The room that he was in reminded him of the rooms he would clean the Royale members rooms yet just sized down into an average bedroom. The architecture was gothlike, black curtains were hung from above the bed, disturbing any light that would reach the person sleeping.
Inside the room was the bed he was resting on, a desk with randomly sorted books, a note resting on it, a dresser, and a dim lamp that was currently on.
Duke sat up from the bed, his feet met the cold marble slab that was used as floors. aside from the bed was brown leather slippers, that he slide his feet in. He stretched as if he just took the best nap of his life, the soreness still wouldnt leave.
He walked toward the desk to inspect the note. He noticed he wasn't wearing the clothing that he wore before dying, he was wearing a black Tee with gray sweatpants.
Walking to the desk he had noticed he was considerably shorter, almost a whole foot shorter. He walked towards the mirror doubting his body being his own, the mirror that was plastered on the wall was slightly cracked, maybe from someone hitting it. Dukes reflection met his eyes, he wasn't really surprised.
"Body swapping huh?"
He smiled looking at his new face, he wasn't exactly more appealing, but it was a new look after all. it seemed when transferring to the afterlife he was swapped with someone who had the most similar body to his. His skin was still pale, and his hair was still black as ever, slightly reaching to his eyes.
After getting used to his new look he took the note from the desk, he didn't really know if this was actually for him. He ripped the white note open to be met with a paragraph of writing.
"Dear new traveler, welcome to the Shadow tree. This city being yet to be explored. Your mission is to successfully extract details about this city without dying. Although not cooperating will lead you to be killed by the residents of the Tree. Luck to you, slave"
This struck Duke with formidable force. To think he would actually get a break from his other life, he was met with more orders.
"I dont have to listen to you fools, i can do whatever i want."
He had enough being ordered around, this was his life, he could do whatever he wants. But what would be outside this room? why were the residents of the Shadow tree so dangerous? what the hell is the Shadow tree? These questions popped in his head obviously these couldn't be answered just yet.
what was worse Duke didn't bring a weapon if he even could, he was weaponless. Whatever he was going to be met outside was certainly going to be dangerous, especially since he has never trained for combat. But he couldn't rot in this room forever.
He stretches one more time before walking towards the door, He twists the metal knob of the door, swinging open to greet him with a huge meeting hall. The hall matched the gothic theme that the room had. The long hall had curtains gaped, letting faint light in through the stained glass. The walls were made from a pitch black material with each support accompanying a turned off light that would eventually turned on when the blinds were closed.
their were many people walking, and handmaidens sweeping up the already clean black marbled floor. Duke closes the door behind him, not sure if anyone was going to break in his temporary home while he was away. It was clear that Duke was currently in a Citadel, it seems that he had swapped bodies with a hunter of some type who had no left over weapons for him to keep.
As Duke was walking out of the hall he noticed a pattern, everyone in this citadel didn't really talk, as if everyone was introverted or just kept to themselves, they also wore black clothing. It didn't seem wrong but he had a slight feeling that something was just wrong with this. No one was looking at him, they just minded their own business, Duke would only had noticed this because in his past life, if he had looked at anyone it would usually result in him being beat.
Eventually the hall leaded into more halls, where their was a cafeteria, a library, a meeting hall, and other rooms it seemed he had no authority entering. After exploring for a while their was a gate, that lead to the outside, where guards were patrolling and guarding that area. The two wide gates were creeped open for people to enter and leave but would eventually close at some point. Duke walks towards the gates where he is introduced to one of the guards. The guard clears his throat.
"Sir state your business to leave"
Duke thinks of what to say before speaking. He wondered if he gave a bad reason would he be forced to stay in this Citadel?
"Family matters"
The guard looks him up and down before moving out the way to let him through. Apparently these lifeless corps living in this Citadel had family as well. It was strange that everyone seemed that they were just living life without a care, with no care for violence or enjoyment. But finally the breeze of the air hits him hard. He had walked out of the gate and was met with a bold stare back.
A dim yellow sky, probably from the sun setting, everything outside wasn't exactly colorful but wasn't all black. The city he was in was old fashioned in a sense their were a couple building taller than others, all matching the same architecture from the rest of the buildings. It seemed as if only one person had designed this city, The buildings had engravings of other languages, historic monsters and what pointed out the most was the symbol of black tree. Was the Shadow tree really important?
Turning around to see the view of the Citadel it was expected much. The citadel was definitely the biggest building in the city, fitting the design of a church in a gothic matter. certain points of the gothic church went up for many stories. One engraving could not be unnoticed. Reading out "The Black Iron Church"
"what a strange name for a church, did people really come here to pray, or did it just become a Citadel over time?"
Duke was once again filled with questions about the history of this place but he had one question that he did have to answer. Where was he going to go next?