Chapter 13: Night 1, part 1

As Magni and Modi tread through the ever-changing forest, I, on the other hand, skip merrily amidst the foliage, sporting this newfound head that surprisingly feels snug and comfortable. Initially skeptical about the idea of donning another creature's head, I found myself utterly astonished as the bear's head seamlessly affixed itself to my neck the moment I placed it on. It's as if it were meant to be there. I can feel the bear's mouth moving in tandem with mine, perfectly synchronized, and even control the movement of its eye pupils as if they were my own. Running my fingers through the fluffy ears of the head, I revel in the curious sensation, thoroughly enjoying this peculiar experience. 

Dude, I finally got a face! No more headless weirdness. I feel totally normal now. But, gotta admit, wearing another creature's head is kinda freaky. Like, is this a new thing or have I always been able to do this? Definitely gonna hit up Odin later for some answers. 

"Why be ye stridin' so queerly? And what's put ye in such high spirits?" Magni wonders aloud. 

Yes! This is my chance! The first time I'm speaking with a real mouth! Alright, chill out, me! If it's my first time, I gotta say something slick! Something epic! Okay, calm down! 

I rest my hands on my new furry chin, giving it a gentle stroke, striking a casual pose while avoiding direct eye contact. "I'm in a good mood? Maybe the mood's good 'cause of me," I reply, blessing the forest with my newfound deep, bass voice. 

"Has this forest got ye drunk?" Modi quips. 

Now, I probably feel more embarrassed than I did when I was headless. 

"Also, ponderin' it now, how could ye speak, hear, or see sans a head? And how do we even hear ye? From whence does yer voice echo?" Magni asks. 

That's a pretty solid question from Magni. Wow, he's been evolving a lot lately. 

"Mayhaps it be spewin' forth from his rear end!" Modi adds. 

"Haha! That's a fine jest! And mayhap when he speaks from there, 'tis but a constant stream o' farts!" Magni chuckles. 

"Haha! He's talking through fart language!" 

And yup, they're both back to being silly. 

"'Twill taketh ages to delve through this jest of a forest!" Modi complains. 

"Now that I think about it, we wouldn't even be able to tell if a day has passed or not," I remark. 

"Why not?" Magni said. 

"Well, obviously, there's no night in this realm. So how would we ever know when the day is over?" I asked. 

Suddenly, Magni and Modi exchanged glances, then turned back to me as if I'd said something absurd. 

"Are you daft?" Modi blurted out. 

What?! I felt deeply offended by Modi's question. 

"If ye be needin' to ken the time, ye should've just asked," Magni said. 

"What do you mean by that? I don't see any clock or way to tell time in this realm," I said. 

Suddenly, Magni produced a sand dial, but it looked peculiar. The top half of the sand was white, with only a tiny bit left, while the bottom half was black. 

"What's that?" I asked, curious. 

"What?! You're asking me what the 'Dygn Dial' is?!" Magni exclaimed. 

"Dygn Dial?" 

"How in the nine realms do ye not know what that is? Everyone knows about the Dygn Dial!" Modi interjected. 

"Sorry, never heard of or seen it before," I said, realizing my lost memories likely meant I should have known about it. 

"Ye must be thick as a stone if ye know naught of the Dygn Dial!" Magni said. 

Again, I felt deeply insulted to be called ignorant by these guys. 

"Alright, then tell me what it does, how does it tell the time?" I asked. 

"Tut, tut, tut," Magni tutted, acting as though he knew everything. "This dial is simple. When the sand is in the white half, it's daytime. When it flips and the top half is black, it's nighttime." 

Aha, so now, with only a few grains of white sand left, it's almost night. 

"Why didn't you guys tell me this when we first met? Do you know how confused I was when it was always daylight?" I exclaimed, frustrated to learn such crucial information only now. 

Out of nowhere, Magni placed his hand on my shoulder. "If ye confused, ask; if ye frustrated, let it out; if ye sad, talk to someone, and if ye happy, laugh out loud." 

Modi joined in with his nonsensical mimicry of my voice. "Expressing emotion doesn't mean weakness, Headless Knight. It just means ye the Headless Knight. You had all these thoughts and questions, why didn't ye just voice them out then?" 

These two were definitely mocking me! It's like they forget I've lost all my memories! And that's not how I sound either! 

"So wait! Does that mean Odin has this Dygn dial too?" I asked. 

"Nay, he hath no need o' that," Magni remarked. 

"He's our grandfather. Counting and figuring out time without the dial is child's play to him," Modi added. 

How impressive is Odin? 

Time passed, and the Dygn dial had turned black, signifying night had fallen despite the perpetual daylight in this realm. I noticed our movements were getting sluggish from wandering in this hallucinatory forest. 

"Are we done exploring yet?" Modi grunted, complaining. 

"It's not just about exploring now, but finding somewhere to rest. This place is too strange to just lie down anywhere," I replied, dragging my feet. 

"I'm hungry," Magni mutters. 

"Didn't you eat tons of fish before you showed me the Zerschlagen?" I said. 

"But I'm still hungry," Magni replied, his tongue hanging out of his mouth. 

As I watched the two boys struggling to walk, I scanned our surroundings for a place to rest or at least find some normal food and water. 

Then an idea struck me. 

"Horseeeey! Could you please come out!" I yelled, and immediately Horsey emerged from my shadow. 

"Great thinking, Headless Knight!" Magni praised. 

"Huh?" I replied, not understanding what he meant. 

"You brought out Horsey to feed us? Aww, you shouldn't have!" Modi said as he stared at Horsey, causing him to drool. 

Horsey began to rile up in anger, feeling insulted. 

"Hey, calm down, Horsey! As you can see, they're not in their right state of mind. Let them off this time, pretty please," I begged as I clasped my hands together. 

"Heyrr," Horsey grunted, shaking his head in agreement, allowing them off the hook this time. 

"The reason I called out for you, Horsey, is could you please let Magni and Modi ride on you?" 

Instantly, Horsey dropped to the ground, brushing away my request. I had seen this coming. I hadn't even been given the chance to ride on Horsey. 

"I know I'm asking too much from you, but just look at them. I don't think they can take another step being like that." 

As Horsey turned his head to view them, both Magni and Modi's eyes were fixed on Horsey, and their mouths were watering. This infuriated Horsey even more, and he was about to attack them, but I kept holding him back until he calmed down. At the same time, those two idiots weren't helping this situation. 

"I know those two can be headaches, but please do it for me, Horsey. Odin may be my old-time friend, but according to my current memories, you're the first friend I've made here. I ask as a friend, please do this favor just once for me. Pretty please." 

Horsey froze up when I mentioned the word 'friend', and then quickly looked away. But I caught a glimpse of Horsey blushing. I didn't think Horsey liked being called a friend. Suddenly, Horsey pushed me away and approached Magni and Modi. 

"Damn, okay, Horsey! Sorry for forcing you. You don't have to do what I said," I apologized, but as Horsey got close to them, he went under them and hurled both of them into the air, where they landed on Horsey's back. 

"Horsey? I appreciate you so much—in fact, I love you so much!" I said as I lunged towards him, giving him a hug. Horsey acted like he didn't like it, but I knew he loved it on the inside. 

Some time passed, with both Magni and Modi asleep on Horsey, leaving just me and Horsey walking. As we walked, I could feel Horsey stealing glances at me, and every time I looked back at him, he turned away quickly. 

Why? Did he really not want to carry Magni and Modi? No, if Horsey truly didn't want to, he really wouldn't carry them. So why did he keep looking at me like that? Was there something on my face? 

Ah-ha! Now I know why! 

"Hey, Horsey, how do you like the new look?" I struck a pose, realizing that this was Horsey's first time seeing me with a head. 

Horsey stopped to look at me, his gaze lingering for a while, making me feel nervous. 

"H-hey, Ho-horsey? What's the matter? Does it not suit me?" 

Suddenly, I felt a sudden ache in my chest, which I placed my hand on. It didn't feel painful, but it felt like someone was mocking me. Like someone just said to me just now, 'You look stupid.' 

"Pft!" 

I turned my head immediately to that sound! I knew it! Someone was mocking me! As I turned my eyes to look, the sound came from Horsey, who seemed like he was struggling not to laugh, as his face looked swollen. 

"Wait, just now, was that you that I felt calling me stupid?" I said. 

Again, I grabbed onto my chest as the feeling was there again, and as it was before, it wasn't painful, but the feeling of someone mocking me. But this time, it responded by saying, 'You don't look stupid, you look extremely stupid,' which immediately caused Horsey to burst out laughing, tears spraying from his eyes. 

"Who are you calling extremely stupid, for starters? And secondly, are you telling me that me and you can share feelings?!" 

Which I felt Horsey responding as, 'Of course, I knew,' and him proceeding to say, 'Don't tell me you just found out now? Wow, you must be as dumb as the idiotic brothers,' which immediately I took offense to. 

"Hey! Any insult but that! Being called stupid as them is really insulting and it hurts!" I yelled, maybe a bit too loud, causing my voice to echo through the place. Again, I felt Horsey talking to me, to which I responded, "Maybe I wouldn't shout that loud if you weren't trying to piss me off!" 

"Don't you try to hush me, mister!" I said out loud again, forgetting that the boys were sleeping. 

Suddenly, Magni's eyes opened, looking spaced out. "Shoot, Magni's awake." 

"What do you mean I'm the reason that woke him up? It's your fault too!" 

Expecting Magni to say anything, he began to snore out loud, which made me and Horsey look at each other, and we began laughing. 

"Hahahaha! Did you just see that, Horsey?!" 

"Haha! There's no way you said that about him! If he heard you, he'll be pissed, you know."