Prologue

Cassidy Bishop was a normal young woman. She was a recent college graduate with an English degree because she didn't really know what she wanted to do, and the English degree did give some insights into what she wanted. Lucky for her, her parents were willing to deal with her flightiness. Since she showed an interest in teaching English, her parents kinda strong armed her into going to various countries so that she could decide where she would want to teach after the lessons to get certified with TESOL. Right now, she was going to Japan to see if she wanted to live there and teach. It was a beautiful country. She was exploring one of the old historical sites, which sadly had fallen into disrepair... It seemed to be an old noble house. She looked back down at the English guide in her hands. This castle used to belong to a noble family called Hinode. The Noble family that ruled there and over the small people of the villages around this port area were nicer than most nobles of the time. However, at one point, the Lord just stepped down. He, and his son left the castle and the area, supposedly going farther inland, or he disappeared. No one really knows what happened to the supposedly kind noble lord. After that, the castle slowly fell to ruin. Locals say it was by a curse of a concubine after those in the castle tried to murder her. Some say that it was the way the fates rolled for Lord Hidone and his family, to fall to ruin. Others say, and this was the more logical solution, it was just because no one else wanted to step into the Lord's seat. A small few say that he chose to forgo his name and power, for someone he loved. At any rate, no one really knows why or how the Hidone family fell, all is known is that it did. "Neat." She mused as she walked through some gates to what, according to the map, would've been where the gardens were."This place was probably beautiful in its- " she stopped hearing what sounded like splashing. She stuffed the guide into her messenger bag, dashing over. The little ponds here shoulda been empty, right? Maybe it was water from rain and an animal was-!! She stopped at the edge of one of the, surprisingly, full ponds and saw inside a little boy splashing in the water. Quickly dropping her bag, she dove in to grab him. She hefted him on the shore, quickly climbing back after him. He was wearing a kimono that probably dragged him down a bit. She gently patted his back, brushing her hair out of her face, "Come on, it's ok..! Slow breaths.."She could hear other people, some shouting in Japanese. That had made her confused. She had been the only one around she had thought, having followed the pathway to get here to look at the ruins. Maybe there were other people that came up while she was saving the kid..? She looked around, shocked to find that the area was now lush and green, as well as looking well. Normal. nothing like the ruins she had walked through before. It looked amazingly clean and beautiful. Cassidy sat there on her knees, confused as other people came over pulling the boy close to check him over, asking questions in rapid fire japanese. She could hardly keep up. Then some people who she assumed were guards were in front of her, one demanding, she assumed, who she was. "Um... Um..." She tried to remember what the book had said, and she blinked seeing her bag. She pointed at it, 'Um.. Damn it what's the word... Ah! " They both looked a bit confused, the one closest to her bag handing it to her. She pulled out the guide book, which also had some translations in it and flipped through them to try and find the phrase she needed. "Here we go... " She hoped that whatever was going on, they could still understand her. Maybe she had hit her head on something and this was all just one of those dreams where you dream of a place that you've been reading about. The two guards conversed softly to one another as the other people were quick to take the young boy away, probably to wherever their doctor was to get him to check the boy out. At least he'd be ok. She noticed one of the guards trying to get her attention. She stood up, holding her bag close. "... Follow??" she guessed by their gestures. It must've been similar because they nodded. So. She followed them into the main building. She knew from the guide book she was supposed to take off her shoes inside, so. She did that, holding onto her shoes as she stepped inside with her purple socks. The two guards seemed a bit pleased at the fact they didn't have to tell Cassidy that bit. They led her to an empty room, and motioned for her to go in and when she did, they shut the door behind her. Cassidy looked around the room. It was.. bare, to be honest. It had some floor pillows around a small table, so she went and sat down on one, shoving her shoes into her bag. She pulled out her phone, just to see. "... No signal... So I can't tell if I've just fallen into a really elaborate larping group..." She took a breath, moving her bangs out of her face. ".... Ok. Ok. I can do this. I can do this. I didn't go back in time, that's silly and the plot of a j or k drama. It's just... a really weird dream..." But the more she said it, as she looked around, the more she knew that wasn't true. She sighed, putting her face in her hands. "What the hell have I gotten myself into?!"