Matt fell into slumber as the stars above him continue in their orbital travels. The earth also had its fair share of changes as they slowly consume Matt to its depths.

Time seems to always get the best of him. It's his most worthy opponent and most difficult foe as of yet.

Rain poured, drought came and all manners of change came to this world as Matt descends deeper into the earth.

The numbing years he endured in that warded trailer box felt like an illusion as thousands of years happen in a blink of an eye.

A thousand years of change in this world felt like a second to Matt as he found himself stuck deep in this cramped dark space of earthly restraints.

He can't breathe, can't move, can't do anything.

Matt found himself in this darkness of infinite silence. He wondered if this is the so-called immaterial plane that his teacher often mentions in their discussions of life and death.

Is it?

But Matt knows better. He can feel it. The pain serves as a reminder of what he is— a living entity. Undead, ghosts, hollows, and apparitions lack such capacity.

So Matt moved. He struggled.

Mentality, the basest form of magic, swirled from his core. Then he unleashed it.

Casting stimulate, Matt revived his weakening system. He found strength welling deep inside him.

Stimulate is a magic technique that uses mana to stimulate cell activity. This magic technique is commonly used to promote physical prowess such as strength, endurance, and cell regeneration.

Matt swam as he casts fluidization over and over again. Fluidization is a magic technique that changes the state of matter into liquid. It didn't take him long. Maybe a hundred feet or less, but finally he reached it— the surface.

His fingers penetrated the last of the layers of soil. Matt hurried, eager to breathe once more. He yanked his body from the muddy shithole he created.

Matt's once neat suit is now a mess. His necktie is missing given the rough travel. He can't also find his other shoe.

The sun overbearingly burns in the great cerulean sky as dust and gravel mix with the warm air.

Matt is a mess. But despite all of this, he is happy, even joyous. His petrification has been undone. A wide smile plasters his face after the landscape in front of him finally registers itself in his mind.

Ruins.

Ruins that are oddly familiar to Matt.

There were concrete buildings, overgrown trees, road signs, and stuff. It's as if Matt found himself on a post-apocalyptic earth.

Timeskips are normal for Matt. He can stay shut in his 8-foot-apartment practicing the same magic tricks for over a month without going out, but THIS!?

This is totally on another level!

Matt admits though, as a normal human, his idea of a time skip is understandable. But he is no longer a normal human, no longer the magician performer doing side hustles, and is no longer the guy eking every bit of his charm just to find a gig.

He was imprisoned in that warded trailer box, spent his every second as a statue, then ultimately found a way to his freedom.

Then he became a mage. A real fucking mage.

Matt's gaze landed on the mud pit that his magic casting caused. It almost looked like a pond. Matt knows his magic techniques very well. He is confident to say, that he has long surpassed his mentor in the realm of magic techniques.

What Matt doesn't know is that his magic casting of such techniques is quite different. Simply put, Matt's magic techniques are way too strong.

Matt cast solidification from where he stands, reshaping the terrain once more. Solidification is a magic technique that changes the state of matter into solid. Matt doesn't want accidents to occur because of his irresponsible use of magic.

Using telekinesis, Matt removed every solid bit of mud from his person and then cast a subtle pyrogenesis to get rid of the wetness. Pyrogenesis is a magic technique that generates hot temperatures in varying degrees.

Warmth found its way to Matt's skin, effectively drying himself.

Matt has an educated guess as to what happened. The teleportation magic worked, but the wards are proven to be too formidable up to the task. A chaotic influx of magic incongruence occurred.

As a result, the teleportation sent him to different planes of existence, rebounding from one after another.

Because of the spatial folds among the planes, the petrification embedded into Matt was worn out from each planar rebound.

This helped Matt's case. It was like, hitting two birds with one stone. Finally, the petrification was undone. This is where the details get blurry.

Matt reckons that the reversal of the petrification wasn't undone instantaneously.

Because of the exhaustion of the mind, Matt was forced into a coma while in a petrified state. Then... because of soil erosion, Matt was then buried with time. This explains his prior situation.

Before Matt knows it, he already found himself in... a thrift shop? mall? Well, it has clothes~ never mind...

Matt awkwardly stared at his reflection in the mirror as he tries to organize the chaotic emotions rampaging in his mind.

"Do I look more handsome, or is it just my imagination?" Alas, distracting thoughts are always the best when it comes to this kind of situation.

The thrift shop truly has everything. Matt changed his clothes to a raggedy but stylish suit. It felt more comfortable, but all the same considering it's the same damn style he always wears during his performer days.

Too bad, Matt can't find any shoe-shine for his newly acquired snake pelted black shoes. This is just AMAZING. Looting the place felt fun, but it troubles Matt.

Just how in the world are many of the stuff in this abandoned dusty place still intact? Sure, the suit has rough edges due to tear and wear. The shoes also have scratches, but they felt perfectly functional.

It's a mystery!

Matt entertained his distracting thoughts with willfulness.

He exited the building he wandered into, with nonchalance and idle worry. But wait... He felt like, he forgot something.

"Damn, I hope that mentor is just doing fine..."

...

It's dark, deadly dark. He is dead, but his regretfulness fuels his existence. Kahowzki stood in the middle of the desert, staring at the horizon, and casting archmage-level detection magic. His bony fingers waved in the air as he summon his magical powers.

"Just where in the world are you, Matt?"

Detective Kahowzki traveled long and far. He reached places even the most prominent archmages in the current era would never set their foot into.

After the teleportation magic, Kahowzki found himself floating in the void of nothingness and never-ending loneliness.

Until he was summoned.

"Mentor, I am tired! Can we please take a rest? It has been hundreds of years since you were searching for this guy."

~Summoned by a dark elf, Kahowzki's very second disciple.

"Forget your first disciple! You have me! Your second disciple shan't disappoint you. So, just please, can we stop this madness?" The dark elf ceaselessly complained to her master as her magic wanes with her tiredness.

She has been casting the same barrier magic for over months without rest! SHE IS GOING CRAZY, ALRIGHT?!

The darkest desert is an unforgiving place. It is filled with miasma and nuclear radiation, a deadly combination that even archmages fear.

Soralla is a hopeless dark elf, the scorn of her city, for being born as the most retarded mage EVER! She is a disappointment and a burden.

Not until Kahowzki's appearance. Kahowzki made the Soralla of today, an archmage of her own right.

The dark elf is quite envious of the person called Matt. Kahowzki, her mentor and savior, is searching for this Matt for hundreds of years. Not included, are the years that the old lich endured in the dark dimension.

To Soralla's eyes, this is nothing but BETRAYAL. It's a heavy word, but this is the truth in Soralla's eyes. Whoever this first disciple is, is a betrayer for making his master worry.

"Stop being jealous. If it were you, I would do the same." Kahowzki apathetically said, but Soralla knows.

To her eyes, Kahowzki is too gentle for a lich. Soralla caught the lich more than once to be too protective of her. Sure, Kahowzki most of the time is quite the slave driver, but the lich in question never puts his student in danger.

Even as an archmage, Soralla is being taken care of by the loving and gentle lich. She can feel firm willpower supporting her weakening magic barrier.

Soralla remembers the lich being adamant about not accepting her as a disciple. It took many detours for her to finally convince him.

Kahowzki is stubborn, loving, and dedicated. Though they are both archmages now, Kahowzki is still far stronger than Soralla.

This is just too unfathomable. It makes Soralla more envious and curious of her senior disciple. She will definitely ask this 'Matt' a spar one day.

...

Kaira, a cute little girl, hummed her favorite tune as she scour the forest of berries and nuts. She convinced her mother to allow her to gather food, but for some reason, her mother is kinda ignoring her these days.

Honestly, it's annoying.

"I am doing my best. I will find a cure, mom. Just wait!" Kaira sheds her pretense as she rushes to where she believes is an ancient city.

Her childish demeanor vanished as she evades capture, by the slavers in her tail.

The forests are usually the safest place in this world. With her mother's druidic teachings, Kaira is untouchable in the forests. This is why she has the gal of humming like a careless rabbit while picking her fruits.

But remembering her mom makes Kaira's heart tighten. She knows that her mom is sick. Her mother's complexion is getting worse by the day. This is why Kaira works hard to gather food. The problem is, that her mother refuses to eat.

An eight-year-old would have been broken mentally, but Kaira is different. She is stronger than her age suggests.

Alas, her constant dwelling in the forests attracted these vile snakes. Kaira's skin is on the brown side, she has blonde hair and amber cold eyes. She is someone who will grow into a fine beauty one day.

In other words, she is a fine commodity.

The slavers have been lurking around these parts of the wilderness in the hopes of finding the ancient city. It was said that the city hides a technology that would allow them to create infinite slaves— it sounds magical to the slavers' ears and at the same time, it sounds too good to be true.

They tried their luck only to find nothing.

Luckily, they found this beautiful li'l girl. With her, they can turn this around. But to their surprise, there is something better to be found. What they don't know is that they are about to lose it all. Luck? Wealth?

All be damned.

It's an ancient city. The little girl led them to the ancient city that somehow eluded them for such a long time.

They forgot the little girl that they have been chasing a while ago, then chose instead to focus on venturing into this unknown city.

Meanwhile, in the cloak of the shrubs, little Kaira hid. Her mother warned her a lot about this place, to never go there.

But Kaira has to make tough choices. She heard it more than once from her mother, that in ancient times, kids that don't have an appetite for food are made to eat vitamins to stimulate their hunger.

It makes them stronger and better.

Kaira watched the slavers divide themselves into two groups eager to loot this ancient city.

Slavers, it's a word Kaira is gravely aware of. She can recognize their kind from a distance with little difficulty. The slavers' equipment is a dead give-away— rags for clothing, shackles, chains, steel weapons, and an ugly mug.

Her mother thought her a lot of things, including knowledge inappropriate for her age.

This is just how it should be.

Kaira is still hesitant but she steels her resolve as she stealthily tails the group that looked strongest among the two.

Her goal is to find those vitamins and avoid the Silver Demon at all costs. That's what the slavers are for, to act as her cannon fodder.

Kaira is unusually sharp for her age. It can be attributed to genes, but the fact that her mother is an educated woman seems to be the biggest contributor to it all.

Kaira just wants her mom back.

"GraaaaaaAAAAAAAH!" It was a painful scream. Kaira went blank as the fear of the Silver Demon occupy her reason.