1 Return

"Has it already been a century?" I asked myself as I stood up from the magic circle that I had been carefully inscribing on the ground. "Finally, I can send myself back."

My name is Kelvin Markis. Over a hundred years ago, I was summoned to another world while on my way home from school. I know, every kids dream. I even had to save the world from a demonic army invading from another dimension. By the way, through my own hard work, I defeated that army and saved the world in less than a year. Only afterward did they tell me that they couldn't send me back.

Determined to return home to the few loved ones that I had, I threw myself into studying the mysteries of magic. I search through every avenue and came to be revered and feared as the greatest magnus that there had ever been. Finally, after a century of cumulative effort, I have gained the knowledge needed to understand and rewrite the summoning circle that brought me here.

Looking back the way has been hard and even I find it amazing that I didn't give up. Kingdoms tempted me with riches and power. Those that had feared me had tried to assassinate me, but I have weathered all the storms that were thrown at me.

"Now, I can at last go back," I said, somewhat smugly, stepping into the circle. "Now to start."

I touched the edge of my staff to the circle and infused it with a bit of my magic power. To summon me, they had foolishly poured power in for weeks. With a few simple tweaks, the circle just needed a jump start to send me home. The atmospheric mana was quickly sucked into the circle and curtains of light sprung up around me.

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- Royal palace

"What is happening?" cried the king as he barged into the catherdral.

"I don't know," screamed the priestess. "The spirits are crying that the fabric of this world has been altered. I only heard of something similar happening when they summoned the hero a hundred years ago."

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I closed my eyes as the space around me warped, bent, and finally waded away. Pain lanced through my body as I traveled through the void between worlds, traveling faster than light itself as I hurtled home. After an unknow length of time, I felt my feet come to rest on asphalt.

Slowly opening my eyes, I found myself back where it had all began. Nothing had changed. The lamppost still needed to be have its bulb changed. Actually. Looking down, I found that I had even left behind the body of an old man. In spite of my age, I had looked like a man in his late sixties. However, now I had returned to the body of a seventeen-year-old.

"Wait," I said, picking up my backpack that was resting on the ground nest to me. Even my clothes were the same, except for the fact that there was a large wooden staff defying gravity next to me.

Pulling my phone from a pocket, I checked the date and found that not a minute had passed in this world.

"It really is the same day. Nothing has changed."

I began to tear up a little at the thought. I had almost lost hope more times than I care to think. The possibility that my friends and family were dead and gone had passed through my mind more than once, but it was really true. I was back. I had another chance, and I was going to make sure that I didn't waste it.

"So, this is Master's home world," said a ball of light appearing next to me.

"Oh, Maxium. You followed me here?" I asked in surprise.

"Well, Master created me to be his perfect assistant," Maxium replied. "It is natural that I would follow Master home."

"That is fine, but make sure to stay out of sight," I said, turning my sight down the road and continuing the walk home that had been long interrupted. "Magic doesn't exist in this world after all. Your mere existence would cause chaos if anyone found out about you."

Maxium promptly erased his visible presence and silently followed behind me. With a simple effort of will, I reduced the staff to the size of a been and hide it in a pocket. We slowly walked in silence until we came to a stop in front of an average looking house on the street. Waling up to the door, I paused for a moment. I knew that logically, they would be here and everything would return to normal, but there was still a tendril of fear in my heart. What if I made a mistake somewhere in my calculations? Maybe I had come to the wrong world or something had happened to my family. Suddenly, the door opened and a woman walked out.

"Oh, Kelvin!" the woman cried. "I was just heading out to work. There is a snack in the fridge, and I'll be home for dinner. See you later."

"Mom!" I cried, overcome with emotion. It had worked. It had really worked. "You can't imagine how much I missed you!"

I rushed over and embrace my stunned mother. She was slightly taller than me, but we both had the same bluish black hair and violet eyes. Rears leaked out of the corners of my eyes, and I swore to myself that nothing else mattered more. Magic, power, money, nothing was more important than my loved ones and I would do anything that I needed to to protect them.