Chapter Six - Tick Tock

Jaricko awoke to the sound of a gunshot. He heard screams outside and lept up out of his bed. He saw the others do the same. He threw on his shoes and ran over to the window. The early morning rays of sunlight were streaming through the murky plane of glass.

He looked outside and saw six or so people, including Briar, facing another giant spider. The creature had emerged from the treeline and was waving its forelimbs threateningly. Another gunshot went off and Jaricko saw the spider crumple to the ground. A ragged cheer erupted from the group and Jaricko saw the shooter, Beck, be showered with praise.

The black-haired girl looked like she had run a marathon. Her cheeks were red and puffy, and sweat streamed down the side of her face. She gave a crooked grin at the compliments and then suddenly froze. She swiped at something in front of her and then cocked her head.

“She just unlocked the system,” Jaricko muttered under his breath. He and the group hadn’t told others about their discovery. Whether it was in the desire to capitalize on the sudden system or pure forgetfulness, the other students hadn’t known about the different attributes and status sheet.

They would soon though.

Jaricko heard Brook describing the status sheet to the others. Jaricko only heard snippets of the conversation before he walked back to his bed. The others were waking up from their slumber, with only Jack already ready to go. The giant man offered Jaricko a small nod before walking out the door.

“I wish I had a gun,” Blake admitted. Jaricko grunted in agreement. It didn’t appear that the arachnids were strong. A single well-placed bullet could cause them to act like puppets with their strings cut. Such a weapon would have been invaluable when the only other option was to get in close to hit an enemy. Jack and Jaricko had taken a large risk getting within striking distance of the spider.

Jaricko looked back at the room and noted that the others had fallen back asleep. Timothy had hardly made it out of bed before hearing it was safe again. The young man could only smile wryly. He wanted to fall back into his warm bundle of blankets, but his nerves were too taunt.

The sound of the clock didn’t help either.

Jaricko had listened to the device all night and felt like he could even hear it in his dreams. He swore the machine was broken. He thought he could hear the tick repeating itself at a rapid pace. He desired nothing more than to rip it down and smash it across the rocks outside.

He stared at the ancient thing and narrowed his eyes. He could have sworn he saw something flickering. There it was again! A purple spark flashed across the hands. Jaricko looked at the others, which were fast asleep. Jaricko guessed they took solace in the suggested safety of the guns, or they were simply wiped out from the terror last night.

A part of him wanted to wake them up to confirm what he was experiencing. A selfish part, cultivated by hoarding items in games, told him to find out what it was first before telling others. As was the norm, the selfish part won out over the other.

Jaricko removed his shoes and climbed onto the bed, careful not to disturb the others. He reach upwards and grasped the clock. He glimpsed another purple spark shoot outwards and he jerked away. A second passed and he grabbed it again. He took it off the wall and held it in his hands.

His eyes widened.

In his hands, the clock was reducing in size rapidly. The black and white timepiece was crackling with harmless sparks of energy. It soon turned into a small purple clock that hovered in midair. The aged device was no more. A prompt appeared in his vision.

Pocket Watch Fae [Purple - Tier 0]

Jaricko had a sharp intake of breath. He mentally prodded the small immaterial timepiece and was met with the feeling not unlike absorbing essence. The teenager didn’t hesitate. He grabbed the clock and tugged it toward his core. The purple spirit-like item poured into Jaricko’s chest.

He had a sudden urge to bring up his status sheet.

Status

Name: Jaricko Peterson – Tier 0 Human [0/20]

Class: Locked – Essence Required [0/10,000] (+)

Profession: Locked - Essence Required [0/1,000] (+)

Attributes

Tier 0 Mind – Rank 1 [0/50] (+)

Tier 0 Body – Rank 1 [32/50] (+)

Tier 0 Fortitude - Rank 1 [0/50] (+)

Tier 0 Spirit – Rank 1 [0/50] (+)

Tier 0 Capacity - Rank 1 [0/50] (+)

Essence: 5

Fae [1/3]

Pocket Watch Fae [Purple - Tier 0]

Fae absorbed.

Pocket Watch Fae [Purple - Tier 0] [Spirit]

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Variable Capacity cost, instant. Go back in time up to a number of minutes equal to the user’s Spirit (1). The user can interact with a summoned pocket watch to control how far back in time they wish to travel. Pocket watch construct can be adjusted to the user's preference.

Jaricko’s eyes widened and he had to resist the urge to shout for joy. The magic, which Jaricko now knew was referred to as a fae, was intrinsically tied to him. He felt like he could separate it from his being, but he got the feeling that doing so would be a painful process.

He could feel a faint ticking in his soul, each rhythmic sound dancing to a beat that only he could hear.

Jaricko licked his lips. He wanted desperately to try it out. He knew that the fae ran off strange energy that flowed through his being. Capacity was a measure of how much of this energy he could store, and to use the ability it would take most of what he currently had.

The teenager saw no reason to not test it.

“[Pocket Watch],” Jaricko whispered. He could feel a torrent of the strange, magical energy in his being flowing out of him. A sudden thought had it form on his wrist, in the shape of a regular watch. The device glowed with a purple sheen. Jaricko turned the small knob on the side of the watch. His breath was held in anticipation.

Jaricko watched as the second hand slowly turned, second by second. As Jaricko got closer to the one-minute maximum, he could feel more and more energy being drained out of him. When he got to the forty-eight-second mark, he understood that he could go no further. The cautious part of him worried that he might be overextending himself, but a small part of him disagreed.

Fuck it! This is magic!

Jaricko grinned and let go of the knob. Reality shifted around him as he watched everything play in reverse. He was a spectator in his own body. It was as if someone had pressed the rewind button on reality. He examined his fingers slowly turning the knob on the watch until it got to the point where the pocket watch hadn't even been summoned.

The teenager collapsed onto the bed, his breath coming in short gasps. Sweat dotted his brow and he felt like he was burning up. His Capacity felt extremely low and Jaricko took a moment to catch his breath. A rush of exhilaration pushed away any mental fatigue. Only baffled amazement remained.

I just traveled back in time!

Jaricko wanted to jump up and down but refrained from doing so as it would have disturbed his cabin mates. He collected his emotions and tried to think critically about what had just happened.

The [Pocket Watch] ability took more energy the further back in time he traveled. It seemed that his Capacity was too low rank to fully utilize the maximum potential of the fae. It also seemed that the ability shifted everything back in time, besides his consciousness. He wanted to try to cut himself to see if it would heal, but he was running low on the tank.

A problem Jaricko realized was that he needed to physically turn the knob on the watch in order to utilize it. This would provide some difficulties if he wanted to take advantage of the fae in the midst of battle. He doubted a monster would wait for him to pull out the device.

Yeah, giant spider? Give me a second to pull out my watch. My grandpa gave it to me and I don't want it to be destroyed. I'm sure you wouldn't like eating it anyways.

Jaricko didn't believe the arachnids could talk, but maybe he'd check next time just to be sure.

He was confused though. Was magic able to control time just supposed to be in every random clock? If not, what made that one special? What did the color designate? What was a tier? The questions were endless.

The teenager vowed to himself to learn more about the fae and the mystical ability that one had displayed.

Jaricko couldn’t control the grin on his face. This was actual magic. His childhood fantasy was being realized. Sure it wasn’t a letter delivered by an owl, and there was this whole possible apocalypse going on, but beggars couldn’t be choosers.

He gathered a few of his belongings and left the cabin. The crisp morning air was a large difference from the warmth of the inside, which had been generated by five sleeping men. He looked up at the sky and was relieved to only see a part of the sun and no extra celestial body. Jaricko pulled the sweatshirt tighter around him and examined his surroundings.

The group of six was still camping out near the rope of the bell. He saw the spider off in the distance, green brackish blood dripping down from the bullet hole in the middle of its eyes. Jaricko saw movements off to the side and realized Jack was walking towards him. The burly man was carrying the metal poker from last night.

Jaricko decided not to mention the fact that he had found a fae. Something like messing with time was a serious trump card, and he did not want to be caught with it. He didn’t know if someone could steal it from him somehow.

He thought back to novels he read where people would kill each other for their magic and abilities. Said powers dropped upon their deaths and were looted by the murderers. Jaricko shivered in response, not trusting human greed to keep their hands off of him.

“Morning, get any sleep?” Jaricko greeted. Jack gave his customary curt nod, ever reluctant in his words. Jaricko felt a sudden urge to use the restroom and excused himself. He walked to the outhouse with a grimace on his face. He opened one of the doors and finished his business as quickly as possible.

Jaricko washed his hands using the waterspout outside the outhouses and wished there was soup. He thanked his lucky stars when he saw a bottle of sanitizer off to the side, hanging on a string. He rejoined Jack on the porch of cabin number four. The young man seemed to be lost in thought, watching the tree line.

“It stopped,” Jack stated while pointing towards the trees. Jaricko followed his finger and looked at the surrounding vegetation.

There was a noticeable amount more than there had been yesterday. It would take cutting through the thicket in order to pass by. In addition, the road that lead outwards from the camp had been overgrown. The primitive dirt road had been covered by grass and bushes overnight.

Jaricko felt his heart skip a beat.

“Where being trapped here,” he said and Jack nodded in agreement. “But why isn’t it growing going past a certain point?”

Jaricko walked over to the treeline and examined it. He strode the line and noted how there was almost a circle of wildlife surrounding the camp. His gaze followed the grass toward the center of the camp. He examined the totem pole with the bell on top. A gut feeling had him watching for any crackling purple energy.

When nothing happened, he tore his eyes away.

There has to be a reason why the camp hasn’t been overrun already with plants. Is it a quirk of the System?

Without blatant evidence, Jaricko didn’t make any hasty confirmations.

There’s still so much I don’t know. I need to focus on getting out of here and making my way back home.

He could feel the pocket watch in his soul, ready to be used. The mystical energy had slowly refilled and Jaricko felt a kernel of relief. With the strength granted by a single fae, Jaricko could bend the laws of reality. What would happen when he had a second?

I need to find more fae. They’re my ticket out of here.

There were three slots in his status sheet, one had been filled. If he had found an ability to mess with time in an old clock, what else could he find around camp?