Time Wizard

Roland POV 

Roland stood blankly, completely speechless. He stood by the foot of a towering dark stone monument. Against the glossy glassed surface were countless white markings arrayed neatly aligned rows from top to bottom. Roland wore a deep frown, choosing to keep his words brief. On the outside, his eyes scanned this new place with a deep sense of wonder—a strange place where nothing but the endless white sandy dune filled his sights. Above, the skies were dark; midnight tint covered the heavens, with many stars stitched wondrously. For once, he held no real marvel towards the beautiful sight. Deep down, he was tired of losing consciousness and waking up in strange places.

Roland exhaled a deep breath and rubbed the side of his sore head. From the moment he allowed that old timer to manoeuvre behind him, he should've known something like this would happen. 

'At least it's a gentle reminder that I can't allow myself to be at ease around these people for a moment. A key reminder, everyone here is insane. But more importantly…' 

Roland took another sweep across the world around him. The heavens were richly dark as nightengale, and the ground was an endless sea of warm sand beneath his soles. He knelt down and gathered the sand in his palms.

'It certainly feels real. And I can feel the sand, so this must be my real body.'

His mind combed through the possibilities, and he arrived at a peaceful junction.

'At least I'm not dead yet. I hope.' 

If he discounted entering his mind palace, this would be the second time he had found himself stuck inside an unknown place. 

'Falling unconscious used to be so simple. I see darkness, then I see light. And I wake up.' 

He combed his eyes over the tall pillar. Those strange markings were growing slightly ominous the more he observed them. Wherever he was, judging by the lack of anything here but that thing, told him that this was perhaps something important. 

He folded both arms and smoothed his hairless chin in deep thought. His usual custom for thinking these days.

'Right, let's go over this carefully again Roland. I managed to contain that ancient Rune that almost made my brain explode. Then I got caught unawares and was pushed into the sea of black fire.' 

Roland concluded he was either dead for real this time or pushed into another unfortunate space. However, he was beginning to slowly understand that these unusual random places were perhaps not so random, and there was likely a meaning or point behind them. 

'Perhaps I'm supposed to solve something or at least learn something.' 

Rather than wait for something terrible to occur, he decided to take the initiative and go for a look around. He first chose to circle around the towering glassed pillar erected so high up that he could barely see the top of it. Unlike the front of the pillar, the back was smooth as marble. He carefully combed his gaze over the lower half of its pedestal and stood surprised to see a small patch of writing etched against it. 

Roland squinted his eyes, quickly recognising the strange but familiar language. His eyes suddenly flashed open. 

'Wait Omega! Are you there?' 

Roland was hopeful, but he heard static and a slightly painful feedback sound echoing in his head. Immediately, he rang his ears and blinked a few times until the uncomfortable sensation disappeared.

"Right, I won't be doing that again." 

He peered back towards the words again, focusing and trying to sound out each letter from what his mind did remember without his system's help. 

Thankfully, he was much more competent than he thought and eventually made sense out of the language. 

"Here lies the grave of the Unknown o-one. Here lies Caldor, Guardian of Space…a-nd time?" 

Roland muttered the last part again to himself and felt a cold shiver running through his spine. It was at that precise moment when he also heard something behind him. 

He felt and heard a rumble beneath his feet, a loud, rapturous groan that sent the ground echoing loudly. Roland twisted around in haste and gawked wordlessly at the towering white ivory staircases ascending towards the starlight skies. 

He rubbed his eyes deeply before blinking aimlessly at the sudden arrival of what was literally a stairwell leading towards heaven. 

Roland heckled mockingly to himself. These kinds of random occurrences were on brand these days. He didn't think too much of it and steadily walked towards the anomaly in front. 

Halfway along the white sandy ground, Roland noticed something beside the first staircase. The figure was a little shorter than he was, dressed bizarrely, of course, in a deep midnight blue robe covered with golden stars. His eyes moved towards the helm of the thin staff cradled in the figure's hand. It was an umbrella fashioned in the same style as the figure's robes. 

 Roland approached with caution, slightly more curious than scared at this point. Around about 100 feet away, he flinched as the figure in dazzling robes turned to face him. A human face stared back at him, and Roland looked dutifully surprised. 

'Thought I'd run into a strange alien.' For some reason, he remembered his sister Nariyah, and his muscles tensed up when he recalled that very first vision he encountered involving her. 

'Better than me seeing a pile of dead bodies.'

The human figure gazed at him with a curious look. A deep, dark brown skin child with bizarre electric pink-coloured hair. The thin willow brows also matched the eccentric hair colour. Forcing Roland to wonder whether he was staring at a girl or a boy. He awkwardly scratched the side of his head in a bid not to seem rude. Before he creased a pleasantly boyish smile. 

"Er-hello or howdy there?" 

In response, Roland watched the round-faced child tilt its head slightly to one side in a baffling manner. Its large, bright, magenta eyes blinked emptily a few times. It scanned him up and down before a sudden realisation seemed to birth across its youthful face. 

Holding the tall umbrella, the child stood on its tiptoes and inspected him closer. 

"Are you?…looking for…Booba…as well?" 

Firstly, Roland slightly leaned away uncomfortably. And then he asked himself why the child sounded out of breath. 

'Was he…or she? Even a child?' Given his limited but somewhat growing experience with the weird and wonderful, Roland gathered that it was best to make sure he was clear with his intentions and responses. 

"I don't know who that is? That's a person right this…Booba?" 

The short child lowered itself back onto its soles. Staring at him with strange looks of indifference and slight annoyance. 

"No… it's a place." It said, scanning their surroundings dejectedly. 

Roland noticed this and pieced together a small theory. 

"Say, are you lost?" 

"Me lost? Hmph, what gave you that impression, strange human boy?" 

The child shifted its large eyes everywhere but towards him. Roland knew it was lying. 

'Ah, so he is lost.' 

Roland shifted his gaze to the side and combed his eyes over the ascending staircase. 

"I'm a little lost as well, if I'm honest. My name is Roland, by the way. What's your name?" 

"Di…die." It hiccupped.

"Wait! What did you say?" 

"Huh-oh-no, I'm sorry…Di, my name is Di." The child observed Roland again, this time curiously following Roland's line of sight. 

"Di huh? Heh-heh," he nervously said. 'I'm sure I heard him say die.' 

"Sooo, where are we Di? And how did you get here in the first place?" He inquired from the little fellow. 

Di was still scanning Roland from head to toe when its little mouth made an O shape. 

"Oh, well…this place is…this is…the courtyard, of course. It's the last secret place those rascals haven't found yet."

"rascals?" Roland said plainly

Di bounced its head up and down.

"Uh-huh, the Time chasers. Thankfully, they haven't found us yet." 

Hearing that drew Roland to focus inwardly for a brief moment. 'Time chasers? What in the- ' 

"According to my findings, the coordinates to this place align perfectly with the Emerald 5 Gardens Schools. Hehe, it's quite a devious plan from me. You see, since we of the Council of One-Thousand Stars are under strict law to hand in our time journals, I managed to reroute my course to align with the- " 

Roland raised his hand abruptly and stopped the chattering short fellow from yapping further. He didn't want to seem rude, but the information overload was a lot to simply brush off,

He took another long look around himself. He searched the star-filled skies and cast an uncertain look of despair across the white sandy dune. 

'Shit! Shit! Shit! What the hell have you gotten me into, you damned old geezer!' Roland cursed everything about that Wizard. He regretted their encounter deep in his heart now. And who could say how long he was going to be stuck here. Another realisation struck him in that moment again. 

Wasn't he planning on finally leaving his ancestral castle today?

'How much time has even passed in the real world?!

He dreaded thinking he had wasted this chance. While Di curiously observed him in silence, Roland exhaled a tired breath, feeling his brain filled with heaviness and his body almost drowning in fatigue. 

"Di was it. Do you know the way out of here? 

The little figure stood in silence for a short while, merely staring at Roland as though he were looking at an alien. Suddenly, Di raised an arm and pointed a finger behind Roland. 

"That's a bit of a silly question, considering you were just staring at the doorway for quite a while." 

Roland curiously followed the child's gesture and slightly lifted his brows upon catching what Di was referring to. 

"The tall stone pillar? So I came through there then." Relief swiftly washed through Roland who suddenly felt a lot more comfortable about this situation as he placed a hand between his chest and steadied his breathing. 

"Do you know how it works? How I get back…home?" he asked in delight

Thankfully, Di nodded its round head.

"Absolutely, you need a fully charged Q-Shard, I have some spares if you would like. Oh, and just need to know which Zone you've jumped from. I can't imagine many active zones outside the Wilson Ring. So, I bet you jumped somewhere between A3 and XTZ7. Ahahaha- how close was I go on tell me?" 

Roland tried to digest what he was hearing but could only stare awkwardly at the child.

'A shard? Wol-wolson ring? Time zones? Did I-' 

The realisation hit Roland like a ton of falling bricks. The simple notion of what this likely meant was too mind-blowing to grasp all at once. But as inconceivable as it all seemed, the patterns were beginning to align with such an incredible truth. 

'The ancient rune, it somehow…made this…happen?' 

He rehearsed the meaning of that word against the stone monument. Time and Space, two words, when held separately, would hold no meaning. But in this new world, where magic practically existed within the air one breathes, together, a clearer picture bloomed desirably in his thoughts.

The Ancient Rune he broke apart held some kind of spatial-time power. Roland's mind was muddled, and he needed a few moments to centre himself. Meanwhile, he could still feel Di's gaze lingering on him during each pause, itching to ask more questions. Roland eventually lowered his gaze again, inviting the little fellow to speak.

"Er…you don't know your zone quadrant then?" Di asked him with looks of doubt etched against the round features. Roland held his tongue for a brief moment pondering if lying was the best response. Ultimately decided against it after a brief inner tussle. 

"I…sigh, I have no clue if I'm being completely honest. I don't even know how I ended up here in the first place. There was this Rune, and then I had this terrible headache, an explosion happened, a sea of strange black flames appeared, and then that conniving old-timer pushed me, and then here I ended up." 

Roland felt himself compelled to shush. This time around, it was Di's turn to hold up an abrupt palm to silence his ramblings. 

The little fellow's brow relaxed, and a calmer expression surfaced as Di went on to say. 

"The Rune? You mean this." 

Di raised a single finger and lightly traced something in the air. Roland, of course, had no idea what that was until. 

"Huh, how did you-"Before he could finish his words, tiny bright particles glimmered into life, forming what Roland could tell was that ancient Rune he mistakenly pulled into his mental sphere. 

"Hmm, that's interesting," Di said once Roland understood and recognised the Rune. 

"Ok, there might be another way. But before that, strange big brother, I have a question to ask you." 

Di straightened its robes before clearing its throat and saying. 

"Would you like to join a club?"