We finally returned home around a week later, in the morning, from when we were first teleported. We actually managed to fool Mom (or so they thought) that we were just going for a stroll in the Macaus Plains, but the Phase Gate went crazy and teleported us really far away.

"Yeah, yeah! And on our way back home, we came across Aurelia here. She wanted to join us, so we let her inside the carriage we rented." (Lena)

'This is so stupid. Fuck, it worked. Was the excuse so unbelievable that Mom didn't give a shit anymore?' Kenneth thought to himself.

"And we have a surprise, too!" Lena takes my small body from Catalyn's hands and presents me to Mom. She sticks her fingers inside my mouth and rubs her other hand over my head. "Kenneth has teeth now! He's also growing hair. It's not very visible, since it's white, but it's there if you touch it." 

"Oh, my. My baby boy is already growing up. Did you miss Mommy? I can finally feed you the foods you wanted." Mom takes me from Lena and rocks me back and forth.

'Huh, nice. I get to eat this world's delicacies.' (Kenneth)

"His hair is so fluffy. It even feels softer than Tyrone's fur." (George)

"Woof?!" Tyrone poked his head up from his food bowl upon hearing his name being called.

As if it was all planned, Kenneth, Lena, Lucas, Catalyn, and Aurelia's stomachs rumbled loudly.

"Huh. It's been a week since you guys were gone. Maybe you guys missed Mikaela's home-cooked food, haha!" (George)

After breakfast, which was now bearable since I could swallow soft foods, I was allowed to eat rice, soup, and even some meat. Sea Chicken meat, which was softer than its Land counterpart, melted easily in my mouth, allowing me to not need to use my new teeth to chew as much. 

We took Aurelia to her room, which was the guest room beside our parents'. When she entered, she didn't know anything about the futuristic tech, seeing as she had come from a place without any of this. We sat down for a few hours teaching her all about all the various gadgets and thingamabobs, but I could see that she probably didn't get most of it. Which was understandable, since some of the stuff was confusing as all heck since even I couldn't figure out for the life of me how to use them.

By the time we finished, it was already lunch, and we went back downstairs to eat. Today was going to be a rest day since most of us were still tired from the trip back. I was fine since I was carried the whole way, but I knew that my siblings were still exhausted from the looks of their faces. We decided to postpone the Magician's Guild registration. Tomorrow we'd take Lucas, Catalyn, and Aurelia outside to actually register them officially. We didn't get to do so since we got teleported the last time. 

And with that in mind, I asked Lena to carry me to my room so I could do some training with Jandru.

"Oh, you're back. Good, good. Let's try out a different form of training today." (Jandru)

"And what might that be...?" (Kenneth)

"This time we won't be doing anything to your loved ones. Let's see how long you can withstand the Music Torture." (Jandru)

"Is that the one where you forcefully make me listen to the same song over and over again? That's a bit harsh on my first day back." (Kenneth)

"Don't worry about it. We'll take it easy and do six hours. If you happen to go crazy during that time, I'll stop it. You did well during the Uninhabited Island training, so I'll grant you this." (Jandru)

"Huh. Nice. Okay, let's do it." (Kenneth)

Jandru snaps his finger, and Kenneth is instantly teleported to the same chair. Distant memories of the first day still plagued him, but it wasn't as terrifying now. It went from constant flashbacks of the mental torture he underwent, to just mild voices of his loved ones. 

"Here, put this on. I'll tie it by myself, so make sure it covers your whole head down to your neck." Jandru hands him a cloth mask similar in shape to a paper bag, and Kenneth shoves it over his head. A feeling of tightness hits him as Jandru begins to tie a knot above his throat. The inside was dark, yet there were small micro holes, too small to see through, yet big enough that it allowed oxygen to pass through and let Kenneth take deep breaths normally. Jandru fits the headphones, a red one that had noise-canceling, so it wouldn't leak outside. 

"Alright. Let's start it." Jandru presses a button, and immediately a quiet tune plays in Kenneth's head. 

"Hey... this isn't so bad, what the FUCK!" The somber tone is instantly replaced with angry-sounding music. Guitars were blaring, drums were being beat, and every other sort of instrument that rock bands would use was playing on the headphones. It was loud, obnoxiously loud. 

'Man, I have to listen to this for six hours? I'm gonna go crazy in three, hell, two hours!' Kenneth thought to himself. 

The first thirty minutes weren't so bad. Kenneth spent most of it memorizing the lyrics of the three-minute song. By the two-hour mark though, he had already completely memorized every lyric, beat, instrument used, the chords used on the guitar, just about everything on the song. His ears began to hurt on the third hour, and the loud music soon sounded quiet the whole time. The whole process was agonizing, the music gradually became louder until his eardrums were about to burst. Jandru gave him a five-minute "grace" period, in which everything was just silence. His ears, now red, were bleeding from the constant music. 

"Oh, you're going deaf. Here, I'll heal you back up. This isn't physical torture, so I'm not trying to destroy your body, no, no. I'm destroying your mind." Jandru said to him in his mind.

All the bleeding from his ears and the destroyed eardrums were fixed back up as if nothing had happened. But the mental pain was there. During the five-minute grace period, even though the music wasn't playing, Kenneth could swear that they were still blaring. 

On the fourth to fifth hour, Kenneth was raving like a madman. He struggled around frantically, all along still singing the song that was now engraved into his brain. 

In the sixth hour, the music finally stopped. For Kenneth though, the music felt like it was still going for the next few hours. He just lay there, every word, every letter, every beat, every chord was still playing in his head.

It was not until Jandru snapped his fingers that Kenneth was removed from his trance. Instantly his body dropped to the ground. 

"You... asshole. You didn't stop at all even when I... went crazy.." These were Kenneth's last words as he passed out.

"Oh, did I say that now? Must be your "ears" playing tricks with ya! Wahahaha!" Jandru says as he chugs a barrel of wine.