I strain my eyes open, finishing my morning chores after being wakened up incredibly early. With cumbersome steps, I awkwardly carry my steps to the other side of the room to stand in front of the mirror. I lean my weight onto the mirror's frame, slowly pushing back to keep my balance. In front of me stood a child of four, nearly 5 years old that was dressed in plain black shorts and a beige shirt. 

The little boy's large eyes were a bright sapphire color with a slight dash of dull gold that framed the outside of the pupil, in between the iris. The blue color resembling his father's eye. His face was round and soft, topped with a head of rich, reddish-brown hair, with a single streak of light blonde fixated from the front of his head. The auburn color of his hair as vibrant as his mother's.

My body looked healthy and supple, having eaten too many vegetables I wasn't particularly fond of. The rediscovered need to eat food and travel to the chambers was met with a mixture of satisfaction and despair. However, outward appearances could be quite deceiving, proven by the phantom pains that invaded my body without warning.

Since the day I was born, the frequency of these flashes of pain have lowered significantly, but I still had no clue what caused them.

Sitting down on the floor, I picked up one of the few picture books laying on the ground of my room opening it and idly flipping through the pages. I flexed my finger, popping the black ring on my finger in and out of existence. Taking a page out of Regis' naming sense, I gave it the name , standing for Universal Storage Box. 

I skimmed through countless pages of knowledge in an attempt to understand the source of my pain. Was it related to the feeling of self-eating pain an Asura would feel after their core was shattered? Perhaps my body and brain couldn't handle the vast knowledge granted to me in order to make use of godrunes, godrunes I no longer had. Of course, it was possible my predicament originates from my ignorance on the consequences on time travel. 

Regardless, it was nothing short of a miracle I managed to jump back in time and arrive in one piece. For now, I'm a pure blooded human, just a smidge stronger than average. But only time would allow me to change my physical abilities enough to once again handle the power of aether. 

Standing up off the ground, I kick the small book under the bed and make my way to my little sister's room. She was less than a year old, and although I never saw my sister when she was just a newborn, she looked exactly like I thought she would. Long grayish brown hair and a pair of brown eyes. Much like myself, she had a single streak of sandy blonde hair coming out of the front of her forehead. 

Surprising. But not a bad thing. Right?

I rock her cradle for a few minutes, to ensure she was in a deep sleep before I picked her up. I secured a long towel and wrapped it around my body in the same manner my mother would when she took me around town, to explore the small outpost and shops. I hold her gently in my arms, before giving her forehead a kiss and placing her into my hand tied sash, reorienting her with a slight pulse of wind magic, strong enough to move her body, but gentle enough to avoid ruffling her hair.

I considered chucking her into my ring, and while I had made the ring capable of housing living things, it wasn't exactly a five star hotel. 

I shuddered at the thought. I couldn't go in my self, but I had thrown in a few children who were relentless in their "friendly" teasing, only to spit them out of the ring as a crying mess. From what I heard, they cried for days, speaking of infinite voids and big scary castles. Whatever that meant. 

Sneaking out of the orphanage I had lived in for the entirety of this life, I make my way to the nearest station in Ashber. I could have made this trip a while before, but as it turns out, through the countless plans I made for my journey to the past, it had never crossed my mind to pack up some money. 

People were dressed in countless outfits and armor, from heavily plated metal suits, too short, thin skirts that did little to cover the legs. Nearly everyone had a large backpack outfitted with every adventurers needs, every person carried either a staff or a bladed weapon. 

The Ashber from my first time shared no resemblance to the large town I had been born into now. While the streets were always lively, the large roads were busy, filled to the brim with people with places to go and things to do. A number of the building were made out of bricks instead of the usual wood, with a few of the roads paved with a smooth rocky surface, a far cry of the all dirt streets I remembered. 

The most striking difference wasn't a change in infrastructure, it was the change in demographic. Among the humans, there were a noticeable number of elves and dwarves, all of whom hardly stood out, with clothes and mannerisms that blended them into the town's mood. 

I figured Gramps would push for unification pretty hard pretty quickly, but I could tell, by at least human terms, it had been at least one or two generations since the movement started. My caretaker, who worked in the middle of a human based settlement, was a cranky old elf woman who was a tad bit unqualified for the position. 

Questioning the true amount of change this not-so-familiar familiar world had gone through, I arrive at the base of the mountains surrounding Ashber. The mountains connecting itself to the rest of the Grand Mountain Range, which spanned across the continent, essentially splitting it in half. From one edge of the mountain range to the other were two pairs of two rails built from sturdy metal running parallel to each other. 

While it was still under construction, the unified continent was working on its own version of a continental railroad, hoping to one day span from Elenoir to Darv and from Sapin to the deepest parts of the Beast Glades. 

I wait at the station, every passerby unbothered by a young child alone with an infant on his back. The station itself was its own small world, filled with food stalls and gift shops. 

I hop on the train, making my way south, towards the closest station to enter the Kingdom of Elenoir. I stay silent throughout the trip, creeping out the three people who sat around me. A few hours go by in relative silence, my seat buddies each most likely traveling alone. 

"So kid, where you headed?" asked the blue haired woman sitting across from me. She asked in a sweet voice as she sharpened a short dagger, sending me confusing mixed messages. 

"I'm looking for my grandmother." I replied in a stern voice, ensuring she understood I wasn't in the mood to carry a conversation.

"Grandmother? Should she be the one to come looking for you?" She continues, casting on me a confused look, only to see her eyebrow twitch as she speaks with slight irritation. "I tried to ignore it, but I really can't believe they let anyone onto these things, especially someone as young as you carrying around his infant little sister!"

I set up a small spell around my ears to block out her ranting. I could see through the movements of her mouth and gestures that she was genuinely concerned for my wellbeing while being equally mad at the railway system. It was as heartwarming as it was annoying, wishing she could just sit still in her seat and close her mouth. She eventually settles down, staring into my eyes as she mouths the same words over and over again.

"-ey kid! Kid! Hello?! Anyone home?" She finally stops when she sees I starting listening to her. "Did you even hear anything I said?"

"Of course miss. I'm thankful for your concern, but I can assure you my sister and I will arrive to our destination without any problems." I tell her as I close my eyes to focus on the exact coordinates of my stop, pretending to fall asleep like the child I'm supposed to be.

"But of course, mister here didn't hear a thing! I'm asking about your answer to my question?" At this point I considered making an early stop to put an end to her babbling but decided against it. It would be significantly less walking if I waited just a little more.

"Yes." I said, completely oblivious to the nature of the question she asked. For all I knew, she could've asked me for my age or where I come from.

"Well okay then, it's settled. Just tell me where you'll get off and leave the rest to your big sis!" With a big smile on her face and a double thumbs up, she stares at me ready to hug the soul out of me at the first chance she gets.

"No problem." My eyes still closed, I give her a sly smirk, still confused by her words but confident that it wouldn't matter in any way. 

A few minutes pass by before I abruptly stand up on my seat and secure Ellie onto my back. I jump off and walk to the other side of the train, towards the windows facing east. In the middle of the corridor filled with dozens of seats and just as many people, I lower myself to a sprinter's crouch before slowly raising my head and opening my eyes.

I fill my legs with mana, preparing a lesser version of burst step. Some of the mages on the train seem to notice as I hadn't bothered to mask my use of mana. 

"Hey kid, what are you do-" The blue haired woman is interrupted by the sound of shattering glass and screeching metal. 

All I could hear is a few screams and gasps of shock as I barrel forward, jumping down a very familiar looking cliff side. The moment my feet touched the ground, I used a technique I was taught by an old dwarf when I trained in the castle during the war. By using earth mana, I could build the mana in body to direct and disperse kinetic energy from one end to another. Using the same principle, I gave it my own flare, using earth mana to absorb the shock at my legs and disperse the energy into a shockwave using air magic. 

To the single person who was following me, the image that would come to her head is of a deer gracefully descending a hill only to get slapped in the face by an invisible hand. The young woman who I assumed to be an adventurer, was making her decent a bit more roughly, using air magic to reorientate herself after every contact with the ground and pulling water up from the ground in an attempt to catch herself and increase her collision time.

Annoyed by her relentless chase, I decided to circulate every element to try and stop her or at least knock her off course. I utilize fire magic to use Burst Stamp in quick succession, boosting me into the air and using some air magic to increase my air time. With every step I make on the side of the steep mountain, I use earth magic to make the rocks and ground, jagged and uneven before coating a large area in thick ice. I make sure to aim every shockwave I create in her direction, as I consider my plans for her if she actually manages to get through all of my obstacles. 

Throughout this fabulous chase, I made sure to provide Ellie with world class service. She was sure to not feel a thing and be perfectly comfortable.

After a minute or two, I find myself at the base of the mountain and figure I'd wait for a while to see if the young lady who foolishly jumped out of a moving train would ever show herself. I mean seriously, who does such a dangerous thing without regard for their own wellbeing? 

I hear a few quiet moans of pain followed by the rustling of a nearby bush. Popping out of the bush and landing face first onto the damp earth, big sis was covered head to toe by bruises and nasty scratches. Much like her boots, she seemed to have lost her soul but was still conscious and had a not so friendly look on her face. 

She pushes her face off the ground as she sits down and spits the dirt from her mouth before speaking. "Ha ha, I get it now.... " She takes a bit to catch her breath. "Your grandmother is dead you suicidal stupid little idiot!!"

"No she isn't and for your information I take offense to being called little. I know for a fact I'll grow to be a fairly tall man." I reply, ignoring her other comments along with the blood seeping out of the numerous cuts on her body.

"I'm very impressed you managed to make it down here in one piece and even more impressed you had the gall to follow me even after I had made my intentions perfectly clear." I slightly crouch down to meet her eyes, my gaze a stone wall of indifference and apathy. 

Her face scrunches up in horror at my next words "Well miss, if you want to tag along I suggest you hurry up. You couldn't imagine how hard it is to navigate this forest as a simple human."