The summer sun shined down onto my face, forcing me to raise my hand to shade my eyes. Birds chirped a peaceful tune I was now accustomed to. A smooth breeze brushed through my hair, sending me the sweet aroma from a year ago. In front of me, I saw a familiar log cottage, giving me flashbacks to the first day.

I immediately rushed to the cabin excitedly and flipped the door wide open. I let myself breathe in the cool room-temperature air, which I had almost forgotten after the month in the intense summer heat and the freezing cold nights. At the center of the room stood a small, round table, and two chairs sat on either side.

On one of the chairs was a woman. Her long, blond hair flowed down her back like a river. The large hat on her head hid half her beautiful face. Her silky white dress showed her sleek body. The small green jewels on her gown sparkled from the light shining through the window. After months, no, an entire year since I last saw this face, I had never been so happy to meet with the Goddess of Knowledge.

The woman stood up when she saw me open the door. She took off her hat and smiled. When I finally snapped out of my daze, I ran over, unable to contain my excitement, and leaped into her in a hug.

“W-Woah, kiddo!” Irnoma exclaimed as she put her hands on my shoulders and pushed me back. “When did you become so touchy?”

I looked up into her soft eyes. “I-I’m not sure. I’m so sorry!” I bowed right as I felt my eyes water. I couldn’t let her see me cry. Was I not hardened by all those months of living alone? Why was I getting so emotional over merely meeting a person?

When I finally composed myself, I stood back up. “Good day, Irnoma,” I greeted her, now formally.

“Nice to see you again, Damien,” she said back, smiling at me. She acted like she hadn’t seen my emotional state. “Have a seat—and some tea. We have some matters to discuss today.”

I sat down directly opposite her on the table. In front of each of us were two familiar teacups. This brought back memories—memories of my arrival, memories of my capture and imprisonment, memories of my past life.

As I thought back, I realized how much my life had changed in the past year. My phone was taken after Arthur captured me, leaving me with zero technology from my time period. Yet, I never even once had the chance to complain about leaving that life of being glued to a screen.

My parents. Were they doing okay? How had I let such important people as my parents slip my mind in the past year? I guess all this time travel stuff was making me think I could return back later as if nothing had happened. When had I become this ruthless?

And Angel. What was she doing? Arthur said she was still alive somewhere. Was she still fighting? I felt an intense urge to want to meet her again.

“So…what did you want to talk to me about? Is it about your trip? How did it go?”

“Yes, that is part of it.” Then she hesitated before continuing. “I… want to send you back out there.”

I smacked my hands flat on the table, leaning forward. “Really? When?”

“I am thinking that it would be today.”

I sat back. “Wait, why so soon? You just came back, didn’t you?”

Irnoma sighed. “If you heard what it was about, then you might—”

“Oh! And, you still haven’t taught me to time walk, have you?”

“I’m afraid that’s something I won’t be teaching you. You need to go out there. Explore. I can’t keep you here forev—”

“But there are still some things I need to do here, right? Like…” I stopped, thinking. “Yeah! I can plant more trees! I’ve gotten better! Can we wait a few months?”

She waited, expecting me to say more. That was when I realized I had been interrupting her, so I looked down into my teacup.

When Irnoma saw that I had calmed down, her face became serious. “I actually have a confession.”

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I was confused. She, a goddess, had a confession? What did she do wrong?

“The day we met, I checked your past. It was just a simple look-around through the time-plane I do with everybody I meet. And I found something quite interesting. It was when you were around 5 years old. Your temporal body was disconnected, shifted, and never stitched back.”

I thought about what that meant. “So…you’re saying I’m actually from another timeline?”

“Yes. I wasn’t sure if it was safe for you to move around back then, so I held off on training your chronal strength. However, I did try tracing back through your disconnected part to see where you were actually from. And nine months ago—three months since you had arrived here–that’s when I met your sister.”

A bang pierced through my heart. My sister. How had I forgotten about her? What was her name again? A– Am— “An—?” I let that last one slip out loud. But no, none of those were right.

“Alice. Her name was Alice. From the looks of it, she was transported to another timeline. And for seven entire months, I looked for her. This wasn’t as easy as your case—she was transported to a much distant timeline. I had to look everywhere for traces of her. And my, that was a task! Thank god you took over with the tree planting, although you were pretty slow.”

“That… isn’t important. So, did you find my sister?”

She nodded, now excited. “And you won’t believe who she became! She’s a princess now! She’s all grown up and beautiful!”

I sat up straight, excited now as well. “Then where is she? Could you take me to her?”

Irnoma’s smile faded. “That’s the tough part. She’s the one that actually ran away from home trying to find you. It’s hard to find a time period where I can get you two to meet up properly without disturbing the king.”

I crossed my arms, thinking.

“Well, I would also like you two to meet as brother and sister, with the same age gap you two had ten years ago. That would be ideal.”

I nodded. “I think I can do it on my own.”

Irnoma tilted her head with a questioning look.

“I think I’ll be able to find her and meet up with her myself.”

She leaned back and took the first sip of tea. “That could work… but I’m not sure how safe it’ll be.”

“That doesn’t matter. You’ve already done so much work now. And you’ve helped me this much. It’s the only way I can repay you. Let me go find my sister myself.”

Irnoma hesitated. “Are you sure you can do this?”

“I’m sure! You’re my teacher! I can do anything! Just— please?”

She thought about it again. “Well, I did teach you everything I needed to. Sure then.”

I stood up excitedly and drank my entire cup of tea. “When do we leave?”

Irnoma chuckled. “Just a moment ago, you were against the idea of leaving immediately.”

“Well, it’s not like I’m not against that idea anymore. I need to pack my things… and prepare—mentally. And say goodbye—”

I stopped at that last sentence. So this is the end of my stay here, isn’t it? Once I leave this place, I probably will never see Irnoma ever again. A tear rolled down my cheek.

“Damien…” Irnoma sounded worried. But I just turned around and left the cottage. I needed to pack up.

There were a few things I had to bring with me. The first was a bag of berries freshly picked from Lazarus. I had put them on time freeze so they wouldn’t rot even in a thousand years. The second was the sharp dagger carved from the violet crystal I had found in Irnoma’s small cave. It had become quite useful in the past few months, and even after all its uses, there were no signs of it getting any duller.

But other than those two, I surprisingly had nothing else to pack. There was nothing from my previous world, and I spent most of my time here either working out or upping my chronal strength instead of collecting anything. I went back to the cottage, feeling like I didn’t complete an assignment my teacher gave me.

Irnoma had me covered, though. When I returned, she was handling a large bag filled with useful items like food, water, rope, and even a pouch of coins, which she said could be used in the world she was sending me to.

“And, before I send you on your way, I have prepared something quite special.”

She took out a golden necklace the color of her hair and hanged it over my neck. I held up the small silver pendant dangling from it. It was a squirrel’s head with the antlers of a deer. A kirrel.

“It is something for you to remember me by,” she explained, “and it also helps you control your temporal strength and precision better.”

Another tear rolled down my left cheek. But this time I didn’t hide it from Irnoma. I was surprised when she came in and hugged me, but soon a sensation came over me, sending me a wave of emotions. More tears came out of my eyes, wetting Irnoma’s white sleeve. I hugged her back. This might be the last physical interaction we will ever have, so I savored this moment.

A small wimpier escaped from my lips. “Thank you… Thank you…” I whispered.

I couldn’t put to words how much I wanted to thank my teacher at that moment. I really wish I could give more back to her, instead of taking everything and leaving. Oh, how selfish I am.

“No, thank you,” Irnoma said to me, pushing me away playfully and ending our hug.

I was still crying. “Why can’t I stay for a bit longer?” I asked through broken whimpers.

“Hey, haven’t you already made your decision? Now, I’ll be sending you on your way. Just remember: she has your mother’s golden hair and blue eyes, and a face similar to yours. She’s four years younger than you, but her name isn’t Alice anymore.”

I nodded, wiping my tears.

“Now, have a safe journey, Damien.”

A faint and familiar aura surrounded me. This was the end. I would be leaving this world. And I would never be coming back.

So I mustered up my courage and thanked the Goddess of Knowledge one last time, this time yelling at the top of my lungs.

“Thank you, Master!!! Thank you, Irnomaa!!!”

There was a blinding light, the room disappeared into darkness in a flash.