First Light of a New Age

Chapter 126: Against the Elven King

“AH!”

Riley woke up in a bed that was far too soft.

His head pounded like someone had cast a low-level earthquake spell directly inside his skull.

Groaning, he lifted himself halfway and winced at the flood of morning sunlight pouring through the windows. His body ached in unfamiliar ways, and as he blinked away the fog, his mind sputtered with one question.

“Where the hell am I?”

The last thing he remembered was in a helicopter with Mason, Price and the others after extracting themselves from the continent and heading back to the Austronesia Empire.

And as he glanced down…

“Huh!?”

He found himself naked.

‘Why am I naked??’

Just then, he heard a quiet breath beside him. Riley’s eyes snapped to the left and found something surprising.

Lying next to him, tangled in silk sheets, was a woman with tanned skin, toned shoulders, and long dark hair that spilled across the pillows like lava. Her lips were parted slightly and there was something familiar about her.

‘Why is there a random naked lady here?’ Riley thought in shock. ‘And when did I even have sex with her? I am so confused.’

“What the actual f…”

Before he could finish, the heavy doors to the room creaked open with an almost theatrical slowness.

A tall figure stepped through.

Top hat, black cane, british waistcoat, polished shoes that clicked with every step, and a long dark cloak fluttered behind him despite the absence of wind.

And over his face was an archaic bird-like plague doctor mask, the kind worn during pandemics of the Black Plague centuries ago.

The man bowed politely, like a magician about to begin a show.

“Ah, splendid. You’re awake.”

Riley scrambled for the nearest blanket and held it around himself like a desperate Roman senator.

“Who the hell are you? Where am I?” he asked coldly.

Riley raised his arm in an attempt to manipulate mana around him, only to suddenly found something surprsing…

“What the? Why can't I sense any mana? Does the Magic Symbiote wear off?”

The masked figure lifted a gloved finger. “Ah-ah, so many questions, but do take a moment to breathe. You’ve had a rough universal displacement.”

Riley raised an eyebrow in confusion. “Universal what now?”

The man strolled across the room and paused to admire the oil painting of the lion fight. “Remarkable brushwork,” he mused before turning back. “Allow me to introduce myself. I am the Watcher of Realities, Curator of Non-Canonical Crossovers, Keeper of the Weird.”

“Call me… TIMEMASTER101.”

Riley blinked. “That’s not a name.”

“No, but it’s fun, isn’t it?”

Riley was not amused.

TIMEMASTER101 twirled his cane with unnecessary flair. “You, Mr. Riley, are currently in a parallel dimension, let’s call it a… promotional timeline, if you will. A playground for… possibilities.”