A soft, warm embrace enveloped Xavier. He tugged on the blanket, subconsciously pulling himself closer to an even deeper sleep. The warmth of the sun trickled through the window blinds, covering the room in a soft, orange light. Slowly, his eyes blinked open.
Eventually, his eyes fully opened, and he stared upwards. A chandelier, obviously an extremely expensive one at that, was hanging from the ceiling a couple of feet ahead of the bed's end. It was currently turned off, but one could imagine how much it would illuminate whilst on.
Groggily, Xavier sat up, rubbing his eyes and stretching. Every single one of his muscles was aching from soreness, the tight feeling permeating throughout his body. His eye twitched slightly while stretching his back in particular.
He slowly took in his surroundings...
'Wait, where the hell am I!?'
Left and right, up and down, his head quickly shifted around the room. It was fairly empty, although spacious. The bed he was lying in seemed to be against the center of the back wall. In the center of the room was a circular carpet made from yellow and orange wool, seemingly depicting an image of the sun.
Directly across from the bed, a sizeable wardrobe stared back at him. He looked down at his own clothing. They seemed to be cloth versions of hospital robes. Moments after he glanced at his garments, a wooden knocking sound echoed from his right.
He quickly shifted his gaze to the door. A thin elderly man with short hair and a gorgeous beard entered the room holding folded clothes. He was wearing a butler suit. At first, he had not noticed Xavier was awake. He stepped into the room, silently shutting the door behind him.
He turned around and finally noticed Xavier sitting up and awake in bed.
"Ah! Pardon my intrusion, young sir. I was just delivering your clean clothing." He gestured to the clothes he was holding, slightly raising them with a smile. He put them down on a bedside table and stepped backwards, moving his hand to his abdomen before bowing.
"I am the humble butler of Duke Windstrom's manor, Clyde. The Duke is awaiting your audience, young sir. Your clothing is just here, and the personal bathroom is just to your left." He gestures to the back left corner of the room, the only area Xavier had yet to examine, "Would you like any help in your morning routine? I could help dress you, if you'd like."
Xavier stared back at the butler, completely dumfounded. He squinted and rubbed his eyes. When he opened them and the old man was still there, he squinted and rubbed them harder. Eventually, his memories of the previous day and night had settled back in. He rubbed his face softly.
"I'm... I'm good, thank you." Xavier gave a slight, awkward bow. Or, at least, the closest gesture he could make to a bow while sitting in bed.
"As you wish. When you find yourself ready, there should be a few suit choices in the wardrobe, tailored to your size. After you are properly dressed, you can find the Duke's office just down the hall and to the left. It's behind double glass doors. Hard to miss. I bid you farewell." The old butler bowed once more before making his exit through the doors he used to enter.
Xavier fell backwards onto his pillow, narrowly avoiding smashing his head against the top of the bedframe.
'Close one...!'
After a few minutes of staring at the ceiling, he finally brought himself to get out of bed. He walked over to the bathroom door and opened it.
Even the guest bathroom was in pristine condition. Though there was no bathtub, the shower was spacious, and the counter had two sinks with a large, rectangular mirror hanging above to complement it.
There was a disposable toothbrush alongside a tube of toothpaste resting in the middle of the sinks. Xavier reached into the shower and turned it on. A hot shower this early in his adventure... How fortuitous indeed!
...
Between fifteen and twenty minutes later, Xavier had finished showering and was drying himself off. He put on one of the white bathrobes that were hanging on the bathroom door by a hook before stepping in front of the mirror to brush his teeth.
He pointed finger guns at the mirror and smiled at himself.
'Looking good, looking good!'
He immediately cupped his face in embarrassment. He felt like a total idiot.
A few moments later, his teeth were cleaned and minty fresh. He disposed of the toothbrush before returning the toothpaste to the cup that was holding other tubes. He left the bathroom and walked to the wardrobe, opening it.
He was dazzled by the selection of suits. Black and white, white and black, black and yellow, yellow and black... Wait a minute, he felt like that thought had been a line he had heard before. But they had just about any two-color combination he could think of!
He finalized on the simple black and white, not wanting to showboat during his very first meeting with a figure as important as the Duke. He'd read enough fantasy novels and comics to be aware that this very well could lead to his swift execution with a single mistake.
He went back into the bathroom and made sure to tidy his hair before exiting into the hallway and down the left. The hallway was even more grandiose than he imagined. He realized he would have to walk for a few minutes just to reach the end where the Duke's office awaited him.
The entire wall opposite the long line of doors was decorated with one large, ever-stretching window. Outside, he saw the vast plains he saw from the cliff's edge, just in closer view. It reminded him of a certain aesthetic he had been enthusiastic about in the old world.
Walking through the hallway, he passed by all sorts of employees. Butlers, maids, chefs, and what he was pretty sure was a dedicated gardener with the assortment of tools the man carried on his belt.
Soon, he came upon the final few steps before he would turn left and knock on the glass doors before the Duke's office. He saw an elderly man with short, very well-kept grey hair. His beard was even more eye-catching than the butler's he saw before. If he could easily describe the Duke, it would be that the Duke was an even more elegant and bulky version of the first butler he encountered before.
Xavier raised his hand backwards, wanting to knock on the door lightly with his index finger's knuckle...
His hand went right through.