Part 2 - Tempore Recensere (Change in Time) Chapter 1

Chapter 1

The stench lingered in the air and nothing could ever be done to ever take away that smell. A mix that was salty from sweat, sweet metallic from blood and a sting in the nose from corpses rotting in that small dank cellar.

I laughed; whimpered laughs, just to keep myself sane. Why should I bother about the smell? I’ve been in here too long to even notice it much anymore. My nose has adjusted to it, or was it because my nose isn’t functioning at all.

My head hung down, feeling like it will fall off anytime. I did not have the strength anymore to lift it up. Shallow breathes were all I could take as the task of breathing was also a strain. I wondered, wondered how long would I be here before the devil took me. Why has he not taken me by now? Hot liquid seeped down my arm, blood; the chains holding me by the wrist are cutting in deeper now.

I gasp. Someone is coming; I knew that before the clinking of keys sounded in my ear. I closed my eyes, pretending to be unconscious. But that wouldn’t matter anyway. They would just splash water at me to wake me up or use any means to get me awake. And it is not any ordinary sweet good morning call.

The lock clicked open. They come in everyday for the same reason. But why me I have no clue. They keep asking me for answers I do not know myself; where are my sisters, where is my home, are there anyone else like me. “I don’t know”, I keep telling them. I scream both inwardly and out, for the pain and the frustration. Only God knows! How can I tell them where my sisters are when I do not even know I still have family?

A wave of air came through the door as it creaked open. Something feels odd. Why don’t I feel the same pain every time the door opens? I have this knowing of what will happen, just the sense of it. And I see not any pain or torture. Instead I felt a hand pushing my hair behind my ear and kissing me on the forehead. What? Are they trying a new tactic to get me to talk?

 “Princess, please wake up. We need to go now” whispered the person in front of me. Afraid it might be a trick, I played dead until I felt the clasp fall away from my hand and I fell. I opened my eyes wide and began to struggle in the arms of my captor. Just when I was about to scream, he covered my mouth with his hand to shush me. I shut up because I knew it was the best thing to do right this moment.

“My apologies princess, but I have to cover your head. It is time to finally get out of here.” He said while giving me a soft smile and bowed his head to me. Not doing anything I allowed him to do as he said he would.

He shifted me into a fireman’s carry and walked; out I presume. And it was then I knew my nose was just numb. There was a new smell in the air. No more death, no more blood, it is the smell of freedom.

Part 1 (Final) - Temporis Ortum (Birth of Time) Chapter 8.

Chapter 8

I spent the next few days getting to know of their history, or should I say mine. I’ve learnt that there are many different creatures and people with special abilities. There are the magic wielders like Winter and time guardians like Alta.

I was quite unhappy at first when I was told that Alta has been in this all the while, that she knew who we were and what was to come. How could my best friend of many years not tell me anything about- well, ME! But I soon realised how important it was to keep my identity safe.

Though not having been there long, I suddenly felt sick to think that I have to leave this comfort behind; the cosy bed, warm food, friendly people and a mother’s love. Yet at the same time I could not wait to find my sisters who I do not even remember. What would they be like? Exactly like me? Would we have anything in common? Can we really defeat death together?

I sighed and take one last look around my room. Now tattooed on my arm instead was my pet phoenix. Touching it slightly, I could feel her rubbing her head inside my skin. Uncomfortable it was when she first started doing it, but I got used to her. Now a fiery protection and comfort, I am very much connected to her; my pet, my phoenix, my Ruby.

My things all packed up, I headed to the throne room. Everyone was there to greet me. Once before to say welcome, now to bid me goodbye. It is time. My mother came to stand by me, together with Alta and Winter, and we faced the audience.

“Today is the day that we have to see our precious Praeteritum go once again. We shall all give her our prayers as today she embarks on a new journey for us all. Though time has begun late, it shall be better than never for we face a terrible danger this century. Munité meara aveol, aveol sa munité. May the new sistera munité’s come home safely and be the sisters to have vanquished death forever. Lousta livina sister munité!”

“Lousta livina sistera munité!” The whole room rang after my mother’s speech. I still could not grasp hold of the language but I soon will. And with that, came the end of the new beginning. Giving each other a nod of encouragement, Alta, Winter and I strode off to where I first came in.

Standing at the entrance, I turned and took in the sight. People waving, shouting and giving us the morale support, and the last face I saw, with tears in her eyes; my mother. 

Part 1 - Temporis Ortum (Birth of Time) Chapter 7.

Chapter 7

Right in front of my face was a huge bouquet of flowers; and a large variety at that. There were roses, tulips, orchids and other kinds of flowers that I have either not seen before or know the name. This one particular flower stood out. That’s weird, why didn’t I notice it before?  It was peculiar. The petals were long and flowing down and it seemed to move on its own, waving gracefully about. It was glowing! The colours changed from a light pink to red and it stayed like that. The bouquet lowered, and it was his face; Winter.

“Oh hey! Hi! Um... These are for you.” Though he said it quite calmly, he also seemed to stutter a bit at the same time. “It’s a.... A welcome gift. Yeah, a welcome gift. From the town!” He passed the flowers to me with a smile that seemed a little odd, like he was trying very hard not to smile widely but yet still is smiling. Just when he let go of the bouquet, I noticed that the one flower stopped glowing.

“Thanks.” I said, looking quizzically at the bouquet. I looked around the room for an empty vase to put the flowers in, but found none. It must have shown on my face because then Winter walked in the room and headed to a table. He started waving his hands in the middle of the table like a conductor, or a puppet master; pulling invisible strings. Water started forming and swished about in rhythm to his hand movements. Building up, the water began rising and started crystallizing from the bottom up. With a final whirl of his hand, there was a newly formed vase on the table which looked like it was made of ice.

“Wow! How did you do that?” I went beside him and caressed the vase. It was so finely crafted that it would be impossible for a person to create it by hand.

“I’m a magic wielder, specializing in the water element. And water turns to ice; so there, a vase for your flowers”. I carefully placed the flowers in the vase afraid that I might break it.

“Alright, alright, show’s over. Let us get moving. We’re making the Queen wait.” Alta took my hand and led my out the door with Winter following behind.

***

Have you ever wondered what it feels like to be suddenly someone else? Where everything you knew was just pretty much a lie and what used to be lies and false is now true? Well, I’m experiencing all of that right now. And there is just so many emotions in me now that I don’t exactly know how to explain it.

During dinner, we, my mom and I had a long talk. She explained to me almost everything that happened since I was born and before. I was told that I am part of three sisters who is everything to the world, though not many know it. Reborn every century, we are of most importance.

My vision of the past was right, and what I believed was also right. The man that had been consumed by the dark cloud certainly was my father and we sisters were taken away for safety. To hide from those who want to hurt us, we were forced to be apart from this world where no one knows us.

The dark cloud is pure evil. Excessus is his name. In translation; death. Years after what happened in my vision, he continued searching for us but has failed, until now. He had destroyed many magical villages looking for us until one had betrayed and revealed that we were in hiding in the human world. That was when he sent his minions after me.

My journey here was just the beginning. I have a long way to go. Together with Alta and Winter, I have to look my sisters and be once again reunited. Given the choice, it was either to stay in hiding forever or to fight back. I would not stand by being a total coward, and I had to do something for my father who perished to save the family.

I am scared, I do not deny that. But who wouldn’t be afraid? It is a totally new world and we will be walking a dangerous path that would lead us directly to death.

And Death awaits us.

Mini Chapter 2 : Blood Cellar

She screams; so loud it hurts her ear which seem more like an ant bite compared to what is next. Pain she fears, pain that has not yet felt but will soon to come. She knows it. She senses it. They torture her with this pain that comes not only once but twice over. She knows the present. They know she knows it. They plan to do it over and over again until she breaks and tell them what they want to know.

A crack of the whip, she jerks. The sound itself hurts. She hung there by chains, unmoving, too tired to do anything else. But her screams keep on coming and coming, ringing in that dark wet cellar, wet with not water; blood. “Please” she begs. Please and nothing more. She could not put a stop to it; she could not give them what they want. So the whips come down at her again, because she does not know a thing.

Mini Chapter 1 : The Others

Earth holds not only creatures that we know of, there are also others; others that differ from the normal humans. Even though the form of homosapiens, the others usually live with their own kind, but there are also some that would walk side by side with the humans; but hidden. These others are differed from the humans because of their abilities. Afraid they would be taken under control and held prisoner, the others usually keep close to their own kin and away from humans.

The others can be again be differentiated with their specific abilities. There are the magic wielders and the time guardians. The strongest and most important of the others is the Sisters of Time, also known as Sistera Munité. Every turn of century, 3 sisters are born as the key to time as the sisters of past, present and future.

Magic wielders are the kind who can command elements of fire, water, earth and air. Wielders can normally only control one element, but there are the stronger ones who can master as many as they like. The ultimate magic wielders would be the ones who can also control light and darkness.

In any chance that one of the sistera munité dies, so would the other; when the future dies, the world follow suit. It is the time guardians’ responsibility to keep the sisters safe from harm. The time guardians have the ability to bend objects in time; whether to move things, make them grow or shrink and the supreme power of travelling through time. The time guardians are not just anyone. Born in that special race, time guardians are chosen by the council and are only truly given the power if they pass are proven worthy. If any were to misuse their powers, they are immediately revoked of the ability or even terminated of their lives.

Part 1 - Temporis Ortum (Birth of Time) Chapter 6.

Chapter Six

Frozen in place, I could only scream my lungs out. Alta came rushing in to my rescue only to be struck in place as well as she stared at the smoke and then at the broken pieces on the floor.

“It’s ok Teri, calm down. It’s not dangerous. Well not to you anyway.”

“That sure sounds easy for you to say. Especially when you’re also staring at it in horror!”

“That’s because I’ve never seen such a thing in my life! I’ve read about it or maybe even hear stories, but I’ve never seen it with my own eyes.” She said with such enthusiast

“And what may I ask is this?” I moved closer to her watching the smoke start to evaporate. I jumped as the broken pieces suddenly sparked like tiny fireworks.

“The birth of a legend. A myth I could say, until this day when I see it. Watch carefully at the broken pieces.” Staring intently at the pieces, I saw it. A small figure was forming. A burning bright red and orange, it had soft feathers from head to tail. It was a kind of bird; as Alta has said, that is considered to be mythical – it was a phoenix.

The sparks stopped, and the phoenix moved and let out a dulcet cry. Opening its eyes for the very first time, it blinked its large yellow eyes at me. Letting out another cry it suddenly grew larger to the size of an eagle and took flight. Swooshing around the room once, it flew straight to me. I covered myself with my arms hoping to defend myself; the phoenix went right through my hands and into me. Crying out in pain, the places where the phoenix touched me were burning. I felt the heat crawl through my chest and to my back where it stopped. Everything fell silent.

“Do you have any ideas what just happened here?” I checked my hands for signs of burns but there were none.

“Yep. Something way awesome! Teri! Even in this world a phoenix is grand! And this one just chose you as its masetra.” I gave her a dumbfound look and she continued “That means master. It is often that animals chooses a human as their masetra, but only if the person is truly worthy. Certain animals are known to be very particular when choosing their masetra, like lions, wolves and eagles. There are other animals who only appear before only to the greatest. And all of them became a legend. I’m talking about the supposedly mythical creatures like the fairy, minotaur, unicorns, manticore, dragons and of course; your new found pet, the phoenix!”

“Don’t you think this is a little too much for me to handle in one day? People trying to kill us, entering this totally different world with its own language, getting to know that I still have family? Now this? A mythical creature as a pet?! I don’t think there’s gonna’ be anything else that can surprise me today.”

And just when I said that, a knock came at the door. Trying to believe nothing else could stun me, I went to open the door and found myself yet again staring at disbelief. Gosh, what a day!

Part 1 - Temporis Ortum (Birth of Time) Chapter 5.

Chapter 5.

How could I be one of those little girls and how could she be that lady? I’ve never seen her before in my life! And what about the other two girls?? My sisters? But again! I’ve never seen such people in my life. Could that be my past life I saw in the visions? It can’t be. The woman here looks exactly alike in the vision.

Still in each others arms, I was searching her face, trying to get an answer out of it. She looked back at me with a warm and loving look that I’ve never seen before; a mothers look. Tears started pouring out my eyes uncontrollably as I looked back into hers; it was the same, like looking in a mirror. Our eyes were both blue with a tinge of green like the ocean with a thin orange outline like the sun rising from the horizon; a rare colour that I have never seen in others eyes before.

“Mother? Ar-are you really my m-mo-mother?” I asked with sniffs in between. Nodding her head, she gave me a kiss on the forehead.

“And the other girls? Do I really have sisters? What was that dark shadow? Did it, oh my god, did it really consume the man? Was that man my father? What-” Putting her finger on my lips, she silenced me from the spurt of questions. She motioned for Alta towards us and whispered in her ear and returned back to me.

“My dear Praeteritum, I will tell you everything soon. For now, go freshen up and we’ll talk over dinner. I am sure you would not want to eat in those clothes and mud in your hair.” A hint of laughter in her eyes, she gave me a small push to Alta who then took me away.

We entered a huge room which still managed to look cosy. There was a four poster bed to the far end of the room, armchairs and a coffee table to one side and two large cupboards with glass doors on the other. Everything was made of dark polished brown wood. Tracing my fingers on the woodwork of the cupboard, I noticed a collection of crystals and woodcarvings of animal figures inside.

“Those were made by your father when you were very young. You were always fond of animals since birth, hence all these figures.” Alta stood beside me, putting an arm around me. With a squeeze, she then pulled me away from the cupboard. “You can look at them later, let’s get cleaned up first. I really want to get rid of this stench.”

The waterfall-like shower was relaxing and eased all the aches. Assortments of aromatic shower gels filled the room with a smell so soothing I felt like I could sit in here forever. Eager to find out more about my life, I forced myself out of the shower to meet back with Alta. Laid out on the bed was the same kind of dress that my mother was wearing. Wow, that seems odd, suddenly having a mother.

I got dressed, looked at myself in the mirror and headed towards the door when I saw a red shine in the cupboard. I stopped in midway looking back towards the cupboard. It wasn’t shining anymore. Shaking my head, wondering if I was seeing things, I walked closer to the cupboard. Opening the glass door, I took a closer look at all the animal figures. On the top row were a bear, an eagle, a leopard, and then a phoenix with red ruby eyes. Then it glowed again. Its eyes!

Staring wide eye at it, I reached my hand out to touch it. Just an inch away from it, the figure started shaking in place. I jumped back as the figure fell off the cupboard and smashed into pieces on the floor. Red smoke started rising from the broken pieces and I started screaming, remembering the black smoke that consumed the man in my vision.