“If you don’t evacuate the village everyone is going to die!”

Those words confirmed it. Damian’s nightmare was no dream, it was reality. Somehow, he had ended up one day before the tragedy that would befall the village. Damian glanced down at his watch. 1:30 PM. The monster made its move shortly after nightfall. So around 8:00 PM. That meant that Damian had roughly 6 hours and 30 minutes to till the ape attacked.

That’s plenty of time! We can take refuge at the town nearby that has a guild and issue a request to kill that beast. Damian clenched his fist with resolve. I can do this. No one will die this time!

Unnoticed by Damian, Emilia had been trying to gain his attention.

“Hello? Damian!” She frantically called.

“Huh?” Damian finally snapped out of his deep thought.

“I asked you what you thought about what she said.” Emilia frowned.

“Oh. I absolutely believe her.”

“What?” She asked, confused from his quick and sudden answer.

Ignoring Emilia’s question, Damian approached the two in a heated argument.

“Frank!” Damian cut into their dispute. “She’s right. There really is a beast on its way here. If we don’t evacuate to the next town over we will all die.”

“Huh? Frank jeered. “How would you know that? You haven’t seen further than the Lotus Tree. How would you know about such a beast?”

Damian pointed his thumb towards himself.

“It's cause I have the Blessing of Time Travel!” Damian loudly stated. “I saw the beast in the very near future!”

Everyone was silent. After Damian’s bold announcement concerning his blessing’s true nature, the people present simply stared at him. Even Richard, who had been yapping away to Timithus a few feet away, was silenced.

“What?” Damian questioned. “Why is everyone just staring at me?”

Emilia was the one who spoke up first.

“Damian…please don't joke around like that.”

“What?”

This time Frank stepped in.

“That Blessing belongs to one person and one person only: The Traveler. The person that was the first to be Blessed. He used his blessing to commit henious crimes on humanity. He is a wanted criminal that has yet to be captured and no one knows where he is. If I didn't know you, I would have restrained you and reported you to the capital, where you would then be hauled off to a prison to rot."

Damian racked his brain to think up a comeback.

"H-how do you know that there can't be more people with that blessing?"

"It's said that The Traveler could not have kids due to an unknown reason. Therefore, he could not pass down his blessing."

"What about a mutation?! What if somehow I got the blessing of time travel by a mutation?"

"Blessings don't work like genes. There are no mutations." Frank quickly shut Damian down.

"If he is the first to be blessed, how can he even be alive?" Damian desperately questioned.

"He has the ability to traverse time. Who knows when and where he could pop up and at what age? He could travel 100 years to the future and still be younger than 20."

"Ok whatever! We can discuss my blessing later, there are more pressing matters. If you don’t evacuate the village everyone really will die! We don’t have enough combat strength to take on that beast!” Damian cried.

“You sound just like her now.” Frank sneered. “You don't have any credibilty, especially after stating that you were a criminal. I’m not issuing the order to evacuate. That’s my final decision.”

He stormed into the village without another word. The elf was about to leave but Damian stopped her.

“Wait!” Damian cried out. “I know that you're telling the truth. But Frank won’t listen because of some trauma he has from a long time ago. So please let me help you!

The elf stopped in her tracks and turned to Damian.

Yes! If we work together we can somehow defeat that monster! I’m sure of it!

“I’m sorry” She apologized. “I can not trust you. Not after you claimed to be the Traveler. I appreciate you for standing up for me though.”

The elf's diction seemed polite enough but the bitterness in her voice told a different story. She turned to the forst, leaving Damian with an expression that was filled with even greater desperation.

“Dammit!” Damian cursed angrily.

He had lost the only person that could possibly stand up to that beast. In the last timeline she had done considerable damage to the beast, as conveyed by the many arrows that stuck out from its fur.

At this rate everyone will be killed again. I have to do something! But what?

“Damian, are you ok?” Emilia asked out of concern. “You’ve been acting strange ever since I came to pick you up today. Is it because of that nightmare you told me about?”

“It wasn't a nightmare!” Damian snapped out of frustration. “The elf being here confirms it!"

Damian turned to Richard and Timithus who were silently gazing at him from the gates.

“What about you guys?” Damian approached Richard and begged with a hopeless smile. “Come on, Richard, you believe me right?”

The usually boisterous Richard said nothing and averted his eyes. Damian’s vision fell to the floor, defeated.

If no one believes me then I can’t convince them to evacuate. And then they will all die again. But I can't give up here. I need to do something. Anything. That hell I saw can't happen again. I absolutely won't let it!

“Damian.” Emilia angrily called out. “Come with me.”

She grabbed Damian’s hand and pulled him into the forest.

“Hey! That hurts!” Damian winced in pain, her grip was stronger than he expected.

After a few minutes of being dragged around by the irritated Emilia, they finally stopped and Emilia frowned at Damian.

“Jeez, I was asking if you were ok and you just snapped in my face.” She pouted. “That was hurtful you know?!”

After a moment of silence, a now cooled off Damian responded:

“I’m sorry. I was just so frustrated that no one would believe me.” He confessed.

“How could anyone believe you? You said that you had the Blessing of Time Travel, which would mean you are confessing to being The Traveler!”

“But I really did travel back to this morning from...tonight”

“Maybe you just think that you traveled back. So to help you clear any confusions I’ll lend you an ear.” She said as she took a seat on the grass.

“Huh?”

“Tell me everything. What you saw. I’ll determine whether it’s the Blessing of Time Travel.”

Damian’s eyes shone in appreciation. Emilia was trying to help him by hearing him out. Damian smiled, even if everyone else shut their doors on him Emilia was willing to try to understand him.

Emilia sat on the opposite side of him, attentive and ready to listen to every last detail. Damian couldn’t ask for a better friend.