In the stone brick walls of a posh estates, Malcolm’s blade clashes against the elite guard's of Viscount Ivan Jeweler. Malcolm's sword is deflected by the guard's, but he is quick to recover his form. Beside him, the radiant Lumina unleashes waves of holy energy to ease his fatigue and that of their allies. His teammates — Mandy, the rogue; Sylvester, the knight; and Gil, the pyromancer — are fighting valiantly to clear a path to their foe. However, each one of them are dealing with their own opponent, leaving Jeweler protected in the back.

"Jeweler! This ends now!" Malcolm yells, leaping into the air for a decisive strike. The guard in front of him brings up his sword, having Malcolm's weight collide into the blade. Malcolm groans in pain. His chainmail prevents much penetration, but it does not help him from hitting the ground. The guard goes to strike Malcolm again, missing narrowly as Malcolm rolled away in time. 

Jeweler only grins. His guards are performing their jobs well, allowing him to have free rein in this battle. His dark eyes lock onto the only one of the group not occupied by a guard: Lumina. Her feet are tied in assisting her team, leaving her open to his power play. If he can take her out, the party crumbles without their healer. He chants an ancient incantation, the words sounding like he is pulling them from a forbidden realm. 

Gil looks at the direction where he is hearing the chanting. Following where Jeweler is facing, Gil calls out to Lumina, "Lumina! He's targeting you!"

"Right!" Lumina responds as she slams her staff into the ground and erects a protective bubble around herself. As Jeweler finishes the chant, a wave of violet energy emerges from Jeweler's hand. It comes into contact with Lumina's barrier, spreading as the defenses seem to be holding. However, Lumina notices that something is wrong. She is not feeling any resistance against her barrier. The situation gets worse for her as the violet magic seeps though the barrier. "How?!" she screams in panic. "This is a dual barrier against physical attacks and elemental magics! What is this?!"

"No!" Malcolm shouts right after swatting away his opponent's blade. Lumina's bubble becomes a prison of her own design, her fate inescapable. 

Soon, the barrier fades to reveal Lumina like a performer on stage. Her golden eyes soften, her lips turning into an amused grin as she looks directed at Jeweler. "Hey, handsome," she purrs seductively, gazing at Jeweler with a devotion that makes Malcolm’s blood run cold. "Hang on, I have a gift for you."

Malcolm yells, "Lumina! Stop!" However, Lumina does not pay him any mind and removes her blessing of light from Malcolm. The golden glow around him fades like the sun's rays over the horizon slipping to night. A wave of despair washes over Malcolm and his group as Jeweler stands tall, now empowered by same power that Malcolm benefited from.

"She is mine now, boy," Jeweler sneers as Lumina struts over to his side. "Emotional magic. This little girlie here is hopelessly in love with me, aren't cha?"

Lumina giggles as she rests her head against Jeweler's arm, "My. You are quite clever, Hun."

Mandy is disgusted as she shouts, "You are the lowest of the lows, Viscount!"

Jeweler wraps his arm around Lumina mockingly, "Perhaps, but I would not lose sleep over it." He grabs Lumina's chin and makes her look at him. "Show them where you belong."

Lumina looks into Jeweler's eyes dreamily, "Of course." She leans forward for everyone to see. Her imposed love made clear as she steps further into his clutches.

At an inch away, Jeweler and Lumina freeze. In fact, the whole world freezes in place. In slow motion, the two drift apart before everything starts to go by faster. Malcolm is the sole exception to the reversing time. He sighs, "Yep. That would do it." How many times does that make this? Why even bother trying to keep track? 'She' already knows.

***

Reality zooms by faster than Malcolm can register in his mind. With a sudden stop to static scenery, Malcolm finds himself back into this room. A room he has been very familiar with. Bookshelves press up against every wall, time pieces all displaying different readings, and the irritated look of a woman sitting close by. Her youthful appearance belies her ancient wisdom, her shoulder-length silver hair falling neatly around her bespectacled face. Her teal eyes are heavy with disappointment and scorn. This is Jikan, the Goddess of Time.

"Well," she begins, closing her eyes to temper her anger, "that was embarrassing. You failed again."

Malcolm groans, rubbing his temples. "I didn’t know he had a love spell! How was I supposed to prepare for that?"

Jikan’s expression turns into a glare. "How? Are you seriously asking me that? There are countless countermeasures for status effects. Amulets, wards, even simple potions."

"I made sure Lumina had her own!" Malcolm snaps back. "But—"

"But nothing!" Jikan slams her hand on the table, startling him. "Tell me," Jikan starts off by speaking with a low voice, "What is your job again?"

Malcolm avoids direct eye contact with the goddess. "I am the hero summoned from Earth to guard the mortal Goddess of Light until she can reclaim her divinity."

Jikan bounces her leg in annoyance, "And yet, I’ve reset this timeline 127 times, and you’ve failed every single one! You only need ONE timeline where you succeed, and you can not even manage that! Do you know how exhausting it is watching you fall into mistake after mistake?"

"It’s not my fault!" Malcolm protests. "I am trying my best! Lumina just happens to be a magnet for trouble! The universe is out to get her! Jeweler could have made Mandy fall in love with him instead, but he just so happened to pick Lumina!"

Jikan leans forward, her glasses glinting ominously. "You should not make excuses, Malcolm. Viscount Ivan Jewel targeted Lumina because she is a healer, that's it. Everything that has happened was not exactly random."

Malcolm feels his head about to explode. "If you have all of this knowledge, then tell me before it happens!"

"I told you that it would be stupid to!" Lines form on Jikan's forehead, her facade of age failing due to her emotions. "If I get too involved in a timeline, the future would unravel from my sheer presence. Turning time backwards is the best way I can help you." She massages her face and returns to an image of vitality. "I was lead to believe that you were supposed to be a smart pick for this job. Our world was something you called 'fantasy' in yours, and you were an avid practitioner of 'fantasy games'."

"Hey, those things taught me skills I needed here!" Malcolm argues. "Magic systems, level progression, inventory—"

"And not a single ounce responsibility, it seems." Jikan interjects. She pushes her chair out and stands over the hero. "Malcolm, you're fired!"

"What?" Malcolm’s jaw drops. "You can’t just fire me! I’m the summoned hero!"

"Not anymore," Jikan replies icily. "I’m summoning someone else to protect the Goddess of Light. Someone competent."

Malcolm sits back in shock, his mind racing. "So what happens to me?"

Jikan sighs, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Lumina was the one who started the summoning process a long time ago. I can’t unsummon you, unfortunately. So, I’ll reset the timeline one more time. But this time, you can do whatever you want. Build a farm, become a wandering merchant, take up knitting." She takes a deep breath, "I don’t care! Just stay away from Lumina!"

Malcolm stares at her, a storm brewing within him. "Fine," he mutters. "Maybe I’ll finally get some peace."

"Oh, don’t worry," Jikan says, snapping her fingers as time began to unravel again. "You’ll have plenty of that. But don’t come crying to me when you realize being a hero was the best thing you ever had." Malcolm disappears from the room, leaving Jikan alone to her own devices. Wanting to move along and be done with Malcolm, Jikan looks into the process of summoning a hero. "They can not be too foreign to the logic of our world," she reasons. She looks into the planet where Malcolm is from for inspiration. It does not have magic in the way her reality does, but it lives in the imaginations of people as young as children and as old as the elders. "Maybe one of them would think first before charging into trouble. Would save me the effort..." she spits out.

Other thing for her to consider is when she should carry out the summoning. Unlike Lumina when she was at her peak, Jikan can reliably go to the past to buy time. Lumina's mortal form would need all of the protection she can get, and her new hero should be experienced in everything the world has to offer. Perhaps she can go ten years back to make sure that the new guardian to the Goddess of Light is fully prepared. That sounds like a good first step. The events of the most recent timeline rewind ten years prior and Jikan adjusts her glasses to carry out the summoning.

Reading Lumina's notes, Jikan sighs, "You put too much work into this, Lumina, only for your hero to be a mess." She raises her hand in the air and summons a swirling vortex of the sands of time. Bending space-time like this is incredibly dangerous, so time is paused outside the room to ensure that time does not tear itself apart at the seems. Inside her little study, Jikan's pages, nick-knacks, and furniture fly erratically as lightning sparks across the sands. Jikan's glasses joins the airborne debris, her face reflecting her true elderly age as she devotes her attention to the summoning.

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Then, the connection Jikan was feeling dissipated in a matter of seconds. She pants heavily as items fall back to the ground. "Why...?" She asks herself. She read Lumina's plans, substituted light with time appropriately. So why did it not work? "... The notes...!" she concludes hopefully. She scrambles to find the notes among the loose leaflets scattered across the floor. Finding her glasses first, she brings up the notes and reads thoroughly. Yet she just finds that these are the same words she scanned over and over again. There was nothing new. "You got to be kidding!" Jikan fumes in frustration.

There had to be another explanation, something she does not have written down anywhere. She looks back into her memories to when Lumina was explaining her plan to reincarnate.

***

The golden haired Goddess of Light in all of her natural splendor was deeply concerned about the trials ahead, seeking comfort and security from the Goddess of Time. "I see no other way it can be done," Lumina confessed, her lips quivered with fear but her eyes determined. "I am going to die, Jikan. I need to protect them," she was referring to the mortals in the realm below, "but I do not wish to leave them alone after I am gone either."

"Then what do you propose we do, Lumina?" A young-faced Jikan asked as she cast her eyes down.

Lumina balled her hands on top of Jikan's desk. "I must return to them... eventually. I would be weaker, but..."

Jikan looked off to the side as she knew Lumina too well, "You feel duty bound." Jikan glanced quickly at Lumina's complex expression that bore the weight of many fates. Jikan sighed and sniffled as she suppressed a tear. "Are you sure? You won't remember anything. And you would be very vulnerable."

Lumina nodded, though she was still very conflicted. "I must." She looked up to meet Jikan's eyes, "Which is why I made a contingency plan for the future."

"A contingency plan?" Jikan asked as she tilted her head with interest.

"I have been developing a technique that would allow people to be summoned from other worlds," the golden goddess explained. She manifested parchments containing her notes and ideas. "They would arrive as heroes," she slid the notes across to show Jikan, "and I plan to use it to summon a hero that can protect me."

Jikan is speechless as Lumina confided her plan to her. It sounds poetic, but also unsettling. "Why must they be summoned from another world? We have people here who could protect you." Jikan stifled a grunt as Lumina's plan did not make sense. "Lumina, you are one of the most worshiped deities there is. Why outsource your security?"

Lumina sighed deeply as she spoke the truth, "If I die and have to wait to be reincarnated, I would lose favor with the people. If I am not a constant part of their lives, if I am not their constant light, then they would forget the praise they have given me." She twiddled her fingers nervously, "But they would remember my potential power. If they discover 'the Goddess of Light is mortal', I would be targeted most by the descendants of those who worshiped me." With a shrug, Lumina reasoned, "If my hero is from a place ignorant to our history and told that they have to protect me, then that would be the first thing they hear. Mortals tend to hold on to the first thing they hear and accept it."

"So," Jikan tried to get everything straight, "you want to exploit your hero with psychological manipulation?" Leaning back into her chair with her arms crossed, Jikan offered a slight nod. "That actually makes sense... somewhat."

Lumina leaned forward further on Jikan's desk and asked pleadingly, "But I needed your help, Jikan."

"My help?" Jikan asked with half-lidded eyes. "Can't you do it on your own?"

Lumina gestured with her hands as she punctuated, "Well, yes, but the act of summoning is not the problem. And that is sort of the problem. If I can summon a hero from another world, then someone else can do it if they know it is possible and have the power to recreate it. It would be bad if several bad heroes were summoned before I come back." Lumina's hands then pointed to Jikan, "So, I was hoping for you to manipulate time so that the spell would only work when I reincarnate. No one else would know except for you."

"So... what?" Jikan asked. "You want me to keep the spell in suspended animation until you are reborn?"

"You can do that, right?" Lumina inquired seriously.

Jikan brushed her hair off of her shoulders. "I mean... sure. I 'can'..."

"Then please, Jikan!" Lumina begged as she bows her head to the desk's surface.

Jikan flinched. This was not merely a request from her friend. This was her last wish. Lumina's demise was almost certain, and she wished for her return. No. Not 'her' return, but the return of the Goddess of Light. What she was asking from her was the security to make sure that her own plan can not be used by another to lead the mortals to ruin. Lumina trusts Jikan with this. It was a weird plan, one that Jikan would advise Lumina to reconsider. Scanning the notes on her desk, however, Jikan sees that her friend put in a great deal of faith in this plan. Lumina had to know that this was crazy. Yet, Jikan accepted that Lumina saw in this plan something that gave her hope.

"I..." Jikan struggled to say, "I... think setting the... summoning to go off when you first reincarnate would be bad." Lumina groaned at Jikan's words, but the Goddess of Time explained. "If your spirit fully melded with the mortal body from birth, you would become a demigod and can not receive full divinity again, right? Maybe..." Jikan rolled an idea off the top of her head, "your spirit can awaken over time. I can set the summoning to happen when your spirit is distinguishable from your vessel during its coming of age."

Lumina looked up to Jikan's face. The Goddess of Light gave a sarcastic smile as she wipes her face. "Oops! A demigod?" Lumina shook her head with a soft chuckle. "You're saving me already, Jikan."

Jikan watched as Lumina laughs at what may be their last meeting. The Lumina that would come after would be a reflection of the world that she sought to protect.

***

In her study, Jikan looks back on that promise. She had kept her word, despite he doubts. Yet, the result was 127 failed timelines, due in large part to the hero that was actually summoned. Lumina wanted her hero to be a loyal guardian that would brave the world for her, but instead she got Malcolm. It has to be a cruel joke. The summoning spell is separated from traditional space-time, so Jikan can not modify it. If she went back to the past to save Lumina so that the summoning would not be necessary... "I can't," Jikan sighs in resignation. She knows the possible timelines following that would be far worse. That is why Lumina did not ask her for it.

"But," Jikan looks down at the notes left behind, "why can't I recreate it?" Checking one leaflet in particular, she looks at the crude diagrams representing their world, the pathway to show the summoning of the hero, and the hero's home world. It is a simple drawing, never losing Lumina's poor artistic quality. Then she realizes something: Soor, the Courier God. Business with another world would have to pass his jurisdiction. Lumina should have known this. She could not unilaterally summon anyone in this matter without Soor's involvement. Soor had to be ready to deliver the hero, making him another confidant Lumina trusted.

Lumina's words from long ago pop up again in Jikan's head. "If I can summon a hero from another world, then someone else can do it if they know it is possible and have the power to recreate it. It would be bad if several bad heroes were summoned before I come back." The silence in the room is deafening. Jikan's summoning failed because Soor refused to deliver a new hero in adherence to Lumina's wishes. Jikan's grip tightens fiercely, "Damn it!" She knows Soor; he would never bend on anything. 'Soor delivers' is a famous statement with a double meaning for a reason. Does this mean that she is stuck with Malcolm after all?

Jikan calms down, thinking that she can manage this. Thinking about the interaction between Lumina and Soor, Jikan believes that she understands how it would have gone down. Lumina would probably say, "I am going to summon a hero from another world in the future. Do not fetch anyone until you receive my spell calling for them." Soor would have agreed, and that is what she is working with right now. So the question is how can she work around it? Thinking about it, Jikan thinks that the promise would be fulfilled after Malcolm would be delivered, meaning she can summon her own hero afterwards. "Maybe."

"But that sucks," she says off the cuff. "That means that I can not have them get experience before they protect Lumina. They are going to be just as bad as Malcolm." Quietly, she sits back into her chair as time flows forward. "Well," she sighs as she looks at the sand falling in one of her many hourglasses, "that might be a bit too harsh." At this point, she would take anyone else rather than see Malcolm reach timeline 500.

***

The forest' edge kisses the plains surrounding the major city of Lycore. Malcolm stews as he sits in the shade of the trees, watching from a distance the city that is supposed to be the start to all of it. Meeting Lumina in her mortal form, being her hero. Yet, here he is, unceremoniously discarded where he was supposed to take his first footsteps.

His fists clench with his anger. Jikan always reset time to a point before the most recent disaster, but she brought him to the very beginning this last time. She sought to remove him from the equation, replacing him with someone better. He grabs a nearby branch and swings it at a tree. The ferocity of the strike cracks the bark on the trunk and snap the stick in two. "Useless, huh?" he mutters darkly to himself. "She thinks I’m useless?"

He was a normal person from Earth up until his summoning. He remembers Jikan's youthful expression the first time he was in her study. She told him that he was going to be a great hero, fulfill a monumental destiny, and become legend with the resurgence of the Goddess of Light. He did not ask for it, but he still thrust himself into the position. And what does he have to show for it? Jikan called him all but stupid and incompetent. She ripped him away from Earth, promised a lasting legacy, then tore it away because he kept losing? It was not fair.

Memories of the 127 failed timelines haunted him. Every mistake, every missed opportunity, every painful loss. He had failed many more times than he would have wanted, but how was he supposed to succeed when the odds were always stacked against him? Protecting the Goddess of Light is a heavy burden, so would it have hurt Jikan to cut him some slack? In a world as diverse and unfamiliar to him, why was Jikan asking for perfection? She always treats his resets as bumbling failures and said the outcomes were obvious. She belittled him and told him to try again. Over and over. Making him feel useless when she set unrealistic standards.

"Fine," Malcolm growled, tossing the broken branch aside. "She wants to say I'm useless?" He stands up, his messy black hair gently blowing in the wind. "I'll show her how wrong she is."

A plan began to form in his mind. Jikan might have told him to do whatever he was that does not involve Lumina, but he had something she did not accord for: spite. He had lived through those timelines. He remembered every 'bad end to the game'. If she is going to replace him with some new guy, then the new hero would be at a massive disadvantage. "Lumina was supposed to be my charge," he says in a low and hurt voice. "And if Jikan thinks she can just replace me, she’s got another thing coming. I’ll prove to her that I’m not just a hero. I’m the best hero. Better than whoever she picks! Hell, I'm better than Jikan herself!" he shouts, sending a few birds to fly away from the noise.

With that, Malcolm begins his journey, not towards redemption, but towards reclaiming what was robbed from him. With 127 timelines, he would show Jikan what she sorely does not understand: persistence is his greatest weapon.