“Hah.” I stared down at the pool of water, the image of a boy and girl clad in draconic mana striking down an opposing figure quickly fading away as I dispelled the magic. “It appears I made the right choice in saving the boy and his family.”

It had been a passing whim, really. I did it under the guise of being able to take advantage of the child to obtain information about the current era, but in truth, I had been curious if perhaps the boy born of my magic could prove to be interesting.

As it would appear was beginning to look the case.

Sure, it had been a mistake that the boy had come to be in the first place. I’d failed to account that my apprentice, not a fully realized True Sage, may not have the magical and spiritual resiliency to withstand the passage through thousands of years. As a result, while his vessel had been born perfectly healthy, his soul had dissipated within the timestream, a child born of natural causes taking his place.

But I mused to myself as I looked about my chamber. It was perhaps for a worthy cause. I’m sure he would have understood, seeing how interesting this child may prove.

Rook Baster. A child born with the body formed by the greatest magic ever conjured forth, magic breaking through the fabric of the fourth dimension, time itself bowing before me. I was the first Great Sage to have found insight into my question, and with just a speck of insight, the things I had achieved. The child had a bloodline legacy, Kin magic as it was called now, a form of magic that was rarely seen in my era, at some point becoming a more common mutation of sorts.

Intriguing. All so intriguing.

I’d sought many things in my life. Power, wealth, authority, renown.

I’d achieved them all until I was left with nothing more than a hungering desire for anything, anything at all, to sate my curiosity, intrigue, and amuse me.

The current era was tame, docile, and calm. The True Dragons of old had hidden themselves away or simply died off.

And yet that child found himself upon the grave of old Solarus.

It wasn’t fate. Fate, as often understood, was nothing more than pure chance reinterpreted to fit with the narrative of those who lacked the power to change the world around them, but neither were the circumstances chance. I’d watched the child step into the Pond of Elvermarzon, and after, my ability to track him had faded for some time.

No doubt the other Sages doing.

When I’d finally tracked him down again, he had been just outside the God Mountains, making his way to where I had cast down Solarus in our final battle. He was changed, albeit only minorly, the earliest signs of his first ring, the foundation ring, upon him. Something about it was different, though, unlike any I’d seen in the past.

When I’d seen him confront the mage upon the mountain, a man who thought himself great for drinking in the watered-down essence of Solarus, I had been tempted to intervene. Even with the essence of Solarus reshaped into something far less potent that no longer resembled the essence of the ancient True Dragon, the might of the mage drawing on it far outstripped what the child had any hopes of defeating.

Instead, to my amazement, he had drunk in the essence of Solarus himself, the pure, undiluted essence, and gone on to defeat the would-be dragon mage. Not just that, but the girl with him had it thrust upon her. I had written her off as dead as soon as the effects wore off, she was no mage, and even had she been, dragon mana was like corrosive acid that would burn away at a person from the inside. Instead, I was proven wrong.

Wrong. How rare was it for me to be wrong?

She hadn’t died. The child took my amazement even further, doing what had never been done before, drawing in the dragon mana from the girl and incorporating it further within his foundation ring.

Amazing.

Even I had no idea how he had managed it, other than the fact that there was something different about how his foundation ring had formed.

I smiled, looking up at the crystals hanging from the ceiling above me, retrieved from the Pond of Elvermarzon shortly after my revival into the current era.

Was this your doing? Leading this boy in a direction, hiding it from me, all so you could gift me this pleasant surprise?

They had seen me in the ripe of our era of old and witnessed the boredom that beset me, slowly driving me insane.

And now, now they had helped to sow the seeds of something new.

How long had it been since I’d seen new, genuinely new? By the time I’d become a Great Sage, I’d discovered the world’s wonders, uncovered lost secrets, learned forbidden arts, and created new magics.

New.

The excitement buzzing through me was intoxicating. I couldn’t let it go, couldn’t let this spark fade away.

It was time I did my part, set the scene for something that would dazzle even me.

The water within the basin reformed, showing me the image of barren land desolated after the eruption of a massive volcano directly centered on the island continent.

Perfect.

Now then. I flexed my fingers, my smile creeping once more upon my face. It’s about time I make my move.