One Chapter Stories

1: Reborn

Tick... tick... tick... the constant sound filling all of the peaceful limbo. The noise was known to be soft and relaxing yet at this moment, it seemed to be exceptionally loud and aggravating. And from the training grounds where most Puerorum spent their time, the noise was unbearably loud. Yet there was nothing anyone could do about it. The noise came from the towering Great Lying Grandfather Clock. There was no real story behind the name. It had always been there, towering over all of Limbo. The Puerorum suspected that the name came from the fact that the clock had no hands yet still ticked. The moment any newcomer stepped foot in limbo, they learned quickly to never trust the clock with time. But that didn't stop anyone from staring at the clock during this day-night at this moment.
Dong... the first chime. The chime sounded whenever something monumental was about to occur. A girl with no name was the only one who seemed to not be under the clock's spell. She tore her gaze from the mesmerizingly plain clock and looked around the yard. Everywhere she looked, it seemed everything was perked up and boring millions of tiny holes into the clock, anticipating what was happening.
Dong... the second chime, the pendulum started swinging.
Gong... the third chime drew her attention back to the clock. There was something about this chime that seemed different. Slightly deeper perhaps.
Gong... she heard some around her suck in their breath.
Gong... the fifth chime. A seed of emotion that she didn't know was planted in her flourished. It blossomed until it reached from her fingertips to her tiniest toe. She clasped her hands together to stop her shaking and brought it up to her chest.
Gong... the sixth chime, the clock face lit up. Everyone's eyes widened. The clock was casting some sort of spell on those in Limbo and the ones so deeply entranced let out a gasp. Most of the Puerorum in Limbo had seen this happen more than once yet they still seemed to be pleasantly surprised with every new development.
Gong... the seventh chime. The clock face grew brighter and brighter, and it seemed to be nearly a sun in the already bright sky. But there was something off about it. The girl squinted her eyes against the brightness until she was finally able to barely make out the difference. Just barely. In the midst of all the light, the slightest hint of a shadow could be seen where the hands of the clock supposedly would be.
Gong... the eight chime. Somehow, the clock face seemed to be growing brighter with every passing second along with the shadow.
Gong... the ninth chime. The shadow started moving, creeping slowly to the right until it started spinning. Round and round it went, faster and faster with every spin. It was close to hypnotizing and the swinging pendulum didn't help.
Gong... the tenth chime, the sky darkened ever so slightly. Something important was about to happen. She could feel it.
Gong... the eleventh chime. The girl with no name felt herself drift. Her limbs grew so heavy it was exhausting to even move them an inch. Her eyelids grew heavy and she felt herself sway, yet somehow, she was able to stay standing. Stars dotted the corners of her eyes and her vision became fuzzy until she wasn't sure if she was seeing actual stars or not. Her stomach felt like it was in a knot and she felt nauseous. She continued to sway, swinging her arms with her and then after what felt like an eternity.
Gong... the twelfth chime. The last chime rang, rocketing her out of the trance she was in. The clock's spinning face snapped to a stop, closely resembling the Tao symbol and it dimmed its brightness. Then, it started pulsing. Bum bm... bum bm... a slow, soothing, rhythmic heartbeat. And the ground vibrated with every beat as if the clock was the heart of the land.
As if Limbo was alive.
The girl's gaze flew here and there, trying to piece together what happened, landing on something very peculiar. A small cloud, right in front of her nose was forming, drawing water vapor from the air all around it. It was a sight to behold, like a hungry black hole drawing in space dust around it. The girl stepped back to get a good look at it but it just followed her. She thought it was the cutest thing in the world, so small and delicate trying so hard to be something bigger. There was something very captivating about it, something so enticing but at the same time terrifying. Terrifying in the way of unknowing yet still knowing at the same time. There was this chill creeping up her spine the longer she looked at it but she couldn't look away. She wanted to, but she couldn't. The feeling of fear was seeping into her stomach and she knew in her bones the moment she touched the cloud something life-changing was going to happen. And she didn't want that. But her body didn't seem to agree with her. They started moving on their own accord, even with her mind screaming for them to stop. But she couldn't. She was in a trance and her conscience was the only thing free. But that wasn't going to help her. Her hands cupped around the growing cloud, water vapor still seeping in through the gaps in her hands. Her hands smashed the cloud as you would when you slam a book close and ground disappeared. Her mind spiraled, nausea from before reappearing and there was not light. She gasped, dropping her hands to try to steady herself and wrap her head around what was happening. This was quickly turning very bizarre.
She looked around to try and find some light when the little cloud she thought she had smothered out of existence lit up. It was like a little rain cloud had burst to life and lightning was all bottled up inside it. It floated down a mysterious path way, beckoning her to follow it.
So she did.
Further and further into the dark, cool tunnel. It didn't take much time until she started hearing multiple footsteps. Anticipation was building up inside her, anxiety whispering chilling thoughts in her mind. But she stayed strong and continued on with as much confidence she could muster.
The tunnel started to widen. The walls expanded with every step she took and a little light took hold at the end. She started to pick up her pace. She didn't like it in the tunnel and the light looked so enticing. Just reach the light... just reach the light... she told herself. But the tunnel seemed to go on forever and before long, she was sprinting down the tunnel.
A cold started creeping up her feet like a numb feeling was making it so that she couldn't feel the ground anymore. Feeling less and less enthusiastic about the light, she slowed to a stop. Tears sprang to her eyes and the girl with no name collapsed to the ground, despair flooding her. She just looked at the light longingly, not moving. The little storm cloud she forgot all about slowly floated to her side and as if seeming to feel the strong emotions flooding her, touched her cheek sympathetically.
And the light at the end of the tunnel started moving. It drained to the ground like a puddle of water and snaked towards her. The puddle grew until it seemed to be an ocean in the distance. Ripples formed, then they collided together and small waves formed growing bigger and bigger until they almost reached the roof of the tunnel. Then, BOOM!! The tsunami-like waves rushed towards her, looking to gobble her up whole. Her eyes widened and she screamed. The rumbling of the waves only grew louder as it got closer and she instinctively covered her head before the waves crashed down on her. They wrapped around her and she was sure she would be swept off of the ground but nothing happened. She was still planted on the ground like some immovable rock.
The waves subsided and light flooded her eyes until everything around her disappeared and she was somewhere else. The cold hard rock she was once sitting on was replaced with soft, warm, fluffy clouds. The tunnel as a whole was gone and in its place was the most peaceful looking cloud island that she didn't know existed. The stormy waves turned into gentle trickles of water until she realized she had fallen into a tiny river.
The girl with no name wiped her eyes and looked around her only to see confused eyes doing the same.
There were others, maybe ten, all spread out across the small area of cloud. She stood up quickly, only to be hit by a wave of confusion.
There, in the center of all the organized chaos, was a white hooded figure. They had a black feathered mask and a dulled silver staff and they stood there, unmoving, staring straight into everyone's soul all at once. It motioned them to come in closer and they did. All at once, they walked forward closer until they were in a semi-circle surrounding the figure. It held up a cup filled with smoking incense sticks and the girl with no name reached out and grabbed a random one. The moment she touched it, the smoke turned a yellow dust color with orange and green specks, greatly confusing everyone there. One by one, the others there grabbed their own sticks, each changing their own separate color when touched.
"You have been chosen," it's echoing voice spoke, "from all the others, you were chosen to be reborn. You will not remember this place or anything here and only a chosen few will remember their life before this-"
A scream interrupted it before it could finish. The scream came from the girl with green eyes. Her skin was slowly disintegrating and with a flash of blinding bright light, she was gone, her incense stick fell to the ground. The figure reached down and tried to pick it up but the moment it touched it, the stick turned to a pile of red dust. But it just shrugged it off and continued with on.
It motioned to the little river, not bothering to finish what it was saying and the girl hesitantly followed. the river twisted and turned, winding up and around hills, colliding with other streams until it was a massive river falling down a never-ending pit creating what seemed to be never-ending waterfalls.
Standing on a rock in the middle of all the waterfalls was the hooded figure from before. A long-haired boy let out a loud laugh and dived headfirst down the waterfall. The hooded figure just smiled and didn't say a word, so another reluctantly stepped forward and jumped down the pit of waterfalls. The girl with no name slowly exhaled and smiled, finally finding the courage to dive into the waterfalls. Water sprayed all around her the deeper she went. Darkness engulfed her and sound slowly drained out. All that could be heard was a steady bum-bm... bum-bm... bum-bm... Her consciousness drifted and the feeling started draining from her body. Warmth enwrapped her and she felt herself grow smaller. We are among you... her final conscious thought before light broke through and she let out a wail.

Hello and welcome to the first chapter!!!! Woo! Confetti! Woo!
I hope you enjoyed the first chapter of this and I hope it was easy to read. I literally asked my friends so many times if it was understandable and if it wasn't too confusing. What did you think?
I also had the idea of making it into a full blown story but then I immediately shot that idea down (cuz that's fun) because there was nothing to go off of. But I don't know. I might come up with an idea.
Hope you enjoyed!!!! Thanks for reading!!

2035 words
02/14/20