Still recovering, he sat down on the bed. To see people after such a long time, he was happy. The nightmare felt like it was finally over.

But something was amiss, his shirt that barely fit his body now felt quite loose and big, his ripped pants now felt very loose on his waist.

He looked at his hands. He closed them a couple of times, they seemed smaller than they should be.

Looking around the room he noticed it was very rustic, a room in a lost wooden cabin deep inside some lost forest. Just like he had seen in the movies.

To the side of the bed there was a stand with a clay water bowl, everything in the room was either made of wood or clay, there were lamps or light bulbs, not even electrical outlets nor wires.

It didn't take long for another man to walk in, he was wearing strange clothes, like those they use in medieval fairs and movies about knights. He was definitely older than the first, his hair and beard was completely gray.

This man walked slowly and with grace towards him. With curious eyes he watched the boy on the bed while approaching with a smile.

Without a word to the boy, he suddenly turned to the man in armor that came inside the room after the old man.

They spoke in a strange language for a few sentences. The boy was sure that he had never heard anything like it before.

The gray man approached the bed and tried to communicate slowly with the boy "Asberah Kham, Mhacss imillihan, khamus et?"

He understood what the old man was trying to do, it was some sort of question directed at him, probably wanting to know who he was... but he shook his head and shrugged with a confused smile to show for himself "Sorry, but I can't understand what you are saying".

The older man smiled and nodded, he raised his palm to the boy briefly, as if telling him something with the gesture and turned to the knight.

They exchanged a few words again, then the old man looked at the boy, smiled and once again raised his hand momentarily, before leaving the room.

A rather awkward silence followed as the boy didn’t know what to do.

Didn’t take long, the old man came back and brought something. In his hands he was holding a simple amulet made of copper. The pendant was smaller than a thumb with a strange rune engraved on its back.

The old man approached him once again and showed the necklace to the boy.

The old man held it tightly until a weak blue glow began to appear from the rune.

The boy watched him, quite unimpressed.

The old man then extended his arm and offered him the necklace, he dropped it on the boy’s hand and spoke.

"Let's try again now.... my name is Maximilian, what is your name?"

The boy’s eyes widened completely in pure awe. He looked at the necklace and then to the old man once again. Not quite believing it, there was no way that’s real, the old man must be pranking him somehow. And he let go of the amulet.

The old man smiled and turned around showing him his back and began to speak.

“Dresch’berah, herst jeil…” the boy quickly picked the necklace again “when the boy picks the necklace again?”

The knight glanced at the boy and nodded to the old man. He turned once again towards him.

“Good, now do you understand now the purpose of this magical device?”

The boy frowned and quickly looked at the necklace with a deep curiosity, searching for something, a hidden battery, light or hole or circuits. Anything that he could recognize to explain what was going on.

But there was nothing there, the pendant was quite thin and crudely made, the rune behind it occupied most of its thickness. There was no way to hide anything in it.

"This is amazing," he said, still having trouble believing it. He looked at the pendant as if it was the most wondrous thing in the world.

Maximilian gently laughed at such an honest response that the boy had.

“What’s your name, child?”

"My name is..." he suddenly stopped, his thoughts rushed back and forth for a moment as several alarms triggered in his mind. He didn’t know why, but he couldn’t quite control his thoughts. His mind was racing at a speed that even he had problems controlling.

‘Calm down, focus on what it all means. I’m in a cabin, lost deep into the woods, there is a military man in full plate armor and a man that has a friggin Magical translator necklace… I need to be very careful what I say here… that dude means business’ he glances at Bhalrom. ‘Or this could turn into a witch hunt very quickly’

He couldn’t help but wonder what would be the best approach to this situation.

He was too suspicious and unaware of the consequences of his choices, so he opted to lie.

The boy said the first name that came to his mind, the last character of the game he was playing before all that happened. "Riou... my name is Riou"

Maximilian's face went serious "Riou hum? Right, my boy, can you tell us where are you from? And what were you doing in these parts?"

Riou flinched, he swallowed hard… there was no way he couldn’t elaborate anything on that regard. After all, he had no clue where he was nor how he got there.

"I don't know... but by the language you speak and the looks at this place…” he glanced at the knight in armor “I think I'm really far away from home."

Riou remembered it all, the dark, the strange forest and even falling down the great precipice, he couldn’t help but wonder how he was still alive and unharmed.

“What’s the last thing you remember?”

After a moment in silence, the boy continued “To fall down from a high place... and then I woke here"

Maximilian pondered for a moment and looked straight to the boy "Very interesting" he moved towards the door and addressed the boy.

"Can you walk? I want you to see something, if you don't mind"

Riou put the necklace around his neck “How come I never seen this in any television show? This thing is amazing… you could make a fortune with this!” and stood up, his legs were a bit weak and all his muscles were rigid and hard to move.

The mage didn’t bother to his rantling, he seemed to have his mind set on something else.

But something else was wrong, he felt way shorter than he should be, and the moment he touched the ground with his legs, his pants almost escaped him.

He quickly held it to avoid showing more skin than he should, and quickly looked to see if there is something else ripped for it to be so larger. But no, it was perfectly fine, so he held his pants with one hand so it wouldn’t drop, and slowly walked with the mage.

The sun was shining bright and hurt his eyes that just woken up.

He found himself in a small village, the weather was much hotter than before and there were people all around the village, some working in the crop fields, some tending to animals and others moving around holding baskets filled with corn and other vegetables.

As the two walked about, the villagers continued on their way, none paid much attention to him or even the old man. Some even just greeted them and continued on their way.

When they finally reached the end of the village, the old man began to talk again "You were found near that forest" Maximilian pointed out none other than the famous Endher Forest.

Riou gave it a long look and shook his head "I don't think so, it’s a lot different than the one I was yesterday. There wasn’t any fog or those darker trees" he said looking at it calmly.

Maximilian was rather surprised “Do you recognize this forest before you?”

The boy just shook his head.

“That’s the Mythical Endher forest” added the old man.

Riou was unimpressed “I never heard of it, what a strange name Mythical Endher forest… which country is this?” he bluntly replied as he looked at it as if it was just some regular woods.

“No, the name is just Endher, it’s elven… meaning end of the line or gateway. Don’t you know about it? There is only one kingdom that this forest can be in.”

“Elven? Are you guys some strange cult? I read about some folks that despise technology, but this is something else. I confess that I was afraid to say anything in front of the other guy. But really, where am I? And how come you’ve never been on tv with something like this? You’d be rich” he pointed to the necklace.

Maximilian looked very confused to the boy. “Let’s take a step back… tell me about what you remember, how was this other forest that you remember?”

Riou took a moment to think."It was day time, constantly. And there was a strange silence, as if there was nothing there beside me and the trees" he said while remembering it, the memory of that strange silence and eerie feeling still bothered him to that moment.

Maximilian didn't reply, but Riou noticed he started to walk again, rather quicker than before, which was harder for him to follow while holding onto his pants. “Follow me” finally said the mage.

They walked until they reached what was an army camp. It was full of tents and there were many soldiers there, many in leather armors working on wood or bringing water. Few others were leisuring about, sleeping or playing some sort of betting game.

A few of them had heavier armor, with metal paddings. They were carrying swords or spears somewhere.

"So this is really some medieval fair? Or are you guys some cult?" he asked again trying to understand it.

"Medieval fair? I don’t know what that is, my boy, but this is an army that came to investigate what happened, didn’t you feel the earth shake violently a while back," said Maximilian while looking curiously at the boy, clearly expecting his answer.

"An earthquake? I haven’t felt anything like that" He answered casually.

The old man stopped in his tracks, frozen in place.

Riou continued a bit angered "Also... why do you keep calling me boy, do I look like a child? I’m not as old as you, but I’m past my 26"

He then put his hand on his face, for his surprise, he couldn’t feel his beard.

‘Did someone shaved me?’

It was bothering him, his hands, his clothes, his height and now his beard was gone… he had a feeling of what happened, but he just couldn’t believe it.

After the question, Maximilian remained completely quiet, his face looked forward and Riou could tell he was dead serious, not even a muscle of his was moving.

An uncomfortable silence grew between the two.

Riou felt bad for the way he asked it, maybe in his anger he did overstep some cultural thing and pushed the old man too far?

Nonetheless, despite the uncomfortable situation, he waited for his answer as he needed it to put his mind at ease.

Suddenly Maximilian smiled and said "I'm sorry... Riou was it? It's a force of habit. I will mind my words from now on, but please, do come with me, there is something I wish to show you." He said while walking towards a medium size tent.

‘Is he deliberately avoiding answering me? But Why? Why would he deflec my question like that? Damn, maybe he is suspicious of something, maybe this is some sort of crazy cult that burns nonbelievers… a cult with real magic users! I’m Fucked! Shit, I better play along now and not anger him any more’

The old man showed a stool to Riou to sit down while he grabbed one of his bags in the back of the tent.

Riou sat down and watched him pick something from the bag and then sit down on another stool beside Riou.

"Do you have any magical knowledge?” asked the mage seriously looking at him.

Riou looked at the necklace.

“I mean, aside from the necklace, I know it’s a rather rare artifact to be seen, but it’s fairly well known all around the world, there is nothing special about it.”

Riou squinted his eyes “Around the world? I never seen this before in my life, nor any kind of magic”

“That’s hard to believe… Also, I do have a feeling that you do know more than what you are telling me" Maximilian pulled a small sized yellow crystal from the bag and put it on top of the table right in front of Riou.. It was as big as a toe.

He looked at the crystal having no clue what it was "But it’s true, I don't know magic, I mean, I know the idea... as a fictional concept, you know? But it was really my first time seeing something like this" He pointed to the necklace. “All rest is fiction and illusions”

To him, magic only existed in fantasy… games, movies and books. Just that none of it was really real.

"That’s quite a strange thing to say" Said Maximilian calmly analyzing him "But well, lets see for ourselves. Do you recognize what this is?” he pointed to the crystal in the table

Riou shook his head.

“This is a yellow crystal, also known as manatrine. It can be used to measure magic capabilities within a person. It does it by absorbing any magic, especially if it is outside and around a

Person.”

He nodded understanding it but clearly unaffected by what the mage was saying, or what it really meant.

Maximilian continued, “So if you could hold it with both hands and concentrate on it." Maximilian explained while promptly picking up the crystal and extending it to Riou so he could grab it.

Riou immediately put his palm up ready to pick it up.

The mage was rather edgy at that point, he seemed concerned and anxious for some reason. Riou would even say that he was very tense while forcing himself to smile.

He releases the crystal that falls and touches Riou’s hand.

*BLAST*

It exploded violently upon minimal contact.

Pieces of the crystal went flying everywhere.

Both of them flinched in reflex from the loud blast, Riou then looked confused and very surprised at Maximilian, completely lost of what just happened.

Maximilian went quiet.

‘So that’s why he was on edge… was this thing supposed to explode? Shouldn’t we use a safety goggle or something? I could have gone blind’ he touches his face to be sure it was intact.

After a moment of silence and deep thinking, the old man quickly grabbed the bag and pulled another crystal, this time a bigger one. Same yellow color but this one was a sphere the size of a fist, a very well polished sphere.

Without saying any word he extended his hand once again towards Riou that understood he wanted to repeat the procedure, with apprehension he extended his hand protecting his face with the other.

And as soon as the Mage let it go and the yellow crystal sphere touched Riou’s hand.

*BLAST* an even bigger explosion happened

Both flinched once again.

Some crystal pieces went flying so fast that it cut holes in the tent fabric.The sound was so loud that even the soldiers came quickly to see what was going on, but as they saw the Great Magus, they just nodded and greeted him before leaving the tent.

Maximilian pondered in silence again with a big frown in his face, glancing at Riou from time to time. Riou could see he was deeply immersed in his thoughts and assumed the old man was somehow studying the results of the test.

And a few moments later, to Riou’s surprise, the Mage rushed to another bag on the back.

He returns with something big. A huge red crystal, the old man held it using both hands and it seemed quite heavy. It was much different than the other two. This one was rough, unpolished and with a blood red tone to it, like it was just removed from the earth.

Big as watermelon and twice as heavy with no artistic work done to it. And even so it presented its natural obelisk shaped edges on its up side.

Maximilian held it with two hands near his chest, the old man seemed to be doing something to it, as if he was concentrating towards the stone.

After a moment, a faint blue glow started to appear on the very core of the red crystal, slowly gaining size and bright.

Every second now it increased and began taking over the red color until it filled the whole crystal in blue.

Maximilian then stopped quite tired, instantly the blue tone vanished from the crystal.

Without a word the old mage extended the crystal to Riou. He nodded and promptly went to grab it.

*BA-DOOM!* echoed the loud explosion throughout the whole camp and village, the whole tent went flying.

As soon as the crystal touched Riou’s hand the large crystal exploded even more violently than the other two. When Riou recovered from the scare he took from the blast, he turned to Maximilian and waited for an explanation, but the mage was just pasm looking nowhere, quite confused.

Riou was curious about what happened and was waiting on Maximilian to talk again.

But when Maximilian finally moved, he just stood up and moved near Riou.

"Well, that was unexpected. Let's try something different. Please sit straight and relax" the Mage was serious and stepped behind him. Riou sat straight as indicated by the mage.

"Stay very still and try to not think about anything, just relax. I will try an older method of measurement” The mage extended his hand above the young man’s head.

Riou stayed still, moments passed and he wasn’t even sure if the mage had started yet, he couldn’t feel a thing.

He turned his head a bit and looked with the corner of his eyes to the mage behind him. And to his surprise he could see that Maximilian was exhausted.

Whatever he was doing, it was consuming all the mage’s stamina.

‘Maybe he is still preparing?’ thought Riou.

Suddenly Riou felt a static shock on his head, a quick zap that causes more surprise than anything else. It happened between his head and the Mage’s hand.

But at that moment, Maximilian immediately stepped away from him, pulling his hand toward his chest, holding it with the other as it was heavily injured.

Riou looked at him confused. But the mage The mage was completely exhausted, his face was pale and his breathing was erratic. Even his eyes seemed frightened as he moved backwards. to be losing balance until he eventually bumped and fell on his butt on the bed behind him.

And the mage stayed like that, completely frozen in place, without any focus on his eyes looking in the direction of Riou.

It took a good while, but the old man started to recover, slowly and clearly still shaken from the experience, he looked directly at Riou with quite a fear in his eyes.

But before he could say anything, the Knight suddenly appeared. “What happened to the tent?” he said, approaching looking around, but then he addressed the mage. He clearly had something important to speak to the Mage.