Unknown land
About 10000 years BJ (Before Jessie)
Jessie rubbed her eyes and blinked in the sudden bright sunlight. It was startling after the dimness of Father Time's world. She still felt a bit dizzy from the time travel, but that feeling faded away as she looked at her surroundings. Overhead, the sky was as blue as lapis and clear as a diamond, with the golden sun burning in the east. Not a single cloud drifted across its blue expanse. The air was very warm and slightly humid. It smelled fresh and clean-fresher and cleaner than any air she had ever smelled before. A cool wind played past, picking up her hair and making it dance around her shoulders.
She, Lukas, Petra, and Ivor were standing at the foot of some forested hills, overlooking a verdant, hilly plain. Every tree was a perfect shade of jade green, and the grass underfoot was as vibrant as a creeper's fur. Wildflowers of every color dotted the hills and valleys. Beyond there, a mountain range formed a blue ridge in the distance, looking shorter and stouter than the mountains Jessie remembered from home. Everywhere she looked, completely unspoiled nature greeted her sight.
"Oh, that is absolutely beautiful," she mused. "Where are we? Some kind of nature preserve?"
"Why does everything look so new?" Petra asked, picking a flower and examining its petals in the palm of her hand. "It's as if these trees and flowers sprouted from their seeds as full-grown plants."
Meanwhile, Clockwürk stood by, arms crossed over his chest and a knowing grin on his face. He casually swung his watch on its chain. His clothes had changed; instead of his sweater and bandanna, he had on a brown robe with long sleeves, a rope around his waist for a belt, and a roughly-cut piece of wolf fur as a sort of mantle on his shoulders. The clothes were simply and inexpertly sewn, with crooked seams and unfinished edges.
"Hey, when did you change your outfit?" Petra turned to him.
"The same time the rest of you changed your outfits." Clockwürk winked.
"Huh?" The others looked down and gasped in surprise. They had been so absorbed in their new surroundings that they hadn't realized that their outfits had changed, too. Like Clockwürk, Jessie and her friends were also wearing the same simple robes in brown, cream, and gray, with ropes around the waist. Jessie had a wool cloak to go with her robe, Petra had a piece of creeper fur for a mantle, Lukas had a gray scarf tied over his lower face, and Ivor had a laced-up leather vest over his clothes.
"What in the world?" Lukas mused as he pulled the scarf off of his face. "Why are we dressed like this? What happened to our armor?"
"I liked my green robe better," Ivor complained.
"This wool cloak is itchy!" Jessie whined.
"I actually kind of like this." Petra fluffed the fur on her mantle. "I look tough. I killed and skinned a creeper without even trying!"
"No, seriously," Lukas said, interrupting her. "What's going on? This is the sort of stuff that ancient people wore."
"We're in ancient times, blond guy," Clockwürk answered. "About 10,000 years in the past. My magic watch changes our outfits so we blend in with the times better. Therefore, you were given dawn-of-creation outfits. This is the height of fashion right now. Eh, it could be worse. You could be wearing fig leaves or sheep skins."
"Oh, no way," Jessie said. "You're not saying…"
"Yep. Welcome to the beginning of the world, friends." Clockwürk smiled and thrust his arms in the air, gesturing to their surroundings.
"Well, that explains why everything looks so new," Petra commented, looking around. "So are we the only people here?"
"No, but not by much, either," Clockwürk said. "Besides us, the world population adds up to a mighty twenty or so people. Don't look at me like that. I said we're at the beginning of the world. It take a while to build up a big population."
"Where even are these people you're talking about?" Petra said. "We're in the middle of nowhere."
"Actually, we're on the edge of it. 'Somewhere' is just down that hill." Clockwürk pointed to the large slope they stood at the edge of. Jessie and the others stepped up to its edge and looked down.
A rough-hewn homestead sat in the bottom of the valley. In the middle of it was a rude cabin built haphazardly from river rocks, dried mud, thatch, and logs. Even though it was a homely structure, it wasn't a small one; it had plenty of room for a large family. A sizeable square of earth had been plowed up adjacent to the cabin for a field, and young green stems poked out of the dark earth like peach fuzz. The entrance to a simple mine had been dug out of a hillside nearby, with a rickety barn a few paces away. On the side of the house opposite the field, there was a crude fenced enclosure with a gaggle of feral-looking farm animals roaming within it. In front of the house, embers smoldered in a fire-pit ringed about by sections of logs serving as seats. Beside it stood a tanning rack with the hide of some luckless animal stretched out on it, and a generously-sized copper kettle. Whoever lived in this homestead was still living there, judging by how recently the fire would have to have been made to still be smoldering right now.
"This is interesting," Jessie remarked. "Who lives here? This is like those homesteads that the Settlers would build on the frontier back in the old days."
"What?" Petra looked at her, confused.
"Settlers," Jessie explained. "You know, those people who built their houses close by each other and the houses became villages and then those became cities? ...Weren't you paying attention in history class?"
"I hated school. Way too boring. As soon as I was old enough to drop it, I was out of there like a firework rocket!"
"You were one of those brawny children, eh, Petra?" Ivor asked, somewhat sarcastically. "Myself, I had to go to college for six years to study alchemy. Ah, college. Good times, good times. Did I ever tell you about the time that one fraternity released a bunch of chickens into my professor's office-"
"Ivor!" Clockwürk, who was becoming increasingly bemused by the claptrap about the travelers' educational experiences, snapped. "Stay focused!"
Jessie and Lukas gave a start, surprised to see affable Clockwürk upset by a little bit of time-wasting. It was just a little bit of derailment in the conversation...no big deal!
"Geez, Clockwürk, don't you have, like, unlimited access to time, anyway?" Petra scoffed. "It's gonna be fine. We have time to kill."
Clockwürk frowned and his hands twitched when Petra said that last statement. His golden-brown eyes took on a spacey gaze before he blinked twice and shook his head to clear his thoughts.
"Come on." He started walking. "There's something you need to see."
The others shrugged and followed. Clockwürk descended down the hill, going towards the little cabin. The folds of his robe fluttered in the balmy breeze, and the soles of his sandals slapped against the grass. As they walked down the hill, Jessie noticed just how warm and humid the climate was, and after just a little bit, she took off her cloak and stashed in her Pocket for safekeeping. She was actually glad that she was wearing the lightweight robe, despite how silly it felt to be wearing one, instead of roasting inside her armor.
"So, Clockwürk, who lives here?" Jessie inquired when they reached the foot of the hill. It only took a few minutes to walk down to the cabin. Lukas almost slipped on the dewy grass, but caught himself before he went rolling down the hill. He had blamed the trip on the long skirts of his robe, but Petra said that he was just being klutzy.
"You'll see in just a moment," Clockwürk replied, nodding at the door from their hiding-place behind some young shrubs a few paces away from the homestead. "Someone should be heading out to check on the crops just...about...now."
Sure enough, barely a minute had passed by before the door to the cabin swung open and two of its occupants emerged. They were both men—young men—and they both wore the same kind of long, simple robe with a rope belt that Jessie and her friends had. One was deeply tanned and carried a spear; the other was pale-skinned and looked a little sunburned. That guy carried a stone plough in his right hand and a wooden bucket in his left. Intrigued, Jessie scooted closer to hear them.
"I don't see why I always have to tend to the farm while you're out hunting," the pale-skinned man complained to his companion. "Just because you're the eldest doesn't mean you should get to boss everyone around."
"Ugh," the tanned guy groaned. "I've heard you complain about that about a thousand times now, Ozar. You have your work, and I have mine. So do it."
"I have the hard work," Ozar whined. "I have to tend the crops and milk the cows and breed the pigs and shear the sheep, and what do you do? You get to run around the woods all day long with your bow and arrow. And when you actually do kill something, it's all Nim this and Nim that at the house. Father never gives me that kind of attention!"
"First of all, I hunt with a spear most of the time. Not a bow and arrow. Does this look like a bow and arrow to you?" Nim bonked his brother upside the head with the shaft of his spear. "And second, just stop your complaining and tend the crops like father said. I have important work to do. See you at sundown." Nim ran off, leaving Ozar in a seething bad mood.
"Tend the crops like father said. I have important work to do," Ozar grumbled, mocking his brother, as he stormed off to the field and started going along the rows of wheat, checking their growth progress. When he encountered a dry patch on the soil, he poured a trickle of water from his bucket to hydrate it.
"Huh. I guess sibling rivalry has been around since the dawn of time, eh?" Lukas joked, smiling to Jessie. "Gee, I hope the rest of the family isn't that quarrelsome."
"They're not," Clockwürk assured him. "Most of them, anyway. Look, here comes the rest of 'em."
More people emerged from the cabin, holding or towing along the wherewithal they'd need for their chores that day. They were all youths, with slightly more brothers than sisters. There was a wide variety of skin tones and hair colors in their ranks, from pasty Ozar working in the field to a dark-skinned, raven-haired young lady feeding sheep, who bore a strong resemblance to Jessie. Jess half-wondered if the girl could possibly be her lots-of-greats-grandmother.
The cutest of the siblings was the youngest brother. The little guy didn't look any older than ten. He had a strange birthmark: a dark brownish patch splashed over the right side of his face. His child-sized robe was muddy and he wore an amber stone on a string around his neck. He ran after his brothers and sisters, begging them to let him help with their work, but most of them shunned him. Disappointed, he crawled over the fence for the animal pen and started feeding handfuls of corn to the lambs and piglets instead.
"Aww," Jessie cooed. "Clockwürk, who's that little guy? The youngest brother?"
"That's Henebrynn," he explained. "Name means 'son of innocence,' and it's pretty fitting. The other siblings know what their callings are—Nim's a hunter, Ozar's a farmer, for instance—but Henebrynn's still a blank slate."
Finally, two adults left the house, hand in hand. Jessie assumed them to be the 'father' and 'mother' that the siblings had been talking about. The man wore a blue robe with a purple cloak tucked into his belt, while the woman's robe was green and her mantle brown. He was tan with dark brown hair and unusual purple eyes; she was pale with fiery orange hair and piercing green eyes. Jessie's stomach did a flip-flop when she realized who these people were.
"Oh. My. Gosh," she whispered to Lukas. "Those are Steve and Alex."
"I know!" Lukas whispered back, awestruck. "I knew about Steve and Alex being the first two people, but seeing them in person...wow!"
"Geez, how many kids do those two have?" Petra wondered aloud.
"Uh…" Clockwürk counted on his fingers. "Ten, I think. They need a lot of help around the homestead. It's hard building a civilization from scratch, you know."
"So where's this Spark of Creation that we need to find?" Ivor asked. "That was the whole reason we came here."
"We can't just rush into sight here," Clockwürk responded. "That'll scare everyone present. They'll think the Creator made new people to replace them, since they messed up. We have to lay low for this mission."
"I thought you wanted to find the Spark ASAP," Petra retorted. "You got all waxy earlier when we went off on a tangent in the conversation."
Clockwürk just breathed out heavily in exasperation and produced his magic watch from seemingly nowhere (where had he been keeping it when his clothes changed?), stringing it onto his belt.
Jessie wasn't really listening to the discussion that was starting to turn into an argument. She kept people-watching the family go about their business, taking notice of the trades each son or daughter seemed to epitomize. Nim was obviously a hunter and Ozar a farmer, but there were more skills yet. One girl was building a new barn, expertly laying stones and clay bricks; was she antecedent to Architects like Soren or those Old Builders that Ivor chatted about off and on? A boy toiled at a crafting table, fitting together random materials in hopes of discovering a new recipe. It was all very intriguing. She could hear Lukas's quill scratching paper behind her; he was taking notes.
The last son to exit the house did so slinking and stalking. He was a sneaky character, Jessie could tell. He was lanky, with dirty black hair, yellow eyes, and a permanent scowl. The youth had trouble written all over him, it seemed. At the sight of him and his sour expression, Steve sighed and left Alex's side to talk to him.
"Is something bothering you, Talen?" Steve asked him. The sound of his deep, rich voice made Jessie shiver a little.
"There was an agreement," Talen hissed. "You promised."
"Talen, we already talked about this. I know you want the Spark, but…"
"You promised that it would be mine!" Talen almost yelled. "You said that the gemstone would go to the youngest child, and I was that youngest child. And then Henebrynn came along and you passed it to him instead."
"I have to keep my word," Steve defended. "I know that I promised it with you in mind, but Henebrynn is the youngest now."
Talen looked disgusted. "You had him just to spite me, to take away the Spark of Creation from me. Maybe you should call him Astel'brynn instead. He's the son of spite!"
Steve gasped, aghast. "Son, I will not permit you to say things like that. He is your own brother."
Alex approached. "Please, Talen, be reasonable. We haven't tried to take anything from you. The Spark of Creation is just a stone; it's not that important."
"That's a lie. It's powerful, and the both of you know it. And the both of you also know that it belongs to me."
"Talen, it does not belong to you anymore! You cannot have what rightfully is your brother's!" Steve almost shouted.
Talen looked long and hard at him. "I'm not so convinced I can't." The strange statement hanging ominously in the thick air, Talen turned on his heels and slinked away.
"That is...concerning," Alex said. "He is fixated on that Spark."
"I don't think we need to worry that much," Steve replied. "Most likely, he will steal it from Henebrynn when he's sleeping. If he does, we'll find out, and we'll bring it back to Henebrynn. Easy."
Alex didn't look so convinced, but she didn't say anything else. Steve went back inside the cabin, and Alex walked off towards the orchard trees in the very back of the homestead, probably to check if they had any fruit ripe for picking.
Meanwhile, Jessie was still interested to see what jealous, jealous Talen was up to. He passed by his brothers and sisters, ignoring their greetings and glances. He went from the fields to the paddocks to the fire-pit and then to the barn, looking for something or someone.
"Henebrynn has the Spark of Creation!" Jessie hissed to Clockwürk and her friends. "That's what we've been looking for!"
"I'm more concerned about Talen at the moment," Ivor remarked. "There's something twisted about that young man. Take it from a former villain; sometimes, you can just see the treachery in their eyes."
"Should we follow him?"
"Better than waiting out here to find out what he's up to."
"He's going over to Henebrynn," Lukas said, pointing at the pen where the small animals were being kept. The little brother was still feeding corn to the piglets. Jessie and the others snuck around behind the barn to get closer, wondering how bad the confrontation would be.
Talen walked up to his little brother, his shadow falling over him. Henebrynn stopped throwing corn kernels to the animals and stood up.
"Oh, Talen," he said. "I was just feeding the animals. Want to help?"
Jessie was expecting a demand for the Spark from Talen, but instead he said, "Not quite. Isn't it dull to feed those pigs and lambs all the time?"
"I don't know," Henebrynn mumbled. "Sort of."
"Ever wanted to feed the wild animals in the forest? They're free to roam where they want...way more interesting than these livestock that waddle around the paddock. If you give them food, maybe the wild animals will want to be your friends!"
Henebrynn "oooh"'ed, intrigued by the idea.
"Come on, I think I saw a herd of wild rabbits in the woods earlier. I bet they'll still be there."
"But father says that I'm not allowed to go in the woods," Henebrynn said. "He says I'm too young."
"Father just wants to keep you from having fun," Talen sneered. "He'd rather you stand under the hot sun all day and give corn to our boring farm animals. And it's not fair how he lets Nim go in the woods but not you. Don't you think?"
"I wanna go in the woods and feed the rabbits!" Henebrynn whined. "Let me come with you!"
"Of course! Come, we have to go now before father sees you leaving." Talen started leading Henebrynn along from behind, guiding him onto a dirt path that led toward the forest. He stole a few quick glances over his shoulder at Steve, who was too busy helping Ozar with the fields to notice that Talen and Henebrynn were sneaking away.
"Well, that's odd," Jessie said to Clockwürk. "Should we follow them to see where they go?"
"Something's not right here," Petra said. "This seems kind of shifty. We should probably check out what's going on."
They crept behind the barn and cabin to get to the path just as Talen and Henebrynn disappeared into the woodland glade. Jessie led the pack, with Clockwürk close behind, with Lukas and Petra tailing and Ivor bringing up the back. They walked as a clustered pack.
They walked for several minutes, until they watched Talen lead Henebrynn into a clearing area where the tree cover wasn't so thick. A warren of brown rabbits bounced around on the grass, nibbling on dandelions. Henebrynn was delighted by the sight. Talen stood off at a short distance while Henebrynn held out handfuls of corn to the rabbits, trying to get their attention.
After a few minutes, Henebrynn got a little frustrated. "Talen...the rabbits won't take any corn from me! I can't get their attention."
"Really?" Talen walked up to him. "This should get their attention."
Talen grabbed Henebrynn by the shoulders and threw him to the ground. He landed on his back with a hard thud, frightening the rabbits and making them scatter. Talen glared at his little brother, a dangerous look in his eyes.
"Talen, what's going on?"
Talen didn't say anything. He approached with smooth strides, his hands curled into fists.
"Talen, that hurt!" Henebrynn crawled backwards, trying to get away.
Still no response. And Talen kept coming.
Henebrynn scooted back even farther, but his back bumped into a large cropping of rocks. He was cornered, and Talen was still striding towards him.
"Hey, what gives?" the boy whimpered.
Talen pulled a sword out of its scabbard at his hip. It was a jagged stone blade, sharpened crisply at its edges. At its appearance, Henebrynn gasped as he realized what was going on, as did Jessie from her hiding place. She started to clamber over the brush, but it was such a thick tangle that she struggled to escape and run in to save Henebrynn.
The little brother was shrieking in fear. "No, Talen, no, no, please, no, don't hurt me! Talen? Talen! TAL—"
Talen thrust the blade downwards.
Henebrynn let loose with a ragged scream that cut off abruptly.
Talen pulled the sword-blade out of his brother's chest, producing a squelching sound and a small spurt of blood. He drew back and clenched the weapon's hilt in one hand, staring hollowly at Henebrynn as pool of blood seeped onto the grass underneath him, forming a red wreath around his corpse.
Jessie stumbled, fell on her knees, and dry heaved. She couldn't believe that Talen had did it. Little Hen was dead. His own brother had killed him. But now she knew that she had to stay quiet. If Talen could kill his own brother, who was to say that he'd have qualms about doing the same to a bunch of strangers? Lukas helped her to her feet and patted her on the back to comfort her. Ivor took hold of Jessie's arm and gently pulled her back to the safety offered by the tree cover. Jessie opened her mouth, but she couldn't say anything. All she could do was stand and watch to see what Talen would do now.
Talen's eye twitched slightly, and then again. He lifted his shaking hands closer to his face and turned them over, staring with some kind of horror at them. His shoulder muscles spasmed, making him twitch some more, and he glanced around rapidly at the unwelcome sights before his eyes: his sword that had done the deed, the end of the blade sullied with blood; his own hands, which trembled uncontrollably; the limp body of Henebrynn lying on the grass, young and defenseless, a look of shock and fear frozen on his dead face. Talen gasped and frantically rubbed his hands on the skirts of his robe, as if to wipe off imaginary blood. His sickly yellow eyes were blinking frenetically and darting about, twitching with raw nerve. Obviously, there was a storm raging inside his mind in the face of this horrible crime—the world's first murder!—and it externally revealed itself when Talen suddenly roared a primal yell, yanking at his hair and tearing at his robe. He kicked the sword into the reeds, either to hide the evidence or just to put the visual reminder of his crime out of his sight. Heaving more panicked gasps, he gnawed at his knuckles trying to think of a way to hide his brother's corpse. He dropped to his knees and started ripping up the grass until he came to dirt, which he proceeded to dig out with his bare hands.
Despite being sheltered by the tree cover, Jessie winced and drew back. Talen frightened her-this mad, murderous man who behaved like an animal in his hysteria. She reached into her Pocket (mercifully, the time traveling had only altered her clothes and not the contents of her Pocket) and felt for the hilt of her diamond sword. She kept a firm grip on the weapon as he continued to tear through the earth as part of his scheme to hide his horrible deed.
When Talen had an adequately deep hole, he roughly grabbed Henebrynn by the wrists, lifting him slightly from the ground, and dragged him over to the hole. He sucked in and exhaled a deep breath before thrusting his little brother's corpse into the hole and kicking a cursory pile of dirt over its top. He pivoted away from the disgraceful grave and rubbed his hands on the skirts of his robe again, still trying to clean away imaginary blood. Burying the evidence hadn't soothed his guilt.
Talen muttered something under his breath and went back the way he came through the woods. The jutting branches grabbed at the sleeves and hem of his robe, as if they were trying to hold him back and keep him from returning to the cabin. He brushed them away and kept walking. Jessie and the others stayed still and silent until the sound of his footsteps faded away.
"I...I can't believe it," Petra stammered when Talen was finally out of earshot. "I can't believe I just witnessed that."
"Why would he do that?" Lukas's voice had a weepy edge to it. "Henebrynn was so cute and innocent!"
"The world's first murder," Jessie said, shaking her head softly. She reached over and wrapped her arm around Lukas's shoulders to comfort him. She could feel tears of her own prickling the corners of her eyes. "We have to tell someone. Talen can't get away with this."
"But Clockwürk said not to interrupt them," Ivor protested. "They'll be scared of us."
"And what Clockwürk didn't say is that Henebrynn gets murdered," Jessie replied sourly. "T'would have been helpful to know that. I guess that creep was so overwhelmed that he forgot to take what he came for. Let's go."
They left their hiding-place to follow the path back to the homestead. Hopefully Talen would be far enough along the path that they wouldn't encounter him. That would be a dangerous confrontation. The world didn't seem as bright and lively as it had when they first arrived; now, it seemed darker and grittier. It was as if Henebrynn's murder had broken the illusion of ease here, so that the world could show its true colors as dangerous and marked with hardship. What a world, if danger came not only from stalking creepers and the strife of survival, but also from the treachery of one's own family!
The friends were a few minutes on the path when Jessie realized a glaring absence among them. "Um...Where's Clockwürk?"
"I thought he was with you," Petra said, sounding remarkably like Olivia. 'I thought he was with you,' was practically Olivia's catchphrase, it seemed.
"Great," Jessie grumbled. "Just when you think you can trust someone…Wait here, I'll find him." Before anyone could discourage her or insist on tagging along, she ran back to the hiding-place. She figured that Clockwürk would be there for whatever reason, and that turned out to be true. She spotted him next to the impromptu grave, the dirt covering of which had been brushed aside. Clockwürk stood over it, back turned to Jessie, with his magic clock in one hand and the Spark of Creation in the other.
"Mock me, will you?" he said quietly (was he talking to the clock?) "Tell me how long I have left? I wouldn't be so swift to taunt. Look, I have a key piece here."
"Clockwürk!" Jessie shouted. "How dare you!"
"Ga'ah!" Clockwürk yelped, jumping up and spinning around to face her.
"What the Nether are you doing? Are you grave robbing?" Jessie was incredulous—how could gallant Clockwürk stoop to that?
"The souls of the deceased are free, in no need of earthly treasures," Clockwürk responded. "Don't you want to get home? You can't do it without this." He tossed the stone-on-a-string to Jessie, who reluctantly caught it. The amber rock was warm to the touch. She put it in her Pocket for safekeeping.
"Are you condoning grave robbing?" She was still perturbed.
"No, Jessie. What I am saying is that the Spark of Creation should not remain in the ground for the sons of Steve and daughters of Alex to dig up. It's not safe to leave it where unscrupulous people may find it. We are taking it home."
Jessie just shrugged.
"I think Henebrynn deserves a better place for his body to rest," Clockwürk said, then focused on his magic clock. "Okay, timepiece, dazzle me. I know you have a bit of magic in you." He swung it in a circle directed at the sorry hole in the ground. The depression in the earth deepened and mud seeped into it, covering the cadaver much more substantially. The magic pulled a rock from under a nearby tree and planted it over the grave, etching it with "Henebrynn, the dear son of innocence." Clockwürk added a bed of sunny yellow flowers over the dirt for good measure.
"There," he said. "Now, let's find your friends. We've a new leg of the journey to begin."
"All right," Jessie said, casting one last glance at the grave before following Clockwürk on the trek back out of the woods. They didn't say anything as they went along, until they reached the edge of the forest where the others were waiting.
"Where have you been?" Petra grilled Clockwürk as soon as he stepped into their midst.
"There was business that had to be attended to first," he replied, and the look in his soulful amber eyes quieted her after that. "Henebrynn had to be properly laid to rest. Now that we have the Spark of Creation, it is time to move on to our next stop in the journey."
"But then Talen is going to get away with it!" Lukas protested.
"He won't," their guide explained. "His family eventually finds out and exiles him for his crimes."
"Harsh," Petra commented. "Then what happens?"
"The records are hazy; I don't know everything, you guys. They say his kin were always opposed to their fellow people. That he became the 'father of all griefers.'"
Jessie gulped, thinking about Axel. Axel could be called a griefer. Was he related to, either by blood or in spirit, to Talen the murderer? What an unpleasant thought.
"Where are we going next?" Lukas asked, helping to break the somber mood.
"When are we going?" Petra corrected.
"Can't tell ya," Clockwürk said with a wink. "It's more fun when it's a surprise."
"I don't like surprises," Ivor grumped.
Clockwürk just rolled his eyes good-naturedly and started spinning the watch in a circle. Jessie watched it go round and round until she got dizzy. When she looked away, reality was blurring; the world was turning into blobs of green and blue. The green and blue turned pink as the gang slipped through time to their next stop.
Where, or when, would they be going now? It remained to be seen.
A/N: I'm anticipating potential flak received for my use of a Genesis typology in this chapter. Well, not to be rude, but what did you expect from Taigona the devout Christian? Besides, this is heavily fancified and not biblically accurate. Just an aspect of the plot. I will either respectfully diffuse any flames aimed at me or ignore them outright. If you're polite to me when addressing this, I will have no problem responding and we'll hopefully be able to have an insightful discussion about it. Thank you for your understanding. :)
Not gonna lie, my heart was pounding as I wrote the buildup to the murder scene...