Chapter 5: The Future

Not long after Asael had left, Josef and Leo also woke up. Just like Damian, they also felt numb. They had difficulty in moving properly.

“Take . . . rest . . . for . . . now,” Damian told them. By now, he was able to say a few words. He was sitting by the bed, unable to move that much. He was wondering where the middle aged man went.

Josef and Leo listened to him and stayed in their respective bed.

After a few hours, the three of them gained much better control and coordination over their body. Most importantly, they were now able to talk properly. Damian told them everything he knew about where they were.

Just like Damian, Josef and Leo found their situation suspicious. It’s been a few hours since the man went out; thus, they made use of this time in order to find out what was actually happening.

They were conversing in the softest, audible voice they could muster.

Josef walked to the window to see what was outside as he found it too silent even if they were in the Almina City’s outskirts. As he went towards the window, he staggered like a kid who just learned how to walk a few days ago. Outside the window, he saw unfamiliar buildings and houses, and people and wagons passing by

They were on the second floor.

Leo suggested they do something about this . . . like call people outside. The window, however, was fixed and could not be opened. So, he thought that they should break it.

Damian agreed with the idea. But, on the other hand, what if they just misunderstood their situation. They would be breaking someone’s property. Right now, he was pressing his ears against the door trying to hear any sound outside. Since, he didn’t hear anything, he thought of going out.

Josef and Leo thought that would be a bad idea. They were merely thirteen years old. What if Asael wasn’t the only guy here?

Still, Damian remained firm with the idea. He told them to grab anything that could be of help.

But before they could actually grab anything, they flinched at the sound of the knob being rotated. Without talking or gesturing to each other, they frantically returned to their beds as quietly and quickly as they could.

As the door slowly opened, Asael appeared as they expected.

“Are the three of you able to move or speak much better now?” Asael prodded.

The three boys looked at each other, showing nervousness in their eyes. They were unsure on how to respond.

“Umm. . . yes,” Leo took the initiative, his heart pumping faster. He thought to answer was for the best.

From his bracelet, Asael took out clothes and gave it to them. “Wear these. I don’t know if they’ll fit perfectly, but they’ll be fine for the time being.” Asael said. “I know you kids must be dubious of me . . . but all I can ask is for you to trust me even for a little bit.”

The boys nodded in response. They wore the cloths and found them slightly tight.

“I have my questions, and I’ll ask you to answer them,” he added. “On the other hand, if you have questions, I’ll answer them too. First of all, you must have already heard from your friend, I’m Asael Primgard. May I ask your names? ” It was common courtesy to introduce one’s self before asking another’s name.

“I’m Leo Avista.”

“I’m Josef Apache.”

Asael raised his brows at Damian. “And you?”

Damian thought he already introduced himself earlier. “Oh, sorry. The name’s Damian. Damian Nardell.”

“What year and month is it?” Asael asked.

The three of them were puzzled on why he asked that question yet answered anyway, almost simultaneously. “The sixth month of the year 903.”

“What calendar?”

“Letian Calendar,” they answered.

Asael nodded nonchalantly.

“Who are you really?” Josef spoke first.

“And where are we?” Leo followed.

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In an instant, the surrounding room transformed into a neglected, dirty, and worn out room. Not only were some parts of the ceiling ragged but the window was also broken. The closet, the cabinet, the bed frame, the wall . . . their colors were faded. The warm feeling the room gave was gone in the blink of an eye.

What the hell just happened?

Asael composedly responded, “Just now, I just cancelled out the illusion ward I placed here.”

Josef went to check out the window. However, there were no people or wagons passing by. The road was deserted. Rubbles and debris were sprawled all over.

Some buildings across were in pretty bad condition. Wrecked! Some structures had their walls teared off, roofs destroyed — the scenery produced an image of an aftermath of a war.

But there was more. He was seeing some weird and unfamiliar figures from afar. He rubbed his eyes as he stared at the creatures, a combination of orange and white colors. They had broad chests and shoulders, large arms, and moved on their arms and feet. There were oth—

Josef suddenly winced backwards and fell to the floor as something big flew past near the window.

“Josef!” Damian ran towards him.

Josef looked at Damian in an indescribable expression filled with confusion. “What was that?!”

Damian did not answer, but instead frowned as it suddenly grew darker.

He raised his head and saw huge, curved tusks in a moment . . . followed by colossal, hairy legs . . . and a large, alligator-like tail? What kind of creature . . . wait, more importantly, they were on the second floor right?

Damian, Josef, and Leo’s jaws dropped as their eyes widened at what they were seeing. They were frozen stiff in where they were.

They could only imagine how massive the creature was.

As the creature was gone by the window, they exhaled deeply. They just realized they were holding their breath, and now, their bodies were shaking uncontrollably.

“Do not worry,” Asael said impassively. “I established protective wards in this room.”

* * *

If you were told by a stranger that you were now 10 years in the future, and that the city where you study, was overrun by unfamiliar beasts of different sizes, how would you react?

The three first year mage students were exactly told that.

The three boys did not require to hear the man’s words twice. Though they were in a state of shock, they heard him clearly. They would’ve loved to laugh as to what they were told under different circumstances . . . normal circumstances rather.

But from the seriousness in Asael’s expressions and the situation at hand, only a mad person would laugh.

Many explanations came into the boys’ minds:

All of this could be a dream. But that was immediately proven wrong. Then all of this must be an illusion. Yeah, that’s right . . . this must be an illusion! The man just admitted earlier that he set up an illusion ward.

Perhaps this was part of a comedy skit, and they'll later be told that it was just part of a show. They have seen shows like that on television. What was that series again?

This must be part of the academy's punishment. Since they were unconscious for some time, the school must've thought this was a good lesson for them.

However, Asael assured them that they were not under any illusion, and explained how easily exposable an illusion ward was.

Illusions are created and maintained by the flow of mana. One could easily disrupt the illusion by interfering with the mana flow. By just channeling mana into the illusion, it usually disperses as the flow is interrupted.

This was why professional and experienced mages are difficult to fool with illusion magic merely by using wards. Their ability to sense mana in the first place would let them detect or sense the existence of a ward. And if they are suspicious of an illusion ward, they could just saturate the area with their personal mana uncovering the farce. Hence, illusion wards were usually used on regular persons.

Plus, do they have any idea how difficult it was to make very realistic illusion wards?

There were two main ways of making illusions. First, by directly creating by using one's personal mana. Second, through the use of wards, powered by the surrounding mana.

The illusionist, for instance, would need to consider to satisfy the person’s different senses according to the circumstances. For example, the window was fine and fixed earlier. Now, as the illusion ward was cancelled, it was broken.

To deceive them that there was nothing wrong with the window earlier, Asael needed to fool not only their sense of sight, but also their sense of touch by making it tangible in case they would touch it.

For fixed objects, illusion wards were most efficient as they could maintain themselves. However, when the illusion ward would involve moving illusions, fluidity, movement, consistency, and logic becomes a problem.

If Josef examined intently the people and wagons passing by, he’d realized that the same people were passing by over some time as if they were stuck in a loop. In addition, he'd noticed how rigid their movements were.

In addition, there were no illusions placed on the road, they were images placed on the window. By giving depth into them, they seemed more life-like. Most importantly, it was the boys fuzzy condition that impaired their perception.

Asael had no choice as he hastily created the illusion ward. And unlike manually-controlled illusion, illusion wards are inflexible. After the runes are fixed, they function on their own as they are programmed. Adding and changing the codes of runes were difficult. It would usually cause a glitch, exposing the illusion. 

“You certainly must’ve learned that from your class?” Asael asked.

They slowly shook their heads in response. They completely had no knowledge about that stuff.

“We just began our first years,” Damian said.

Asael Primgard, whohad always maintained his impassiveness, let out a sigh.