Tree

From the entrance, I already saw them: sparkling, violet jewels embedded into the walls of the cave. The tunnel carved down in the small hill was dark, but the crystals seemed to glow, lighting up a path.

I walked in cautiously and touched the crystal closest to the entrance. Was it amethyst? Even if it was, how could all these crystals form in this cave at the surface?

Then was this another one of Irnoma's creations from "pure boredom?" He could probably become a trillionaire in just a few days if she were back on Earth. Well, what would be the point in having money anyway? He could just make anything out of thin air. Would I be able to become like that someday? I shook my head and walked deeper into the cave.

It only took a minute to travel to a dead end. I probably would have simply walked back in disappointment if it weren't for what was sitting in the wall at the end.

It was the largest and smoothest crystal compared to the rest. While I could take the others in my hand and go, if I were to chip this one out of the wall, I would have to carry it in both my arms.

I looked into the translucent purple gem and stared back at my own reflection off the smooth surface. Placing my hand over it, I slid my palm across, feeling a pleasing texture. But when my hand reached an edge, there was a stinging pain, and I immediately pulled back. A small stream of blood trickled down my arm and dripped to the ground from my elbow. I turned my hand over and saw a long but thin cut. Just how sharp was this thing?

I looked at the large crystal and took out my knife. It had been curiosity before, but the anger at the cut in my arm finally pushed me to want to take the crystal back. With the small blade I held in my hand, I chiseled my way through the base of the gem, trying to avoid the sharp edges.

Just as I finished, my knife broke in half, but the purple crystal fell to the ground in a thud. As it rolled on the hard stone, light reflecting off its surfaces danced in the walls of the cave.

I took off my shirt and wrapped it around the crystal in an effort to prevent any sharp edges from cutting me. Then, I picked it up carefully and started the slow journey back to Irnoma's house.

"Hey! Master!" I called out as I arrived. "I found something!"

Irnoma came out of his door shortly and looked at what I was carrying. "Oh, it looks like you've found those crystals I made a month ago."

I dropped the crystal to the ground and put my shirt back on. "Well, why did you make it so sharp? Look at this large cut I got!" I showed him my bloody palm.

He chuckled, ignorant of my pain. "Don't blame me. I'm not going to make this place baby proof just for you. I simply found something cool from another timeline and brought it back here."

"Okay, well I just wasted my time, broke my knife, and cut my hand for that. Thanks, Irnoma."

He sighed and took my hand. An aura appeared around it and the cut quickly disappeared. When I wiped the blood off, not even a scar was left. "And you're welcome, Damien." Irnoma picked the crystal up without any effort or care and turned to walk back. "I'll see what I can do about your knife."

"Well, not that I really use it that often," I replied scornfully as I turned to walk back into my orchard.

It had been five entire months since I first met Irnoma, and my temporal strength and precision have only gotten better. My first patch of trees had already grown taller than me, and it even takes some effort to jump to reach the lowest branches of some of them. Also, I had started planting more patches as I grew the old trees. The number of plants I had in the ground had already grown to over five thousand.

And as I trained my strength and precision, I trained my chronal flexibility in private as well. After learning to change my hairstyle and clothing easily, I recently started to teach myself to speed or slow my entire body in the temporal dimensions. If I could learn it, then I might be able to run across my orchard twice as quickly or pass long hours of free time in a second. These would be such useful skills, so why wasn't Irnoma teaching me them?

I arrived at my usual training grounds deep in the forest and sat down. I took out a small watch I had requested from Irnoma a few weeks ago and placed it on the ground in front of me. Taking a deep breath, I closed my eyes to turn my attention to my body. When I was ready, I opened my eyes again, looked at the watch, and waited.

Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. The clock made a sound every second until the second hand reached the vertical position, pointing straight up. I closed my eyes, activated my muscles, and counted.

One. Two. Three. Four. Five. The ticks from the watch became faster and faster.

Six. Seven. Eight. Nine. Ten. The birds raised the pitch of their chorus.

Eleven, Twelve, Thirteen, Fourteen, Fifteen. I blocked out all sound and shifted all my attention to my temporal muscles. For these final few seconds, I'll give it my all!

...My eyes squinted open just as the aura faded out. I looked at my watch. Eight ticks in just fifteen seconds. Just a hair shy from two times the regular speed. It was a minor improvement compared to last time, but I was still getting better.

***

Another week passed of me growing trees and training my temporal movement. That day, Irnoma greeted me in my orchard while I was accelerating three trees at once. He tapped my shoulder, breaking me from my concentration.

"Master! Good evening!" I greeted him and bowed.

"Good evening to you too."

"Do you want to tell me something? I'm getting pretty good, aren't I? I was only growing three trees there, but I tried doing four today and it went pretty well!"

"Yeah, yeah, that's good to hear." He patted my shoulder. "I just want to talk about—"

I cut him off. "Oh! And I was wondering if you can add seasons to this world? It's been summer ever since I got here, and it would be nice to see the trees grow in the seasons. We'd also get plenty of fruit too! I'm not sure I enjoy having to force them to fruit myself…"

"Sure. I can do that." His face showed no irritation at my interruption. "Will you be fine in the winter, though?"

"It'll be okay. I've been through hardship before, so I'll try my best to get through the winter!"

"Well, if you say so. Anyway, I just want to talk about my departure."

"Oh, yeah… Are you going to leave soon? When will you be back?"

"I'll be leaving today. You'll know when I come back."

"But can't you just come back at whatever time you want? It's time travel, right?"

He sighed. "Yes, that is true, but I just want to give you some time by yourself. And this is the perfect time for that. Do you think you will be fine?"

"Don't worry about me, master. I'll be just fine by myself. I'm confident in my survival skills now."

"Well, I just want to give you a parting gift. It might come in handy." From his back, Irnoma took out a dagger. From its handle of fine, polished wood came out a long, curved piece of a violet crystal. Its edges gleamed in the sunset light, making it seem like it was glowing.

I grabbed the dagger from Irnoma's hands and admired it. "This is that crystal I brought back from the cave, right?"

Irnoma nodded. "It's very durable but also sharp, so be careful with it."

I slid the blade into my empty knife holder. "Well, I hope it becomes useful to me."

"Okay, then this is goodbye for now, Damien." Irnoma turned and walked away, waving his hand back at me. I waved back, and when he disappeared as the sun finally set under the horizon, I turned back to my work.

That day was the last time I saw his small white house.