Nathaniel woke with a faint sense of disorientation. It wasn't because the bedding was uncomfortable, far from it. The mattress beneath him was so soft and luxuriously cushioned that it absorbed his warmth as though determined to cradle him. It felt almost indulgent, enough to steal his thoughts for a brief moment.
He cleared his throat, forcing himself back on track. Getting carried away by comfort was easy, but it didn't change the fact that everything around him remained an unsolved mystery. The last twenty-four hours had been nothing short of unbelievable.
Only yesterday, he had been lying on his sickbed, waiting for what he thought would be his final moments. Seven long years of struggling, of feeling his life slip away little by little, had brought him to the brink of death. Had His expectations been simple? To draw a final breath, drift into the quiet void, and let everything end.
Instead, he had been snatched away.
One moment, he was confined to that familiar bed; the next, a magic circle had engulfed him in blinding light, swallowing the room in crackling energy that tore reality apart. Before he could even process what was happening, the strange force had pulled him from his world and dropped him into a different room entirely. A room crafted by an absent magician in a remote house deep within a forest.
The sequence that followed? Another world. A true, literal world beyond his own. If someone else had told him such a thing, he would have dismissed the story outright. But this incident didn't happen to someone else. It happened to him. Whether he liked it or not, he had no choice but to accept it as the truth.
Still…
"It's beautiful," he murmured.
Nathaniel stood by the window of the two-storey building that belonged to the unknown magician. Sunlight streamed through the glass, casting warm gold across his face and clothing. The glow felt pure, untainted, and soothing in a way that settled his heart. The morning sun carried a gentle warmth that reminded him he was alive again, fully, undeniably alive.
There was something comforting about mornings like this. The sun hanging lazily in the sky, bright but soft, carried a promise that the day would unfold at a reasonable pace. Although he suspected that the promise wouldn't last. When noon arrived, the sun in this world became a merciless blaze. Nathan had learned that lesson personally, and painfully. He hadn't prepared himself for how intense the heat became. Against all common sense, he had stepped outside unready and discovered firsthand how oppressive the world's noon sun was. He did not plan to repeat that mistake today.
Today, he intended to do things differently.
With that decision set, he headed to the bathroom. A cool bath helped clear his mind, the water refreshing against his already clean skin. When he finished, he took a moment to style his short curly grey hair. Even though no one would see him, he refused to look unkempt. Whether in public or in solitude, appearing presentable mattered.
Once satisfied with his grooming, he moved to the kitchen. Breakfast, in Nathaniel's mind, was one of the most important parts of the day, non-negotiable. And he was not the type to skip a good meal for any reason.
His options were surprisingly broad. Raw potatoes he could cook, or a chicken pasta dish he never expected to find in a sorcery-filled world. The first time he had opened the magician's kitchen cabinet, he had nearly dropped the door. Everything inside looked like it belonged in a well-supplied Earth kitchen rather than a magical forest home. It was absurd and yet not entirely impossible.
After all, this magician had managed to summon him from another world. If he possessed the power to reach across dimensions, what stopped him from copying or even stealing high-end kitchen designs and ingredients from Earth?
That logic extended to the entire building. From the elegant leather couch to the sleek plasma TV, useless now without connection cables. Everything bore the unmistakable touch of modern Earth luxury. The magician had certainly been formidable, powerful enough to merge his preferences across worlds.
That alone inspired a strange, quiet respect in Nathan.
He eventually chose chicken pasta. He prepared each part individually, cooked them to his preference, then combined them with a generous drizzle of sauce across the top. Sauce, in his opinion, made everything better. When he finished plating the dish, he couldn't hold back a small smile.
"What a wonderful meal," he said to himself before digging in.
Breakfast turned into a feast. He ate with satisfaction until his stomach felt comfortably bloated enough that moving around for the next half hour would be impossible. He had already planned for this. Nathan took his time easing onto the couch, settling in comfortably as he waited for the fullness to fade.
When the overstuffed feeling finally wore off, he rose to his feet. The calm morning had passed, and now it was time to focus on why he had been brought here, the purpose behind his summoning.
His summoner, the magician known as Materama, had used the last remnants of his life force to complete the interdimensional ritual that pulled Nathaniel from his dying world. That alone revealed how desperate, or perhaps determined, the man had been. He had one reason for doing so: he sought a successor.
Materama had lived an eventful life as a magician, feared, respected, and widely acknowledged. He had reached the peak of his craft, a level esteemed by many but still short of the ultimate pinnacle. Despite exhausting every attempt, sacrificing his youth and strength, he never managed to surpass that barrier.
Time had eventually caught up with him. His body weakened, his vitality faded, and he became too old to continue pursuing the next stage. When he realized the end of his lifespan approached, he resorted to his final gambit. Summoning an individual from another world capable of inheriting his magical path.
That final act resulted in Nathaniel's arrival.
A dying patient, moments from passing, was suddenly transported into another world and restored to full health. Nathaniel still didn't fully understand how it happened. He did not know the mechanics, the reasoning, or the exact spell Materama used. All he knew was this: the magician had saved his life. His seven-year nightmare of helpless suffering had ended the instant he arrived here.
For that alone, Nathaniel made a silent vow.
He would honor Materama's ambition. He would take up the path left behind and pursue the destiny the magician believed he could reach. Whether he was ready or not, he had been chosen as a successor, and he intended to live up to that expectation.
Even if the road ahead was entirely unfamiliar, he would follow it.
He owed Materama that much.