Chapter 2

Unconscious. Thoughts streamed through Will's mind.

What happened after that? It's just a blank spot in my memory. Kind of... like... it was taken. But, that's silly. You can't just take someone's memory like that, right from them. Can you? If... you could... Does that mean someone took my...

Faint words echoed in from reality disturbing Will's thoughts and muddling them up. “Will... Will... Will.”

Now I'm thinking crazy thoughts. That crazy elf-chick, she...

Still the voice came pressing through his mind. “Will...” It was enough to bring him starting back to reality, to wake up.

I smell something like... Ew, lavender. Gross. I don't want to wake up. Waking up means returning to...

And the voice broke through. Clear, strong and solid. “Will!”

Will's eyes opened instantly. He recognized his ceiling and the open window above him that was letting in day light. Feeling annoyed at the sudden awakening, he closed his eyes again and groaned.

A woman called from his door again, this time knocking. “Will? Are you awake yet? We need to get ready for the banquet tonight.”

That's right. Tonight's my father's banquet party celebrating his birthday with a few hundred of his business friends.

Will called back to her without getting up, “I'm up, Irene. I'll be out in a few minutes.”

“I'll see you in the kitchen.” she called back, and Will heard her footsteps echo as she walked back down the hall.

With another groan and a sigh, Will shifted up looking around. This tiny room with worn walls, and tears in the wallpaper was his new bedroom. It'd been his for about the last four years. It had a gloomy touch to it. He had a small desk right next to his twin bed, which the only nice thing about that was the good stuffed pillow and good cotton fabrics of the blankets.

At the foot of his bed was a tall wardrobe with only a foot to the ceiling from it's top, and just enough clearance for the doors to open before they hit the foot of the bed. Immediately next to the wardrobe was the door to the hallway. At the head of his bed was a small window that opened with a wooden latch, so the wood piece swung upwards and was propped up. There was no glass to keep out the weather, but the room itself was just too gloomy without some sunlight coming in.

Without much thoughts in his head, Will got up and got changed into his clothes for the day. A pair of black slacks and a white dress shirt, which he buttoned up nicely and finished with a black ribbon tied around his neck in a bow.

He ran his fingers through his locks of hair to ease out any tangles that might've formed from the night. As he did so, Will thought back about his shopping venture from the day before. Where had the box of pastries gone to? How did he get home? And who changed his clothes?

Maybe, it was just another realistic dream. Just... like before.

With a sad, and yet, frustrated feeling in his gut, Will finished getting dressed with his shoes and then headed out into the dank hallway of the servant's wing.

It was a dark hallway lit by a few small lights every few doors. Will's room was the last one of the wing, with only one of the powder rooms across from it. The rest of the hallway had doors to the other servant's bedrooms, getting bigger as they went. One of the doors was painted blue with a white design on it, symbolizing the door to the section where the toilets, baths and showers were (all in their own sections of that one room with walls dividing them up).

At the end of the hall by Will's room was a door that led outside into the back courtyards of the mansion. At the other end of the hall was a much nicer door that led to one of the back hallways of the mansion itself. Of course, since it was the mansion of the grand duke, it had to be multi-layered, with at least four different wings, and inner and outer courtyards separate from the gardens. And there must be a stable for at least six horses and a small pasture for them to be in.

On the second floor, immediately above the servant's wing, was another servant's wing with larger and nicer rooms meant for the butlers and other higher stationed servants. The rest of that floor was dedicated to various art rooms, studies and places where laundry and other chores could be done. The first floor had the main living rooms, banquet hall and the dining hall, while the third floor was specialized for the grand duke's family's bedrooms and bathrooms, and their guestrooms. An even smaller fourth floor to the mansion was there to serve as an observatory, sectioned off with large plants as a large greenhouse for the Lady and a grand piano, with a glass roof to make the plants grow.

In general, it was a large mansion. The only other buildings larger than it in the city other than the palace itself were the public locations, like the library and observatory, and the knight's base. It was because it's the mansion for the grand duke. It must be impressive. There were other large manors and mansions in the city, of course, belonging to dukes and other rich folk.

All this served to remind Will in a painful way that once he was part of this world of gleaming beauty. With the delicious food and luxurious fabrics. But now, he was a forgotten memory. His old bedroom had been given to his younger half brother, and Will himself had been forced to live as a servant in his own home. For a while, everyone agreed with him and told him that he had been forgotten by his father. But, in the recent months, if Will ever brought up the mysterious amnesia, they would ask Will if he had just dreamed the whole thing. Now, Will can't talk about it to anyone.

Will is the forgotten son of the grand duke. Forgotten not only by his father, but the whole city.