Chapter Text
“We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie,
In Flanders fields”
Excerpt from the poem “In Flanders Fields” by (Canadian Expeditionary Force) Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae describing the aftermath of a battle during the First World War
Talulah opened her eyes to the beautiful scenery of nature. She was standing atop a hill overlooking a lush, green, grassy meadow surrounded by dense forest. The Sun shined brightly down upon her, and the air around her smelled clean. It reminded her of her time in the snowy tundras of Ursus; a land untouched by the greedy and grubby hands of capitalistic corporations. She looked down the hill to see the natural wildlife out and about. Birds perched atop tree branches tweeted their songs to the world, fawns pranced about in a playful game of chase while their mothers kept a watchful eye on them, and butterflies fluttered away in the skies.
Talulah couldn’t help but smile. She was probably dreaming again, but she didn’t care. She allowed her shoulders to relax, her troubles to melt away. She closed her and sniffed in the pure, smog-free air.
And then she opened her eyes again and everything changed.
She was still standing on the hilltop, but the peaceful, pristine field and forest before her was gone. In its place was a desolate, crater-filled, and barbed wire-infested field now, littered with the rotting remains of bodies. She recognized them. The bodies were dressed in the same olive drab green and field gray uniforms that she saw last time. Some were fresh while others must’ve been months old as indicated by their advanced state of decay. The stench was almost unbearable. She suddenly jumped and reached for her sword at the sound of automatic gunfire and artillery shell explosions, only to realize that her sword was missing.
Like before, she was helpless, but, to her relief, the gunfire was not directed at her, and the explosions did not go off around her. Instead, they were occurring down below. Looking down again, she could see soldiers, in the same uniforms as the corpses, firing their weapons at each other in two opposing lines of trenches. She watches as a machine gun in the trench farthest from her recently fired off round after round at the other trench; its muzzle flashes seemingly trapping her in an entranced gaze.
So much so that she nearly jumped out of her skin when she heard a soft, feminine voice, laced with the Victorian accent, originating from next to her.
“It’s amazing, isn’t it?”
Talulah whipped around and instinctively reached for her sheathed sword on her right side only to realize again that it was missing. She realized that the voice had come from a young woman standing besides her, but the young woman showed no reaction to her attempt at hostility, simply leaning on the wooden cane held by her black leather gloves. Neither of them moved as Talulah eyed her suspiciously, the young woman only raising a hand to sweep a brown lock of shoulder length hair away from her pale face. Early to mid-twenties, no ears, no tail, no halo... but a soft face with stormy gray eyes that told her this woman held immense power lurking beneath her dignified appearance. Her outfit, in particular, was striking to the point where one could believe there was nothing else like it on Terra. Her midnight blue waistcoat – silver diamond-shaped buttons running down its center – and white button-up shirt beneath it, well-tailored navy blue overcoat – flared white cuffs wrapping around her mid-arm with wide black lapels that bore a silvery embroidered floral rose design that were lined by looped buttons of the same color– and top hat spoke of the otherworldly grace and grandeur that surrounded her. This was obvious to even someone like Talulah, who never had the luxury of experiencing such high fashion.
Seeing that the woman was not hostile and that there was no point in being aggressive, Talulah relaxed her stance and cleared her throat, “Ahem… My apologies for that. You startled me… Where am I? Who are you?”
An amicable grin spread across the young woman’s face, yet she did not answer Talulah’s question, instead electing to adjust her white ascot at the base of the bright blue gemstone holding it around her neck. She brought a gloved finger up to her lips, clasping a gold-plated pocket watch in her other hand. “Shh, listen.”
The distant cracking of gunshots and the booming of artillery reverberated through the air up towards the two.
And then there was silence.
Gone was the symphony of machine gun fire and thundering artillery. In its place was the peaceful tweeting of birds and the gentle blowing of the wind. A single white dove could be seen flying past the hilltop.
“The Eleventh Hour… Peace at last.” The elegantly dressed woman muttered as closed her pocket watch with a sharp click and closed her eyes. Her lips parted, and she began to recite a poem.
“In Flanders Fields, the poppies blow Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, Loved and were loved, and now we lie,
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders Fields”
The woman's eyelids fluttered open and giggled softly. She shifts the cane in her right hand to her left, takes off her hat with her free hand, brings it over across her chest, and bows to the battlefield down below. Talulah watched on confusedly, unsure on what to do. In the distance, she can see a figure on the farthest trench from them taking off their helmet and also bowing.
The woman turned and performed the same short, respectful bow to Talulah with a friendly smile on her face. “Good afternoon, My Lady. My name is of no concern to you.” She stated politely, “You may simply know me as the ‘Timekeeper’. As for where you are, I have brought you here to show you. As I was saying, it’s amazing isn’t it?” The Timekeeper gestured to the war-torn field below them.
“What is so special about this? Talulah’s face furrowed into a frown, “A battlefield where the young and unfortunate fight and die for the bougie politicians safe and sound in their multi-million mansion homes, sheltered far way from any danger in a capital city? You still haven’t told me where I am.”
The Timekeeper let out an amused giggle. “Patience, Lady Talulah… You are correct… From a certain point of view. But no, that is not what is amazing about this.” She paused to let out a sigh, “No, what is amazing is how extraordinarily quick people, ‘Humans’ to be exact, can turn what was once a gorgeous and peaceful meadow into No Man’s Land.”
“Humans? No Man’s Land? How do you know my name too!?” Talulah pointed an accusing finger at the woman.
“I know everything, Lady Talulah, for I am the Timekeeper.” The Timekeeper’s grin somehow widened even further, “I know who you are. I know who your “father” was. And I know what you have done. But that is of little importance to me right now.” She waved her hand dismissively, “Humans. They are the ones you encountered in Chernobog, while you were awake. They are the ones responsible for your… defeat. And they are also the ones responsible for this: No Man’s Land.” The Timekeeper extended a gloved hand towards the wasteland in between the two trenches lines.
“What are you talking about?! Who I am? Who my father was? What’ve I’ve done? When I was… awake?” The mention of her being ‘awake’ didn’t escape her either, “Are you telling me… I’m not awake?”
“Quite so.” The Timekeeper nodded, “What you are seeing is merely a dream, but make no mistake. This dream is very much real.” The Timekeeper raises the wooden cane in her right hand and points down at the raging battlefield below, “What you just witnessed was the closing minutes of what the Humans call the First World War or rather The Great War… The War to End All Wars… What a load of rubbish that was.”
“What’s the point of showing me all of this?” Talulah snapped hostilely. This so-called "Timekeeper"'s pointless rambling was slowly whittling down her patience, “To prove that civilization is horrible and people bring death and destruction everywhere they go?”
“Not people, Lady Talulah… Humans . This is all their handiwork… I am trying to show you , so that I may help you. ”
“Wha-“ Talulah was cut off as the Timekeeper tapped her cane on the ground two times.
The scene before her shifts to a large open room with Talulah standing directly in its center. Bookcases lined either side of the room’s two longest, windowed walls. Industrial lights hung from the ceiling, and vines and various other varieties of flora grew on the top edges of the walls in a messy, unorganized pattern. Speaking of messy and unorganized, that was the perfect way to describe the room she was in. All sorts of things were littered across the it. There were multiple mismatching tables and drawers scattered around, all with varying degrees of seemingly randomly placed items atop them. Directly in front of Talulah was a large multi-paned window that granted a breathtaking view of a large lake down below. The Draco woman looked around in search of the Timekeeper only to realize it was only her here.
Curious but still cautious, she took small and slow steps towards one of the tables near her. Sprawled out atop it was a map of a world she did not recognize. Talulah traced her finger across the unfamiliar contents before landing on the words “Earth 2024” at the bottom of the map. A perplexed expression began to make its way across her face as she slowly looked to her left to see an ancient, boxy, beige colored computer with its keyboard and mouse sitting on another nearby table. She was about to approach it when a familiar voice caused her to jump.
“I see you have taken the time while I was gone to acquaint yourself with today’s subject?”
It was the Timekeeper.
“My apologies for the delay, Lady Talulah.” She stated respectfully. “I had some… business with a certain Warden of Time . That damn clock and her Subway sandwiches. Always leaving them about!” She half-mumbled the last part, but it was still loud enough that Talulah could hear her words.
“Warden of Time? Subway sandwiches?” Talulah repeated, not knowing the context behind those words. “What on Terra are you talking about?”
The Timekeeper waved a dismissive gloved hand at her, “Nevermind that, My Lady. We have some very important matters to discuss.” She tapped her walking cane onto the wooden flooring twice, and a fancy, traditional set of white wooden tables and chairs fit for two, complete with a full Victorian-style tea set, magically materialized in front of the center window.
“How did y-” Talulah opened her mouth to ask only to be interrupted again.
“Come now, My Lady. Please have a seat.” She took a seat on the chair closest to her and gestured to the empty one opposite of her, “We have much to talk about, Lady Talulah.”
With questions piling up inside her head and no alternative option in mind, Talulah awkwardly shuffled over and sat down on the other chair.
“Please. Help yourself.” The Timekeeper motioned to the biscuits and cookies sitting on one of the many small plates on the table. She picked up the teapot and began to pour herself and Talulah the hot drink. Apparently, the Timekeeper’s magic also extended to creating fresh, hot tea on demand as well as materializing an entire table set fit for an afternoon tea party. Talulah hesitantly reached for a biscuit and eyed it cautiously. She was about to set it down, weary of it being laced, when the Timekeeper interrupted her.
“No need to worry, My Lady. They are not poisoned. I don’t even think it’s possible to kill or harm one while in their dreams, at least not with any method I am aware of. Perhaps the Time Warden knows, but that is a topic for another day.” As if reading her mind (Talulah wouldn’t be surprised if she was at this point), the Timekeeper had reassured her by biting into one of the biscuits herself,
“So…” She cleared her throat to break the awkward silence that had settled, “What were those things I saw?”
“War, My Lady. I have shown you war.” The Timekeeper replied bluntly, “It is as simple as that.”
“Of course! What else would it be?” Talulah sounded slightly annoyed at the Timekeeper’s direct response. She ignored the implications the Timekeeper made by claiming that she “showed her war” for now. Talulah opened her mouth to speak again, but the Timekeeper cut her off.
“War, in its very essence, is one man trying to kill another man in the most effective and efficient manner possible.” She sipped on her tea, “What you just saw is what Humans have dubbed ‘ Trench Warfare’. It’s not exactly anything new, and I’m sure you’ve heard the term thrown around in your world yourself. However, the type of warfare these Humans partake in is completely different from the type your people are familiar with.”
“I do not see how any of this relates to my question,” Talulah remarked. She looked down, her impatience growing even further.
Unfazed, the Timekeeper kept rambling on, “But most importantly, war and suffering is something that you and your world are truly unfamiliar with.” She set down her teacup and her voice suddenly grew lower, “Your kind has never experienced warfare and oppression on the scale that these Humans have. Not even your little Reunion movement, not even close. I want to make that very clear to you and that Damned Snake within you. Listen to my warning, and heed it well, My Lady, for if you do not, your fate and the fate of that Snake is sealed. ”
That caused Talulah to suddenly look up. The sheer arrogance of this woman to claim that all of Reunion! She might as well be spitting in her face!
Talulah clenched her fists, her voice dangerously low, “And who do you think you are to claim that?”
At this point, Talulah could no longer contain the growing rage within her and it boiled over. She began to call upon her Arts. The air around the two started to heat up, but the Timekeeper showed no reaction to her anger.
The woman just sighed, set down her teacup, and snapped her fingers.
Talulah’s vision instantly blacked out after that.
The Timekeeper showed her. She showed her everything. From the enslavement of Native Africans by Europeans during the Colonial Age to the forced migration and the discrimination of the Native Americans by White Settlers during America’s Manifest Destiny West to the mass genocide of the Armenian Christians by the Ottomans during the First World War and the attempted extermination of the Jewish people by the Nazis during the Second World War, she showed it all. She hadn’t forgotten about that Snake either. He, or more accurately, it , was watching too. She made sure of it. It was powerless against her. The Timekeeper couldn’t help but crack a thin smirk as she watched it try to futilely escape her clutches.
This was her world.
It did not have power here.
While Talulah witnessed the atrocities of mankind, the Timekeeper put the Snake through its own torture. Over and over, it would die again and again and be revived. Every. Single. Time. Over and over again. Ypres, Gallipoli, the Brusilov Offensive, Verdun, the Somme, Passchendaele, Lys, Belleau Wood, all were battles that he died in. She forced him to take the body of a soldier in the battle. Sometimes he would be a British or French soldier, the next a German one. Regardless, his fate would be the same, dying to a nameless enemy.
But that was not all. While the battles of the First World War were violent and brutal, they paled in comparison to the amount of death and destruction that ensued in the battles of the Second World War. However, she decided to take pity on the Snake and spare it from further torture… For now.
The Battles of the Atlantic, France, Dunkirk, Britain, Operation Barbarossa, the Siege of Leningrad and Battles of Stalingrad and Kursk, the Attack on Pearl Harbor, the Battles of Midway and Guadalcanal, the list went on and went - countless battles with countless deaths. This was what Humanity had been capable of just a mere eighty years ago.
“Imagine, what they are capable of now, My "Friend"... ” The Timekeeper spoke aimlessly into the void, “You know nothing. You are nothing compared to them… They possess sheer power incomprehensible to someone the likes of you.Perhaps when you meet them, then you will truly learn. ”
There was, obviously, no response from the Snake. Whether that was from its sheer shock and horror or just being incapable of actual speech without a physical body, she did not know. Either way, it mattered little to her.
With a casual wave of her hand and the snap of her fingers, The Timekeeper left the Snake to its own devices, allowing it to continue to now observe the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and then the various conflicts of the Cold War. She shifted her attention back to a certain Draco woman.
The Timekeeper changed the scenery back to the hilltop overlooking the fields of France that she and Talulah had initially met on earlier. She found the Draco Woman exactly where she had left her. The only difference now was that Talulah was kneeling and looking down at the ground, and the Timekeeper was standing behind her instead of beside her.
“Do you understand now, My Lady?” She asked stoically, “Do you understand my warning?”
There was no response from Talulah.
The Timekeeper sighed and strolled over to her right side, her cane tapping against the soft soil, “The First World War, the war you just witnessed come to a close, was one of the most destructive events in Humanity’s history. It was The Great War, The War to End All Wars . It saw the death of three empires, all but one of them had existed for hundreds of years and two of them for more than half a millennia.” She paused to let Talulah take in the information, “When the war finally came to an end and the politicians signed the papers, a total of anywhere between fifteen and twenty-two million perished and another twenty-three million scarred for life, physically and emotionally. Out of those deaths, only around eight and a half million were military personnel… The nations of the world promised to never allow such a tragedy to occur again…”
“…What happened in the aftermath?” Talulah, finally speaking up, sounded like she was afraid of the answer.
“Twenty years later, it happened again. The Second World War broke out when the country of Nazi Germany invaded Poland. If anything, the war had never ended in the first place, and the nations of the world had simply taken a break because of how badly beaten all of them were.”
“Why…? Why show me these things…?”
“It is the only way you will heed my warning, My Lady. Take all of the problems in your world, multiply them by ten, and you will have Earth, the Humans’ world. The problems they suffer from are not identical but very similar. There are no Catastrophes or cases of Oripathy there, yet people are still discriminated against for any reason imaginable: gender, skin color, ethnicity, social class, the list goes on. For hundreds of years, slavery was commonplace; all because one man’s skin color was darker than another’s. While your world’s fate was shaped by Orginium, theirs was shaped by their own hands… Their own hands chose the path of hate, violence, death, and destruction. It is only recently that ‘world peace’ has been established there, if you can even call it ‘world peace.’ Ironic, they made it illegal for one nation to officially declare war against another, so they simply do not declare war now. Officially, there is no war in Ukraine or Gaza. There was no war in Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan, or Iraq. They were all simply “armed conflicts”.”
Talulah did not respond once more, unsure of what to make of the Timekeeper’s words.
The Timekeeper, for her part, allowed the Draco woman a moment of repose. She had shown and told her enough; anymore and there was a chance her mind would straight up be destroyed. The Timekeeper was walking on a fine line; one did not intend on falling off of.
After a couple of minutes of further silence, the Timekeeper sighed a sigh she had let out so many times before and raised her cane, tapping Talulah’s shoulder, “Rise, My Lady. Our time together is over… For now at least. You have a message to pass on. Remember, you must adapt or your fate is sealed, for time waits for no one. Not even me.”
Talulah slowly turned her head towards the Timekeeper and began to stand up to her feet. That was when the Timekeeper raised her free hand and snapped her fingers once more. The last thing Talulah saw was her vision being engulfed by a bright, white flash.
Talulah woke up in a cold sweat. Her heart was pulsating within her chest, and her fists were clenched tight. Her bed sheets were soaked, and despite her covers and Fire-based Arts, she felt cold, very cold. Moonlight poured in through an open window next to her cot, partially illuminating her makeshift hospital room.
‘Right… It was just a dream,’ she thought to herself.
But then, to her shock and horror, she heard a familiar voice speak to her, and it wasn’t the Snake’s voice. ‘ No, My Lady. That was no dream. I am very much here,’
It was the Timekeeper.
Talulah shot to her feet, nearly falling off her bed as she stood up. It was now that she realized her bandages were gone. She wasn’t even feeling any pain, physically at least. Her mental pain was a different story, but she should worry about that and why she was fully healed later. Right now, she was looking around for the closest thing that could serve as a weapon - the chair beside her cot.
The Draco woman reached for it and pointed it in front of her as she spun around in all directions.
“W-Where are you!? S-Stay back!” She cried out to the Timekeeper’s bodiless voice.
Talulah knew what she was doing would be in vain. A wooden chair wasn’t exactly going to stop the Timekeeper if she was truly as powerful as she had demonstrated.
But how was all of this possible?
Talulah was not a religious woman, but she did know that many believed in a god or multiple gods for that matter. But had she been wrong in her faith? Could that explain this “Timekeeper”’s powers? Was she the god that so many believed in? She had mentioned a “Warden of Time” too, so perhaps there were multiple? The Timekeeper, for her part, did not take the form that Talulah would’ve expected, but who was she to judge? As far as she knew, gods could do whatever the hell they wanted.
The silence that answered Talulah’s questions was bone chilling. And then, just when she began to calm down and lower her guard, she appeared.
The Timekeeper stepped out from the shadows, wooden cane in hand, and into the moonlight pouring in from the window. She was just standing there, menacingly, just a couple feet away from Talulah. Talulah stood there in shock, unsure of what to do. Should she attack her with the measly wooden chair in her arms, scream for help, run away, or all three at the same time?
But it was the Timekeeper who acted first as she smiled and greeted Talulah with a polite bow, “So we meet in the flesh at last, Talulah Artorious. Now, do you believe my words? Everything you saw, including me, is very much real.” She stuck a gloved hand out towards the Draco woman, “A pleasure to make your acquaintance, Lady Talulah.”
Talulah did not react. Her hands were trembling at this point. She stood frozen like a deer in the headlights of a car.
“What? Do you have no manners?” The Timekeeper chided playfully, “I thought your… caretaker would have at least taught you the basic courtesies required by a young lady such as you. Please, put that chair down. We have much to talk about, Lady Talulah.”
“W-What are you?” Talulah managed to stammer out.
“I have already told you that, My Lady. I am not a figment of your imagination, nor am I a god. I am the Timekeeper. I have witnessed all of history on Terra. I have seen the birth and death of legends. I have seen the rise and fall of empires. I am Time itself, and time waits for no one. Does that answer satisfy your question, My Lady?”
Speechless, Talulah looked at the Timekeeper, then at the door to her right, and then back at the Timekeeper.
“Oh, don’t bother with trying to run away or call for help, My Lady.” With a casual snap of her gloved fingers, the chirping of crickets and the blowing of the wind outside suddenly ceased and so did the gentle chatter of voices outside the makeshift hospital room. Even the analog clock on a nearby wall, partially lit up by the moonlight, had stopped ticking. This was no trick. Time really had stopped.
“Time waits for no one, but are you really waiting when time itself is not passing?” The grin on the Timekeeper’s face somehow grows even wider, not unlike that of a Cheshire cat’s, “So, I will say it for a third time, My Lady. We have much to talk about.”
Talulah stood still, just like Time had. But her state of frozeness was one out of her sheer terror, not of the Timekeeper’s powers. She could still blink, and she could still feel her entire body quivering, her chest rising and falling in rapid succession. And that was when she was finally hit by the gravity of her situation and came to accept her situation.
She was alone. Alone in a room with someone who had not only claimed but proved to her that she was the physical embodiment of Time itself. Left with little other option, Talulah hesitantly placed the chair down in front of her and stood where she was.
“Thank you. There is no need for violence. I am not here to hurt you, My Lady. I am here to help you.” The Timekeeper strolled over to Talulah’s bedside and sat down, her back to the Draco Woman, “And please, don’t even bother trying to… Hmm, how should I say this? ‘Pull a fast one on me?’ You are a fool if you think you are faster than time itself.”
Talulah watched silently as the Timekeeper leaned her cane against the bed frame, took off her tophat, and set it down next to her on the bed sheets. “...You said you wanted to help me…? How?” She asked, her voice sounding surprisingly smaller than she would’ve expected.
“Well, first, you’ve obviously already seen this, but I have healed you to full health save for your Oripathy. I assumed you would have wanted to be fully awake and consent to the procedure before proceeded with it. Second, through some… particular means of mine, I have also removed the influence of that snake on you. “
“I-I see…” Talulah replied cautiously. That would’ve explained why she didn’t feel his presence inside her anymore. “How can I trust that you aren’t trying to trick me?”
The Timekeeper grinned at that, “Is what I have I already shown you not more than enough, My Lady? What choice do you have anyways?”
Talulah hated to admit it, but she made a good point, “Fine… Assuming I entertain you… What kind of assistance are you offering?”
The Timekeeper hummed and brushed a stray strand of gray-green hair off her face, “For starters, I would like to explain my rationale on what I showed you. I showed you warfare between those humans precisely because I want you to understand the difference between our world and their world. War is second nature to them. They have engaged in the practice, in one way or another, for as long as they have existed. In stark contrast, your kind, no matter what race they are, has not had the “privilege” of doing so. From the moment your kind set foot on Terra, they were embraced by the “loving hands'' of Catastrophes and Oripathy. Orginium was one of the first things your kind discovered, and it quickly became the basis of life for all life on Terra. Whether that is a good thing or not is up to you, but it is undeniable that Orginium is a double-edged sword. On the other hand, Catastrophes, Oripathy, and Orginium do not exist in the Humans’ world. There, they became the apex predator, destined to rule over their world and rule they did.”
The Timekeeper paused to catch her breath and to allow Talulah a moment to process her words. “…Does that mean their world is simply a better version of ours? A world without Oripathy…” The Timekeeper’s description of the Humans’ world resonated within the Draco woman. It sounded like a dream come true to Talulah. A world without Oripathy. That meant there would no longer be any discrimination or hate simply because of one’s health, right? After all, the terrible disease was the source of the Infected’s plight. If it weren’t for Oripathy, they would not be fired from their jobs. They would not be evicted from their homes. They would not be beaten to death in the streets. They would not be shunned by society and left to slowly fester away.
A bitter chuckle came from the Timekeeper, and she idly tapped her cane against the wooden floor. “No, My Dear. Not even close. People will be people, regardless of their race. They’ll find one thing or another to loathe you for whether that be your skin color, social class, nationality… The list goes on and on. To hate and fight one another is in everyone’s nature… The animals do it… And so do we…
“Are you saying… we are animals? Do you think of us so simply?”
“Something like that… Yes. I’d be more than happy to discuss with you further, but we have more important matters to talk about.” The Timekeeper clears her throat, “The assistance I am offering you is one of… how should I put this? Guidance and advice? To be as straightforward with you as possible, the path you are currently leading your little rebellion movement on is a path of death and destruction. That much is certain. Your attack on this city they call Chernobog will mark the beginning of the end for you and your organization… These humans I have referred to… They are here... They have traveled from their world to yours now, and they are to stay for the foreseeable future. Their arrival marks the beginning of a new era for Terra, whether you like it or not. Big changes are coming, My Lady, and you will be a part of them. I will personally see to it.”
Talulah remained silent and unmoving. She looked down at her laps, her eyes lost in deep thought. The Timekeeper did not continue further, presumably giving the poor woman some time to dwell on her situation. However, after a couple minutes had passed, she opened her mouth to speak once more, “I understand that you may need some time to think before you make your decision. Take as much time as you need. I will be there when you are ready. And do not worry about finding me, My Lady. I will know once you desire to talk to me again.”
Talulah looked up to see the Timekeeper retrieving her cane and top hat before rising from the bed. She stepped forward into the moonlight, and that was it. She had vanished just as quickly and suddenly as she had appeared. The moment she disappeared, time appeared to resume. The crickets were chirping once more, the wind picked up again, and the chatter outside continued…