World Travel

"What? Why!" Mia demanded. After all, Rasz had just explained that the World's Key can be used to bring her back home, and now just after a few seconds had passed, he suddenly took them back! Anyone would have felt dissatisfied at this rate.

"Wait, Mia, at least let me finish first!" Rasz had suddenly taken up a defensive position when he saw that Mia was just about ready to pounce him for saying such a ridiculous thing all of a sudden.

Without saying anything Mia nodded her head once. Rasz took that simple motion as a sign for him to proceed and quickly said, "I'm sorry, Mia. I really am. I wanted to be able to use this World's Key to get you back to your [World] also, but it really can't. At least not this one, the one that belongs to me."

"Why?" again the same question was uttered, but tonelessly this time as if Mia was holding back her anger.

Rasz continued with his explanations while trying hard not to look like a lion was breathing down on his neck, "In general, there are two types of World's Key; ones that required [Mana] to work and ones which don't, but the later one are very rare. Usually, [Mana] will be required to activate a World's Key."

"Now, this World's Key was given by my employer for work purposes only. Since I'm not a sorcerer, my World's Key is the type where a certain amount of [Mana] can be stored inside first and later used when needed. However, the amount of [Mana] that has been stored inside this item right now is only enough for me to <Travel> to the [Worlds] that I had been assigned to only."

"The problem that we have right now is that we don't actually have any idea which of the [Worlds] that you had actually come from, do we? I can't exceed the [Mana] quota that I had been assigned with. Otherwise, I might not be able to return to my employer, or even worse, we might get stuck in the [Time Zone]."

"Wait, Rasz. What's [Mana]? Also, [Time Zone]?" At the mention of a few strange words, Mia couldn't help but asked Rasz to explain properly again.

"Sorry... I was going too fast, aren't I?" said Rasz, while rubbing the top of his head, feeling silly. He needed to remind himself that though she had experienced her first <Travel>, a couple of nights ago, Mia didn't even know what <Travel> was, not until today. Moreover, based on the fact that she had never even heard of the existence of the [Worlds], the [World] that Mia had come from, must be one of those non-magical types.

Thus after thinking for a while, searching for the simplest words he can use to make Mia understand — at the very least, the most basic concept — Rasz began his explanations once again.

"Now, [Mana] is basically the magical fuel used to power up a magical item so that the item can activate its magical abilities. For example, for the World's Key, its ability is to travel between Worlds. There are other magical items with different abilities out there. Of course, as I mentioned before, there are also magical items that don't require [Mana] to operate, but this type of items are rare and most of them can only be used once. [Mana] can also be used by sorcerers to cast spells, which similar to the magical items, can generate its own magical abilities or in this context, powers."

"The rules for [Mana]-activated magical abilities or magical powers are simple, you just need to input the amount of [Mana] needed for that particular item or spell, then their magical abilities or powers can be used. However, the problem lies with the fact that a sorcerer's [Mana] might not be enough or had been depleted, to cast a spell or used a magical item."

"Other than the World's Key, there actually exists a spell to <Travel> between [Worlds]. The difference between the World's Key and the <Travel> spell is the amount of [Mana] required to be supplied. The <Travel> spell requires a large amount of [Mana]. Even the most powerful sorcerers could only guarantee that they can use the <Travel> spell for only a one-way trip to a [World]."

"If one were to <Travel> without enough amount of [Mana], they might get stuck in a foreign [World] forever, or at least until they found someone or something that could help them to <Travel> back to their own [World]. However, the worst case scenario when one doesn't have enough [Mana] to <Travel> will be to be stuck in the [Time Zone]."

"[Time Zone] is the dimension that every Traveler needs to cross during their <Travel> before they reach to the [World] that they intended to go. The [Time Zone] dimension is devoid of any concept of time and reality. If one were to be stuck there, they will be eternally lost in an endless void, rip out of the concept of time and reality. Even those that got lucky enough to get out of the [Time Zone] after getting stuck there will come back as an insane person." When Mia heard Rasz explained about the [Time Zone], her thoughts went to the unknown space that she had been drifting in back when the golden clock-like circle had pulled her.

Mia's body shuddered involuntarily at the thought that the unknown space could've been the so-called [Time Zone]. Just then, she couldn't help herself from interrupting Rasz and asked, "This [Time Zone], it didn't happen to be a wide space full of white circles and clocks, is it?"

Hearing Mia's strange question, Rasz raised his brow in surprise and wonder as to the reasons behind her question. Still, he didn't try to poke into the matter and answered the question with what he knew, "Well, there were quite a number of opinions among the magical scholar regarding the matter. There were even some first encounter experiences that had been recorded describing the [Time Zone], but so far none of them were believable sources. However, I do remember a few of them had mentioned a space with portals and clocks. They called them the World's Gate and the Life Time.

At the moment when Mia heard those words, she instinctively tilted her head in silent curiosity. Seeing that adorable action of hers, Rasz couldn't help but laughed in his mind a little, before continuing to say, "The World's Gate is the gateway to the [World]. It appeared in the form of a white circular portal. Every [Worlds] will have one World's Gate to pass through before officially arriving at that particular [World]."

"So far, without the use of a World's Key or a successful <Travel> spell, no one had managed to figure out how to cross the World's Gate to enter the [Worlds]. Thus, based on the first encounters statements, their existence work more as a window to the other [Worlds] rather than a real gateway. If one ever managed to figure how to enter the [Worlds] through the World's Gate without the aid of a magical item or a spell, then the risk of a Traveler being stuck in the [Time Zone] because of the lack of [Mana] would possibly cease to exist."

"So those white circles were the gateway or rather the World's Gate to the [Worlds]. That means that all those awe-aspiring scenes that I saw back then were what some of the other [Worlds] looked like," thought Mia excitedly.

While Mia thought back to the things that she saw back then, Rasz continued, "On the other hand, the Life Time — which appeared in the form of a clock — was said to be the indicator of the ages of the [Worlds]. The scholars opinionated that the [Worlds] didn't come into existence at the same time. The [Worlds] can either be younger or older from one another."

Just then, Mia cut off Rasz once again to ask, "Did they mentioned what does it mean if the Life Time has stopped?"

"That... Hmm... I'm not sure either," answered Rasz honestly.

"Oh, is that so..." said Mia feeling rather disappointed at not getting the answer she wanted.

Being preoccupied with her own thoughts, Mia didn't notice that the young man was watching her in silent contemplation, his brows were slightly furrowed as he thought, "A Life Time that had stopped...? Was anything like that mentioned anywhere before? It can't be that Mia had a first-hand experience in the [Time Zone]... That's impossible! She seemed too fine for someone that had been stuck there."

For 'insane' had merely been a nice way Rasz figured to called those people who have had an experience being stuck in the [Time Zone]. Those people, they looked very much like rabid wild dogs. Upon being 'luckily' freed from the [Time Zone] they began to blabber a bunch of gibberish while acting like a madman. People who took pity in their condition kindly ended those people lives soon afterward — that was if those mad people didn't kill themselves first.

"Comparing Mia to those 'insane' people..." Rasz looked at the young woman who was seated beside him. He shook his head as he threw that implausible thought away from his mind as his lips quirked up in amusement seeing Mia's behavior right now.

Currently, Mia had a once again worn that dissatisfied look on her face, however this time it wasn't because she was angry at Rasz. On the contrary, she had unknowingly become fully absorbed with the matters of the [Time Zone]. She was feeling frustrated with what little information everyone seemed to have. Once again our dear main protagonist had managed to divert her attention far away from her current problems. Despite now knowing how dangerous that unknown space was, it didn't stop her from being curious about the [Time Zone].

More than anything she really wanted to know why the clock — the Life Time — of the last World's Gate that she had seen had not been working, unlike all the other Life Times that she had seen before. Truthfully, though she hated and was scared of the vision that she had seen back in the castle ruins, Mia couldn't help but be intrigued by the history behind it. Somehow deep inside her, she longed to see that castle once again — or what was left of that former glorious castle.

Just then, her thoughts were interrupted by Rasz's voice, who was looking at her full of concern. "Are you alright, Mia?" Unbeknownst to Mia, she had actually been silent for more than half an hour. Her initially curious face had also turned into a strange expression, which Rasz had interpreted as being solemn.

Rasz was really worried that his explanations had caused Mia to plunge deeper into despair. Though he had said that his World's Key can't be used to take her back to her [World], he actually knew of another way that will surely ensure her return.

However, Rasz was really reluctant to tell Mia about it. Since he knew that there will always be some strings attached when it came to the dealings with that mischievous woman. Rasz doesn't want Mia to have to face such things.

"Still, if that is the only way to get Mia back to her [World]..." just as Rasz thought that, his right hand clenched tightly in frustration.

"I'm all right, Rasz. Well, I just got preoccupied with my own thoughts. So, what do you reckon I supposed to do now? Should, I try to find one of those World's Key that doesn't require [Mana], but if it's as rare as you'd said just now... Or maybe I can ask your employer for a favor, but I really don't want to get you in trouble. Perhaps, I could-"

"Mia, I actually know of a way for you to get back to your own [World]."

Rasz took a long and deep breath before begun telling Mia about the shop that grants wishes.