Tick-tock......

Tick-tock.....

Tick-tock....

A man sat down on the floor, a tired body leaning on the wall. His legs spread wide enough on the floor while his one palm lifelessly placed on the soil and the other is holding a small pocket watch. The watch's crisp and clear sound of ticking clashes with the mummering of the man and echoes through the dark room. A lighted lantern glowing just beside the man, creating an aura of lightness in the unbreathable darkness. A ticking clock, a glowing lantern and the whispers of the man were the only things that created disturbance in the lonely, dark room.

MAN: Oh..... oh..... oh gosh, its unbreathable here. Argh...… the air stink's. How can someone survive even a few seconds in this impure air. But..... I guess its better than dying. How many years has it been? 1 or 2 or more than that. Well, it doesn't matter. Counting the years will not change this location. I feel like i have spent a hell of a time from when I was struck here. At first I thought it was all a dream but the dream became reality as soon as I was hit by the first trap.

As the man tries to get up. He slowly gatherers his strength into his legs, while his hands pushes the ground downwards. His tired body wavers but he somehow manages it dragging his body upwards through the wall.

MAN: Traps.... It somehow feels the only companion that was with me this whole time. There was neither a Human nor an living species in the sight from the day I set my foot inside this place. This place, what should I call it. It neither appears to be a cave nor a building. It's appearance is like a dungeon. I don't know how I remember these random words like caves, buildings, rooms, dungeons. Maybe its because I can visualize their picture in mind. But other than these things I can't remember a single thing. Neither my name, nor the life I lived before I came here. I always think WHO AM I?.

His words cries with a desperate look in his eyes towards the pocket watch, appearing as though he was talking to it. He slowly starts to move towards the lantern and picks it with his right hand while his left hand holding the pocket watch. He gathers his strength, makes a deep breath and starts to move slowly along the direction of the light. After some blank travel through the darkness he sees a door. A door in the middle of nowhere. The door shines with a golden sparkle as though it was made of gold. As the man was moving forward, the door's color began shining even brighter. The man's eyes began widening, and he started smiling.

MAN: I have past through countless rooms. Each room has some traps placed in it. The traps can vary from being a trap that shoots countless arrows coated with poison to the traps that suddenly makes a giant endless pith out of nowhere. Maybe it's my reflex that are quick, I somehow managed to survive until now. Sometimes I would be badly hurt, numbed with poison, burnt with fire, froze with ice. Thankfully all of this was solved by this mysterious blue portion in this strange long bottle.

As he keeps the pocket watch in the small bag which was tied around his shoulder. It was a small, rough, old brown bag. As the man placed the watch, he pulled out a glass bottle around the size of a palm in which a shining mysterious blue liquid was running inside. He firmly holds it and takes a deep breath.

MAN: I guess this is the last bottle. Should I call it a medicine or a miracle. I had around 40 bottles of it when I landed here. I don't know how it was with me inside the bag but I desperately started using more of this at the beginning as I was really afraid, confused, tensed on what was going around. It also vanishes hunger and water needs. Although I rarely get hungry and thirsty but still it makes a heavenly satisfaction when I drink it. I think this is the reason why I survived all these year. Though I have controlled the temptation of drinking it regularly, it is still not fully controlled. Maybe I should have used it less all along these years, then I wouldn't have felt this tensed before.

The man's hand starts to shake. His sweat start to flow from his short hair till the his worn out shoes. He breaths tensely while coughing in between. His shaken hand slowly move upward towards the lock of the door, in order to open it.

MAN: I guess this is the first time I have seen a golden door. All the numerous doors I had passed over the years were dull, brown, lifeless. But this, this one seems special. Maybe I have got a doorway that leads to my home. Home..... Home..... Hahaha..... I don't even remember my home nor my family. Only these words are stored in my memory. Only one thing that bothers me is that what if this door leads to the home. The home where I should have been belonged to all these years. Do I have the right to go back there? Is there a place for me in the home?. My home?!. Then I will be able to leave this hellish place. I will be able to leave!!. This place, I can leave!!!. I can finally escape and become FREE.

As he speaks each words, his tone gets louder. Louder with excitement, the feeling which he had forgotten for many years. He then realises this strange change in his body. His brain suddenly starts to shake in confusion but a reflexive action takes place in his body. He starts to breathe deeply, calming his brain and taking control over his emotion. Maybe this reflex was due to the deadly situations he went through all this years while surviving with the in numerous traps and the reaction of the body to survive it at any cost.

MAN: Calm down.... Calm down.... Huff. 'Dreaming will only give me hopes, but to convert hopes to reality all I have to work towards it'. The answer to all my doubts and this new changes in my body can only be found out after I open this door. Okay, let's see what lies behind this magical door.

As he slowly turns the hand placed on the door handle and turns it. A unlocking sound echoes throughout the dark room. He gulps his saliva in his throat and begins to push to door inwards. As he slowly starts opening the door, golden light starts to escape from the other side of the door and bit by bit starts to fall on his face. By the time he could understand anything, the golden door fully opens. His eyes widens largely at the things he was seeing on the other side of the door.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

MAN : I.... I can-.... I can't believe this. I never expected to see this again here.

As tears starts to flow from the man's eyes. The golden lights from the top to a large water pond. A crystal clear water, shining and sparkling brightly due to the light brings an nostalgic feeling in the man's brain. He couldn't stop his tears flowing from his green eyes. Foot by foot he tiredly moves to the pond. His mouth begins to water subconsciously. He begins to pronounce the sentences he don't even remember.....

MAN: Water! Water! The most important thing needed for a human to survive. Ahh!! Water. How could I even forget this. How could I forget the most precious thing for the survival of any living species. Wait!!, how did survived until now?. How was I able to live without water?. What is this empty thing I am feeling. This feeling that I should not think about this matter any further. I should not open my brains for the information about it. What is this? Why is it controlling me or rather, why am I being controlled?!.

As the man utterly goes racking his head, feeling various emotions in his mind, he hears a strange sound. A sound slowly rising it's pitch. He turns around left and right to find the source of this sound. He then notices some splashes of water jumping from the pond. The voice begins to disturb his ears even further....

"Come, come here. Come here you brave. The chosen ones. Drink. Drink this water. It will solve all your problems. It will solve. The things you want to know, the things that's troubling you, the things that makes you fear, it will solve everything. Everything!!. Now come and drink this. DRINK THIS!!".

He stares at it blankly. His legs starts to move towards the pond. He starts to smile, a smile full of pleasure, a smile full of hopes, a smile full of freedom. He reaches the bank of the pond, his knees touching the ground, his hand hand slowly making a bowl shape collecting the water. Before he could drink it, he turns his voice towards the pond....

MAN : Will this really solve my problem?. Will it really give me the answers I want. Wil it really take me back to where I must belong, my Home?!.

"Drink, drink this water. It, it will solve all your problems. It will give the answers you want. It will take you to ….".

MAN : Really?!. Gosh, I guess the hardwork I did for the past years have finally paid off. This water, there is something special. It's so clear and beautiful that it's making me lost into it. Gosh, gosh. I am really going to leave this place. This hellish place where I was stuck. This place, I am leaving it!!.

The man who was blinded by the hopes and dreams did not clearly hears the last sentence of the voice. He starts to cry, tears flowing from his tired green eyes, spreading all over his face. He takes his hand with full of water near to his mouth and slowly starts drink. A sense of nostalgia flows throughout his body. A taste which he had forgotten. He screams with a joyous voice....

MAN : This is WATER!!!. This, this is water. How could I had forgotten this taste, this feeling. I can't stop myself now.

As the man with his unstoppable hand starts to take more sips of water from the pond. He notices the falling of water from the gaps of his hand so he leans his body and starts to lick it directly with his tongue. While he was licking, a pair of hand emerges from the pond. A long pale white hand with a black nail polish on the fingertips comes outs rapidly. This was so sudden that he couldn't react to it. It grabs the man's neck. The man tries to make his free but his hands suddenly feel numb unable to lift it.

MAN : Argh!!! What!!. What is this?!. Why is there a hand here. Who's hand is this?. Why is it holding-

As the man starts to coughs, the air he was breathing starts to become less. He is unable to speak to speak properly and starts to get chocked. He starts to have various thoughts inside his head.

MAN : •Where.... Where are you taking me. Why is this happening to me. A few minutes ago I was ready to leave this place. Now a strange hand is pulling me inside the pond. What the hell is even this?!. Who the hell are you?!•.

"I will take you to a nice place. A quiet place where you can fulfill your wishes. A place where you will get all your answers".

As the hand starts to pull the man's head inside the water. He, without the ability to struggle, starts to sink inside the water with the pocket watch being held on his right hand tightly. Water starts to enter into his lungs and body. His eyes slowly starts to go close, fading unconscious while his body leaving the strength to struggle. A scene where a near death body pulled by a pair of hand into the depths of the water.

MAN : •I don't want to die. I just want to leave this place. I just want to go home. Gosh, is this the end for me?!. Is this the end that had already been decided from the starts when I first set the foot here. When I was transported here from my world through that door. Wait, how do I know this. I don't remember having a memory of these words than how I have this though. From where is it coming to my mind?!•.

Tick-tock......

Tick-tock.....

Tick-tock....

MAN : •What!!. What is this watch doing here?! I clearly remember I removed my bag and placed it aside while drinking the water. How can it be in my hand and how can I hold it tightly even though I don't have any strength?!. What is this?. Wait, since when did I picked a watch like this in this place from the start?!. I don't remember having it in my bag at the beginning. Since when did I carry it around with me?. I don't remember. What is happening?!!!. Argh!!. Was I talking all this time, all these years to this watch. Was I being controlled by this?!. Had I gone insane and started taking to the watch?. Since when did I start?. Since when, did all of these things began to interfere with my life?. Maybe I was so lost that I didn't even notice these small things. These things that changes my life. I regret it. I regret for giving my life like this. I regret that I lived for all these years, surviving and enduring all the pain, suffering.

"I will.... I will take you to the place you desire. I will fulfill your dreams. I will take you, I will end you regrets".

MAN: • Hahaha.....I guess this is it for me. Even this strange hands are reading my mind. I don't know whether they are comforting me or tempting. But it's nice to talk to someone after all these years. All this time I wanted to meet a living beings before I die. I guess you can minus one regret from my list. Thank you!!. You made something possible for me which I couldn't make it into reality. Now, take me with you and make me free from this body, this place, this world. Me me free from my heart•.

"I will fulfill your wishes. I will take you to the place of your dreams. I will take you....."

As the final thoughts runs across the man, the sound of his heartbeat slowly fades away in the depths of the water. The hand continues to pull the body in the depths of the water. A silence is created in the utter most dark water while only one sound echoes through it. The thing that was there from the beginning when the man arrives first into this place and remain with him till his last breath, still held by the man's hand tightly, slowly making it's crisp sound.

Tick-tock......

Tick-tock.....

Tick-tock........