Time Traveling Hero

"The past, the present, and the future? I guess it makes sense considering my role has to deal with time, but..." I trailed off, my thoughts jumbled.

Conquer the Past, Subdue the Present, and Take the Future? What could they possibly mean by that? I thought as I tried to collect my thoughts. I'm assuming for the Trial of the Past they mean some sort of undertaking. Whether it was the someone else's past or my own, who could tell. And the other two I had no clue what they could be. I mean, I know the saying seize the day, but take the future? And what could they mean by subduing the present? So many questions were whirling in my head, and right when I was about to start my bombardment of questions, Deimos waved his finger in front of me with a "Tsk, tsk, tsk."

"We don' know what the trials are about, since we ain' worthy of taking them, so any questions yeh got for us is useless, useless I say!" Deimos said, cackling with laughter.

"It is as he says. We are not worthy of becoming the Time Traveling Hero, so we must find someone who is," Astraea continued, crossing her arms with a sigh.

"How do you measure this 'worth' then? Was that what you just did when you scanned me? What did it exactly scan?" I asked, trying to learn as much information as I possibly could.

"Yeah, that was what we just did," Mars started to explain, his once angry demeanor now calm. "And who said it was your role anyway, you haven't taken the trials."

"Yeah whatever, so what exactly did you measure?"

"Insolent lil!" Mars started before sighing back into his relaxed state. "You know what, not worth it. And as for what we measured, well, we don't really know."

Huh? I couldn't help but be dumbfounded. If they didn't know, then how the hell could they possibly know it to be accurate?

"Well, you see, back at our founding a long time ago, there was a genius inventor who made most of the tech we have here, including that device, although that was a prototype. We don't really get it ourselves, but according to him, he managed to take the first TTH's qualifications and figured out how to measure it. We just call it the 'Hero's Factor' to keep it simple," Hebe explained, swinging her legs from the top of a bed she was sitting on.

"Okay, so is 100 high for a qualification?"

"As far as we know, only the original TTH had a factor of 100, so you're the second one," Hebe said, smiling at me. "Even though it is a prototype, the fact that it's high even before you got into the actual machine is very good."

"Alright then, just one last question then," I said, having understood the general idea. Although they were pretty obscure with the information, I got the gist of it.

"Oh, only one more? You're quite smart," Deimos commented, his different colored eyes looking at me earnest. Honestly, the guy weirded me out a bit.

"Who made the trials?"

"Anna knows it, please pick Anna," said Anna in a flat tone, looking at me. "My special friend told me about it. The original TTH made them after retiring."

"Yeah, guess I should've figure that," I mumbled, scratching my head before sighing. "Alright, take me to them. I'll challenge the trials."

"That's the spirit! Now come on Hiro, let's take you to the trial rooms." Mars said before getting up from his bed and walking towards the door.

The others and I followed suit, and we navigated our way through the massive base. I didn't mention this before, but this place looked like it came straight out of a Sci-Fi movie. I could see hovercrafts parked outside, people in high tech armor, laser guns strapped to people's waists as they walked around, prosthetics that were about 100 years ahead of their time, and of course, robots. They looked almost exactly identical to humans, except for their eyes, which had a number emblazoned on it. They also weren't chatting, basically doing the chores of custodians and the like.

It was then that I finally noticed something strange. Among the people chatting were various girls, all with yellow eyes and a variety of bright hair colors, standing by quietly next to their respective person.

"Hey Anna, are those girls Models like you," I asked, pointing to a couple of them for reference.

"Affirmative, they are my fellow Models. Almost all the soldiers here have a respective Model with them, save for the 12 Seated."

"The Seated?"

"Correct, the room we were just in is where they gather. The four in front of us are part of that group." Anna said, gazing at the backs of the four people in front of us.

"They are the strongest fighters the Time Resistance Task Force have to offer, and don't need Models to help them," she continued, a hint of bitterness in her voice. "Anna does not like them Master Hiro, not one bit."

I gazed at the four Seated walking side by side. They do seem standoffish, and hasty to act to say the least. "Does the the TTH have a Model too?"

Anna shook her head, her silver hair swaying with each movement. "Negative, the TTH is also strong enough to not need one."

I glanced over next to her, and although her face hadn't changed, I was slowly being able to sense her emotions. And in her yellow eyes, were a hint of sadness. I decided to give her some head pats.

"Well, I'm pretty useless by myself, so looks like I'll need a Model to help me. I wonder who's up for it though?" I asked, a smile on my face.

"Master, you could have any pick of Models here," she responded.

"I meant you, yah idiot! Damn, you have to make me say it!?"

"Then, with Master I shall stay," she said, her yellow eyes gazing down at the floor.

I removed my hand away from her head before sighing. Seriously, she was so troublesome, I thought. But she isn't all that bad.

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"We're here."

After walking for about 30 minutes, we had finally reached our destination. It was a large metal door, with about a dozen automated locks attached to it. All four Seated raised their hands up to a scanner, and in response the locks clicked, and the door opened inward with a silent whoosh.

"Man, they keep this place under lock and key, huh," I muttered to myself.

"It would be disastrous if an intruder got their hands on the trials, so of course this level of security is expected," Deimos said seriously. "Also, that was one of 15 locks we have to go through."

"You're joking!"

He wasn't joking. 14 more doors, each thicker and more intricate than the last awaited us, and we after all that, we were met with the last door, almost looking like a door to a bank vault.

Mars grabbed two handles and took a deep breath before tensing up and swinging the handle to the door clockwise, sending it spinning until it stopped with a sudden click, and the last door opened.

"The last door seemed lackl.u.s.ter than the previous one," I said, thinking about how complicated the other ones had been.

"Oh that. The handle weighs over 5 tons, so only the men's first seat or the TTH is able to open it," Hebe said, skipping her way into the room.

Superhuman. All these people were most definitely superhuman.

Inside, the room was split into two, one side hidden by glass, and the other a modest room with three doors. The side hidden by the glass had many machines at work, and some researchers were bustling about, getting things prepared for my trials.

"This is where we part ways Master Hiro. Good luck," Anna said before disappearing into the other room, where the four Seated followed her in.

I took a deep breath and relaxed. I was kinda nervous, but I could handle trials. I was a great test-taker after all. I later learned that it doesn't equate.

I walked into the trial room, the door closing shut behind me. The walls were white all over except for the doors, which were pitch black along with the letters above each one.

"Alright, before you begin, the room will check your "Hero Factor.' You'll know if it worked," said a crisp voice, reverberating around the room. I simply nodded in response.

And suddenly the darkened letters over the first door lit up red, the word 'Past" being illuminated.

I felt nervous as I walked toward the door, the feeling akin to not knowing what was going to be on a test in a class you were failing. I grabbed the door handle and opened the door. It swung inward, and I walked into a pitch-black room, not a single light around.

"Overcome The Traumatic Past."

I tensed up when I heard the words, well, that's not quite right. It was as if someone else's voice was being broadcasted directly into my brain, conveying the message through thought.

Traumatic Past!? Were my last thoughts before the door slammed shut and I was swallowed into the darkness.

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"This kid really is incredible. He really does have a 'Hero Factor' of 100 in him. No one's had that since the original Time Traveling Hero." said one of the researchers, looking over the results of the scan.

Mars looked down at a screen, which told the occupants vitals, mental state, and other things. The most important thing on that screen, was none of those.

"So this tells us how many times it takes for him to pass the Trial of the Past?"

"That's correct sir. Unlike the Trial of the Present and Future, which only allows one attempt, the Trial of the Past allows for as many attempts as it takes until the taker gives up or passes."

One of the nearby researchers' eyes bulged as he looked at his screen. "What's this? What's up with his Past!? This is crazy, what type of trauma did he have in the past!?"

"Something wrong?" Astraea asked, making her way over to the researchers screen.

"It's just, no one's past has been like this before in all the participants who go through the trial. I just," but before he could continue, the first researchers screen was suddenly filled with red letters.

"Oho, so it's begun! It doesn't look too good for yah friend, yeh Model." Deimos said, cackling with laughter.

And on the screen was a growing list of one word.

"Failure."