Chapter 425: An Old Veriz (1/2)

The darkness obscured their figure, but Arthur saw them standing atop the mast of a leaving ship. The familiarity grew stronger, and Arthur was sure that it was someone he knew from Earth. Finally, however, they disappeared without a trace, leaving Arthur dazed.

”Who was that?” Arthur wondered, but he couldn't summon the memory. Finally, however, he was sure that it was someone he knew, but he couldn't see their face or figure.

As his detection covered the land, Arthur found no trace of them, only the leaving ships. He grew disheartened again for the loss of a chance to meet someone he knew, but he was somehow relieved and terrified.

At least Arthur wasn't the only person in Alka, but it meant that someone he knew was in this dangerous world. After thinking that he lost them again, Arthur detected an abnormal presence with his mana.

The presence was far away from where he was, and Arthur's heart raced because it was the same person from earlier. Arthur teleported toward the outskirts of the town where a shabby hut was erected to find the person from earlier walking toward the hut's door.

The figure paused as Arthur appeared behind him, and he turned ever so slowly toward him. The moonlight finally revealed his face, and Arthur's heart shook.

There was something wrong with the person's identity because it was someone he recognized but somehow did not. Arthur stared at the youth in front of him with a shaking heart.

”Who are you?” Arthur muttered as he retreated, and the youth looked at him with wariness with no recognition.

”That's my line,” the youth grabbed hold of his dagger, and his voice was a lot similar to the one Arthur knew.

”Are you... Ori?” Arthur asked with confusion, but it didn't make sense. This youth in front of him looked like Ori, but he was a lot younger.

The youth's eyes turned round when Arthur said the name, and his expression grew panic-stricken. Then, when Arthur took a step forward, the youth took out a device and used it. Then, he disappeared again.

There was a mana disturbance where the youth stood, and Arthur knew he had teleported away. However, he only left Arthur with more unanswered questions.

'I need to follow him,' Arthur couldn't wrap his head how a younger version of Ori was here, and he used his detection to look for him. However, the young Ori has disappeared, leaving the hut as the only clue.

The hut's door opened to reveal an old man with white hair. Arthur turned to him and could see utter fear in his eyes. As he took a step forward, wanting to ask him, the man closed the door hurriedly.

”Wait, sir!” Arthur called out. ”I want to ask you about something. I seek no harm!” he walked toward the door and knocked slightly. ”Please, I just have a few questions.”

”Who are you?” the gruff voice of the old man arrived from behind the door, and Arthur could tell that he was being examined from behind the curtains.

”I am,” Arthur hesitated before revealing, ”someone from another world.”

***

The chair was old, the same as everything in this house, including the couple here. Arthur looked at the woman pour him some tea as her husband rubbed his hands against each other in nervousness.

”Are you truly from another world?” the old man asked with confusion. ”Can you prove it?”

”I lived in the Yalveran Union before I got here,” Arthur said, and the man seemed a bit more relaxed.

”It explains your accent,” the man said with an accent of Janea people. ”This is the first time I meet someone from Earth...”

”The same thing for me,” Arthur looked at his kind wife and thanked her for the tea. And to be safe, he used his healing rune on the tea to detox any kind of poison. ”Can I know how you got here?”

”How I got here?” the man shook his head. ”The same as any other one who got dragged into this ruthless world: a temporal fissure.”

”A temporal... fissure?” Arthur was confused, but it somehow made sense. ”You mean that it's something different from a normal fissure?”

”Those only affect space,” the old man took a sip as he began revealing his knowledge. ”I worked in a guild as an analyst. While doing a few tests on a fissure, it exploded to drag me into this world. However, when I asked around, I realized that I also got dragged into the past.”

”Why did that happen?”

”I can't be sure, but it seems that if the gap between the two worlds fulfills a certain condition, it would rip apart the temporal fabric and connect to a different timeline from the other world. Hence, we are here, a hundred years ago.”