Nerida's threshold

Sacred followed Nerida back down into the sunken ruins. Despite her nomadic ways Sacred would always spend as much time as needed with her created esk. She’d move on eventually but she was not in a rush. Most of her days were spent silently wandering through the world and that held no urgency.

So her form turned inky and fluid again as she dove after Nerida. Her koi followed behind her. Nerida didn’t question Sacred’s elemental form, she just accepted it as another oddity of the world.

Soon the two esk were surrounded by the remnants of the forgotten city. Large, carved stones were buried in the sand, and miscellaneous human items were scattered between kelp and rocks. It felt empty, and Nerida wondered what the city had looked like while it lived. Most of it was so overgrown that it looked organic. But both esk could sense the man-made quality that couldn’t be mistaken for the natural world.

Despite its emptiness it didn’t feel lonely. Schools of fish darted between vibrant plantlife. Sponges and corals dotted the ground, and turtles drifted comfortably. Humans had lost this place but the marine life had rediscovered it, and in that sense it was thriving.

“I can feel the people who used to live here, but it’s such a tenuous bond. Do you know who they were?” Nerida asked. Sacred shook her head.

Nerida continued, “I wonder if they created my talisman.”

Sacred flowed towards one of Nerida’s outstretched, ivory wings to inspect it closely and said, “It’s unlikely. Your wings are elephant ivory and there are no elephants in Australia yet, or back when this city existed on Sahul.”

Nerida didn’t totally understand Sacred's words, but she gathered that the ivory from her original form had come from far away.

She turned to the inky esk and asked, “What do you mean ‘yet’?”

Sacred said delicately, “This, now, is my past. For an esk space and time are as fluid as water. We can go forward and backward, but you will hit a wall in either direction. I tend to stay near the forward wall, and from here that is a thousand years in the future.”

She waited for Nerida to process the information and went on to add, “This sunken city is much older. It must be 10 or 20 thousand years old. Elephants were not here while this city existed, but someday humans will bring them to Australia,” and Sacred gestured north toward the nearest landmass.

The shaggy esk seemed frozen in the water. This information shook her to her core.

“Then let’s go back,” she whispered, “I could find my creator, the one who made my talisman, let’s go, please, show me how.”

Sacred hesitated but a moment later the world warped around both of them. Sacred and Nerida dropped onto dry land with a wet thump. Harsh, frozen wind hit them, and the sun did nothing to warm the icy landscape. It was jarring for Nerida to realize they were in the same physical location. Only time had been altered.

They stood invisible among a crowd of bustling people. The coastline had changed places entirely. People went about their daily tasks, occasionally walking directly through one of the two esk. Sacred and Nerida recognized the large, man-made structures that would eventually be lodged deep underwater.

Nerida began shaking uncontrollably and Sacred looked at her with concern, “Yes, it’s much colder here. I cannot feel the temperature but I know some esk who can. This area warms up eventually, many refer to this as an ice age.”

“No, it’s not–,” and Nerida disappeared. Sacred hummed with anxiety. She did what felt natural and transported herself back to the initial time period where they’d come from. Sacred sighed in relief to find Nerida swimming in front of her.

“What happened?” Nerida asked.

“I was about to ask you the same… you did not come back on purpose?” Sacred responded.

“I don’t think so, but it felt very unpleasant. Not the temperature, but the pull through time. It was so hard,” Nerida said, shaking her head.

“Some can’t travel in time, but maybe you can move forward. Let’s try, I’ll lead us,” and Sacred gathered Nerida up telepathically to bring her into the present.

This change wasn’t as drastic. Both esk were still deep underwater, but all traces of the sunken city were gone. The ocean had swept away all signs of human activity within the last thousand years.

Sacred looked at Nerida carefully and asked, “Is this better? We didn’t go as far this time.”

Nerida swam cautiously and said, “It’s not as bad but I can still feel the tug. I’m being pulled back, I can’t stay here long. I think I could fight it off, but I feel sick. I thought you said I can’t get sick.”

Sacred didn’t like the thought of an esk feeling ill and immediately brought her back to Nerida’s timeline without another word.

“How are you now?” her tone was concerned. Nerida shuddered and squinted her eyes, her enchantment sputtered out for a second before reigniting.

“I don’t think I’m meant to time travel. It distorts things too much for me. I can’t explain it but it feels wrong,” Nerida said, shaking off the discomfort.

“That’s alright, plenty of others don’t time travel,” Sacred considered her next words carefully. “When we depart on our separate journeys I will likely move closer to my present. I’ll come back, but our timelines will intersect in odd ways. It’s possible that you will be centuries older the next time we see each other. I might be too, or I might be younger. Doubtfully younger, I feel I would’ve remembered meeting you.”

Nerida was quiet, bobbing up and down, then slowly began to chuckle.

“Sacred, that is so strange. Life is so much weirder than when I was a talisman,” she sighed and swished a paw towards her creator. “Then come explore these ruins with me so we can create memories before time separates us so drastically.”

Sacred’s energy vibrated in a happy frequency, she was glad that Nerida wasn’t demoralized by her situation. It wasn’t the worst predicament, but they both knew Nerida would never travel back in time to see the human who had so lovingly created her talisman. It also meant she would never really be able to see all of the ocean in every single moment.

Nerida wasn’t bitter though, she was thankful. She understood the ramifications, but the ocean was so vast, and the world even larger. There was plenty to appreciate in her present.