The man who had come back to life before everyone, the last leader of the Tribe of Tomorrow, slowly walked toward Alex. His steps were calm and steady, and his expression was peaceful.
He stopped a few feet away from Alex and smiled at him warmly. Then, he waved at Alex and said in a clear voice: "Hey, Alex. We meet again."
Alex's mouth twitched slightly. He didn't reply right away. He stared at the man in front of him. After a few seconds, he opened his mouth and said plainly: "We never met before actually. At least… not when you were still alive."
For a brief moment, the leader looked surprised. His eyes widened a little. But then, he chuckled softly and nodded.
"You're right, we never met in person," he said in a gentle voice.
He looked at the swirling vortex behind him and then turned back to Alex and continued speaking.
"When I used the Stone of Tomorrow long ago, I traveled along the path of time to find the one destined to revive our tribe. Although I didn't reach the end of that path, something strange happened.
Pointing at the vortex, he continued to say, "That vortex somehow ended up connected to the road I was walking using the Time of Tomorrow."
Alex followed his finger and looked at the vortex. It was still spinning slowly. The flow of time around it was unstable and hard to understand.
He didn't say anything. He knew the leader had more to say, so he continued to listen.
"Through that connection, I saw a vision. I saw myself standing here talking to you. I couldn't hear our full conversation, but I saw your face. I saw your presence. And that's how I knew your name."
Alex finally understood why he never met this man even though he claimed in the letter that he had met him in the future.
This man had never truly met him before. But thanks to the Stone of Tomorrow, a glimpse of their meeting had been revealed to him in the past. It was like seeing a reflection of an event that hadn't happened yet, and now that moment had become reality.
The two stood in silence for a moment. Very soon, the topic changed, and they started talking about something else.
Two days passed in the blink of an eye.
In that quiet, grassy valley, thousands of members of the Tribe of Tomorrow were revived, and more were still reviving.
Alex didn't interfere during the revival of the Tribe of Tomorrow. He simply stayed there, watching, learning, thinking.
Although he didn't ask anyone, he seemed to understand how the Stone of Tomorrow was reviving the Tribe of Tomorrow.
The Stone of Tomorrow had likely imprisoned the souls of all members of the Tribe of Tomorrow in the Cage of Time when they died in the last battle.
As for how it did it, it is likely due to the curse.
Alex couldn't even begin to imagine how time flowed inside the Cage of Time. Time there might have been moving faster, slower, or perhaps it wasn't moving at all. He simply couldn't tell.
However, he could make one guess. Now that the Freezing Sky Spear had been fully repaired, it had become a bridge between the present and the Cage of Time. It forcefully shattered the fabric of space and time, creating a path through which the trapped souls could escape.
And when those souls stepped out, the Stone of Tomorrow manipulated time to reconstruct their previous bodies piece by piece.
That was the only explanation that made perfect sense.
Otherwise, he had no way of understanding how those people not only regained their bodies but also their cultivation.
Alex spent much of the time sitting alone while looking at the Stone of Tomorrow floating silently in the sky.
Occasionally, he would talk with the leader of the Tribe of Tomorrow.
In the evening, as the sun dipped behind the hills and painted the sky orange, the leader of the Tribe of Tomorrow came to sit beside him.
After a moment of silence, he looked at Alex and asked with curiosity in his eyes: "Can I ask you something?"
"You can!" Alex smiled at him.
"What skill did you learn from the Stone of Tomorrow?"
Alex blinked at him and then laughed awkwardly. Then he shook his head, "I didn't learn any skill. Actually, I've never truly used the Stone of Tomorrow. So, I never learned any time-related skills at all. After all, only when using the Time of Tomorrow can we have the opportunity to learn a time-related skill"
The leader raised his eyebrows. He was clearly surprised. He didn't expect to not use the Time of Tomorrow even after having it in his possession for a long time already.
He stared at Alex for a moment, then gave a short chuckle and nodded.
He didn't ask anything more. Instead, he looked up at the darkening sky and sighed.
As the stars began to shine above them, the wind gently moved through the grass, and the sound of life returning to the tribe echoed faintly in the distance.
At that moment, neither of them said anything further.
At last, the final soul returned to life at this time.
The Tribe of Tomorrow stood whole once more. There was a total of 12,096 members in the current Tribe of Tomorrow.
Their number was so great that there was no need for them to continue to be a tribe; they could easily build a city for themselves to call home.
This time, their revival changed them completely. The curse that once bound them to the Stone of Tomorrow was now broken. They no longer have anything to do with the Stone of Tomorrow.
Now, there was no need for them to be called the Tribe of Tomorrow. They can change the way they call themselves and form a huge and powerful clan.
The past and future had touched. And the path forward was just beginning for the Tribe of Tomorrow.