Pinnikle: The Lost Truth

17: Of perspectives worlds apart

Recorded by Finnegan Lionhartt,
Of the events which took place after a very daring and risky rescue attempt, on the 18th day of Radia, year of Pinnikle: 1,229.

Send my love.

— The last words of a whimsical old man named John

All the while there was frenzy, time sat calmly beside Sophie, watching the scene unfold through the sparkling misty air. The mirror-man stood from his perch... And he spoke, "Not this way. This will not do anyone any good."

I heard his words all around the air, as if they came from the very air around me - a mellow voice that gave the essence of good will. As he spoke, Tryn glimmered. Under her twinkling cloak of light, she felt hope coming from Time himself. That was the reason for her glimmering.

You may notice the lights shine brightest in your life when all is dark and dreary. They may appear as people, or good glimmers of circumstance when all seems lost, and they shine ever-brightly in our most despairing of times. If you have ever lived through a moment that threatened to drag your life away, you understand.

Sophie heard the words all around her, too. I saw her turn to see the reflective man had been by her all the while. She was startled by his sight!

"It's you..." she said, "We tell stories about you in our village... you're—"

"—I am the witness to every moment, dull and extraordinary... But you can call me Jack,"said the Mirror man.

Sophie remembered the name, but was not quite sure from when she had remembered it. He said to Sophie: "It will be okay, Sophia Lionharrt," and snapped his fingers.

Everything around him froze, including us. The mirror man - whose name is Jack - later told me what happened next, after he had stopped time again.

"Always liked that effect..." He said to himself.

Jack walked nonchalantly from the cliff, where Sophie was. Passing his left arm through the stilled waterfall, he walked between Tryn - the little white star cloaked in her twinkling Light - and the stilled waterfall. He came to the jutting cliffside where I was, and came up behind Leon in silence. He passed the man I had rescued, who was frozen, peering over the cliff, reaching for me. Jack walked out onto the air over me, and saw my comforting, decided look. He saw the man's tears - they chased me. Jack descended, floating, until his head was about level with the tears.

"We won't be needing these," he said to himself, and moved them over with his pointer finger. They responded to his touch, and moved through the air, but did not fall apart. Jack descended around my back, and wrapped his silver arms around my chest.

Upon being touched by him, I was brought into the frozen moment. My arms, which had been lifted and still reaching toward Leon, suddenly dropped to my sides. I had stopped falling. My feet felt a strange rush of blood as my body was caught. I did not know what was happening, and thought perhaps I had died. I looked down to see silver reflective arms wrapped around me. They felt like skin, but perfectly reflected my confused glare, like a finely polished mirror.

With no explanation, Jack began to ascend, carrying me back toward safety. As I came over the stranger's frozen body, which was still reaching to where I had been, I broke the silence: "Am I... Going up to be with the stars?" I asked

As the mirror man carried me over and above the man's stilled body, he said, "Sorry friend... Not tonight..." His voice was loud, and came from all around.

"What the bright!" I yelled.

His powerful voice had made me jump in his arms! The words sounded like they came from the air itself. I suppose the voice of time is very loud when it wants to be.