Theodore and Turia stood side by side and watched the sun start its climb across the horizon. The local systems violet sun gave the sunrise a magical and ethereal quality.
Both of them watched a point far away from them, where the heavens touched the ground, light up in a spectacular display of colors.
Both of them had not spoken as much as word the entire time. Right now there was no need for words. They had both seen the same things and both had their world turned upside down.
Turia had seen so much of her efforts wasted most cruelly. Millions of locals and tourists alike had been slaughtered on the world she poured so many efforts into.
Her paradise was turned into a hell.
Her trip into Theodore's memories had been short but unbelievably startling. She had always been kind by nature and seeing that much suffering was brutal for her.
She had cried bitterly for a long time before joining Theodore by the beach.
The trip back into the memory was brutal but not unfruitful. Theodore had made use of the time to go over even the smallest detail.
Thanks to seeing everything once more in the third person view, Theodore had noticed something crucial.
Turning to look at Turia, he noticed the signs of recent grief on Turia's face. It deeply troubled Theodore, to see a woman as beautiful as Turia, carry such a grieving expression on her face.
With a mental command, Theodore invited Turia into his mind again. She accepted without hesitation and once more both of them appeared in his virtual reality lobby.
Theodore wanted to show her a few things that he had noticed.
Theodore waved his hand and a scene from his memory appeared before both of them.
Right before the end of the "dream", Theodore experienced a feeling of weightlessness. Looking at the scene from outside the box that was his head, he saw everything freeze and turn greyed out before he awoke.
Almost as if a master painter had captured the hellish scene of approaching claws on canvas, only to then grey out all the colors on the whole painting.
Both of them had speculated and concluded, that the world turning grey and the feeling of weightlessness was because time had stopped.
If this was correct, Theodore possessed the ability to travel in time with his mind and physical body.
When Theodore began to put the pieces together, more questions immediately arose. Turia made a remarkable leap in thought and shared what she thought of it:
"I believe the little lord's description of you, Theodore. Not only do I believe that this happened, but I also think that your ability moved you away from danger and into the "past" where you woke up."
"You are not wrong, Turia. The odd thing though is that while I was "there" I had no memories of anything other than what I already knew. If this was the "future" why do I not remember anything leading up to that moment?"
"There is more, Theodore." Turia had been paying attention to the activation of Theodore's ability.
"Have you considered, that you never have awakened your mana in the "present"? Perhaps we have witnessed the very moment of awakening just now in the "future."
Theodore grew solemn at the thought, It was possible after all. It did not answer everything though:
"You mean I awakened my ability and traveled back in time to the present me?"
"I would not ignore this possibility, Theodore. Have you tried to use your ability since then?"
"No, I haven't. I would not even know how to."
Theodore had no idea how mana was even manipulated. It could have been a massive fluke.
If their hypothesis was correct and he indeed traveled back in time, it could have been pure luck.
The thought was sobering.
Both of them realized that this could very well be a once in a lifetime chance. They had to study as much as they could to make a difference and attempt to prevent the hellish nightmare they were allowed a glimpse into.
Turia and Theodore began to observe each frame. Each passing moment was thoroughly analyzed. Every gruesome detail was explored in detail by the two. The process was lengthy but yielded results:
"Have you noticed yet, Turia?"
The two of them were currently watching the destruction of the building on the side of the street opposite to the running Theodore.
The mass of flying masonry was frozen still in the air mid-flight.
Turia had attempted to discern the method by which the fiery claws operated.
She had been frustrated because her advanced sensors were unavailable to Theodore when the memory was formed.
Turia turned to look at Theodore who was standing not too far away from her. He had cast his gaze into the sky above.
The all familiar dark clouds that allowed no stars to shine were ever-present here.
She followed his gaze and examined the clouds. Her eyes suddenly narrowed!
Whereas Theodore saw a foreboding sky, Turia suspected that the storm was artificially made.
The weather here should be artificially controlled by the government. Storms were bad for tourism and prevented via weather control towers, spread on the planet's surface.
The storm meant that enough control towers were destroyed to let the weather rampage. The sudden strong winds aggravated the firestorms ravaging the cities.
The size of the disaster began to dawn upon the both of them. Whatever this was, it affected the entire planet at once.
"Theodore, this must never happen! We have to do something."
Desperation was evident in Turia's voice as she almost pleaded with Theodore, who agreed.
"And do what exactly? As you can see, everything is grayed out and still in these memories. From this point forward, any further answers won't be found here, I am sure of it."
"There is one thing we can still do, Theodore! It will require a team effort to be completely sure."
"What is it? What can we do?"
Theodore was curious. Their options here seemed limited to him at this moment.
"We travel back here, Theodore! Together, using our abilities in real life!"