As he stayed there on the ground, the realization dawned on him.
He couldn’t regress anymore.
He no longer had infinite tries.
There was only chance.
If he failed, Neo would die.
He stood up after he had recovered and moved with haste.
The Underworld was where the dead ended.
After countless inquiries, Daniel confirmed that Selene’s soul never came to Underworld.
The cause was obvious.
Typhon had destroyed both her soul and body.
“I apologize for it,” Typhon said as he and Daniel sat at a small, round table in a quiet, dimly lit café within the Underworld’s neutral zone.
The air smelled faintly of bitter coffee and burnt wood.
The walls lined with old tomes and half-melted candles.
“It’s fine. That’s already water under the bridge,” Daniel responded, suppressing the his inner turmoil.
He exhaled slowly before adding,
“Did you ask about the resurrection methods?”
“I’ve consulted high-ranking Grim Reapers on the matter.
“There said there is no way to revive someone who never reached the Underworld.”
“…I see.”
Daniel left the place after his meeting with Typhaon.
He looked everywhere in the Underworld, and met countless people.
Everyone gave him the same answer:
Those whose souls were erased could not be revived.
Again and again, they told him to abandon his goal of resurrecting Selene.
Daniel refused to surrender to despair.
He returned to the world of the living, hoping to meet Athena.
If anyone could know of a hidden method of resurrection, it would be her.
She was the Child of Mana.
People like her had wealth of knowledge.
Gaining an audience with her was no simple matter.
Daniel’s reputation, or lack thereof, proved to be an obstacle.
For everyone except the Grim Reapers, Daniel was a nameless Awakener.
He had not bothered with his connection in the world of living in current life, not expecting they would come in handy now.
After pulling countless strings and calling in every favor (Grim Reapers), he finally met Athena.
They talked for a long time.
“So, you don’t have a resurrection method?” Daniel asked.
“I’m sorry, but I don’t.”
Then he asked her about the Children of Mana.
She told him a lot about them.
They could gain information about the future.
It was different from the visions of the future that Time elemental users had.
The Children of Mana were told about the future by the World—or so Athena said.
“That’s all, you know?” Daniel asked after listening to her explanation.
“Yes.”
“So you mean, the information—the Records—all of that is given to you by the World?”
“Yes.”
“Are you sure?”
“90%, yes.”
Daniel wasn’t convinced.
For one, why would the World Core have information about the future?
Besides, Earth’s World Core was too unfriendly.
There was no way it would willingly share information.
After his meeting with Athena, he went to space and met with the Moon’s consciousness.
“My dear friend, Daniel. What brings you here?” the Moon’s consciousness asked.
Daniel greeted her and asked if a world kept a Record of all knowledge.
“No?” the Moon’s consciousness replied, sounding genuinely puzzled. “This is the first time I’m hearing of something like this.
“I don’t think Earth keeps any Records.
“Even if it did have something like Records, there is no reason for Earth to possess knowledge about the future,” the moon’s consciousness explained.
“Thank you for answering me,” Daniel said.
He stayed there a little longer, having a small party with the Moon’s consciousness at her request.
The problem remained.
Daniel had not found a way of reviving Selene yet.
He continued his search for a method.
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Days, weeks, years passed.
Time blurred into a haze as he scoured both the Underworld and the world of the living, desperately seeking a solution.
“There is no way it’s impossible to revive Selene,” Daniel muttered under his breath. “If it’s impossible, then that means we haven’t found the information yet.”
His condition got worse as he stopped caring about his health and kept his focus on his search.
He read as much as he could and met as many people as he could.
He immersed himself in knowledge.
He learned any type of information he came across, hoping it would help him in reviving Selene.
The Grim Reapers began to worry about Daniel’s health.
They told Daniel countless times to give up.
They didn’t understand why Daniel was trying to revive his sister.
It was impossible to revive her.
Daniel refused to give up.
No matter what, he would find a way.
Years passed with no result.
The once-vibrant spark in his eyes dulled.
A doubt started to creep into his heart.
What if there was truly no way to help Neo?
Daniel gritted his teeth and continued to move forward.
The doubt remained in his heart.
He, however, refused to give up.
Neo had fought alone for centuries, even though he had no hope for victory.
He did it for them.
The few years of fruitless searches Daniel was going through were nothing in comparison.
While Daniel was busy searching for a method to resurrect Selene, he came across a horrible truth.
Daniel had been cursed by Time.
He had antagonized Time when he went to meet Neo.
As a result, Time cursed Daniel to live forever.
He couldn’t die, grow old, or grow stronger.
His body was frozen in time.
Daniel ignored his own curse.
All of his attention was on finding a method to solve his predicament.
It was then Daniel found something.
“Hahahaha! Athena, this is crazy!”
His voice echoed in the grand library where towering bookshelves kissed the domed ceiling above.
He took a book from Athena’s library—named the Archives of Wisdom—and showed it to her.
Never in his wildest dreams had he imagined he would find something among the novels written by Athena.
“What is it?” Athena asked.
“This book… What is it?” he repeated, his eyes wide with excitement.
Athena tilted her head, glancing at the cover.
“That book has some interesting ideas I came up with. I planned to use them later in my novels.”
“Exactly! Now, read this,” Daniel urged.
He turned the pages with care until he found the one he wanted.
He tapped a section of text.
Athena leaned closer and began to read aloud.
—
Name : Euphemia Theodora
Specialty: Oldest known Child of Mana
Time Period: 3440 BCE ~ 3400 BCE
Description:
Euphemia was able to see into the Records of the World.
She saw the strongest awakeners of the Apocalypse Era – Zeus, Kronos, Gaia, Emma and others, and called them Gods.
Her tales spread over time and the awakeners in her stories were later known as Gods in the history.
She…..
—
Athena paused.
There was a wealth of information about Euphemia, even a short story on her life at the bottom of the page.
She closed the book gently.
“What about it? It’s just an idea I had for my novel ‘Son of Zeus’, to explain the existence of gods in real-world myths.”
“But aren’t your dreams real? Doesn’t this mean this information is what you got from the Records?”
“Not all dreams are information from the Records.”
“I know,” Daniel said quickly, flipping through more pages, his fingers brushing across the aged paper. “But look at this.”
He spread the book open, showing her multiple entries filled with elaborate histories and mythological connections.
“Everything you’ve written. What’s the pattern with it?”