“Who I’m not? What do you mean, who I’m not? I’m me.”

“You’re you.” The person wearing Sarah’s face, a fact I was beginning to accept, eyed me up and down before waving a finger around. “No, that’s not the answer I’m looking for, but it is an answer itself. You’re you. The fact that you’re reacting this way speaks of my miscalculation, one of few I’ve ever made.”

“A- what? What miscalculation? What’s going on?”

Once more, the person wearing Sarah’s skin scrunched her face before shrugging as if deciding on something.

“There is much I don’t know about the current era or even what era it is. Kid, I’ll grant you a boon. Once, Kings and Queens, royalty and nobility, and even the mightiest of Dragons from across the globe would come to me in hopes of receiving even the most minor of boons. Yet, here I am granting one to the likes of you. I will make a deal with you. I will trade your answers for my answers. Does that sound agreeable?”

“I… I guess?”

“Good. Let it be known that I’ve always been fair and honorable in my deals.” Not-Sarah raised her hand toward me, holding her thumb up. I continued to stare at her, confused.

“Oh, come now.” Not-Sarah sighed, waving her thumb at me. “Press your thumb against mine and repeat after me.”

I thought about whether I should do as she said, until a single glance at where my mother was lying on the ground, unconscious but thankfully breathing, made up my mind as I stuck my hand toward her until our thumbs touched.

“Alfosi.”

“Alfosi,” I repeated just as Not-Sarah instructed. The moment I did, I felt a shock, like supercharged static passing between us.

“W-What was that?” I stared between my thumb and Not-Sarah.

“A gifted boon. We are linked now; through a binding vow, our mana has been interwoven, if only by a single degree. It ensures the integrity of our spirits.”

“Right.” I nodded, not at all understanding what she had just said. Boons, binding vows, spiritual integrity. None of it made sense; I had never heard of such things before.

“Alright, I will go first so you understand how this works.” Not-Sarah idly pointed toward me. “What year is it?”

“The twenty-sixth and final year of the third sister’s second minor cycle of the eleventh major succession.” I answered instantly, surprised that I didn’t feel any magical tingle or sensation alerting me to whatever our ‘binding vow’ had done.

Not-Sarah scrunched her face once more as she considered the answer before sighing. “Well, that doesn’t tell me much except that the calendar was changed at some point.”

“Changed the calendar? What do you mean?”

“I just told you. The calendar, for whatever reason, was changed. During the era of my time, the calendar was a simple linear scale. Really it’s not a complicated concept.”

As she answered, I suddenly felt a chilly breeze blow down my neck, eliciting a gasp of surprise from me. “What was that?”

“Doubling up on the turns, I see.” Not-Sarah seemed amused for a moment before waving her arms at nothing in particular. “That was how you know the truth is being told.”

Once more, I felt the cold sensation flutter around my head, believing what she said instinctively.

“Where are we? And answer comprehensively, please.” Not-Sarah questioned.

“Village of Junaper, we are the furthest north village within the Central continent.”

“Central continent... Hmm. Bit of a self-rotating worldview, but I digress. Who are you?”

“Rook Baster, son of Asalyn Baster.”

“Of course you are.” Not-Sarah sighed once more.

“What about you? Who are you?” I asked, taking my turn.

“I am the Sage Above All.”

“That’s not a name,” I answered instantly.

“You didn’t ask for a name; you asked who I am.”

“I-I guess I didn’t,” I answered, my eyes turned down as I realized my mistake.

“Okay then, Rook, what do you know of the whereabouts of any other Sages?”

“Sages?” I scratched at my nose, lost. “I’ve never even heard of a Sage before today.”

“Never heard of a -” For the first time, I saw Not-Sarah’s face lose its composure, recoiling as if I had struck her. “What do you mean not heard of a Sage? What about Halsoria?”

“I’ve never heard of a ‘Sage’ before.” I smiled as I realized something. “Also, never heard of Halsoria either. I believe that’s two questions for me.”

The Sage gave me a dirty look but nodded. “Catching on quick. Fine, go ahead.”

“What is a Sage?”

“A Sage is a master of magic.” Not-Sarah puffed her chest out as if taking pride in it. “Though, that itself is a bit of a vague explanation.”

“Then explain it,” I said.

“Is that a question or a demand?”

I thought about it for a second before realizing her angle. “A question.”

“Cheeky kid.” Not-Sarah nodded as if she wasn’t surprised. “A Sage is simply the term for those who have started treading down the route of true magic. A Sage would be any who has formed their foundation ring, and a Great Sage would have fully manifested all ten rings.”

I wanted to question it more, but I clamped a hand over my mouth as I realized I had nearly given her an additional question.

The Sage obviously saw my reaction, smiling at it, though there was something dark in her expression. “Your mother there has an interesting type of magic. Directly assaulting the mind, causing an enemy to use their own mana for breathing life into those illusions.”

I narrowed my eyes, unsure where she was taking this.

“Was she the one who taught magic to the ‘original’ owner of this body?”

“No,” I answered confidently before feeling like a hot ember landed on my neck.

“Ow!” I hissed, eyes darting toward the Sage. “What was that?”

“Well, I’m glad you wasted another question.” Not-Sarah nodded somewhat, for lack of a better word, sagely. “That was the response to a purposeful misrepresentation. With our link, you can’t outright lie if you haven’t noticed, but you can misrepresent information. Normally it would only be felt one-sided, but you made it rather obvious.”

“Oh,” I answered plainly, realizing I had given away the few cards I had, not knowing I had any in the first place.

“Now, I’ll ask again, how exactly did your mother instruct or assist the original owner of this body regarding their magical development.”

I sighed; she had corned me with that question. “My mother didn’t teach her magic. More like she explained the process for unlocking her magical talents.”

“Hmm.” The Sage cupped her chain as she thought about it before shrugging again. “Well, magical talents have definitely changed.”

“My turn then.” I sucked in a breath, preparing myself for the question I was about to ask. “What happened to Sarah- to the original person who had that body?”

“Oh, her?” The Sage thumped her fist into the palm of her left hand. “Dunno.”

“Dunno?” I felt heat flush my face, anger building. “What do you mean ‘Dunno’?”

“Exactly what I said. Perhaps she was sent into a different time stream or simply ceased to be. My research on the topic never investigated such afterthoughts.”

I wanted to attack her, to force her to take this seriously, but I held back the urge. Not just was that Sarah’s body, but I had seen what the Sage who had taken it over could do.

“Does the name ‘Calahan’ mean anything to you?”

I wanted to shake my head no, that I had never even heard of it before, to go back to the subject of Sarah, but I paused.

I hadn’t heard the name before.

But there was something strange about it. Even though I had never heard it before, it was as if I somehow felt I should have recognized it, like a familiar instrumental chord.

“I’m not sure. I’ve never heard of it, but that doesn’t seem right.”

“And have you ever felt different?”

“I don’t know. Maybe? I can sense mana, but I can’t use magic?”

“Of course.” The Sage smacked her head as if she had realized something obvious.

“What? What does any of this mean.”

The Sage looked at the sky before tapping her foot on the ground.

“Last answer. There is nothing more I can get from you that I can’t get from elsewhere, at least without trading it for an answer. Long ago, I assume at least the length of the current calendar’s existence, my apprentice and I were under siege. With no chance to escape from the standard three dimensions, we made our escape through the fourth, through time. It appears my reincarnation went smoothly. As for my apprentice, well, whoops.”

“Whoops? What does ‘whoops’ mean!?” I shouted.

“I owe you no more answers, as I seek no more answers myself.” The Sage crossed her arms before giving me a quick smile, one I knew was more for herself than me. “But I’ll collect this one final owed answer if I should ever need it from you in the future. My apprentice, Calahan, was meant to reincarnate in your body. Something obviously went wrong.”

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

I started to open my mouth to ask another question, hundreds stirring in my mind, but she vanished with a quick glimmer of red sparks around her.

Gone.

The Sage, along with Sarah’s body, was gone.

“No.” I dropped to my knees, staring overhead as I noticed what the Sage had been watching; rainclouds had gathered overhead while I had been distracted, the first droplets landing with a fat plop on my forehead.

“No,” I whispered again, holding my knees in close.

She was gone.

My best friend.

Gone.

My village.

Burnt.

Friends.

Dead.

“R-Rook?”

“Mom!” My head whipped over toward my side, where my mother was stirring.

“Rook. What happened?”

“I-” I cut myself off, thinking about the question.

What happened?

“I wish I knew myself.”

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A week passed.

In that week, there was a strange semblance of normality. The village’s rebuilding began as loved ones were buried, days passing in a blur.

I helped as much as possible, but I could feel the dirty looks cast in my direction. Word had made its way around that the cause of this disaster was my mother, her past unknown to the villagers, only further intensifying the speculations. As it was, the villagers barely tolerated my attempts at helping. I was at least treated better than my mother, though. The one time my mother had come with, looking to help out, the villagers had shouted her away, some even going as far as throwing stones at her as they cursed her out.

If it really was all her fault like they like to think, you would assume they would know better than to throw stones at her.

Upon the seventh day, after returning home from a rather tiring day of helping haul lumber around, I dropped into a chair in our kitchen with a heavy sigh when I noticed it.

A note. It was placed squarely in the center of the kitchen table, where it would be impossible to miss.

Inspecting the note, the first thing to stick out was that it was written in my mother’s rather horrid handwriting. One would ordinarily think a mage of her esteem would have flowery penmanship. Yet, my mother had apparently never gotten that memo.

The next thing to stick out to me, though, was the actual contents of the short letter.

Rook,

I want you to know I love you very much, but I realize that for the safety of the villagers and, more importantly, for your protection, it is time that I leave. It’s not that I’m hiding from you. It’s just that after everything that has happened, I can’t stand the risk of endangering you because of your connection to our family and me.

Love you more than you can imagine,

Mom

I put the letter down. I wanted to feel more surprised, more of something, but it felt almost fitting. After losing my best friend, having my life turned upside down like this, to have returned to everyday life would have been a slap in the face. On the table next to the letter, several gold coins had been laid out, so at least I wouldn’t have to worry about money for some time.

The question was, now what? Was I to just stay here and settle down in a village that could barely disguise its disdain for my family and, by extension, me? After everything that had happened?

No. I shook my head. Whatever I needed to do, I knew staying here wouldn’t be the answer.

Think Rook.

I had always wanted my freedom to go somewhere else, to see the world at large, which at the very least, agreed with my intention of leaving the village behind.

What else?

I wanted my mother to be safe, but it wasn’t an avenue worth pursuing. Wherever my mother was right now, I was sure she could fend for herself; in truth, I would only hold her back.

And?

Sarah. I couldn’t simply accept she was gone. But what could I possibly do? It wasn’t as if I knew where her body snatcher went, and even if I did, what could I do? I had been toyed with by a repressed magic knight, who had then dealt with the combined might of my mother, Sarah, and I as if we had been unruly children.

And then, to top it off, the Sage that had stolen Sarah’s body had dealt with him as if he were an unruly child.

Except usually, you didn’t torch a child from the inside out.

In our despair, before the Sage had ‘saved’ us, my mother had likened the man and the pressure of his power weighing down upon us to those adventurers of the highest caliber.

Ornnax.

It was the highest grade achievable by adventures; they transcended past being mere adventurers and moved on to the realm of heroes.

That would be my benchmark. The bare minimum.

I leaned back, a laugh beginning to spill away as I realized how preposterous it was.

“Ornnax, as the bare minimum.” I stared up at the ceiling.

A hero deserving of legends, as the bare minimum.

I must have been going crazy.

That thought was only accentuated when the knocking started.

“I must be going crazy,” I murmured, the knocking continuing in a series of quick cracks against the wooden door. Getting up, I made my way toward the door, pausing in front of it for a moment as I snatched my sword from nearby.

Never hurts to be cautious.

Yanking the door open, I prepared myself, sword at the ready, only to see…

Nothing.

“H-hello?” I whispered into the darkening night, the sun nearly beneath the horizon.

Silence.

“Well, that’s not strange at all.” I slowly closed the door. Lowering my sword, I turned back toward the kitchen, where I promptly froze. My sword fell from my grip as I took in what, or rather, who was in my kitchen.

A man casually sat, leaning back in the chair I had just been sitting in, his hair a matted black mane, his amber eyes watching me with a hint of amusement.

“Pardon me. I let myself in.”

I stared at him for another second before scrambling to grab my sword off the ground.

“Ah, wait. No need for that.” The man raised a hand, and like I had been frozen, I found myself unable to move.

It wasn’t any sort of magic, I was sure. The pressure radiating from the man had frozen me in my tracks; I felt like prey corned by the gaze of a dangerous predator.

“There we go. Much easier to have a conversation like this, don’t you think?”

“Who are you?” I questioned, watching him even while I couldn’t move.

“Me? I’m just a bit of a wanderer.”

“Wanderers don’t normally wander into another person’s home.”

“Oh, I’ve been in these parts for several weeks. You just ignored me from the shadows.”

“From the -” I froze, or I would have had I not already been frozen, as a memory floated to the forefront of my mind, amber eyes staring out from the darkness of the trees beyond our home.

No. No way.

“There have been sightings of a Black Mane around recently. Was… was that you?”

“Bingo!’ The man raised his hands up in celebration.

“That’s-” I wanted to say not possible. Still, the words withered away before I got the chance to speak them, the last week reminding me nothing was impossible. “How?”

“Well, it’s not that difficult. Any magical beast that reaches the elevation stage can manifest a human form after all.”

I felt my eyes nearly pop out of my head.

Elevation stage. Magical beasts that either lived long enough or consumed enough of their fellow magical beasts could reach a level in which they would become more than simple beasts, akin to a hero amongst the average commoners.

“What-what are you doing here? What do you want?” I questioned, hoping my voice wasn’t wavering too much.

“Well, I caught the scent of something that hasn’t been around for some time. Can you guess what that thing was?”

I could.

“A Sage,” I whispered.

“Bingo. Doing great, kid. Real Sages haven’t been a thing for a long time; they had all but died out by the time I was born. Won’t you imagine my surprise when I caught a whiff of a Sage here, then? Except, there wasn’t any. At least, not at first.”

“I- I don’t get it,” I answered truthfully, my body starting to ache.

“Imagine you smell a wonderful apple pie. So, what do you do? You go to grab a slice, but when you get to the kitchen, there is no pie. Just the smell of one, like you just barely missed it.”

“I… See? I think?”

“Whatever, never mind the analogy. The point is, I got here some time ago expecting to find a Sage, but all I could find were mana signs of a Sage. At first, I thought perhaps they’d evaded me, that they had already passed through. Except, after some time lingering, I discovered it was something else entirely. So, you tell me. What happened, or rather, hadn’t happened?”

“The Sage hadn’t appeared yet?” I half answered, half questioned.

“Exactly! Of course, a Sage doesn’t just appear without a trace. It’s a long, arduous journey to become a Sage. This wasn’t the ‘birth’ of a new Sage, nor some unknown sage finally revealing themselves after hundreds of years since the last sighting of a proper sage. No, what it was, was the rebirth of one of the Great Sages!”

“Great Sages…” I chewed the words over, vaguely remembering the Sage who had taken Sarah’s body mentioning them before. Still, the day’s memories were already a blur, my mind unable to properly sort them.

Thankfully, the mystery intruder apparently decided it was important enough of a topic to begin blathering on.

“Thousands of years ago, the Sages were titans of magic, and the Great Sages stood at the top of them all. Ten Ringers.”

“Ten Ringers.” I stared at the black-haired intruder, thinking it over. “Do you mean like her? Wait, is that who you came for in the first place?”

“Well, Sort of. I came to judge, if you will. Sages could be an... unforgiving bunch.”

“They could?”

“You should have seen it yourself.” The man said, sweeping some of his long locks of hair out of his face.

I thought back to what the Sage had done to the Ornnax magic knight, how she had burnt him alive from the inside out.

“Yeah, I guess so.” I wanted to nod but found myself still unable to move.

“Oh, if I let you go, you won’t run off now or try anything stupid, will you?”

“No,” I answered.

“Good.”

Suddenly, I had control of my body again, and I promptly fell flat on my face after my muscles had locked up.

“Ahh, sorry.” The man waved at me as I pulled myself back to my feet.

“So, what did you ‘judge’ about that Sage?”

“She is one ugly customer; that much is obvious.” The Black mane, in the appearance of a man, answered.

“Hey.” I narrowed my eyes at his answer.

“Ahh, yes, excuse me. I didn’t mean to insult you by suggesting you were in love with a physically ugly specimen. I simply meant in characteristics.”

“We, I, uh, wasn’t in love- you know what, never mind.” I felt my cheeks flush for a moment.

It wasn’t like that. I swear.

“The Sage Above All, as she called herself, there is no doubt that she is a Great Sage. Perhaps I could deal with lesser Sages but a Great Sage? Nah, nothing I can do about it. But I was curious about something she said.”

“You were listening?”

“Of course I was.” The shaggy-haired man, I had decided to think of him as a man for simplicity’s sake, said, pointing at his ears. “And she mentioned something about you. About reincarnation.”

“I don’t know what she meant,” I answered defensively, afraid the magical being would attack me if I somehow responded incorrectly.

“Relax, kid. If what I heard was true, it appears that long ago, she must have utilized some sort of magic to transfer her soul, and her apprentice’s soul, to the future. I’m not sure how she did it. Otherwise, I’d be a Great Sage as well, but at least I can tell that while it worked for her, it obviously didn’t work as well for her apprentice. You, for whatever reason, were meant to be used as a vessel, a container for the soul of a past Sage. Except, without that soul, you are simply an empty vessel.”

“I am standing right here, you know?”

“I’m not saying it as an insult. I’m saying it literally. You, compared to a Sage, are nothing.”

“Great. Thanks for reminding me. So, now what? Here just to tell me that?”

“No.” The man shook his head, dark locks spilling everywhere as he did. “I saw an opportunity.”

“An opportunity?”

“Yes, an opportunity. As I overheard, you can’t seem to use magic. I believe that it may be a matter of interference.”

“Interference?” I asked yet another question, having no insight into anything being said.

“Yes. By trying to reincarnate through you and failing, that former Sage’s soul blocked your ability to use your magic. I would assume you can’t use your Kin magic because you may be of the same kin biologically speaking, but for some reason, you aren’t recognized as having the same bloodline. So then, what does that mean?”

“That I’m a freak,” I said with an angry grunt.

“You really are quite the pessimist, aren’t you?” The man asked me, eyebrows inching up as he did.

“It’s not pessimism if it’s the truth. Who cares if I have a magical bloodline if I can’t use any of that magic myself? Who cares if I can wave a sword around? I was an idiot, thinking of doing anything. Reach the heights of Ornnax? Ridiculous. Even if a purely sword-using person could reach such levels, I saw how well someone of that level faired against her.”

“Lot of baggage you got there, kid.” The man held me with a steady gaze that I looked away from after a second.

“It’s Rook. My name is Rook.”

“Oh, I know, but I haven’t recognized you enough to call you anything more than ‘kid,’ you see.”

“You what? You know what, never mind.” I shook my head, ignoring the magical beast.

“So, kid.” The magical beast in his human form tilted his head at me like a prodding mentor. “If you’re done with your pity party, I’ve got a question for you.”

“What is it?” I questioned.

“What do you want?”

“What do I want?” I repeated the question back, taken off guard by the strange question.

What did I want?

To find my mom?

To save Sarah?

To become someone important?

“I don’t know.” After several seconds of contemplation, I finally answered what I honestly felt.

I wasn’t sure what it was that I wanted.

Whatever reaction I expected from the man-beast, it wasn’t his excited cheer as if I’d passed some secret test.

“Perfect!”

“Excuse me?” I peered at him, uncertain why he was so excited.

“I said perfect. If you had wanted something, perhaps vengeance or glory or anything such as those common goals, I would have said no and gone on my merry way. Someone with desires, those who want them badly, will do anything to reach them, and those who don’t want them badly enough will fail to work for them and instead become disillusioned. Those who achieve their singular desire will often find themselves lost, looking for a new spark in life.”

“Okay….?”

“You are free by having no want, no clear sight or goal. Free to create, to think, to imagine. You harbor neither a craving lust for power nor a desire to simply exist; I can tell that already. This, this is something I can work with.”

“What do you mean ‘work with’? Is that some sort of code?” I was lost; I felt as if my feet were being swept out from underneath me.

The man stepped toward me, half a head taller than me, peering intensely into my eyes, his gaze paralyzing.

“Kid.”

I gulped.

“How would you like to learn magic?”