“Who do you suppose they are?” a male voice said.

“I don’t know. How did they get past the outer wall?” a female voice replied.

“They’re covered in blood, but they don’t look to be injured.”

“What’s that creature with them? I’ve never seen anything like it.”

Rai groaned, squeezing his eyes further shut before opening them slowly. He found himself flat on his back, staring up at a sky covered in rainclouds. A solitary drop hit him between the eyes. He groaned again.

“What… happened?”

“Yi-meep?”

Prismeep crawled on top of his head and looked down at his right eye, tilting its head.

“Hey, Prismeep. Guess you’re here, too.”

He sat up, and the carbuncle fell off and into his lap. “Where’s Isa?”

He looked around and spotted the saurian woman a short distance away, sprawled out on cobblestones. Then he saw the small gathering of people looking at them a couple dozen feet away. He was instantly struck by how unusual their clothing was. He couldn’t place exactly what was strange about it at first, other than the very vibrant colors, so he activated Mage Sight and saw that, to his surprise, every single piece of clothing was magical on all half-dozen of them.

“Looks like the human’s a mage,” a gnomish man said.

Wait, something’s strange about what that man just said, Rai thought with a frown. What… He blinked. Did that gnome just speak in the language of the Tower Era?!

“Hello?” Rai tried, using the Tower Era’s tongue.

“Oh, so you can speak something other than gibberish,” an elven woman said.

“Gibberish…?” Oh! I was speaking the modern common tongue at first! They heard it as gibberish, and they speak the ancient tongue… what’s going on?

“Where am I?” he asked.

“In the courtyard of the Ruler’s Tower,” a human teenage boy said. “Dunno how you got here; there’s an outer wall you’d have to cross, and it’s warded so people can only go through the entrances. And no offense, but you don’t look like they’d let you through the entrance.”

“The Ruler’s Tower…?”

Rai stood up, then looked around again. Then he looked up. His eyes widened.

That’s… that’s impossible! That tower is higher than the rainclouds! There’s only one tower that tall, and that’s on the Isle of Heaven’s Reach! But that’s not the Magic Tower of the Isle of Heaven’s Reach; it’s the wrong color! I… what in the world?

“You said that’s the Ruler’s Tower? What ruler?”

“Did you hit your head or something?” a saurian whose voice made it clear she was a girl said – a saurian wearing a dress, rather than nothing, like Isa. “The Ruler! You know, ninth circle mage? Rules over the country of Plentira?”

Plentira? That’s not a modern country, but I think I’ve heard that name before—wait! Did she just say ninth circle mage?!

Rai’s eyes widened almost comically. “Did you just say ninth circle?!”

“Uh, yeah. All the Rulers are ninth circle. That’s how they earn their position, isn’t it?”

I remember where I heard the name Plentira! It was associated with the Magic Tower located in the desert on the tetra’s map! How, what…

Rai stood completely still, eyes glazed over as he tried to process all the impossible information.

“Is… he okay?” a cat-eared beastfolk girl said hesitantly.

“Who knows?” the final person, a dwarven woman, said with a shrug.

The wheels continued to turn in Rai’s mind as he connected the dots and came to the absolutely absurd, completely impossible conclusion.

“This is the Tower Era?!” he exclaimed. “We traveled back in time?!”

“What’d he just say?”

“He’s speaking gibberish again.”

No, no, calm down. It’s possible that this is all a hallucination, or a dream, induced by the failed ritual, he thought. It could all be in my head. His gaze slid over to Isa, who was groaning and sitting up. But if it’s not…

“Isa. Are you okay?”

“I… think so? My injuries are gone, which is weird because the Sun God didn’t finish healing them before… wait! What happened? Where are we?!” Isa scrambled to her feet and looked around wildly.

A few more raindrops hit Rai.

“Great, she’s speaking gibberish too,” the saurian girl said.

Isa’s head snapped to the girl. “Did you just speak in the ancient language?” she demanded, still speaking in the common tongue.

“I don’t understand you, weird woman,” the girl replied.

“Rai, what in the name of dragons is going on?!”

“Unless we’re having a shared hallucination…” He pointed at the Tower.

Isa looked up at it and blinked a few times. Raindrops hit her snout.

“They said that’s the Ruler’s Tower – the Ruler being a ninth circle mage in charge of Plentira, which was the name on the map associated with the Tower in the desert.”

She turned to Rai slowly. “That’s impossible.”

“Completely. But… that ritual we interrupted… it used star energy and presumably was supposed to do something relating to planar stuff. I… the only conclusion I can come to…”

“Time travel. We’re in the Tower Era,” Isa stated in disbelief.

Rai nodded.

“I’m going to assume they’re conversing in some sort of secret language,” the gnome said. “They appear to be conversing, anyway.”

Isa held her head in her hands. “This is insane.”

Rai looked around and found his sword lying on the ground, then picked it up. He cleansed himself and repaired his clothes, then swapped his clothing and weapon into his ring for his other outfit. Isa, noticing his, cleansed herself with magic as well.

“Yi-meep!” Prismeep said.

“Just so you know, you’re absolutely getting arrested,” the dwarven woman said as the sound of armored boots clattering on cobblestones sounded out, drawing closer. Rai and Isa turned to see a group of four moderately-armored human and elven soldiers rushing in their direction, a yellow saurian in robes and carrying a staff following close behind.

Rai put up his hands.

“Don’t try to resist this,” he said to Isa quietly. “Our research suggests the average power level of people in the Tower Era is higher than the modern day, and we’re technically trespassers, even if it wasn’t on purpose.”

She put up her own hands. “I hear you.”

The soldiers surrounded them, pointing spears and swords at them.

The saurian spoke, his voice revealing to Rai that he was a man.

“We detected a sudden, incomprehensibly large spike of magic coming from the courtyard,” he said. “And what do we find? Intruders.” He raised an eyebrow ridge. “One of whom is an exhibitionist.”

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

“I am not an exhibitionist!” Isa said hotly. “Where I come from, kobolds and saurians don’t wear clothing! It’s not like we have visible genitals to hide from the world; they’re covered by scale coverings most of the time! What would I even be exhibiting?!”

“Well, that rules out… pretty much anywhere civilized,” the saurian said. “What, are you from one of the savage tribes across the sea? How did you even get here?”

“You wouldn’t believe us even if we told you,” Rai said with a sigh.

“Probably not. How did you get past the wall’s barrier? I don’t think any of us noticed it had been breached.”

“We… didn’t. We were… teleported here.”

“Also impossible, this entire area can’t be teleported into from the outside.”

“Well… we technically weren’t outside.”

“What?” the saurian man said in confusion.

“Time travel,” Isa said. “We were actually inside the tower and teleported outside… and thousands of years into the past.”

“…That’s the stupidest lie I’ve ever heard in my life. Traveling back in time is impossible, even theoretically. No magic could possibly do that.”

“Yeah, well, before we woke up just now, that tower was a ruin in the middle of the desert.”

“Desert? There are no deserts on this continent.”

“No, but there will be,” Rai said. “There will be a cataclysm that destroys the entire Mage-Tower civilization, all across the continent, and this area will become a desert.”

The saurian man sighed. “So you’re both insane. Or very dedicated to your absurd lie. Men! We’re escorting them to the dungeons!”

“Come along now, and don’t put up a fuss,” one of the sword-wielding elves said. I’d hate to have to hurt you.”

As they walked, surrounded by soldiers, Rai said, “So, who are you?”

“I’m just one of the Tower Mage guardsmen. My name’s Kless Thunders.”

“I’m Rai Flamme, a scholar. You say our story is unbelievable; I’m having trouble believing it myself. The Tower Era is widely believed to be a myth when I come from, though I spend my time studying its remnants.”

“Tower Era? Because of the Ruler’s Towers?”

“Correct. We have an imitation Magic Tower that was made about eight hundred years before the modern day, but all the real ones are ruins.”

“You realize I don’t believe you.”

“I know. I think when the shock wears off I’ll probably be over the moon about being in the Tower Era. Studying this time period is my life’s work.”

“And your nudist friend? Is she a scholar, too?”

“My name is Isa Bloodscale, and no, I’m not. I’m a warrior. I’m Rai’s partner.”

“…Ew.”

“What do you—not that kind of partner!” Isa said in disgust. “We made a blood bond to help each other achieve our respective goals! He looks for ruins from the Tower Era and tries to find ancient lost magic, and I test myself in combat and with other challenges in order to evolve.”

“Evolution? That’s a pretty rare thing to accomplish. Not unheard of, of course, but far from common.”

“I’ve already done it once. I was hatched a kobold.”

Kless glanced at Isa. “Really?”

“Yeah.”

“Why’s your name ‘Bloodscale?’ You have orange scales.”

“Oh, this isn’t my natural color.” Isa’s scales shifted colors, returning to their normal red-with-black-markings. “This is what I normally look like.”

“You’re a mage.”

“We both are,” Rai said. “I’m a soul mage; she’s a blood mage.”

“Soul mage? Blood mage? I’m not familiar with those classifications.”

“My magic is tied to my soul, hers to her blood.”

“Ah, so you’re referring to the source of your powers. Such distinctions are of minor importance compared to the gulf between mages and non-mages here. Non-mages are… well, they have lesser social standing. If you really aren’t from here, that’s probably the most important thing to learn.”

“Good to know. Speaking of mages, what circle is normal?”

“First circle mages are considered novices. Second circle is what most of your typical mages are. People who professionally use magic, but aren’t elites are third circle. Fourth circle is elite; that includes me. Fifth and sixth circle are considered masters. Seventh and eight circle are champion-class, and ninth circle is ruler-class. This is common knowledge. What circle are the two of you?”

“Fourth circle. We’re also fourth tier combat artists.”

“Oh? Well, I suppose that makes some sense; natural evolution without using artificial means requires one to be both a combat artist and a mage. Still, that’s impressive, especially for your age. Especially for Miss Bloodscale there, since she was a kobold, which means she chronologically much younger.”

They walked along the edge of the Tower until they reached a door some ten feet high. Kless waved his staff, and the door dissolved into motes of light, allowing them entry. Rai tried to memorize the path they took, but they went through multiple runic doorways, that connected them to areas that weren’t physically adjacent, so he eventually gave up. The dungeons were what he figured they were: a bunch of large cells. However, the area was well-lit by floating lights; the place was clean and painted red (at least he hoped it was paint and not blood); and the cells didn’t actually have walls (other than a single back wall) or bars: they had lines of runes on the floor and ceiling that created forcefields that could only be passed through in one direction unless one had a special ring. The cells were ten feet by ten feet by ten feet, but Rai and Isa were still put in adjacent cells rather than the same one. Each cell had its own magic toilet and cleansing station that used Tricks to clean the user. When the toilet was in use, shadows covered up the area, hiding them from others’ sight.

There was also a decent bed, a chair, and a table that was bolted to the floor.

“This is… not just sophisticated, but rather humane for a dungeon,” Rai commented.

“It’s a Tower dungeon. Of course it’s going to be high quality,” one of the human spearmen scoffed.

“If you want to seal off your cell from outside sound and keep your own sounds from coming out, there’s a tab on the wall. Of course, that can be deactivated by a warden or any of the guardmages like myself, since we might need to talk to you,” Kless said.

“Thanks.”

“Well, I suggest you make yourself comfortable. It’ll probably be a bit before anyone comes to interrogate you.”

Kless’s prediction turned out to be wrong. Less than two hours later, they were visited by three people: a male elven mage, a rhino beastfolk soldier woman, and a young male kobold assistant, judging by their garb.

“Let’s get the introductions out of the way,” the middle-aged elf, who had bronze hair tied in a long ponytail, said. “I am Master Floran, a sixth circle mage who holds your lives in his hands. To my right is the Warden, Lady Exija, a second circle mage and sixth tier combat artist. Lastly, to my left is my assistant, Kenjo, a first circle novice mage. Kenjo will be using a magic tool to record everything we say.”

Kenjo held up what appeared to be a Record Tetra.

“Prisoner record 1729, start,” he said.

“For the record, state your names.”

“I am Rai Flamme, scholar.”

“I am Isa Bloodscale, warrior.”

“And this cutie is Prismeep.”

“Yi-meep!”

“And… what is that creature, exactly?”

“So you’ve never seen one either? I suppose that’s more evidence for our theory of origin…. This is a carbuncle, a magic beast. I don’t know exactly what powers it has. I’m fairly sure it’s a juvenile.”

“You don’t know?”

“No. It’s a new discovery.”

“I see. Now, where did you acquire your equipment?”

“I’m kind of surprised you didn’t take it from us, to be honest.”

“We don’t need to. The cells are impervious. Now, answer the question. You have in your possession two quick-change rings, an elevation ring, and a high quality dimensional bag, along with whatever is stored.”

“We found them the ancient ruins of Dragonia.”

Floran blinked. “Come again?”

“We’re from the distant future, thousands of years after the collapse of your civilization. The ‘quick-change ring’ I’m wearing was made as a copy of the one Isa’s wearing, but everything else was discovered in the ruins of Dragonia’s Ruler’s Tower.”

“So you’re really sticking to that story, are you? I thought perhaps you were trying to make yourselves more interesting so you could have the chance to speak with someone important, but you’re really going to insist you’re from the distant future?”

Rai shrugged helplessly. “It’s as hard for me to believe as it is for you.”

“And do you come from more barbaric times? Is that why Isa is naked?”

“You know, I’m starting to get irritated with that,” Isa said. “Saurians and kobolds don’t wear clothes in our time!”

“To answer your question… in a manner of speaking, yes, actually. There are far fewer mages and our magical technology is much more primitive. Not to mention the fact that both mages and combat artist are, on average, weaker, and none exceed sixth circle or sixth tier. In fact, even that is considered legendary. I personally know one person who is rumored to be sixth circle, and she’s considered one of the most powerful people on the continent.”

“Officer Kless tells me you claim to be fourth circle and fourth tier.”

“Correct. We’re considered Master-class where we come from.”

“Well, you aren’t that here. Assuming you’re telling the truth, you’re Elites. So, you claim that you came from the future when our civilization is in ruins. How?”

“A botched ritual using the mysterious energy of a fallen star. We, with the assistance of another, killed the demons who were performing the ritual, here in this very tower. There’s a room, a large one that covers the entire width of the tower at its elevation, ringed by large windows. It was empty, save for a dozen pillars in a circle around the center. They were performing the ritual there. We… don’t know why that brought us here, but we woke up in the courtyard outside.”

The mage frowned. “The room you’re describing… that sounds like… but how would you know of its existence? Do you have any proof of your claims?”

Rai and Isa exchanged a glance.

“Well… I don’t have the research journals anymore… they’re at the Magic Tower of the Isle of Heaven’s Reach.” I have the Record Tetras, but… one of those involves experimentation that nobody should look at, and the other probably has numerous secrets. Also, I’m unsure how this time travel works. Can I change the course of history through my actions? With the long-term ripple effects, I could wipe out modern civilization if so. For the sake of my own sanity, I’m going to assume that our actions here, in the past, have already happened from the perspective of the present.

“I have a Record Tetra,” Rai said at the same time as Isa said, “We have a star fragment.”

They looked at each other again.

“A Record Tetra?” Floran said, surpried.

“Taken from the ruins,” Rai clarified. “It contains messages left after the great cataclysm to come.”

“Show me,” the mage demanded.

Rai took Chief Administrator Caligra’s tetra out from his pouch. “Ruler,” he said. “Mizeiya.” He set it down on the floor. The illusion of text boxes appeared, along with the ambiguous avatar.

“Please choose your action,” it said.

“That’s… is that an artificial intelligence avatar?! We’ve only just started development on those in the Research Institute of Harmonia!”

“Avatar, tell me the year that this Record Tetra was constructed.”

“This particular Record Tetra was produced in the year 3285 of the Mahora Calendar.”

“What?” the Warden blurted out. “That’s more than two hundred years from now!”

“And when was the final activation prior to me becoming its authorized user?”

“Year 3321 of the Mahora Calendar.”

“Play the first message left for me by the previous owner.”

The avatar and text vanished replaced by the illusion of Caligra, who began to speak.

The three outside the cells watched in stunned silence.