Emilia beckoned for Damian to start his recollection of the undone future.

“Well to start, when I woke up today last time, I saw the elf from before arguing with Frank, but that time I didn’t step in. After you gave Frank a piece of your mind about racism, we went to the forest and you told me about Frank’s traumatic past and how you thought that he didn’t actually hate elves but felt that he had to.”

Emilia’s eyes widened at the last part. Damian guessed that he surprised her with how he knew her theory about Frank. She quickly controlled her surprise and waited for him to continue.

“After that we went and did our work for the day. Then we finished late and headed for the chief's house as per usual, but Frank wasn’t home when we got there. We waited inside for some time when you noticed that my fanny pack was missing. I decided to go back into the woods to find it, and I did, but I also found Frank, who was bleeding out on the ground.”

Damian’s voice became hoarse from the gruesome memories he was retelling.

“His left arm was cut off….and his eyes were cut up. He told me that the elf was right and made me promise to warn the villagers….to not let anyone else die.”

Tears welled up from the corner of Damian’s eyes. He tried his best to keep them in but his eyesight only filled up with more water.

“So I ran to the village. But when I got there everyone was dead, massacred. I checked everywhere for survivors….but I didn’t find any.”

“No...survivors? So that means that I…?” Emilia quietly asked.

“Yeah. You, Ms. Ferguson, and Mary tried to hide in their bedroom, but a tree that had been thrown had crashed into that very spot, killing all three of you.”

Emilia stayed quiet. Damian interpreted her silence to be a que to resume where he had left off.

“As I left Frank’s house, I encountered the beast. It was a giant ape with silver fur that was covered in dark red blood. I was scared out of my mind. I couldn't move my body and the beast walked up to me. I thought it would just kill me but instead it took my fanny pack. It wanted what was inside it. It wanted my phone. After destroying it, the beast yelled what could only be described as a victory cry. Then it kicked me into Frank's house and that caused the whole building to fall on me. I closed my eyes but I didn’t die. Instead, I found myself back in bed so I thought that what happened was just a dream. However, when I saw the elf again I knew that I actually returned to the past.” Damian turned his gaze from the ground to Emilia. “So does that suffice as evidence that I have the Blessing of Time Travel?”

“Well….not exactly.” Emilia sighed. “As much as I want to believe you, the Blessing you described could be of Foresight.”

“Isn’t foresight just seeing the future?” Damian countered. “I experienced it. Everything felt as real as….my hair.”

“Those with powerful Blessings of Foresight are known to “experience” the future to some extent.” Emilia explained. “So maybe you didn’t actually experience it, you just thought you did, due to your powerful blessing.”

“Ok, whatever. Let's say I have the Blessing of Foresight. Wouldn’t that mean that I saw the future? So that means you have to believe me.”

“I do believe you. Especially after you uncovered my thoughts about Frank. But let me tell you that Blessings of Foresight only show a possible future not an immutable one. The future you saw might not come but we should still make sure that it doesn’t.” Emilia pointed to Damian’s fanny pack. “That beast is after your, uh, what was it called again?”

“Phone.”

“The beast is after your 'phone' so all we have to do is destroy it, right?”

“Huh. I can’t believe I didn’t think about that.” Damian took out his phone. “I was planning to profit off this phone since technology doesn’t exist here, but if it invites killer monkeys then destroying it would be the best course of action.”

Damian placed the phone on the ground and grabbed a nearby rock that was a bit larger than his hand. He heaved the rock above his head with both hands and threw it down with all his might. A loud crack could be heard as the phone exploded into pieces.

“There, that should do it. The future I saw should cease to exist.” Damian secured a chunk of the debris and turned to Emilia. “Thanks for hearing me out. I didn’t know how much telling someone about my problems would help.”

“No problem. I could tell that you were under heavy stress and so, as any good friend would do, I lent you an ear.” Emilia shrugged with a smile.

She got up and wiped her bottom that was littered with dirt.

“We still have work to do. Let’s go.” She said as she walked away.

Damian wryly smiled at her back as he followed her.

******

Once Damian and Emilia had finished harvesting the forest, they made their way back to the village. This time Damian remembered to take his fanny pack and had it comfortably strapped around his torso. Similarly to last time, the two finished when the sun was down, though this time they had finished even later because of the conversation between the two. They greeted Richard and Timithus but as they were about to cross the gate and enter the village, Damian stopped in his tracks.

“What's wrong?” Emilia asked.

“You can go ahead. I’m gonna stay here. Just to be….sure.”

Emilia nodded and went her way.

“What are ya making sure about?” Richard questioned. “Is it about that beast?”

“Yeah…”

“Look son, I’m sorry for how I was before. Yelling out that ya have the Blessing of Time Travel had really taken me aback.”

“It's fine. I understand now how crazy I must have sounded to you guys.”

“So, can ya tell me what’s really going on?”

“Well Emilia told me that I probably have a powerful Blessing of Foresight, which would explain why I thought I time traveled. In my vision, I saw a future where a beast massacres the village to get my phone, but everything is fine now since I already destroyed it.” Damian presented the remains of the destroyed phone to Richard.

“Well then, if ya really got rid of the beast that would have killed us all, that would make ya a hero no?” Richard smacked Damian’s back as he let out a great guffaw.

Even the usually reserved Timithus let out a chuckle, whether if it was of mockery or joy, Damian couldn’t tell.

“Hey, just out of curiosity, did Frank leave the village?” Damian asked.

“Yeah he did. Like 20 minutes ago. Actually, he should be back by now. I wonder what he’s doing.”

Just as Richard stated that, the rustling of bushes could be heard. Immediately, everyone stared at where the sound had come from.

It’s probably just Frank. Damian hoped.

A giant figure emerged from the darkness, but to Damian’s horror it wasn’t Frank. Instead, what stood before them was no other than the silver furred ape. It’s blood red eyes bore into Damian. It seemed to be confused as conveyed by its tilted head.

Why is it here? I destroyed the phone, it shouldn’t be here. Wait, maybe it needs to see that the phone is destroyed, then it’ll leave us alone.

Damian reached into his pockets and took out the piece of the phone.

“This is what you wanted right?” Damian yelled as he threw the trashed phone at the beast. It landed on the grass in front of the ape.

It picked up the phone with its index finger and its thumb and brought it close to its face to sniff it. However, instead of leaving, the ape frowned, discontent with the destroyed device Damian had thrown. It started walking towards the village. The only things between it were Damian, Richard and Timithus.

“Damian!” Richard yelled. “Get behind us!”

Damian complied and hid between the two guards.

“Looks like ya’re plan didn’t work out eh?” Richard wryly smiled as he readied his spear and shield.

“No...no….this isn’t supposed to happen. I destroyed the phone. Why is it still attacking?” Damian whimpered.

“Don’t worry, Damian.” Richard coaxed before he turned his full attention to the beast. “Me and Timithus will get ridda this monster.”

Timithus nodded his head as to agree and together they charged. The ape simply attempted to swat the two away but they rolled under the giant arm and they stabbed the beast’s legs. Surprised by the sudden pain that shot up from its legs, the beast screeched and slammed its arms hoping to squash the duo. Fortunately, Richard and Timithus escaped the attack but the beast followed up the smash with a punch directed towards Richard. Unable to move away in time, Richard pulled up his shield and braced himself for the blow but it proved to be far too powerful to contain. The punch instantly dented Richard’s metal shield and sent him flying into a nearby tree.

“Richard!” Damian cried out.

He ran towards the fallen guard to check if he was alive. Damian put his head to Richard’s chest. There was a beat. It was a miracle, Richard was still alive after taking a blow as devastating as that. The beast made its way to Richard to finish the job when Timithus striked it from behind. It angrily roared in pain and grabbed Timithus before he could release the spear from the ape. It glared at Timithus before tightening its grip.. The sound of his bones breaking were drowned out by his horrifying scream, which was silenced when a gruesome squelch emitted from his body. The beast dropped the lifeless and contorted Timithus and redirected its attention to Richard. Damian shakily stood in front of the unconscious Richard and spread his arms wide to sign that he would not let the ape get to the guard. Now that Damian had something to protect, he gathered all the courage he had and prepared himself for a fight where his victory was impossible.

The ape slowly reached out to Damian, it would probably kill him the same way it killed Timithus. A slow, painful, death. Damian didn’t move because of a mix of determination and fear. He was too scared to move. His feet seemed to be planted to the ground. But he also was determined to not move from that space, as doing so would allow the ape to get to Richard. Damian shut his eyes in apprehension of his incoming death. However, instead of the feeling of the ape’s huge fingers, he heard a “shunk” and a yelp from the beast. Damian opened one eye, revealing the “shunk” sound to be an arrow that had pierced the beast in the back. It turned away from Damian and stared towards the direction the arrow had flown from. There stood a girl with unusually long ears, wielding a bow in a position that an archer would make after releasing an arrow.