As I tried to come to terms with the fact that I spent twenty five years on Earth, yet only two weeks had passed here on Lumina, a part of me wondered if any of this was real. My mother, Lumina, all of it. Perhaps it was all a fantasy conjured up by my mind. What if I was still on Earth and the Demon Lord’s blow merely put me into a coma? What if this was all a dream?

However, this all felt too real to be a dream. The yawning emptiness at the center of my being where my mana core-… No, where my magic circle used to be. The pain throughout my entire body. The silk sheets brushing against my skin. The warmth of my mother’s hand and the smell of her perfume. All these things and more told me that this was all real. Even so, I found it hard to accept. 

Traveling between realms was difficult and dangerous, but it was possible. Several beings from other dimensions visited Earth for one reason or another, and I befriended quite a few of them. From what they told me, time flowed at the same rate in each realm. If a day passed in one, a day would pass in all the others. I wasn’t sure why. Someone explained it to me, but their explanation flew over my head.

So, how could twenty five years pass on Earth while only two weeks passed here on Lumina? Had I imagined my time on Earth? What if that was the dream? That was also a possibility. However, I dismissed it right away. Just as everything here felt real, the time I spent on Earth felt real as well.

“Would you like to sit up?” My mother asked, ground me in the present.

Right. I would give up trying to figure out what happened, at least for now. At the moment, I had more pressing matters to deal with. Time fuckery could wait.

“Yes.” I said.

My mother helped me sit up. It wasn’t easy. While I felt better than I had when I first woke up, I still wasn’t in good condition. My body felt heavy and weak, a far cry from the strength I wielded as an S-rank hunter.

“Could I get some water?” I asked.

My mother nodded, before she reached for an ornate gold ring on her hand. I felt a small burst of mana as she pulled a silver pitcher full of water and a silver cup out of the ring.

Oh, it was an inventory ring. They were a type of spatial magical item that served as interdimensional storage. We had them on Earth as well. The amount of space contained within an inventory ring depended on its grade. The best ones could hold an entire warehouse’s worth of stuff.

Best of all, time didn’t flow inside an inventory ring. Items placed inside remained in stasis. This meant that when you pulled them out, they were in the same condition they were as when you put them in, including food. Back on Earth, when I was a hunter, this had been a lifesaver.

My mother filled the silver cup with water, before handing it to me. I almost dropped it and spilled water all over myself, but I recovered in time. My mother’s hands twitched when she saw this, but she kept them to herself. I was so thirsty that I wanted to chug the whole cup of water down, but I refrained. I knew from experience that doing so would just make me sick. Instead, I took small sips.

As I drank, I glanced at the room around us. It took me a moment to realize that this was my bedroom, the one I had during my first life. That was why the canopy bed seemed familiar to me. I felt strange as I looked around. This room had been my sanctuary, but now it felt like it belonged to someone else. In a way, that was true.

The entire time, my mother watched me with affection and concern in her eyes. As much as I enjoyed the attention, I also found it disconcerting. As far as I could remember, my mother never acted this way towards me before. Maybe I misremembered. It had been twenty five years since I last saw her.

Or maybe my anger and resentment blinded me to the obvious. That was another possibility. Had I misjudged my parents this entire time? If so, I felt like slapping my past self. How could I have been so foolish?

After I finished drinking all the water in the cup, I handed it back over to my mother. She took it, before placing both the cup and the pitcher of water back into her storage ring. Afterwards, an awkward silence fell over us. We regarded one another, neither one of us saying a word. I didn’t know what to say to her, and she must have felt the same way.

“Oh!” my mother said, sitting up straight. “I need to inform your father that you’re awake.”

Her words filled me with a slight sense of panic. That was the last thing I wanted. Facing my mother was difficult enough. My father was another story altogether. He outright scared me. During my first life, I always saw him as this terrifying and towering figure. So much so that I found it difficult to even look him in the eyes. I wasn’t ready to face him again, not in my current state.

“Mother, wait!”

However, it was too late. My mother stood up from her seat, before walking over to my bedroom door and opening it.

“Inform my husband that Gabriel is awake.” She commanded.

Someone on the other side answered her. I couldn’t see her.

“Yes, Lady Sturm.”

Afterwards, my mother closed the door and walked back to my side, before sitting down again. I sighed. Oh well. There was nothing I could do about it now. Might as well rip that particular band-aid off as soon as possible. It wasn’t as if I had any choice in the matter.

My mother reached over and grabbed my hand again. She held onto it, as if it were a lifeline. I gave her hand a brief squeeze, which earned me a small smile. A moment later, her smile faded away and a hesitant expression replaced it.

“Gabriel,” my mother said. “I… I’m sorry.”

I blinked at her in surprise.

“For what?” I asked, confused.

My mother closed her eyes.

“This is all my fault,” she said. “If I hadn’t… If I just…” She took a deep breath. “None of this would have happened if I had just done my duty as a mother in the first place.”

My confusion deepened.

“What are you talking about?” I asked. “Do you mean the… Incident?”

I referred to the magical procedure that I attempted, which resulted in my death(?). To emphasize its importance, I decided to capitalize the “I”.

“Yes.” My mother said. “It’s my fault.” She opened her eyes and I saw a terrifying intensity in their depths. “And so, it’s up to me to fix things.”

I studied her for several moments, before I opened my mouth to respond. However, at that exact moment, I heard thunderous footsteps heading in our direction. My mother and I turned towards the door just as it flew open. A moment later, a man marched into my bedroom.

Bryce Sturm, my father from my first life and the patriarch of House Sturm. He looked exactly as I remembered him.

My father was a tall man with a muscular physique. Despite being a wizard, he kept himself in excellent physical condition. There was a saying here on Lumina, similar to one on Earth, that a healthy mind and soul resided in a healthy body. He had fair skin, short hair, and a trimmed beard. While my father wasn’t handsome in the traditional sense of the word, he had sharp and striking features. Combined with his usual stern expression, this gave him a rather intimidating appearance.

However, the most eye-catching aspect of my father’s appearance was the color of his hair and eyes. Both were a particular shade of silvery-blue, a trait unique to the scions of House Sturm. This included myself. The founder of our House had been the son of a storm dragon, mighty beings regarded as the rulers of the sky, with power over air and lightning. The founder of House Sturm inherited this power, and passed it down to his descendants. Our silvery-blue hair was a result of our lineage.