The Demon Lord sneered at the human hero before it.

It sneered in disgust and out of a sense of superiority. It sneered even though it was losing because in the end it knew that it would win no matter what the meagre mortal forces before it could do. It especially glared at the hero before him, a hero that had become a thorn in the Demon Lord’s side like no other had before. The hero was lean and of average height barely coming in at 180cm. He had black ebony hair and golden irises that marked him out as being touched by the magic of the world. And while the Demon Lord saw the hero as a nuisance the Demon Lord refused to see the hero as a true threat.

The Demon Lord’s arrogance would be its undoing as the hero saw through the meaning of the sneer. The hero understood that the demon which had ravaged the Endless Lands of Efes still had one last trick to play. Yet the question that echoed through the hero’s mind was, ‘Was this last trick enough to overturn the demon’s defeat?’

“Do your worst, Magnus Shrive,” snarled out the giant red skinned demon, its black horns and body spikes gleaming with malice for all existence. “You will not be able to beat me. Not without dying yourself.”

“You don’t get it do you, Akron,” said Magnus Shrive in response, his voice filled not with hate but with pity, an emotion that filled the demon with even more rage. “We came here knowing that death was a certainty. We came here knowing that we would most likely die. We came here to die to make sure that others would live.”

“Foolish mortals,” snarled out the demon known only as Akron, “if you accept your own deaths then you can never find victory!”

“That’s what you don’t understand demon,” said Magnus as he glanced back at the different members of his team who he had assembled across his many adventures. “You believe victory can only be achieved by getting everything you want. We believe that you only need to get one thing to be victorious.”

Glowering at the five mortals before it, the demon chose not to answer as it understood that regardless of whether the mortals believed in their words they were willing to follow through with them.

And as the demon glowered at Magnus, he took a moment to focus on his weapon and teammates. Magnus’ attention first shifted to the weapon in his hand, a wooden sword named Luminous Wode. It was a sword that could change its shape and form to suit what was needed, a sword that had carried Magnus through thousands of battles. A sword that he had summoned into the world of Efes at the start of the Demon War, despite the fears of the elders he had learned under.

For, Efes was a world that existed on the boundary of so many other worlds. It was a place where the lost and the banished were sent to from other realities. This was how the Demon Lord Akron had appeared in the world of Efes. He had been banished here from some other plane of existence.

Yet demons were not the only thing that fell into this world.

Looking over his shoulder at the best example of this summoning and inter dimensional travel, Magnus looked at Xenedra. She was an elf from a world whose sky had been stolen, and who had thrown herself into another reality in order to find help for her people. Seeing that she was standing strong and willing to help out, even though this was not her own world, in turn helped increase Magnus’ own resolve.

“You lose demon, you will not win here,” said Magnus as he refocused back on the Demon Lord before him. “We will succeed were those that banished you failed. We will kill you.”

“Then I will make sure that all of you suffer in return,” snarled out the Demon Lord as he gestured for the humans to commence fighting, for Akron did not believe that the humans before it would actually be willing to die in order to kill it. Akron had seen that none possessed the resolve to do so, over and over again, as he had been banished from one reality to another time and time again, causing him to wander endlessly through the infinite realms of reality.

Launching into the fight, Magnus primed his magic and unleashed the star encrusted winds at the Demon Lord, an attack the demon tried to fight back against only for the rest of Magnus’ party to intercept the demon’s attacks and magic. And in the face of the now weakened and defenceless demon, Magnus attacked not just with magic, but with his wooden sword.

Using the winds to allow him to fly forward and past the demon’s flames, Magnus arrived before the demon’s chest, a chest that was bigger than Magnus’ was tall, and plunged his blade deep into the demon’s heart. The blow was a lethal one, especially after Magnus caused the star encrusted winds to explode out of the tip of the sword causing the heart to literally explode into chunks.

Yet this did not cause the Demon Lord to instantly die.

“A pity, hero, you could have lived out your life in happiness had you just followed the lead of others,” said Akron, his voice tinged with a sadness that was unbecoming of a demon.

Shocked by the fact that the giant demon before him was not raging in death or crying out that it was impossible, Magnus failed to move away from the demon. And while this spelt his doom, it meant that the demon’s attention was not shared with his teammates.

“I have wandered from reality to reality without end, a wander without a home, and any time I try to create one I am cast adrift once more,” said the demon sorrowfully before a spark of sadistic malicious glee entered into his dying face, “now you too will know the pain of being lost within the endless cosmos!”

Using his dying breath, Akron uttered a curse so foul that sound refused to carry it, a curse that struck Magnus and engraved itself into him down to his bones, to his very soul.

“WANDER FOREVER AND NEVER RETURN TO THIS WORLD! BECOME LOST IN THE INFINITE AND BE BANISHED AS I WAS!”

Hearing these words, the demon’s curse took effect and the next thing Magnus knew was that he had been engulfed in darkness.

~~~000~~~

“Hey Mister. Hey Mister! Wake up; you’re going to catch a cold if you sleep here.”

Waking to the sound of an unfamiliar voice, Magnus blinked himself awake before slowly looking about.

Magnus was lying in the middle of a green rolling field that seemed to stretch on forever and all around him were monolithic stone pillars that were arranged in a circle about him. But what concerned Magnus the most was the source of the new and unfamiliar voice.

Focusing in on the source of it all, Magnus saw a small boy, barely six years old, standing on the other side of the circle of stones. A boy that looked at Magnus with curiosity and concern and not a shred of fear for the strange man he had found.

“Hey Mister are you ok?” asked the boy, his eyes wide with concern at the confusion he saw upon Magnus’ face. “Do I need to go get mum to help you?”

“No, I’m ok,” said Magnus as he slowly began to pat himself down to make sure that he was still intact and that he still had everything he had been wearing when he had fought the Demon Lord, including but not limited to his sword Luminous Wode.

“Are you sure, mister?” asked the boy with a tilt of his head as if he wasn’t too sure about what he had been told.

“Yes, I’m just a little confused about how I got here,” said Magnus as he wasn’t too sure about how to go about explaining that he had been banished from his home world by a dying Demon Lord.

“Did you drink adult juice?” asked the boy, curiosity returning and overruling his concern that Magnus might be injured or hurt.

“No, I…” said Magnus before he gave the boy a hard look, for while Magnus was only about twenty years of age he could feel the vast difference between the two of them. Magnus had lived under the reign of the Demon Lord and its fear had robbed him of his childhood, so the last thing Magnus wanted to do was do the same to the boy before him.

“What’s your name?” asked Magnus as he moved back from the boy and leaned against the stone monoliths.

“Clement,” said the boy eagerly, before seeming to catch himself and put both of his hands over his mouth. “Mum says I’m not meant to tell strangers my name.”

“I’m sorry Clement. I didn’t want you to get in trouble with your mom,” said Magnus sincerely. “I just didn’t want to talk down to you by calling you boy.”

Smiling with delight at the fact that he was being treated like an adult by one he saw as an adult, Clement forgot that he wasn’t meant to talk to strangers and moved into the ring of standing stones.

“Tell me Clement, did you find any other people around here?” asked Magnus, concern touching his voice, but not enough that Clement caught on.

“No. Why?” asked Clement, curiosity filling his voice as he continued to edge closer.

“Because I wanted to know if my friends got lost like I did,” said Magnus carefully as he eyed the boy not wishing to spook him by what he wanted to do next. For even in the land of Efes, magic was something that was looked down on as a source of far too much trouble.

“Are you going to go look for them? Are you going to go on an adventure?” asked Clement with excitement as he raced over to stand next to Magnus. The moment that Clement got close to Magnus, Magnus saw something that caused him to lose all of his care and precautions.

Tracing along Clement’s skin, like tattoos, were thin almost transparent lines of silver that flowed over his entire body, silver lines of metal that seemed to hum with a power that Magnus had never seen before. These silver markings didn’t just stop there; they could be seen even in the boy’s eyes and more specifically in his irises.

Shocked by what he was seeing, Magnus slowly reached out and traced a finger along the lines on the boy’s skin before looking at Clement with concern filling his face. “What are these?”

“They’re Synth Circuits,” said Clement proudly as he tried to show them off before stopping and frowning in confusion. “How do you not know what Synth Circuits are? And why don’t you have them?”

“A very good question,” said a female voice that came from behind one of the standing stones.

Looking away from Clement and at the same time moving to protect the boy from the new voice, Magnus took in the woman that had stepped into the circle of stones. She had blond hair and blue eyes, a beautiful figure and looked to be in her middle 20s, however these were only minor things that Magnus’ noted as he focused in on the woman. Her skin was covered in the same type of lines that Clement had. Except that the number she had was greater and they all seemed to glow with the same unknown power.

What’s more, in her hands was a card of silvery crystal that was also pulsing with the same unknowable power. Magnus could see from the way she was holding it that it was some kind of weapon, a weapon that she was more than willing to use at a moment’s notice. And most importantly she was aiming the card right at Magnus.

“Mum!” cried Clement from behind Magnus as he brushed past Magnus who was still too weak to try and stop the boy. “Look mum I found a person.”

“I can see that sweetie,” said Clement’s mother with a soft smile for her child all the while she continued to watch Magnus ready to strike with her power whenever needed. Although the fact Magnus was too weak to stand and had tried to protect Clement had caused the woman to lower the card down.

“I didn’t mean to scare you or hurt Clement,” said Magnus from where he was sitting as he tried to resist years of training that screamed at him to pick up Luminous Wode to protect himself. “I’ll be on my way in but a moment.”

“No you won’t,” said the woman as she looked at Magnus closer as she could see that Magnus was too weak to even stand. “I guess you’ll have to come with us.”

“Really?” asked Clement in child-like delight.

“Yes, we can’t just turn our back on someone who needs our help,” said Clement’s mother with a small sigh, “especially one who is so weak.”

“Thank you,” said Magnus as he pulled over his sword to him. “My name is Magnus Shrive by the way.”

“My name is Cornelia Sabina,” said Cornelia as she walked forward to help Magnus stand up, all the while being fearless of the sword he had in his hand.

Accepting Cornelia’s help to get him to his feet, the moment he was standing upright Magnus used his magic and commanded his sword to change shape. Shifting and growing, the sword lost its edge and grew out until it was about as long as he was tall. No longer a sword but a staff that he could use as a walking stick, Magnus glanced at the two before him and wondered how they would react.

Clement’s face was filled with wonder as he walked forward to poke at the staff while Cornelia was looking at the staff with suspicious eyes before giving Magnus a guarded look.

“Is that nanomachines?” asked Clement, his voice filled with wonder.

“I’ll tell you later,” said Magnus as he failed to understand the word and the meaning behind it, something that was very concerning as his magic was meant to allow him to translate and understand all languages.

“All right, mystery man, let’s get you home,” said Cornelia as she helped Magnus walk along, “and when we get home you will tell us everything.”

Seeing the steel will in the mother’s eyes, Magnus nodded his head in agreement aware that if he went against the woman’s wishes he might not survive, at least not while he was in his current condition.

Walking off together, the three of them headed towards a small building off in the distance, a building that seemed to rest in the middle of numerous different windmills, all of which looked picturesque against the green rolling grass and brilliant blue sky. Yet even as Magnus trudged along he couldn’t help but be shocked by the fact that floating in the sky were two silvery moons that gleamed in the light of the sun.

Knowing he was no longer in his world, Magnus kept walking and hoped that he would be able to repay the kindness that he had been given.

~~~

“So that is my story,” said Magnus to the awestruck Clement and the still suspicious Cornelia.

“That was the coolest story ever,” said Clement in awe at what he had just heard, his face filled with excitement. “Isn’t it, mother?”

“It is very different,” said Cornelia with suspicion still lacing through her voice, yet her stance had changed from what it had once been. Instead of standing ready to strike at a moment’s notice, Cornelia instead stood with a more relaxed posture as if she no longer saw an immediate threat before her.

“Clement, go outside and play, but stay near the house,” said Cornelia as she continued to look only at Magnus, the strange card still in her hand.

Nodding in excitement, the boy fled from the room to go out and fight with imaginary monsters in imitation of the hero he had found in a ring of standing stones.

Watching the boy disappear out of the kitchen room, Magnus turned his eyes back to Cornelia and wondered to himself what she really thought of his story. Did she believe it or was she just playing along to humour her son? What’s more, Magnus wasn’t sure what she would do next. Would she kick him from the house and leave him to wander aimlessly or would she demand to see the impossible to even begin to believe?

Feeling the silence stretch out between the two of them, Magnus made a small coughing sound before daring to speak up.

“What do you think of my story?” asked Magnus carefully as he was unsure what people thought about magic here upon this strange world.

“I think you’re delusional at best or insane at worst,” said Cornelia without bothering to sugar coat her words. “However I can deal with that.”

“What do you mean by that?” asked Magnus carefully as he realised he was treading on dangerous ground.

“You don’t know what this is, do you,” said Cornelia as she waved the card in her hand about.

“Only enough to know that you believe it is a weapon,” said Magnus as he eyed the card with his own suspicions.

“At least you have a sense for survival,” said Cornelia before she leaned against the wall she was standing near, which placed her on the opposite side of the room she and Magnus were in. “This is a Synth card and when powered by my Synth circuits, it can create and control fire. Enough to burn to ash any who would seek to do me or my son harm.”

“Fair enough,” said Magnus in response, before focusing in on the fact that Cornelia seemed to think him partially mad. “You have no knowledge of magic, demons or dragons? None at all?”

“We have stories from our homeworld of tales of such creatures. Some even tell of a time when we banished them to other worlds, but no one has believed in magic or demons for thousands of years,” explained Cornelia, her words hiding an emotion of fear that Magnus was able to pick up on.

“What of dragons then?” asked Magnus desperate to make sure that this family that had saved and helped him would not be in danger.

“They still roam the stars, the last of the magical creatures, flying through the void between solar systems. Many a scientist has tried to figure out what they really are and not just label them as magical things beyond understanding,” said Cornelia as she continued her explanation. “Although many wish the scientists would stop trying to provoke the dragons by figuring them out.”

“I have many questions,” admitted Magnus without hesitation, “but I can’t just ignore the idea that you are all in danger from dragons while I am here.”

“There is nothing you can do,” snapped Cornelia clearly not liking to have to talk about the dragons she feared. “Dragons! Eat! Suns! And when they are done the worlds that revolve around those suns are destroyed.”

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

“Then why not prevent them? Why not stop them from consuming the suns?” asked Magnus aghast at the idea that something as essential as a sun could be destroyed. Although he admitted to himself he failed to understand how worlds revolved around a sun.

“Because we never have succeeded and dragons are too useful to drive to extinction,” replied Cornelia, a bitterness filling her voice.

“Why?” asked Magnus, simply.

“You really don’t know anything do you?” asked Cornelia as she looked at Magnus with the first hint of concern. A concern born not of fear, but out of worry for a man living blind to the dangers of the world.

“Then please explain it to me,” said Magnus as he tried to get Cornelia to reveal why she was so scared.

“Not today,” said Cornelia with a sigh as she got her emotions under control. “You can stay in one of the out buildings while you try and figure out what you’re going to do next. You can even earn some small amount of money if you want by helping out around here until you’re ready.”

“Thank you,” said Magnus as he knew enough to leave the issue alone for a while.

“You’re welcome,” said Cornelia, her words filled with a hardness that made Magnus realise she was cursing herself for her kind nature. She was cursing herself for daring to help another person.

And in that moment Magnus knew that he needed to help her, and more importantly he needed to figure out what was happening upon this world that had made her so scared to offer aid to another human being. So Magnus nodded his head in gratitude and walked over to the front door and left the room so that he could head on over to his new home. All the while Clement watched with eyes filled with awe and joy that he would have a new friend to play with amongst the rolling green fields.

Fields that were so far from the nearest city, it might as well have not existed.

~~~

Magnus took to his new life with gusto as for the first time in a long while he could return to what he had once been before he had become a hero for the world of Efes. He could once again be a mage who cared only about creating magic and shaping the world around him. But in the meantime he also got to learn about the world he found himself in, mainly by sitting in on Clement’s automated classes.

The idea of creating a magical device to teach students all that they would ever need was an astounding one to Magnus and he wondered why they had never done that back on Efes. Only for him to realise that the magical devices would most likely have been attacked and destroyed by the variety of magical incursions that often occurred. And that if students were to learn magic without a supervisor then the number of magical incursions would most likely increase due to the student’s practising summoning without the proper supervision or aid.

The automated lessons Magnus sat in on and the refreshers that Clement had helped Magnus sit through revealed a lot about the world he had been banished to.

Firstly Magnus discovered that the world was not an infinite plane of existence like his homeworld but a sphere floating in an abyss of darkness. A sphere that orbited around the sun, explaining why the sun’s destruction would be even more devastating than what would have happened back on Efes.

Secondly the fact that mankind had spread itself across the stars and infinite number of worlds that orbited these stars made Magnus smile in joy as the idea that mankind had conquered the impossible was something he found inspiring. Especially when he turned his mind inwards and felt the impossible to break curse attached to his soul.

Thirdly Magnus had learned about how Mankind had learned to travel between the stars, a lesson that had managed to make even magic pale in comparison.

There were three main ways to travel between the solar systems. The first and most common was something called a Ryumon, which as far as Magnus could figure was a magical gate that linked to separate locations in space together. The second method was the use of something called anti-matter to cause a ship to reach speeds far beyond that of what light travelled. Although Magnus wasn’t too sure about why that was significant as being able to travel faster than light was something he had seen warriors perform before. They had moved from one location to another with such speed that they left no images between the locations.

Finally there was the last method, the one method that explained everything that Magnus needed to know and why Cornelia was so on edge about helping others and letting them stay in her isolated corner of the world.

Psychic powers existed in this world, and while normally they were extremely limited by adding in Synth Circuits to a human body they could become augmented to a level that was far beyond what any normal human could achieve. Normally any one human got a single psychic power however by creating Synth Cards these powers could be replicated by others. All they needed to do was power the card by pouring their psychic energies through their Synth Circuits into the cards. But in order to make these cards they needed either another of the same card or a person with the same psychic powers.

This was where Clement came in, for he had the rare power to teleport to travel from one location to another without having to move through the space separating locations. This meant that he was a prime resource for the world and space travel in particular. Using him they could create teleportation Synth Cards or if they installed Clement in the core of a spaceship then they could travel between star systems.

A fate that Cornelia had changed her entire life to ensure would never come to pass. And something that Magnus would also help with as he didn’t like the idea of a human being turned into a material for these spaceships. Not on principle and especially after he had befriended the boy.

Breaking off from his musings, Magnus turned his head to look at the entrance to the barn that he called his home.

“What are you doing?” asked Clement as he wandered into the barn, his eyes wide with wonder at the fact that the room was covered in various different magical items that Magnus had created. Items that were filled with crystals and other strange materials that Magnus had managed to either create using alchemy and even basic science or stuff he had summoned into existence.

“I’m researching the standing stones that you found me in,” explained Magnus as he allowed Clement to see his project that was before him. A replica of the field that he had been found in, a replica that was so precise it looked like a copy of the real thing shrunk down to fit on a table. And while it was beautiful to look at, the most important thing about it was that it included the standing stones Magnus had been found in.

“Why?” asked Clement with his never ending curiosity.

“Simple, I believe that I can use them to create a magic spell that will allow me to travel between planets without need of a spaceship. “In fact I think that’s why I landed here. The standing stones created a funnel that I fell down. They pulled me into this world and gave me a safe place to land.”

“And you want to see if you can send something or someone to another world with magic?” asked Clement with awe, his face having more Synth Circuits upon his body than when Magnus had first met him. A sign that not only were Clement’s powers growing, but the nano-machinery that was at the heart of Synth Technology was propagating further and further throughout Clement’s body.

“Not at the moment but being able to teleport around the world would sure be nice,” said Magnus with a smile only for Clement to answer in a way that made the mage pause in horror.

“I can do that all on my own. I don’t need to use these stones. Why don’t I take you with me then?” asked Clement, his words filled with an innocence about the implications and ramifications of his powers and what would happen to him in the future.

“That’s the point; if I get it right then no one will need your help. They can do it all on their own,” explained Magnus carefully.

“You don’t want my help?” asked Clement in confusion and a little hurt.

“Oh I do, but there are people in the world who don’t deserve your help. And there are some who would love to force you to help. This will give them something else to chase,” said Magnus with a smile at the fact he had created something that would help spare Clement and others like him all manner of pain and sorrow.

“Oh,” said Clement as his young mind tried to absorb that piece of information. “If the bad guys want to steal my powers then we’ll stop them together, won’t we?”

“We will. But this will allow others to be saved, after all we can’t be everywhere at once can we,” said Magnus with a bright smile that Clement returned back at the man who had become his first true friend.

“Dinner’s ready you two,” said Cornelia from the edge of the barn as she looked at the various things that Magnus had created some of which she even used in her own daily life. A fact that had allowed Magnus to realise that Cornelia no longer believe him insane and that she had come to accept magic was real.

Ushering Clement out of the barn, the three of them began to head for the main building where they would eat dinner when Cornelia stopped dead in her tracks as she turned to look off into the distance. And as she looked off into the distance, her face filled up with dread as she saw what was coming.

Flying over the green fields in the falling twilight was a ship of silver and white that hovered silently and ominously.

“Who are they?” asked Magnus as he lifted his staff up to get ready to fight back against possible enemies.

“The navy,” said Cornelia as her knees gave way to the dread she was currently feeling.

“Why are they here, Mum?” asked Clement as he hugged his mother in an attempt to help reassure her, although he was already scared himself.

“We are here, because we need your help,” said a man that appeared in front of them with a flash of silver light.

“And why do you need the boy,” said Magnus, a hard edge to his voice.

“Because a Suneater Dragon is on its way,” said Cornelia, her voice drowning in despair.

“Is that true?” asked Magnus as he turned back on the Admiral that had teleported onto their farm.

“Yes it is,” said the Admiral with sadness and fear being held back by discipline and duty. “And as protocol says we need to evacuate from the planet and unfortunately this means that we must press young Clement into service. His power will be needed to ensure that everyone gets offworld safely. Otherwise thousands if not millions could die if they are still in the solar system when the gravimetric waves hit them.”

“Gravimetric waves?” repeated Magnus as he was currently unable to recall the meaning of the words.

“He means when the dragon eats the sun it will cause a wave of destruction that will break any ship still in the solar system when the sun is consumed,” said Cornelia as she hugged her son to her.

“Can’t you fight it off?” asked Magnus as he turned on the Admiral who had tears in his eyes as he shook his head solemnly.

“No, we can stall it, but not for long enough,” said the Admiral, his voice becoming hoarse from emotion. “And even if we do kill it by some miracle the potential loss of a dragon that can create Ryumons will be seen as heresy by others. Enough that they might burn the sun from the sky in its honour.”

“And what will happen to the boy if he becomes a part of your ships?” asked Magnus even as a plan began to form in the back of his mind.

“He will save millions, and risk possibly becoming a permanent part of the ship depending on his level of development,” explained the Admiral with a sadness that he would have to sacrifice a life even if it was to save millions.

“What if I fight it off? What if I kill it for you?” asked Magnus with a grin as his plan began to truly take form.

“The repercussions could be just as deadly,” said the Admiral firmly as he wanted to go down the route of guaranteed success.

“Then I’ll have to deal with them as well,” said Magnus as he turned to Clement. “I’m going to need several of my charms can you get them for me?”

“Yes Sir,” said Clement as he disappeared in a burst of silver light to go grab the things that Magnus would need.

“You can’t do this, it will kill you,” said Cornelia desperately as she tried to save the man who had become like family to her.

“Oh I don’t think so,” said Magnus with a cheeky grin before turning back to look at the Admiral. “I’m going to need one of those solar surfboards that I’ve seen on the magic screens.”

“And what makes you think I will help you?” asked the Admiral defiantly, although Magnus could have sworn that he heard the faintest touch of hope in the Admiral’s voice.

“You’ll help, because that’s what you’ve always wanted to do, to stand in defiance of the impossible and turn it back. You long to change the game where mankind is always on the run from planet to planet hoping they find worlds free from the diet of a dragon. You want to break the Suneater’s hold on mankind’s fate,” said Magnus, his voice filling not only the fields around him but also the Admiral’s ship. “The questions that you should be asking are: ‘Are you finally ready to cast off the yoke of the dragon? Are you finally ready to take control over this world? Are you finally ready to stand in defiance of fate?’”

Before the Admiral could even begin to muster the breath to speak a new flash of silver light appeared and within it was a solar surfboard that Magnus had requested. A gift from one of the sailors aboard the Admiral’s ship.

Appearing in a flash of light, Clement returned to Magnus’ side and gave him the items he would need in order to survive the conditions of space.

“What will they do?” asked the Admiral, his voice tinged with hope and at the same time expectations that the man before him would fail to deliver on his grand speeches.

“Magic, my friend, the first of its kind, astral magic,” said Magnus to the surprise and then disappointment of the Admiral who seemed to come to the conclusion that he was talking to a madman.

Seeing the lack of faith in the Admiral’s eyes, Magnus cast a simple spell one that he had learned long ago, yet at the same time one that was complex enough that most mages never learned it. Spinning into existence was a substance that floated above Magnus’ hand, a substance that constantly shifted and expanded and contracted. A substance the defied every law of physics that Clement’s text books talked about, a substance that caused the Admiral’s eyes to widen in pure astonishment, a substance that wizards and mages called Pyrokeep. A substance that constantly retains it heat and can never get colder. This meant that the substance would constantly put out heat and if heated it would remain at its new heat until it was unmade by magic. Magnus used to create these floating masses of endless heat and light to keep him warm in winter and to provide light to read by during the dead of the night. Now they were proof that magic was not only real, but the laws of physics were mutable.

“Take this as a way for me to show you that I am being truthful and not just a random madman,” said Magnus as he left the impossible material floating in front of the stunned Admiral.

Turning to look back at Cordelia and Clement, Magnus smiled and spoke up to reassure them about what he was planning to do.

“Keep dinner warm. I’ll be back quick enough to eat just like normal.”

Hopping atop the solar surfboard, Magnus used his feet to engage the mechanisms and then the next thing he knew he was rocketing up into the sky towards the edge of space and beyond in to the abyss between worlds.

Breaking through the outer edge of the atmosphere, Magnus soared out into the emptiness of space and took a moment to look down at the world he had just been standing upon. The world called Quiris, the world that had become his home over the last few months. He saw plains of green and oceans of blue. Deserts of brown and even mountains adorned in white snow.

And in the core of his being, Magnus knew that he needed to save it.

Except that this time Magnus knew he didn’t need to beat the dragon as a hero but as a mage. For here floating in the void of space, Magnus knew that even if he slayed the dragon it would still bring with it a disaster that would destroy the world below.

Turning to head off to battle the dragon that was entering the solar system, Magnus was about to set off when something caught his eye. These thousands of silver flashes marked the appearances of spaceships teleporting into the solar system. Ships that had come to help based on the radio waves they sent out, each filled with voices offering salvation to the supposedly doomed world.

Seeing the overflowing support that they were giving each other and the attempt to save those that were living on the doomed world, Magnus’ determination increased tenfold. For it was time this world saw that miracles could happen and that there were other forces in this world than entropy.

Steeling himself to go into battle, Magnus looked in the direction of the dragon and engaged the engines of the solar surfboard. And in an instant later was flying away from the world at speeds that reached over 100 Mach. Yet Magnus could see that space was far vaster than he had truly imagined and that his imagined timeline for how the battle would go was going to be wrong.

Cursing at the miscalculation, Magnus instead focused in on the object he had in his hand, Luminous Wode. It was currently in its staff form and it was pulsing with power. For the Luminous Wode had been designed to control and shape the winds around it, all the while it would imbue the winds with the elemental energies of light. Yet here in the space between worlds there was a different type of wind, a solar wind. And this wind was resonating with the Luminous Wode.

Flying out, Magnus gathered the solar winds to him and became a comet of green glowing energy, a comet that was streaking towards the Suneater Dragon. Yet despite the awe inspiring sight he was producing, Magnus knew that he was going too slow and that he might fail to intercept the dragon with enough time to spare. And in response to this, Magnus knew he might have to shift his attention and magic to making himself faster even if it would endanger his plan.

Before Magnus could alter where his magic was floating something came flying in to glide next to him, a space fighter plane. And once the space fighter was next to him it immediately began to hail him.

“I’ve been told what it is you want to do and what you are,” said the pilot of the mechanical craft. “Do you need a lift to get to the dragon?”

“Tow me away,” said Magnus back to the nameless pilot who had managed to salvage his plan.

“Alright then,” said the pilot as a small cable shot out and hit the solar surfboard and began to pull him forwards at immense speeds. Bound together the two of them headed towards the dragon which was now entering into the solar system of Quiris.

Nearing the dragon, Magnus saw the size of it for the first time and part of him quivered in fear at what he saw. The Suneater Dragon was long and serpentine, its head was the same size as a gas giant it was swimming past and its eye could have easily been the same size as the world of Quiris if not bigger.

Feeling the waves of fear ride through him, Magnus simply road them out much like a stick floating atop the water. He allowed his emotions to rile and then when they had passed he brought them under control. For fear had no place on this battlefield and not against a foe that dwarfed gas giants and even ate suns.

Flying through space, Magnus had gathered enough solar wind to him that he was able to enact his plan, and hopefully he would be able to succeed.

Detaching from the space fighter, Magnus used the velocity that the ship had given him to speed towards the dragon and when he was in striking distance he activated his magic. Taking the solar wind and turning it into a binding rope that was of impossible length, Magnus commanded it to bind the dragons’ mouth shut.

Snapping around the jaws of the dragon, the dragon tried desperately to break the bindings that had ensnared it. Yet nothing it did could break the bonds it was bound with. Raging and screaming in outrage, the dragon writhed about before scanning to see what measly flea had dared to bind it.

Seeing the small insignificant mote of life that was Magnus Shrive, the dragon seemed ready to stretch forth a hand to crush the mage only for Magnus to start speaking in the language of dragons. Or more specifically, the dragons of his homeworld, the world of Efes.

“You can kill me if you want, but I have bound your mouth shut with magic that will not fade, not for a full turning of the galaxy which we are in. You might starve to death before you can get free from these fetters,” said Magnus, his voice echoing through the silence of space.

Shocked that something so small and insignificant not only could speak the language of dragons but also wield such impressive magic the dragon paused. And in that moment of hesitation Magnus spoke up, this time with an offer that he hoped the dragon would not refuse.

“I will break your bonds if you swear upon your true name to never eat another sun that has inhabited worlds around it,” said Magnus knowing full well that he would never be able to get the dragon to agree to not eat suns.

“FOOLISH CREATURE! WE DRAGONS DO NOT EAT SUNS FOR NOURISHMENT! WE EAT SUNS IN ORDER TO BECOME IMMORTAL! WHAT MAKES YOU THINK WE WOULD ALLOW OURSELVES TO BE LIMITED TO ONLY THE SUNS YOU DEEM FIT?” asked the dragon, his telepathic voice spoken in the language of the world of Quiris so that every human in the solar system could understand it.

“Because Dragon you will accept this bargain or I will spread the teachings of my astral magic to the farthest stars in the most distant of galaxies. Until all of the universe has the power to render you all fangless. I might not be able to kill those of you that have become immortal, but I managed to defeat the Demon Lord, Akron. I know how to banish you to places where you will never be able to return from,” said Magnus, his voice also carrying throughout the solar system.

“THEN YOU ARE A WORTHY FOE! BUT SO WHAT! WHY SHOULD I BE BOUND TO YOUR WHIMS?! I AM FREE!” snarled out the dragon, his roar shaking the very planets in their orbit, as its gaze quickly darted to the sun.

“If that is what you truly value then it is what I will deprive you of. You might become immortal, but I assure you that your prison will be devoid of everything and anything that would make you for even a second believe that you are free,” said Magnus, his voice filled with such authority that even the Suneater Dragon had to listen.

“I CAN DESTORY YOU AND EVERYTHING IN THIS SOLAR SYSTEM EVEN IF YOU DO NOT ALLOW ME TO EAT THE SUN,” said the dragon as it refocused its immense gaze upon Magnus.

“I have no doubt, but what then? Your petty revenge will not get you your immortality nor will it get you free from your bindings. You will be hunted and you will never be free,” said Magnus before delivering the final part of his argument to the Suneater Dragon. “You have revealed that you are sentient that there is a mind within your planetary sized brain. Do you think that humanity will abide by your existence now that they know?”

Pausing, the dragon seemed to consider the question, a question that came with an implied threat. For humanity might be willing to put up with a creature they saw as a force of nature that was simply feeding itself, but now they knew that it was so much different to what they were imagining. And when humanity was roused to fight, they were an unstoppable force to be reckoned with, something Magnus Shrive’s achievements were proof of.

“VERY WELL! I WILL LEAVE THE SOLAR SYSTEM ALONE AND SPREAD THE WORD AMONGST MY BRETHERN! WE WILL FEAST ONLY UPON THE STARS OF WORLDS DEVOID OF LIFE! HOWEVER YOU MUST BE AWARE, ASTRAL MAGE, THAT NOT ALL OF MY BRETHERN WILL AGREE TO BE BOUND BY YOUR WHIMS,” said the dragon as it began to turn away from the sun and sling back out of the solar system its mouth still bound by the ropes of solid solar wind. “YOU HAVE WON FOR NOW!”

Watching the retreating dragon, Magnus blinked his eyes a few times as he realised that the dragon had not bothered to wait for him to release his bindings. Either the dragon had forgotten or it was carrying them around the galaxy as proof that mankind was a threat. Regardless Magnus chose to let them remain as a sign of the magic mankind had reacquired.

Spinning about on his solar surfboard, Magnus set his sights back on Quiris to head home when he heard it. A cheer that was resounding throughout the solar system, and one that was spreading to the rest of the galaxy as fast as information could be spread.

The galaxy had witnessed the advent of an astral mage and they rejoiced for another path for humanity had been opened up.

Mankind had witnessed that they were now capable of breaking free from both the laws of reality and even the rule of the Suneater Dragons. And with this knowledge they rejoiced, for the first time ever, they had cast back a Suneater Dragon and while the future was still unknown they knew that a different future than what they had previously envisioned was possible.

Not really caring about mankind’s new found hope, Magnus instead headed back to Quiris all the while enjoying the majesty of the universe that was before him. And in the depths of his soul, Magnus even thanked the Demon Lord for banishing him here for in this place upon this world he could not only be a mage, but he could see a universe of beauty beyond compare.

And so the astral mage flew back to Quiris under the cheers and love of a million, million souls all the while wondering how he would be able to spread the wonders of magic not only throughout this universe but also into the unknown universes that lay beyond.

For it was clear that the Demon Lord, Akron had been to so many different realms and that Magnus might be able to go there as well. So even as Magnus planned to spread the astral magic across this universe he began to wonder to himself if he would be able to travel into the various different realms that existed and the wonders and miracles that would be found there.

And most importantly he wondered if within these realms mankind would be the same there as he had found them to be in his home realm and this one.

Would they be conquerors of the impossible… and if not, could he help them become so?