Several weeks earlier.

Both Lee and Tabby decided to head towards the Basahra Plains to find more clues about Rosie's rain dance. While Lee wanted to leave as soon as possible, there was the slight issue of them having too much stuff and a 150-year old four-wheel drive which needed servicing.

Not surprising really, given that they lived there for more than a hundred years.

While Tabby was in charge of getting their ride ready, Lee was in charge of storing, organising, and removing all the clutter from inside the house. He struggled greatly at stuffing and labelling all their items into various boxes, before deciding, in true wizard fashion, to move the entire house, garden, and eventually the plot of land as well.

Tabby sauntered out from the garage and stretched. As he groaned from the aches, he saw Lee carving something on the grounds around the house. Rosie and Sparky tip-toed behind him, hiding behind bushes or fences whenever Lee turned around.

Tabby conjured a hollow magic circle and walked through it. The grease and filth on his body was instantly cleansed when he passed through.

"Can't you use the existing barrier we have?" Tabby leaped an impossible distance and landed accurately on a very surprised Sparky. Rosie giggled as she saw Sparky trying its best but failing to escape.

Lee tapped the barrier with his knuckles. Faint waves spread and shook the bubble-like barrier.

"It's too flimsy." Lee said as he continued carving. "I need a barrier which can resize and time-freeze stuff inside. The one we have now only hides us from strangers."

Tabby squinted his eyes at Lee, ignoring Sparky's retaliatory squeezes.

"Okay, most strangers." Lee admitted. "I didn't account for a highly-magical creature and a magically augmented human to crash into the barrier."

"By the way, you know we are being watched right?" Tabby released Sparky who dashed frightfully towards Rosie. Perhaps eager to regain its confidence, both Sparky and Rosie started a wrestling match in the garden.

"Yeah yeah," Lee's eyes glowed as he looked through the barrier. "While they can't pinpoint exactly where we are, they have been circling the valley for days."

"I still think you should have just killed that faceless dude and save us all the trouble." Tabby crossed his arms.

"Nah, I am a pacifist." Lee solemnly said.

"... A pacifist who removed the highest mountain range and created a lake due to fighting an evil organisation within a single day?" Tabby countered. "Pacifist my ass."

"I am a pacifist, not was." Lee emphasised. "I try my best not to kill anyone these days. Watch your language, Rosie's around."

"Whatever you say." Tabby rolled his eyes and shrugged. "Anyway, how do you plan on dealing with those flies outside?"

"Honestly, I am not planning to do anything to them." Lee tutted when Tabby showed an exaggerated expression of surprise.

"A skilled magician can create a barrier within a barrier. An excellent magician, present company included, can create a barrier within a barrier that no one inside or outside can tell the difference." Lee finished drawing and raised his arms to stretch. Several arm raises later, he walked towards a granite sundial in the corner and effortlessly carried it to the centre of the garden.

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While Lee made it look easy, Tabby felt the ground shake the moment Lee placed the sundial. Light briefly flashed from under the sundial as it made contact with the ground.

"Can you please sit on the sundial briefly?" Lee asked Tabby as he shook the dust off his hands.

"I am not a fan of something poking my butt." Tabby dryly replied.

"Oh for f- fish's sake, I am not asking you to stab the pointy bit into your butt. Just sit on the edge so that it can register your magical signature." Lee nearly swore, but remembered that Rosie and Sparky were still playing nearby,

"Real smooth with the fish." Tabby jumped onto the sundial and sat on its edge. The top of the sundial shone briefly. "Is it done?"

"Yeap. You can come down now." Lee nodded in satisfaction.

"What about the barrier?" Tabby asked.

"Oh, it's already done." Lee grinned. Tabby suspiciously walked to the edge of the circle Lee had drawn and put his arm out. He felt a tough and smooth surface under his paws. While the previous barrier was like a bubble, the new barrier was reassuringly thick and glassy.

"Huh. I didn't notice you setting it up. I thought it would be something more... flashy." Tabby was secretly impressed, but he was not going to voice it out. He knows that Lee knows it anyway.

"Unlike you, I am far less theatrical." Lee suddenly recalled the amount of lava fountains he conjured to scare off Faceless. Damn it, Tabby's smirk meant he thought about the same thing. "I mean, I can be subtle when I need to throw our stalkers off track."

"Hahaha. Alright, alright." Tabby relented. "However, I think this occasion calls for a combination of both."

"What do you mean?" Lee hesitantly asked as he saw Tabby's ominous smile.

"Why don't we put a delayed bomb after we leave?" Tabby's grin was not that different from Cheshire's now.

"By delayed bomb, you are referring to..."

"A barrier set to reverse the time inside one hundred years prior with dilation and distortion effects outside!" Tabby exclaimed. "Imagine how f-, effed up they will be when they come here!"

Lee facepalmed. "And who will be the one creating this needlessly elaborate and ridiculous spell?"

"Duh, 'course it's you." Tabby leaped back when an arcane bolt landed near his feet.

"Relax, I can create the spell myself." Tabby replied. "Have you tested if your barrier works though?"

Lee suddenly vanished. As Tabby looked around in alarm, he also noticed that everything was still. A butterfly was frozen in the air, while both Rosie and Sparky also sat unmoving on a flying broom.

Tabby heard a loud, grating sound reverberate in the air. Moments later, Tabby saw himself growing bigger than everything around him.

He shortly realised that it was not he himself who was growing. Rather, it was that everything around him was shrinking.

With the exception of Tabby, the barrier and all of its contents shrank smaller and smaller. Soon, Tabby found himself trapped in a magical glass sphere with his face plastered against the barrier.

"Ofay, I getfz ith," Tabby muttered. Lee meanwhile was casually walking outside, whistling as he checked to see if his spell was working.

After laughing at Tabby's pitiful sight, Lee snapped his fingers, releasing the spell much to Tabby's relief. The barrier quickly sprung back to it's original size, its inhabitants none the wiser.

"Still needs some work," Lee spoke to himself. Perhaps I should make the barrier automatically resize us when we enter? I should also make its size enlargeable too.

"i swear one day I will pull a prank you can't escape from," Tabby growled at Lee who responded with a benign smile.

"We are forgetting something important." Tabby frowned when Lee cocked his head. "Hello? The villagers outside? If we are dealing with who I think they are, they will surely target the people nearby when they realise we're gone."

Expecting a witty comeback, Tabby was surprised when he saw the pensive look on Lee's face. Tabby knew that while Lee said that he hadn't had any human contact recently, he still occasionally sneaked outside to mingle and help the villagers.

"Ah well, what needs to be done, needs to be done." Lee grinned ruefully. "Such a shame, I actually don't mind staying here for a few more centuries."

"We are immortals. We can't stick around people too long." Tabby quietly said. Lee sighed.

"I will work on some harmless memory removal. You focus on the f-, fantastic magic bomb idea." Lee said after some brief silence.

As Lee walked into the house, Tabby noticed that the bouncy gait from earlier was replaced with even trods.