1 CHAPTER 1

A dark, long, and obscure nightmare, that was the only explanation... Abraham repeated those words to himself, thinking that he would somehow open his eyes and find himself back in his room, maybe in a hospital room or whatever, anywhere but here in this cold iron cage...

But the cold wind didn't let him sleep, no matter how much he tried, what was worse was the templars wearing their heavy plate armor as they escorted him through the dark and foggy wood.

Looking around he saw one man with a more approachable feature, unlike the others, there wasn't a frown on his face, in fact, he seemed to be quite comfortable with himself, even going as far as humming something, possibly a religious song. But he wasn't so knowledgeable of the game world to the point of being able to recognize that kind of thing.

"Mister, may I ask why am I locked in this cage? Could you explain to me what my current situation is?"

The man raised an eyebrow, someone was about to ask him to shut up, but the man stopped the person from doing so, he seemed amused as he looked at Abraham, as if something unexpected was happening in front of him.

"So, you're finally awake boy, I thought you'd have slept the entire trip at this rate." He smiled, but his attempt to mock Abraham didn't succeed as he was more focused on the man's accent.

'This place is definitely somewhere in Orlais! That or this accent was actually even more spread than the games made me believe.' He silently thought to himself.

"Are we in Orlais? Your accent is rather familiar..." Abraham probed him, trying to dig up more information.

For as careless as he might be, he figured out that for the moment his life was safe considering they could have killed him sooner if that was truly necessary, and since the man seemed to not mind some chit chat, he wanted to see if he could get some valuable information from him.

Hearing Abraham's word, the man laughed, the other templars also seemed to be rather amused by his words.

"Did you lost your memory or something similar kid? Could it be that you forgot about us picking you up in Halamshiral?" The man laughed and shook his head.

'What!? Halamshiral? Isn't that where the winter palace was located?' Just as he thought about that, memories suddenly rushed up into his head, and in less than a second, he more or less understood who he was.

Abraham Wheeler, son of a nobody who abandoned him in some orphanage. He was later on discovered to have the aptitude for magic and was forcefully sent with a group of templars to some circle of magi.

That's it, he embarrassed himself too much already... Abraham sighed and sat down on the cage, feeling the hard surface of the metal box he was locked up in, he couldn't help but think of what the future held for him.

Clenching his fist, he couldn't help but feel enraged over his current situation, would he be asking too much if he said that he wanted to at least be brought to this world before the templars discovered him?

He didn't want to be a slave of the circle, if he was brought to such a world he wanted to make a name for himself! He wanted to take the place of the inquisitor, he wanted to have the power to face and kill anyone in this world, be it gods or the most ancient of the dragons!

At least he didn't have anything holding himself from reaching his objectives, there was no one waiting for him back in his previous life on Earth, nor was there someone important for him in this world as well.

No matter how much time it took, he would prove that no one in this world would be able to face him, for god sake, he was an earthling! He couldn't and wouldn't allow his advantage in knowledge to be forgotten! What alchemy? What magic? Not only would he dominate all that there was to those things, but he would also even show his superior intellect when it came to more physical things... He didn't waste his time reading guides on how to rebuild civilization from scratch for nothing...

Well, he was indeed wasting his time, but now he actually has a reason to use that knowledge, he will only have to find a way to remember those memories somehow.

"A cat ate your tongue boy?" The man looked at him, quite bored because he didn't mutter any other word. "Sigh... you are no fun."

...

With his ass hurting to levels he didn't know it was possible as the carriage where his cage was in traversed the bridge that led to the circle castle, he couldn't help but revise the information he had gathered, apparently, he was brought to the circle of Ghislain, a beautiful city that seemed to have stayed out of every major conflict in the world for the last... well... from the beginning till now.

But it doesn't seem to have brought it as many benefits as one could imagine it would, the place is basically average, much better than Kirkwall and most cities in Ferelden, but nothing much when compared to Val Royeaux or Halamshiral.

That, however, doesn't mean the place isn't incredible in its own rights, unlike any medieval city on Earth, the place smell was amazing, the people all wore beautiful and well-made clothes, there was no trash or dirty on the streets, and the place shined with life in its most organized form since there was no crowded place no matter where you looked, everywhere seemed to have just enough people.

As Abraham admired the incredible sight, the templars stopped the carriage-like transport and opened the door of his cage.

"Well then... do you see that boys? Another successful delivery on our score!" The same man who spoke with him before smiled and the others laughed. Of course it was another successful delivery, they never had to deliver adults with training to the circle, kids are always easy.

A woman clad in armor approached them from the door, she crouched in front of Abraham and used a set of keys to remove the handcuffs from his hand.

"Congratulations Niccola, more one hundred like this one and you might receive a pay raise." She gave the man a taunting smile and laughed.

"Tsk, whatever you say." Niccola's cheek became red and he turned his back to her, the other men started laughing so hard, that Abraham thought they would die from a heart attack.

"See this, she only needs one phrase to put the leash on the dog, haha!"

"Hehe, it seems like the lion became a little kitty."

Being mocked from every side, Niccola sighed and sat down on the bridge handrail not bothering anymore with the voice of his comrades.

Shaking her head, the woman turned to look at Abraham who was stunned there as he looked at her. For him it was his first time seeing such a beautiful woman, this literally didn't exist back on Earth, such an unearthly beauty was truly something surreal!

This woman, whoever she was, had a refined, geometric, and somewhat indescribable face, her long hair was blond and curly, going to her waist and seemed to reflect the sunlight with gold that seemed to have come out of a divine painting.

"Nice to meet you, young man, you must be Abraham." She stroked his head, making him frown! Why!? Why was he so unlucky !? Such a beautiful woman would be in her fifties when he reached eighteen!

Desperate he held the woman's shoulder and asked. "Tell me miss, tell me if you have a daughter! I must meet her if you do, such a beautiful woman could only give birth to the most beautiful of the angels, so please tell me if you have a daughter!"

Surprised by his question, everyone opened their eyes wide as they looked at him, what the heck was wrong with this boy!? He was barely 10 and already had this mentality! Heavens, he would become a lady killer by his twentieth birthday if he was not brought to the circle!

"Pfft!" The woman laughed, she held his shoulder and suddenly her gaze became ice cold. "Never, ever, touch my little girl, otherwise I'll hunt you down even if you try to flee towards the end of the world!"

'Eh!? Fierce I see... Mm, yes, exactly how I like, hopefully, her daughter inherited this trait.' Abraham silently nodded to himself.

For the others it looked like he was nodding to the woman, but if they knew what he just thought they would all cough blood and die just because of the shock.

"Very well, I hope you'll behave well, would be a pity if you had to become tranquil, we don't have many mages around with a good sense of humor." She stood up, the clink of her armor ringing in Abraham's ears as she put one hand on his shoulder to not let his runaway. "Farewell everyone, have a safe trip back to the queen's home."

They all bowed to her and raised their hand to their heads in some sort of salute. "Yes, Knight-commander Pentaghast!"

Hearing this it was Abraham's turn to be surprised. "What the hell!? Are you a member of the Nevarran royal family!?"

Hearing this the woman turned to look at Abraham with a raised eyebrow. "For an orphan, you seem to be quite informed, really unexpected..." She gave him a suspicious look. "That's correct, I Dianora Pentaghast, am indeed a member of the Nevarran royal family, not that it matters though, that's in the past now. Now let's go, there's a long day ahead of you, boy."

She pushed him with her hands, making him almost fall on the stone street, however, she managed to catch him before he could fall. Shaking her head at his disappointing physical condition, she led him towards the big castle that served as the home for the Circle Of Magi of Ghislain.

Going through the entrance hall they took one of the two stairs that led to the first floor and kept walking through the long corridor that led to two big doors on the end.

She knocked a few times on the door and it opened on its own.

"Ah, Miss Pentaghast, what matters bring you here?" A man with a beard at least twice his size stood motionless on the other side of the big room, the wall behind him was completely covered by bookshelves and on the left, there was a big window that allowed one to have a look at the whole city, as the place was built on the highest part of it.

"First-Enchanter Henricus, please, let us not forget the formalities." The woman frowned as she looked at him, the man, however, didn't seem to notice, or simply did not care enough about it to express any reaction to her words."

"Ah... yes, formalities, I'll definitely remember that." The old man had a mocking tone on his voice as he spoke those words, making the woman's head turn red with rage, however, she soon calmed down and said.

"This is Abraham, the circle's new apprentice." She pointed at the boy beside her and gave him a little push, making him walk a few steps towards the old man with the big beard that wore green robes.

Henricus opened one of his eyes to look at the new arrival, he inspected him from head to toe and gave a tired sigh. "Okay... fine... Let's get over with this boy." He stood up and walked towards his desk next to the window on the left, he grabbed somethings from the drawer and closed it.

"Don't worry, it'll be fast, you'll barely notice it."

The man held one of Abraham's hands against his protests, and cut the surface of his finger, making a drop of blood fall on a glass cube.

"Alright, we are finished, now look for Miss Janine on the ground floor, she will explain to you the rules, your daily routine, and everything you need to know. Any questions?"

"Where do I-"

"Good, bye, bye!" The man snapped his fingers and a hurricane-like current of wind appeared out of nowhere and dragged him out of the room.

Looking behind towards the door that closed without him even touching it, Abraham could barely believe what happened. Heavens is everyone so rude in this world!?

The templar that escorted him towards the room, who was waiting for him for some time now, laughed at him and said. "You better get used to this, this man is the most annoying one I have ever met in my life, and I crossed half the world, so I know what I'm talking about."

Shaking his head, he stood up and left that place, the sooner he started studying, the sooner new opportunities would present themselves to him.