Christopher couldn’t believe his luck! He was finally going to be able to see first-hand the damage that a quartz basilisk could inflict on its nesting grounds. He could never do so before. At least, not without getting petrified! This time though the nest was empty, its former inhabitants killed long ago by a group of adventurers.
“So… why did you want to come along for this again?” Hestia wondered out loud. The priestess of Alinavious was quite an unusual woman. Her body was like a window into the night’s sky with a rather brightly glowing orb sitting where her navel is. All around it are tiny marbles just swirling around it. Her eyes were completely white and glowing dimly as well. Her hair was relatively short and flowing and her dress was more like a black haze draped over her body. She had introduced herself as the keeper of the astrolabe or the astronomical clock. Astronomy wasn’t exactly Chris’ strongest point, but at least he had some form of idea on what she represented.
“I’m a biologist. I am assembling a catalogue of all manner of creatures from around the world. There are just some creatures that are…hm… lets just say harder to approach than others,” Chris replied.
“I’m afraid you won’t really find that many remains of the beasts themselves though. They’ve all decayed by now,” Bridget explained. Unlike Hestia’s body, hers was made out of a hard metal. Even through the slightly chilly air up on this mountain, she was still wearing a relatively skimpy ballerina outfit. Chris guessed that she just wasn’t affected by the cold at all. At least she gave no indication of it.
“I know. This is simply going to be a study into the quartz it leaves behind. When I heard you were heading to this shrine here, I simply had to come!” Chris cheered. The man wasn’t all that tall. He had short, messy hair and blue eyes just filled with wonder. He also wasn’t exactly cut out for combat, which was the reason he couldn’t simply come up here by himself. “What I don’t understand yet is why YOU two wanted to go there.”
“It’s to find one of our sisters. Much like me, she has been slumbering in her shrine to prevent time from phasing out when the goddess… died,” Hestia explained, finding it quite troubling to finish that sentence.
Bridget nodded. “But with me and the other new keepers of time around, the old guard can finally awaken,” she explained.
“Makes sense,” Chris nodded. The three had been walking up this mountain for what felt like hours now. He had to admit that his feet were starting to feel sore, but neither of the priestesses showed any sign of stopping. He of course couldn’t really let them think of him as weak, so he just trudged on. That is until finally, he could see something up ahead that looked like a tower of sorts.
“We’re here,” Hestia smiled.
“Finally…” Chris muttered under his breath. The tower was quite large, yet it did not reach the snow-covered top of the mountain. It looked like a sort of old grandfather clock and there was something shining brightly inside. Chris guessed that it must have been the quartz reflecting sunlight, but he couldn’t really tell. It was so bright after all.
“Goodness, once our sister sees what has become of her shrine…” Hestia sighed. This sister seemed rather important. A part of Chris kind of felt like a leech for tagging along on their journey. Still, he was here now. Might as well make the most of it!
As the group of three approached the tower, they could already see a lot of patches of quartz littered all around. Some stray beams from the basilisks must have hit these places. Sure enough, they also ran into the shattered, crystallized remains of some unfortunate animals.
‘Such a shame,’ Chris thought to himself as they passed half of a quartz jackalope. Those were quite rare creatures after all!
“Stand back,” Bridget spoke up as she stepped forwards to some crystal bushes. Raising herself to her toes, she made her skirt extend outwards. The ballerina did what ballerinas do best: she danced. Leaping forwards, she completely shattered the bushes. Her being made of metal was a good thing, for none of the shards harmed her in any way.
“Careful!” Hestia said as she extended her arms to her sides. As she did, the light at her navel seemed to grow larger, as did the marbles floating around it. Not only that, but they also seemed to leave her body? When they did, rather than them floating around or falling, they were actually attached to metal rings, almost like a hula hoop. They were in all sorts of orientations too. Chris could actually spot that these marbles weren’t marbles at all, but tiny representations of planets! Only now did he realize that Hestia hadn’t made them grow. She had simply zoomed in. The priestess then stepped in front of Chris, acting as a shield to any crystal shards that happened to fly our way.
“Wow… you guys are amazing,” the biologist said after all was said and done.
“Don’t mention it,” Hestia chuckled while Bridget simply bowed.
Finally the three could look inside the shrine. It was much worse off than any of the surrounding area. The ground floor had become almost completely crystallized. Chris guessed that this must have been where the main struggle between the basilisks and the adventuring party that had killed them took place.
“What’s that say?” Chris asked, pointing at the strange symbols that adorned the porch of the main gate.
“It’s written in Chronan. One of the ancient languages of time,” Hestia said.
“Really?… I can’t read it at all,” Bridget said, raising an eyebrow.
“I’m not surprised,” Hestia said, shrugging. “The goddess taught us this language.”
“Ah… right,” Bridget sighed.
“I can teach you though! As can Ysera and Feline,” Hestia smiled.
“Uhm… is it okay if I have a look around inside while you do that?” Chris spoke up.
“Go right ahead, don’t let us keep you. Just don’t break anything.” Bridget chuckled.
Nodding, the biologist entered the shrine and whoah! Almost everything here was made of quartz. The walls had a purple sheen, there were even more crystallized animal remains here and the ground looked almost like a mirror. The far wall, though crystal, still appeared as though there was once a mural here of a humanoid figure. It must have been the goddess. In the middle of the mass hall, there was what looked like a blast hole, as if a bomb had gone off here. Some of the church benches were knocked over or shattered and there was even a hole in the wall somewhere, all crystallized. There was plenty to examine here, which was good! However, there was so much more to see and so, he went over to the flight of stairs next to the entrance. Perhaps there were even more extraordinary sights on the higher floors but above all, he wanted to see what was causing the bright light.
As he reached the first floor, he could actually see that this place was less damaged than the ground floor. Perhaps the basilisks didn’t come here all that often? It wasn’t until he climbed the next set of stairs that he encountered a truly marvelous sight. There in the center of the room was the bottom of an incredibly large pendulum. It was reflecting so much sunlight all throughout the rest of the tower. It was no wonder that the basilisks were drawn here. The pendulum must have been made out of gold or brass. It made Chris wonder how it had stayed intact for all this time. Wouldn’t someone have come along by now to try and steal it, no matter how large it was? Strangely enough, it was completely untouched by the quartz of the basilisks. Did they purposefully not shoot the pendulum? Or was there something else at play here which made it immune?
Regardless, it was a thing of beauty. On it, there was more Chronan text. It probably just said some things about the old goddess, Chris figured. Bridget and Hestia would have to come and investigate it later. As he approached it, he looked up to see how high the pendulum actually reached and sure enough, it went up all the way to the very top of the tower. The higher floors simply all had a large hole in the center for the pendulum. It must have been quite an extraordinary sight when it was still swinging. Perhaps if the others can wake up the slumbering time elemental, it can swing again?
“Wait, what am I doing, standing around here… there’s quartz to investigate!” Chris said to himself aloud. He hadn’t come all this way just to look at a pendulum! However, he found that he couldn’t really keep his eyes off the magnificent beauty of the pendulum. Is this why the basilisks were drawn here? Whether this was because of his curiosity or because of something else driving him to do it, he didn’t know. He simply couldn’t resist it anymore. He had to reach out and touch it.
“Here goes nothing,” Chris chuckled as he reached forwards and placed his palm on the very center of the pendulum. Almost instantly, he could feel the thing… moving?
“Oh fuck, what did I do?!” he cursed, jerking his hand away as the pendulum moved to the left. It then swung back to the right. It was ever so slight, but it was certainly noticeable. In fact… it only became more noticeable over time! It was gaining in speed and before Chris knew it, the pendulum’s swaying required him to have to turn his head to catch up with it.
“At least nothing was broken... yet...” he huffed to himself as the swaying simply continued back and forth. Up above him, he could hear the soft turning of gears that was only getting louder as the pendulum’s swinging sped up. Well… this was okay, right? What harm could there be in restarting a clock that hasn’t been turning in over a millennium?
Now, even more so than before, Chris was just awestruck by it all. The pendulum was a true show of superior craftsmanship. Its swinging in the sunlight was truly a spectacle. The clockwork up above that was slowly picking up again after ages of standing still was oddly relaxing. It almost made him forget about the reason he was here in the first place.
Well… it wasn’t like the quartz was going anywhere fast. He could stand here and watch for a while. Bridget and Hestia would come upstairs sooner or later to see the pendulum for themselves. Till then he could watch.
The pendulum swung to the left and Chris could see his reflection within its golden sheen. He wasn’t all that impressive to look at, or so he thought to himself…
The pendulum swung back to the right again… and Chris couldn’t believe his eyes. He only got a quick glimpse of it, but this time, instead of his own reflection, he saw… a girl? She had curly, shoulder-length, dark brown hair. She was about the same size as him and she wore a dark brown dress. The same colour as his own clothes. Gasping, Chris quickly checked his own body but he was relieved to find that he was still himself.
“That was odd…” he said out loud as the pendulum swung left, revealing his own reflection again. Perhaps it was just his imagination? However, that’s when the pendulum swung right again. Just as it had before, his reflection was that of the same girl. A girl who was looking awfully sad. This simply kept on happening. The pendulum would just show himself on every left swing, and it showed the girl on every right swing. What was going on here?! Could this girl be the Keeper of this shrine? Well, she looked quite human to him and not semi humanoid elemental like Bridget and Hestia. But why did she look so sad?
Then, as the pendulum swayed to the right again, there was a rather bright flash of light. Whether it was because of the sun’s reflection or not, Chris couldn’t tell, but it sure did blind him momentarily…
“We have to do this tomorrow,” a man said. Opening her eyes, she could see the man, her father, sitting in front of the fireplace, talking to her mother. She was spying on them through the slightly ajar door of the living room.
“Are you sure about this, honey?” her mother asked concerned.
“If we don’t, we’ll miss our chance! She will make an excellent bride for Lord Patreaux,” her father said.
“She’ll not like it… not one bit…”
“It doesn’t matter what she thinks about this. We have to do this or we’ll never see the money,” her father said as grumpily as ever.
The girl could feel a tear flow down her cheek as she heard those words. Her own father… preferring money over his own daughter’s joy…
With a jolt, Chris shot up again. When had he fallen to the ground? How much time had passed since the flash of light? Well, considering Bridget and Hestia still hadn’t come up here, he assumed it must not have been all that long. The pendulum was now in full swing as it must have been in its heyday.
‘Who the heck…’ he thought to himself, but he already knew the answer. The girl he was in his dream must have been the same girl he saw in his reflection. He sighed as he stood up when another flash of light hit him when the pendulum swung to the right again…
“What?” a marine-coloured woman asked. She looked like a human, but she definitely wasn’t. Her right arm as well as her left leg were partially made of glass and there was clearly water flowing from her arm down to her leg. There was a rather intriguing clock resting on her chest over her heart and there were white lines connecting her arm and her leg to it. The girl knew her as Ysera, a time elemental and priestess of the goddess of time, Alinavious.
“Please… I seek sanctuary here… I cannot stay at home anymore,” she begged.
Ysera’s look showed concern and care. Something her own parents rarely, if ever, gave her. “What happened, dear?” she asked.
“They were going to…” she couldn’t even say the words as tears overflowed her then. That’s when she felt two arms wrap around her.
“It’s okay. You can stay here for as long as you’d like,” Ysera smiled.
“Thank… you,” the girl muttered in between her sobbing.
“What is your name?” Ysera asked.
“Christine… Christine Higgins,” the girl replied.
Chris gasped when he opened his eyes again. He was still standing this time, but physically shaken as the pendulum swayed left again. He looked at it as he shoved his hair to the side. Had it always been that long…? This was starting to get serious. He knew he should turn around and call for help now but he couldn’t help but stare as the pendulum swung right again…
“May I become a nun here?” Christine asked eagerly.
Hestia, Ysera and an alraune-like time elemental known as Feline all looked at each-other for just a moment. They didn’t have to think long.
“Nothing would please us more,” Hestia smiled.
“You’ve been a boon to our church already. I see this as the next logical step,” Feline agreed.
“I agree. You’re kind of like a little sister to us already, so I don’t see why not,” Ysera winked.
Christine felt tears stream down her eyes again, as they had done on her first day meeting Ysera. This time, though, they were tears of joy.
When Chris came to again, he was panting. Panting that sounded… awfully high-pitched from what he was used to… What was he doing… he had to get away…
“What are you doing?” Hestia asked curiously.
“Well… you know how all of the clocks here are powered by the goddesses magic?” I figured I could maybe make a clock that could power itself somehow. So that people can have clocks in their own homes,” Christine explained, a broad smile plastered all over her face. She was thoroughly enjoying her new hobby after all.
“That’s a great idea! How will it work?” the keeper of the astrolabe asked.
“Well, you see, it works with this pendulum and a set of weights…”
“Stop!” Chris shouted out loud before he gasped. He sounded exactly like the girl from the visions. Looking down, he saw that it wasn’t just his voice that had altered. As he had feared, there was now a set of modestly sized breasts resting on his chest. It also didn’t take him long to realize that his manhood was gone, being replaced by a vagina. He closed his eyes as the pendulum swayed…
Opening her eyes, Christine took a good look at her body before looking up again, smiling.
“I’m ready, my goddess. I accept your gift,” she said resolutely.
Lady Alinavious smiled kindly and simply snapped her finger without a word, setting off the transformation that would change Christine’s life forever.
With the image of the goddess still fresh on his mind, Chris could see his body change even further now. As the pendulum swayed, he could feel something starting to swing within his body as well. He didn’t have to wonder for long what it was though as his shirt and trousers started shifting. They first merged into a long dress reaching down to his feet. After that, a diamond cut appeared on it, starting between his breasts and ending just over his waist. This revealed something Chris almost couldn’t believe. He could actually see inside of his body through a sort of window, and it revealed a pendulum, as golden as the big one in front of him, swaying back and forth at exactly the same speed.
Strangely though… Christine found that she didn’t freak out. Far from it in fact. She smiled. This was what she wanted after all. She had accepted the goddess’ gift.
No, this was his body! This shouldn’t be happening… should it?
Of course it should as the changes simply continued. Just below the diamond cut, something shot out on all sides. It looked like a sort of second skirt to this dress she was wearing, but this one was a lot more solid. It was white and there were twelve black numerals on it. When two rustic clock arms made out of black iron appeared as well, Christine knew that this was going to be her clock.
Chris didn’t know what to do. A part of him thought that all of this was wrong, but he wasn’t really sure anymore whether that was the part he should be listening to. This was actually starting to feel… right.
She could feel her body shifting entirely. Her skin turned ebony. Quite literally at that! There was also more black iron adorning her wooden skin in all sorts of patterns. When the changes reached her shoulder, her dress actually poofed out, accentuating her shoulders. She knew though that this wasn’t just for decoration as she could hear and feel the gears within turning. The two large gears that were getting powered by her swinging pendulum.
There was no doubt about this anymore. This was good. This made Christine happy. This was her gift. Her purpose. Her being. She became time for her goddess.
As the changes spread up her neck, she could only smile in bliss. Her face shifted from pale skin into ebony wood and black iron. Her hair too just turned into a wooden imitation of what it was before. Not that she minded that though. It just meant there was no need for upkeep on that anymore! As the remnants of her humanity slipped away, she was happy.
“C-Christine?!” came Hestia’s familiar voice. A voice she hadn’t heard since the death of her goddess. She opened her eyes, which had been closed for equally as long. There before her stood one of her sisters. One of her fellow keepers.
“H-Hestia?” Christine stammered.
“Christine!” Hestia cheered, going in for a tight hug. Something that the keeper of the pendulum clock could only return.
“Who… activated my clock?” she asked as she realized that her grand pendulum behind her had started swaying again.
“I believe we did,” came a voice from another woman just behind Hestia.
Christine gasped. “Who… are you?” she asked.
“Right,” Hestia giggled. “Bridget, meet Christine. Christine, meet Bridget. She is a new keeper of time!”
Christine couldn’t believe her eyes. A new keeper of time. What did this mean? Had their goddess returned? Or was there something else at play? Christine couldn’t say. What mattered was what was that she was awake now again, after her deep slumber.
“It is an honour to meet you, Christine,” Bridget smiled, bowing courteously.
“Likewise,” Christine smiled meekly. She had a lot of questions about this new world she had awakened to, but one thing was for certain. Time was with her. As it had been. As it always will.