Fall of the Guardians

Chapter 3

"Our stories are not yet legend, but with them our bond was struck."— Merida of Dumbrock: Brave

***

He swirled around. His hands gripped his staff tightly and the air rushed around him. Rainbow colors glowed brightly, almost blinding. He (for just a moment) forgot what he was doing and where he was going. He was washed in the rainbow colors and the wonderful feeling like being filled with bubbles. There was a dark opening with clocks hanging on the other side. It seemed to get wider as he got closer than he flew through and landed on the other side. He easily landed on his feet.

He shook the bright rainbows out of his eyes then turned and caught the globe. It could come of use later. He pocketed it and looked around.

He was standing on a rough hardwood floor. Shelves were everywhere covered in clocks. Clocks that were gold, bronze, wood, stone, silver, iron, diamond, even paper. Some had designs that were so small you needed a microscope to see them all. Some had dancers in them or glowed, others flashed, some sparkled, there was a pink one with a unicorn on it and a green on with a soccer ball face and cleat hands. Some hung on chains, on hooks or stood on their own. Some spun around. And some, although very few, were plain and simple.

Jack looked around and found a china cabinet with a desk built in. The desk was covered in tools, gears, paint, and other strange things he couldn't name. They were all made out of diamonds and iron molded together. In the china cabinet, he saw other clocks, especially tended and beautifully decorated.

One was red with tools for hands and gold numbers. It hung from a gold chain and had gold swirls carved into the red. Another was a rainbow with two wings that made it fly. As the wings flapped the two hands, each holding a diamond tooth ticked. There was one covered in fur, with two droopy ears and a pastel-colored swirl face like cotton candy, it stood on a flower stand. Another one, probably the most interesting was gold and diamond. Some of the gold would flake off and appear somewhere else. The face of this clock had interchanging pictures, no two the same. Then there was a clock that could only be Pitches. Black and grey it had dark shadow like hands that counted the second and dulled silver knob in the top with a black jewel. It sat idly, not the best tended but still there. Finally, a blue-grey one lined in silver. It looked newer than the others with a diamond snowflakes instead of numbers and a brown staff that was just like his glowed blue and ticked off the passing seconds. It hung from a silver chain.

He reached out and touched the glass of the china cabinet. He had never seen such a beautiful clock in all his life. Perfectly balanced and seeming to sparkle in the light. He opened the china cabinet and reached for it. "No!" there was a shout and Jack turned to see a very short man. He had a mustache that was far too long and a beard that he could have tripped over if it had not been so carefully tucked into his robe. His figure was like static, constantly drifting between solid and transparent. He looked at Jack with a scowl than walked forward and closed the door. "You never, ever touch a clock. Especially those clocks." he walked away mumbling to himself about Jack.

Jack looked at the silver clock then back at the man, "Excuse me are you--"

"Father Time?" he looked back at Jack with silver eyes, constantly changing and glowing, "Yes, and you," he pointed at Jack with his staff, "Are Jack Frost." He sat down at his desk, pulling out the clock hand and opening the drawer. He leaned his staff against the china cabinet next to Jack.

"Uh, sorry." Jack said, "But those clocks are they--"

"Yours, yes, yours was especially difficult considering your background, with your dying and coming back and all that." he looked at him with narrowed eyes, his hands still working on a tiny clock in his hand.