Time Break

"Are you sure that's Enlil?"

"Well..." Brook looked conflicted, "I've never met him...her...personally..."

"But Polaris was certain it was a man right?"

"I mean...he said it was an elderly male elf and I just kinda...believed him."

"...That seems reasonable."

"Yeah, can't really blame you on that."

"Does it matter?" Roko sighed, "It seems like she can preform divination so does it matter if she is Enlil or not?"

"Well, I suppose that's true in a way." Kaguya chuckled, "Still, are you sure you can trust her skills?"

"If you want to wait and argue with an old man for permission, you can stand outside. In the meantime, I'll find out at least one form of the truth. If it's wrong, the real Enlil can offer his skills to correct it."

"So true bestie." Helena nodded.

"You've been learning from Mistral haven't you?"

"I like her style."

"Have you become friends with her?"

"Nah. We just kind of look at each other and just kind of understand each other. Besides, Treesa needs her more than I do right now."

"Treesa would disagree."

"Treesa needs a second opinion."

"And that's Mistral?"

"I mean, she the most qualified doctor around."

"She's the only qualified doctor around." Roko yawned.

"Roko, did you sleep last night?" Corissa frowned.

"Don't worry about it."

"Roko..."

"It's fine! You can't even tell what time of day it is out here!"

"Really? It's pretty clearly almost noon right now."

"Unfortunately, we don't live here, Brook." Roko sighed, "More importantly, what do you think of this dark elf? Could she be Enlil?"

"Not a chance." Brook scoffed, "She's way too young. I'd estimate only 80 years old or so. If she can do what we're asking, she'd be a magical prodigy."

"...Okay so when humans are 80, we expect them to drop dead at any moment now." Helena said, "Can you convert 80 Elf Years into Human Years for us?"

"Oh uhhh...I don't think I know the official conversion rate..." Brook frowned, "Uhhh...Reaumur?

"I think this might've come up a few times around Polaris when he was just starting to settle into our village." Reaumur nodded, "Uhhhhhh...if I remember properly...I'd say that 80 elf years is probably like...12 human years?"

"Aw, so she's the same age as Aida?" Corissa smiled, "Now I want to introduce them and see if they'd be friends."

"Not an official conversion, mind you." Reaumur shrugged, "Just some estimates based on what I remember from Polaris."

"Even ignoring that, Polaris spent many years trying to convince this elf to help him. And now this Enlil seems quite eager to help us." Brook explained, "It's suspicious."

"Agreed." Roko nodded, "But she's the only lead we have."

"I'm back!" The dark elf known as Enlil came back out of the kitchen with a large tray of tea for everyone, "Sorry for the wait. I had to boil a second pot of water!"

"Do you have coffee instead?" Roland asked as she passed out the drinks.

"Ew, no."

"Kids." Roland smirked, "It can't be helped. I'll take your cup of tea then."

"Actually I ran out of cups so one of you is going to have to go without..."

Roland and Momo looked at each other as Enlil held the last cup of tea.

"...Fight you for it?"

"I...I'm good..."

"Okay!" Enlil sat down after giving nearly everybody tea, "So which one of you wants their fortune told? Is it the pretty lady? The grumpy looking fellow? ...Is it all of you?"

"No, we're not here for a look into the future." Brook explained, "We want to glance into the past. 700,000 years into the past approximately."

"The past huh?" Enlil mused, "I think I can do that but so far back...I'm going to need an item from that time. A scrap of clothing or a family heirloom or something..."

"We have a journal." Brook pulled out Glacier's antique journal.

"Oh, that'll do." Enlil said as she reached out to take the journal from Brook, "Hm. Not as dusty as I thought it'd be."

"Will you be able to take us back to when this journal was being written?" Roko asked.

"All of you?!" Enlil blinked, "Uuuhhh...I might have to move some stuff around but...probably! I think I can do it."

"Don't overdo it if you don't think you can do it." Corissa said, "It's fine if you can only take a few of us."

"No no no, it's fine...probably." Enlil placed the journal back onto a coffee table, "I'll just have to move a few tables...and chairs...and couches."

"We can help with that." Momo nodded, "We're pretty strong ourselves."

"Oh really? That'll be a great help actually."

"No problem. Just tell us what you need moved."

"Then, this way please."

"Roland, go help her." Helena ordered as Momo followed Enlil to another move.

"Really? I didn't even get a cup of tea."

"Don't think any of us have forgotten what you did last night."

"Aw come on, it wasn't that bad."

"Oh yeah? Let's ask Corissa then."

Roland gulped as Corissa shot him a disapproving look with a cute pout, "I...I'll go then..."

In about half an hour, the room they needed were prepared and Enlil invited them all to a large room with most of the furniture pushed to its sides, the only thing left was a tall thin podium in the center of the room with a large bowl sat atop it. Peering inside it, Roko could see what he could strangely describe as the clearest water he's ever seen. He was tempted to touch it to see if there was anything special to it but he knew better than to meddle in these methods of magic.

"So uhh..." Reaumur said as everyone gathered around the center, "How does this magic work?"

"I create an illusory space and call upon the spirit of this book's dead owner." Enlil explained as she laid the book on top of a small platform in the middle of the bowl of water, "Then, through communicating with the dead soul, I can hopefully convince them to reveal what you want to know."

"We can't talk to the spirit ourselves?" Brook asked.

"I mean, I can relay anything you want to say to me to relay to the spirit but they probably should be able to hear you on their own if you just talk out loud while they're around. They'll still have to communicate through me though."

"Just to be sure, you're not reviving the dead by any means, right?" Kaguya asked.

"What? No."

"Okay. Just making sure."

"Fair warning to everybody though. The spirit is able to refuse to divulge their past in which case, I can't do anything with this method so we'll have to discuss alternatives. Second, this really is just the past as the spirit remembers it so some details might be skewed or inaccurate. If the memory is old enough though, which in this case it should be, the memory could be more accurate by following the temporal mask but the intricate details might be lost and the emotional resonance of the retelling might be lessened. If the spirit's memory of the given time is bad we can make up for it a little with the mask but the result may be spotty or inaccurate. In either case, if the memory's too poor quality to form anything, the scope of the area you can view and explore may be limited. Finally, I would like to say this isn't exactly our...my usual business activity, I'm usually asked to look into the future so while I can preform this act for you, this is not my usual expertise."

"That's fine." Helena nodded, "We just need to know what we can."

"Okay cool." Enlil took a deep breath and rubbed her hands in anticipation, "Alright. Hope you're all ready for this."

Enlil reached out and held her hands over the water and the journal in the middle of it. The lights around them seemed to dim and slowly, magical lines lit up around the floor and walls, encircling the entire room in intricate symbols. The water in the bowl began to glow gently and began to become cloudy, like a fog was rolling right underneath it's clear, untouched, glass like surface. As the light outside the room faded away and the light inside the room began to become focused over Enlil, the bowl began to leak a soft mist from its edges, slowly covering the floor around everyone's ankles. This mist climbed over the walls as well, covering the furniture and magical lines in a thick cloud until they were surrounded in thick vapor that seemed to extend beyond the bounds of the room. The only thing left from reality was the ceiling and even then, the wooden structure had given way to a starry darkness that shone high above the point where the ceiling should be, the only thing left to remind of its original position being the glowing green ritual lines that had coalesced over Enlil. Suddenly, shrieks of the dead began to fill the room as ghost like figures began to lift out from the bowl, startling everyone except for Kaguya, Mikado and Roko. These spirits lifted up and crashed against the mana lines in the ceiling, dissipating into clouds of mist until the ceiling finally disappeared under a veil of vapor and everyone was finally left in a cloudy space that felt enclosed and boundless at the same time. Enlil opened her eyes and spoke,

"Good news, the spirit in question seems to have agreed to share his past."

"Oh!" Helena gulped, excited and anxious, "Did...he say anything else?"

"No, communications with the dead aren't like a phone call, you know."

"Oh well then...what's next?"

"I'm going to start decorating the space with the memory's texture now. I'm going to disappear in the meantime but I'll still be watching and you can still communicate with me just fine, okay?"

"O-okay..."

"Alright then. We're finally going to start with what you've all been waiting for. I hope you're ready."

And before anyone could reply, Enlil raised her arms and a burst of clouds quickly covered her, leaving only an empty space where she once was. A few of the more curious members of the party gingerly reached out and stuck their hand around where the dark elf was, their attempts only hitting empty space where Enlil once was.

"This is kind of freaky." Helena chuckled nervously.

"I've never seen this kind of magic before." Momo looked around in wonder, "Do you think this is the kind of magic old Zadkiel deals with?"

"Space, yes. Dead, no." Kaguya said, "Speaking of, I really must consult Polaris about this kind of magic. I have some concerns."

"I mean, magic revolving around the dead is pretty contentious but I don't think we've gotten that deep into the dark arts so far."

"Not quite her concern." Roko said, "And before we go any further, Corissa."

"Yes?" Corissa turned around when Roko called to her.

"No casting holy while we're here. I don't know what'll happen if you disturb the spatial magic around us but I'm not willing to find out."

"O-Okay." Corissa gulped, "I got it."

"Hey, I think the fog's starting to clear!"

Just like Helena said, the clouds around them were pulling back and revealing a very normal forest that none of them were quite used to at this point. They seemed to be standing in the middle of a road too, a very poorly maintained road or perhaps one that simply didn't see much use. And there was no sign of anybody around or anything that suggested of civilization, human or elven.

"So..." Helena looked around curiously, "Forwards or backwards?"

"You'll want to head down the road in front of you." Enlil's voice echoed out from the blue sky above them."

"God?!" Helena cried out in joking shock.

"No, just me. The spirit says you'll catch up to him in a few minutes walk. Shouldn't take long."

"I still see some of the mist." Momo said as she peered out to innermost trees where the fog had remained, covering the area around them like a dream, "I assume we shouldn't go near there?"

"That's the edge of memory, yes. You won't actually suffer anything if you get near there but I honestly don't know what'll happen if you try to force yourself beyond that point so I don't recommend it."

"Right. So we just have to go down that way right?" Helena said, "Should we still be worried about the room? We're not going to run into your home's wall are we?"

"No, you're free to roam as far as you'd like, cloud barriers permitting. You're basically in a magic room that I created so you don't have to worry about the boundaries of the house."

"That's some crazy magic." Reaumur gulped, "Who taught you how to do this?"

"I taught myself." Enlil said with a hint of smugness, "Now, let's get a move on before I can't maintain the spell anymore."

"R-Right. So that way right? Let's go guys!"

"Why are you so nervous?" Roko asked as they all began to walk down the road.

"I'm not nervous, I'm excited!" Helena protested.

"Roland?"

"Dunno. Could be both really."

"Uh huh. And what does the hat say?"

"What? I mean uhh...d-doth lady does protest a bit too much, methinks!"

"Roland please, you're trying for 1920s noir fiction, not 1600s Hamlet. Go any further and you'll turn into a caveman."

"Also, the line is 'The lady doth protest too much, methinks'. How'd you mess up Iambic Pentameter, it's literally in all the lines."

"Okay, nerd."

"Uh huh. Next time try wearing your hat, it might hep you come up with an actual insu- oh no wait."

"Okay!" Roland cried as he took off his hat, "First of all-"

Their lively conversations took the party a bit further down the road until they spotted figures in the distance standing in the middle of the path.

"Hey, is that..."

"Yep." Enlil's voice replied from high above, "That's the spirit."

"One of those elves is Glacier's ancestor..." Helena mused.

As they grew closer, the group could view this elven party in greater detail and what they saw was a stark contrast to the elves of today. The simple decorated robes had been exchanged for heavy armor and not even the sort of heavy leather types that Roko had seen the elves utilize. They had metal plates strategically attached on top of the main leather. A strange mix as the only real metal Roko had seen from the elves were reserved only for weapons or fancy, almost ceremonial full plates like the one given to Romer. Most elven armaments tended to be more naturalistic, including even the dark elves. Still, it was clear which of these elves was the king. A tall stoic elf with armor that was much more ornate than the almost messy armor of his soldiers. Fancy sword at his side and cape flowing from his shoulders, this kingly elf looked wise and tired, detached from the reality he was standing in. Such was his majesty that Roko's group hesitated coming closer, remaining a few feet away from his party.

"W-What do we say?" Helena whispered, "Has anyone thought of anything?"

"There's no point." Enlil said, "This is just a memory replay. You can't interact with the events in front of you in anyway. They won't even notice you."

"Oh. Right."

And then, the king suddenly turned around, staring directly at their party.

"Oh my god, he see us!" Helena gasped.

"Don't be ridiculous." Kaguya said, "Come, let us hide in these trees for a moment."

At Kaguya's lead, everyone moved off the main road into the forested trees by the side. The king's eyes never wavered, never following them as it stared on at the path behind them.

"See?"

"Okay, but that was weird right? I'm not the only one who thinks that?"

Before anyone could answer the king suddenly spoke.

"They've finally decided to show themselves."

"Helena almost cried out again but quickly covered her mouth as they heard the trampling of some sort echoing down the path behind them. And to their shock and horror, they found a group of eldritch monsters, those of the melted blob type running down towards the elves as they drew their weapons.

"There's no way." Helena said breathlessly, "This is supposed to be 700,000 years ago right?! How are there monsters like this all the way back then?!"

"These are the ones from Cordis right?" Momo gulped, "The ones that take control of you if they manage to wrap around you? The one that took control of Corissa for a moment?"

"Yes." Corissa answered shakily.

"How?" Kaguya frowned, "How were these monsters around 700,000 years ago and still exist today yet we've never seen or heard of them until recent events?!"

"Uhh guys?" Momo said, "Is it just me of do these things see us?"

"Uhhhhhh..." Helena said as they all looked at the small group of the blob monsters that stopped in front of them, "It kind of does look like they see us don't they?"

"Don't be ridiculous." Enlil said from high above again, "This is a memory. You can't interact with them and they can't interact with you. Even if they attacked you, they'd probably just go right through you."

One of the blobs suddenly lunged forward towards Corissa. Roko, anticipating this, drew his sword and stabbed at the blob. The sword pierced the creature in the memory as if it was reality.

"What the-"

But with no time to process what was going on, everyone quickly drew their weapons as a small portion of the blob monsters began to attack them.