4.April, 1532, Scottish Highlands,
Arlen returned back home quiet late, the sun already having started to set.
Farlan had waited for him, but told him to go to bed right away, after taking a look at his disciple.
He said, that they would pack the bag they needed tomorrow and that they would leave right away afterwards, as they had a long journey ahead of them.
Arlen just nodded, went to his room, quickly changed his clothes and fell on the bed.
Even befor his head touched the pillow, he was fast asleep.
…
On the next day, he woke up with sunrise, just as how he always did.
It was a habit most people around him had, since the light of the day was precious and needed to be used for work.
After chanching into his normal clothes, he left the room and started preparing breakfast.
The boy couldn't see Farlan anywhere, but he knew, that his teacher was already awake and taking care of some work somewhere.
Perhaps he has gone to the forest to talk with the animals or he went to gather herbs, Arlen thought, as he poured a spoonful of honey over the porridge that he had put on two plates.
Afterwards, he put them at the wooden table at the right side of the room.
Thought four wooden chairs stood around it, only two were used.
Arlen was just about to lay two spoons next to the plates, then the entrance door opened and Farlan entered.
"Madainn mhath, Maighstir Farlan.", he said.
"Madainn mhath, Arlen.", Farlan answered.
Then he sat down for breakfast together with Arlen.
"Maighstir Farlan, I wanted to ask what I should pack into the bag for our travel.", Arlen asked after they ate silently for a while.
Farlan shook his head:"You only need to pack a bit of food. As for the rest, I will show you once we arrive at our first stop."
What does he mean with that?, Arlen wondered, but he knew, that his teacher wouldn't answer his questions.
"You will also receive answers to most of your other questions once we're there.", Farlan said in that moment.
Arlen's head shoot up and he looked at him.
Was he talking about all the questions that had stayed unanswered for years, while drifting through Arlen's head?
How could he find answers at the place they were going to?
Just there was that place?
Thousands of thoughts hushed through the boys mind, but he stayed silent and just nodded.
After breakfast, he packed some cheese,a few boiled eggs and some Bannocks, oatbread that was baked above the fire.
Then, he filled two Bota, a bottle made from leather, with buttermilk.
At last, he took out the pouch his mother had given him the day befor and finally looked inside.
It was filled with Oatcakes, into which his mother had backed some dried fruits and the sweet smell told Arlen, that she had also used a bit of honey to make them.
A bright smile appeared at his face as he closed the pouch again and put it safely away.
Last but not least he put in some medicines he and his teacher had prepared.
It was a habit to always bring a bit of medicine with him,that he had took on at some point.
Afterwards, he was ready.
Then he left the house, he saw, that Farlan was already waiting for him.
His teacher nodded and then turned around to go a bit further into the forest.
Arlen followed him silently.
After walking for a few minutes, his teacher stopped and turned around.
"Arlen, this is an important lesson, so remember it well. We Druids have a special ability that allows us to walk on natural paths existing between time. Right now, this may seem hard to understand, so I'm just going to show it to you. Take my hand and follow me. For now, it would be better if you didn't let go. Do you understand?", he said, looking at the boy with somewhat worried eyes.
Arlen nodded and took his teachers hand, who had reached it out towards the boy.
With his other hand, Farlan drew a runic symbol into the air and suddenly a round opening appeared in the air.
It was completely white, but as Arlen looked closer, he saw, that it seemed to be filled with thick fog.
A shiver ran down his spine, the old warnings about the dangers of getting lost in the fog causing his nervousness to spike.
He inspected it closer, as it didn't seem as if the fog would extend beyond the opening.
It was big enough for an adult to easily fit through and had the rough shape of a open door.
His teacher cleared his throat, before explaining:"This is a Geata na h-ùine, an entrance to a path in time. It will lead us to a special place there you will get answers for your questions. Follow me."
With that, he entered the opening and disappeared almost immediately since the fog was so thick, that you couldn't even see your own hand infront of your eyes.
Only Farlans hand, which was still holding Arlen's reassured the boy that his teacher was still there.
In that moment, Farlan carefully squeezed his hand, to make sure that his disciple would follow him.
Arlen took a deep breath, looked at the opening one more time, sended a quick prayer to god and followed his teacher inside the fog.
The next moment he could only see white and as his world seemed to explode in that color only his teachers warm hand, which was holding his own firmly, stopped the boy from falling into total panic.
Then the fog swallowed everything and both of them disappeared.
4.April, 2019, Scottish highlands,
One moment everything was white, the next warm sunlight hit the boys eyes.
He slowly opened them and looked around himself.
The white fog had disappeared and he seemed to be standing in the same spot he did a moment ago.
Still, something felt different.
His teacher looked at him and let the boys hand go befor he cleared his throat:"Welcome to the 21. century, Arlen. As I just told you, we can walk between time and that is what we just did. We crossed the border between the 16. and the 21. century. That was the thick white fog, you just stepped through. Only druids have the ability to travel through time and even fewer have the ability to open new paths connecting two centurys. Only the future will show, if you can do that. Still, I will also teach you how to freely travel through time from now on. For now, we should go back to the cottage. I think you need a moment to comprehend the situation."
Arlen nodded absentmindedly and, after his teacher turned around and started walking back into the direction they came from a little while ago, followed after him quickly.
Soon, they stood at the same lighting as before.
Even the cottage they lived in was there, waiting for them to enter.
Inside and outside everything was the same but it was unfamiliar at the same time.
To Alren, it seemed as if the air he was breathing tasted differently and the trees seemed to tell him that this really wasn't the 16. century but the 21. century.
He was giddy with the Realization that the Forest felt older when it did just moments before, holding new screened he couldn't even begin to imagine just yet but where still carried to him as promises of the light breeze.
He still couldn't fully believe it, even thought it was his teacher who had told it to him.
In that moment, Farlan entred the cottage and Arlen hurried to follow him.
Inside, everything was the same as it was back home but there still were some differences.
One was a metal jug with a lid standing on a metal plate on the wooden work surface of the kitchen.
Another thing was the fact, that, then he accidentally touched a white square right next to him on the wall, light filled the room.
Arlen almost jumped in the air, then it happened, only the fact that he had already seen many mysterious and magical things as a druid stopping him.
As he looked up, he saw a glass ball hanging on the wooden ceiling, from whose inside the light came.
"Maighstir Farlan, what is that glass ball on the ceiling? Is a Teine Biorach caught in it?", he asked his teacher.
An amused smile appeared on Farlans face.
"That's called a lamp. It workes through electricity. I told you about it once, do you remember?", he answered his disciple.
Arlen thought for a moment but then he remembered again.
Farlan had once teached him, that lightning was made from electricity and that it could be caught and tamed to suit people's need.
Since Arlen had never seen anyone take it in his village, he had always believed it to be a special ability of the druids.
But in that moment, as Farlan continued explaining about the lamp, he learned, that it was possible for everyone as long as they had the necessary technology.
Technology that existed in 21. century but was unknown in the 16.century.
Technology, that sounded like its own form of magic different from the Druids magic, created by those having to live without the mystical power brimming in the boys veins.
A kind of magic everyone could use.
He wished he could bring it back to his family.
Something as convenient as making light at all times of the day was something that would make life so much easier for his family.
"How about this: You go and explore this cottage of the 21. century to get to know the technology and come to me if you have any questions.", Farlan said in that moment, pulling him from his thoughts.
Arlen nodded his head vehemently right away.
If there was a way to tame lightning and create things like that lamp, that didn't need fire, then there must be other amazing things here as well.
And perhaps if he found them he could bring them back home, helping out his family to thank them for everything they did for him.
It would be the perfect gift to bring back home, to make everyone happy with.
But then he stopped.
"What about my other questions?",he asked,"You had promised me to answer them."
Farlan smiled and answered:"I told you that you would find the answers here, not that I would tell you every single thing. But if there are still unresolved ones by the time we have dinner, I will answer all of them then."
Arlen nodded, alright with that compromise.
His teacher had never been one who would tell him every single thing right from the start, but rather he would first let Arlen experience and try them out himself and afterwards would teach him the things he still didn't understand or know.
Arlen first wandered around the dining room and kitchen, where they already were, looking at all the strange things he found couriously.
He found a strange black square, which was perfectly fit into the work surface, with four circles drawn on top of it.
Then he touched it, it suddenly beeped and four numbers appeared at the lower side of the square.
Next to the numbers there a plus and a minus.
Perhaps this is a device to help with mathematics, the boy thought.
Carefully Arlen pressed on one of the numbers and then on the plus.
As expected, the number went up from zero to one, then two, then three.
Only then did Arlen notice that one of the circles had started glowing in a red light.
What does this mean?, he wondered, Did I perhaps make a mistake and it's telling me that I was wrong?
He reached his hand out to the circle, believing he could turn off the red light that way.
But the moment he touched it, he pulled his hand back fastly again, crying out slightly.
The circle was hot!
He looked at his hand, and found that he had slightly gotten burned, thought it was nothing worse.
"Mo chreach fhèin!", he cursed, while looking through the bag to find the ointment against burns.
It was a small wooden box filled with a yellow salve.
Arlen had put a cooling spell around it, that Farlan had teached him.
He took out a bit of it and rubbed it on his wound.
After a few seconds the burning stopped and the boy continued to look around.
Since the circles turn hot, it seems like this is a kind of hearth, but there is no fire beneath it. Could it be that with this technology the people of the 21.century found a way to make heat without fire?, he wondered.
In that moment his teacher burst into the room, having heard his cry.
"What is wrong, Arlen?", he asked his disciple, a worried expression on his face.
Arlen looked at Farlan before showing him his hand and explaining that the red circle burned him, but that he already took care of it.
His teacher let out a sigh before confirming Arlen's theory about the red circle being a tool to make heat as well as explaining that this was the modern day equivalent of a stove, used for cooking.
He also praised Arlen for his proper application of the medicine but scolded him for having been careless while touching unknown things as well.
The boy promised to be more careful and as Farlan had always reached his disciple after the principle that only through making his own mistakes could he learn properly he let it go afterwards.
Arlen when decided to continue his search for unknown things, as Farlan returned to whatever he had been doing before.
Deep in thoughts and wondering he explored every part of the cottage.
In the bathroom, both the indoor toilet and the glass cabin in one corner of the room surprised Arlen.
Thought they had a toilet inside a small wooden house behind the cottage back in the 16.century, which already was something unique, the boy had never befor seen a toilet inside a house.
Moreover, as he pressed the button above it, water flushed out, cleaning through the toilet.
Arlen was completely amazed by that.
It would be so useful back at home, to just get rid of the stench that came from the toilet after being used.
Would it be possible to build something like that back at home as well?
Or perhaps he could invent a spell for it?
Afterwards, he examined the glass cabin.
As he pulled the tap, unknowing it was a water tap, water poured down on him.
Surprised he jumped backwards, escaping from the constant stream of water, that seemed to fall from the ceiling like indoor rain or a waterfall inside the glass cabin.
But how was it confined like this?
In that moment, Farlan passed by the bathroom.
He saw his disciple completely drenched looking at the glass box scared, amazed and surprised at the same time and couldn't help but chuckle.
"This is called a shower. Through it, you can wash yourself completely without needing to go to the river or lake.", Farlan explained.
Arlen listened carefully and nodded, understanding at least what that glass box was named and what purpose it served, even if he still had no idea how someone had managed to trap a waterfall indoors.
Afterwards, Farlan sent him to his room, which luckily was the same as back in the 16.century, to change his clothes.
The room was exactly the same as back home, giving him the feeling of at least being in somewhat familiar territory, like a safe haven admits this world of unknown technology-magic but the wooden closet standing on one side of the room was filled with more clothes then Arlen had ever had before.
Or had anyone ever seen own before.
They were enough for every child in the village to have a full outfit.
It was amazing.
Moreover thought, even all of the clothes were quiet strange.
Instead of his usual Braies he found pants made from a strange material, one that seems to be stretchy but robust at the same time.
They weren't as wide as the ones he was used to and had different shades of blue, a color Arlen had only rarely seen until now, as it was hard to dye so much fabric in such a rare color, a color said to belong to nobility and royalty.
Moreover, instead of Lèinen,he found different shirts wich seemed rather comfortable and way softer when anything he had ever felt before, just from the touch.
There were some in all colors of the rainbow, which amazed him even more.
Just how was it possible to dye all of these clothes?
And how much must Farlan have paid for them?
Especially red and blue were colors mainly belonging to royalty after all.
Was his teacher perhaps really rich?
Or some kind of noble?
And if he took home one of these shirts, how much would he et for it?
Surely it would be enough to pay for food for his whole family for at least a month, right?
All of these thoughts caused Arlen to be hesitant about putting on the beautiful clothes, because what if he ruined them?
In the end thought, he had to admit that he was still soaking wet and that he was starting to shiver so really, he needed dry clothes.
Since he wasn't sure wich were alright to wear or how the clothes fit with each other, he just picked one of the dark-blue pants and a deep green shirt and put them on.
He had a bit of a fight with the strange metal in the front of the pants, before figuring out that by pulling it up, the pants would close, since it was his first time seeing and using one, but it somehow worked out.
Only the socks were mostly the same as the ones he always wore.
Afterwards, he noticed that the sun had already sunken a lot, so he went to the kitchen for dinner, his head filled with even more questions then before.