<strong>Two days ago;</strong>
The pavilion elders and the clan leaders are gathered in the throne hall upon being summoned by Qridus Garcia for an important announcement.
Amid everyone's curious gazes, Qridus stood up from the throne and said, "I'm leaving the clan for a few days. It might take one day to even a month. So, until I return, I leave the safety of the clan village in your hands."
Some of the clan leaders glanced at each other, thinking that it might be the right time to formulate a plan for the clan to take over, while the others were puzzled to hear the clan head is going somewhere.
After all, the last time he stepped outside of the clan is more than a hundred years ago and that too, only to attend the funeral of the royal ancestor of Freyles.
Now, upon hearing that he might even go for a month, everyone knew it wasn't some funeral. So, they couldn't help but wonder, "What kind of important business their clan head have outside that he didn't give the job to his subjects?"
After dismissing them, Qridus disappeared from the palace and reappeared at the graveyard which is located on the far edge of the clan village, hidden between two hills.
There, an old man, who is serving as the tomb keeper, was silently sweeping around one of the tombs even though it appeared clean.
"Great granduncle…" Qridus called out to him.
Without turning his head, the old man asked while continuing to sweep, "Why are you here, Qridus?"
That's right. This seemingly ordinary old man who looks even younger than Qridus is none other than the younger brother of the former clan head and is also a peak-rank-9 like Qridus.
Due to some reason, this great-granduncle of the clan head left the world of material affairs and decided to serve as a tomb keeper while suppressing his soul power.
Everyone from the mortals to the clan leaders, those who visit the graveyard to pay their respects to the dead, will forget his face and identity as soon as they left the place.
That's how he managed to keep his identity hidden away for thousands of years.
Upon being questioned by his great-granduncle, Qridus answered, "I'm leaving the clan for a few days."
"Why?" Pierre Garcia asked him.
"I'm going to visit that Prophet." Qridus then explained his decision to leave the clan.
In response, the tomb keeper asked, "Is it related to the time traveler from the future?"
Qridus didn't hide the reason before him. "Yes, there's something I'm failing to understand. This person possesses a celestial grade beast that is shielding him from my visions.
It might sound absurd but this person must possess either the mythical time beast Znuvo or a hybrid celestial grade beast with time ability."
"Hybrid celestial grade beast?" Pierre frowned as he turned around.
Qridus shrugged his shoulders, "well, we can never rule out the possibility."
Pierre then turned around once again, "a multiple attribute platinum grade beast can never become celestial grade unless it absorbs other platinum grade beasts, which can only be possible if the beast is a wild one."
"I know." Qridus nodded seriously but still hasn't given up theory. "But, we are only humans with limited knowledge. There's no such thing as zero possibility in the universe. Who knows… That's why I need to confirm it with the prophet of the Elven clan."
After a brief silence, Pierre nodded, "go on then. I will shield the clan in your absence if it fell into crisis."
"Sorry for troubling you." Qridus bowed to him and excused himself.
As he disappeared, Pierre whispered to himself, "You forgot about another possibility. The founder's hourglass…"
After leaving the clan village, Qridus traveled for a whole day before reaching the forests of Nyhbelle.
Like the death clan village, the Elven village of Nyhbelle is also located in a pocket world. The only difference was that instead of a gate, there was an invisible barrier instead.
It was designed in such a way that anyone except for an Elf who passed the barrier will find nothing amiss. However, it is not a hurdle for a peak-rank-9 expert.
As soon as passed through the barrier like nothing, Qridus was greeted by two elves and was taken to the Prophet directly.
Meeting the Elven Prophet who is in the same generation as himself, Qridus spoke of his intentions to which the latter summoned his platinum grade, crystal ball.
He then applied some mystical runes on the ball while Qridus placed his hand on it and imagined his encounter with Azzy.
However, to the Prophet's surprise, the image of Azzy still blurry and he wasn't able to find out anything about Azzy or his Arcana spirit. "Divine intervention…" He understood that there's something from above that's stopping him from prying the secrets.
He relayed the same to Qridus.
The death clan head became serious upon hearing it. He felt like he needs to put the matter of Azzy as of the utmost importance.
Leaving with no other choice, Qridus was forced to request the Prophet to summon the heavenly messengers and ask them about it.
At first, the Prophet was taken aback and refuted his absurd request. Summoning the heavenly messengers can only be used to protect the world.
But then, his facial expression changed as Qridus reminded him how the timeline for a couple of nations has been altered a while ago. Leaving the matter unattended might cause more damage to the timeline.
Qridus further said that the Death clan will owe a favor to the Elven clan where the latter's clan head can come to the Death clan village and claim it from any future clan head.
Heeding to the promise, the Prophet performed an ancient ritual. Qridus helped him out constantly pouring out his soul energy into the mystical runes drawn in a four-pointed star.
As soon as he performed the incantation, a glowing spirit that looked like a fairy asked him the reason he summoned her.
Qridus who had never seen a heaven messenger until now was taken aback to see a fist-sized woman with butterfly wings appeared. It was actually different from what he had imagined.
The 33rd prophet of the Elven clan requests her Qridus wishes. The fairy glanced at the frail-looking old clan head for a second before it disappeared and then, reappeared with a message.
Looking at the Prophet, she spoke in her usual sweet tone, "The one who traveled back to the time is the heir of the Death that possesses the power of Death and time."
Then, she paused for a second and looked at Qridus, this time. However, unlike last time, the second part of the message was directly sent to his head. "This is a special message sent by our Lord for you.
Let him walk in the path of light, he will become the savior of Gaia. Let him walk in the path of darkness, he will become the destroyer of Gaia."
As soon as she gave the answer, the fairy spirit disappeared immediately, leaving the Prophet and Qridus speechless for a while until the prophet commented, "It looks like the time traveler is your descendent, Qridus."
While returning, Qridus fell into deep thoughts. He kept on replaying the words in his mind over and over. He wasn't thinking about the special message, but rather about the first one. He wondered whether there's any other meaning of Azzy possessing the power of Death and Time.
Suddenly, something clicked in his mind and realized what its meaning is. "The Reaper! It's the founder's Arcana spirit which possesses the hourglass that is said to possess the power to rewind the time of the whole universe and let the user travel into any point of time in the history."
Upon connecting the dots and realize the truth, Qridus returned to his clan village in hurry and to pass the orders to the clan leaders in protecting his future clan head.
The clan leaders who are trying to plot against Qridus were depressed upon finding that the Clan head returned so quickly.
Then, they were even more surprised to get an order from Qridus that one of them need to volunteer for a mission, which is just to go to Northern Qudour and help out Vesryn Garcia in case he fell into trouble.
The matriarch of the Night clan, Pandora Night volunteered to do the job.
<strong>Back to the present;</strong>
Qridus was in Azzy's dream and broke out the truth that he found that even surprised the almighty Reaper.
For the second time in his life, Azzy stuttered, facing the reality. "How… How did you know?"
Qridus smiled in response, "I have my ways child..."
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