The Runic Alchemist

All four of them were seated near the tree - doing their best to ignore the dying or dead kid that looked much similar to Damian they knew. Once in a while sneaking a look at him. They had used up their one sentence already with no result and now they just had to wait out this whole cycle. Damian himself tried to open his mouth to say something but another coughing fit stopped him in midtracks.

"You don't have to explain.." Lucian said.

The other two looked at her, clearly not agreeing hundred percent with her but they did not say anything. It wasn't that he wanted to explain.. It was just that Damian doubted he could live through or stay conscious through numerous cycles that would take to get young Damian's attention. He had to give them all the info in case he was gone and they were stuck here.

His breathing was a struggle still Damian braved through,

"No, I have to." He said.

Lucian nodded quietly, her eyes also held the same questions as the other two - it was unmistakable.

Damian continued, "As you know there are other worlds.. The first scene, that's my real world. Lucian, I once told you the earth we spent the year was my home. But that's past, my time was years ahead. I was an orphan and when I was older, you have seen the young man, that's me - one day I fell asleep and woke up as a 5 year old boy in a strange body and even stranger world."

They had already figured most of it out but still the confirmation left a shock and awe on their faces. Maelor quickly asked,

"So you are not the real Damian?"

Damian shook his head. Then pointed at the dead kid lying beside them.

"This is the real Damian. As you can see, he died on this day. I don't know that mage and portal thing is real or a memory trap but when I opened my eyes, my birth family won't even look at me or talk to me. After a week of bed rest they sent me to Lucian's villa - not a single word was said."

"You are old.." Sam whispered.

Damian smiled, "Yes, That I am. 21 then ten or so more in your world."

"Earth has no mana.." Lucian said as if subconsciously voicing her thoughts. "I thought all your unexplained strength was from this secret of yours.. I knew you were hiding something, I always assumed it was some method of gaining forbidden power."

Damian chuckled, "No. Nothing like that, I did gain a weird skill and job because of my strange existence though. It helped me gain power in unorthodox ways."

"So you are like a dungeon monster?" Sam asked hesitatingly.

"I am from earth - a human. You have met the others there, just consider me one of them. Unlike the pigmen world we dont have any dungeons or magic or any of those things. We have science though."

"Science? You mean those weird 'world's natural rules' you always went on and on about?"

"Yes, that's how I knew about your powers. From where I am, electricity is one of the most basic things that we all use on a daily basis. There are machines of all kinds using that as power to work - like runic tools but without mana."

"These metal boxes that look like weird carriages? Does everyone in your world have it? You made Dreamlight based on it right?" Sam asked questions after questions.

Damian smiled and replied to all of them as truthfully as he could. Maelor also joined in for a few - Lucian as usual was calm and just listened. Her eyes reacted to anything interesting they asked and Damian revealed. At last it ended.

All in all it was better than Damian had expected. Sam and Maelor were more curious than confused or weirded out - he had no idea what was on Lucian's mind but her moving close to him and holding his hand had to be a good sign.

Damian felt like a burden had been lifted from his heart, he had no idea it mattered that much to him. It didn't seem like his alien origin was that big a matter to them.. Or maybe they were just good at hiding it or not thinking about it right now seeing their situation - but Damian could tell after being with all of them for such a long time.. This was not acting.

"That aside, we should quickly wake up this young Damian. This cycle is so long, repeating it hundreds of times does not sound good." Sam said after a while.

"Damian, you must have some idea how to wake yourself up. What would get your attention the most?" Maelor asked.

Damian remained silent for a while, he wouldn't last long anyway - his only choice here was to awaken this young Damian, no matter who the soul inside it belongs to.

"We should try the adult me in my dorm room or me right as I wake up in the last scene. The memories belonging to the real me, we can try those too. Just say things like 'time loop' or 'memory trap' use Shadecaster and Demon Lord's name.. If it doesn't work, use the friendship card or use her.." Damian replied, looking at Lucian in the last sentence.

"Wait a second.. Why are you saying it like..-" Lucian noticed the oddity in his speech and started to ask but before she could finish Damian's eyes had already closed.

Even speaking a few lines had tested the limit of his strength in this weak energyless body - the pure drive to explain his situation was the only thing keeping his conscious. When they accepted him Damian felt a relief like never before.. It was so peaceful and warm. He felt drained and now finally using the last of his energy he conveyed all the suggestions he could think of and fell asleep.