Transversing through the forest, Cain was alert, he knew anytime a beast could find and attack him so he did not want to let down his guard
'I've been walking around for a while now, but I still feel nothing'
Walking deeper into the forest Cains skill [Rulers Authority] started subconsciously reacting
'It seems I am going in the right direction'
As he walked Cain was using [Rulers Authority] to find the location of 'that skill
The reason [Rulers Authority] was reacting was because the second half of the set skill was here
The stronger the aura from [Rulers Authority] was, meant that Cain was going in the right direction, yet the weaker [Rulers Authority] aura got Cain knew he was walking in the wrong direction, and would change directions
Unknowingly to Cain the reason no beast had come to attack him was because the aura from [Rulers Authority] had been scaring them off
'I should hurry this up, this forest looks real creepy at night'
Using [Rulers Authority] as a guide Cain finally found a cave
Usually no one would be able to find this cave as without [Rulers Authority] the cave would not appear
Stepping into the cave, Cain was walking, with each step he took the aura from [Rulers Authority] kept increasing
'I should be getting closer to the end of this cave it feels like I have been walking forever'
Checking the time Cain realised that it had been 4 hours since he had entered the forest
' Huh.. Honestly I don't even mind walking this much but I am starting to get bored
Finally reaching a door Cain opened it, inside there were 2 things on what seemed to be a pedestal
One was a floating black book which had weird inscriptions on it which Cain could not read
This was what Cain had come here for, it was a second part of the set skill
The other was something which Cain had no knowledge about, it seemed to be wood which had been carved out into the shape of a human heart, the weird thing about this heart was that it had this ominous green glow eminating from it and the heart was beating
'What is that?' Cain thought looking at the heart in amazement, in a trance Cain started walking towards it
As if the surrounding world disappeared Cain was focused wholly on the wooden beating heart, walking in the cold damp room the only sound to be heard was Cains footsteps as he looked at the object in wonder
Yet before he had reached the wooden heart a message showed up in front of Cain
[Trial:Willpower of a ruler shall commence]
As that message showed, Cain could feel his eyes getting heavier
'Whats happening'
And with that thought he passed out
***
In a classroom a loud snore could be heard coming from a student in the back row, looking at the student drool could be seen coming from his mouth as he slept comfortably
"Tayvn"
"Tayvn"
"TAYVN!"
(Authors Note: going to use Tayvn to address the previous Cain, and I will use Cain to address the current him)
A voice could be heard shouting, opening his eyes Cain noticed he was in a classroom
"What do you think you are doing sleeping during my lesson"
'Huh... Where am I' Cain thought as he groggily looked around
"Oh sorry sir" a voice could be heard exiting Tayvns mouth, but the thing is Cain hadn't talked
'Huh, isnt that Mr.Krawowski' Cain thought as he looked at the man
"I told you to stop reading so much novels, you literally have bags under your eyes" a boy seated next to Cain said
The boy in question had brown hair and brown eyes, he wore glasses which looked bigger than he needed and had a thin body frame
"I couldn't, last night a new chapter of [The Heavens Chosen] released so I stayed up reading it" Tayvn said
'Huh.. Isn't this Kevin, wow it feels like I haven't seen him in forever' Cain thought as he watched the scene
At the moment Cain was reliving a memory of his, he could not influence anything and was more of a spectator
Looking at the memory, Cain noticed how he faintly remembered this day, yet no matter how hard he thought he couldn't remember specifically what happened
Watching as the day went along Cain got to see his old friends and watched as the school day came to an end
'I really miss these guys' Cain thought as he looked at his friends
Yet while watching these memories, Cain felt like something was wrong
As the school day came to an end, Tayvn left, arriving at the gates of the school there was a girl who seemed to be around the age of 13 waiting for him
'Lisa' Cain thought as he saw the girl
Seeing the girl, Cain immediately remembered what memory this was
This was the memory of the worst day of his life, a day he had been trying to forget for years, and the day his little sister Emilia died
Seeing Cain, the girl immediately gave him a hug
"Woah,don't you think you're getting to old to be clinging onto me like this" Tayvn asked he looked at Emilia
"Nope, why are you being embarrassed from hugging your little sister? " Emilia asked as she looked at Tayvn
"Yes, if you keep clinging onto me like this some people might get the wrong idea" Tayvn replied
"What's so embarrassing it's not like you have a girlfriend" Emilia curtly replied to Tayvn
Watching this scene Cain couldn't stop thinking about how dumb his younger self had been, had it been the current Cain he would have loved to hug Emilia
'I remember thinking it was so annoying that Emilia kept on clinging onto me, I always got embarrassed as people looked at us' Cain thought as he watched this scene
Watching this scene Cains heart started aching, seeing his little sister someone he had tried so hard to forget about, after her death hurt him
Tayvns house had only been a 20 minute walk from the school therefor him and his sister always walked to and from school together
As they walked Tayvn was on his phone reading some webnovel this had been a habit of his as everyday after school he would read
While walking Emilia was telling him about how her day had been, and everything else but Tayvn ignored this as he kept reading his webnovels
Whenever Tayvn read webnovel it was as if the outside world did not exist, he would get so into the novel that he wouldn't notice anything happening around him
And this was one of the reasons Emilia died
Crossing the street Tayvn was enthralled by the novel, so much so that he could not hear the loud honking of the speeding truck as it headed towards him
"Hey,There's a truck coming" Emilia said as she noticed Tayvn was not paying attention
Not hearing her words Tayvn started crossing the street
'HEY, LOOK OUT' Watching this scene Cain was screaming internally trying to get his past self to listen
*HONK*
*HONK*
*HONK*
Looking up from his phone Tayvn noticed the speeding truck heading towards him, but at that time it was too late to react as it was about to hit him at any time
Yet before the truck made contact with his body, Tayvn could feel himself get pushed out of the way
As he got pushed out of the way the truck slammed into Emilias body as she died instantly
Looking in shock Tayvn screamed loudly at the gorey sight, Emilias body was bloody as her body looked to be flattened
'NO!, Please no, why did I have to see this day again, I had finally forgotten, I had finally moved on' Cain thought internally, if he had a body at the moment he would have been crying
Trauma
Many people have different ways of dealing with trauma, some face it and move on, while some like Cain try to forget it, after this day Cain had blamed himself for his sisters death and had spent all his time trying to escape reality
He used novels as an escape and would read, with time Cain had finally forgotten about this day and had moved on but he had never actually faced it and had forced himself to act like it never happened
After witnessing this memory, Cains mind was in shambles, he had buried this memory deep and seeing it again was bringing back trauma
With that the world faded into darkness
'Is it finally done?' Cain thought as he witnessed the world fade
Yet fate was cruel as when he opened his eyes again he was back in Mr. Krawowskis class as he was forced to repeat the same memory again
And again
And again
And again
Seeing the scene again, and again, Cains psyche started to crumble
Yet it only repeated again, this happened until the hundredth time when he saw a notification
[Trial:Willpower of a ruler completed]
And with that Cain moved back to the cave
***
Being back in the cave there was a man standing in front of Cain
"So a human has passed my trial, how amusing" the figure said as it looked at Cain
Cain was still affected by the memories so he did it respond
"It seems your mind wasn't completely broken by whatever you saw, so I guess you are worthy of the other skill"
The figure was a man he stood roughly at 6 ft 4 and had purple eyes which shone just as brightly as Sarahs
Looking at the man, Cain felt his anger building up
He had just relived his most traumatic experience hundreds of times, and the person responsible for that was right in front of him
Glaring at the man Cains anger was easy to see
"Why do you look so angry, if anyone should be angry it's me, you a human have come to claim a skill which I had originally left for my descendants, if you had never stolen the legacy you would have never experienced this pain"
"You have only got yourself to blame for this, but since you have passed this trial, I will allow you to take this skill" The man said
"Though yggdrasils heart should only be used by my descent as if you try to merge with it you will die" The man said
"Oh, it seems like my time is up, let me give you some advice before I disappear, face whatever you saw, my trial was one designed to make you relive you're most traumatic experience and I fear that if you do not overcome that experience, it will destroy you, now since you have passed this trial I look forward to seeing how you face the last one"
And with those words the figure disappeared
Sitting on the floor for a few minutes Cain picked himself up
'He's right, I have always tried to run away from that memory it's about time I accept it and move on'
Going to the skill, Cain immediately absorbed it
After absorbing the skill, Cain looked at the heart
'He said I would not be able to use that heart, I should probably give it to Sarah, but what is yggdrasils heart in the novel it was mentioned that the Rulers of the elf kingdom merged with a branch from yggdrasils, if this is its heart I am scared to think of how powerful it would be'