The Mage’s Path of Dreams

At eleven years of age, Lorentz Volhard Von Hell sowed seeds for a civil war between the Empire and the West. What started as a border related dispute turned into major bloodshed within a few months. 

At twelve years of age, Lorentz Volhard Von Hell caused the assassination of major members of all the Marquis families of the Empire. The blame for it fell on the West and even the lower ranking noble families of the Empire were under suspicion. 

At thirteen years of age, Lorentz Volhard Von Hell riled up the public fury by showing them the evil deeds of the Crown Prince. The common folks later captured the Crown Prince and tortured him in a similar way he tortured others, eventually killing him through a public execution. 

At fourteen years of age, Lorentz Volhard Von Hell escalated trade tensions between the Empire and the East. The Empire did not get the needed imports of grains and suffered through a harsh famine. The common folks invaded the royal family for not getting their rations and topped the Empire upside down. 

At fifteen years of age, Lorentz Volhard Von Hell captured the Emperor and his family fleeing from the Empire along with other nobles. They were imprisoned in the destroyed Von Hell castle until it was restored, and were later set ablaze. 

At sixteen years of age, Lorentz Volhard Von Hell wiped the Empire off the face of this planet, destroying hundreds of years of their legacy, finally exacting revenge on everyone who had wronged him.

…..

Present day. 

Inside a cozy wooden house in the middle of the woods, a witch sat on the ground by the fireplace with her son's head on her lap.

Lorentz's red hair were now fiercer the flames burning near him. His face had a mature demeanor but still retained the youthfulness of his age. 

His mother was gently caressing his hair while he was absorbed in his thoughts. 

His thoughts were eventually interrupted when he felt a finger tap on his forehead. 

Glancing up, his mother was staring at him, her expression reading: "What are you thinking so deeply about?"

Lorentz stretched his hand out towards the ceiling and said, "I am wondering what's next. What should I do now that I've achieved my goals?"

There was a strange sense of fulfillment and emptiness in Lorentz's heart. 

The lady could feel his emotions. 

She contemplated the situation for a bit, then extended her hand out to show him the underside of her forearm. 

Lorentz stared at it with a blank expression, only to eventually have his eyes widen like saucers.

Ink bled from his mother's pale skin. Thin, jagged lines emerged first, stretching and twisting like cracks in a glass, forming the rough outline of a geometric sigil. 

An intricate pentagram with runic edges and arcane symbols manifested on her arm. In the middle of it, a faint outline of a raven took shape until it fully emerged outside and let out a sharp, aggressive cry.

Through its red eyes, it stared at the heavens and spread out its majestic wings wide, flapping and trying to disappear into the sky. 

Everything then calmed down and the raven, the sigils, and arcane symbols looked like a normal tattoo. 

"So cool!" Lorentz commented as he got up from his mother's lap and took her forearm to examine the tattoo. 

He tried to feel the outlines of the tattoo, but it just felt like smooth skin and had no rough edges. 

"What's this sigil on you, mom?" The curious youth asked with a bright expression as a whole new world was introduced to him. 

The corner of the lady's lips curved up. Instead of answering directly, she patted on her lap and gestured to Lorentz to lie down. 

He obeyed her command. 

The witch gently shut Lorentz's eyes and held his palm. She began drawing something on it, as a result of which Lorentz fell asleep. 

…..

Hot. It felt hot. 

Lorentz found himself standing on a wasteland radiating intense heat. The skies swirled with masses of red clouds. The air felt thick, suffocating, and it was difficult to even breathe. 

'Where am I?' Lorentz tried to make sense of the situation.

He remembered his mother asking him to lie down and shutting his eyes. She did something on his palm, and the next thing he knew, he was here. 

'A dream?'

This was too realistic to be called a dream.

Even the lucid ones did not feel as real.

As Lorentz wandered around this hot land trying to find clues to his situation, he heard a distant cry of a crow. 

It was getting closer with each second. 

The aggressive cries made him shudder and stop.

'Even if I try to outrun that, where will I go? There's no place to hide.'

Lorentz decisively gave up trying to run. 

This was a dream. If he got attacked by a monster and died, he'll only just wake up instead of actually dying. 

The brain cannot imagine what happens after death, so in a dream state when someone's dying, they usually wake up.

Lorentz was with his mother. She was a witch, someone proficient in witchcraft. Although he hadn't seen her do any of it, he had faith that she would pull him out of trouble if he were to fall in one. 

Lorentz thus stood still and awaited the bird's arrival.

As expected, in just a few moments, a mighty dark raven with red eyes flew above his head. 

It krawwed and eyed him from above, then went past him and circled the skies, before descending down and retracting its wings. 

The humongous bird seemed to be searching for something. 

Lorentz followed it.

After ten minutes of walking, the bird and the youth arrived at an oasis. There was a well in the middle of it, and had an opening much bigger than the bird itself. 

The bird jumped on its ledge and looked down. 

"Kraww…" 

The raven's voice wasn't aggressive anymore. It was soft, and somber, full of longing. 

"I have witnessed the rise and fall of countless eras, yet never once have I found a place to rest—never once have I called a world my home."

The raven looked at the bottom of this well and said.

Lorentz walked close to it and tried to see what it was talking into. 

"…I have wandered through time as a mere spectator, forever watching, never touching, never truly living."

Lorentz reached the ledge and climbed up on it, trying to see what was at the bottom that the bird was talking to. 

"Was eternity truly a gift?"

"To me, it was a curse."

Lorentz raised his eyebrows in surprise as he heard those big words. 

'The bird had an eternal life?'

"What meaning is there in drifting through time, seeing the same tragedies unfold in different guises? What worth is there in watching empires rise and crumble when I cannot taste the warmth of fresh bread on a cold night?"

"Oh, the Abyss of Forgotten Time, today I surrender my endless existence. I seek not power, not wisdom, not dominion over the ages. I seek only the fleeting beauty of mortality."

'Abyss of Forgotten Time?'

Lorentz looked into the well. He could see nothing but endless darkness. 

"Let me be free of these shackles. Let me fly toward the horizon—not as an eternal wanderer, but as a creature that lives, breathes, and one day, finally rests."

'This bird…'

Lorentz could not fathom what it had been through to speak such lines and crave death. If given a chance to be immortal, anyone would take it in a heartbeat. Who would want to die? Certainly not the average person!

Lorentz's thoughts came to an abrupt end as he felt the abyss below stir. From it resounded an ancient and mystical voice. 

"You, who have soared through the threads of time, seek rest? Eternity cannot be undone. It is your curse to bear. But rest… rest, I can grant—not as you desire, but as fate allows."

'The abyss talked back!' Lorentz was dumbstruck by the events unfolding. 

"…at the end of all things—where kingdoms crumble, where lives fade—you shall find solace. Yet you will rise again, scattered across the weave of time. This is your fate, raven. Fly now and carry its weight."

The raven did not speak further. It simply gazed at the abyss for a while, before letting out a guttural kraww and spreading its wings wide. 

It flew into the dark red clouds and circled the skies, as if it was finally tasting freedom. 

The raven's enormous body slowly turned into fragments of light as the sky darkened. 

It then burst apart and scattered everywhere, most of it falling into the Abyss of Forgotten Time. 

The dream soon shattered and Lorentz snapped back to reality.