"Caleb, take my hand!", Olivia Leuen shouted loudly, stopping in her tracks and grabbing her son's frail body a second later. It took Cale less than a second to understand where he was.

Groka.

<What... by the Eldest's beard... just happened? Did I... die again? How?>

Stunned, Cale stared at his mother, who was already out of breath after a few meters and began to breathe heavily. But she continued to fight her way toward the center, away from the creatures following them. When she finally held her hand protectively over Cale's head and pressed him to her chest, he realized that it wasn't a dream.

His mana spread out suddenly, and as many times before, he used his Igrikum to form his inner barriers while denying the truth.

He had been reborn.

Why had he been reborn? What was this strange mana that had appeared without warning? Had it been Hosik or some other Thormod who had teleported into their base and launched an attack? Or was it a creature, the same one that had attacked Sylve? What was it? Why? Why hadn't he been paying attention? What had he been thinking, not keeping an eye on his surroundings? They were in the middle of a war!

"Olivia!", his father, Vincent Leuen, called out, and Cale could feel his mother and him rush toward the soldier and fall into his arms. "Is everything okay? What happened?"

When he heard this sentence, Cale became furious. He was fed up. He was so fed up! For the seventh time, he had to listen to Vincent's stupid comment. Was his father blind, or why did he ignore the mass of creatures coming towards him? Why did he waste their time with unnecessary questions?

"The creatures. They suddenly appeared from the mountains and are attacking us. We have to get out of here immediately!"

There was commotion around them. The soldiers gathered in one place and discussed loudly how to proceed. Some of them didn't wait for permission and were already sprinting toward the mountains, presumably to look for their families.

But Cale paid no attention to them. Completely numb with emotion, he stared at the cloud of dust in the distance caused by the creatures. Cale's memories merged with the dozens of memories of the wars he had experienced, and he couldn't help but slowly begin to weep.

He hadn't even been able to say goodbye! To anyone! Not Grischa, not Aaron, not Aletta, William, Ben, or Philippa. Not even to Velence, Fengari, the Eldest, or anyone else who had helped him search for a solution to his problems. Until now, he had always consciously chosen the dangerous path and always managed to have one last conversation, but now? His whole life dissolved into nothingness within seconds. All the energy he had spent during this time had been a complete waste.

Not again. Cale couldn't and didn't want to start all over again. Seventeen years. Seventeen damn years! Once again, he had wasted 17 years of his life. Everything and everyone lost again.

There was simply no end to it.

"Vincent!", his father's superior spoke up and stepped out from behind the crowd. His voice was so loud that Cale also turned towards the broad-shouldered man who appeared next to them - in shining armor and with a weapon at his hip. A sword master from Sylve, from Groka. After all these years, Cale had never been aware of this. "Gather your people and protect the inhabitants - we can't simply flee."

"Run to the capital", Vincent urged his wife, which immediately prompted Olivia to start complaining. But Vincent knew he had a duty to fulfill. With a gentle kiss on Olivia's forehead, he pushed his wife away and drew his sword. His gaze turned to the creatures that were approaching them like a traveling river, and Cale could see that he was hesitating inwardly. A moment later, the other men followed, and together the small troop ran toward the creatures. Olivia called after her husband with words that even Cale couldn't quite understand, when a strange woman appeared beside them and urged them to leave.

Cale just let it happen. He let his father go. He let him die. He let everyone die because he had reached his breaking point. Why should he care about Groka now that he had lost everything? Even if he had the chance to save everyone, he didn't care. No one who meant anything to him lived here.

All those who were important to him lived in his memory.

A void, accompanied by a mixture of anger and sadness, filled his soul. There was hardly anything Cale hated more than the current situation. Watching his friends die was already the worst, but dying without warning and having to relive the agony of being alone... he just couldn't take it anymore.

He didn't care about anything anymore. He just wanted the pain to stop. The pain that had been building up over the centuries and was now overflowing. His heart was bleeding, but Cale didn't even have the strength to scream anymore.

<None of this makes any sense anymore. How often do I have to go through this? Trapped in an endless time loop, wasting my life. No matter what I do, nothing ever changes.>

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But just as Cale surrendered to his fate, he sensed something. A source of mana. A source of mana in his immediate vicinity that he recognized all too well. He stared up at the sky and saw a blond-haired old mage flying over his head at tremendous speed.

"Damian", Cale whispered. Motionless, Cale watched as the Eldest flew toward the mountains without taking his eyes off him for even a second. The man who was not supposed to be in this place at this time. It took Cale a full 10 seconds to comprehend what had happened.

He hadn't died, no, on the contrary. The Eldest had successfully used his Igrikum.

As if someone had taken possession of his body, Cale pushed himself away from his mother and began to fly. Olivia, on the other hand, staggered forward and stared confusedly at her son in the sky.

"What in the name of the gods..."

"Get out of here and hide. Nodiavi is after you!", Cale instructed his mother before literally hurling himself forward and rushing after Damian. "That's... not true! It can't be true!"

Cale didn't know what to do with all his emotions. His grief and anger were wiped out, and suddenly he had hope. Hope that Damian had managed to end his rebirths.

<Am I... outside the time loop?>

Suddenly, he also realized what exactly he had felt shortly before his apparent death. The mana... that was the Eldest's Igrikum. Something Cale had never felt before and therefore couldn't identify.

A huge wave of fire swept across the ground. The Eldest had come to a standstill and was hovering about 15 meters above the ground, giving Cale the opportunity to catch up to him. It was the first time in a long time that he had seen Damian fight like this. In fact, it was the first time ever that Damian had used his magic so actively. Compared to the other high magicians, Damian was the one who held back the most.

"Eldest!", Cale shouted with all his might, ignoring the fact that he sounded tearful. The blond-haired magician turned around, startled. "You can't imagine how happy I am to see you!"

"Who are you?", Damian simply replied, making Cale realize how he looked. He was just a 5-year-old child in dusty clothes. A child with black hair and hopeful, golden eyes.

"Did you receive a vision from the future that announced the attack on Groka?", Cale asked, without responding to the question. Cale stopped abruptly next to the Eldest, still unable to believe his luck. Dozens of questions and possibilities floated through his mind, foremost among them the god Mellontikos. Cale couldn't wait to find out if the god existed in this world. If the dragons' theory was correct, and if Cale managed to win back his freedom.

Beneath their feet, some residents who were being pursued by the creatures fled to safety. Damian turned back to them and tried to protect them with his earth magic. When Cale realized that this would not be enough, he also intervened and made the creatures burst into pieces. Surprised, Damian turned to him.

"You're a third-stage magician?"

"Yes, I am", Cale confirmed, trying to remain calm. Now that Damian was here, he had all the time in the world. "Excuse me, I should introduce myself. I'm Caleb Leuen."

"I am..."

"The Eldest of Altona, I know. Raphael Maron."

The Eldest stared at him silently while Cale concentrated on the residents. A group of soldiers was surrounded by creatures, and Cale did not hesitate to protect them with his Igrikum.

"Did you receive the message?", he began in a calm voice and started to change his appearance. Dressed in the uniform of a high magician, Cale now flew alongside the Eldest in his 25-year-old form, his gaze never leaving the residents. The Eldest watched the spectacle for a moment before the screams brought him back to reality and he returned his attention to the battle.

"Yes... I received a message. From you."

"What did I say?"

"Something... strange. A very direct instruction... or request. I don't know exactly, as I lack the... context. I think we had a conversation. You asked me what I would say, and I replied that I would leave the decision up to you, Sir Leuen. You then replied: Spring 25, 1146. Groka, Caplens province in Sylve. Come and find me.."

"Come and find me, help me and trust me unconditionally", Cale completed and burst out laughing. He just couldn't believe it. It had worked? It had actually worked? A small, casual idea had actually worked?

If he died now, would he be dead for good? No more rebirths?

Cale reached out his hand and flooded the western part of the area, because a group of soldiers was trapped in the fire. Only shortly afterwards did he realize that his father Vincent was among them. He lifted the injured men out of the barricades and pulled them to safety behind their imaginary line of defense.

"Get out of here, you're in our way", Cale ordered, carefully dropping the group on the ground and turning his attention to the creatures. Compared to the previous battles, the scale was ridiculous. He probably could have saved them on his own if he had really wanted to.

"I must admit, I don't understand... how..."

"What's going on here and why I, a nobody... know about your vision?"

Damian sorted through his thoughts for a few seconds before answering.

"You know me... somehow. I don't understand how, but we're not strangers."

"No, we're not. At least not to me."

"How can that be? I... your face. I knew your face long before my vision, but that's... impossible."

"And yet here we are", Cale muttered. The Eldests focused primarily on the creatures themselves, while Cale focused on protecting the humans. It was an unspoken harmony that prevented the wave of attacks from advancing further south.

"How...?"

"It's a long... really long story. I can understand why the situation seems strange to you. Believe me, I'm a wreck of emotions myself right now. But there is one thing I know for sure, Eldest", Cale explained, turning to Damian. "I owe you my life."

"What?"

"The vision you had was only a few minutes ago for me. Until just now, I... lived in it."

"I don't understand... are you telling me you're from the future? You know me because you're from the future?"

"That's what I'm saying, yes. In the time I come from, I worked for you. At the magistrate's office, as the 12th High Magician of Altona."

"What... year are we talking about here?"

"1162", Cale replied with a grin on his face. It had never felt better to tell someone about his time travel who had no choice but to believe him. A feeling of pure satisfaction came over him, as if the last 20 minutes of despair had never existed.

"1162? That's... 18 years in the future. How? How is that possible?"

"As I said, it's a very long story. A story that gets more complicated the longer I talk. But I know you, and I know that you will understand and believe it. After all, you are the only person who has never doubted my story."

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