Her pace slows as her chest starts to ache and burn from this next short dash, hurting already as she reaches the stone construction that is the giant gate. Placing a hand onto it, she leans forward, more than winded already. Apparently, she still hasn’t recovered from having to sprint for all of ten seconds just a moment ago. Was she always this shaky on her legs? Her eyes rise up and she takes a deep breath, stepping through the shade of the large gate and entering into the vibrant plaza, which lies just beyond.

It is full of life and sound. It is full of adventurers and laypeople, all of them clad in all sorts of colorful clothing and armor. They walk around everywhere, filling the city with vivid life, color and commotion. Men, women and others, who are more indistinguishable, dressed in robes and armor, carrying swords and staves and bags laden with impossible loads are all around the area, for as far as her eyes can see. Some of them head down towards a second large gate, which stands out in the far distance, towering over the back of the city. That one looks a little more ominous. Other people return from that direction, darting into strange shops and buildings which fill this lower market square. Vendors and hawkers cry out in all directions, sounding almost as naturally ambient as the early-year birdsong, which comes from the planted trees alongside the cobbled streets here. The combined sounds of all of their voices simply belong.

A fantasy world. By the standards of the place she had come from, this is clearly what could only be described as a fantasy world. She looks around herself, scanning the people for any final confirmation of her theory, as if the massive swords and pointed hats some of them were wearing wasn’t proof enough already. Then, she sees what she is looking for. A woman walks by with two long, pointed ears. The girl clenches her fists together in excitement, quietly squealing to herself, as her arms fidget and shake. This is really happening!

The elf shoots a strange look at the particularly sweaty girl staring at her, their eyes meeting for an awkward moment, before the elf turns away to keep walking; perhaps a little faster than before.

“Ah! She probably thinks I’m a creep…” mumbles the girl under her panting breath. Oh well. That doesn’t matter. This is it! A new life! How many years has she been waiting for a chance to just start over? To just do it all again, but right this time? She steps forward, ready to embrace this new day, feeling the rays of the bright sun greet her as she crosses over the threshold into the city. As the soft sole of her boot gently taps out against the road below, the possibilities for this new day that has arrived seem beyond endless. She looks at a group of people passing by, all laughing together. They look like they were all close friends.

Having spent perhaps literal years in front of a screen, she’s not unfamiliar to the genre. What kind of fantasy world is this one? A game-like world? Or something more modern, something ‘dungeony’? Looking around at the fluid, free and unbound movements of the people here however, she decides to go with the latter hope. A so-called 'dungeon fantasy' world could be dark-spirited, sure, but it could also be a literal paradise for someone like herself. If she becomes an adventurer, someone who earns their money by fighting monsters and plundering dungeons, she can perhaps do anything that she dreams of. She could have a real life with real ambitions, real goals, real friends. Her face glows as she looks around at the many colorful, strange things that surround herself and overload her senses. She has no money for any of these things however. All she has is the robe that she's wearing and her mid-length hair, which sways before her eyes in the spring breeze, still somewhat damp. The gold locks bob to the bounce of her steps.

- Gold? Her hair wasn’t gold before.

She pulls a strand down before her face. Her hair is different now too. She supposes that makes sense, since she had gotten a new body as well. She would have to inspect it closely later on, but maybe not out here in public. Being thrown into a new body could perhaps be considered shocking for most people, but in all honesty, she never really liked her old one. It was… fine. But it never really ‘did it’ for her. Whatever that means. She smiles. This is going to be a good life. So what did she want to be? She could be anything, do anything.

As she walks, she looks at the many people here all around herself. Great, giant hulking swordsmen lumber in all directions. Darker clad wizards and casters and even some who fit the priestess archetype, judging by their pure-white raiments and softer, unmuscled bodies. She likes magic, maybe that is something for her? Does she want to fight things? Or does she want to heal people?

A woman passes her by with a large shield, nodding quietly to her as they exchange greeting glances. Or maybe she could get a shield like her and defend people? That would be a great way to make friends, right? Her eyes shine brighter still at that particular prospect.

- Friends.

She decides to look around a little more, but she’s sure of one thing. Of one idea that burns hot in her core. Adventure. She wants adventure. Her heart had burned for it for the duration of an entire life and now that she’s finally in a situation that could allow it, it burns hotter still. So… how? How does this work? Are there ’systems’? Does she have any sort of… menu? Or are the physics here more free-form? Does she have to choose a class, or does she just have to grab whatever implement seems right and start practicing with that? She smiles, humming as she walks, for the first time, not caring that she is surrounded by people on all sides. She would have never gone outside during the day, let alone humming, let alone wearing this and even less-likely so amongst this many people in her old life. But -

She stretches her arms out to the sides, feeling a pop in her lower back as she stands in the middle of the road, basking in the glow of the bright, warm sun, whose rays gently stroke her face as she takes in that deep, long breath.

- But this is a new life. A new her. She’ll do it right this time. She will. She swears it to herself and to whatever deity could perchance be listening to her inner workings. Nothing will stop her from living that dream. No fears. No anxieties. No doubts. No dark forces conjured to the world by her own mind. Nothing. She’s going to work hard and the first step to do that is…

The girl blinks, lowering her gaze to a stranger who was there next to her, watching her. Perhaps because she just stopped in the middle of the road.

“Excuse me,” she asks a small, green-clad figure. A white, wooden mask obscures their face, carrying a poorly painted on, smiling expression. They look up towards her. The stranger’s height only reaches up to her midriff.

“What?” asks a nasally, sharp-toned voice from behind the mask that she can’t distinguish as male or female.

“Is there a dungeon here?” asks the girl.

The figure tilts its head, looking up towards her face, after scanning her plain robe and pale body. “Uh… yeah?” They point down the street, towards the giant, ominous gate in the distance on the other end of the city. “You literally can’t miss it, but -“

“Thanks!” shouts the girl, not needing to hear anything else, as she already begins to run down the way towards it; the excitement in her eyes shining brighter than the sun of this spring day itself. The burning in her chest she ignores, letting it be overpowered by this new, bright feeling that she feels.

“- Ah! Wait!” shouts the small, masked figure after her, but the voice is lost between the many other voices of the busy crowd. By the time she looks over her shoulder back towards them, the stranger has vanished.

Razmatazz

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