The fifteen months on Earth felt less like a return to normal life and more like living in slow motion.
To the rest of the world, Kagen Walker was simply a quiet university student who spent his afternoons sitting by the window or staring into space. But beneath the surface, his mind was tormented. He had reconnected with his parents, got back to school, and eaten the home-cooked meals he had dreamed about for decades—yet the hole in his chest only grew wider with every passing day.
Ever since Lucien left without him, Earth began to feel muted. Bland and colorless.
Every night, while the rest of the house slept, Kagen sat at his desk under the dim glow of his lamp, staring at his cracked phone screen. He kept the original webnovel—bookmarked on his browser. He read it again and again, his chest aching with a suffocating weight whenever he reached the chapters where his own character, Prince Cassian, disappeared from the plot with Lucien's blade and how Lucien lived a dull life of a knight just like he was before they fell in love.
'Fifteen months...' Kagen thought, tracing his thumb over the digital text describing Lucien's silver armor.
'Fifteen years for them.'
He longed for the smell of rain over Edrath, the heavy silk robes, the burden of the crown, and above all, the fierce, unyielding devotion of the knight he had left behind.
Even if it meant restarting the timeline of his possession in Edrath, he would rather do it over and over again just as long as he went back.
*****
On the exact night marking fifteen months on Earth, the moon hung full and silver in the clear autumn sky.
Kagen stood in the center of his small bedroom when Mellisa suddenly barged in and raised her phone towards Kagen's face with a beaming smile.
"Brother!, to think you were right!"
Kagen immediately looked at her phone, and there it was on the screen—a glowing, intricate magic circle posted on an obscure forum. It was his sole key to travel back to Edrath.
"Mellisa!, you did it!"
"And looking at this now, this is holy magic no matter how I see it," Kagen whispered, staring at the strange runes. "How did it get to Earth?"
"What if someone else had also managed to leave that world?,"
Mellisa thought aloud, Kagen's mind was also spinning as he remembered the hidden histories of Edrath.
"After all, you found artifacts in Edrath that brought you back. Who could have created those?"
"Probably the gods,"
Kagen suggested softly.
"This could be an interference from a god, but who cares?, let us already activate this thing."
"Wait, Kagen..."
The room went silent, and Mellisa looked at him for a moment, her cheerful expression fading into a heavy sadness.
"Go say your goodbyes to Mother first."
Kagen paused, looking toward the hallway where the soft light of the living room shone through the crack of the door. He took a deep breath and nodded.
"You are right, I shouldn't let excitement cloud my mind. Let us go together."
*****
An hour later.
"Okay, now I am ready to start."
Kagen knelt down on the floor to draw the formula. This time around, he wasn't leaving it in Mellisa's hands; he was doing it all himself.
He turned around, expecting to say his final, painful goodbyes before drawing his blood—only to freeze in utter shock.
Mrs. Walker was standing beside a massive set of hard-shell suitcases, wearing a comfortable windbreaker and sturdy hiking sneakers. Right next to her, Mellisa had an oversized travel backpack strapped on, her phone plugged into a solar power bank, and a thick notepad tucked under her arm.
"What–... what are you guys doing?" Kagen blinked, staring at the luggage. "Why are your bags packed?"
Mrs. Walker stepped forward, calmly zipping up her jacket.
"Kagen, do you really think I'm going to let my son go live in a high-fantasy medieval dimension all by himself without his family?"
"But—"
"Uh huh, no buts, we are coming along."
"Mom, it's dangerous!" Kagen stammered, looking at Mellisa. "Mellisa, tell her! Edrath isn't like a neighborhood vacation spot! Wars are prone in Edrath and one strange thing can even get you executed. No phones, no TV, and most definitely no cars!"
"Hey, don't look at me," Mellisa said, adjusting her backpack straps with a proud grin.
"I found the formula. There's no way I'm staying behind to do high school homework when I could be studying real magical spatial geometry! Besides, Mom said we stick together. All those things don't matter anyway, as long as you are the crown prince, we will swim in money."
"It's a package deal, honey,"
Mrs. Walker said warmly, taking one of the rolling suitcases in her hand.
"Lucien is family now too. And if he's been waiting fifteen years in that world all by himself, he's going to need a proper home-cooked meal the moment we get there."
Kagen looked between his mother and sister, his mouth slightly open, before a quiet, breathless laugh escaped his lips.
"You guys are insane," Kagen whispered, tears blurring his vision.
"We're Walkers,"
Mellisa corrected him, stepping up beside him at the edge of the drawn formula.
"Now let me draw the blood so we can go meet Sir Sweeps-A-Lot."
Mellisa chimed excitedly.
"If you are unable to leave with me, please don't be sad."
"And if you do manage to come with me, we may be separated to different landings," Kagen warned them, his tone growing serious. "The only way to find me will be looking for Lucien in the west. Duke Arden, he is well known and his castle won't bring about trouble when strange earthlings show up compared to the royal palace."
"Sure, we will do that."
Mrs. Walker reached out, taking Kagen's hand on one side, while Mellisa grabbed his arm on the other.
"So together?"
Mrs. Walker asked softly.
Kagen looked at his family, a bright, unwavering smile spreading across his face as he thought of Lucien waiting on the other side.
"Together."
Suddenly, they all drew the blood at once, and immediately the formula brightened with every drop of their blood.
"Oh my goodness, it's happening!"
"Guys, let us go!"
"Yes!"
With a single step, the three of them crossed into the glowing portal, leaving Earth behind to find their knight.
*****