Chapter 4.5

Irving sat up quickly and looked around, the moonlight shone through the light blue curtains highlighting his surroundings in a pale blue light. His eyes darted around the room as he noticed his old dresser his mother had their finest craftsmen make for him the day he was born and the small dresser that sat in the middle of the room against a wall. The desk that he had spent so much time sitting at as he did his homework and, to Irving's dismay, his nanny who had passed away from an accident when he was ten.

"What did that witch do to me?" He asked in a quiet voice. "Maybe, she put me into an eternal slumber and I am only living within my memories as she does all kinds of unspeakable horrors to my body." As soon as the words left his mouth, Irvine dismissed the idea. She would need to constantly supply the mana needed to hold him in that state and, from what he knows of magic users, no matter how powerful she was, she wouldn't be able to do so when she was asleep.

Irving placed a small hand on his forehead and recoiled as he realized his hand's size. "Or maybe," Irving said as he turned his hand over, examining it, "she sent me to the past to when I was three."

Nineteen years later, Irving is standing on a lone hill watching as the battle between Auron and prince Wreag took place. He knew the outcome, even without coming from a time when this already happened, he knew Wreag would turn tail the moment he lost his nerve, being the coward he is, and his troops would be without a leader. The only reason Irving decided to grace this lonely hillside with his presence was to stop what comes next.

In the future Irving knew, a man claiming to be the witch's lover appears and kills a large number of troops which resulted in Auron having to kill him. When the witch awakes two days later, she is informed of her lover's death, and Auron, the fool he is, vows to be by her side until his dying breath to make up for his mistake.

Irving rolled his eyes at the memory of women flocking to him and begging for him to take them as his. It was pathetic how they thought they could persuade him to break his vow.

Movement on the battlefield caught Irving's eye and he peered over as prince Wreag fled from incoming arrows. A small smile touched the corner of Irving's lips as he began to chant in a language very few would know, the language of magic.

It had taken Irving a few days, but shortly after he found himself in his past, he discovered a mark on his back. This Mark could only be seen by him and each time he saw it, some detail would have changed. One moment it would look like a tiger holding an infant deer in its jaws and the next the deer would be fully grown.

After some investigating, he discovered it was a mark that connected him through space and time to a strong magic user, Irving supposed it was the witch who sent him to the past, to begin with. Not only was it a mark that bound them, but it could also be used as a conduit to cast magic, though he kept it to a minimum usually.

However, now was not the time to hold back, he had to use as much magic as he could to prevent the death of the witch's lover and Auron's vow. Using all the strength he could pull from the mark, Irving erected a magical wall that disconnected both countries.