The bathroom that the Alain family shared with the three other apartments was out the door, down a short hallway and then to the left to enter another short hallway. The bathroom was the middle room in this hallway, nestled between two apartments, one that was rented by a family of five and one that was rented by a group of 7 people who had pooled their resources.
Names and faces flashed past Aldric's eyes as his unsteady gaze slid across the doors, tens upon hundreds of past interactions all blending into one as they forced themselves into his mind. A life compressed into a single moment, a deafening and excruciating cacophony from which not a single clear sound could be drawn.
Aldric's hand struggled with the handle of the bathroom door for a brief moment, his mind and body not in sync due to the grating influx of memories. But eventually the handle dipped down and the door slid open, it was luckily early enough that no one else was up yet to occupy the restroom.
He staggered into the room and shut the door behind him, his left hand tracing along the wall for a bit until he found the contraption used to control the lights. This was one of the few rooms where the owner of the building had splurged on pipes to pump gas and oil to provide a bit of light. As such, Aldric only had to turn a cog to release some of the natural gas, and then tug at a copper pull chain to light the lamp hanging from the ceiling. The light was a flickering orange, a deep color.
"Dust…?"
A short mutter escaped Aldric as he looked up at the lamp, his eyes spinning slightly as the nausea slowly settled. He had a smidgen of knowledge about gas so he knew that this kind of color often indicated an incomplete combustion, meaning that the gas or pipes were likely contaminated by dust or other contaminants. It could easily result in harmful carbon monoxide, and if he recalled correctly then there were even a handful of reports of death back in the old days before the problem was figured out.
Of course, now that he was suddenly in a place as horrifying as this, it wouldn't be strange if all the knowledge he had from his time as Jacob was all but useless.
Aldric only slid a cursory gaze across the room, wincing momentarily as hundreds of memories crammed themselves into a single indistinct collage in his head. The veins on his forehead throbbed for a second as his temples thumped, his head felt as if it was on the verge of rupturing. It was as if hundreds of hands were pushing against his skull from the inside, scrambling his brain like porridge, stirring and stirring until all that remained of him was a mess.
"…I wish I at least had something to read…"
He rubbed his face as he muttered to himself, his fingers pressing against his temples until it felt like they would pierce through. He liked reading back when he was still Jacob. Books were silent, you could drown yourself in a book for hours and block out the rest of the world. Perhaps he could have escaped this agonizing throbbing and scraping if he had a book on hand.
But he didn't. And even if he did, he would have to first come to terms with his current situation before he could allow himself to slip away into an escape. So he turned his gaze slightly, straightening his expression as he looked at the face that was reflected in the mirror that hung above the sink. The mirror was quite large, about 1.2 meters tall and about 1.1 meter wide, a fair bit larger than the sink and vanity beneath it. As a result, even though it was fairly dirty and slightly cracked and worn from age, Aldric could get a clear look at himself.
About 1.7 meters tall, on the verge of reaching 1.8, supposedly rather tall for people of this country. Clad in a simple white linen shirt with a few stitch marks here and there, as well as loose brown pants that had a bit of twine bound around it to serve as a belt. Easy to move in and durable enough to be used for everyday wear, as well as cheap to fix should it first tear.
An oval face with gaunt cheeks and clearly pronounced, slightly sharp, cheekbones. His nose was sharp but not too large and he had a bit of stubble forming around his mouth and chin, encircling a pair of lips that weren't too thin. His eyes were rather sunken in, with dark bags clearly visible as they contrasted his rather pale skin. A pair of eyes that were a deep dark blue color, akin to the vast sea. All of that was topped off by a head of thick and unruly hair that was a mixture between brown and dark red, the color of rust was the closest he could use to describe it.
He hadn't expected it, but a part of him hoped that he would see a different face look back at him in the mirror. He hoped that after he left that small nook and got here, he would realize that it had all just been a nightmare, that it would be Jacob looking back at him in the mirror.
But no. The only one that stood there in the dimly lit bathroom was Aldric Alain.
The wound on his throat had fully closed up at some point. If one looked closely they would still be able to see a scar, but it was much better than the ghastly sight it had been just a handful of minutes ago. It could also be that it was only this visible because he was rather malnourished, it might fade more, or at least become less visible, if he managed to get some proper food and plump up.
His hands came to rest on the sides of the sink, which was slightly damp, coated with a layer of things that Aldric probably didn't want to know clearly. He leaned in closer, as if the reflection would shimmer and change if he just looked at it closely.
But alas, only Aldric looked back at him.
As he gazed upon his own reflection, his eyes caught his attention. There seemed to be something dark in them, hidden within the depths of the blue. A black spiral, descending ever downwards, a darkness without beginning or end, a gloomy pit that felt as hopeless as Aldric was feeling right now.
But then he blinked and it was all gone so he had no idea if he had actually seen anything or if his mind was just playing tricks on him.
He blinked a few more times, but there were no changes in his eyes, or in the face that looked back at him.
After a few breaths, he turned the cog next to the water spout, which sputtered to life as a stream of cold water cascaded down. He scooped up the water and splashed it on his face, allowing the cooling sensation to settle down the last of the nausea that still lingered in his stomach. There were no new influxes of memories, no disjointed images forming a discordant cacophony, so for a moment Aldric had peace.
"…"
He gazed at himself in silence for an unknown amount of time, allowing the drops of water to run down his face as he occasionally refreshed them by splashing more water on his face. An unfamiliar place, an unfamiliar face, an unfamiliar situation. It was like he was caught in a nightmare.
But it wasn't a nightmare. Every fiber of his being wanted it to be just another dream. But every fiber of his being was also telling him that this was reality. The nausea, the sensations, the pain, the fear. He had to accept it, no matter how unwilling he was.
This was real. He was here.
So now he had to figure out what was what and how to proceed. He had to figure out if there was a way to return, or if whatever the original Aldric had done was irreversible.
He had to know.
He had to hope.
So he had to take stock of what he knew.
Currently, he was in a place known as Eldham City, a decently large city in the Aranikan Empire. The Empire once ruled the entire southern continent, but over the eras it had lost much of its territory and now barely laid claim to about a sixth of the continent.
On the topic of eras, they were currently in the year 1427 of the 5th Era, which historians had dubbed the Era of Separation. The memories that forced themselves into him weren't too clear on why the Era was named as such, so Aldric could only accept it at face value and look into it later.
Returning to his current location, Eldham was squeezed between two rivers and thus had a rather thriving fishing and shipping industry. To the south of the city was the Borrac River, which when followed to the north-west led to the edge of the continent and to the ocean, as well as the islands that formed the Eingarth Alliance. Following the Borrac River south-east led to the large Alamont Basin, which connected to both of the other large cities, Alenraut and Courlon, although Courlon could only be reached by following another river. The Alamont Basin also connected to the capital of the empire, often dubbed the Capital of Capitals, Avinnes.
To the east of the city however stood the Chalet Rivers, which yes, also connected to the Alamont Basin. But more importantly, following the river north would take you past the border and into the Principality of Esken, and from there to the ocean. As such, Eldham was definitely a thriving city, having access to the wares that came from the rest of the empire, the ocean, the Eingarth Alliance, and the Principality of Esken.
As a result, Eldham had a great deal of citizens, as well as immigrants hoping to make it big, it was a hotpot of people and ideologies, resulting in several different schools of varying sizes. It also allowed the city to have three cathedrals, one for the Mother of Justice, one for the Warden of Death, and one for the Laurel of Glory, each of which naturally also had their own schools.