The Exceptional Clockwork Journey of The Perpetually Alone Hugo Gerard (NaNoWriMo 2012)

Chapter 11

Awkward spacing, 95%, almost done! WOOOO!

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Chapter 11 

Now, before you, the reader, completely freak out at the fact I have killed off my main character in an awfully boring way, I am just going to continue with the story of the fabulously strange Hugo Gerard.

Now first of all, to calm your nerves, Oblivion made a few fatal mistakes in the knife he had chosen and his assumptions that had been proved incorrect.

First of all, Oblivion had stolen the knife from Time long ago. Now this particular knife was extremely special (as naturally everyone in this story is) and was a weapon of Clockwork. Oblivion had assumed (wrongly) that the fact that this knife was Clockwork would slow Hugo’s healing process and his body’s way to expel the foreign object. This, of course, was completely untrue. As the knife was Clockwork, it was made to keep time and thus only kill when predicted. It was not Hugo’s designated time to die, thus it had no affect on him.

The second mistake he made was to assume, like all Clockwork, that Hugo’s heart was not real. As I have mentioned before, when a Clockwork’s heart is pierced, they dissolve into a golden dust and are “dead” in a supernatural way. Even if the knife had not been special, Hugo would not have died immediately.

The third and possibly fatal mistake Oblivion made was to taunt Hugo before “killing” him. This caused his oddly supernatural heart to swell with love and protection for his mother, thus also expelling the knife. This is vital to the telling of the story.

Now let us return to our heroin.

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Oblivion twisted his mouth into a cruel smirk, holding the knife into Hugo’s ribcage until he thought he felt Hugo’s heart slow and eventually die. Ambrosia seeped from the wound as the Lanrete pulled out his knife and watched Hugo, waiting for him to burst into golden dust as all Clockwork do. But when it did not come, however, and Hugo was still bleeding Ambrosia, Oblivion began to worry.

Had his assumptions been incorrect? Did Hugo really not have a Clockwork heart? No, he told himself. He could not have been wrong! Turning away from the body, now still and lifeless, Oblivion called for the guards to burn it, and he returned to his throne, leaving the knife to be picked up by the guards.

Meanwhile, Hugo was attempting to be as still as possible, almost triggering his camouflage ability. The minute Oblivion turned his back on the supposed corpse; Hugo snatched the knife and ran forward, sinking the blade into Oblivion’s shoulder, causing the Lanrete to howl in pain.

“Ho-how are you still alive?” Oblivion stuttered, sinking to his knees and howling in pain.

“I don’t know,” Hugo answered honestly, pulling out the knife and kicking Oblivion to the cobblestone floor.

“How can you not know, boy! That knife was your father’s, made purely of Clockwork! It was supposed to oppose the healing process!” Oblivion snarled.

“All I know, Lanrete,” Hugo growled leaning into Oblivion’s face. “Is you should know what you are getting yourself into.”

Gathering up his courage, Hugo raised the knife upwards and drove it straight into the Lanrete’s chest, sobbing as he did so.

And that was how Time found him, Hugo sobbing uncontrollably with the knife still buried within Oblivion’s breast, the Clockwork handle just showing, the knife thrust to its hilt. Hugo’s head was in his hands, his bloodstained hands pressed against his face leaving bloody trails across his face. Time just stood, there, assessing the situation, constantly rubbing his beard as the remainder of an old habit.