Shadows of the Past: The Wizard's Return

Avery pretended to be reluctant. "That's not fair, is it? I earned this position through my own merit. How about I set aside my current mission for now, and we both return to consult with the boss?"

"No, that's unnecessary. I was merely suggesting it. If you're unwilling, then there's no need to bother the boss," the leader replied, firmly shutting down the proposal and refusing to escalate the situation further.

After the leader finished speaking, he didn't linger on the topic and moved on to a conclusion: "A wizard as powerful as this one must not be an unknown figure. We might be able to identify them by investigating and eliminating possibilities, and then take targeted action."

The others found no issue with this suggestion. It seemed logical, so they nodded in agreement.

"You must treat this matter with the utmost seriousness. By the next meeting, I expect to see results from each of you," the leader said sternly.

No one dared take the task lightly. "Understood," they responded in unison.

From there, the group began reporting on other business matters. The discussions lasted a full three hours, and only after all reports were given did the leader finally adjourn the meeting. The attendees left one by one.

On the way out, a female member voiced a concern. "I have a question. Why were we never able to track this person's movements before, but now it's suddenly so easy? Could this be a trap?"

Someone nearby responded, "Why didn't you bring this up earlier?"

"I wasn't sure at the time…"

"Maybe it's just the compass doing its job? A high-level wizard's relic is never simple," a young man in a gray suit suggested.

"That's possible…"

Avery blended in with the group, staying silent as he left the secretive meeting room. Once outside, he made his way alone to a large door, opening it to reveal a narrow alley.

He stepped out, walked onto the street, and naturally merged into the crowd, disappearing as if he had never been there at all.

—Why was it so easy?

Avery changed out of his meeting attire, slipping into the clothes he had worn earlier in the day. He smoothed his slightly long sideburns, removed the earring from his ear, and finally slipped on a fresh pair of pristine white gloves.

He glanced at his reflection, watching as the familiar face he wore returned, then calmly exited the washroom.

"Avery."

A voice called out.

"Yes," he replied.

—Naturally, it was because he was intentionally waiting for the prey to take the bait.

The enemy was now in the open, while he remained in the shadows. This scenario felt incredibly familiar, only this time, their roles had reversed.

How… amusing.

What a pity, though—the person from earlier had been too timid. Otherwise, Avery could have infiltrated the heart of their operation already, saving him from having to continue this performance.

Avery reflected on this with mild regret.

Avery didn't always go by that name, nor did he originally belong to this world.

It may sound complicated, especially considering that if you measured the timeline according to this world's calendar, nearly thirty years have passed since the events that set everything in motion. That's longer than the age of the body he now inhabits.

And during that time, he's done countless things worth mentioning—so many, in fact, that if you were to recount every detail, it would take at least three days and nights to finish.

But if we were to pick just one chapter to start with, it wouldn't be that difficult.

So, let's begin with the reason why Avery suddenly changed his mind about staying on as a lecturer at the University of London, opting instead to become a globe-trotting writer.

It all started with a dream.

As previously mentioned, Avery rarely dreams. For most wizards, dreams are often prophetic, and in his twenty-some years as Avery, he'd only had two significant ones. The first occurred not long after he returned to Gotham, and from that dream, he surmised that Bruce Wayne might have many sons in the future.

The second dream happened during his time at the University of London, where he dreamt of the mysterious organization that had killed him in his previous life. Shockingly, they had appeared once more in this world.

That group was anything but ordinary. The fact that they knew how to strike his most well-guarded vulnerability, successfully killing him, revealed just how dangerous they were. Especially because—aside from him—no one should have known about that weakness.

As a high-level wizard, Avery was confident in making such a statement.

So even after his soul accidentally traversed a dimensional rift and was reborn into this world, he was left questioning how that group had discovered his secret in the first place. What kind of conspiracy could they possibly be planning by gathering together again?

Upon learning that the mysterious organization had resurfaced, Avery abandoned his initial plans to live a normal life as a regular person. Instead, he chose the path of a writer, a profession that allowed him to travel the world without drawing suspicion.

He thought that, this time, with his guard up and the advantage of operating in the shadows, he would quickly unravel their plot.

However, the reality proved much more complicated. The organization was extremely cautious—they had implanted self-destruct mechanisms in their members' brains. If anyone divulged a forbidden secret, their entire body would automatically explode.

Similarly, if Avery tried to use magic to invade their minds and extract memories, the same explosive outcome would occur.

In truth, such restrictions weren't entirely impossible to break. With Avery's level of magical expertise, dismantling them wouldn't be easy, but it wouldn't be too difficult either. The real problem lay in the fact that this organization had also employed some strange technological methods. And when it came to technology, Avery was entirely out of his depth—he didn't understand it at all. Thus, he had no choice but to continue his long, drawn-out battle with them.