Chapter 57: CH. 57 | The Truth In The Past

Theo and Thalia arrived at the front desk. He handed over the mission paper once more, and the guild immediately certified it.

Right as they finished validating Theo’s mission, a system panel appeared in front of both him and Thalia.

[Congratulations! Party Host has successfully completed the guild mission]

[Party Name: Theo’s Party]

[Leader: Theo (None || Lv. 4)]

[Guild Mission: Collect Black Ink Lizard Skin (12/10)]

[Mission Rank: D-Rank]

[Reward: +200 exp || +15 Contribution Points || +35 Copper]

[Status: Completed]

Theo looked at the system panel. He’d earned 200 exp, enough to bump him straight from level 4 to level 5 that very day.

He watched his hands and his entire body glow blue, the light fading slowly over time.

[Congratulations! You have leveled up]

[Name: Theo]

[Class: -]

[Level: 5] [↑1]

[EXP: 105/700]

[Attribute Points: 20] [+10]

[Contribution Points: 40/250] [+15]

He’d leveled up and watched his attribute points climb along with it. Now, he and his party had cleared three missions in a row. To Theo, that felt like a solid start for all of them.

The woman behind the counter handed over four pouches of coins for Theo’s party. Theo took one for himself and passed the remaining three pouches to Thalia.

He turned around and looked at her. Thalia accepted the money, but her expression made it clear she wasn’t exactly happy about something.

"Are you okay, Theo?" Thalia asked, looking at him with a heavy gaze.

"I’m fine," Theo answered, giving a faint smile, "I just need some time alone to process what happened."

"By tomorrow, I’m sure I’ll be feeling a lot better."

He asked Thalia to hand out the mission earnings to Aya and Lily. Thalia tucked the money into her inventory bag and said she’d make sure to give it to them.

Theo nodded, satisfied, then said goodbye to Thalia to head back to his apartment. Thalia tried calling out to him again, but Theo didn’t respond, choosing instead to walk off as though something heavy was weighing on his mind.

The young man walked alone, his eyes fixed straight ahead. He wasn’t as shaken as before. He could manage to calm himself down, but he still hadn’t fully wrapped his head around the situation.

That was exactly why he’d asked Thalia for some time alone, so he could spend the day processing everything, working through the message Michelle had left him.

He arrived at his apartment room and dropped himself straight onto the sofa. He pulled the letter back out, gripping it tightly in his hand.

Theo read through it again slowly, taking in every paragraph written there.

It wasn’t just the letter either. Theo also tried to piece together memories from before, not things that had happened to him directly, but the mysterious dreams that had haunted him in the past.

In those dreams, he’d witnessed countless interactions between Aslan and Hana, all seen through his own eyes.

I don’t know who my real parents are, but after everything that’s happened, I feel like Aslan and Hana are somehow connected to me.

But if I really am their child? Why can’t I remember them properly?

If I’m really their son, why did they leave me at that orphanage?

As Theo looked down at the letter, his eyes drifted to the Eye of Eternity ring on his finger.

The last time he’d used its power, he’d been able to see back into the past, right before Aslan and Hana had detonated themselves in the ruined section of the city.

The thought crossed Theo’s mind to use the ring again to find out everything. If he could use the ring’s power to look into the past, maybe he’d finally get the chance to uncover the whole truth.

Avara shifted back into her human form. Theo glanced over at her.

"So, what are you planning to do? I have to say, you’ve been acting differently ever since you got that letter," Avara said, standing with her arms crossed, "Was there something important written in it?"

"Yeah."

Theo looked back down at the ring on his finger, then turned his attention to Avara, "I’m going to use the ring’s power again. Please watch over me for a bit."

Avara let out a short sigh, then walked over to the single seat sofa and sat down, legs crossed.

She agreed to keep watch over Theo while he used his power, but made it clear she wouldn’t take responsibility for whatever consequences he might face afterward.

Theo didn’t mind that at all. He’d already braced himself for whatever came, since this was the fastest way he knew to find out the truth about Aslan and Hana, about whether the two of them really were his parents.

He let his body relax for a moment, making sure nothing else could distract him. Once he felt fully ready, he began channeling his mana into the ring.

His eyes closed, and he felt his consciousness get pulled away, carried off by the ring’s power. The moment he realized the Eternity Ring’s power had activated, Theo opened his eyes at once.

The ring brought Theo back to the crater left behind after the massive explosion at the old church in the city ruins. He looked around, finding nothing left but barren ground and fallen trees.

"This is exactly what I saw last time," Theo said, "Now I just need to find a way to reach a more specific point in time."

But how does this power actually work?

Theo tried everything he could think of to find a way. He tried calling up the system, forming hand gestures, even chanting the Foresight skill. And it worked.

Out of the three things he tried, chanting the Foresight skill was what carried his consciousness across the timeline to a specific point.

Now the scene had shifted to the moment right before the city ruins had been destroyed, before Aslan and Hana had even arrived.

That alone was enough to confirm his ability actually worked.

So how do I get back further into the past? As far as I remember, Foresight can only look into the future.

Memories? Could it be that the ring’s power and Foresight actually work through my own memories?

There was no harm in trying. Theo decided he’d try everything he possibly could to reach further into the past, testing out every possibility he could think of.

He closed his eyes and pulled up the scene from that old dream, the one where he saw Aslan and Hana together with him in a warehouse.

Theo tried picturing every detail of that scene, the state of the room, the situation unfolding, even their faces and expressions.

Theo felt his body get yanked backward with force, a strong wind whipping at his back, a deafening noise filling his ears.

His body felt exhausted, dizzy, nauseous, and aching all over. Still, he had to push through it if he wanted this to work.

A few seconds passed, and everything he’d been feeling faded away, replaced by clearer, more specific sounds, one of them being the rumble of a series of explosions.

"We don’t have a choice!"

"He’s still young, Aslan!"

"I don’t want to burden him with that kind of responsibility!"

That dialogue? Those exact words? That sounds exactly like what I heard in my dream.

Theo worked up the courage to open his eyes and look ahead, everything now clearer and more detailed.

He froze in shock, his heart pounding hard, his hands trembling as he took in what was unfolding right in front of him.

Theo saw a small child standing in the far corner of the room, while Aslan and Hana were deep in conversation. Both of their expressions were tense and serious.

"W-What... happened? Dad? Mom?" the boy asked.

Is that... me? His face looks just like mine.

Hana turned and walked over to the boy. She knelt down and tried to comfort him, the exact same way it had played out in his dream, "Everything’s going to be fine."

Before long, the door opened, and a female knight in white armor stepped in. Theo was so stunned his jaw dropped.

Michelle?!

"Forgive me, my lord. The house barrier has fallen and enemy forces are breaking through," Michelle said, kneeling obediently.

Theo took a few steps back, still reeling from everything unfolding in front of him. The scene, Michelle’s face, the boy’s face, all of it felt strangely familiar to him.

It can’t be... could I actually be—

Aslan turned and called out to Hana. She listened, then gave the boy a short message.

The words she spoke stuck clearly in Theo’s mind, since that exact dream had always resurfaced right before his awakening began.

"We have to do something. I’m sorry I can’t tell you, my Theo."

"You have to grow up to be a good, strong boy. I’m sure we’ll see each other again someday," Hana said softly.

"No, Mom! I’m coming with you!"

"I love you more than anything, my Theo!"

Theo...? So... it’s all true?!

Theo stumbled backward in shock, letting out a small, disbelieving laugh here and there, trying to process what was actually happening.

But thanks to the Eternity Ring’s power, he’d finally been able to witness something that revealed the truth that had eluded him all this time.

Hana raised her magic staff and released a golden orb of magic straight at Theo’s forehead. In an instant, the attack struck him, and he collapsed helplessly onto the floor, knocked unconscious right then and there.

The woman glanced toward Michelle, "Watch over him for us, Michelle."

"I will, with everything I have, my Lady."

"No!"

"No!"

"NO!"

Theo’s consciousness snapped back into his real body, and the projection from the Eternity Ring’s power faded away.

He opened his eyes, and unexpectedly, tears began streaming down his cheeks.

Avara paused for a moment, set down her cola, and walked over to Theo, "What’s wrong, Theo?"

"I met them," Theo said.

"Who?"

"Aslan... Hana!" Theo said, turning to look at Avara, "It turns out I’m... the son of Saint Knight Aslan and Saint Mage Hana."

The woman looked utterly stunned, "What?!"