Shade turned to look behind him, but the witch was already gone. Even the ruins of the three stone archways were subtly different from before.
At the end of the three archways, the ground where Shade stood still bore a pattern of the Sun, Moon, and stars, but it no longer glowed. Instead, it looked as though it had been painted on. When he looked up at the starry sky again, having gained some understanding of astrology after obtaining Witch Echo Luvia, he knew very clearly that this was not the night sky of the sixteenth day of Star Sparse Moon in Common Calendar 1854.
"This is Contact Father of Infinite Tree!"
A sound like a tree canopy rustling in the wind echoed beside Shade's ears, and then "she" told him the precise time:
The Past, Sixth Epoch, winter of Common Calendar 1857, seventeenth day of Month of Slumber, night, 10:57 PM.
"1857? The Present World, Sixth Epoch I'm in is only at Star Sparse Moon of 1854."
Before Shade could even show his shock on his face, "she" softly reminded him again:
Attention, Outlander. You are undergoing an illegal Time Travel event.
"Illegal?"
Any Time Travel conducted without a Time Key is illegal. Due to your possessing the aura of Tree Father and receiving the aid of Ancient God power, this temporal traversal has been granted a duration of three minutes and will not consume your Time Key cooldown. Attention: they cannot notice you, and you may only observe.
"Is this really the only way, Luvia?"
The two women sitting with their backs to Shade at the cliff's edge had no idea that someone was watching them. Their conversation continued.
Miss Lathers was speaking now. Shade could see that her legs dangling over the cliff were unconsciously swinging. Even