Disclaimer: all the rights belong to C. S. Lewis
A/N Do you remember the bell Digory unwittingly rings, thereby waking Jadis from her sleep? Well, these are its thoughts. Why? Just because. This story may be weird, may be confusing, may be very dark... I don't know. I just needed to write it and I hope you'll enjoy it. It probably turned out darker than I intended, but I promise I'll write something more joyous next time! And after all, we are in Charn, so nothing cheerful there.
I, the bell
Nobody could see me but the shadows where I've been waiting in.
Nobody has ever found me, as this world has been lost for such a long time that even dust has forgotten about us.
Oblivious years have passed until Time itself has become a ghost.
The echo of the voices, the cries, the celebrations, the desperation–every sound has gone now, into the immensity of nothing. Even the keening of Death is extinguished by now.
Infinite silence wraps us around endlessly, for so my mistress commanded before giving in to the deep sleep, when any other living creature perished. It was not the solitude she feared, she merely needed people to rule over, but she had destroyed all of them.
From their cold ashes, I was born, made to kill and bring desolation, created to be doomed, for she'll be awakened because of me, at last, and some of her spirit lives in me.
She's made me of pure, shiny gold, but I'm lightless, nevertheless, for I belong to the dusk, and so does this ancient, lifeless world.
She has never feared solitude, but I, I do. In exile I am, the only living thing amongst dead, the only bell which is not merry, which will bring destruction instead of happy news.
Can you hear the sound of bells? No, you can't. None will never be able to, for I'm the last in my world and, by ringing, I'll die. I'll welcome the darkness, just, please, let it come... but I know this wish of mine is double-edged. Both Jadis and I wish for someone to come; both she and I want freedom. But while I'll know I'll be truly free, finally becoming a mere, harmless piece of shiny metal, I'm also aware that she'll just be on the loose, dangerously so for everyone who crosses her.
And so I've been waiting, longing, yearning... until they actually came. They are little and naive. I can see as much in their fearful eyes. And I suddenly know he won't resist, I just know it.
I'm solid gold, I'm beautiful, the perfect bait.
She notices the inscription, of course, and so he will ring me. It's just how things work. It's just what my mistress has always expected to happen–I can feel it–since she wrote that deceptive inscription.
She has foreseen the prey and she won't let them go.
As soon as the hammer hits me, a note starts growing louder and louder. Everything trembles and the Lady Who Spoke The Deplorable Word rises, while I feel something within me crumble and fall... The spell is broken, and so am I.
Finally, I'm just a mere bell, but it's too late...