In the year 2005, Empath as Great-Grandfather Smurf tells his great-grandson about the time that as a young Smurf he received visions of the future.
This story provides the following examples of:
- Bad Future: From present-time (not modern-day) Empath's point-of-view, the future is bleak for the Smurfs as he not only sees Papa Smurf, Smurfette, and his own brother Brainy die, but he also sees the Smurf Village destroyed.
- Bad Present: 2005, as seen by the few surviving Smurfs, as the Smurf Forest is now devastated by pollution and human expansion.
- Death by Materialism: Brainy dies when he chooses to save his works over saving his own life in the earthquake that destroyed the Smurf Village.
- Data Crystal: Empath transfers all his memories into a memory crystal, which over time will be passed on to Peyo so that in-universe he will create The Smurfs.
- Distant Prologue: Inverted, as the prologue takes place about a thousand years after the events of Empath being able to see events of the future.
- Earthquakes Cause Fissures: The earthquake that destroys the Smurf Forest causes the ground underneath it to collapse, with Brainy dying as the earth opens right below his feet while trying to rescue his works.
- I Choose to Stay: When faced with the opportunity to leave the Smurf Forest and set off to find a new village in the world among the survivors of the old Smurf Village, Empath chose to stay behind because the forest has always been his home. Empath's grandson leaves him with his infant great-grandson so that Empath wouldn't be alone living in the forest.
- I'm Melting!: Future Empath sees his wife Smurfette melt back into lifeless blue clay when she dies.
- King on His Deathbed: Papa Smurf's death is played out like this when Empath "visits" that particular time period.
- Last of His Kind: Traveler becomes the last living Smurf after Empath as Great-Grandfather Smurf passes away in the future.
- Mental Time Travel: Empath of the present time of the story series jumps ahead to a few points in future history (at least those that were actually presented in the story) where he witnesses the deaths of Papa Smurf, Smurfette, and Brainy, all the while his physical body stays put in the present time period.
- Named by the Adaptation: The druid leader that Handy mentions that appeared in the village a few years before Empath's return is named Worluk and his fellow druids Worlings.
- Recursive Canon: As hinted in the story, the real-life adventures of the Smurfs as stored in the memory crystal have become the basis for Peyo creating The Smurfs.
- Sugar Apocalypse: The Smurf Village is destroyed in an earthquake several hundred years from Empath's present-time period in the stories.
- Stable Time Loop: Basically what Traveler was created to do in this story. He knows everything that his great-grandfather has told him about Smurf history, he is given the power to time-travel, he goes back in time to give his great-grandfather visions of things to come, his grand-grandfather lives out what's to come so that he can relate them all to Traveler.
- Thousand-Yard Stare: Empath goes into this mode whenever he "visits" the future in his mind.
- Tragic Keepsake: In a related mini-story, Empath keeps a jar of blue clay with him — which is the remains of Smurfette — as a reminder of her death in the future.
- Transferable Memory: As a circular example, Empath supposedly transfers his memories to Traveler, who then goes back in time to transfer those memories back to the younger version of Empath.
- Verbal Tic: Empath's referring to himself as "this smurf" notably disappears with his later-years appearance as Great-Grandfather Smurf. Of course, his ability to speak in Smurf language also disappears.
