The Ghost Flower lacks chlorophyll which is why it lacks color and becomes a transparent white color. It is a hauntingly beautiful flower that learned to adapt and survives by feeding on fungus in the soil. Not all flowers evolve the same.

~Blodeuwedd, Goddess of Flowers and Wisdom

A pattern appeared on the door, and on the floor was a grid of tiles. Wooden boxes about a meter squared lined the walls. All Crow had to do was place the boxes on the tiles that lined up with the pattern. It wasn’t even challenging, except for the speed part.

On the first attempt, he made it to room 38. Each room was almost exactly the same except for the patter and the number on the door. Several days later, he reached foom forty-seven but only because he’d memorized every pattern.

By day five, he knew the sign was another lie. Another misleading clue like ‘Patience.’ The difference was this mindless work wasn’t accompanied by incessant pecking. He even slowed down and stopped rushing to finish but didn’t stop altogether, fearing that really would cause him to fail.

The amount of patience he displayed in the last challenge made him a damned saint. He knew it wasn’t about the word’s literal meaning, and ‘haste’ was a better clue. Concerning time, the essence of both was potential or motion. If the challenges had been about patience or haste, he’d have failed already, which he realized was more of a guess than not. Still, it was a risk he took, and he felt his choices were correct.

One more clue that kept nagging at him was the time loop—the daily reset.

The only thing he hadn’t fully understood was why they added those fucking woodpeckers in the last challenge. It was enough to force him to reset his progress every day, just like now. So why the annoying birds? What did it mean?

*Getting agitated again.* Lily said.

Nin had decided to sleep. So Lily kept watch, but she wasn’t as loud as Nin. Not that he’d admit it out loud, but her quiet reminders were more enjoyable. Nin was just too… present. And if he did say any of this out loud, she’d burn him alive.

“Sorry. Lily, what do you think the most important aspect of time is?”

*Didn’t Tei already tell you?*

Crow thought about his conversation with Tei while he kept moving boxes. After parsing the conversation, he realized she had given him a huge hint. She had told him that the essence of time was change. The essence of time is change…

A spark of fire appeared in the dim recesses of Crow’s eyes. The flecks of gold flared as he reached a state of enlightenment. Time is one of the Truths of the universe, and he felt he misunderstood the difference between the Void and space. The Void was the absence of existence and existed outside of time. In contrast, space was just the emptiness between worlds and existed within the sphere of time.

If he accepted the common theory that time was not linear, he had to admit that time was a set of points organized in a linear pattern. It sounded like semantics, but the difference was real.

The entire concept reminded him of something he saw at a fair when he was a kid. A strange hooded man had a wheel with tiles inserted into it. Each tile had an image cut out of it. This was placed inside a box with a candle, and at the front of the box was a hole. The man spun the wheel, and images played against the wall of the tent. It was a tiny squirrel running after a nut. Overall, it wasn’t anything special on its own, except it gave the illusion of motion.

He felt that represented time. A series of images that depicted him as an object in motion through space. Such concepts as patience and haste were illusory. Slow or fast was just descriptors of motion, and speed was determined by the things observing him. It was a mind-boggling concept, and he was sure he got some of it wrong, but he opened the door to understanding time.

What did it all mean in the end? To simplify it, he existed as an object within space that was encapsulated by time. Time had many aspects, but Crow felt his primary understanding of time dealt with motion or trajectory.

Crow stopped moving and looked at the box in his hand. If he moved this box from one point to another and then erased or prevented those snippets of time from existing, could he link the two events together? Wouldn’t that count as teleportation?

“What exactly is teleportation? Acco said he stepped through the Void, which I already understand exists outside of time. Then the idea of trajectory or motion still counts because he’d temporarily exist outside of time and could reinsert himself back into space. The distance he traveled would depend on his Source and how long he can stay in the Void,” Crow kept muttering to himself, trying to push his understanding. “This is definitely possible, but he is probably using the concept of space to slip into the Void and back into spacetime. Ahh, too much. Time I can barely grasp some basics, but without understanding space, teleportation might be beyond me…”

He was glad no one was here. There was a good chance his rantings were enough to gain the title of a madman. However, there was a concept right outside his grasp that was teasing him.

*Maybe something simpler would help.* Lily supplied.

“Hmm?”

*Don’t think about teleportation. Portals, for example, have massively complex formations. So, think simpler.*

“Huh,” Crow grunted but was nodding. What is a simpler form of motion with relation to time? “I agree with you, but how? Is there even any Ogham runes or Celtic Knot that—”

*You’re too focused on time and ignore the fact that most spells like teleportation are complex runes. They are usually a combination of more than one rune.*

“Then which Ogham rune is the core of a motion, time, or teleportation spell?”

*You really are distracted. The sacred Ash.* Lily said matter-of-factly, and Crow blanked for a moment. He didn’t know why he didn’t consult Lily more. She came from Tuatha De Danann, so her knowledge should be extensive.

“Haha, you chose Nin?” Crow couldn’t help but laugh. Nin was the antiquated name for the Ogham rune for the sacred Ash. He could practically see Lily stomping her little feet in anger.

*It is not Nin, but Nion. It is the Ogham rune for connections and transitions between worlds.*

“Hmm, transitions…”

The rune was really an ingenious choice, and he knew she wasn’t wrong. But he had always thought of Nion as the connection between the spiritual him and the physical world. In another light, the way Lily described it, she really had found the rune that could encompass change, motion, and even touches on the concept of space.

If he viewed time as the web that connected objects within space, then the spell he wanted would need an anchor. He shuddered to think about where unfocused teleportation would send someone. It convinced him that teleportation was not worth attempting at this point.

Suddenly, he thought about Mara and their time in that weird ghost valley—before the goth banshee chased them off. The epiphany that allowed him to reach the second stage of Ghost Steps had revealed a complex pattern that he mistakenly thought of as a Celtic Knot. He was pretty sure it was a complex Ogham rune, which is why it felt familiar. The complexity of the rune was that it had at least a dozen runes arranged together. His Sage’s Mind could see that Nion wasn’t part of the pattern.

“Lily, you beautiful genius!” Crow called out excitedly.

*Wha-what?*

“Simpler! I don’t need to teleport, but I can Phase. Ghost Steps doesn’t have Nion woven into it, and if I can figure out how to redo the pattern, I can add a stage to Ghost Steps which I’ll call Ghosting.” The more he thought about it, the more excited he became. He was picturing himself running and phasing right through walls or trees or whatever got in his way. He could use time and create a barrier around him that would temporarily phase things outside of time. Allowing him to exist in the same space at the same time, sort of like displacement. “Just not sure if the focus should be on time or space, or is it both?”

He explained his idea and all the stuff he figured out. He mainly wanted a second opinion because he was too excited and couldn’t calm his mind. Spells weren’t impossibly hard to create because the biggest and most forgiving part of one was intent. The reason Crow was using Ogham runes was that each power symbol was tried and true. He knew the type of power it could harness. A teleportation spell would need runes with a high affinity toward space and time. Using other runes could still complete it, but Crow would never cast a poorly designed spell because it would likely kill him than help.

*You think you can convert an established spell to do that?* Lily asked. She knew Crow was intelligent, but Ghost Steps wasn’t a mundane ability, and its complexities were deep.

“Yes, I might have a rough plan already.”

*Then use time as the main component. You are in a trial related to time, and you can use those insights to complete it. Phasing is definitely simpler than teleporting—or at the very least, safer.*

“Somewhat unrelated… is a Celtic Knot just an arrangement of overlapping runes?”

*Not really. You already know that with the appropriate tools, you can create single-use runes. However, they need to have beast skin or something equivalent prepared beforehand, and then you can etch or draw your rune onto it. A formation is similar. It’s a prepared canvas that already has intrinsic powers. Adding runes to Celtic Know is giving your formation behavior and additional powers. Song Xue says it best… ‘it’s like adding wings to a tiger.’ *

He chuckled at the reminder, but his mind was reeling as if struck by lightning. He was sure that Ghost Steps and Ghostly Visage were both Celtic Knots, layered with runes for the specific stages of the spell. In fact, he knew a knot specific for ghost mana. It was supposed to be a barrier, but he was pretty sure it was used in his abilities.

It was the clue he needed to transform Ghost Steps into something that belonged to him. That knot was the key to mixing ghost mana with aspects of time—more specifically, the Ogham rune Nion. His Sage’s mind was already taking apart the knots and complex runes that he knew for both abilities. His insights were growing exponentially.

Clang. Clang. Clang.

Crow looked up, broken out of his reverie, and saw the door opened.

“Does that mean I sufficiently understood time or did you open for another reason?” Crow asked aloud, finding it confusing trying to understand what opened the doors.

“This is your first Clocktower invite, so of course it is because you are comprehending the basics of time. You can fail if you don’t show enough comprehension. The next invite to Clocktower will change based on what you learned. If you learned nothing, then you might not gain another invite in the future.” A disembodied voice explained.

“Oh? Then what about the patience trial? Did I comprehend time?”

“It was a primer, but it was up to you to decide when you were ready to move on. It was to help you expel the demons in your heart and gain clarity of the mind.”

“Then what about those fucking woodpeckers? What the fuck was that teaching me?”

“Nothing. We just thought it was funny.”

“Fuck your mother!” Crow growled.

The voice boomed with laughter forcing Crow to cover his ears.

You son of a bitch! We’ll see who laughs last. Crow swore nonstop inside his head. Each curse getting progressively worse until he heard Lily giggling. She managed to calm him down, but she didn’t dispel his anger. A cold grin spread across his face as he imagined himself rooting around in the Clocktower, taking out gears and tossing them. He’d dismantle the whole damned thing.