Terran found himself staring down at his hands. "84 years. Is it even possible for this to be an event in my past? There's no way I'm an old fart, I certainly don't look the part! Why, why did I feel déjà vu? How did I end up in that wasteland?"
Terran had reached such a conclusion before asking Hayley. Even so, hearing it from someone else was entirely different. He was left confused and a little scared. If this indeed was his past, then everyone he once knew was dead. Although the evidence backing this theory was nothing but speculation, the idea was not impossible. If his body was somehow left in a suspended state, his healing would certainly be able to keep him alive.
"No-no, this is a time to ask questions, not wallow in them. But what do I ask?" Hayley clearly didn't know anything about his personal situation. The only one who did seemed to be Gabriel, but Terran was not stupid enough to think he would be able to get any information from him.
Hayley was still staring at Terran questioningly when he spoke again. She had just been asked a reasonably weird question after having her first question ignored. She still was not sure why Terran had asked for her help in the first place.
"Miss Hayley, what treasure were you guys trying to take from Gabriel? It must have been pretty important for an entire army to accompany you."
Hearing all of humanity's strongest S-ranked blesseds being referred to as something as simple as an army almost made Hayley laugh, but she stopped herself. If anyone had an idea where it was, it would be Terran. Since he seemed to want to talk about it, of course, she would oblige.
"Although we're not exactly certain what it looks like, it is referred to as a seed. The Seed of Gaia. Did you see anything that resembled a seed while you were with Gabriel?"
Hayley's words almost made Terran choke. It was a shot in the dark, and yet, it had actually hit something he had heard of before. The Seed of Gaia. Not only did the treasure share a similar name to his system, but he also had an insignia that was connected to it.
"What exactly is The Seed of Gaia? Perhaps if you can give me a better description, I can think of something."
Terran did not know that the number of people who knew this information could only be counted on one hand. Luckily, Hayley happened to be one of those people. Despite this information being extremely sensitive, Hayley elaborated with a smile. She would tell Terran anything knowing there was a chance he could shed light on its location. "From what we've learned, it is the seed from which everything on our planet originated. It gave birth to the life that sparked evolution. But, more importantly, it is the origin of our planet's world energy. Without it, our planet will die."
Hayley's face grew serious as she finished filling Terran in on the vague yet crucial information that had been gathered on the seed.
Terran's face matched Hayley's as he heard her explanation. "Why is it, that the more I learn, the more questions I have. Instead of filling in a puzzle, I'm just finding extra pieces."
Despite Terran's many new questions, he also made many connections. Having only knowledge from the future, Terran knew that the angels had supposedly stolen the treasure. However, he now doubted this fact. "When I steal a blessing using the insignia, part of the power apparently goes into this seed. Why would the system have me sending power to the seed if it was in the hands of the angels?" From what the system had told him, only the worlds under Gaia's reign had treasures known as Seeds of Gaia. Seeing as the angels had trashed this world, it did not make sense she would want to empower a treasure for her enemies. What did this mean? Was the seed not in the angel's hand? Then again, according to the system, she had fallen. Whatever that meant, he was uncertain if she still even had the ability to make these decisions. These were only a few of the countless thoughts running through Terran's mind that brought him confusion.
"Miss Hayley, do you know why the angels stole the seed? And if they did, why are they still here? Wouldn't they have already gone back to wherever they came from? Terran didn't wait long and asked the two questions he believed would yield the most information. But unfortunately, his answer never came.
Before Hayley could respond, a shadow darted out from the trees at an alarming speed, making a beeline for the back of her neck. Time froze. "Why isn't she moving? She dodged an arrow earlier; surely she could dodge this!" But then Terran noticed the look in her eyes. He was standing just out of her arm's reach. If she teleported, he would be hit. It was very likely her teleportation had a slight delay. "Is she planning on taking the hit for me? Why is she being so stupid? I can heal myself! Does she think I'm too slow to react? Or is it possible she thinks I can heal her or something?
Unfortunately, there was no time to deliberate. At that moment, his body just moved on its own, pushing Hayley out of the way and slashing with his empowered sickle. The sickle cut the shadow as easily as the wolves, and before Terran could realize what he had done, he was back in the now empty classroom.
*Slam! *
Terran pounded his fist into the yoga mat with all his strength in frustration.
"Why did I swing my sickle?! Even if she got injured, even if she died, it was a trial at the end of the day, not reality! I could have gotten more information! Why did I act?!"
However, he could not inwardly complain about it for long. This was because a familiar hand landed on his shoulder. It was apparent the classroom was not as empty as he had believed it to be.
Turning around, Terran was faced with the spitting image of the person he had just been talking to; her face an exact replica, if only aged an extra 20 to 30 years. Of course, he had known they were similar, but only now did he realize just how much. No, not exactly. Hayley had a small mole under her left eye.
"A relative?" Terran thought.
It was possible, after all, someone with the ability to teleport had a much higher chance of surviving. However, it was still unlikely. There had been trillions of people alive at the time.
"Based on your attitude, I'll assume you failed your trial. Don't be upset, many people fail their first try. Instead, you should be proud, I don't think you realize how impressive it is that you were able to enter on your first attempt. I'm sure you will get another opportunity in the future!"
"No."
"No? What do you mean?"
"No, I passed my trial."
"Oh really?" Silvia's eyes lit up with excitement and a touch of doubt. "If you're comfortable with it, why don't you tell me why you seemed upset?"
As previously mentioned, trials were known to occasionally inflict a psychological burden. Therefore, as the instructor, part of her job was to offer council to the students, making sure they were not a risk to themselves or others.
Instead of answering, Terran threw out his own question. "Miss Silvia, was your mother or another relative named Hayley by any chance?"
Terran's words seemed to douse Silvia's face in an icy bucket of water. Immediately, she became quiet, and her eyes flashed with a tinge of resentment, but only for a split second. When she spoke, her tone was deadly serious.
"I don't know who you heard that name from, but I suggest you forget it. If someone hears you talking about her it will only bring you trouble."
Caught off guard, Terran was unable to throw the myriads of questions that were trapped in his mind. The Hayley he met had been in her 20s, which would make her now just over a hundred years old. Although this was incredibly old, it was not impossible. Alive or not, Terran was excited to have found a possible outlet for some of his remaining unanswered questions. Only, from Silvia's brief words, it seemed the situation was more complicated than he would have imagined.
Unfortunately, he never got the chance to ask any of the thoughts contained in his head. "Congratulations on passing your trial, I'll see you in my class on Thursday," Silvia said as she abruptly got up and left.
"What was that about? Did I say something wrong?" Terran thought as he sat on his yoga mat in a stupor. Determined to get his answers, he quickly followed her into the hallway. It had only been a matter of seconds. Yet, upon entering the hallway, Terran found it completely empty.
"Tch, Well, there's always Thursday."
Terran was not one to dwell on sore feelings. That, combined with the fact he still had hoped to find his answers boosted his mood. In fact, he now had two paths. The first was through Silvia, and the second option was even more straightforward. He could always just enter another trial. Although, at the end of the day, the scenarios were a dice roll. But, if it happened once, it could always happen again. Maybe if he got to live through another event, the points would begin to connect themselves.