Clocksong Ch. 06

NOTICE

I do apologize in advance for the info dump in this chapter. In future drafts of the, I plan on cutting info dumps out and spreading the info more organically into the story, but for now, I gotta say what needs to be said. That said, first (very mild) erotic content in this chapter! Its a tease, but next chapter will have a little bit more ;)

Tito could feel his heart hammering so loud in his chest, he imagined it could be heard from the end of the hall. Not even Huli's grandfather clocks were this loud. But Tito pushed aside the terror as he accepted the ration from the guard hastily, almost spilling the food, earning him a scolding from the Knight.

And with that, it was time. Tito waited as long as he dared after the guard passed his cell, before crouching forward and nudging open the door. Sure enough, the cell that had kept him for the last week was behind him. The guard was preoccupied with a prisoner begging for more rations, shouting obscenities Tito had only heard in the slums.

He tiptoed around his door and quickly made his way to the end of the hall, sweat dripping off his chin. Despite the fear coursing through him, it was thrilling. A horrifying kind of thrilling.

He found himself at the staircase at the end of the corridor, and allowed himself a breath he didn't know he was holding. The short-sightedness of his plan hit him like a sack of potatoes. He didn't know what was at the top of this stairwell. He was less likely to make it out of the prison alive than he was to make a quartz timed watch by hand.

Tito found himself at the top of the staircase. Luckily, the chamber ahead of him contained no Knights. It seemed to be a connection hub for staircases similar to his own, probably leading to their own batch of prison cells. Several bookshelves, tables and chairs were strewn across the room, probably for the guards. A pair of doors were set in to the far wall, however, probably leading in to the remainder of the Knight's Gear. He crept along the wall. He doubted he could hear any footsteps, loud as his heartbeat was.

The double doors across the room burst open, the voices of half a dozen Knights pouring in. Tito nearly yelped but managed to slip behind a thick bookcase. Not sure if anyone had seen him, he held his breath and didn't dare to move.

The voices continued, getting louder as the walked through the room. Tito managed to pay attention to the voices for a moment. "And then the bloke tried to take me down! As if some haggard git locked in a cell could take one the Knights of the Constabulary." A chorus of laughs followed.

"I tell you, the prisoners get dumber and dumber with every batch," another one said. Tito recognized it as the blond Knight. "One girl I saw couldn't even get a word out, just stuttered like she hadn't spoken a word in her life! At least she was cute. Would've railed her if Nali allowed it." More laughter. Tito figured he would have been disgusted by the man's behavior, but he was too terrified.

"Alright," another voice said, a familiar woman's voice. "I'm gonna check on this clockmaker. If he's finally remembering, we might get more info about the lady who killed Pierra."

The name shocked Tito so much, he didn't notice as the girl came around the corner of the bookshelf.

It was the black haired Knight from earlier. Unlike Tito, she was calm and collected, holding a gloved hand over his mouth and holding a finger to her lips. Don't say a word, the gesture said.

Tito was as confused as he was terrified, but he obeyed. She held him pressed against the bookcase for some time, as the other Knights continued their banter. Eventually, they went separate ways, some leaving the prison, some walking down the stairwells. When the last few had left, she relaxed her grip.

So, Tito took the chance to strike.

He didn't have any experience fighting, but his attack caught the woman off guard, allowing him to press her against the wall, forearm pressed into her neck. The girl was shocked, though she didn't seem particularly scared. "Tell me where to get out of here, or so help me gods, I will-"

"Bit of a bold move to attack a Knight," she said with a grin. "You know Knights have accelerated strength, right?"

Tito's heart jumped a beat. He'd heard such things many times. And yet, he had so easily thrown her against the wall. "It's your armor," he guessed. She was wearing her uniform, not her armor, after all.

"Smart boy," she said with a grin. "Too bad I'm not a Knight. Mind letting go of my boob?"

Tito blinked, surprised by both the statement and the question. He realized he was pressing against her chest with his left hand, and quickly pulled his hand away, though the sensation of the soft breast in his palm didn't leave. "S-sorry. You're... what?"

She pressed his forearm away, which had lost its strength in his surprise. "Let's talk, my friend." She pulled him aside to a closet in the side of the room. She got on her kneels and pulled away a small door beneath a shelf in the closet wall. "Shall we?"

Tito stared at the hole, trying to push the shock away from his mind. "... What?"

"If I must," she said dramatically, throwing him another grin, before crawling into the narrow passage. "But don't stay behind. You'll find yourself in much worse trouble if you do."

The sound of more Knights walking up a stairwell propelled Tito through his uncertainty. He awkwardly got on his hands and knees and followed her. He closed the panel behind him. "Where are we going?!" He whispered fiercely.

"Straight to the Chief Knight's bedroom, of course. Always wanted to dirty his sheets."

"... excuse me?"

She sighed dramatically. "I guess we can go straight to the exit. Don't think the Chief actually sleeps anywhere, anyway. Just follow."

Tito did so begrudgingly, following the girl through the dank stone tunnel. The walls and floors were cut to the same perfected smoothness, and some light from somewhere ahead softly illuminated the girl just ahead of him. Her slender thighs and cute butt swayed as she crawled, and something assured him it was quite intentional movement.

Eventually, the corridor poured out into another room. Tito hesitantly followed the girl down into the chamber, which seemed to be an armory, lined with glittering weaponry and armor. The Knight's swords were majestic tools, with black hilts and guards and silvery steel blades, with purple crystals running along the back of the blade. The armor had a similar color design, with silvery plate and black leather.

"Ok. Who the hell are you?" Tito said, grabbing the girl's wrist as she reached for the door. "I'm not leaving this room until you tell me what in damnation is going on."

The girl once again looked at him in surprise. "My, my! Didn't think you had the balls." She looked around the armory. "Alright. We should be safe enough in here. Don't think we'll be visited anytime soon."

When Tito didn't respond, the girl nodded and stretched out her hand, a simple smile on her face. "Olyara, at your service. Imposter Knight, rebel against the city, and former Clocksinger." Tito thought he detected a bit of sadness in the last phrase.

"I don't know what any of that means. And why are you helping me?" Tito insisted.

"This will be a bit of a story, my friend. Might want to get seated," she said, slapping a stone shelf next to her as she sat herself. When Tito did so, she turned, looking him in the eye, just a few inches apart. "What do you know of the gods, lad?"

"What's with everyone pestering me with deep, open ended questions to answer my own?" Tito mumbled. Olyara waited patiently, so he answered. "A bit. Mostly from what my mother taught me. Some from my tutors in House Elriss."

"Go on."

Tito looked at the wall ahead of him, noting some of the beauties of the armor sets. "From what I can remember, there are 9 gods in the Urdian Pantheon. I don't remember all of them, but there's Eliss, the goddess of time; Muhm, the god of desire; Rori, the god of prophecy; maybe Nali? I think she's the goddess of lies. That's all I really remember."

"Do you know of their history?"

Tito tapped his lip. "Well, every ten thousand years or something, the world is destroyed, and rebuilt, with the coming of a new age, right? The gods and goddesses fight over and over, but ultimately, everything is destroyed and made new, just like life in nature. A rabbit eats a plant, killing that plant but allowing the rabbit to create more life in its children."

"Impressive! Very wrong, but it's a good story," Olyara says, grinning at his exasperated glare. "Ok, it's not that far off. Here's an abridged version. Many ages ago, the gods created the world. They were the origination of the universe, and with them, they brought their powers. Time, truth, passion, creation, and on and on. But they didn't all agree on how things should be managed. Some wanted complete freedom and chaos, while others wanted order and justice. Ultimately, their disagreements led to destruction. They fought the First Calamity, we call it, where the destruction of the world came to pass.

"However, one diety -- Eliss, the goddess of time that you mentioned earlier -- found a way around the destruction. She created a weave in the time of the world, wherein, the end of an age brings us back to the beginning of the world; essentially, she looped time, so that the destruction of the world would not be final, but bring another chance and life, like you mentioned previously."

Tito nodded. "I mean, makes enough sense. Fits in with the religious history." Still, it felt almost sacrilegious. He had always been taught that there was never a time before the Ages.

"I'm summarizing a lot here," she said, brushing a stray lock of black hair behind an ear, "but there was a faction of gods that did not want this loop. Some thought it artificial, some simply sought the destruction of the world. And so, they began the hunt to take away the life of the goddess of time."

"Wait." Tito frowned. "Killing a goddess? Surely that's not possible. You'd get thrown out of any temple for mentioning such."

"Surely, if gods are all powerful, wouldn't it be possible for a god to kill another?"

Tito sighed. It made sense, even if it didn't sit well with him. A goddess dying. He wasn't a religious academic, but he didn't like it. "So, did they succeed?"

Olyara shook her head. "They didn't kill Eliss -- not yet. They did kill other gods in their hunt, however. Three have been slain, and one of them in this Cycle."

Tito paled. "Three of the pantheon are supposed to be dead?? Who??"

"Ciel, Qez, and Rori. God of the earth, goddess of life, and god of prophecy, respectively." She had empathy in her eyes for his horror.

Three gods of the pantheon, dead. "And how many seek to destroy Eliss?"

"Two."

"Only two? Just two of them have killed three gods, with seven fighting against them?!"

She gave him an understanding smile. "Trust me, I know it's hard to believe. But the gods aren't organized. Even when they fight for the same thing, they argue and differ on the methods and manners of how to do so."

Tito didn't consider himself particularly religious, but the newfound information was shocking to him. One third of the pantheon, dead. He didn't think it was wise to trust the words of this random girl -- and yet, some instinct said she was right.

Tito pushed aside the implications. "So, what does that have to do with us? Why did you rescue me?"

Olyara grinned again. "That's the fun part. Have you heard of a Timekeeper, Tito?" When he shook his head, she continued. "Eliss, goddess of time, needed a way to protect herself. She is the most powerful of the gods, and yet also the most vulnerable. So, she elected mortals to protect her, gifting them her powers of time and connection. And prime among these mortals is the Timekeeper. A Timekeeper is given the ability to connect to all of the powers and magics of the universe -- an ability so powerful, it would rip a person apart if they tried to use it. I don't fully understand how it works or it's implications, but to assist in these processes, the Timekeeper has squires, of sorts. Clocksingers."

"You said you were a Clocksinger in the past?"

Olyara nodded solemnly, an expression Tito hadn't seen on her before. "Just months ago, we had a Timekeeper on the world. He was Eliss' chosen to protect her weave, and in such, the world. But he fell. He was slain, in part from unforeseen conditions, and in part from his own hubristic folly.

"The enemy gods slew him -- you knew him as the Chief Knight -- with a betrayal. They had access to Eliss herself, and had the chance to kill her. But, in a stroke of genius, she locked herself and the god with the power to kill her, in another time cycle."

Tito cocked his head. "What?"

"Since Eliss has ultimate power over time, she created a sphere in space, around herself and Alroph, the god of mercy, locking them both frozen in time, until the next Timekeeper comes to save her."

"Frozen in time?" Tito shook his head. "That's hard to comprehend."

Olyara laughed. "I totally agree. I've been around this stuff for the past year and it's still difficult." She turned back to him, grinning once again. "And before you ask me where I'm going with this. You, my friend, are the next Timekeeper."

Tito rolled his eyes. "Funny."

"Oh, you think I'm funny?" Olyara grinned mischievously at him. "We'll see about that." She began unbuttoning the leather white and black Knight's uniform she wore.

"Odd time to be making a move," Tito said, his voice strained. Though he couldn't pull his eyes away as she undid the last button, slipping her jacket off.

Underneath she wore nothing but a simple undergarment -- covering her stomach and her breasts, though not by much, with straps over her shoulder. It was impolite to look, of course, yet he could not draw his attention away from her boobs. They weren't gratuitously large, yet the enticing way they swung beneath her undershirt as she slipped her jacket off her arms very quickly turned him on. He found it quite difficult to keep his enlarging dick in check.

Olyara grinned in satisfaction as she caught his gaze, and he quickly blushed. "Bold of you to assume I'd strip for you. A bit arrogant, are we?" But before he could argue, she hushed him and pointed to her left tit. "Look."

He looked back at her cleavage, not complaining at the chance, though he wouldn't admit it. He notice a faintly glowing red-orange marking on her breast. It was a symbol he didn't recognize directly, though it felt familiar. "Is that Lyrian tongue?"

"Smart boy. It's the symbol for clock."

Tito found it hard to look away -- both because of the strange glowing symbol, and her stunning body in general. "What does it mean?" he asked, though he suspected he knew the answer.

"Clocksinger," she confirmed. "And I think you'll find a similar marking above your chest."

Tito gave her a flat stare. "Pretty sure this is sexual harassment."

Olyara just laughed. "Take your shirt off, you dunce."

He slowly slid the scratchy shirt off, hesitant but not complaining, considering the unpleasant texture. He looked down and, lo and behold, just to the right and above his left nipple, there was a symbol. Similar to the one on Olyara's breast. Somehow, whether by divine intuition or guesswork, he knew what it meant. "Time," he said softly.

He slowly bright his eyes to Olyara's, but hers were completely serious for once. "You, my friend, are the next Timekeeper.

"And I hope, the savior of our world."