Project Nova

A world frozen in Time.

"Welcome to the interior of my womb,

Love and ego's final destination.

You will soon be reborn anew,

Feeling like a monster, is it not fantastic?"

-Outer Science.

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17th of December(?), 2076(?).

You propably noticed the date had question marks, that's because I'm not sure if the day passed or not. The sun hasn't moved and my phone was still showing this date. If Yami really was created inside this world, it would be understandable why her birthday is on the 17th of December... I stood up, my clothes covered in grass and dirt stains. Yami followed me, as if she woke up exactly at the same time as me.

"Where are we going now?" She asked as she yawned and stretched.

-"No idea, maybe the disc can help...?"

-"I guess."

She pulled the blue disc out of her pocket and pressed the button in the middle again. A static, then nothing. She pressed the button again. Same result.

"Nope, not working."

-"...Well... Then... Guess we'll just wander around again."

-"Not like we have another option." She replied while raising her shoulders.

She grabbed my hand as we started walking aimlessly in the endless plain, once again. We walked for hours, a carriage passed besides us, pulled by two black horses. The carriage was filled with various goods. Potatoes, water, beer... All sorts of things. Yami jumped near on of the bags and grabbed it, putting it on her shoulder. She also grabbed two bottles of water. She jumped off the carriage so quietly that the driver didn't even notice the missing bag. We followed the carriage, from a safe distance, curious to know where it was headed. We saw the carriage take a turn to the left as a gigantic wall of stone was standing in front of us. There was a small, cubical hole in it, just the size of an human being.

"Let's take a guess, where could this lead us?"

-"Another, another world? Or maybe... Another part of this world?"

-"Let's find out!"

She grabbed my hand and ran towards the hole. As soon as we entered, stones collapsed behind us, blocking the entry.

"I guess there's no going back... Huh." Yami said, looking back at the stones.

She kept holding my hand and progressed in the Darkness, her left eye glowing.

"I see two ways." She said.

-"Huh?"

-"Right or left?"

-"...Left."

-"Okay!"

I thought I saw her smile in that Darkness. We followed a long, dark hallway until a mechanical door rotated and opened in front of us, revealing an ocean of orange cogs, propably made of copper.

"...A giant Clockwork...?" Yami asked to herself.

-"Seems like it."

She stared at the ocean of cogs, houses and villages were spinning around on them. Gigantic golden cubes were hanging from an invisible ceiling. An annoying rattling noise kept echoing as the cogs turned. In the distance, a castle was floating, in the shape of a clock. I noticed it was hanging by titanic chains of gold. The hands on the castle were not moving, which was, I guessed, the cause of this world being frozen in time.

Yami jumped down from our immobile platform of... copper...? As she landed on a small golden cube, attached to the wall by chains, I followed her. The cube faltered a bit and the platform disappeared into the wall as the door closed and rotated, merging perfectly with the wall. Yami grabbed my hand with her left arm, like to help me follow her. She jumped on the cog in front of us and pulled my arm as I also got on it. This cog seemed to be rotating slowly, which gave us time to observe. Yami noticed a series of golden cubes, hanging by thin golden threads.

"Are you sure this is safe...?" I asked.

-"I don't know, might as well try."

She jumped on the first cube, it faltered slightly, then kept on being immobile. She jumped on the second, then the third, then the fourth...

"You coming?!" She shouted, waving her hand.

I jumped on the first cube, I thought the thread was about to snap. I quickly jumped on the second cube and I heard the thread behind me snap, letting the first cube fall into the dark abyss below. I quickly jumped from cube to cube, following Yami. After a dozen of cubes we finally got safely on a huge cog.

A village was spinning around on the cog. Walls of silver were protecting the village, which was tightly attached to the cog using tons of small silver chains. The village had no gates. Yami jumped on my shoulders and started climbing up the wall. The wall wasn't too big, so she managed to get up there in no time. She stretched her arm out, I grabbed her hand and she pulled me over the wall.

I looked at the village, it seemed square-ish. The roads were covered in a metal ressembling copper and the houses were made of simple iron. Unlike the previous village, it was much smaller, but much more populated. People were roaming the streets, I recognized a young girl with short black hair and red eyes, like Yami. I blinked and she was gone, propably my imagination. I think she was one of my drawings...?

We jumped down from the wall and sat down, leaning against a building that seemed to be a weapons shop. For what? It didn't look like there was any dangerous creatures around. Yami dropped the bag next to her, I forgot she even had that. She opened it and it was filled with bread and potatoes, she gave me a bottle of water and we began eating. Somebody noticed Yami and hid their face with an hood, trying to avoid her gaze.

"...Everybody is scared of me..." She sighed.

-"Not me." I smiled.

-"...You're right." She gave me my smile back. "Thank you, Lance."

-"Again."

-"Again." She chuckled.

-"Where do you think we should go?"

-"What about that weird clock castle?"

-"Sounds like an idea."

I looked around.

-"Well... Maybe we should find a place to stay, I'm tired."

-"Stay? With what money?" She asked.

-"...Stolen money."

-"..Ah."

Yami looked around, she picked into the pocket of someone passing in front of us. 10 golden coins. Was that enough to stay at the local inn? We stood up and walked towards a nearby building with a sign reading "The Unreachable Star". We pushed the door open, people looked at us and looked away as quickly. We walked towards the counter, hand in hand, and asked the owner for a room. He seemed really panicked and accepted for 10 coins. I guess there's perks in being friends with The Nova... The bed seemed big enough for two people, not like my bed. Yami layed down near the wall and I took the other side. I heard her turning around and she hugged me again.

"Good night, Lance." She said.

-"Good night, Yami."

I fell asleep

...

The dream was different this time... An old man... Almost bald... Round, transparent glasses... He had ice blue eyes... He seemed to be looking at a capsule containing Yami and Pandora... Was I on GLaIVE...? I wonder... I looked at my reflection in the capsule... I looked younger, smaller... My eyes were purple though, not green...

...

Who are you?

...

Who are... I...?