Swiveling his head left and right, Arthur saw an iron made window facing him, while to his left, there was a rectangular shaped table with papers with magic circles written on it, and lastly, to his right was a wooden door which was the only entrance and exit to the room. He immediately recognized the room that he was in. With the calming fragrance of the wooden wall and the sight that exhibited nostalgia, it exactly resembled the room he had when he was young.

While lying on a soft bed as his body tucked properly under a blanket, he stretched both of his hands, tingling that almost look like a twitch – shocked to what his eyes were witnessing. Arthur promptly went out of his creaking bed as he looked at himself on the mirror at the corner of the room, and to his surprise, an accidental outburst came out, as he was palming both sides of his cheeks as his eyes left widened.

"W-What the HECK?!"

He was panicking most absurdly as he physically observed his body in the mirror. He saw the younger version of himself, as his height decreased a lot – like from a human to a dwarf, and the thin scar that he got from an epic battle with a monster across his face was gone, it was as if it was not there, to begin with.

What the hell is this? What sort of magical illusion is this?

Arthur couldn't believe what was happening. It was like a lightning strike his head. He couldn't think. His fair-white complexion turned pale like he had seen a ghost.

He has a lot of questions processing in his brain at a very fast pace. It was like millions of questions that even with his years of experience, he couldn't find an answer to it.

However, amidst the minutes of thinking and recollection on the strange occurrence, his lips curled down as an idea popped up into his head.

'The tattoo on my back!'

He said to himself as if to reassure his confused self that everything that he was seeing was just a joke or an illusion.

He immediately grabs and pulls up his white silken shirt then hastily turned his back against the mirror. With the extreme jolt of disbelief, his forehead wrinkled as his eyes narrowed, as both of his eyes witnessed a – supposed to be tattoo covering his whole back, and not even a moment notice that not even a blemish could be seen.

"H-How could this be?!"

He muttered with his trembling pubescent voice with his gaze locked in the mirror.

He couldn't fathom the idea of how a binding tattoo that even the strongest unsealing spell couldn't remove would just disappear instantly.

He leaned both of his hands to the wall next to the mirror as his breathing was gradually getting heavier by the minute. His eyes were wide open, looking down between the gap of his two arms – not looking at the ground but to the craziest imagination that was running on his mind.

No matter how many minutes passed... he could only come up with one thing. With him being back to his young version of himself, with his voice which has not yet matured, and his tattoo went missing, 'time travel?!'

'Did I went back in time?! No, it's not possible! Not even a tier 8 magician like Kurtis Lloyd with the grand title of sage would be able to do it.'

'But how?!'

Arthur pondered continuously with an answer obviously unattainable. He was running in circles, but he needed to figure it all out. He needed to know what happened.

With his eyes hopping around, surveying the room intricately looking for clues, his sight went back, magnetized at the wooden entrance of the room. Unknowingly what's on the other side of the nostalgic door, Arthur already knew what he needed to do. Venturing into the unknown was his best trait, however, with the scale of confusion that he was in, he felt bare.

'If I was correct and I was sent back to the past, t-then they should be downstairs...'

Arthur contemplated as his face contorts to the likelihood that all of these were just a sick joke or either a created reality – an Illusion. His hands curled into a fist as his emotions run untameably wild. Though the thought of the possibility of seeing the people that he lost from his grim past made his hands tremble.

Mixed emotions were visible through his expression. Fear, nervousness, anxiety. Nonetheless, knowing that nothing would be revealed if he just continues to ponder endlessly. Arthur went for the door, when he was about to grab the knob, he heard a slight creaking sound as the round handle twists by itself. The wooden entry of the room was pushed open in a fast manner.

*Taaaad*

"Ouch!"

He muttered under his breath.

With the backside of the door hitting Arthur's forehead a lump grew reddish.

With the surprising collision, he slightly shut his eye and then he made an awkward step back.

He lightly applied pressure as he rubbed the swollen part on his head to ease the pain as he looked straight, beholding who hit him. There he saw at the front door, who was still holding the knob, a girl wearing a plain white shirt with no pants on, with an auburn straight hair that wouldn't reach her shoulder. With her pearl-like dark eyes darted to Arthur, shaking her head while wearing a look saying, 'idiot' – she opened her mouth.

"What in the world are you doing behind the door?"

Glancing towards a person he did not expect to see. Arthur dazed in disbelief. His eyes and mouth were wide open. He was not able to fathom the impossible possibility of what occurred in front of him.

He was looking at the auburn-haired girl like she was some sort of ghost with waterworks also beginning to form under his eyes. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. His lower lip curled, not being able to utter a single word. He was just staring emotionally towards the girl's face.

The girl was visibly getting uncomfortable and somehow annoyed as her eyebrow slanted together. As Arthur's hands were slowly getting close to grabbing hers, she extended her arm upward and then...

*Thud*

*Thuuud*

*Thuuuuuud*

"... AWWW! Olivia, what the he–w-wait pain?!!"

The auburn-haired girl axed Arthur's head with her arm continuously, however, he managed to block her attack with both of his arms crossed together above his head.

Even though everything was an illusion still stood to his highest suspicion, the element of pain made his hypothesis waver.

The illusion was categorized as the magic that completely overrides a person's mind, making them see what the caster wanted them to see. Yet, no matter how powerful an illusionist is, there's one thing an illusion could never fake, that is the feeling of pain, and with the new element that rose from mere speculation, it was getting harder for Arthur not to believe that maybe he was able to experience the most mind-boggling thing to comprehend – 'time travel'.

"You only just woke up and you're already acting weird."

Olivia said as she continuously chopped Arthur's arm like a madwoman.

"Maybe you're not fully awake, let me help you."

"Sis, stop! It hurts you know?!"

Arthur said, but what he was saying was contradicting to what his face was showing, as he made a slight grin that turned into laughing. Olivia saw the expression of her younger brother and it was definitely odd.

She stopped chopping Arthur's arm that was still above his head and then she crossed both of her arms in front of her ample bosom.

"...Ohh? This is the first time I saw you smiling as I chop you in the head."

Olivia stated as her eyes squinted full of intrigue. Arthur immediately realized the stupidity he has committed hence he made a quick step back. With Olivia's bigger height difference to Arthur. Olivia made a slight smirk that turned into a grin which made Arthur twitched anxiously.

Olivia extended her right arm upwards as a sparkle of light – like a bubble of radiating molecule surrounded her hand.

"...Sis? This is a bad joke..."

Arthur said as he stretched both of his arms forward with his hands facing her sister waving it continuously as he made a little step backward until he hit a wall.

"...hmm, let me see that smug face of yours again."

Olivia said with a sinister grin like a complete crazy lady.

" N-No! Nooooo—"

Arthur shouted defeatedly.

***

Arthur passed out or rather, he voluntarily passed out. By voluntarily injecting mana to your brain in an excessive manner, the mind will temporarily collapse and put the user to sleep. When his sister Olivia axed his head with the use of mana, it was something that would make a normal kid passed out even in a slight connection, and so if he did not pass out, it would be a big deal.

Arthur remembered the days when he was really a young boy. He was like any other normal commoner child, unable to utilize mana not up until he was twelve years old. However, he was not a normal youngster anymore, rather, he was a twenty-seven years old guy in a young boys' body.

After quite some time, as his eyes were shut, he felt a soft surface under him like he was lying on cotton. There he heard two familiar voices of two girls talking. The one was very submissive and the other was strong-willed.

When Arthur slightly opened his eyes, just enough to catch a glimpse of what was happening. He saw the place that he was in. It was a simple house with four steel windows on every side of the wall, a mana bulb attached at the top of the living room, and the same nostalgic dinner table at the dining room. It was the same house he lived before the apocalypse started.

Amid those two voices, there he saw Oliva, standing while talking—getting lectured at by a woman he would never forget.

With her auburn hair that reached up until the end of her spine, also her eyes that shine like the dark sky – beautiful was the only word that could describe Therese, Arthur's mother.

Despite lowering their voices, it was plain as day what was going on between the two girls that were talking besides Arthur.

"Just like what I'm saying Via, I told you to wake him not to put him on sleep again."

Said by Therese as calm as always, with her hand glued on his forehead. On the other hand, Olivia was already wearing pants, it was black tights, however, she was still wearing the same white shirt.

"But mom, I barely touched him."

"...Yes, I understand, but your little brother is only nine years old and mana imbued attack is still too much for him."

Therese said with a calm voice as she shakes her right index finger back and forth like a teacher lecturing her student.

"... You can't even call that an attack."

Muttered by Olivia under her breath.

Arthur whose small frame was lying on a black coach realized what was happening. His eyes were left wide open as he saw her mother alive and talking. He immediately stood up from where he was lying, his emotions were something he couldn't describe in one word. Whether it's happiness, excitement, or whatnot, but what he was sure of was – he was glad to see her mother alive and well again.

Therese and Olivia saw Arthur who was up and gazing at the both of them. Tears were something that he forgot through the fifteen hellish years of fighting in the apocalyptic world that he came from. His heart was already numb about the pain of losing someone dear to them, that tears won't fall from his eyes anymore, but at that moment, the lower eyelids of Arthur was filled with tears like a faucet left open on a container that was about to overflow – and as it fell – once more, he cried like a little child.

Arthur slowly walked closer towards where Therese was standing, and through all the mixed emotions that he had on his bag of grief, the only thing that he could do was put her arms around her, touching her white dress under the brown apron that she was wearing.

"...There, there little Art, don't cry."

Whispered by Therese to Arthur as she bent her back sixty degrees—hugging the little boy while rubbing the back of his head.

As Arthur continuously cried with his shoulder trembling, Therese who was looking at Arthur calming—him down, curved her head to Olivia who was standing on her left, leaving her with a furious look as she shakes her head.

***

After a while as Arthur calmed down. He couldn't believe that her mother was in front of him again. She was alive. He confirmed that as they hugged each other so tightly. He tried to feel and assess her mana if it's the same as what he remembered. At first glance, he was reluctant to believe that everything in front of him was even real. The illusion of a degree of mastery could make a person see anything that the caster wanted. The illusionist could fool a person to a point where; if a victim believed everything that he was seeing, he could be locked onto that dream forever unless the caster revoked the spell or the caster died. However, there was one skill that anyone besides Arthur couldn't learn. 'Mana reading.' It's a skill where Arthur could completely read the output of mana that a person has. It was slightly comparable to reading a body language but in a much more definitive way.

If there was one thing that Arthur was sure at, an illusion doesn't have mana core. When Arthur reads mana output, he could distinguish illusion rather easily due to their hollowed mana core, where it could be seen just below the sternum.

Olivia who was standing beside her brother and mother sure doesn't want to admit it, but with the expression, she had on her face, with her eyebrows furrowed and her not-admittingly worried eyes, she made a step forward and tousled Arthur's nest of a hair.

"...I-I'm sorry if I hurt you that much."

Olivia whispered as she pouted her lips, embarrassed with her head facing the opposite side on where Arthur was.

"B-But it's not my fault that you're that weak. When I was nine years old I could kill a bear with my bare hands."

"It's alright"

Arthur responded as he rubbed his tears off his eyes with the back of his hand.

As Therese heard her daughter said those words, she could only shake her head in disbelief on how her oldest couldn't be honest with how she feels.

"What am I going to do with you Via?"

Therese said.

Arthur chuckled as tears still sitting on the corner of his eyes.

Only a second later, the house's front door with red roses drawn on its glass surface was pushed open, followed with a loud deep enthusiastic man's voice saying 'I'm home' reverberated throughout the house.

As Arthur saw him enter, his heartfelt very warm and glad. With his straight black hair that wouldn't touch the tip of his ear, and his thick eyebrow above his brown almond eye. He was someone that Therese wouldn't mind dating with his handsome looks. Not to mention with his lean yet muscular frame that would make any woman feel safe.

"Where have you been Henry?"

Therese said as she was looking at his husband walking towards Arthur.

"I talked to the examiner of today's mage qualifiers. They'll come here to our place today."

Henry said as he was scratching the back of his head.

Arthur did not say anything when he saw his father, but rather he just smiled at him that wouldn't reach his eyes as he was enveloped with sorrow and guilt as he remembered how his dad died.

Arthur recalled the night when Henry–his father, met his untimely demise. He was heroically protecting his whole family, standing—blocking the horde of monsters charging at them.

With trees burning and the stench of corpses laying around the once lush nature, screams of the dying, begging to be killed instantly as monsters gnaw their sharp fangs to their organs was the only sound that any could hear.

The last thing that Arthur saw from his father was his bare back as he was equipped with a sword to his both hands. Henry's back was unscathed. It doesn't have any injuries and the monster wasn't able to get past him no matter how persistent they were. Henry bravely fought the hundreds of beasts trying to harm his family that even those seasoned veterans of the adventurers guild were easily killed by just a dozen swarm of monsters.

When Arthur saw his whole family again alive and well, the happiness that he felt inside was overflowing and that also would be an understatement.

When Henry saw Arthur standing and staring at them dazed, he made a step forward, walking towards his son as he bends a knee. He placed his right hand to Arthur's right shoulder and then he opened his mouth.

"Are you ready with today's mage exam my boy?"

Henry asked as his eyes narrowed filled with high expectations.

Arthur stumbled back a little as he put his small fingers to his forehead rubbing it when he noticed that he forgot to ask something very important.

"This will be an odd question, but what's today's year?"

Arthur curiously asked with his pubescent voice with a hint of shyness evident to his face.

"Are you still half asleep?"

Olivia replied as the gap between his eyebrows furrowed a little, equipped with an expression that was almost saying, 'what are you even asking' but still she answered Arthur's question.

"Obviously, the year is 1188."

Arthur's face contorted in disbelief. He traveled eighteen years into the past carrying his old memories from his past life. He would've been filled with laughter if someone told him that they were able to experience time travel but he has done it firsthand. Also, when he checked his family's mana through mana reading, all of them were not mere illusions.

Remembering Cryzsalis Mimon and all of the members of the strike force of humanity, all of their sufferings that they had to endure for fifteen long years all he could think was 'is it all for nothing? If this is some kind of the gods' sick joke then this not funny at all'

The phenomena that he was involved with didn't make him happy at all. He was glad to see his family alive, but remembering all the cries, the pleading and every people that he saw dying wishing they could live even just for another day made him want to hurl, and standing as nine years old again, he couldn't help but to tighten his fists turning his knuckle pale.