Archive of Our Own

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The first individual who was affected by the thirty-one-year-old Black Dragon's experiment of his attribute was the unknowing Eruhaben.

He who was silently resting at his room on the Super Rock Villa merely blinked his eyes and then suddenly, he who was alone inside the privacy of his room was suddenly in a place with everyone.

He could've simply chalked it up to Raon teleporting him again unannounced and wouldn't bat an eye on how often it occurs. But then he noticed that something was weird, something very wrong from the faces of the individuals around him.

"Am I in the past or did I just imagine all those twenty years passing by?" Is what the Ancient Dragon suddenly blurted out while they were having their usual tea party once a week which caught the other people in the garden's attention.

They all suddenly became so much younger, the Dragon observed. Those who had started having wrinkle lines from aging were now gone, replaced with youthfulness he once remembered back when peace was just starting to settle upon all the continents.

The other individuals watched as the Golden Dragon look around dazedly, his outfit wasn't the same as earlier, which could be explained by a simple clothe changing spell but the Dragon's face considerably looked older than before. If the thousand-year-old Dragon had kept fooling everyone who didn't know of him being an actual dragon, people would think that he is a very handsome elf in his twenties.

But right now, the Golden Dragon who's gaze had stopped at Raon, looks like he had grown old but not too much. He looks like he is already in his thirties. Yet his handsomely dashing appearance remained the same.

Eruhaben opened his mouth to say something before anyone could react verbally to his earlier remark. Eyes still focused on the young Black Dragon who is now ten years old with shaking eyes, "If I did hallucinate, thank gods." He says, relief evident in his tone.

The now ten-year-old dragon tilted his head to the side in confusion, though he does not know whether it was confusion from what the older dragon blurted out, confusion from how the Golden Dragon feels familiar yet not at the same time by how he seemed to have aged, or from how Goldie Gramps is looking at him right now as if he had done something that caused the older dragon to look at him with slight fear with a mix of longing in his eyes.

But he did know that something is wrong, he is great and mighty and smart! He'd notice something so simple very easily, especially since Goldie Gramps had thanked the gods! In this family, they do not thank the gods, they curse them for their bullshitery and promise their destruction if any of the family is ever harmed! Especially to that one certain god!

(In another realm, the God Of Death shivers for no reason at all. He felt threatened all of a sudden, his eyes shakily looked left and right searching for any signs of red hair with many different strong companions that could literally end the celestial realm by their overpowered selves, no questions asked.

He sighs in relief when he saw none of those as he prepared to contact Cage and strengthen her divine power 'just because'.)

"Goldie Gramps!" He exclaimed, wings fluttering unconsciously in worry before letting out a barrage of inquiries, "Are you all right? Did you hit your head? Are your memories suddenly suffering due to old age?" Those were some of it along with the others, which the Ancient Dragon promptly ignored to dramatically gasp, eyes tearing a bit as he dramatically get up from his seat to dramatically speed walk towards Raon and dramatically engulf the blabbering child in a dramatic embrace.

"Oh my baby, my precious baby!" The Golden Dragon emotionally says as he rocks the now longer and heavier black dragon in his arms as if he weigh nothing. Raon stuttered from the sudden affection, though it wasn't unwanted, it still worried him, "What are you doing Gramps?! Have your brain really started being damaged so bad while after being struck by the effects of aging?!"

And instead of the usual playful offended scoff that Eruhaben would let out every time Raon gets sassy and disrespectful, which the Ancient Dragon had blamed the unlucky redhead bastard, Cale watched the Dragon murmur something about 'teenagers' and 'rebellious phases' as he continued cuddling Raon.

Cale observed the scene quietly as sipped his tea calmly. Then slightly cringed in distaste when the sour taste of lemon tea hit his tongue.  He tried schooling his expression before his ever sadistic butler catches his revulsion and give him an ever-threatening benign smile.

And here he thought he was already immune from the disgusting sour taste of the horrendous lemon tea that Ron would serve him daily to satisfy his sadistic soul, yet Cale realizes that he was actually still not immune. 'Damn it!'

"What do you think Choi Han? Does Eruhaben-nim look like his old age is catching up to him?" Choi Han turned his head towards the redhead from the sudden question.

The swordsman with onyx-colored hair hummed in thought. Posture relaxed, along with the others who were nonchalantly watching the two in entertainment. Ever since the Dragons decided to work together and cast a barrier protection spell around the Henituse Territory that would alert them if there are people who are within the perimeter that has negative intentions towards the people in the territory, it would eject them from the place automatically.

The barrier was especially strong around the Henituse Mansion, Harris Village, Black Castle, and the Super Rock Villa, which would cause instant death to anyone who had intentions of harming them by being ripped and shredded apart by the barrier.

Choi Han nodded approvingly from the notion back then while Cale had nightmares about it for almost a week. That's the reason they took their time watching in the meantime.

He was sure that Cale had already formed theories on his own which would likely be correct but it didn't hurt to humor the noble's question.

"Yes," The black-haired swordsman said, his tone not indicating any seriousness. "I think he does."

Eruhaben, who was starting to calm down from his emotional reunion with the 'have-not-yet-gone-through-puberty' and 'still-sassy-but-not-to-the-point-of-savageness' Raon, shot Cale and Choi Han a dirty look. He had remembered now that these two punks started getting more and more disrespectful after the White Star was defeated, along with the problems with the Sealed God, Demon Race, and the Hunters were resolved.

The Ancient Dragon was now a hundred percent sure that the main influencers of Raon's future 'rebellious phase' being worse than his (and that's saying a lot especially when he recounts how many dragons he had beaten to dust just because he got offended by them in some way, ugh, dark past) were Cale and Choi Han who was always with the children.

He could've had added Alberu on the list but the man was a bit more respectful than the two, and not because he actually has a soft side for Elves and Dark Elves, goodness gracious! No! The now crowned Emperor was degrees respectful than the redhead and the swordsman.

Unconsciously, Eruhaben shivers from the memory of Raon as a teenager. The Golden Dragon puts a larger blame on Cale's head. He just knows that the man had more things he had contributed to how the black dragon.

"You disrespectful bastards do know that I'm still here, right?" Cale was now under the dragon's glare that has no actual heat behind it.

And so the former Commander answers with, "But Eruhaben-nim, we were just trying to sort out what we could do to help your ongoing midlife crisis."

Eruhaben felt his eyebrow twitch in mild irritation as he watch Choi Han nod along to what the disrespectful unlucky human had just said. "Cale-ni—Cale, is correct Eruhaben-nim. We're just trying to help. We apologies if we had offended you somehow."

'Ho, this punk. He says he's sorry but his tone does not go with his words.' The man looked up at the garden's glass ceiling in a silent plea for strength, then before the Golden Dragon could say anything in response, Raon who had finally escaped the older dragon's arms hovered around Eruhaben worriedly, his eyes checking any signs of injury from the sudden changes that the old man has shown.

"Goldie Gramps! Stop arguing with Human and tell me what's wrong! What is a mid-life crisis and why are you being affected by it because of your oldness?!"

And instead of the blonde man getting more offended by how Raon had worded his question, Eruhaben who looked like he was ready to banter with Cale and Choi Han a while ago suddenly transformed into something akin to a doting grandfather who has a grandchild complex, as the Ancient Dragon almost combust into tears before tackling the Black Dragon.

"Oh my sweet baby, worrying about his old grandfather like this!"

The others dutifully watched the scene with entertainment, eyes ping-pong-ing from the Raon who's still not strong enough to escape the Ancient Dragon's grasps struggled while the Ancient Dragon in question had gone back to his earlier dramatics as he suffocate the baby dragon in his arms!

"Stop fucking hugging me, Gramps!"

"I wish you were still as sweet after going through puberty,"

Then the Golden Dragon started to sob to the younger one.

_

It took another thirteen minutes (too long) to finally calm the (overly) emotional Ancient Dragon down before they could have a serious discussion about the current scenario.

Cale had suspected that it had something to do with tome travel. It wasn't really an impossible theory knowing how his soul literally traveled dimensionally and his body regressed at the same time. So who was he to say that something like time travel does not exist?

The others were not far off on coming to the same conclusion.

So it wasn't that much big of a shock when Eruhaben had confirmed their suspicions, saying: "Well, considering that I am sent in the past. This must have something to do with a certain brat experimenting again."

Rosalyn watched the considerably older Ancient Dragon sigh tiredly with newfound interest. She leaned forward and opened her mouth.

"If I may ask, Eruhaben-nim."

"Sure,"

"Who would this individual be, and how insanely smart and strong are they to be able to send you to—"

"—Approximately fifteen to twenty years in the past." The Dragon butted in, making Rosalyn's, along with the other individuals in the room's jaw almost fall into the ground.

"Fifteen to twenty—!" Alberu, who is in his Dark Elf form could not help but parrot what the older man said, mouth opening and closing. Somehow, the words 'crazily smart' and 'strongly insane' were murmured by someone.

Even Eruhaben himself was a bit taken aback by the discovery that the Young Dragon Lord had done another experiment with his attribute and had sent him this far in the past.

Actually, sending anything in the past is something that had not been heard before. But the once black baby dragon who he had passed down his knowledge to, achieving something like this was amazing.

Maybe he should be surprised by his current situation, even shocked and confused.

However, considering that he had been living alongside Cale and his party that's filled with different types of beings long enough to make him more immune that he had been than before when he almost had different heart attacks by the amount of crazy that the redhead had done, this was nothing compared to the three children's puberty.

But right now, Eruhaben could not help but feel proud of how the people in the past are slack-jawed by his revelation.

"And to answer Miss Rosalyn's question, the individual you were asking about is non-other than the Youngest Dragon Lord in history, Raon Miru." Eruhaben watched silently, chest puffed out in pride, eyes trailing to each and every individual in the room in anticipation to see how the people would react to his second revelation.

If they were shocked a while ago, this time, they all felt as if the word 'flabbergasted' wasn't enough to describe their reactions. They were speechless for seconds, processing the information given by the older Golden Dragon.

"Human! Did you hear that! I became a Dragon Lord!"

And like dominos, Raon's sudden exclamation was what made the other people wake from stupor.

With the previous slight wariness from the sudden situation jumping out of the window, they all crowded around the older Ancient Dragon and bombarded him with questions that he would more often than not, cryptically answer, while still having the black baby dragon near him enough to give the child head pats or hugs, until he settled on laying Raon on his lap.

The tea party went on with lively chatter as the older Eruhaben basks on the warmth of his family.

By the next morning, the original Eruhaben of the timeline entered the breakfast hall of the Super Rock Villa, giving everyone a bewildered look.

And when Eruhaben had caught Raon in his sight, almost bursting into tears before running to hug the surprised Black Dragon, Cale had a dawning realization that if the 'Older Eruhaben' had referred to this Raon being very sweet as he is now, the redhead pales with the thought of Raon being ruder in the future.

Dread slowly filled his being.

_

The next switch happens at least three days later.

Bud, who was already in his fifties yet is still being evilly exploited by the continent's redhead hero finally had his day off after he had successfully retrieved the item that Cale had ordered him to fetch as a gift for his youngest child, who was now a fearsome Dragon Lord.

He could not believe that the item Raon wanted was the national treasure of another kingdom. Bud had almost failed and suffered being at the other end of the young Dragon Lord's disappointment, luckily, with his awesome bargaining skills, he had successfully made a deal to purchase it with money (after he had mentioned that it was to be gifted to the Western Continent's Dragon Lord, of course).

The problem was that he knew that Cale had already predicted the outcome, and didn't even give any money to him. 'That cheap bastard!'

The Mercenary King weeps as he sips his alcohol-induced coffee as his money had been chipped thru once again by the redhead.

(It wasn't actually too much of a big deal since, after the war and all other shenanigans, he had exploited the title of being in the redhead hero's party and made tons and tons of income as their mercenary group became more well known. But it also didn't hurt being too dramatic about it!)

And so, one moment he was sitting inside of his rest house. Away from Cale and his crazy family, which he is unluckily included in, sipping his concoction while dramatically flopping around from being scammed by the redhead for the nth time, and then--and then he was suddenly on the dirty ground and the tip of someone's sword was at his neck.

Choi Han and Hannah, who was just sparring with the blue-haired swordsman both blanched as the man suddenly became older, some gray hair visibly mixed in with his blue locks and was now wearing a different outfit-- which were pajamas with drawings of different ancient power that Cale posses that Bud bought for everyone in the Super Rock Villa + The Henituse family as a gag gift for Christmas.

The two stunned swordsmen watched as Bud enveloped his palm with his blue aura and gripped on the tip of the sword making it crack into pieces.

The sword that was turned into dust was luckily not the condemnation of the sun but a spare. Which they had a lot of extras in the training ground since they tend to break a lot of swords every spar.

Bud who had crushed the aura-covered sword with hands covered with his own aura on instinct (he was thankful for all those hellish sparrings with the two other swords-master for the muscle memory) pouted as he stood up while peering inside of his mug. His drink now mixed with some of the pieces of the sword.

He lets out a sigh before finally facing the other two-person who he could feel was boring holes in him.

As he sees a noticeably younger Hannah and Choi Han, he sighs once again. One hand traveled towards his face to massage his temples already knowing that this was the fault of a certain dragon.

"Those bastards promised that I get to take a break today." The Mercenary King murmurs under his breath but was aware that the other two had heard it.

The only thing Bud was thankful about right now was that Eruhaben was the first one who had gone under the same circumstances as him. Imagine their shock when Raon exited the Ancient Dragon's room with Eruhaben suddenly becoming younger-looking again with the lack of his wrinkles and a confused expression.

Bud was correct to feel that something bad was about to happen when he saw Raon's mischievous grin when their original Eruhaben had come back and told them about his travel in the past. He was correct to feel that way because something did happen!

"So, what did I miss . . . Bud?"

Alberu, who had run away just taken a break from sparring with the three swords master and went to annoy chat with Cale for a bit, came back refreshed and stopped mid-sentence seeing an older version of the Mercenary King wearing pajamas-are those Cale's ancient powers drawn on it?- mumbling curses under his breath.

It didn't take Alberu a lot to realize that this was another 'future Eruhaben making a sudden visit' scenario again.

The Emperor's entrance made Bud snap out of his brooding and give the blonde man an exhausted stare.

"I greet the Roan Empire's most benevolent sun, Emperor Alberu Crossma—"

"Yes, I greet you a good day as well Bud." Alberu felt his eyebrow twitch as he force himself to smile.

Unlike Eruhaben who had teleported while almost everyone was around him, Bud had ended up in a place where he was only with three people. And unlike Eruhaben, this time around, they weren't as clueless as to why the switch had happened considering that the Ancient Dragon had explained what exactly caused the phenomenon to 'them' in the 'past' already.

Well, that is if Bud had teleported to the same timeline as the Golden Dragon had.

"Did Eruhaben travel here before me, already?" He asks while turning his mug upside down to spill the contents. Bud pats himself in the back as he thanks himself again for how he had forced himself to develop the habit of bringing a spatial bag with different necessities with him anywhere.

"He did, three days ago." Bud nodded and thought, 'So their times align then.' , from the Choi Han's confirmation, and replied. "I see,"

The three people who's in their original timeline watched the blue-haired man pull a spatial bag out of nowhere then open it to put the cup he was holding inside and bring an alcohol bottle out. They watched as Bud opened it and chugged it down like a man in a desert finding water.

"Uhm," Hannah, who had been trying to hold herself back from pouncing on the older version of the Mercenary King and wrangle the man on the spot for the technique he had just shown. She clears her throat, "So uh, while you're here. Why don't you show us again what you did earlier?" Hannah suggested instead.

Choi Han had whipped his head towards Bud so fast that the man had wondered if the black-haired swordsman had gotten whiplash, but by how he was being subjected to the puppy-like swordmaster's blinding determination-filled gaze, Bud concludes that he didn't. Not at all.

Hannah's words had piqued Alberu's interest. The thing that the older Mercenary King must've done earlier was impressive enough that even Choi Han was interested about it. The Emperor could even see his instructor-nim's imaginary tail wagging in excitement.

"That's too troublesome," Bud whispers to himself envious of his twenty-year younger self surely enjoying his long deserved break, though his words didn't escape the ears of the other three.

"I'm too tired for that, and I just wanna rest," He then tiredly adds, "It's my day off today. You'll learn it soon anyway."

"Is that so," The Quarter Dark-Elf, maybe he was being petty or maybe he was doing his best to push the attention towards Bud to avoid being in another beat-down against Hannah and Choi Han that those devils call training, but if Alberu had learned anything from being sworn brothers with Cale Henituse for years, that is 'nobody could be petty enough'. And he says, "Then we understand. You may take your rest then Bud,"

The blonde ignored the piercing stares that would've killed him for sure if they had lasers for eyes.

If other people would see how Cale's party had bullied him, the Roan Empire's Emperor, these passing years, there could've been enough layer of accused for treasons for them to be stripped off of their heroic titles.

In spite of that, Alberu, ever the benevolent ruler had let it pass.

But not this opportunity though.

So he innocently adds, "—ajusshi. Or is it Bud-harabeoji?"

Choi Han let out a snort in shock at how "Bud-harabeoji"'s face had immediately contorted into an ugly scowl. Hannah didn't even hide her finding the scene humorous and shamelessly cackled madly.

"Wha—!"

"I imagine that your old age must've been catching up to you." Choi Han cuts the man off, mirth obvious in his false worried tone.

Hannah was now down on the ground, holding both her sides as she wheezed for air.

Bud's hands twitched, itching to just punch the shit out of his friend's younger-selves faces. If he could just--wait, he smooths down his frown.

"Oh, so that's how it is, huh?" The man closed his dominant hand's fist and executed his blue aura. It wiggled in his fist before taking shape of a sword. Hannah, who was starting to calm down fell in silent awe at the pure control over his own aura Bud showed.

Choi Han's eyes sparkled in delight while Alberu couldn't help but let out a low whistle in appreciation before picking up Taerang and commanding it to take the form of a sword.

They all got into a fighting stance, Bud says, "Don't forget that you all asked for this." before he lunged into a fight.

When Cale decided to have an afternoon stroll after his kids had been bullied convinced him into getting up from his bed to stretch outside and take a walk for a bit. His feet had somehow found its way towards the training ground only to see a senior citizen version of his blue-haired secretary beating the shit out of the Emperor and the two other swords-master while sparring with the place half destroyed. He had quickly come to the conclusion that he had stretched enough for the and had scurried away immediately from those vicious bastards.

Unlike Eruhaben who only took overnight before going back to his own time, it took Bud two days before he did. And if the original Bud of this timeline teleports to the Super Rock Villa early in the morning in tears and Glenn behind him holding a recording device in his hands and sure enough had caught everything from how the blue-haired man had attempted to tackle Cale's three children, who were sitting beside each other, into an emotional hug only to pathetically slap against an invisible shield like a fly in a car's windshield. Cale would strongly deny that he didn't accidentally snort rice inside his nose from suddenly bursting into laughter from the scene.

(Cale also didn't bribe Glenn with being able to learn under the tutelage of Eruhaben for half a month, and the other half with Sheritt for buying the recording device.)

_

Lily travels next.

The thirty-four-year-old Lily, contrary to how Eruhaben and Bud who was uninformed before they were sent by the mischievous Dragon Lord into the past, Lily was briefed by Raon, that he was about to use one of the 'favor' that he had accumulated from winning bets he had with her by her being one of his guinea pigs to his newfound use of his attribute.

Though the Henituse Family having their dinner together in the dining does not know that.

Lily blinks and suddenly, she wasn't in front of her nephew anymore but at the dining table with her family who are twenty years younger. (When Bud had come back from his 'vacation', Lily feels sympathy for the man just by a bit, he had confirmed that the time he and the Golden Dragon was sent back exactly twenty years in the past.) Because they are.

Her family hasn't seemed to notice her sudden switch yet. Well maybe except for her now eleven-year-old, not-yet-Dragon-Lord nephew who had dropped his fork while eating his steak. She winks and puts her pointer finger in front of her lips and Raon nods vigorously in response.

The Captain of the Henituse Knights turns her head towards her brother Basen who was focused on eating his meal and couldn't help but suddenly coo at her younger-looking brother, "Oh my god, Basen-orabuni you're so young!"

"Lily, what—?" Violan who was about to remind Lily of her manners stopped midway when her eyes landed on a woman who looked like Lily if she becomes older by approximately fifteen to twenty years later. The woman was even wearing their territory's Captain of Knights' uniform that seemed to be a little modified.

Deruth was curious to why his wife became suddenly speechless and turned his head towards Lily. Basen, who was already staring at his—sister?— bugged eyes could not help but rub his eyes to see if he was actually seeing this.

Lily awkwardly waved and says, "Hi, mother. Long time no see?" Because she didn't know what else to say and was partially true by how busy she became these months from managing the newly recruited knights under her. The Captain realized that the Dragon Lord had a hidden agenda of forcing her into having a break by sending her back here instead of other people.

Cale, who was telepathically made aware by his youngest son watched his family as they comically drop their jaws and calmly sipped on his cup of wine.

Chaos started.