Darkness and a feeling of eternity, then warmth and pressure and then light. My emotions are overwhelming and I dont try to stop them, crying as a woman pulls away. Unlike last ti, the worried voices do not stop and people are rushing around in confusion. My first surprise didnt make much of a dent in my emotions, it was hard to care about the screen in front of .
[Congratulations, you are now a Level 1 [Imperial Princess]!]
[You have learned the Skill (Imperial Decree)!]
Even if I had cared all that much, I wasnt given much ti to do so, as I was hastily put into my new Mothers arms. She Didnt look well. Her face was pale and her arms were shaking and I suddenly had a terrible feeling.
She was trying to smile at , and I was sane enough to try and hug her - to try and comfort her - because I had an idea of what was going to happen. She held and I held onto her even as I thought, I am sorry, I should have never been born
He- Hetre She says, stroking my head with a shaking hand and then she seems to slowly fall asleep. I am not so naive as to believe that though, my Mother is dead. All I could do was cry.
***
I think my grief was worse this ti around, although it is hard to compare them, but there is sothing exceptionally painful in knowing that my second life had been worse than my first. With Mother already dead giving birth to , my third life was shaping up to be worse still. My worries, long forgotten, that this was so kind of hellish afterlife had returned and I was terrified that this would be an endless loop of suffering where I could do nothing to end it.
My new life was strange as well. I had a wet nurse and there were servants who took care of and worked to teach to walk and talk, but I dont think I ever saw Father for the first few years of my life. My rooms - which I was too small to leave very much yet - were richly decorated and obviously part of a palace, but I wouldnt describe them as comfortable. Everything was made of stone which had been painstakingly carved with decorations and painted, but all there were for rugs or bedding was thin linen. So everything was beautiful, but hard.
It didnt help that nobody gave any clothes! I had jewelry - golden necklaces, bracelets, anklets, and armlets - adorned with rubies and sapphires, but not a single thread to my na. The very first question I asked in this new language was why they had clothes but I did not, and I was told I was too young and had to wait until I was six!
Not that I was all that different than anyone around , because no one wore all that much. Not because they were perverts or anything, but because it was unacceptably hot basically all the ti. I learned I was in the RaSharon Empire, which translated roughly to Streams through the Suns Land. It was a civilization in much the sa kind of place as Egypt, stretching along a great river that wound throughout an otherwise inhospitable desert.
n wore little more than a linen skirt most of the ti and won a linen dress and no one wore shoes. You could tell the class, but not the Class, of the people around you by their jewelry and the color of their clothes, with bleached white being reserved for so of the higher classes. In the distance, I had seen [Slaves] working, and they had worn nothing at all!
Those thoughts distracted from my misery, but I always ca back around to it. I had [Servants] and [Tutors] and [Guards] but at the end of the day, I was alone. I had half brothers and sisters, and more than a few because our Father had a harem, but I had little in common with the younger ones and the older ones viewed as competition. So I was alone, surrounded by people. At least it gave ti to think.
Most of that thinking was just self pity, but I started to get a handle on myself after four years of self-loathing and depression. I was five years old when the realisation hit like a bolt of lightning from a clear sky.
Of course, it was my fault that my previous life had been so painful, how much effort did I really put into it? I didnt leave my ho for ten years and after that I had done nothing but drift through the years as a [Maid]. Oh, I certainly had purpose, but it was nothing that couldnt have been provided by anyone else.
I had occasionally had conversations with Cat where I brought up ideas from my world and ti, but did I ever bother to put pen to paper and try to spread concepts that could benefit people? No, I didnt. Did I ever try to invest, or get Cat to invest, in research towards technology I knew could exist? No, I didnt. Did I ever even try to improve the health and safety of my family by teaching hygiene practices I had learned from a more scientific world?
No, I didnt.
I could have shifted that worlds course and improved it for the better, and I simply didnt. I should have rembered the dangers associated with dieval history, because when you take out the Classes and the Skills, the death of my family and myself was utterly predictable. Even if I couldnt know the exact cause, I should have known about all the dangers lurking in the shadows.
If I wanted my misery to change, I had to change and I had to do it soon.
***
Princess Here, a [Servant] called out from behind as I strode forth. Please, wait!
For what? My mind is set on this, I didnt stop walking, but they still caught up easily because my six year old legs werent that long. I see no reason I shouldnt gain the [Scribe] Class.
It is beneath your station! The [Servant] tries to explain, but he cannot stop . If he were to lay hands on , he would lose them soon after. It is a punishnt I personally find atrocious, but that is the least terrible option I could choose - my siblings would likely have him executed instead. More rcy than that was not an option because it was Fathers decree, and in RaSharon his words were inviolate.
You can already read and write Princess, he protests. What need have you for a lesser Class?
I have no interest in competing with my siblings for the throne, I reply, exiting the cool shade of the palace complex and stepping out into the harsh sunlight that bathes the city Shar. Undoubtedly, one of my brothers will claim it and any rivals still alive will be purged at that ti.
The [Servant] sputters as I say that. It certainly is true, but it isnt the kind of thing you are supposed to say out loud. Palace intrigue hides behind euphemism, with the losers retiring to an oasis or sadly returning to the Gods of natural causes. Well, the last one is certainly true, as a dagger through the heart naturally ends ones life.
The Scriptorium is just across the plaza from the palace. It was a busy place, as the main temple complexes were also here as well. While the public couldnt enter the palace, they could enter the plaza and visit the temples, and the area was crowded. And yet, I had no fear of being trampled or of being kidnapped.
Where I walked, the crowd split for . n and won bowed or kneeled or prostrated themselves as I passed, because they believed I was descended from the Gods and that the blood of the divine flowed in my veins. It was a bitter amusent that I was more in danger from my own family than I from even the most criminal elent of the lower classes.
The commotion I caused was noticed, and there was a [Head Scribe] at the entrance to the Scriptorium awaiting . His many bracelets were stained with ink and so was the linen skirt he wore, a sign that I had interrupted him at work, but that was always going to happen. The business of an empire never ceased.
Princess Here, he said as he knelt down, as much to be eye level with as to show respect to my station. I greet you and ask that Emre and Thijo bless you this day.
In Emres na and by His blood I bless you, I reply, offering him respect in turn with a response that gave him honor by calling my lines Patron - the king of the Gods and God of the sun, Emre - attention to him. May his light ever illuminate the shadows and his wrath never strike you down, [Head Scribe] Djept. Rise, please, and let us discuss in the shade.
The Scriptorium is less decorated than the palace, but it is no less intricately carved. The difference between the two is that the palace is decorated with art for the pleasure of the viewer, and the walls of the Scriptorium are covered in writing. Stories, myths, legends, and history fill the halls here, although it can be difficult to tell which is which when it cos down to it. After all, this is a world where [Priests] can actually call on the Gods and be answered and where monsters prowl the desert and prey upon unwary travelers and unprepared towns alike.
We were seated in a garden courtyard, ticulously maintained by [Gardeners] so that it was lush and green even in the brutal heat of the sumr. [Servants] brought chilled drinks in cups of gold and ivory; wine, well watered in my case. [Scribes] were part of the upper class of society, equal to [Warriors] and below only the [Priests] and the Royal Family.
I was grateful for the drink. The heat of this land was unlike anything I had known in either of my other lives. Even the cool, white linen dress I wore seed oppressive during the day, although I blad not being allowed to have clothes for years for that feeling. I was quite thankful that my skin was not pale like before, but an olive-bronze that resisted burning much better than my previous bodies. I was less thankful for my black hair, despite how excellent the straight black hair looked with gold bands and rubies woven into it, it was hot as hell in the sun. Why did n get to shave their heads? Lucky bastards.
I wont take up much of your valuable ti Djet, there isnt a table between us, so I hand off the drink to a [Servant] to hold for as I speak. I wish to gain the [Scribe] Class, and as soon as possible. You will help in this.
Watching Djet bow and acquiesce to my request, I thought that I could understand why nobility lasted so long. A girl could get used to this kind of power.
***
This world wasnt like the one before it. Now there is an obvious statent. Next I might start thinking that the ocean was different from land, or so other outlandish insanity! The differences in the system were major though, and it changed things greatly.
In the previous world, it was only possible to have one Class at a ti and you had to be Awakened to it at age ten. In this world you could have multiple Classes at the sa ti and not only could they evolve like they could in my previous world, they could also consolidate. A [Warrior], for example, might evolve into a [Spearman] and that [Spearman] might evolve into an [Elite Spearman] or a [Veteran Spearman] or sothing else. However, if that [Spearman] was also a [Dancer], his two Classes might combine into a [Spear Dancer].
Still, few people had the ti or resources to gain and level multiple Classes. They had work to do, after all. The [Priests] were the only group that reliably could get consolidated Classes and it was still less than a third of them. The Royal Family was, of course, too busy leveling their main Class to worry about consolidation much. After all, how could combining an Imperial Class with a lesser one improve it?
I found this shortsighted and foolish and as a six year old [Imperial Princess], I had both ti and resources on my side.
***
Princess! Singing is for [Servants]! You need not lower yourself to entertain your lessors by becoming a [Singer]!
***
[Dancer]? But such a thing is not even a religious dance honoring the Gods! Princess Here, please listen to reason and reconsider!
***
Princess, forgive , but you arent even tall enough to use that harp yet! Even if it was proper, you literally cant beco a [Musician] right now! What do you an, order a stool from the carpenters!?
***
Four years later, I t my Father for the first ti. I had seen him before now, at official functions and religious ceremonies, but I had never t him personally until he summoned . At ten years old, I t what I suppose I would call the Pharaoh of RaSharon, entering the throne room and kneeling down before him.
Even as an [Imperial Princess], I was not allowed to et Fathers eyes. Instead, I kept my gaze on the floor as the silence stretched on. For a few minutes, you could hear a pin drop in the throne room and anxiety started to grow in my chest. Then, the Pharaoh sighed.
My daughter, his voice was powerful; the air shook when he spoke. His level was high, and his Class was very powerful. I have to confess that I do not understand you. My other children, I know their desires despite how they think to hide them from . My empire is well served by letting my progeny compete so that the best may rise to take my place when Emre calls to the afterlife.
I kept silent. He had not invited to speak, nor to stand, so I simply kept my gaze to the floor and my mouth shut. I was honestly afraid of Father, because he was less of a father to and more of a Pharaoh. Calling him Pharaoh HeUmpet felt more right than calling him dad.
You, on the other hand, he spoke again, the power of his voice causing to shake where I knelt in front of him. You started moving, and with purpose, so young. You act like you have a vision of where you will end up, and yet your choices seem random or at least unsuited to rule. Why have you chosen the Classes you have?
I swallowed, my throat dry and did my best not to stumble over my reply.
Great Father, I have no desire to rule, I answer, hoping that the [Servants] listening in for my more ambitious siblings will relay it back to them. And yet, I know my duty as one of the Blood of Emre, my duty to your empire. I seek to enlighten your subjects as Emre lights up the sands, and the Classes I have taken are in service to this.
You are so arrogant as to believe that at a re ten years of age, that you can enlighten anyone? The wisdom of RaSharon is ancient child, what do you think you can bring to it?
My soul sotis feels older than my body, Great Father. I hope he doesnt have executed, not as I am getting so close to starting. Please, watch , and I hope you will be impressed.
We shall see.
***
The paper of RaSharon was crude. Most writing took place on a papyrus like reed or on tablets of clay. Paper was not nearly so common as either of those, although that was partially because it had not been invented all that long ago. I had been eight years old when I had surreptitiously sold a piece of my jewelry and funded research into paper.
I didnt know enough to make it easy on them, but I also didnt exactly mind if it took a lot of ti. I had tons of jewelry of different kinds, possibly literally, and even a single piece of it was worth more than the average worker's entire family. That single bracelet I sold at eight would fund work for decades.
It was three years later that I was able to present paper to the Scriptorium, and that mont was worth the wait. Already, I had done more to improve the people around than I had in my previous past two lives combined. Admittedly, it would be a long ti before paper found its way to the common man, but I knew with certainty that it would and that I had accelerated that process.
I had kept up my studies of the arts over the years as well, and I had my first Class consolidation at only twelve years old, giving evidence to a theory I had been working on about how Class consolidation worked.
My [Singer], [Dancer], and [Musician] Classes combined into the [Muse] Class. My theory on how Class consolidation functioned beca my first paper, although I actually wrote that one on clay tablets to preserve it. Unfortunately, Father was less than pleased at my insistence that it be shared with the whole empire, lower classes included.
My theory was, essentially, that Class consolidation was the result of intentional overlap. It wasn't just that two or more Classes could overlap, but that you wanted them to and used them in conjunction. It sounds obvious, I know, but if I could test it I might have been able to prove that any two Classes could consolidate.
But Father had my notes taken and restricted to everyone but [Priests] and the Royal Family. He also took my work on researching Skill combinations, forbidding from sharing them as I wanted to. I asked him, begged really, for him to share them with our soldiers, but was refused in that as well, despite the growing danger of monsters wandering in from the desert.
It wasn't completely pointless though, as my [Scribe] Class advanced to [Scholar] by the ti I was thirteen. Advancing one Class and consolidating three others would have made threatening to my siblings, but my choice of Classes - and the fact that I hadn't advanced or consolidated my [Imperial Princess] Class helped to aliorate that. Which was just fine with , as I wanted nothing to do with their bloody intrigue or fighting in general.
In fact, I spent much of my ti arguing for peace. To the south and west was nothing but desert, and the east was nothing but sand until the coast, but the northeast, along the northern coast, there was a stretch of land between the two bodies of water that connected us to another continent. There, the Ra'Sharon Empire bordered the Hin'Tye Empire and the conflict was unceasing, if usually restricted to small skirmishes.
Neither side could really win, after all. The HinTye had qualitatively superior [Soldiers] and [Warriors], but our Empire had the desert on our side. So neither side was able to push into the others territory. And of course, I knew it wouldnt matter if we did. An ancient civilization, still using bronze of all things, would not be able to maintain the level of communication needed to manage an empire much larger than we were right now. We would expand, and then contract or collapse. It would be far better to maintain our size and improve ourselves in defense and social stability.
Still, when I learned why the HinTye had such superior [Soldiers], there were more than just practical or moral concerns that drove my efforts. There was fear as well, because east of the HinTye, between them and another empire whose na I did not know, were the Chasms of Hell. A na that I would have dismissed as hyperbole in my original world took on a new aning here in a world with monsters.
The Chasms of Hell spawned monsters, or at least the monsters crawled up from them. They were a series of canyons, miles long and whose depths were shrouded in mist, from which monsters of all kinds would climb out of and terrorize the countryside of the HinTye. The HinTye Empire, of course, garrisoned the areas, but monsters still slipped through.
It had been a long ti since we had tad the RaSharon Empires land. The desert was our shield, and while monsters did wander in from it, it was very few. So I pushed for peace, because I realised that if the HinTye Empire collapsed, there would be a disaster in the east as the monsters spread unchecked.
I did not realise where my efforts would lead when I turned sixteen.
Character nu:
Na: Hathe-Emra Here Age: 16
Class List: [Imperial Princess] (lvl 9) [Muse] (lvl 14) [Scholar] (lvl 11)
Statistics:
Strength: 87
Endurance: 92
Vitality: 103
Agility: 162
Dexterity: 130
Perception: 99
Acuity: 142
Willpower: 111
Charisma: 204
Magic: 72
Luck: 103
Abilities (Incarnator Tab, hidden)
[First Words] (Incarnator Skill, hidden) [Better First Impression] (Incarnator Skill, hidden)
Skills:
[Imperial Decree] [Eyes of the Empire] [Loud and Clear] [Perfect Pitch][Inspiring Voice]
[Improved Footwork] [Find the Rhythm] [Dancers Grace] [Always in Tune]
[Instrunt of Bliss][Art is an Experience] [Muses Inspiration] [Magic Stylus]
[Better Paper] [Everything is a Record] [Scholars Eye]
[Imperial Decree]: Your voice carries the command of your station. Any commands you give or demands you make are harder for the target to refuse. This Skill is heavily affected by your Charisma Stat.
[Eyes of the Empire]: You can imdiately see and recognize those who attempt to harm you or your empire. This Skill is heavily affected by your Perception and Acuity Stats.
[Loud and Clear]: You can project your voice over a great distance and be heard clearly even in loud environnts.
[Perfect Pitch]: You have a supernatural ear for pitch and instinctively sing in tune.
[Inspiring Voice]: Your voice - especially when singing - inspires emotions in your audience depending on what you desire to to inspire. This Skill is affected by your Magic Stat and heavily affected by your Charisma Stat.
[Improved Footwork]: You have improved balance and instinctively know where to place your feet while moving, fighting, and dancing. This Skill is affected by your Agility, Dexterity, Perception, and Acuity Stats.
[Find the Rhythm]: You can instinctively sync your movents to the rhythm of music or combat, even predicting sudden shifts in tempo. This Skill is heavily affected by your Perception, Agility, Dexterity, and Acuity Stats.
[Dancers Grace]: When dancing, your Agility, Dexterity, and Charisma stats are massively increased.
[Always in Tune]: Any instrunt you use will automatically be tuned correctly.
[Instrunt of Bliss]: Any instrunt you play has a smoother tone and is easier to listen to for your audience.
[Art is an Experience]: When combining artistic styles (singing, dancing, instruntation, etc) it is easier to use them together and the relevant Skills have improved efficacy. This Skill is affected by all of your Stats, and heavily affected by your Agility and Acuity.
[Muses Inspiration]: You can charge your art with emotion and your art will share that emotion with the audience when experienced. Those who view your art are more likely to have a feeling of awe and other artists may beco inspired by your work, boosting their Acuity and Dexterity temporarily. The stronger the emotion used to charge this, the greater the effect. This Skill is heavily affected by your Charisma, Willpower, and Magic Stats.
[Magic Stylus]: You can summon a stylus to write with. You can also create ink to use when writing on certain materials.
[Better Paper]: Paper you write on becos stronger and more difficult to damage. This Skill is heavily affected by your Magic Stat.
[Everything is a Record]: Every day you can store your mories of the last twenty four hours perfectly by ditating. Stored mories can be recalled after a short amount of ditation. This Skill is heavily affected by your Acuity and Willpower Stats.
[Scholars Eye]: You are able to examine any object you can see and obtain information about it. The amount of information you can obtain is dependent on your personal knowledge as well as your Class quality and level. This Skill is heavily affected by your Perception, Acuity, Magic, and Luck Stats.
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