Fragmentum

Chapter Three - Jhi Dinte Yúna

My head hurts again for a change. It has hurt quite a lot in the previous days. Weeks? It's hard to keep time here. But I have lived with Niyma for some time already. I have already overcome my momentary memory loss – although I still feel like I have forgotten something important. I hope that it is only a side effect.

"And that's Limya", Niyma is saying. The girl sits next to me at the small cottage's stairs, and points at one apple tree. "She likes salty water. Don't ask why. I don't know."
I wouldn't have asked either way. I settle for squinting my eyes at the trees that seem to answer with the same, quivering suspiciously, like whispering between themselves. They had something against me.

"And next to her is her twin-brother Ethel. If it was summer, they could probably come and meet us, but during winter their power decreases. They are spirits of the trees, after all."
I haven't told Niyma anything about myself. She couldn't have even heard of shadows, ever. Maybe it was one of the reasons I didn't bother telling. Or maybe not.

"How can you tell them apart?" I ask. "They all look exactly alike."
The trees shudder, clearly offended. Niyma tilts her head and laughs. I follow her every little move. Humans were weird. All those extra moves. And the expressions! I had always thought we shadows used quite a lot of facial expressions when we took a human form, but Niyma had proven me totally wrong.

"With time", Niyma answers. Her eyes look a bit different, than before, but I cannot say what has changed. After all, they are the same color: brown. They had something akin to the countless brown, yellow and red leaves on the ground all around us. But they lack the coldness of the leaves. That I am sure of. There is no coldness in her, which makes me feel uncomfortable. I had never met anyone that I could not sense coldness from. I had always thought it to be a normal part of us all. Maybe there was something wrong with Niyma. Maybe the coldness was a shadow thing. I should study humans more. They were so intriguing...

"When you spend enough time with them you will naturally come to distinguish them from each other", Niyma continues, and I nod. Silence falls over the tiny clearing. Only the apple trees continue their murmuring. I'm tempted to snort at them. Spirits. Always so dramatic and assuming we would do something evil. Most of the time it was after all them who attacked the worlds! We had never done anything to other worlds. Except for eating humans, but it could not be considered destroying a world. It was the same thing with animals that ate weaker ones. And most of us couldn't even go to the human world! I was one of the few that could. But I never could stay for longer than few days, not until this interesting trick of Nicis'...

I glance at the sky. The sun is just rising. There's still a lot of time before noon. My gaze falls to the surrounding forest. Something about it is... different. When I compared this world to the one I had learned to know, felt this one different. World I had arrived in reminded me of the old human world. Younger human world with more spirits and more magic.

"What year is it?" I ask, and Niyma looks at me, once again wearing a different expression I cannot interpret.
"793", the girl answers, and I blink. My brain processes the information, and then the shock strikes.
"What?" I stare at Niyma, who tilts her head, confused. "Are you sure?"
"Yes. Why? What is it?" she looks even more confused. I cannot answer and turn to stare at the apple trees that stare back. 793... It was 235 years back from the year I should've been in. What did that even mean? How could I have ended in the past? Nicis' spell have gone wrong. It must have.

At least it would explain why the world felt different.

"Niyma! Who's this?"
We're both startled. Amongst the apple trees there is a girl, human girl. Her skin is light, hair something between black and brown. Eyes might be green. And she is staring at me. I settle for looking back. The apple trees have gone quiet, and now only tremble a little in the wind.