Subcon's Little Gremlin

PROLOGUE

I sat on the top of the mountain of Alpine Skyline, viewing over structures that laid on the never ending pillars. The pillars stretched down into the endless fog of clouds. You wouldn't know what was down there. Because, well, it was covered by clouds. The bottom of this place was blanketed in white fluffy clouds. Some might look down and fear what would happen if they fell. I find them mysterious, and somewhat calming. It shields us from what's below, and seeing a deep, dark pit of nothingness is scarier than clouds.

I feel the cold breeze flow through the air, but I didn't really mind. I've been living here for a while, so I'm used to the chilly atmosphere. Nobody else can seem to climb up this high. Since the air is thin, nobody could really get enough breathing breaks to make it all the way up here. Except me, apparently. I'm quite the climber. But I must admit, it was struggle. Especially since there's some steep slopes.

I think I should go check the zipline. Usually, tourists from all around would come here, but they stopped a few years ago. I've been checking, but nobody came. It was weird. None of us knew what was on the other side of the zipline, since whoever tried to go there never returned. So all we did was wait and continued living our lives.

I stood up and started making my way down the mountain. While climbing down, I greeted some nomads. They were really nice. When I first ended up here, they gave me my own home and supplies... for free! I felt pretty bad for taking everything without pay, so I help them out when I can. Such as taking crates to the windmill, checking the birdhouse, and other things.

I finally reached the bottom, and I walked my way to where the zipline was. Empty as usual. Bummer. I used to love greeting tourists and showing them around. We even had a hotel here, but due to the lack of guests, we had to take it down so we could recycle the materials used to build it. Speaking of tourists never coming here, lately there seemed to be a colder breeze, and a stronger wind. Wonder why? I know we were high up and all, but it shouldn't be this cold. I tilted my head back to look at the sky.

All of a sudden, a strong wind suddenly burst at Alpine. I stapled my boots onto the ground. The wind was strong, the bushes were rustling loudly as they tried their hardest to keep their roots intact. I could hear the screams of surprise as some nomads hurried to their homes and locked the doors. The wind felt strong against my face. I used my scarf to try to cover my face, as I stumbled trying to force against the wind. I squinted my eyes and kept looking up, trying to figure out what the heck could be happening.

The clouds were dark, thundering. That wasn't good. I suddenly see a few dots sparkling in the sky. They were getting bigger.... and bigger. It looked like some object was falling from the sky... but how? They were getting closer to us, every second. Ah! Now I can see it. It looked like.... an hourglass??? Why is that falling from the sky? They were coming at us rapidly.

The wind blew harder, and I had to close my eyes. I used my arm to shield me from the wind. My feet gave a bit, making me back up to the edge of the wooden platform I was standing on. I braced myself, knowing that if I slipped, I would fall. I could feel the storm slowly inching me closer to the edge... I couldn't move, or I would definitely get blown off.

I felt like I was going to fall... but surprisingly, the wind had died down in an abnormal rate. After a few seconds, I let my guard down and opened my eyes. Everything had suddenly gone back to normal.

I saw one of the falling hourglasses fall straight toward me, at an extreme speed. Before I could react, the hourglass hit me in the face. I lost all balance and started to plummet down to what I presumed was my death. The hourglass fell with me. Even if it was the cause for my end, I grabbed it and hugged it tight, hoping I would magically survive somehow. I squeezed my eyes shut, and kept declining down to my doom.