lot, but I hope you like my rendition. Happy readings!

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Prologue: The Empty Abode

It was fortunate that no one ever thought to check the small, run down cottage at the edge of the village. Basically every resident of Caes knew every other resident, along with the small-talk details of their animals, their output, and where they lived. To a Caesan, that little cottage had been empty since their elders were born. The occasional Thief came through town, and even they would be disappointed at the contents of the house—a door in the front, two solid windows, one of which had massively cracked, and a sheetless bed which pouted to the ground.

These facts all became apparent to me within the first few minutes of waking up. It seemed no one was coming to this dumpy place to see if anything had changed, so I figured I was the only one who understood the nature of the bed. Okay, perhaps "understanding" is too strong a term to use. I figured I was the only one was aware that something was hinky with this bed. Perhaps the rest of the house was equally full of hinkiness? I would have to investigate further sometime soon... or I could just let events happen to me.

I was way too nervous to go outside. I glanced through the window and noticed that there was about one person within view, and that number was far too great for me to try and suffer through. If someone saw me, they would almost definitely ask me why the hell I'd come out of that empty house. Would the Caesans find me to be a Thief? It was a reasonable enough doubt, and so I waited in the house. I was completely unaware of the events of the village, as well as those of my family back home; but since I had just arrived here, I figured the latter would have to wait a significant amount of time.

I walked around the cottage absently, praying to return, and then attempting to sleep again in the drooping bed. Had it not been so flat, I could have slipped back into a peaceful sleep, but I was unfortunate yet again. "If I'm gonna start appearing places," I said to whatever power reigned in this world, "it would be great if I could be told where exactly I was." A whisper of wind from the back corner answered, and I shrugged, ready to accept anything. From the dusty floor of splinters and dirt, a wiggle of parchment caught my eye. "Oh, thank God," I exhaled, pulling it up as quickly as I could.

It was no map, but it was a start. It seemed to have been some kind of official document, something to do with a party at a lord's castle. Whoever this Ciray was, he sounded like my kind of medieval leader.

I chuckled once to myself as I finally took a look down at myself. Choosing to go to bed last night in only boxers was definitely a mistake, one which the bed in this cottage made up for. My pants were thick, linen-like sepia, woven tightly together yet moderately loose around my legs. My shirt was a simple yet odd cloth, a yellow orange that seemed to be found beyond natural pigments but did not stand out as particularly garish. I was wearing a modest amount of armor as well, and my vocabulary failed me when I tried to name the pieces to myself, to remain focused of course.

"Dang, I bet Ciray would be impressed." If he had been the lord of the land, I doubted he would be impressed with a simple colored shirt, but I couldn't resist the sound of my own voice. I figured it would be the only familiar one I would hear for a while. Suddenly saddened, I scrambled to reroute my thinking. Right, my clothing.

My boots seemed to be tough, flexible leather, much more impressive than any factory-made shoes I'd worn. I found additional leather atop my shoulders, around the region where the armor plates stopped to allow my neck some space. If I had a mirror, I would have checked myself out in it. I always dug myself with a broad-shouldered look. My outfit seemed to contain one more leather item—a strap that went over my left shoulder and down to my right hip. I figured this was where I would attach a scabbard if needed.

The quick glare of the outside lighting—the only source present, it seemed—pulled my line of sight back up. I peeked through the shattered window once more, moving my head about the sharp, glass edges to form a discernible image of the outside. No one was there. It was go time.

I walked calmly out of the doorway, approaching the forest on the opposite side of the clearing as quickly as I could without seeming suspicious, or so I'd hoped.

"Hail, traveler!" Damn it, I was seen. I stumbled one last step forward before turning around to see who had called me. He seemed to be an ordinary village resident, and he sauntered casually forward, resting a sickle across his shoulder. "Welcome to Caes. Might I ask what business brings you here?"

It would figure I would be asked a question. How was I supposed to answer such a thing? "Iuhhh…" Nailed it. The man arched his eyebrows but said nothing, waiting for me to complete my thought. "I don't know. I was just, uh, wandering around, and… here I am." I didn't recall my tendency to continue rambling while nervous. Hopefully it would go away, sort of like my entire life canon.

"Ah, a wanderer." He seemed to judge me as he examined me quickly. He must have noticed I had no weaponry, for he smirked and looked ever so slightly downcast. "Have you come from nearby?"

"Not as near as you'd like," I mumbled. This seemed to amuse him, but his face remained downturned.

"Good luck out there," he said. I figured he intended to offer the society-encouraged good wishes, but his discomfort pushed the statement from him a bit snidely. I nodded once, looked at him for a few more seconds, and turned back to the woods.

It would be great if something else could happen now, I thought. This time, the wind had no response for me. Okay, time for more rational thinking. If I was in a medieval setting, it would probably be in my best interest to defend myself somehow. But with what? The first and last axe I swung was made of foam, so I counted that option out. Perhaps some kind of ranged knife was in order. For once agreeing with my better judgment, I turned back to the village.

It was fairly small, at least compared to the city I grew up in, but there were still several buildings, one of which seemed to be an armory. I reached into my left pocket instinctively to reach for my cell phone, an act of boredom I had enacted countless times in life, only realizing the full weight of my compromised condition when my fingers hit metal instead of plastic. Somewhat depressed, I pulled the metal item out of my pocket, and it revealed itself to be gold.

Ah, currency. Good call, self, I thought, deciding to see how much I had before entering the armory. There were only a few coins in my pocket, which was quite unfortunate, but I found a small pouch concealed under my left shoulder plate. Had I designed the armor, never would I have put money in such a strange place, but I couldn't argue with the gift of funds. Altogether, I had 1080 gold, which I assumed was a moderately high amount for one person. Better put some of that back, then.

I was fairly surprised to see a red-headed woman inside the armory. I was all for workplace equality, but I didn't figure people still in the feudal system would be so advanced. It was inspiring. I smiled and nodded at the woman, then inspecting the redness of her hair. It was, for lack of a better descriptor, really freaking red. "Come on in! I have some special wares today." Her voice sounded faintly familiar, as she spoke the tone of a quirky and worldly personality.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Well, I'm a traveling merchant of course, so I brought some special stuff! For example, do you use lances?" she replied, placing her pointer finger on her chin and smiling.

"Um, I don't think so. I'm not so much a rider," I said, praying that I made sense.

"Then you can't go wrong with the classic sword. I-"

It was a shame that her sentence was cut off by a raucous sound from right outside. The ground shook, and the two of us, propelled by fearful curiosity, rushed right out the front door. "Oh shit!" I tried not to swear as much, but when one finds themselves up against a writhing group of strange, purple humanoids, they are impossible to control.

"Alright, change of plans," the woman said. She tossed me a simple sword, which I could tell was forged of iron. It pulled on my arm a bit, but the grip felt natural. "You help me kill the creeps, you get a discount!"

"Can't argue with that," I said. She giggled a couple of times, pulling out a sword of her own. It jagged back and forth like a lightning bolt, and I had to wonder how that affected its efficiency.

I did a quick count of the undead-looking things. There were seven of them, each wielding a relatively small axe and wandering in our direction. I supposed they had stopped their attempts to attack the village when they spotted us. One rushed over, and I saw the merchant get in a preparative stance. "Ready to get gouged?" she called out, holding her wavy sword aloft. A bolt of lightning shot from it, striking the zombie completely out. I could tell its strange essence had faded away. "Come along, now," she said. I nodded and ran after her.

The sword swung itself easily enough, and it must have been sufficiently sharp to cut through the attackers so effortlessly. Not to say my arm wasn't killing me after my third take-down, but it was definitely a situation I could tolerate. It was the fourth zombie that got to me. I had turned 180 degrees after killing my third to stab into it, a technique I had yet to try, but in doing so I left my left arm exposed to the strike of his axe.

Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, what suffering is this?! I must have gasped in shock, because the woman rushed nearby. "Just a sec!" she sang, holding out a long, golden staff with a blue sphere atop. I felt the pain decrease, and called out my confused thanks as she ran back to her enemies.

And soon enough, my first battle had ended. "Do you mind some exposition?" I asked.

"About…?" She looked at me as though I'd asked what a tree was.

"The dead purple guys trying to kill us, perhaps," I suggested.

"It sounds to me like you've just had your first encounter with the Risen," she said. "Don't worry; it won't be your last." From anyone else, it would have sounded like an insult, but the merchant seemed too upbeat for me to hold any negative emotions toward her. "How about this. Since you killed more of them then I did, I'll let you keep the sword, and you can take these—" she held out three small, blue flasks— "for only 500 gold." I recognized the flasks by the "lx" scribbled across their surface. Elixirs were for healing completely, and I couldn't turn them down. I handed over the coins as quickly as I could count them out.

"Thanks," I said, turning one of the flasks over in my hand. I tapped it with my thumb twice, tucking it into my larger, right hand pocket.

The merchant had retrieved a scabbard and placed the sword inside it, handing it to me. "Come again!"

Although my confidence after the Risen incident had, ahem, risen, I still felt unsure about the safety of going into such a world alone. "Do you visit villages everywhere?" I asked.

She giggled again, placing her pointer finger back atop her chin. "Surely you know all about the Anna sisters."

Anna.

ANNA.

OH! The realization was so sudden and so obvious that I found myself facepalming after making it. The Anna seemed confused, and I apologized awkwardly, unconvincingly attributing it to a muscular twitch. "W…well…" I started, suddenly unable to hold my new-found confidence, "good luck."

And I was alone again.