Magiwatch, also called Timeband or Clockband, was introduced two hundred years ago by the ministry of magic. It was for keeping date and time, for monitoring status, classification, acquired skills and even contracts. Physically, it looked like any wristwatch with a transparent, green lense that spanned ten to fifteen inches, featuring a dial, three or four subdials, a date window and three hands (a second hand, a minute hand and an hour hand). The only difference between it and a real wristwatch was it had no band - the case was magically glued to the wrist - and the dial had twenty-four hours (from 1 to 24) instead of the usual twelve seen in wristwatches. There was also a screw-down crown that controlled the hands and three or four extra buttons (spread around the crown) that controlled the subdials.

Right now, the date window showed Tuesday, 6th of April, year 1851 of the Commandments. It didn't make any sense. I took it as a system malfunction.

Just to confirm, I pushed button one (my magiwatch had four buttons, each controlling a unique function). It glowed with a green light before it revealed my status tab.

Biodata 

Name: Armad

Age: 17 + X

Sex: Male 

Tribe: Wilberforce 

Occupation: none. Register? Y/N? 

Spouse : none. Register? Y/N? 

Race: Human

Community: none. Register? Y/N? 

Account 

Bank : Longevity Bank 

Account Type : Saving 

Balance : 27.8 billion credits (frozen. Unfroze? Y/N?)

Reputation : 0

Attributes 

Strength : 98

Agility : 79

Intelligence : 66

Willpower : 99

Resistance : 100

Charisma : 1870 (Locked. Unlock? Y/N?)

Vitality : 56

Power Level : this is an accurate representation of your strength, taking into consideration your attributes, combat classification, combat skills and any contracts with magical beasts.

Classification : 62%

Attributes : 14%

Martial arts : 14%

Dragon magic : 10%

Longevity 

You are a mortal with human lifespan. 

Everything was exactly as I knew it.  

I pressed the next button. It glowed with the same green light and revealed my classification.

Classification : you've received this as a reward from the immortal dais after completing the necessary requirements.

Vegetarian

Level : 3/10 '2nd' (300 Exp)

Skills : [Vegetarian Vigor : 0%] [Densified Wood : 0%]

Total experience gained : 180

Experience waiting to be shared : 180

My classification and skills didn't change.

I pushed the next button.

Acquired skills : you are not born with these skills and you didn't receive them as a gift from the immortal dais; you learned them through sheer effort. 

Total skills : 4/10

Night Vision level 10 (8/11)

Martial Arts level 25 (11/26)

Dragon Tongue level 10 (5/11)

Identify level 30 (19/31)

Also the same as before.

I pushed the final button.

Dragon Magic : this is a unique ability that is passed down in your bloodline. Note that the ability of the system to gauge this aspect of your body is limited. 

Innate dragon magic: 2850

Active dragon magic : 0

Status: dormant. Your dragon has been hibernating for a while, to change contract status you need active dragon magic.

Everything was normal. So, either the date function was exclusively malfunctioning, or I had really lost eighteen hundred years of my life. Both possibilities were terrifying: first, a malfunctioning magiwatch indicated a soul damage; second, if the magiwatch was functioning properly and its information was correct then I had either lived through the last eighteen hundred years but just couldn't remember it (which was very unlikely considering my human lifespan and the lack of skill progress to justify that), or I didn't live through them, I just skipped them, like an actual time travel (which was both the most dreaded and the most likely possibility).

"Hey," Someone called from behind, interrupting my musings. "It's well past the curfew time, what are you still doing outside?" The man asked with a threatening voice. As I turned around I realized he was wearing what looked like an alteration of the police uniform - a black kaftan with four straps of white around the arms and two around the waist.

A curfew? What's going on?

The man's accent was strange as well. It was the same Wilburish I knew, but utterly strange. Like someone had went to a great length of trouble to combine the guttural accent of that freakish Aldurish tongue of the black-eyed monsters with my easy-flowing Wilburish. I hated it.

"Look at me when I'm talking to you, idiot." The policeman, as I decided to call him, said. Now that he was close enough I could see the typical mustache and the lack of beard of the traditional policemen. He had a tired expression on his face, which, coupled with the blatant anger radiating from him, made him look older than he probably was.

"Sorry, I was..." I stuttered, not really sure what to say.

He stared at me up and down, secretly gauging my worth. "Who are you?" He asked.

"No one." I answered.

He rolled his eyes at me. "There's been a murder in this alley last evening, did you know?" Apparently, it was a rhetorical question because he didn't wait for my response. "You might want to start talking before I drag you to the station."

"Look, I know nothing about any murder. I'm here by accident."

"Huh? How accidental?" He gave me a suspicious glance.

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"I was sent here by... by.. Look, I don't know how to tell you this, just leave me alone..."

I could tell his patience was wearing thin. "No, don't worry, you'll have plenty of time to explain yourself at the station. Tell me your name, kid."

"I'm.. Liyan, Liyan Carlos." I lied.

"Carlos?"

I nodded.

The man looked disappointed. Apparently, he was expecting some nobly surname.

"You have wasted my time. Let's go." He said, yanking my collar.

Moving with a practiced motion, I dodged to the side and pushed him away with one hand while I made hand gestures with the other. The man flew back five meters before he hit the hard ground, twitched slightly for a second and then stopped moving completely.

I completed my hand gesture and changed to battle stance, waiting for the man to come at me, but he didn't. He could still be planning something, so I took a few steps back, looked around for any sign of trap and, when I couldn't find any, I ran. Fighting the black-eyed monsters had taught me not to let my guard down no matter the situation.

Account 

You have attacked a police officer, earning yourself a negative reputation.

Reputation : -5

Acquired skills

You've gained 1 skill point in martial arts.

8 left to level up.

Seconds later, I was out of the alley looking for a place to hide and collect my thoughts. The houses looked completely unfamiliar, made of stones and shining crystals. They looked the same to me as most of them had the same paint. Even the streets looked the same. This was not the capital I knew. And the worst part was everyone had locked their doors. I decided to look for any house with an open windows, which took half an hour of dangerous running and hiding, trying to avoid the occasional patrol. I didn't even hesitate to knock when I finally found it.

Knock.

I knocked once and waited for a couple seconds before I did it again, twice.

Knock. Knock.

Here came the problem. As a prince, I never had to wait for anything in my life. Knocking was all but a foreign concept to me, I didn't know what would be considered normal, excessive or even rude. All I knew was I needed a response. So I continued knocking.

Knock. Knock. Knock. Knock. Knock.

Until someone pipped through the window and shooed me away. She was a woman carrying a baby. "Go away." She mouthed. If I didn't learn lip reading I wouldn't have gotten it.

It was difficult to walk away from the door but I did. I would just find another house that would be willing to help me. And so my search began.

In the dead of night, I moved from one door to another, trying my best to avoid the patrol as I knocked at people's doors. How ironic! A prince who didn't have to wait for anything his whole life was now knocking at people's doors and begging them to give him a place to sleep. Life changed so fast. Just yesterday my house had more rooms than I could count, with more than eighty servants tending to it. But I now had to cope with this new and cruel reality.

The next house on my knocking list was a two story building identified as an inn. The information on the symbol described the place to be under reconstruction, which was probably mostly done considering the new painting on the front door. I figured it might provide some shelter.

I debated between just breaking in and knocking like I had been doing. I chose the latter.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

A couple minutes after my first knock, an elderly woman opened the door. That was.. unexpected.

"I will sleep here tonight," I said.

She frowned, stared at me silently for a couple seconds and then jerked her head in the direction of the notice board at the entrance. "We are closed, kiddo, can't you see the sign."

The old lady was the only one courageous enough to come out and meet me. I had a chance here and I wasn't letting it go easily.

"I'm far away from home. Give me a place to sleep in. Even one bed with a few blankets and pillows are okay. You can't send me out there now."

"What the hell... You need a bed, a few blankets and pillows?"

I wondered why she was startled. Did I ask anything out of the basic requirements of my former servants?

"You won't even have a rug, so go away." She hissed.

Another miss. This people were wicked. I turned around and walked away.

"Hey, spoiled brat, aren't you going to beg? Where will you go in these darker hours? What if someone kidnap you and auction you in tomorrow's festival?"

Huh? I gave her a puzzled look.

"You are young and weak, probably classless. With the new wards protecting my establishment, you are as dangerous as a fly. I'll let you go unpunished this one time, but learn to speak with some respect. Come in." She added, gesturing me to go in.

I didn't expect that.

She led me inside, gave me a seat and went to the kitchen.

I was sitting in a reception with numerous tables spread across the not-so-large room. There was a counter ten meters to my right and stairs twenty to twenty-five meters to my left.

The woman returned a few minutes later with a hot, fish soup.

"Eat." She said, handing over the bowl.

A happy ending for my journey, right? But I would probably die if I took a sip out of that soup.

"So, why must you ward your house? I mean, the responsibility for warding the entire city falls on the government, right?" I asked both out of curiosity and to take her attention away from the food.

She waved me off. "What do you know about wards? You can't rely on the government for everything. Take for example the ward at the entrance, I spent five thousand credits on it. No one can break that door. Do you think the government will put a ward like that in a nameless place like this?"

I nodded with understanding. Not that I agreed with her but there was no point arguing in my current situation. "Are you alone?" I asked, pointing at the stairs.

She nodded.

"Eat before it gets cold. Here, open your mouth."

Really?

"Is this the first time a kind woman has tried to spoonfeed you?"

I shook my head.

"Good. So, open your mouth, kiddo."

"I'm a Vegetarian: I don't take meat, fish or egg." I said.

"What? What kind of stupid classification is that?"

"I... would prefer something green, if you will."

She spent almost half a minute looking at me with mixed expressions before she took away her soup, went back to the kitchen and came back with a bucket in her hands. "Suit yourself." She dropped the bucket of on my lap. "Your class is a riot." She added.

Identify  Name: Tilda Am

Power Level : 3

Class : Cook level 8 

Innate dragon magic : 0.002

Active dragon magic : 0

Reputation : +11

A Cook? No wonder. I don't even know why your kind hate us.

The bucket was half full with spinach. It would be good to take something but I had more pressing concerns, so I put the meal aside.

"Can I ask you some questions?" She didn't respond and I took her silence as a yes. "I seem to be having problems with my memories, so I will just ask you some basic questions. Who is the King now?"

The woman narrowed her eyes in thought before she gave me a confused look. "King? Which king?"

I knitted my brows in surprise. "There can only be one King; everyone else is just a Steward. Hurry, tell me, is it House Wilberforce that still rules, House Djinn or somebody else?"

"Oh, you mean the ruler of the First World? He is Didier Djinn." She said with awe.

I slumped back into the wooden chair. "Wait, if that bastard is still the King then it can not be year 1851, there's obviously something wrong with my watch."

Apparently, I had said something I was not supposed to say, because the woman narrowed her eyes even further, something I didn't think was possible, and inhaled deeply. I took several seconds to find the root of the problem - I had just called the King a bastard.

"Listen, forget about what I have just said. Just answer my questions no matter how stupid they sound, please." I waited till she gestured for me to continue. "Tell me the name of this city, its continent and position on the map."

"The city is Holy Fydeba, it's located on the Seventh World, northern hemispheres." She answered. I could see confusion building up in her eyes, confusions that would lead to questions, questions I wouldn't be willing to answer. But I still had to go on.

"Seventh World? Northern hemisphere?"

She nodded.

"Never heard that term before. I know five continents in the world and none of them is 'Seventh World' or 'northern hemisphere'."

"I'm lying then." She said without looking at me.

"No, I didn't mean you lied. I just don't know about them, that's all. So, ma'am, tell me, is this the Màsar I knew?"

She nodded. "Yes, this is Màsar. I don't what's wrong with you, kid, but it seems I'm gonna have to give you a short lesson, so listen carefully 'cause I ain't gonna repeat myself. You are in Màsar, a planet with seven worlds. A very long time ago, before the void decade, everyone used to live on the First World. But now only King Didier Djinn and the rest of the Djinn race live on it. Other races live below on the Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth and Seventh Worlds. Does that ring any bells?"

I shook my head. In fact, that had only bred more questions. "The void decade?"

"Yes, the void decade. What kind of amnesia do you have for you to even forget about the void?"

I didn't think I had an amnesia. "I order you to tell me everything." I commanded just before I remembered I wasn't the prince anymore.

"You order me? You little shit, who do you think you are? Kids nowadays have no manners at all."

I apologized but the woman still whinged for the next fifteen minutes before she returned to the topic at hand - the void decade.

"Year 01 to year 10. It's called the void decade because no one knows anything about it or before it. History mentions it as Parallel Timeline, that's all. No one knows why." She explained.

The void decade aside, Didier Djinn was the usurper who killed my father, he could not have survived for eighteen centuries. It was just impossible. Wether by the sword or the slow decay of time Didier should have died.

"What day is this?" I asked.

"Tuesday." She answered. My questions tested her patience, very soon she would stop answering.

"Which month is this?" I asked slowly.

"April."

The damn watch said the same thing.

"It is Tuesday, 10th of April, right?"

She shook her head almost instinctively. "It's 6th of April, not 10th."

My breathing quickened. I grabbed her magiwatch hand and checked the date myself. She wasn't lying: it was Tuesday, 6th April, 1851.

"So," I started, releasing her hands, "I'm really far away from home."

"Where is your home?" She asked.

I suddenly felt lost at the sound of her question. If this wasn't a dream then I didn't have any home anymore. 

"Stop looking pathetic and tell me where you come from. I might send someone to tell your parents about your whereabouts in the morning."

"Dead." I mumbled.

"What?"

"EVERYONE IS DEAD. MY DAD, MY MOM, MY LITTLE SISTER, EVERYONE - weeping - is dead. Murdered..."

"What..? When... How... Who.. did it? Pirates?"

I shook my head.

"Bandits?"

I shook my head.

"Orcs?"

I nodded immediately, for there was no better word to describe the people who murdered my family. "Black-eyed Orcs." I said.

"Alright, stop sobbing. I'll see what I can do." She patted my shoulder for a few seconds, and then as if suddenly remembering something she glared at me. "Stop or I'll kick you out to sleep on the street." She hissed.