The heat still rose from the blackened earth, making the air shimmer as Martha and Jason hurried down the path. Though both were nearing fifty, they still moved with the ease of people who had spent decades dodging spells and surviving monster hunts. Age had done little to dull their legs or their tongues.
"I'm just saying, Jason, you should've asked for more jewels," Martha said, shifting the strap of her leather travel pack. "Risking our necks to clear out a nest of mountain trolls wasn't exactly pleasant. My robes still smell like wet cave moss."
Jason rolled his eyes, one hand resting near the hilt of his sword. "The local lord's coffers are dry, Martha. There's a war going on. Dragons are burning cities across the continent, and you're worried about a few extra silver coins? We're lucky he had food rations left to spare."
"Food rations don't pay for potion vials," she muttered, without slowing.
"We're mages," Jason said, glancing at the darkening sky. "If things get that bad, we'll find a quiet patch of land far from the border, use a little growth magic, and start farming. Honest work. No dragons, no trolls, just cabbages."
Martha let out a sigh that suggested long practice. "Farming. Fine. You're right, as usual. I suppose we do need a hobby besides arguing. But if some giant worm eats my crops, I'm blaming you."
Both of them stopped at once.
The bickering vanished. Something in the air had changed. It felt heavier, charged, like the moment before lightning struck.
"Did you feel that?" Jason whispered.
"An enormous amount of Ethernano," Martha said, her face draining of colour. "It's coming from the next valley. It's dense, too dense. A normal human mage couldn't hold that much power without tearing themselves apart."
A second later, the ground beneath their boots trembled.
A massive boom tore through the valley, echoing against the mountains. A pillar of black smoke rose into the sky and swallowed the last orange light of sunset.
"Damn it," Jason snapped, already breaking into a sprint. "That's a dragon attack. They found another settlement."
Martha ran beside him, her hands beginning to glow with a faint defensive light. "We move carefully. If the dragon's still there, we hide. If it's gone, there may be survivors."
Fifteen minutes later, they crossed the last hill and came to a halt.
The village was gone.
No houses stood. Only smouldering timber, broken stone, and scorched earth remained. The air reeked of sulfur and burnt iron.
"Fire Dragon," Jason muttered, crouching beside a chunk of stone that had melted into glassy slag. He looked over the ruins, chest rising and falling hard. "Gods... nothing could've survived this. The heat alone would have-"
"WHAT THE FU—!"
A child's voice cut him off.
The scream rang out from the centre of the ruins, high-pitched, startled, and far too alive.
"A survivor!" Martha shouted.
They scrambled over the rubble as fast as they could.
At the heart of the destruction stood a child in a patch of unburnt grass. He looked no older than four. He wore a ragged white tunic, and his long white hair caught the flickering firelight.
But it wasn't his appearance that made the two mages freeze.
It was the magic.
Ethernano poured off the boy in suffocating waves, warping the air around his small body.
In the middle of the clearing, I was trying very hard not to lose my mind. My new four-year-old body already felt wrong, and now my brain felt like it was running faster than it knew how to handle.
[Notice: Two high-level magical signatures detected approaching from your 12 o'clock position.]
Great Sage's voice rang inside my head, calm and mechanical.
[Analysis: Based on Ethernano levels, targets are classified as 'Mages.' Warning: Independent survival probability is near zero. Recommended Course of Action: Mimic 'amnesia' behaviour common in Earth literature. Objective: gain sympathy and secure adoption.]
Adoption?
Like some cliché isekai protagonist?
I swallowed hard. Fine. Better that than dying alone in dragon-burned ruins.
Martha approached slowly, stepping onto the untouched grass before kneeling so she wouldn't seem threatening. Her expression softened at once. "Oh, you poor thing... can you hear me, little one? Are you hurt?"
I did my best to look frightened and confused. My eyes, now swirling purple with Ethernano under Great Sage's control, lifted to meet hers, and I gave a shaky nod.
"Do you know what happened here?" Martha asked, holding out a hand with careful slowness.
I clutched my head with both tiny hands, squeezed my eyes shut, and let out a weak groan. "I... I don't know. Everything was loud... and hot... and then I was here." I looked up at her, trying to make myself seem as lost as possible. "Where am I? Who are you? I don't remember... I don't remember anything."
Damn. Nice work, Great Sage.
[Report: Facial expression supports success.]
Martha glanced back at Jason. His hand had fallen away from his sword, and the hard set of his face was gone.
"It's alright," Martha whispered, pulling me into a warm hug. "You're safe now. Do you remember your name?"
I hesitated, then buried my face against her shoulder and whispered the name I had chosen in the void.
"Merlin."
Jason stepped forward and rested a steady hand on my shoulder.
"Well, Merlin," he said, "it looks like you're coming with us."