next part: Like Clockwork AT 03:00 - Sands of Time P2“Good evening, Lavini,” Orketra said.Lavini could not believe what she was seeing. She simply stood there for a moment in silence, trying to process this. Her mother, who had been missing for well over a year now, had suddenly appeared right here, right now. This had to be a dream. This couldn’t be real… could it?“... mother…” Lavini said softly.“Come now, Lavini dear. Mumbling is unbecoming of a lady. You know this,” Orketra smiled. “... Why… are you here?” Lavini asked, finally finding her voice again. Was that really the best question she could ask now? Then again, the first thing her mother saw fit to say was to make a remark about mumbling…“I have come here for you, Lavini dear. Much needs to come to pass and there is limited time for it,” Orketra said.“... What do you mean?” Lavini asked.Orketra gave a rather devious smile to that. “Follow me.” With that, she turned around and started walking down the hallway.Lavini stood still in the door opening of her room. This could not be real. This had to be a dream. This couldn’t really be her mother… could it? She did talk like her… Lavini turned around, intending on waking up Cassie. If this was indeed a dream, then perhaps Cassie could help her make sense of it?“Alone, Lavini dear,” came Orketra’s voice. She hadn’t even turned around. It was as if she knew exactly what was going on in Lavini’s head. She really should wake up Cassie but… a part of her wanted to know where this all would lead. She had a lot of questions, after all. “Where have you been? Why did you leave? Why…” she began asking as she caught up with her mother but Orketra interrupted her once again. She halted and placed a hand on Lavini’s cheek.“I understand that you have a lot of questions, Lavini dear. I really do. You want answers and you deserve them, even to questions you have not yet even thought of. How did I get here? Why, of all urchins, did I take you in? Who am I really?” she said.Lavini fell silent again. She was beginning to get convinced that her mother was reading her mind, for it were those exact questions that have plagued her for a while now.“However, I must disappoint you. I cannot give you these answers. Not yet. However, you need not worry. You will have your answers soon enough if you follow me,” Orketra continued.This was becoming quite ridiculous. “And what if I refuse?” she asked.Orketra turned around again. “You will not, Lavini dear. Your curiosity and desire for answers is much too strong for your defiance to beat it,” she said and started walking again.Lavini lingered and watched her walk off once more. She frowned. She actually felt herself getting angry now. Finally her mother returned and this was how she was treating her? However, she could not deny the truth to those words. She wanted answers. She wanted to know what was up. She wanted to know… and so she begrudgingly followed Orketra.“Where are you taking me?” she asked.“We are going to one of your shrines,” her mother replied, entering a hall leading to the left.One of their shrines? Well, besides the shrine of Percentile Marvels up above, there were of course the shrines dedicated to the four leftover divine trinkets that remained yet unclaimed and it looked like they were heading to those right now.“How do you even know the way? It is impossible for you to have been here before. This building is brand new…” Lavini asked softly but she knew that she would not get an answer to that question either. Everything about this situation was strange. Either this was all a very convincing dream or this was actually happening and her mother had just become a whole lot more mysterious than she already was., After a few more minutes of walking, the pair finally arrived in a large circular room containing a massive hourglass in the center. It stood as tall as the room itself and there was a spiral staircase reaching up. It was going to be the way for the general public to reach this shrine. The sound of trickling sand within this room just barely masked the sound of ticking clocks that was audible throughout the rest of the church.“I believe you now realize why we have come here,” Orketra said as she let Lavini pass by her.Indeed. Lavini had begun to suspect something as they approached this shrine and now that they were here, her thoughts were confirmed. The hourglass was but an illusion. Though hidden from view, within the very center of the room was the hourglass that was given to Bridget standing atop a pedestal. The apparent goal of this excursion.Orketra pointed to the center of the room, seemingly knowing exactly where it was hidden. “Eight have come before you. Three will follow after you. The hourglass is yours for the taking, Lavini dear. You are finally ready for it. Reach out and claim it, should you choose to do so,” she said.“For me?!” Lavini gasped.“Why yes, of course. You did not truly think that only Akita and Bridget were worthy of such an honour, did you? After everything that you have done for this church, and everything you will still do for her,” Orketra answered.“But… I… how…” Lavini stammered. There was yet another influx of questions. How did her mother know where the hourglass was? How did she know that Lavini was chosen? Had she always known? No, that was impossible. Until Bridget found that gear, nobody knew of the church of time.“Lavini. You have always stood in my shadow and then again in those of Bridget and Akita. It is time you step out into the light and see yourself for who you are. It is time for you to see how worthy you truly are,” Orketra said firmly.Lavini looked at her with great shock. How had her mother pierced through to Lavini so well? She had always been able to do that but even now? After being gone for over a year? It was true. She had always compared herself to those around her. She helped Bridget cope with her new body. She helped Akita reconcile with Bridget. She helped Cassie gain a second chance in life. Even before all this, she always went out of her way to help those she cared about. Not once did she expect anything in return. She had even felt a bit ashamed of everything she had been given. Growing up a street urchin, she always had to fight to survive until her mother took her in of course. Why had she been given everything while the other urchins still fought? She didn’t really feel like she was deserving of anything...At least, she didn’t until Cassie’s confession of love earlier that night. It was the first time she had ever truly felt deserving of anything. She had accepted it for she, too, felt this way about her. She had accepted it without shame. Without fear. Could she now accept this honour without shame or fear as well?Yes.Resolutely, she stepped forwards. As she entered the vicinity of the grand hourglass, it dissipated, revealing the small trinket in the middle. As she reached the pedestal, she looked it over. It was actually a smaller version of the illusory hourglass. It was a beautiful hourglass with two spirals made of gold around it and a small emerald on top. Out of the gifts given to Bridget by the clockwork giant, this one had always intrigued Lavini the most and now she knew why. She looked back to her mother again, who simply smiled at her, although there was a hint of sadness behind her eyes. Lavini couldn’t quite guess as to why but she figured those answers would come to her soon enough. All she had to do was accept this divine trinket as her own. Something she never thought she’d be doing until now. She hesitated for a moment longer but then reached for it after all. “I accept,” she said firmly.The moment she had said those words, Lavini was certain that she could hear a voice say “thank you”. It was a caring voice but it was not that of her mother. Then whose was it? Was it the trinket itself? Or perhaps…The hourglass rose up from the pedestal, demanding all the attention again. The two golden spirals started glowing brightly as its bottom opened up, allowing all the sand that was perpetually falling inside to fall out. However, it did not simply fall to the floor. Instead, it started swirling around Lavini. More and more sand, way more than was actually inside, poured out of the hourglass, swirling ever closer to her, until finally, she could feel it entering the nightgown that she had been wearing. It tickled her body to the point where Lavini decided to just discard the garment to see what was going on. When she did so, she saw that a lot of the sand appeared to be gathering around her navel. Now, it wasn’t just gathering there, it was actually entering her body! She could feel so much sand entering there that it caused her to buckle over forwards.She looked down in amazement. It was actually happening. Soon enough, she would no longer be human. Soon enough, she would join Bridget and Akita as a new time elemental.It wasn’t long before Lavini noticed that she was actually able to see the sand inside of her body. She rubbed her eyes, thinking that she might be imagining this but no. The area around her navel had become made of glass and it was spreading outwards. Was her body going to be made of glass?!As more and more of her skin transitioned into glass, she could see more of what was going on inside. The sand had been gathering in the middle of her body where it actually appeared to rest within a glass bulb. There was another bulb just like it that appeared below it, and the two were connected by a small tube it seems, though it appeared to be solid since none of the sand was falling through. It was actually just like an hourglass. The realization hit her then what was happening. Her divine gift had been an hourglass and so of course, her body was going to reflect this.More and more of her body transformed as she was gaining a literal hourglass figure. Her waist, her hips, and her chest were all morphed into glass while the inner hourglass took shape. Lavini was relieved to find that she could actually still move the parts of her body that had already transformed. Sure, her body had grown a bit firmer. She no longer felt as soft to the touch, but she had not lost any of her mobility.When the hourglass was fully formed, the transformation was not finished yet. The clear glass that had replaced most of her body now made way for pink metal. This coloured metal spread into both her arms and her legs. It even rose up through her neck and it slowly started transforming her head. Even her brown hair turned pink. All of it became metal.When it was finally finished, Lavini looked over herself. It was incredible to think that this was her body now. Everything was glass and metal. Not an inch had been missed. She had even felt that it had affected her eyes in some way, though she was unable to see how. She could see straight through herself. She could see the ground she was sitting on by looking through her body.But the swirling sands were not finished yet. Some of it came together around her legs and began wrapping itself around them, becoming black. It tightened itself around her feet and ankles, becoming a new sort of garment. It must have been some sort of latex, much like Akita’s bodysuit. However, the socks only appeared to be reaching up to her hips. Next up, her arms were covered in much the same way with black latex.The rest of the swirling sand then began draping itself over her body, morphing into new garments. This time, it became blue satin. The fabric wrapped itself around her legs, with golden rims and tassels at the top. She even felt the fabric draping over her head, forming a sort of veil. This time, the satin was thinner and more see-through. In fact, her new clothes were getting decorated with see-through pieces of satin everywhere.And still it was not finished. Various pieces of golden jewelry started adorning her body. A necklace, a tiara, bracelets, anklets. She was even given a sort of golden belt with more tassels hanging from them. Lavini had always enjoyed wearing jewelry but she could not remember ever being so lavishly decorated.Only after this did the changes finally stop. This gave Lavini the chance to inspect her new body. Slowly, she stood up, feeling herself a little lighter than before. Of course, this was because most of her body was now clear glass. Though she could still feel her heart beating inside, it was invisible to the eye.“Incredible…” she spoke softly to herself. However, there was something missing. She knew it. She felt it. Something was not quite right. The hourglass within her body was still motionless. None of the sand had started trickling down. The transformation wasn’t finished yet. She still had to accept time and let it enter.With the completion of her physical transformation, the hourglass DLC before had closed up again and no new sand was pouring out. Instead, it was again functioning as a normal hourglass would. From the top, sand trickled down into the bottom. More and more sand fell down as the top emptied out. When all the sand had finally fallen down, the hourglass tipped over and the process started all over again. This happened a few more times. Each time it happened, Lavini just stared at it intently. She began counting the amount of seconds it took for the sand to fully trickle down. It took exactly 9 seconds, followed by 1 second to flip the trinket over.Another flip, another 10 seconds had passed. Ever more, it continued. The sands continuously trickled down. Ever more, the sands passed through the small tube down into the bottom. Another flip. Lavini concentrated on each little grain of sand that fell down. Each one of them was important. Each one helped tell the time. No matter where they started, they would all inevitably pass through herself.Another flip. The realization hit Lavini then that the top of the hourglass must be representing the future. The basin of untapped sand from which time originates. The bottom must be representing the past. The basin of sand where time will end up one way or another. Lastly, the small tube in the middle of course must be representing the present. It is, after all, the place through which the sand flowed. Through which time flowed. From the unknown future down through the present and into the past.Another flip. Lavini tried feeling this flow of sand. This flow of time. She had always listened to how Bridget and Akita had described the way they felt the flow of time. For both of them, it was slightly different. Bridget described it as an ever ticking gear that always turned. Akita on the other hand spoke of the steady frequency of atomic particles. This trickling sand was yet different from both of their descriptions. It was unique to her and her alone.Another flip and that is when she felt it. She felt something fall within herself. Looking down, she could see that a singular grain of sand had fallen down into the bottom within her. This was followed by another grain. And then another!Another flip and the sand was now steadily trickling down. Just as it did within the divine trinket, it now did the same within Lavini’s own hourglass. Within herself. Just as time passed through the hourglass, it passed through her. She had let it in. She had accepted it. She had accepted time, right into her very soul. She had done it.She had become a time elemental.Lavini looked down at the sand, gently falling down within her. Since it could not flip inside of her, there was instead something magical going on. The sand fell down perpetually. The top never emptied out and the bottom never filled up completely. The rest of her body was equally as perplexing to look at. The fact that her body was now made of glass and metal, and therefore very much see-through. She felt happy and content, knowing that she had finally been granted this honour. This transformation that she had always wanted but never admitted to wanting.The divine trinket demanded Lavini’s attention once more as a rod started growing from the bottom. She reached out to grab it as the rod became a sort of staff with the hourglass standing proudly on the tip. Lavini took a hold of it. This was hers now as well. She turned around, a happy woman. She turned to her mother, the one who had led her here. She would not have gotten to this point without her mother. However, when she looked back towards the door, she did not see her mother anymore. She did not see Orketra. Instead, she saw someone else.She saw herself.She saw the time elemental that Lavini had become standing there on the side of the room, a sad look on her face.“I am sorry,” this other Lavini said as a portal of sand opened up behind her, through which she vanished, leaving Lavini all on her own again.No… this could not be… this had to be some kind of joke. Some misunderstanding. This was not happening…All these years… all this time… she had been her own mother…Lavini just stood there in stunned silence… and then screamed louder than she had ever screamed before., Hurriedly, Cassie knocked on the bedroom door of Bridget and Akita. When it was eventually opened, she was greeted by Bridget. She was wearing a nightgown that looked quite strange on her metallic body and her hair was a mess. Behind her, she could hear that Akita was working hard to make herself look presentable.“Good morning, Cassie!” Bridget chuckled.“Hey!” Akita said as Cassie could hear something fall over, followed by a soft “damnit”.“Good morning… Have you seen Lavini?” Cassie asked.“Lavini? She… wasn’t with you?” Bridget asked, raising an eyebrow.“No… I woke up to an empty bed…” Cassie said, concerned.“What?” Akita gasped from somewhere within the room.“And you don’t know where she could have gone?” Bridget asked.“No… I don’t know where… I… We talked last night and… and we kissed… and…” Cassie stumbled over her words. She had been filled with so much worry. Bridget and Akita knew of her feelings for Lavini and that she had been planning on this for a while now. Last night, when she had finally confessed her love, she had been so happy to see that Lavini had accepted it. Now, she feared that she may have scared Lavini off instead and that it was just an act so that Cassie wouldn’t feel bad.“Okay, relax, Cassie. I highly doubt that Lavini would just up and leave without saying a word. She has to be within the church still. We just have to find her,” Bridget said, grabbing Cassie’s shoulders.“R-right… you’re right…” Cassie said, though she was not quite relaxed about it still., When Akita was finally ready as well, the three women began their search. They looked through the living quarters. They looked up in the grand pavilion. But Lavini wasn’t in any of these places. That left only one possibility. Both Bridget as well as Akita had known already that Lavini would be chosen by one of the remaining divine trinkets and perhaps, her time had finally come.Cassie was the first to enter the Shrine of the Hourglass. The first thing she noticed was that the illusion of the clock had been dispelled. The second thing she noticed was the woman sitting at the base of the pedestal that was now lacking an hourglass. She was dressed in black and blue clothing as well as golden tassels. Her hair was pink and she had her face buried in her arms.As Bridget and Akita entered the shrine as well, Cassie carefully approached the woman. She was surrounded by small piles of sand on either side of her. “Lavini?” Cassie asked.Slowly, the woman lifted her head. Her face was just as pink as her hair. The whites of her eyes were black instead and her irises were purple spirals. She appeared to have been crying but instead of tears, there was sand trickling down her cheeks. Cassie recognized her face instantly, despite the differences. This was Lavini.“Cassie…” Lavini said softly.“What happened?” Cassie asked.“I…” Lavini started but her voice died in her mouth again as more tears of sand came.Cassie bent down and hugged Lavini tightly. She felt a lot more solid than she had been last night. She was no longer as soft. A clear sign that Lavini had transformed in some way and considering their current location, it was obvious that she had now become a time elemental as well.Bridget and Akita quickly arrived at the pedestal, tending to their friend just as Cassie had.“It’s okay, Lavini. We’re here for you,” Bridget said softly.“Take your time and tell us what happened,” Akita added.Lavini stayed silent for a moment longer before finally allowing herself to talk. She spoke of her mother’s sudden appearance by her door. She spoke of their peculiar trip through the halls. She spoke of her transformation into the newest time elemental. And of course, she spoke of the revelation that she had come to learn afterwards. All the while, Bridget, Akita, and Cassie listened intently, never interrupting. When the story was finally finished, Cassie hugged her even tighter than before.“I’m… so sorry…” she whispered.“Damn… that’s… a lot to wrap your head around,” Akita said.“So… your future self really traveled through time to raise your past self?” Bridget asked.“It would appear so… I never had any family...at all,” Lavini said. She had managed to calm herself down somewhat as she was telling her story.There was a momentary silence again as all four women let the gravity of the situation truly sink in. Eventually, Akita spoke up again.“Lavini… we can be your family,” she said.Bridget nodded. “You’ve been like a sister to us already.”“I agree! I’d say that you’ve found your own family right here, with us,” Cassie added.This was finally enough to send Lavini full on crying again, grabbing Cassie close and hugging her tightly.“Thank you…” she said between her sobbing. “Thank you…” she repeated.“If you want, we can postpone the opening of the church while you adjust to this new truth,” Akita said.Bridget nodded. “Though this church is super important to us, you are far more important.”“No… the church must definitely open today,” Lavini said as she wiped the tears from her face again.“Are you sure?” Cassie asked.“Yes. I am. I have had all night to adjust and I am ready to start moving forward again,” Lavini said.Bridget and Akita looked to each other and nodded. Bridget then extended her hand, a motherly smile on her face. “If you’re sure, then we will stand with you,” she said.For the first time since her transformation, a modest smile appeared on Lavini’s face again as well. “Thank you,” she said, taking Bridget’s hand and finally standing up. Only now did Cassie and the others get a full view at Lavini’s new body.“Wow…” Cassie mused as she could simply look through Lavini now. When she realized that she had been gawking, she blushed madly and turned away. “I’m sorry!”“Eheh… it is okay. You may gawk,” Lavini said, blushing as well herself.“You’re looking great, Gigabyte,” Akita said, winking.“I agree! Gosh, it’s hard to believe that there’s three of us now,” Bridget cheered.“Hmm, I think now’s a good time to tell her, don’t you think, my Terabyte?” Akita said.“Ah… right, yes,” Bridget nodded.“Tell me what?” Lavini asked.“Well… Akita and I kiiiinda already knew that you were going to be our third,” Bridget said, putting her index fingers together.“You did?” Lavini gasped.“The voice we heard when we transformed told us so. However, we couldn’t tell you. We couldn’t influence you in any way,” Akita said.“... I see,” Lavini said. “I suppose I should have known.”“Wait, did you two also already know about each-other?” Cassie asked. This was all new information for her as well.“Well, I knew about Akita, yes. Just like with Lavini though, I couldn’t tell her,” Bridget nodded.“Huh…” Cassie mused.“Have you any clue as to the identity of the other three rightful owners of the remaining trinkets?” Lavini asked.“No…” Bridget said.“I didn’t hear anything about that either,” Akita sighed.“I see,” Lavini said, looking to the ground.“But now’s not the time to dwell on that. We have an opening ceremony to take care of!” Bridget cheered.“Right! The public already knows about Bridget and I. I can’t wait to see them react to you, Lavini!” Akita nodded.“Oh yes… I suppose that I will attract quite a lot of attention,” Lavini said, chuckling.“Wait! Maybe we should change up what we had planned for our opening just slightly to celebrate this new transformation,” Cassie proposed“How?” all three time elementals asked simultaneously.“Well…” Cassie started., “Ladies, gentlemen, and everything in between!” Bridget called out using the curious device Akita had given her that amplified her voice. It worked differently from the voice amplifiers she was used to in that she didn’t have to hold it. Instead, it plugged into her ear and was somehow still able to make her voice louder.“Welcome to our church of time!” Akita said next to her. The two priestesses were standing in front of the grand doors, speaking to the large number of reporters that had gathered before their new church. Beyond that, there was an even bigger crowd of regular people from all over New Stepolis that had flocked to the opening.“We are very happy to see so many of you here today, to see the Church of Alinavious,” Bridget cheered. After every sentence that they said, the reporters flashed their magitographers to catch this moment from all angles. No doubt, several of them just wanted to photograph her and Akita. After all, most of them had likely never seen a time elemental before. On top of that, there was a lot of applause from all of the tourists that had come.“You honour us with your presence,” Akita said, bowing modestly. It was the kind of bow that was customary in Nipshon. Akita had been very hesitant as the time of the opening was approaching to go and stand in front of all of these people but now, she looked very much at ease.Bridget looked over the crowd of people and though she did not recognize most of them, she was able to spot some familiar faces. For one, her family, as well as Akita’s family, were standing directly next to the reporters, cheering even louder than anybody else. She even recognized some old classmates from the academy and even high school here and there. A strange sense of relief came over her when she was unable to spot Zexa and Xeza.“Before we begin, we would like to extend our gratitude to someone, without whom we would never have been able to do this,” Akita continued.“Indeed. Thank you so much for sponsoring the construction of this church, mister Edwin Thamos!” Bridget said, pointing to where the man was standing right next to where her family was. There were still some cheers from the crowd but it was a whole lot more subdued than it had been until now.“And now, let us not waste any time. We present to you… Alinavious’ church of time,” Akita said, using her hand to present the great clockwork doors behind her. Bridget simply mirrored what Akita was doing. Behind their make-shift stage, Cassie was standing ready in her new nun outfit. She took the signal and activated the door.The great gears hummed to life and began ticking. Slowly, they opened outwards to reveal the interior. There was a chorus of ‘oooh’s and ‘aaah’s from the crowds. It reminded Bridget of when she would pull off some particularly difficult ballet moves. It sounded like music to her ears.When the doors were fully open, the two time elementals hopped off the stage and looked to each-other. They didn’t say anything but they both knew what the other was thinking. Everything was going great so far! Excitedly, she reached out her hand which Akita took gladly.“We invite you all to join us inside,” Bridget said, leading the way together with her lover. Behind them, Edwin Thamos and his bodyguards, Bridget’s family, and Akita’s family followed them inside. They were all VIP’s of course. Eagerly, the reporters followed after that and began photographing everything they saw. Lastly, there were the regular people of course. Even Cassie attracted some attention since she was photographed several times. She was very much busy directing people as they entered, warning them not to touch any of the clockwork or magitech. Since there were so many people, it gave her quite a lot to do! Bridget figured that they would definitely need more nuns around the church to help her out. Well, there was at least one extra nun on the way…When Bridget and Akita reached the shrine of percentile marvels, they turned to face the crowds again who were still busy pouring into the chapel. Most of them began seating themselves into the benches while the reporters gathered around the middle, awaiting their opportunities for interviews. Eventually, when the crowds had finally died down, Bridget spoke up again.“Once again, we would like to welcome you all to our church,” she said.“I am Akita Hirano. High Priestess of Time and Keeper of Atomics!” Akita said excitedly.“I am Bridget Harrison. High Priestess of Time and Keeper of Gears!” Bridget cheered.“And I…” came a new voice. There was an audible gasp of surprise from the people at this sudden voice but Bridget and Akita were unfazed. They had planned this after all. Between them, a swirl of sand started appearing. It was a little bit at first but it soon increased both in size and in intensity. Soon, the sand began to form the shape of a person until finally, their third sister of time appeared with them on the stage. “... am Lavini Providence. Bishop of Time and Keeper of the Sands,” she continued.Her sudden appearance was met with great applause and cheers from everybody gathered, including Cassie who had by now entered the main chapel as well.Bridget smiled as all three sisters of time now stood before the people of New Stepolis. Their church of time was officially open.